How to Take a Strengths-Based Approach to Mental Skills Training in Sport and Dance

Imagine attending a mental skills workshop and being asked to focus immediately on your weaknesses, mistakes, and performance problems. How motivated would you feel to engage? If you work with athletes or dancers, you've probably seen the same thing we have: mental skills training (MST) is often framed as fixing what's wrong, which might make people most reluctant to engage. However, what if MST isn't about fixing people, but about understanding our minds and figuring out how to support ourselves and others?

More information about MST you can find here.

In our ongoing research, we have spoken to psychologically informed practitioners (PIPs) and their take on MST. Their answer? Let’s not look at what's broken, let’s focus on what's strong! By taking a strengths-based approach to MST, the PIPs have built on the skills, qualities and resources performers already have and managed to engage and interest them in MST.

This post is for those working with athletes or dancers that and want to get some inspiration how to work more strength-based with MST. Here are the key tips PIPs have shared with us.

1. Create a climate where mental skills can land and performers can engage

None of this works if performers don't feel safe to engage. Build space for choice, freedom and validation, and respect that performers might want to engage differently with the content. Share your own experiences and vulnerabilities to establish a safe sharing culture. Such a climate will not only enable performers to engage with MST but also make the workshop/session into something they want to come back to.

2. Start with a strengths profile

PIPs helped each performer identify what they already know and how they tick. Insight into existing strengths and preferences is not only valuable to build and adjust workshop content, but also to enhance performers’ confidence.

But how to do it? The SPRINT project has a free interactive strengths profiling tool that lets you map a performer's strengths in a single session. It's a great way to open a conversation from a position of strength rather than deficit.

Ask questions like:

• What do you do well when things get hard?

• When are you at your best in training or on stage?

• What do others compliment you on?

The answers become a powerful foundation for reflections, insights and everything that follows.

3. Make strengths visible with compliment cards

Some performers might find it hard to engage in strength-based approaches. Many will rely on corrections and critical feedback to grow and develop and easily forget to track the nice things others said to them. An activity that could address this problem and works especially well in group sessions are compliment cards. It's simple and takes about ten minutes:

• In groups of two or three, give each attendee a card

• Ask them to write one genuine, specific strength or compliment they've noticed in each person in their group, such as "you stay calm under pressure in rehearsals", "you always lift the energy when it drops".

• Once the cards are written, ask the performers to gift the cards to each other, so everyone receives one written about them.

• Invite a few people to read theirs aloud, or keep it private if they prefer.

Why it works? It builds self-awareness (performers see how others view their strengths), confidence (those strengths become visible and named), and it gives everyone a strengths vocabulary they can use in their own profiling and goal-setting. The card becomes a small, tangible resource they can keep and return to on a hard day. It can also become a great reflection tool that can be used to introduce performers to journalling and reflective diaries.

4. Build mental skills activities around their strengths

Once you know what's strong, connect it to activities. If you work in a studio, gymnasium, or a larger room, use each room corner for an activity.

• 1st corner: Performers can use their strength to solve a problem (e.g., how to execute a difficult piece of choreography).

• 2nd corner: Performers can discuss and build support systems based on the strengths of those in close proximity to them (e.g., physios, parents, teachers).

• 3rd corner: Performers can identify new ways to bring their strengths into the training or performance space.

• 4th corner: Performers can do a “skill swap”: what strengths does each dancer possess and how can others attain or learn from these strengths?

After 10 minutes, make the performers rotate clockwise, so that all have engaged in each activity.

If you want more ideas how to turn strengths into activities, some of our blog posts outline some great ideas that performers might enjoy! For example, the SPRINT project's Tree of life, Goal-setting or Strengths profiling activities are a powerful way to explore strengths and identity in depth. You'll find it in our resources or by clicking on the provided link.

5. Give them ownership over mental skills development

Strengths-based MST works best when performers have a say. Let them set their own goals, choose the techniques (e.g., goal-setting, imagery) that feel right, reflect with the performers how they can apply them in their own training, and celebrate the progress made and milestones achieved. When someone owns their mental skills development, they stop being a passive recipient and become an active, self-regulated learner who keeps engaging with MST long after the session or workshop ends.

In short

A strengths-based approach to MST matters. It meets performers where they are, builds on what they already do well, and offers them ownership of their growth and development. The PIPs we spoke to started with what was strong, and it changed how performers showed up. They described greater buy-in from athletes and dancers, increased engagement with MST in workshops and more confidence in using the techniques once the workshops ended. In short, when people feel seen for what they do well, they are often more willing to engage with new skills, tackle challenges, and take ownership of their development. Sometimes the most effective place to start is not with what needs fixing, but with what is already strong.

For Performers (Athletes and Dancers)

Before your next training session, rehearsal, or competition, take five minutes to reflect on your strengths. Ask yourself:

• What do I do well when things get difficult?

• What strengths help me perform at my best?

• What personal qualities have helped me overcome challenges in the past?

Rather than focusing solely on what needs improving, consider how you can use your existing strengths more intentionally in your preparation and performance.

For Dance Teachers, Coaches, and Educators

Consider how often your conversations focus on correcting weaknesses compared with recognising strengths.

This week, ask one performer: "What strengths do you bring to training, rehearsal, or performance?"

You might also try incorporating a strengths-based activity, such as peer compliments, strengths reflection, or sharing examples of when performers were at their best. Small changes in language can help create an environment where performers feel valued, confident, and motivated to engage.

For Psychologically Informed Practitioners

Reflect on how strengths are currently incorporated into your mental skills training practice.

• Do you begin with what is strong as well as what needs development?

• How are performers involved in shaping their own learning and goals?

• Are your activities helping performers recognise, articulate, and apply their strengths?

You may wish to explore tools such as strengths profiling, compliment cards, or strengths-based reflective exercises to support engagement, ownership, and long-term development.

Wherever you work in sport or dance, a strengths-based approach begins with a simple question: What is already strong here, and how can we build on it?

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Written by Michelle Dwarika, Doctoral researcher for the SPRINT team. She is currently planning and developing a MST program for freelance dance artists.

References:

• Cumming, J., Whiting, R., Parry, B. J., Clarke, F. J., Holland, M. J., Cooley, S. J., & Quinton, M. L. (2022). The My Strengths Training for Life™ program: Rationale, logic model, and description of a strengths-based intervention for young people experiencing homelessness. Evaluation and Program Planning, 91, 102045.

• Lubert, V. J., Nordin-Bates, S. M., & Ginsborg, J. (2025). Psychological coaching for performing artists: perceptions of and reflections on finding ways to manage performance anxiety. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 43(1), 721-743.

• Stuckey, M., Richard, V., Decker, A., Aubertin, P., & Kriellaars, D. (2021). Supporting holistic wellbeing for performing artists during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery: Study protocol. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 577882.

• Zhang, K., & Cui, Z. (2026). Strength-based leadership with followers' work–life balance and workplace deviance: the roles of proactive vitality management and mindfulness. Baltic Journal of Management, 21(3), 340-359.