Psychological

I like to tell my athletes that our sport is 80% mental and 20% physical during competitions. I say this because we prepared them physically, tactically, and technically. Not much can be done besides the athletes putting it all together for the performance. (During the training week, it would be the opposite: 80% physical and 20% mental). With the help of Dr. David Scott (Montreal Canadiens sports performance psychologist), Marco Ouellette (ex-head coach of the USport Ottawa Gee Gee’s and Carleton Raven’s Female Varsity Hockey Teams), Claude Beaulieu (Board-certified clinical psychologist and Iron Man competitor) and empirical evidence, a specific list of mental key performance indicators was developed and prioritized (commitment, coachability, desire/determination/grit, confidence, resilience, focus, mental preparation, and emotional control).

We conduct psychological testing to provide insight into the athletes’ psychological framework. With this information, we can direct our mental sessions more precisely toward the perceived gaps. Although we have theoretical benchmarks for these test results, we use them more for grading the athletes than actual benchmarks to reach. Psychological training is a long process, and trying to reach specific benchmarks could be unrealistic. Therefore, our main objective is to provide a solid foundation for the weaker skills and improve the stronger ones to succeed during the next stage.