Mental toughness in sport: Conceptual and practical issues

Psychological characteristics are now commonly accepted as being major contributors to success within the area of sporting performance – in particular, motivational factors, self-confidence levels, and the ability to cope with and interpret anxiety-related symptoms as facilitative under pressure (cf. Hanton et al., 2008; Hardy et al., 1996; Mellalieu et al., 2006). Another characteristic that is frequently used to describe why certain individuals have become “the best in the world” in their respective sports is that of “mental toughness” (Loehr, 1986; Williams, 1988). Indeed, athletes themselves, coaches, members of the press and sports commentators have cited mental toughness as core to the execution of successful performance, while certain psychologists working in the field of sport suggest mental toughness as key to the advancement of knowledge regarding successful athletes (e.g. Bull et al., 1996; Goldberg, 1998; Gould et al., 2002; Loehr, 1982, 1986, 1995). Since the 1950s, mental toughness has been associated with winning performances and linked to the characteristics of sporting champions. Examples included descriptions such as mental toughness having “more to do with winning than do such obvious physical attributes as speed and power” (Williams, 1988: 60), the most important asset for an athlete (Goldberg, 1998), and critical to possess if the long hours of strenuous training associated with top-level performance are to be endured (Bull et al., 1996).