Mental Skills Matter: Your Guide to Learning, Applying, and Sharing Them
Mental skills aren’t just for elite athletes, dancers, or high-performance environments; they’re for everyone. Whether you're an athlete, dancer, coach, researcher, young person, or practitioner, mental skills help us navigate pressure, build confidence, recover from setbacks, and connect with others in meaningful ways.
At The SPRINT Project, we believe mental skills are essential tools for wellbeing, inclusion, and emotional safety, as well as performance. That’s why we’ve created a growing library of blogs, toolkits, activities, and research to help you explore, implement, and share these skills in your own context.
This post is your starting point, a reference guide and signpost to everything we offer on mental skills. Whether you're new to the topic or looking to deepen your practice, you’ll find something here to support your journey.
What Are Mental Skills?
Mental skills, also known as psychological skills, are techniques that help people regulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviour. They support performance, wellbeing, and resilience across disciplines.
New to Mental Skills? Start Here
Some examples of mental skills include, but are not limited to: goal setting, imagery, self-talk, and emotional regulation. Before we dive into specific mental skills, here are some broader resources that would be a great start point for those who may be new to the topic!
Want to listen to a talk about how mental skills training can help improve peak performance for athletes and Jedi alike? Prof Jennifer Cumming and Prof Matthew Broome share key insights here: What do the Jedi and mental skills training for athletes have in common?
Beyond Elite Athletes: How do Young People Experience Mental Skills Training?
Ready to dive in?
🎯 Goal-Setting
Supports motivation, direction, and clarity of purpose.
📖 Blog posts
Think Outside the SMART Box Explores SMART goals alongside open and do-your-best goals, offering flexible alternatives for creative and emotionally complex settings.
How to Set Goals for Success Breaks down learning vs. performance goals and introduces SMART goal-setting as part of the MST toolkit.
Harnessing the Power of MST Highlights goal-setting as a core strategy in MST4Life™ and LifeMatters programs for youth experiencing disadvantage.
Mental Skills Training Day with Youth Voice Shares how young people used goal-setting in outdoor learning and reflective activities.
The Role of Sport Psychology in Physiotherapy: An Interview with a Specialist Mental skills such as goal setting in physiotherapy.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
Mental Skills Training Toolkit Downloadable SMART goal templates and co-designed guidance for psychologically informed delivery.
Interactive Goal-Setting Page A hands-on digital tool to help users apply learning and performance goals to personal ambitions.
🧩 Imagery
Supports movement rehearsal, pain management, and emotional connection.
📖 Blog posts
Introducing imagery: a key mental skill for success in sport and life What you need to know about this important mental skill using lessons from athletes.
Mental Imagery in Injury Recovery Explains how athletes use visualization to manage pain, rehearse movement, and stay mentally connected during rehab.
Enhancing Mental Skills for Freelance Dance Artists Introduces a research protocol exploring MST in dance, with a focus on imagery and wellbeing.
Unlocking Self-Compassion in Dance: An Infographic Resource for the Studio and Beyond Mentions use of imagery in self-compassion
7 Grounding Techniques for Dancers: Staying Present in High-Stress Moments How imagery can be an important mental skill for grounding
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
Mental Skills Training Toolkit Includes imagery-based exercises and visualization prompts adapted for youth contexts.
🧠 Self-Awareness
Supports understanding of personal triggers, strengths, and needs.
📖 Blog posts
ADHD in Sport: A Patient Perspective Reflects on neurodivergent experience in sport and the importance of self-awareness in coaching, inclusion, and mental health.
Cultivating Researcher Wellbeing Explores how self-awareness and boundary-setting contribute to emotional safety and systemic care in academic spaces.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
Tree of Life Activity A therapeutic exercise that helps participants explore personal strengths, values, and life experiences . Ideal for building self-awareness and narrative identity.
🗣️ Self-Talk
Supports confidence, stress management, and emotional regulation.
📖 Blog Posts
Sprint Smarter: Tackling RED-S Offers coaching strategies that include reframing internal dialogue and building body image resilience.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
Mental Skills Training Toolkit Features self-talk exercises and reframing tools for youth and practitioners.
🎯 Concentration
Supports sustained attention and task focus.
📖 Blog posts
Beyond Elite Athletes Evaluates how MST4Life™ helps young people improve focus and apply skills in future contexts.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
💪 Confidence
Supports belief in ability, self-worth, and performance.
📖 Blog posts
Emma Wins Poster Award at IADMS Shares findings on self-compassion and confidence-building in dance students.
ADHD in Sport: A Patient Perspective Reflects on confidence and inclusion in sport from a neurodivergent perspective.
Celebrating 100 Downloads Highlights how MST builds confidence and agency in youth settings.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
😌 Emotional Regulation
Supports constructive navigation of feelings and stress.
📖 Blog posts
Cultivating Researcher Wellbeing Discusses emotional regulation and boundary-setting in academic and advocacy spaces.
Help-Seeking in Sport Synthesizes research on emotional barriers and enablers to help-seeking.
Making Safeguarding Visible in the Studio Includes activities that help dancers regulate emotional intensity and build trust.
How to Regulate Our Emotions 101 Guide to emotional regulation.
How Our Emotions Impact Our Lives: Inside Out 2 Film Preview! Explores how our internal emotional world shapes how we interact with the outside world.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
🧩 Resilience
Supports recovery from setbacks and long-term wellbeing.
📖 Blog posts
Sporting Chance Summit Reflections Highlights athlete voice and mental health resilience in sport.
Sprint Smarter: Tackling RED-S Frames body image resilience as a key coaching tool.
🧰 Activities / Toolkits
Fancy diving into this research further? Explore our range of academic publications on the topic
Imagery Book Chapter – Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition and Sport Psychology Explores mental imagery in dance and sport through an embodied cognition lens, with implications for injury recovery and performance.
Systematic Review Protocol: MST in Dance Outlines the methodology for reviewing MST interventions in dance.
BMJ Patient Perspective A peer-reviewed reflection on ADHD, identity, and psychological support in sport, emphasizing the role of self-awareness in inclusive practice.
Characteristics of Mental Skills Training Interventions in Dance
Final Thoughts
Mental skills are for everyone. They help us show up, speak up, and stay grounded, whether we’re performing, recovering, learning, or leading. At The SPRINT Project, we’re committed to making these skills visible, accessible, and empowering.
Explore the links above, download a toolkit, or dive into a blog post. And if you’re new here, welcome. We’re glad you found us.
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