You're in. Your toolkit is on its way.
Check your inbox for an email from Caitlin at The Sports Mindset — your free toolkit is attached and ready to use at your next session.
While you wait — read this.
➔ You already know how to spot a technical error.
➔ A dropped shoulder.
➔ A late swing.
➔ A missed assignment.
That's what we're trained to look for. But the mental side of performance? It shows up in completely different signals. And most coaches were never taught what those signals look like.
Here's one signal to watch for at your very next session.
Watch for the athlete who walks onto the training ground and just... arrives.
Phone away. No side conversations. Eyes forward. Settled. Present. Ready to work.
Most coaches walk straight past that moment. But what you're looking at is a focused mind showing up — and focus is one of the hardest mental skills to build in a young athlete. When you see it, name it. Say it out loud: "I noticed you arrived ready today. That's a mental skill."
Watch what happens when an athlete realises that showing up present is something worth being proud of.
Here's how to use your toolkit at your next session.
Open the cheat sheet — it's the first thing you'll see when you open the toolkit. Print it. Keep it in your kit bag.
Here's exactly what to do:
ARRIVE
First 2 minutes
Pick one prompt from the first column and run it before training starts.
Ask your athletes to name one thing they're leaving outside today, just in
their head, no need to share. Or ask them to
pick one word for how they want to show up.
Two minutes. That's it. You've just drawn a line between wherever they
came from and the session you need them in.
FOCUS
Woven throughout the session
No extra time needed here. The middle column gives you
eight language swaps, small shifts in the words you're
already using that have a big impact on how athletes think about themselves.
Start with just one this week.
Instead of "Good effort", try
"Tell me one specific thing you did well there."
Instead of "Just calm down", try
"That feeling means you care. What can you control right now?"
One swap. Notice what changes.
REFLECT
Last 2 minutes
Before athletes leave, ask one question. That's all.
"What did you do well today that you want to remember?"
Rotate the question each week using the prompts in column three.
This habit builds over a whole season.
Athletes start noticing their own growth, and that's one of the most powerful drivers of motivation you'll ever create.
That's five minutes across your whole session. Three steps. And you've just started training the mental side of performance.
Your full toolkit goes deeper on the why behind each part — and includes age adaptation tips so it works whether you're coaching under-12s or State level athletes.
And, if you want to understand what's actually going on inside each of your athletes — why some freeze and some rise — there's one more thing I'd love you to check out.
The Free Athlete Mindset Quiz
Have your athletes take the free 3-minute quiz to discover their dominant mental profile. It gives you an instant roadmap for how to coach each athlete through pressure, mistakes and the moments that matter most.
Take the Quiz →