Topics: Mindfulness.
Impacted domains: All athletes and performers.
Researchers: Alireza Farsi, Javad Shakerd, Ebrahim Moteshareie, and Erfan Sedighi

What comes to mind for you as an athletic director or coach when I say the word, “mindfulness”?

For many, there are strong associations with wellness, weird Eastern philosophies, maybe mumbo jumbo, and perhaps some hesitation about how it could possibly help athletes to perform better when it counts.

While there are interesting associations with mindfulness helping rest and recovery of elite athletes, coaches often overlook mindfulness for its direct performance benefits.

New research may be challenging this view, and that’s what we’re going to cover today—specifically, that mindfulness in sport is less about “feeling good” or “feeling confident” and more about being able to deliver objective performance excellence when the pressure is high.

So far, mindfulness research in performance spaces has been criticized for poor study design, high effect sizes, and lack of rigor (See Noetel et al., 2017; Minkler et al., 2025).

Perhaps in response, Farsi and colleagues created an interesting experiment where they studied the impact of a mindful sport performance enhancement (MSPE) in elite youth soccer players. This study is an important step in the mindfulness for performance research because it:

Most interestingly, they used blinded soccer experts to grade the performance of players in these “trial matches.”

In other words, two individuals graded performance metrics such as pass quality, striking efficiency, etc., of the players they were watching. And, importantly, the graders did not know which of the players they were watching were part of the mindfulness group.

Pretty neat so far. Here are some of the interesting findings:

Firstly, the found quantifiable performance gains in the mindfulness group: Athletes who took part in MSPE saw a significant jump in their objective performance under pressure scores, improving from approximately 74% to 82%. The control group? The ones who did the general soccer education curriculum? Their scores stayed the same.

Players in the intervention group reported significantly higher levels of “flow." Players in the intervention also experienced significantly less somatic anxiety compared to players who were in the control group. Somatic anxiety are the physiological sensations that athletes feel when nervous: tightness in the chest, jitters, shaking, elevated heart-rate, loss of fine motor control, etc.

There were also reductions in cognitive anxiety, though the results were not significant in the scientific sense.

What’s not to like?

Interestingly, these performance gains seemed to have stuck around in their 3-month follow up on athletes. This persistence of skills suggests that mindfulness-acceptance skills may stick around even after the initial round of training ends.

While this was a decently designed study, it was limited to only a sample of 52 male athletes, who averaged close to 19 years of age. Other ages or females may react differently to MSPE training—we just don’t know.

It’s also important to note that while performance improved objectively, researchers note that the “why” seems to be a little mysterious. They’re unsure whether it was the attentional control, mindfulness, or which specific cognitive processes actually caused the performance improvements.

With all of that being said, this is what you can apply as someone responsible for how athletes and teams perform.

First, seriously consider mindfulness-acceptance style interventions for performance enhancement: while research quality is improving, there increasingly more studies which add weight to the importance of mindfulness for helping athletes improve their performance under pressure scenarios. Work with a qualified and educated practitioner.

Daily engagement is key: athletes cannot just say, “I want to be mindful” and suddenly get all the benefits. Daily engagement is key, with most suggestions ranging from a 10 to 12 minute almost daily minimum. This is why it’s so important to have a structure to this education and how it is delivered to athletes.

Editorialized line ✍️: this is a consistent theme I’m seeing in the research and some of my own research as well—that athletes need consistent engagement with mindfulness to actually see the benefits.

Next, stop running from the idea of pressure of fear: when we run from our experiences and reality, we can often increase how much damage they cause to us. Instead of telling athletes things like, “Just calm down,” teach them to label internal stressors. E.g. “I’m feeling a bit tight.” But then have them reframe and turn their attention toward what they are trying to achieve.

Finally, integrate mindfulness-acceptance concepts into practice and competition: athletes should not expect to practice their “formal” mindfulness session and then never think about it during the day. Rather, how I explain it to athletes is that the eventual goal is to blur the boundaries between formal practice and the competitive sphere. This can also mean pre-planning “if/then” scenarios. Example: If I make a mistake, notice the negative thoughts that appear, let them pass, then with a deep inhale and exhale, turn my attention to what I need to do next.

Mindfulness is not just for wellness or recovery. In fact, we have an increasing amount of evidence that it may be beneficial to athletes and performers. And now this study adds weight to the idea that it may even help athletes perform under pressure. If you want your athletes to benefit from the performance effects of mindfulness, get in touch below.

Reference

Farsi, A., Shakerd, J., Moteshareie, E., & Sedighi, E. (2026). Mindful sport performance enhancement in youth soccer: A randomized active-control trial of objective performance under pressure and psychological outcomes. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2026-0002