Derby County Chooses MTQ48 Mental Toughness Program
Football is now beyond a sport in the top leagues. It is big business and as such stress and pressure play a significant part in the performance and wellbeing of the players and coaching staff. In the latest example of the use of mental toughness in sport, English Championship football club, Derby County have chosen a tailored mental toughness program, including the use of the MTQ48 psychometric tool, to prepare their academy players for the coming season.
In the program the players achieved, on average double figure percentage improvements for each of the 4C’s :
- Control
- Commitment
- Challenge
- Confidence.
The 4C’s represent the mental toughness framework as developed by Peter Clough and Doug Strycharczyk, which focuses on performance and wellbeing.
Derby County sought to increase attainment and well-being by building mental toughness in sport and improving performance under pressure. They used the “Realise Your Potential” program developed by our UK partner AQR and delivered through Kingswood, the UK residential education and adventure centre for schools.
The program comprised a mix of adventure activities, reflection time and review sessions, using:
- Positive thinking (changing ‘I can’t’ into ‘I can’ )
- Goal setting (learning to avoid feeling overwhelmed by goals and targets, and turning them into something achievable and motivating )
- Anxiety control (learning to avoid panic and to deal with anxiety )
- Visualisation (seeing a challenge and the situation in a positive light )
- Attentional control (learning to focus on doing what needs to be done and avoiding distraction).
The most notable result in the program was a massive 29% average uplift in Life Control, the belief that you shape what happens to you.
For further information on the ‘Realise Your Potential’ Program and the Derby County project and how to increase performance and wellbeing in sport, contact us.