Mental Resilience and Mindfulness in Athletes
A breakdown of research exploring the relationship between mindfulness and mental resilience across individual, combat, and team sport athletes.
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Game Ready Mindset™ · Sep 25, 2026 · @Scott K Wilder
- Summary
Athletes who are more mindful also tend to be more resilient. That is the main finding of a 2025 study in the journal Sports (Stoyanova, Ivantchev, Gergov and Yordanova, South-West University, Bulgaria). The link is real but modest, and the study cannot say which one causes the other.
Key terms
Mental resilience: how quickly you bounce back after stress or a setback.
Mindfulness: staying focused on what is happening right now, without judging it.
Who was studied
177 athletes, average age 21 (range 18 to 28), with about 9 years of sport experience on average.
121 professionals and 56 amateurs.
85 in individual sports (track, swimming, gymnastics), 47 in combat sports (boxing, judo, karate), and 45 in team sports (volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball).
Each athlete filled out two short questionnaires, one for mindfulness and one for resilience.
What they found
Mindfulness and resilience go together. The link showed up across all athletes and was clearest for professionals. It is a small-to-medium link, not a huge one.
Combat athletes scored highest on resilience. They beat individual-sport athletes clearly and team-sport athletes by a smaller margin.
Individual-sport athletes may need the most help. They scored lower on resilience, and their mindfulness tended to drop with more years in the sport.
Team sports and amateurs built resilience over time. More years playing went with higher resilience. The authors think social support from teammates may be part of why. Soccer showed the strongest pattern, but only 13 soccer players were in the study, so treat that as a hint.
Male athletes scored a little higher than female athletes on resilience. The gap was small, and the paper says it may reflect how people are raised and supported, not ability.
Pros and amateurs scored about the same on both measures.
Resilience did not change with age between 18 and 28.
What to be careful about
This was a snapshot in time, so it shows a link, not a cause. Nobody was trained and re-tested.
Athletes rated themselves. Some may have answered how they think a tough athlete should answer.
Several sport groups were small. The authors call those results preliminary. Some patterns also faded after strict statistical checks.
Some patterns in the data looked like they may not hold up (for example, mindfulness rising with age in combat sports).
What the authors suggest
Train mindfulness (meditation, breathing, focus exercises) alongside resilience skills.
Resilience skills include clear goals, seeing challenges as chances to grow, positive self-talk, and asking for support.
Individual-sport athletes may benefit the most.
Heads-up on the BIHUB article you sent
The article says this study "concluded that structured interventions can significantly improve" performance. The paper itself did not test any training program. It only measured links between traits. I kept the summary, article and email true to the paper.
The "up to 30%" figure in the article comes from a different 2025 study (Frontiers in Psychology), not this one. I did not use it as a finding from this paper.
- LinkedIn article
Title: The Athletes Who Bounce Back Fastest Have Something in Common
Two athletes. Same talent. Same coach. Same bad bounce in the same big moment.
One shakes it off before the next whistle. The other carries it for the rest of the game.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about that gap. A new study out of Bulgaria gave me a piece of the answer. Not the whole answer. I'll tell you where it falls short, too.
One note before we start. This research is directional. It is an early, preliminary study, so think of it as a compass, not a map. It points us somewhere worth looking. It does not prove anything yet.
What the researchers did
They surveyed 177 athletes, average age 21. Professionals and amateurs. Individual sports, combat sports, team sports. Each athlete filled out two short questionnaires. One measured mindfulness, which is how well you stay in the present moment. The other measured resilience, which is how quickly you recover from stress.
What they found
Athletes who scored higher on mindfulness tended to score higher on resilience. The link was modest. But it showed up across the whole group, and it was clearest for the professionals.
Three other details stayed with me:
Combat athletes scored highest on resilience. Boxers, judoka, karate athletes. Sports where you cannot hide.
Individual-sport athletes scored lowest. Their mindfulness also tended to slip the longer they had been in their sport. That one stopped me. Swimmers and runners spend hours alone with their heads.
In team sports, resilience grew with years of experience. So did it for amateurs. The authors point to social support. Teammates catch you when you fall.
What I would hold loosely
My first instinct was to say mindfulness builds resilience. The study cannot say that. It took a snapshot. Nobody was trained and then tested again. The athletes also rated themselves, and athletes are good at telling us what a tough athlete is supposed to say. Some groups were tiny. Only 13 soccer players. I played college soccer, so I wanted that number to mean more than it does.
