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What's a Mental Game Coach?
There Are Many Types of Mind Coaches,
Mental Trainers,
Psychology Consultants and Therapists
How Can You Choose the Right Mind Practitioner?
Read This Article and Find Out
Bill Cole, MS, MA
Tiger Woods has one. So does Andre Agassi. Almost every college
pro team, major league pro sports team and Olympic team has
one. Virtually every pro golfer and pro tennis player has
one.
What do they have?
A Mental Game Coach.
These top sports stars are smart. They're good already. Even
great. Some are all-stars and superstars. Why do "they" have
a mind coach? They want to maintain their excellence. And,
they want to get better. They want every edge they can get,
because they know their opponents have this mental advantage.
I coach top corporate America executives, and you can turn
on the TV and see the top college sports stars and major-league
pro sports stars I coach. This article will help you learn
what a Mental Game Coach does for these peak performers, and
about how you can choose the right mind game coach.
Did you know there are at least 25 types of mind practitioners?
The term mind practitioner itself is a very broad one. Maybe
you're looking for a mental health professional. Perhaps someone
to help you in business. Maybe you want to reduce stress,
stop a bad habit and overcome a fear or phobia. Maybe you
need to perform better on the presentation platform or in
the competitive sports arena and avoid the dreaded choke.
Maybe you want to learn how to get in the zone more often,
on command. Whatever your reason for seeking a coach, they
all, to one degree or another, help you train your brain.
Find your mind. Get your motivation in motion. The mental
game encompasses every mind issue you can imagine in business,
sports and life. A mental game coach can help you in these
arenas:
- Awareness
- Learning
- Development
- Change
- Habit Formation
- Performance
- Coaching, Mentoring, Managing and Leading
Mental Game Coaches are particularly skilled at helping
you with these critical performance issues:
- Anxiety
- Choking
- Focus
- Sales Rejection Issues
- Telephone Call Reluctance
- Goal-Setting and Achievement
- Perfectionism
- Procrastination
- Mental Preparation
- Mental Practice
- Self-Discipline
- Getting In The Zone
- Slumps and Confidence
- Hecklers And Psych-Outs
- Performing Under Pressure
- The Fear Of Success
- The Fear Of Failure
- The Imposter Syndrome
The best way to use this article is to determine what reasons
you have for hiring a coach and then to match those reasons
to the capabilities of the specific type of coach you find
here.
I've placed each type of coach into six distinct coach classification
areas to help you understand what they do. At the end of this
article I also tell you about the five major mind techniques
mind coaches, therapists and practitioners apply across a
wide array of issues that people bring to them. There are,
of course, many more methods and approaches than these five,
but I'm sure this group will be familiar to you.
Here we go.
To go to each coaching section now, click on the link below.
Five Business,
Sport And Personal Mental Coaches
Four Sport Mental Coaches
Seven Medical And Mental
Health Professionals
Two Stress Practitioners
Four Specialty Coaches
Three Mind-Body Discipline Practitioners
FIVE BUSINESS,
SPORT AND PERSONAL MENTAL COACHES
This class of coach specifically helps people develop and
perform in business, sports and in life. They also assist
coaches and parents in the mental improvement and performance
arena.
Mental Game Coach
The broadest and deepest level of training, background and
experience of coaches in this class. Assists people in learning,
training, coaching, preparing, performing and any other discipline
related to peak performance. This person probably has degrees
or certifications but is not licensed. Has a strong mental
game background.
Peak Performance Coach
May or may not be a coach who helps people in sport, but
may be a generalist performance enhancement practitioner.
This person may or may not have any degrees or certifications
and is not licensed. May have a mental game background.
Organizational Psychologist
This person has a Ph.D. in some form of psychology, usually
organizational or industrial psychology. They assist corporations
or individuals in business in developing professionally. Sometimes
licensed or certified. Usually has no mental game background.
Autogenic Training Coach
A highly-specialized coach who uses a specific integrated
and holistic mental training system to provide performance
enhancement services to people, usually in sport, but also
in the theater, music and other performance arenas. This person
may or may not have any degrees or certifications and is not
licensed. Usually has a strong mental game background.
Mental Toughness Training Coach
A very specialized, narrow sub-specialty of mental game
coaching. This is aimed at making the individual more resistant
to stress and hardship. This person may or may not have any
degrees or certifications and is not licensed. May have a
strong mental game background, but may be quite narrow in
scope.
FOUR SPORT MENTAL COACHES
This class of coach specifically assists athletes, coaches
and parents in the mental improvement and performance arena.
