ABSTRACT
In ancient times, athletes were depicted as able-bodied, fully functioning, physically gifted individuals. The modern-day athlete is often expected to embody the same way of being: confident, devoid of weakness, mentally tough, and strong. Consistent with this long-standing culture, young athletes are often socialized to conform to a sporting environment that can be emotionally inhibitive and geared toward eliminating supposed barriers to performance deficits, such as “negative” thoughts and emotions, and lack of confidence. This is evident in the dominant approach to performance enhancement, traditional psychological skills training (PST), which rests on the theoretical assumption that optimal performance occurs when athletes learn to control their internal states (Hardy, Jones, & Gould, 1996) and that athletic performance can be disrupted due to “negative” thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations (Weinberg & Gould, 2003). As such, it may seem on the surface that several of the concepts fundamental to mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches are foreign to the world of sport. In many ways this is true, as it can be difficult to get athletes to buy into the notion that they do not need to have “positive” thoughts, a certain level of confidence, or eliminate anxiety in order to reach peak performance. Yet athletes often resonate with the benefits of present awareness, as their reported experience of ideal performance states typically involves an acute focus on the moment.
