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When an opponent’s remark pulls your attention away from the play, don’t argue with it or try to guess the speaker’s intent. Notice it, use a short cue that points to your next controllable action, and return to your familiar routine. Practise that response before competition. If comments become repeated, threatening, discriminatory, or personally targeted, treat the issue as more than a focus problem and use the appropriate support or reporting route.
What trash talk does—and what the evidence can tell us
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement describes trash talk, also called sledging, as “a form of verbal harassment from athlete opponents or fans that is intended to destabilise athlete motivation and to hinder performance.” That is the statement’s characterization, not a universal legal definition or a ruling on how every sport’s rules apply. The IOC also notes that few studies address the issue directly. Read the IOC consensus statement on harassment and abuse in sport.
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There is no strong, generalizable estimate of how many athletes experience trash talk. A 2018 survey of 291 varsity athletes at one U.S. university recorded comments about playing ability and athleticism as well as personal subjects such as appearance, family, and relationships; those findings describe that sample, not athletes nationally. See the study “Trash-Talking and Trolling”.
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“Ignore it” does not have to mean pretending you did not hear the remark or forcing every thought away. It means not letting the remark choose your next action. Use this brief sequence as a practical routine:
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- Notice it. Register that a comment happened without answering, debating its truth, or treating it as an instruction.
- Pick one task cue. Direct your attention to something you can control on the next play: for example, “watch the ball,” “feet set,” or a concise technique reminder specific to your sport. These are illustrative cues, not phrases proven to work for everyone.
- Do the familiar next action. Return to the play, position, or routine you have practised, then assess the play itself rather than the speaker’s intention.
- Change course if safety or abuse is at issue. Repeated, threatening, discriminatory, or otherwise abusive comments call for support or reporting when feasible—not merely a better concentration technique.
This sequence combines coping approaches described in interviews with Olympic wrestlers and findings from a separate self-talk experiment. It has not been tested as a single intervention, so treat it as a routine to practise and adjust, not a guaranteed performance fix.
Choose a cue that points to the next action
A useful cue is brief, specific, and connected to the job in front of you. The goal is to direct attention, not to win an argument inside your head. Compare the options this way:
| Approach | What it targets | What the evidence supports |
|---|---|---|
| Instructional self-talk | A technique or immediate action, such as a sport-specific movement cue. | In a 2023 study, instructional self-talk reduced errors in quiet conditions on an attentional-control task. That result does not establish an effect on match outcomes or every sport. |
| Motivational self-talk | Motivation or emotional state; athletes also report using self-talk for these purposes. | In the same study, motivational self-talk increased errors under noise distraction in the tested condition. That narrow result is a reason not to assume slogans always help concentration under pressure. |
| Routine and immediate-goal focus | A familiar sequence or the next small competitive objective. | Olympic wrestlers reported using routines and narrowing attention to immediate goals as coping approaches; the interviews do not prove that one approach works for every athlete. |
| Perspective taking or thought control | How the athlete interprets or responds to the remark. | These approaches were also reported by wrestlers. They are broader than simply suppressing every thought, and were not compared in a controlled test. |
The 2023 experiment’s second study involved 39 national second-level basketball players performing an attentional-control task; its first study included 36 participants. These sample sizes and task conditions matter: the results are not evidence that one cue will improve performance across sports, settings, or full games. Read the study on self-talk and attentional control under noise.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteSeparately, interviews with 34 male basketball players found that they described goal-directed self-talk as serving cognitive, motivational, emotional, and activation-regulating functions in different competitive situations. This records how those players said they used self-talk; it is not a universal formula or a basis for assuming all athletes respond alike. See the study on goal-directed self-talk in male basketball competition.
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Practise the reset before competition
Do not wait for a tense game to invent a cue. Rehearse it alongside a reset routine in training, so there is a familiar next step when attention slips. In interviews with all 20 members of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team, athletes described coping strategies including distraction blocking, perspective taking, positive or coping thoughts, immediate-goal focus, routines, arousal control, and visualization. This was retrospective qualitative reporting from one team and Olympic cycle, not a controlled comparison proving that each strategy is effective. Read Gould, Eklund, and Jackson’s study of Olympic wrestlers’ coping strategies.
- Choose one concise cue tied to the next controllable action.
- Pair it with a familiar reset, such as returning to a position or pre-play routine used in your sport.
- Practise redirecting attention after ordinary distractions in training, then review whether the cue helped you re-engage.
Judge the routine by whether it helps you return attention to the task—not by whether the other person stops talking. If a cue feels distracting or unnatural, adjust it in practice rather than relying on it unchanged in competition.
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- Author: W. Timothy Gallwey.
- Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
- Pages: 122
- Publication Date: 1997
- Edition: Revised ed.
When does trash talk become harassment?
There is no single line in the cited IOC statement that decides every incident under every sport’s rules. The IOC uses a harassment framing for trash talk while noting that the topic is understudied; the relevant conduct rules and reporting procedures depend on the sport, league, and event. Check the rules that apply to your competition, and involve a coach, official, safeguarding contact, or other appropriate channel when comments are repeated, threatening, discriminatory, or otherwise abusive.
Do not treat persistent distress as a test of willpower. The IOC mental-health consensus discusses athlete wellbeing as shaped by both individual and environmental factors. If an incident continues to affect you, speak with someone you trust and seek appropriate qualified support; there is no universal reporting route for every sport. Read the IOC consensus statement on mental health in elite athletes.
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