The Possibilities and Challenges of Self-Regulation

Let’s start with the challenges— a challenge of self-regulationan is when you simply don't have it. That’s it.

Self-regulation is an athlete’s ability to plan and adjust their psycho-emotional and physiological processes.

It means that the athlete trains regularly and consistently to reach a specific, optimal pre-performance state, recover after setbacks, or mentally prepare for performance.

More often than not, the athlete is a victim of stimuli — both external (people, conditions, events) and internal (emotions, thoughts, reactions). All of this becomes a learned, unconscious pattern of behaviour.

Training self-regulation means working consistently and practically with your thoughts, emotions, breathing, body tone, and actions. To do this effectively, the athlete must clearly identify their stumbling blocks and define the goals of their self-regulation practice.

An athlete with strong self-regulation skills can mentally prepare for performance with high precision — time after time. Such an athlete clearly understands the cyclical nature of competition — a beginning and an end. In practice, this means they can align themselves mentally for every situation: regulate — perform — move on.

“Get yourself together!” is the most concise and direct way to describe self-regulation. “Mentally tune yourself for the start!” Every sport and every athlete requires an individual approach — each will have their own nuances in practical training.

Train your ability to self-regulate, and you’ll soon see — your capacity to manage your internal processes will improve significantly.

What Does a Unified Team Look and Think Like?

We all have an ego.
It’s normal. It’s necessary. And it will continue to be necessary.
In childhood, playing in a team is about joy, fun, and being with friends.
And it’s good when that’s possible — to play for the joy of it.
In the end, it’s the inner motivation that is the primary force helping athletes reach and play at the elite level.

As we grow up and play professionally, the sense of responsibility increases — both toward ourselves and toward the team.
Like a parent who lives a family life — the personal “I” expands into the family “We.” That’s family unity.
In a team, it’s similar — it’s good when team members are mature enough to expand their “I” into the team’s “We.”

If we narrow down all actions and goals in team sports, the one main goal is — to score.
That means all players need to have one clear thought in mind — to score.
That is the goal.
To maintain that goal, there needs to be a foundation: well-trained physical abilities, technique and tactics at the level of unconscious competence, individual psychological skills well-developed, and high-quality communication within the team.

Every time a player gets caught up in emotions and starts behaving uncontrollably — the awareness of the goal is lost.
Every time a player starts arguing with opponents or referees — the goal slips further away.
Every time a player focuses too much on tactical execution, the goal of scoring fades, because the focus is elsewhere.

This means that when all the foundational factors are in place, there is only one thought in the minds of the team — to score.
And it’s quite easy to distinguish a focused, unified team from one that’s not.
People feel it intuitively even if they can’t quite explain it.

In a united team, there must be conversations — and therefore, clarity about the main goals, roles  and values of the team.
These are the questions upon which the entire training process is later built.

Of course, life isn’t perfect, and it’s easy to say how things should be. Everyone can do that.
That’s why we address the problems and work on them — so that even if we don’t become perfect, we at least become better.

Which Psychological Skills to Train?

The ones that are most necessary in your sport.
Each sport, like each person, is different – with its own specifics and nuances.
In endurance sports, mental endurance and concentration skills dominate.
In technical sports, self-regulation and mental preparation skills dominate.
In team sports, attention skills and switching focus are dominant.
In combat sports, self-regulation and self-talk are dominant.
In each sport, of course, there are many other nuances and additions, but I mention these to illustrate that the mental training specifics in each sport can be very different.

Therefore, if you can define which psychological skills are most important in your sport, you can also search for methods to develop these skills.

I remind you that psychological training does not replace physical, technical, or tactical training in any way.
It would be foolish to expect an increase in results by training self-regulation while the explosiveness of the legs in one parameter develops less than needed.

Additionally, it should be considered that in each sport, athletes have different personal traits.
This means that a generalized approach will also not be the most effective.
In this equation, you need to look at both – the specifics of the sport and the athlete's personality. For example, in basketball, where it is important to switch attention from broad to narrow – one athlete may do it easily, and for them, this training won’t change much, while for another athlete, it will make a significant difference.
At the same time, the first athlete, who finds switching attention easy, might be very impulsive.
This means that they additionally need to work on self-control and maintaining attention.

