Picture two wrestlers who are roughly equal in technique and strength. Both have trained for months, both have made weight, and now they sit beside the mat. One is calm, breathing evenly, running the first tie-up through his mind. The other keeps thinking about the result: "What if I lose?" The outcome of this bout has been decided here, in the minds of the two athletes, more than it will be on the mat.
Many experienced coaches say that at the top levels of wrestling, where everyone knows technique and everyone is strong, what separates the champion from the rest is the mind. The good news is that the champion mindset is not an inborn trait; it is a skill that, like a fireman's carry or a leg attack, can be learned and trained. Research, too, links an athlete's belief that ability can be learned with the kind of goals they set and their competitive anxiety [6]. That is exactly the belief we pursue at MHP CLUB with the motto "champions are made, not born".
In this article we turn to the sport psychology of wrestling, but not in the complicated language of textbooks; in the language of the mat. We get to know five key mental skills and introduce a few simple exercises the athlete can start at home tonight.
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