The 3 M’s – Mentoring & Motivating & Mental Skills

Mentoring & Motivating Me

” I worked with Aled throughout my TY year, and what I learnt most was that Goal Setting, Planning, Structuring myself was not as difficult as i had originally thought. Aled explained it so easily and broke it all down into things that i was passionate about and therefore it was FUN. Aled really helped me physically but more importantly he made me believe in myself and he is great to be around. Student at Blackrock College, Dublin

” Aled was the best help I could have asked for in the run up to my leaving cert, as I had an extreme lack of motivation. He spent a long time chatting with me, trying to work out the reasons for my lethargy and procrastination! He gave me heaps of tips and things to so regarding my study plans, exercise and diet. Aled was such a huge help for me and really supplied me with the tools to have the confidence and focus I needed to get through my exams. Thank you Aled ” Student at Rathdown Girls School, Dublin

” It was great to spend my TY year going to Aled. I will always remember the 3 things he kept telling me every week

Perfect practice makes PERFECT
Cause & Consequence
SMART goals

Thanks Aled, and good luck with your Masters ” . Student at Mount Anville School.

Mentoring & Motivating Me

What does this mean ?

” If you have a dream …. it will always stay in your head. Write it down, and the dream can come true !!!

Whilst physically training with Aled and work on specific areas that you’d like to improve on we also look to help you with ( and to understand)

Physical adaptation ( how to the body can be developed and changed)

Training programmes for Speed, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Stamina

The Brain and how it can be restructured and developed —-

Neuro Plasticity – what does this mean and how can it help me
Intinsic and Extrinsic motivation
Goal setting ( SMART)
measure, measure, measure
Writing down your goals and sticking to the task for ( a week, a month, a year )
Re-evaluating
How does self confidence work and how can it be further enhanced
Mental Imagery and Visualisation

We can cover as much or as little you want to do !

Mental Skills Training

How Young Athletes Benefit from Mental Skills Coaching

“ if you can’t see it, you can’t be it ”

Mental training is the segment of sports psychology that concentrates specifically on helping athletes break through the mental barriers that are keeping them from performing up to their peak potential.

Mental training is most commonly pursued by athletes looking to improve their abilities to consistently perform at high levels.

Physical skill is a given. So many young athletes in Ireland are developing and specialising at an early age physically. The school system in Ireland is developing physically, competent athletes in 1^st/2^nd year through physical conditioning. While nearly every athlete has dedicated hours to physical improvement, the majority underwork (or ignore) the mental aspect of performance.

We are seeing more athletes struggle with the mental aspects and we try and teach young athletes through our programme how to develop their mental skills.

To develop mental skills , young athletes need to learn how to:

Build confidence that transfers easily from practice to competition.
How to develop confidence ? What are the skills ?
Internal self-talk
Visualisation
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
Goal setting
Planning & Thinking ahead
Having a Growth Mindset
What are my Values?
Define and manage the high expectations and beliefs that lead to frustration and discouragement
Supercharge focus and confidence before competition
Let go and quickly move on from mistakes, losses and setbacks
Manage distractions and negative self-talk to perform with laser-like focus.
How to overcome difficult scenarios
- Non selection
- Poor performance
- Lack of motivation
- Lack of confidence
- Over thinking
- Anxiety issues

“ if you compete against yourself, you’ll get better,

but if you compete against others, you’ll get bitter ”

9 ways mental skills training helps young sports players are –

Increasing players’ enjoyment of the game
Boosting participation
Progressing sporting performance
Teaching confidence and how to boost it
Removing fear and anxiety on the field
Helping players find the right intensity (being “activated”)
Teaching emotional control
Improving concentration
Developing good character

“Sports psychology helps in what I call the three Ps: participation, progression and performance. Some really basic mental skills help young players develop in all these important areas.” — Dan Abrahams

All the sessions we undertake would take place at an hotel foyer/reception in south county Dublin near Stillorgan or on a zoom call.

Sessions take 45-60 minutes and all participants need to be aware that this a LEARNING PROCESS, meaning that your child will need to learn and try new skills. Therefore they have to be open to talking openly about how they feel before, during and after practice / matches.

With any new skill there are progressions and it does take time to learn any skill and to change behaviours.

Session Fees

Session 1 & 2 €100 per session

Session 3 & 4 €90 per session

Session 5 onwards €85 per session

Payable prior to the session.

Aled Hughes

Aled has a degree in Human Movement Studies and has over 25 years of working with children and adults. He was the Director of Sports at David Lloyd Riverview for 5 years before venturing out on his own and developed Codex Kids, Speed 4 Sports and Codex360.

He is presently working privately on mental skills development with a large number of young players in a variety of sports