Mental Skills Assessment (MSA), Nine mental skills

The Mental Skills Assessment (MSA) is an assessment of nine mental skills we've identified to be critical to peak performance in sports by compiling the results of thousands of leading scientific studies. This web-based assessment for athletes can be completed in 15-30 minutes and include a team or individual sports version.


THE MSA SCORE

After the MSA is completed the athlete’s report and an interpretive guide will be emailed to the athlete, coach or both. Development techniques and additional explanation of the MSA report can be seen by registering on the MSA4Sports website.


THE NINE MENTAL SKILLS

There are nine mental skills measured in the MSA:

*Note that occasionally we are asked why a particular attribute or skill is not included. The answer is that actually, the skill or attribute in question often is included; we just use different terminology, or it is represented by a combination of two or more of the mental skills above.

The Foundation of Mental Skills

WHAT ARE BITES?

BITEs is an acronym we use to describe an athlete's 'B' - behaviors, 'I' - images, 'T' - thoughts and 'E' - emotions. Self-management involves managing your BITES. (MSA4Sports 2010 - 2019).

Cognitive behavioral psychologists (Beck, 1976) have known for a long time that a person’s behaviors, imagery, thoughts, and emotions (physiological arousal) greatly determine their success in learning, response to stress, and, more generally, a person’s overall mental health. This is true for athletes as well. Sports psychologists (Dorfman, 1989) have written about and work with athletes to help them manage their imagery, inner talk, and reaction to physiological arousal more effectively to improve performance.

  • Any corrective action an athlete takes requires him/her to learn to manage BITEs better.
  • There are different types of BITEs. There are different BITEs for each Mental Skill, like Task Confidence BITEs, Goal Setting BITEs, etc.
  • BITEs are learned and can be changed through awareness (seeing the MSA report) and a program of change (MSD).
  • Sports psychologists help athletes improve their BITEs.
  • BITEs influence each other, for example, Task Confidence thoughts influence Goal Setting thoughts which, in turn, influence Goal Setting behavior.
  • Managing BITEs successfully is the basis of MSA4Sports Mental Skills Model (MSM).
  • The MSA measures BITEs.

Beck, A.T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders, New York: International Universities Press.
Dorfman, H.A. & Kuehl, K. (1989). The Mental Game of Baseball. Diamond Communications, Lanham, Maryland.

FOUR METHODS FOR LEARNING MENTAL SKILLS

MASTERY EXPERIENCE

Mastery experience is the most effective way to learn skills and increase an athlete's task confidence. Success increases task confidence, failure lowers it. When possible, manage the athlete’s experience of success. When the athlete practices the task or skill he or she should succeed significantly more often than fail. This will increase skills and task confidence more quickly and effectively than any other method.

VICARIOUS LEARNING

Learning through vicarious experience, observing a role model, is an effective method of increasing skills and task confidence. When an athlete sees a respected athlete succeeding at a skill or task, the athlete gains skills and increases task confidence. Vicarious learning is more effective when the athlete sees him or herself as similar to the role model.

SOCIAL PERSUASION

Social persuasion (verbal and non-verbal) is providing praise and encouragement to an athlete. Athletes cannot be persuaded by praise and encouragement that is insincere or false. Care should be taken to make statements of praise and encouragement that are credible to the athlete.

PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL

Athletes commonly experience physiological arousal in the form of “butterflies” in the stomach, sweaty palms, increased heart rate, and in more extreme cases distress; shakes, fatigue, fear, nausea, etc. An athlete’s awareness of these physiological signs can have a large impact on an athlete's Task Confidence.