Why Resilience?
Resilience refers to the ability ‘to rebound or spring back’ from game induced anxieties and frustration. This ability is fundamental to success in sport because it underpins the mental and physical fortitude needed for good skill execution
and game-play. Adolescent youth are particularly vulnerable in these attributes as they cope with the uncertainties of rapid physical growth and identity formation.
 
What does this programme do?
It sets out simple ‘how to do’ routines and practices that coaches can use to train mental and physical fortitude. These routines and practices progress step by step and require persistence and patience until they become unconscious habits.
The skills shaped by these routines and practices have potential also to improve amongst players their self-awareness, self-reflexivity and awareness of others. To this end they act as avenues for personal development .
 
What are the programme’s foundations?
At the root of all the routines and practices is training in:
•     core    stability
•     centring    and    balance
•     breathing    reflexion    and    visualisation
•     strength    and    agility
•     flexibility.
 
How does this programme work?
There are three steps to follow: tournament, resilience recipe and journalling. The coach should conduct these in sequence.  
 
The activities in Step 1 are to be conducted in a tournament format because it is in this win-loose climate that contestants are required to rebound repeatedly from real, in-time instances of success or failure.  A tournament session is 10-15
minutes long. Bouts in all contests of the session should be 45-60 seconds long.
Once a point is scored in a bout both players must execute Step 2 or the ‘resilience recipe’ before continuing the contest. 
 
Step 3 is ‘journalling’ which is done as the conclusion to the training session. It has both an individual and a team
approach.