So the findings are directional. A signal, not a proof. I am fine with that. Good coaching has always started with a good hunch and a willingness to test it.
What I would do with it
Treat attention like a skill. Two minutes of slow breathing before practice. One word to bring focus back after a mistake. Small. Repeatable.
Do not leave your solo athletes alone. If the sport is individual, build the team around them on purpose. A training partner. A check-in.
Build teammate support into the culture. It looks like the resilience engine in team sports.
Practice recovery, not just performance. Ask one question after every mistake: what is my next play?
The mental side is not a bonus you add once the fitness work is done. It is part of the work. And the good news, from this study and many others, is that it can be trained.
What do you do in the ten seconds after a mistake?
Source: Stoyanova, S., Ivantchev, N., Gergov, T., & Yordanova, B. (2025). Mental Resilience and Mindfulness in Athletes: A Preliminary Study Across Sports and Experience Levels. Sports, 13(10), 334. doi.org/10.3390/sports13100334
About the author
Scott K. Wilder is the founder of Game Ready Mindset™, a program and platform for teams and athletic programs, working with players, position groups, and teams in baseball, soccer, softball, and volleyball. He holds a Master's from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now Sofia University), a Master's in Business Administration from New York University, and a Master's in International Studies and Conflict Resolution from The Johns Hopkins University, with coaching credentials from Georgetown University, Brian Cain's MPM Program, the National Federation of High Schools and FC Barcelona Football Club. He is the author of Millennial Leaders and the forthcoming book Compete in Any Weather.
- Email to coaches
Subject: 4 quick ways to help your athletes bounce back faster
Hi Coach,
A new study of 177 athletes found that players who are better at staying in the moment (mindfulness) also tend to bounce back faster from setbacks (resilience). It is a link, not proof of cause. But it points to habits you can start this week.
4 tips for your next practice
Start with two minutes of slow breathing. In through the nose for 4 counts, out for 6. It settles the mind before the work starts.
Give every player a reset word. After a mistake, they say it and get back to the next play. Practice it in drills, not just games.
Do not forget your solo athletes. The study found individual-sport athletes scored lowest on resilience. Pair them with a training partner and check in often.
Build team support on purpose. In team sports, athletes with more years playing were more resilient, and the authors point to support from teammates. Try a short "one good thing" round after practice.
Going deeper: how to build team support on purpose
In team sports, athletes with more years playing tended to be more resilient. The authors think support from teammates may be part of the reason. That is a hint, not proof, so treat these as ideas to try. Support does not just happen. It grows when a coach sets it up.
Rotate practice partners. Pair players up for drills and switch every two or three weeks. Over a season, everyone gets to know everyone, not just their friends.
Start with a one-minute check-in. Each player says one word for how they feel today, or a number from 1 to 10. No fixing, no debating. Just listening. It shows players that it is normal to not feel great.
Practice what teammates say after a mistake. Pick two or three phrases, such as "I got you" or "Next play." Use them in drills so they come out on their own in games.
Praise support, not only results. Give a "teammate of the day" shout-out to the player who lifted someone up after an error or a tough moment.
Make sure no one is on the edge. Watch for new players, younger players, injured players, and quiet players. Give each one a buddy and a real job on the team.
Go first as the coach. Say what you got wrong today. Ask for help when you need it. Players copy what they see, and this makes it safe for them to speak up.
Ask one question once a month. "Who has your back on this team?" If a player cannot name anyone, that is your signal to step in.
How to tell if it is working. Watch the first ten seconds after a mistake. Do players slump and drift away, or do teammates step in and the player gets back into the play? That gap is what you are trying to close.
Want the full write-up? I put together a short article on what the study found and where it falls short. Just reply and I will send it over.
Scott
Scott K. Wilder Founder, Game Ready Mindset™ gamereadymindset.com
Source: Stoyanova et al. (2025), Sports, 13(10), 334. doi.org/10.3390/sports13100334
About the author
Scott K. Wilder is the founder of Game Ready Mindset™, a program and platform for teams and athletic programs, working with players, position groups, and teams in baseball, soccer, softball, and volleyball. He holds a Master’s from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now Sofia University), an MBA from New York University, and a Master’s in International Studies and Conflict Resolution from The Johns Hopkins University, with coaching credentials from Georgetown University, Brian Cain’s MPM Program, the National Federation of High Schools, and FC Barcelona Football Club. He is the author of Millennial Leaders, Find What Energizes You (just published), and Compete in Any Weather.