Become A Certified Mental Game Coach - By: Bill Cole, MS, MA

Thinking about improving your coaching abilities? Want to add a unique specialty to your resume? Interested in the mental approach to sports training? You may want to consider becoming a certified mental game practitioner.

The International Mental Game Coaching Association certifies qualified individuals at four levels as Certified Mental Game Practitioners. The IMGCA courses of study include academic and fieldwork, written work and a final examination. Candidates who successfully complete certification receive 16 premium benefits as long as they maintain certification. They also have the right to call themselves IMGCA Certified and display the IMGCA certification logo at their level of certification.

The Four IMGCA Certified Mental Game Practitioner Levels

Level I - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Instructor
Level II - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Coach
Level III - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Master Coach
Level IV - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Professional Coach

Candidates for IMGCA certification come from all walks of life, and have varied backgrounds in sports, coaching, teaching, consulting and the mental game. The IMGCA has designed four levels of certification to address the needs of persons wishing to advance their knowledge, training and capabilities as mental game practitioners. These levels range from beginning practitioners all the way to highly experienced, advanced professional mental game coaches. The commonality among all candidates is that they possess a love of sports and movement, a willingness to learn more about the mental game, and a desire to help others through state of the art mental game coaching.

Each applicant is assessed on an individual basis, and does not need to satisfy each of these qualifications to enter the program. Possible qualifying capabilities include:

• Experience as a teacher, trainer or coach.
• Experience in various sports, or deeply in one or two sports.
• Experience in movement or mind-body disciplines.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Academic preparation in a field that is in sport and movement or that supports these fields.

An ideal candidate for the two advanced IMGCA certifications would have a background as an athlete, coach, teacher, consultant, researcher, administrator or trainer, with academic preparation in appropriate, similar fields at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

How IMGCA Certification Can Improve Your Abilities As A Mental Game Practitioner

The IMGCA certification process is a rigorous and thorough system that prepares you to deliver mental game services to many types of sports, mind-body and movement participants across a wide range of applications. You will be able to deliver mental game services to individuals, groups and teams at a much higher level and will be much more effective in helping them overcome mental and emotional obstacles and in achieving their goals in sports and movement. These certifications are not programs leading to licensing or qualification as a sport psychologist. That requires additional training and school work.

Specifically, with our certification programs, you will experience these enhancements:

• Deeper levels of awareness, analysis and assessment of the mental game.
• Improved teaching, consulting and coaching effectiveness in the mental arena.
• Confidence of knowing how to facilitate mental game interventions across a variety of disciplines, skills levels and situations.
• Better 1-1, group and team coaching in the mental game.
• Enhanced speaking and training abilities for use in conducting mental game workshops and seminars.

IMGCA Tools You Can Access During The Certification Training Process

• Mental game assessment tools
• Turn-key handouts for teaching the mental game
• Turn-key handouts for coaching the mental game
• An IMGCA workbook
• IMGCA articles
• Athlete feedback forms
• Post-competition assessments

What Are Your Reasons For Undertaking IMGCA Certification Training?

Our students are excited to begin IMGCA certification training because they want to be recognized for completing a rigorous, internationally-respected mental game certification training program, own a unique and impressive resume item and possess distinct job-hunting advantages over those without such a credential.

About the Author

Bill Cole, MS, MA is one of the world’s leading mental game coaches who consults with athletes of all levels including children, amateurs and professionals. Mr. Cole is the founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching Association, the global leader in certification of mental game coaches. Read over 400 free articles on sports psychology at http://www.mentalgamecoaching.com/index.html or call 408-294-2776 for more information.

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