History of Mindfulness in Sports

Mindfulness originates from an Eastern tradition and has made its way into the psychology of competitive sports in the last century. In the 1990s, basketball coach Phil Jackson successfully introduced mindfulness practices in the American NBA. His former student Steve Kerr now very successfully applies mindfulness techniques as a coach to provide stability to his own basketball team. But mindfulness is not only used in team sports like basketball, but also in individual sports. Prominent advocates of this type of training include Novak Djokovic and Malaika Mihambo, who are considered particularly emotionally stable. While Djokovic has been dominating the tennis scene both in terms of gameplay and psychology for more than a decade and is considered the most successful tennis player in history, Mihambo impresses with mental strength, which has helped her win several gold medals, including at the Olympic Games.