Psychological work is a combination of the sport's specifics and each athlete's individual traits.

Should Children Train Psychological Skills?

Yes and no.
No, because specific psychological skill training is recommended to start around the age of 16, when a young person’s consciousness begins to mature slowly and they gradually become capable of self-awareness and understanding the specifics of psychological work.

Yes, because during childhood and adolescence, psychological skills often develop as a byproduct. Without delving into the specifics of the sport, a general understanding would say that regular training develops psychological resilience and discipline.
Regular work on technique helps to develop concentration and attention skills.

During childhood and adolescence, this happens more or less on its own.
As the athlete matures, the need for specialized psychological training increases.
The athlete is already mature (in the best case) and becomes much more aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
This means that at this point, targeted work on specific areas can begin.

It could be said that intense training is enough and that it is the only way to produce an excellent athlete.
Unfortunately, statistics and experience show that this is possible only in rare cases.
Often, the price of one outstanding athlete is the ruined health and attitude toward sports of ten others.

This means that from childhood, it is important to approach the training process with psychological understanding.
With an understanding that every young person needs genuine, authentic relationships and conversations that keep them grounded.
The development and clarification of individual traits, and the understanding that everyone must work independently on their character.
There are also many other things.

I wouldn’t claim that now is the time to completely redesign the entire training process, no.
The recommendation would be this – in each sport, the most important mental traits may differ.
This means that when planning training, the coach could ask themselves – what are the most important psychological traits in this sport?
If there are five or six, it means that over the course of a year, several cycles can definitely be planned, each of which focuses on training those traits, integrated into the existing training tasks.

For example, in tennis, these traits are concentration – maintaining and shifting attention, positive self-talk, relaxation, self-regulation.
Let’s say that in the third training cycle, the ability to maintain attention is chosen.
This would mean that, for example, for one month, during each training session, time is allocated when, within passing drills, athletes are given an additional task – during 20 passes, they focus their attention on a specific spot on the opponent’s court.
Or another variant – focusing attention on their dominant hand’s palm.

In this way, the entire training cycle wouldn’t need to be rethought, and the most important psychological skill training would be integrated into the existing plan, but with much greater precision and awareness of the goals to be achieved.

How to Identify Problems that Hinder Achieving More?

The short answer – by searching.
Each specialist and coach can only see from their own perspective.
It’s good if that perspective comes with experience and understanding.
Sometimes it happens that a problem seems one way, but the solution is another.

It has happened that athletes come to me saying they no longer feel motivated or driven. A normal person's logic leads them to approach me because I work with these issues. However, when looking at the situation as a whole, it turns out that the athlete has a dramatic deficiency of certain microelements in their body.

This serves as a reminder that an athlete works with a team.
Everyone contributes as much as they can.
It is unhealthy to view things in isolation – communication and collaboration are essential to ensure that the flow of information is as transparent as possible, which helps identify problems much more accurately.

Perspectives.
Both the athlete themselves, the coach, and close people can learn to look at specific issues from different perspectives.
For example, if someone has lost motivation, it should be viewed from various angles – has something changed in the family? Is there a deficiency of microelements? Has the athlete gone through a life transition with an accompanying crisis? Is the athlete physically in their best form? Does the athlete understand the technique and tactics in detail, or have they missed something? You get the idea.

Problems can be found by searching and solved by addressing them.

How Can an Athlete End Up in a Dark Place?

I’d say it’s mostly due to a lack of quality communication.
There are nuances, of course, and every case is individual, but communication is the bridge that connects people with everything within them.
From early childhood, especially during adolescence, the presence or absence of quality communication determines whether a young athlete carries their burdens silently or is able to express themselves, potentially freeing themselves from the unnecessary and focusing on training.

Our days are busy and, naturally, there’s not always time to deal with unpleasant or uncomfortable things.
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that many people — including high-level athletes — carry unimaginable burdens: addictions to alcohol, drugs, dark thoughts, even suicidal tendencies, loneliness, and more.

