Sports psychology refers to an athlete's ability to maximize performance by managing negative thoughts and emotions through consistent practice of mental skills.

All athletes fall victim to slumps, mistakes and mental letdowns from time to time. Psychological skills training can help athletes maintain concentration, control stress levels and limit the likelihood that mental issues will overshadow their physical skills and performance.

The table below summarizes the sports psychology skills which are most important to athletic performance and which can be improved with mental skills training.

Trainable Sports Psychology Skills	Description
MENTAL TOUGHNESS	Mental toughness is having a psychological edge that enables an athlete to cope better with adversity than opponents and to remain in control, determined, focused, confident, and resilient under pressure.
FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION	The ability to focus allows athletes to isolate important information needed for performance from irrelevant stimuli which cause distraction. Athletes with good concentration skills can remain fully focused on the task at hand in the face of distractions such as loud noises from cheering crowds and flashes of light from photographers.
BREATHING AND RELAXATION	Being in a relaxed state is important for achieving peak performance. One way to help athletes during clutch periods is to use breathing techniques. Breathing techniques are simple and powerful, yet few athletes take the time to learn and perfect these skills.
VISUALIZATION	Visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention of what an athlete wants to happen. Many athletes now routinely use visualization techniques as part of their training. Research shows that physical skills can actually be improved with visualization. Repeated mental imagery, it has been found, can build both experience and confidence in an athlete's ability to perform certain skills under pressure.
PREPARATION	How an athlete prepares mentally before an important competition can greatly influence their performance. Positive self-talk, positive affirmations and a positive pre-event routine can help re-focus the mind and overcome problems associated with a negative attitude, such as fear, intimidation, and self-doubt.