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How do you describe mental toughness?
It’s a slippery term; we know what we mean when we say it, but it is hard to define. And does it mean the same thing to every athlete?
For example, a tennis player has to manage the pressure of competing alone, while a baseball player faces long stretches between moments of action.
So, we asked eight athletes: How do you define mental toughness in your sport?
Natasha Cloud, WNBA: Admitting you’re not OK
One day at practice, Cloud, a starting guard for the Chicago Sky, looked at her teammate, Courtney Vandersloot, and said, “I only have 20 percent for you today. I need you to pick up my other 80. I’m sorry I’m making you pick up my other 80, but I have to vocalize that I’m not OK today.”
“That’s what it means to be mentally tough,” Cloud said. “Obviously, yes, put one foot in front of the other, left foot, right foot, breathe. But it’s also being able to ask for help when you need it, feeling safe to ask for help when you need it, and understanding how much power comes in vulnerability.”
That day, Cloud felt Vandersloot beside her throughout practice, louder and more encouraging than usual, which steadily pushed her toward where she needed to be.
Colin Wilson, NHL: Treating yourself with empathy
Wilson, a former NHL player for the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators, used to think mental toughness meant never quitting. Looking back on his 11-year career, though, he wishes he had learned sooner that self-empathy is part of being mentally tough, too.
After eight years with the same team, Wilson was traded from Nashville to Colorado. On his first day, he showed up at the rink without knowing the gate code and stood outside with his bags, waiting for another player to let him in.
“It was just like I was a new kid at a new school, trying to figure out how I’m going to fit in,” he said. “Everybody’s already so close on the team, but you’re trying to learn a new system.”
Wilson called it “the worst year” of his career. What helped him get through it was giving himself some flexibility.
He thinks people have different “baselines,” a level of physical and mental capacity that can shift depending on what’s happening in their lives. Because everyone’s baseline is different, he believes we have to give ourselves room to adjust.
For Wilson, that was harder mentally than physically. He knew how to push through a workout or grind through a game. The hard part was allowing himself to ease up when he needed to.
That season may have been the worst of his career from a performance standpoint, but it ended with what he considers the “best year-end meeting” of his career.
Head coach Joe Sakic sat him down and said, “Hey, the guys really like you in the locker room, and you are a joy to work with.”
In a way, flexibility is what got him there.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s very nice because I was not great out there,’ ” Wilson said. “So at least he was flexible with me.”
Cliff Floyd, MLB: Trusting yourself when results aren’t there
A hitter can have a good at-bat and still walk back to the dugout 0-for-1. Do it 30 times, and the mental side of baseball becomes harder to separate from the results.
Cliff Floyd, who played 17 seasons in MLB — most notably for the Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins and New York Mets — said that’s when mental toughness is needed.
Floyd said a hitter can study what he is doing wrong, work on it, feel good about the adjustment he made, walk to the plate with a good attitude and a sound plan — and still hit the ball directly to the second baseman for an out.
That is what Floyd said takes time to understand and develop: an at-bat’s result doesn’t always tell you whether you handled it correctly. But you have to keep trusting yourself.
“By year 7, 8, 9, you start saying: I did what I needed to do today. I worked my ass off,” Floyd said. “I can ball this paper up today, throw it away and look forward to tomorrow. When you can do that, you’ve conquered mental toughness.”
Mary Stoiana, tennis: Zoom in when things get difficult
On a hot, humid August night, Stoiana faced Oksana Selekhmeteva in the second round of qualifiers at the Cincinnati Open.
After winning the first set 6-0, Stoiana felt she had won the match.
By the third set, everything had changed. She was tired. The night suddenly felt late. And she caught herself thinking, “This could have and should have been done an hour ago.”
That’s when she tried to tap into what she calls a “blacked-out state,” where she blocks everything out and zooms in on exactly what’s in front of her.
She repeated to herself, “You got this.” Stoiana kept her shoulders high, jumped up and down to reset her mind and body and held on to win the match.
For Stoiana, it was a real-life example of mental toughness.
“It’s not easy, and I had to really fight through and stay tough to get through it,” she said.
Stacey Copeland, boxer: Sisu
One Finnish word has completely changed former professional boxer Stacey Copeland’s life. She has it plastered on her phone case and wears the word around her neck on a custom necklace.
To her, it defines mental toughness.
“Sisu” translates to the spirit with which you face adversity.
After Copeland retired from boxing, her “sisu” was tested when her best friend took her own life.
“That was one of those things that didn’t make sense,” Copeland said. “Why would you give a beautiful human being with just the most wonderful soul an illness so bad that it eventually takes them from us?”
Later, after she came out of the initial grief period, Copeland asked herself, “What is the sisu here?”
She decided to throw her friend the best possible celebration of life she could, organized a mural of her friend to be painted and reconnected with friends she hadn’t seen in years.
“Beautiful things came from just the worst tragedy,” Copeland said. “But it’s an example of when I needed to know what sisu was.”
Robert Turbin, NFL: Can you finish the final reps?
In college, Turbin, a former NFL player who spent most of his career with the Seattle Seahawks, said his Utah State team had to run grueling 110-yard sprints.
Linemen had to do it in 15 seconds, linebackers in 14 and skill players like Turbin in 12.
They weren’t allowed to bend over or put their hands on their knees, so when one player was exhausted, he leaned on someone less worn down.
“There were times I was the guy that was the shoulder, and there were times, even as a captain, I needed a shoulder,” Turbin said. “Once you accomplish that and you know you can do it in your own mind, you keep trying to raise the stakes. Part of that is being in shape, but a huge part of it is establishing the mental fortitude.”
The willingness to push through discomfort began in college but followed him through his eight seasons in the NFL, where he mostly played for the Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts. In the pros, dealing with pain became part of the job.
“That’s a risk that you take because somebody else comes in and that somebody else may never, ever come off the field again,” he said. “In football, you better have some of that mental toughness.”
Jackson Suber, golf: Blocking out negative thoughts under stress
As a PGA Tour golfer, Suber sees mental toughness as learning how his body and mind respond as pressure builds.
To prepare, he pays attention to moments throughout the week when he feels a strong emotion. Maybe he comes home to his fiancé and dog and feels completely relaxed and happy, or maybe he reads something negative about himself and notices a spike of anxiety.
Instead of pushing those feelings away, he pays attention to what happens next. Does his chest tighten? Does his breathing change?
Over time, those reactions become information.
That awareness becomes especially valuable on the golf course, where he said stress can build quickly and he can’t completely avoid it. A missed putt or a bad swing can trigger the same physical and emotional signals he’s experienced off the green.
So he taught himself to recognize those signals early enough to respond rather than let them dictate the rest of the tournament.
“There’s no way to completely block out stuff,” he said, “but I think softening your response and how much certain things affect you is kind of where I put that definition.”
Arch Manning, college football: Let your mistakes fuel you
To Arch Manning, the quarterback of the Texas Longhorns, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford personifies mental toughness for one reason: He bounces back after mistakes.
Last season, Stafford was one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks at scoring on a possession after turning the ball over.
Recently, he bounced back from a pick six by throwing a 48-yard touchdown pass on the very next drive in the Rams’ game against the Denver Broncos.
“I think it’s having that mentality of dealing with adversity, which I continue to get better at,” Manning said. “You need that in sports.”
— Jayson Jenks contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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