Mental Game Strategies to Find Momentum
What is momentum in sports?
When an athlete talks about momentum, they are describing the mental phenomena of being on a roll or having a higher level of confidence…
Unfortunately, when an athlete attributes failure to a lack of momentum, they often doom themselves to a bad performance before it is even finished.
For example, how many times have you made the conclusion, “I just don’t have it today,” even before a game is finished? When this happens, you are mentally ‘mailing it in.’
When you concede before its over, your goal is no longer to try to re-group; it merely is to put an end to your misery as fast as you can and get in your car as quickly as possible.
Warning signs of negative momentum include thoughts such as:
- “I can’t get into a rhythm.”
- “I don’t have it today.”
- “My shot is off today”
- “I’m having an off day.”
- “I can’t get anything going.”
The only way to find momentum is to pump the brakes and re-group.
LPGA Paula Creamer fell into the negative momentum trap at the 2017 Shoprite Classic.
Creamer was tied for the lead heading into the last round, in position for her first victory since 2014.
After a few bad holes, Creamer was unable to re-group and regain her form of the previous day where she played the best golf of her season.
CREAMER: “We just couldn’t get a rhythm. And especially with some of these pins and with the wind and everything, it’s all happening so fast and you kind of can’t regroup. I didn’t do a very good job of that.”
The interesting part of Creamer’s comment was that she puts partial blame on the wind for the negative momentum even though all the golfers played under the same conditions.
This negative momentum can trap any athlete in any sport…
For example, a baseball player may conclude, “I can’t catch up to the fastball today.” …Or a tennis player may think, “I can’t win a game today.” …Or the basketball player who says to himself, “I can’t make a shot this game.”
If you are not aware of these internal scripts, this negativity will take hold of your mind.
Also, you must be proactive in order to reverse the momentum. Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes.
4 Steps to Find Momentum When It’s Lost:
Step 1: Recognize when your internal dialogue starts trending towards the negative.
Step 2: Hit the brakes. You need to interrupt the negative momentum or hit the pause button. This could be as simple as saying the word, “Stop!” or visualizing yourself hitting a pause button.
Step #3: Calm yourself physically and mentally. Take a couple of deep breaths or shake out your muscles.
Step #4: Regroup and start over on the next play, point, or shot. Feed yourself some positive statements or call to mind positive images where you were on top of your game.
Also, look for reasons to get on the momentum train. Good breaks, successful plays or calls that go your way can change your momentum.
And make sure you are focusing on the process by using the Focused Athlete program:
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- Keeping Confidence When You Lack Momentum
- Momentum Shift Led to Super Bowl LI Win
- Fragile Confidence and Perfectionism in Volleyball
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The Focused Athlete
It’s probably no secret that you have many opportunities to become distracted in sports. Athletes are bombarded with both internal and external distractions everyday in practice and competition. Focused athletes are able to get the most from their skills because they are more efficient with practice and more concentrated in competition. Athletes who lack focus let distractions run wild through their mind and don’t know how to adjust or refocus.
The Focused Athlete was developed for any level coach, parent, or junior to professional athlete who wants to improve performance and gain a competitive edge. It does not matter if you are a fledgling junior athlete; or a seasoned professional, plagued with distractions; or you just wanting to learn how to improve concentration…
“The Focused Athlete” is a complete system to teach you how to focus like a champion and harness the power of a zone focus every time you step on the playing field, court, track, or course in practice and games!