10 Mental Toughness Strategies Every Hockey Player Should Know

Want to develop your hockey mental toughness? Then you are ready to take your game to the next level. 

While many players think mental toughness is something you are born with; this is not completely true. Yes, some players are more mentally tough just by their nature, but most develop their toughness over seasons of hockey. Mental toughness can be developed through your experiences. Furthermore, it can be learned by systematically training your mind to handle the pressures of hockey. 

What you need to know is that mental toughness is not a cure-all and is something you work on all the time. You do not master mental toughness and then never have to use mental skills again. Like communication, mental toughness is something to be mastered and continually worked on.

As I work with elite hockey players I am realizing that there are 10 keys every hockey player needs to know related to the mental game of hockey that are not talked about enough or at all. These skills or strategies you should use the rest of your hockey career.

1. Have a mental game plan
2. Avoid dwelling on guilt and embarrassment
3. Avoid negative outbursts just to save your pride
4. Venting is important, but do it in a positive way
5. You are not perfect; it’s about the bounce back
6. Before big games break a good sweat in warm ups
7. Set process goals for games
8. Train to play your game under pressure
9. Recovering your energy is as important as training the body
10. Develop mental weapons

Over the next five weeks I will post each one of these skills and provide details on how to develop it. Come back to the hockey edge blog to read some of the most important mental toughness strategies you will ever learn, and probably will not learn just by experience.