Sport Psychologist
This is a controversial title, but in some states to legally
be able to call oneself a psychologist, the person must be
licensed to practice psychotherapy. In the academic and research
worlds, people who teach sport psychology often are called
sport psychologists, but this is not a legal term. Interestingly,
a Ph.D. teaching psychology, who does not have a state psychologist
license is NOT a psychologist. Has a strong mental game background.
Sport Psychology Consultant
A person with various degrees ranging from bachelors to doctoral
who provides sport psychology services. Is not licensed but
may be certified. Has a strong mental game background. Mental
Training Coach A coach who specifically trains athletes in
using their mental powers to learn better, practice better
and perform better. This person may or may not have any degrees
or certifications and is not licensed. This person has a very
strong mental game background.
Mental Training Coach
A coach who specifically trains athletes in using their
mental powers to learn better, practice better and perform
better. This person may or may not have any degrees or certifications
and is not licensed. This person has a very strong mental
game background.
Performance Enhancement Consultant
These practitioners provide specific services in stress
reduction and performance improvement skills to anyone who
performs, such as musicians, actors, speakers, athletes or
students. This person may or may not have any degrees or certifications
and is not licensed. They often have a strong mental game
background.
SEVEN MEDICAL AND
MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
This class of "coach" specifically assists people who have
serious to moderate medical, health, stress or psychological
issues. They also may help people develop and perform in business
and in life.
Psychiatrist
Often called a "shrink", this is a person with an MD, who
is a trained physician who specialized in mental disorders.
With some psychologist exceptions, this is the only person
here who is considered a "medical professional" and who is
licensed to dispense medicine. Rarely has a mental game background.
Psychologist
This is a Ph.D. level psychotherapist, who is state-licensed
and who provides therapy services to families, couples and
individuals for a wide range of maladies, both mental and
emotional. Rarely has a mental game background.
Psychotherapist
This could be either a masters-level licensed therapist,
or a doctoral-level licensed therapist, who works on a wide
range of family, marital and personal psychotherapeutic issues.
Rarely has a mental game background.
Counselor
In most states this is a trained, licensed professional
counselor with a masters degree who works on family, marital
and personal psychotherapy issues. Rarely has a mental game
background.
Professional Counselor
The state-licensed designation for a masters-level counselor.
Rarely has a mental game background.
MFT
Marriage, Family Therapist. The designated license for professional
counselors in many states. Rarely has a mental game background.
LCSW
This is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Very similar
in training and work scope to an MFT, but may interact more
with families rather than individuals, and be more involved
at the social services level. Licensed and often certified.
Rarely has a mental game background.
TWO STRESS PRACTITIONERS
This class of practitioner specifically assists people who
have stress, anxiety and fear issues. They may also occasionally
help people perform in business and in life situations.
Stress Management Consultant
The main thrust of this type of practitioner is to reduce
and manage stress. Their scope is very limited and focused,
yet valuable, and they sometimes assist people in performance
enhancement. Not licensed, sometimes certified. Sometimes
has a limited mental game background.
Biofeedback Consultant
A highly specialized sub-specialty stress management consultant
who uses psychophysiological technology to assist people in
reducing their stress. Usually licensed and certified, often
a psychotherapist. Rarely has a mental game background.
FOUR SPECIALTY COACHES
This class of coach assists people in various specialized
niches. They also may help people develop and perform in business
and in life.
Sports Coach
Everyone is familiar with this type of coach. The more expert
the coach is in a sport, often the better they are able to
assist you. General sports coaches can only give general help
in a specific sport. Sometimes has a mental game background.
Executive Coach
This is a coach delivering coaching services to supervisors,
managers and executives. They work on career, workplace, leadership,
team-building and professional development issues. Rarely
has a mental game background.
Personal Coach
This is a coach delivering coaching services to people who
want to work on improving their lives, relationships, finances,
health, fitness and general quality of life. Rarely has a
mental game background.
Specialty Coach
This is a coach delivering coaching services to people in
a specific niche such as sales, speaking, customer service,
coaching to coaches. etc. Rarely has a mental game background.
THREE MIND-BODY DISCIPLINE
PRACTITIONERS
This class of practitioner specifically assists people who
have stress, anxiety, habit and fear issues. They may also
occasionally help people perform in business and in life situations.
Body Worker
A very focused group of specialties that reduces stress
by means of mind-body techniques, including breathing, mental
exercises, massage, stretching and other modalities. May or
may not have degrees. Almost always licensed and certified.
Rarely has a mental game background.
