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Writer's pictureCatalyst Training

Mental Performance Series - Part 1




Catalyst Basketball Training Community, 


My name is Brian Sullivan and I am the co-founder of Fortitude Mental Performance. Over the next several weeks Fortitude is partnering with Catalyst Training to educate, inspire, and provide you with opportunities to train the mental skills and mindsets that athletes use to reach their peak performance at the highest levels in sports. 


Before I pursued a career in sport psychology, basketball was at the forefront of my life. After finishing my time as a shooting guard at Davidson College, I had the opportunity to play professionally abroad for 3 seasons. Upon retiring from playing, I served as the Director of Player Development for Davidson’s basketball program. 


Through these experiences I became convinced we are missing a golden opportunity to help athlete’s reach their potential: training their minds in the same way we train their bodies.


To kickoff this newsletter  the same way I do when working with NCAA athletes - by asking a simple question:


What percentage of your basketball performance is mental? 


The answers vary greatly anywhere from 15%-95%, typically finding consensus between 30-50%. However, the next question usually leads to crickets… 


What percentage of your training do you allot to training your mind? 


Crickets... And I don’t blame them, no one has taught them how, just like no one had taught me how during my playing career! 


Recognizing the lack of opportunity for athletes to elevate their performance by training their mind has inspired us at Fortitude Mental Performance to make mental training more accessible. 

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You can break down peak performance in basketball into four primary domains:

  1. Skill (shooting, passing, dribbling, footwork)

  2. Physicality (speed, strength, quickness, size) 

  3. Basketball “IQ” (Decision making, spacing, knowledge of plays and principles) 

  4. Mindset (Confidence, resilience, focus) 


I see incredible investments from athletes, families and coaches in developing their skills, physicality and basketball IQ. And yet, their mindset gets left to chance. Our mindset can be the difference between reaching our potential, seeing our hard work pay off and wondering why it is not. 


Research backs this up - A study looked at what elite basketball coaches look for when they are recruiting or selecting basketball players. Unsurprisingly, they look for skills, basketball IQ, and physicality. However, these elite coaches highlighted that mindset was by far the most important factor they look for to separate the best from the rest when it comes to recruitment and team selection. 


Future newsletters we will dive into techniques that you can use to train your mind that will elevate your performance on the court. Stay tuned!






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