If these things aren’t acknowledged and processed in an accepting and motivating environment, over time they creep into an athlete’s daily life and training like a kind of poison.
Even if the situation isn’t fully resolved, with the right support, an athlete can still feel lighter and more focused on what moves them forward.

In this case, the recommendation is not to be just a mechanical coach, but a mentor.
Not only younger athletes, but also experienced ones need people who build real relationships with them.
Not much is needed — just honest conversations about life. A heart-to-heart talk — without alcohol, without drama.

Any person who is truly heard, seen, and encouraged will be capable of doing much more — and doing it better.
This includes athletes. Especially young athletes.
While the system continues to pull in new workhorses, we must understand that professional sport is no longer and should not be about fulfilling the ambitions of parents and coaches.
In a healthy case, professional sport will be the athlete’s conscious choice and motivation to go that path — fully aware of what it entails.

I’d say that even in sports — just like in other fields — whether we like it or not, we have to start seeing the human being as a value.
In places with many people and big systems, individuals often aren’t seen as valuable — but just as cogs. These systems can afford that.
However, today’s world is teaching us to see people as valuable.
As a result, harshness and impersonal hierarchies are slowly being replaced with respect, honesty, and openness.
Yes, maybe professional sport won’t have as many people as before — but those who remain will have clarity and genuine motivation.

Video version of the topic you can watch here:
https://youtu.be/hTuI6yDBQek?si=NIXD7zOoVhjtfVJb

Why Do Athletes Seek a Mental Skills Coach?

It must be said that, as in almost every field, help is usually sought when problems arise.
And that’s good — it’s good that help is sought and that there are ways to get it.
Preventive work definitely bears more quality fruit in the long term, because it means the athlete is already swimming above the water, and additional work will help them swim faster.

In the case of problems, the athlete is already underwater, and the immediate goal is to get back above it.

Most people have either experienced themselves or noticed in others moments where breaking points appear — and often they’re even visible from the outside. The question is — is anyone working on it?

Also in Latvia, mental training is finally gaining momentum, because our sports system — like many others in the country — is progressing more slowly than in nations that have had the opportunity to develop faster and more efficiently. There is progress, and that is encouraging.

I would say it’s good to look for a mental skills coach when there are problems.
But at the same time, I’d also say it’s just as good to seek one when everything is going well — and to explore how to work on oneself preventively.
Not only that, but how to work with all parts of oneself: the physical body, technical skills, tactics and strategy, and the mind — in a way that all these aspects are trained in a unified and effective manner.

Why Train Psychological Skills and Abilities?

Every ship at sea needs a direction. To reach any destination, fuel and planning are necessary.
If an athlete, in their pursuit of progress, pays no attention to psychological training — especially at the highest level — then their ship in this sea won't be efficient enough.
Attention won't be given to certain specific details.
For example, the size of the propeller in relation to the ship — as a result, reaching the planned destination becomes difficult.

With this example, I’m trying to illustrate that psychological abilities and their training are something one can go without, because many things happen naturally, and high results can still be achieved. However, at the elite level, every detail matters, and in this case too, the compatibility of the propeller with the specific ship is important.

If you attach a cruise ship’s propeller to a small boat — it will sink. If you do the opposite — the large ship won’t move. In the same way, every athlete has their own specific needs. It wouldn’t be wise to generalize and make everyone work with the same methods.

Even within the same team, it may be that each person needs a completely different program. One might need to work on believing in themselves, another on channelling their aggression, someone else might need to train their focus. Another needs to learn how to communicate in a way others can understand, while someone else needs to learn how to listen.

As I said — it’s possible to go without this, and there are more important things in life. But there are those few who truly want to refine themselves and reach the highest levels of self-realization. For them, it is definitely worth training their psychological skills. These are a part of overall preparation — maybe not the most important part, but those who stand on the highest steps of the podium have, more often than not, also focused on psychological training.

About integral training you can watch video version as well:
https://youtu.be/9XmUd0SRWu0?si=vYU9eMEdbLqNObq5