Welcome to the Utah Lacrosse Mental Gym! Getting Started

Welcome to the Utah Lacrosse “Mental Gym”!

The purpose of this gym is to give you a framework to help you develop your confidence, grit, toughness, happiness, and success.  If you’re looking for an overnight fix, this program will not be for you.  No great thing is created overnight.   The activities and questions we ask you will not always be easy or fun—they will take some serious soul searching.  It will be even harder to put the lessons into practice which we will ask you to do moment-to-moment, for the rest of your life.  We will never arrive.  Mental toughness training takes an uncommon commitment catching ourselves in the moment that we’re being less than the best version of ourself, and “flipping the switch” to act like the identity you set for yourself.

Think of championship mindset training as going to a weightlifting gym.  We don’t go the gym to lift styrofoam weights. We need to push ourselves outside our comfort zone to grow.   Just like lifting you may not immediately see your gains.  It may even feel like it’s not helping at first, but just like lifting if your practice patiently, consistently, and deliberately you will change your behavior, realize your identity, and accomplish whatever you set your intention upon.

Mental toughness training consists of constant introspection, meditation, and journaling upon the person that you are now and the person that you can become.  To be happy and successful in any pursuit, it’s your responsibility to close that gap, moment-by-moment, each and every day.  That’s all mental toughness changing is. It’s not a “do once at the beginning of the year” thing — It’s an every day, every moment thing. We are asking that you to go all-in on becoming the man/woman that you’re capable of being—that is the Utah Lacrosse way.  Like all things in life, you will get out what you put into the training process.  If you commit to the process will gain a sense of tranquil confidence that will allow you to flourish in whatever obstacles your coach, your opponents, and the circumstances of your life will inevitably throw your way.

 Click, to print one of these 2 this journal templates to guide you in your journaling practice [Journal Template (1)] [Journal Template (2)].

  Journaling is the first step to developing your “reel”, your automatic positive thoughts that will fill your mind when you are tired, scared, frustrated, angry, etc.  It’s up to you to proactively put on your armor each day to assure that negative, selfish thoughts don’t fill your mind instead.  We ask that you set a “floor/ minimum goal” of one-minute journaling every morning to live intently and focus on the ideal person you hope to become.

We will help you develop your own, but here is a list of mantras that resonate with the coaching staff. We have categorized them in an easy framework that you can remember and draw upon in the moment that you feel pain, or just catch yourself lost in thought. You should also cycle through your mantras while meditating in the morning, nights, and throughout reps of physical exercises  (i.e. sprint intervals, pull-ups etc). The goal is to make them your automatic reel when lost in thought.

It’s our coaching staff’s  job to create moments that you will NEED to proactively practice these mantras

 (or you will fall victim to selfish thoughts that will sabotage your success on and off the field.)

To become mentally tough we need to continually push ourselves outside our comfort zone and realize that although perhaps bruised, winded, and emotionally drained–we’re fine. In fact, better off because we have grown stronger physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  That’s what a season at Utah lacrosse does for us, it creates a short simulation of life that allows us to train for the triumphs and defeats that life will inevitably throw our way. Every day we will train our bodies and mind to be prepared for whatever comes next. We will become strong by pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones to see how great we can become. Like Navy SEALs, we compare this process of becoming strong to that of making a sword.  We will heat you up, pound you with a hammer, and soak you in freezing cold water, and repeat this process a few thousand times until you become strong–unbreakable, ready to fight for any cause you set your intention on.

In the act we develop  the mindset that any obstacle is not a threat but a challenge that fuels our growth.  We reverse our desires to seek out pain because we know that all growth lies just outside our comfort zone.

The 8 “I Am Affirmations”