“I lost my axel” is a common phrase sputtered in ice rinks across the country.
When I was coaching ice skating, I would usually reply with something along the lines of, “Did you check with the front desk?” or “Is it under your bed?” and my students would look at me very puzzled.
“Losing” a skill has become nomenclature in sports like gymnastics, cheer, figure skating, dance, and truly most individual sports.
Where do mental blocks come from?
So no – athletes don’t exactly lose a skill, but also… where DID it… go?
Most likely, nothing physical has really changed. Instead, an athlete is experiencing a mental block.
According to the Association for Applied Sports Psychology:
“A mental block is a disconnect between the mind and body, or the conscious and unconscious mind.“
Mental blocks are extremely frustrating as an athlete. They can be infuriating as a coach too.
As I wrote in one of my earlier blog posts, they seem to emerge when the stakes get higher.
A dancer’s aerial is great four weeks out from competition. Then the week of… it goes to the lint trap.
“Lost.”
Coaching through mental blocks and parenting through mental blocks is something that requires as much patience as watching your 5-year-old learn to tie their shoes. It can be arduous. It ruffles a feather on anyone within proximity… and thus, exacerbates the entire situation.
When ‘losing’ a skill becomes a ‘thing’
Here’s an example of a mental block we see a lot in figure skating:
A skater has mastered a difficult element, in this case, let’s say the double lutz.
The skater has this element in her program and as she trains for an upcoming competition she starts to “pop” this element, which means she is not committing and opens up in the air for it to be a single jump instead of a double.
This becomes more than a one-off, and now the double lutz is a “thing” and it’s no longer being completed anywhere close to the level of mastery.
Cue a well-intentioned coach that screams “JUST PULL IN!” – which often comes from a place of “what the actual heck?” and also… safety. When a mental block interferes with a challenging and dangerous skill – the athlete can be at risk. (More on this below.)
Discerning the why behind a lost skill
Often a mental block seemingly appears out of nowhere… and it can be incredibly hard to figure out WHY the mental block is happening.
Youth athletes often cannot articulate the why – they just know they are struggling, and without some coping skills here, this can quickly escalate to self-doubt, tears, frustration, and negative self-talk.
If you remember when Simone Biles dropped out of the all-around gymnastics event in Tokyo, it was due to her mental health, and specifically because she was experiencing “twisties” on the vault.
At her level of gymnastics, opening up and not completing the intended skill can result in dire consequences. Her brain and body were not in sync, and she was losing her sense of where she was in the air.
You’ve seen her fly – can you imagine being her and not knowing if you were safe to land?
Fear and mental blocks
Often dealing with a mental block is not as simple as pushing through.
The course of action in working toward mastery again can vary drastically, however. And it may require some re-wiring.
And I do think that mental blocks can be very personal. We have to really dig into the emotions involved – is it fear?
- Fear of injury?
- Fear of other’s opinions?
- Fear of failure?
- Fear of disappointing themselves?
- Fear of missing an opportunity?
While the base feeling is fear, the context can be very nuanced.
Is it anxiety? Attention and focus issues?
What else is happening in the athlete’s sporting life? In their school life? In their home life?
Communication surrounding all areas can be beneficial to getting to the root issue.
Mental blocks and pressure – gasoline on the fire
Typically, when an athlete experiences a mental block, there is a great loss of confidence, and continuous negative reinforcement is like sprinkling gasoline on a campfire.
If competition or games are approaching, well now we may have surrounding trees catching fire – it becomes a much bigger ordeal.
Add parental pressure (remember even if it’s not blatant or deliberate, there is often a sense of wanting to please parents), coaching dynamics, financial strain – sometimes an athlete can only take so much before things get a little short-circuited.
Avoid planting mental block seeds of doubt
When I write about the dangers of limiting beliefs, mental blocks can originate from conversations amongst athletes, witnessing a bad fall, seeing teammates or peers struggling and imprinting those experiences upon themselves.
Have you ever had someone stereotype the heck out of something in sports?
“Adult skaters just don’t do… (insert skill here).”
“Women do not have the strength it takes to do a quadruple jump.”
“You know Alyssa… she broke her leg on that jump.”
Our brain can file these statements in a card catalog that lives on the 13th floor of a dark abandoned library only to be pulled as soon as you start struggling with that skill.
The term “mental block” gets thrown around a lot, too. So much so that in my own experience an athlete or coach may contribute to giving an initial “lapse” more power than it deserves.
Deciding – is it truly a mental block?
Recently, I developed a list of questions to help coaches determine the root issue of an athlete missing an element:
1. How close can the athlete get to performing the skill successfully on their own in practice?
2. Can the athlete articulate if their lapse in performing a skill is fear-based?
3. Can the athlete complete the skill in practice to the desired level, but not when under pressure (game, performance, etc.)?
4. Has the athlete been able to successfully complete the skill (to the level of mastery) prior to this lapse?
5. Can the athlete articulate any specific negative associations with the skill?
6. Is this a one-off or a pattern?
7. Is there reason to believe that there is a fundamental technical component that is lacking?
Answering these questions can help coaches decipher – is this a mental block to address with intention? Or is this a push-through moment?
Also, it can help the coach assure the athlete that they are meeting them right where they are at – it can open up a conversation and even alleviate some pressure.
The reason why I find this helpful is that the emotion surrounding the skill is very important to working through the challenge.
Hope for dealing with mental blocks
Honestly, a great number of inquiries come my way due to mental blocks. And I love to help in this area.
There is hope and there are methods.
Something like systematic desensitization – we can back up skills to a place where the athlete IS successful and can slowly rebuild.
We can build confidence by pointing to historical data – by finding transferrable experiences, by reframing, by helping them find their own unique strengths and moments where they successfully worked through a big challenge.
We can discuss emotions openly without judgment and help them master the art of acknowledging emotions, and then letting them pass.
If your athlete is experiencing a mental block, or you are an athlete experiencing one … deep breaths, you’ve got this and I am here to help.