Yoga Teacher
A specialized mind-body discipline coming out of Indian
philosophies that seeks to relax, stretch, make aware and
focus a person. May or may not have degrees. Never licensed,
but sometimes certified. Rarely has a mental game background.
Hypnotherapist
This could either be a state-certified or licensed person
(not a psychotherapist, unless they also have that training
and licensure) who provides hypnotherapy services. Some psychotherapists
and counselors receive this extra training and utilize it
as an approach in their practices. Does not require a degree,
either high school or college, unless the training is a higher-order
medical-clinical type. Their main focus is in the reduction
of bad habits (smoking and eating), relaxation training and
fear and phobia reduction. Sometimes has a mental game background,
but this is usually limited.
FIVE SPECIFIC MIND TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES COACHES USE
The public is usually aware of these five major mind coaching
tools. These techniques are not tied to any one particular
school of coaching or therapy. Practitioners from virtually
every discipline utilize these.
Positive Thinking
Perhaps the most common mind tool of all, positive thinking
involves being aware of thoughts and speech and making it
as positive as possible.
Mental Practice
Mental practice is drilling or rehearsing your mind for
an upcoming performance or shaping your mind to enhance a
particular mental or personal quality. This is not a school
of thought or training system, but only one technique any
coach or practitioner might use.
Visualization
This is merely one single mental tool that many coaches
use, not a discipline or coaching system. It involves using
the "movies of your mind" to mentally practice, rehearse contingency
plans, plan for goals, relax, energize, prepare or change
mental, emotional and physical states.
Self-Hypnosis
Once learned from a book, audio tapes, mind practitioner
or a hypnotherapist, this mind-body skill may be utilized
for a wide variety of mental training purposes. Uses include
relaxation, visualization, habit control, fear reduction and
performance enhancement.
Cognitive Restructuring
A more sophisticated mind tool, this requires assistance
from someone knowledgeable in its application. It involves
changing thoughts and patterns of thinking so attitudes and
mind sets are re-formed into desirable and intentional mental
structures.
MAKE YOUR MIND COACH SELECTION CAREFULLY AND WISELY
When selecting your mind coach, take your time. One size
does not fit all. Each coach has different limitations and
plusses, and not all coach background and training is equal.
Not all coaches trained the same have the same abilities and
capabilities. As an MD friend is fond of telling people who
ask, "Even the last person to graduate in the medical school
class is called "Doctor".
Some coach training is narrow and deep and some coach training
is broad and general. The field is a wide one, so make sure
you select someone who has had successful experience in helping
people with your specific issues, desires and goals. Choose
a practitioner on background, reputation and results, not
merely degrees. Chemistry and trust are the two final vital
issues on which to measure your potential coach.
Good luck in your coach-hunting!
To learn more about how coach training can help you become
a better change agent, visit Bill Cole, MS, MA, the Mental
Game Coach™ at www.mentalgamecoach.com/Programs/CoachingSuccess.html.
Copyright © Bill Cole, MS, MA 2006
All rights reserved.
This article covers only one small part of the mental game.
A complete mental training program includes motivation and goal-setting,
pre-event mental preparation, post-event review and analysis,
mental strengthening, self-regulation training, breath control
training, motor skill training, mental rehearsal, concentration
training, pressure-proofing, communication training, confidence-building,
breaking through mental barriers, slump prevention, mental toughness
training, flow training, relaxation training, momentum training,
psych-out proofing and media training.
For a comprehensive overview of your mental abilities you need
an assessment instrument that identifies your complete mental
strengths and weaknesses. For a free, easy-to-take 65-item sport
psychology assessment tool you can score right on the spot,
visit https://www.mentalgamecoach.com/Assessments/MentalGameOfSports.html.
This assessment gives you a quick snapshot of your strengths
and weaknesses in your mental game. You can use this as a guide
in creating your own mental training program, or as the basis
for a program you undertake with Bill Cole, MS, MA to improve
your mental game. This assessment would be an excellent first
step to help you get the big picture about your mental game.
Bill Cole, MS, MA, a leading authority on peak performance, mental toughness
and coaching, is founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching
Association, https://www.mentalgamecoaching.com.
Bill is also founder and CEO of William B. Cole Consultants, a consulting firm that helps
organizations and professionals achieve more success in business, life and sports.
He is a multiple Hall of Fame honoree, an award-winning scholar-athlete, published
book author and articles author, and has coached at the highest levels of major-league
pro sports, big-time college athletics and corporate America. For a free, extensive
article archive, or for questions and comments visit him at www.MentalGameCoach.com.
Article Source: SportsPsychologyCoaching.com
Return to The Mental Game
of Coaching Articles directory.
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