When asked about kicking, NFL Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen commented, "I would say 90% of it is mental, and the last 10% is mental." While he was laughing when he said this, you don't play in the league for 25 years without recognizing the importance of the mental game.

Next week, I head to Orlando for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) conference. I'll be presenting a workshop with Abby Keenan entitled Help Me Help You (and Your Kid): Building Effective Relationships with Youth Sport Parents. If you're coming to AASP, we'd love to see you. If not, we're happy to fill you in.

Another Ryder Cup has come and gone, and the hand-wringing that takes place following an American loss has commenced. On paper, the Americans should have won handily. Instead, they were blitzed on the first day of competition and never recovered. While the media tried to create controversy and spin, I believe the difference between the US and European sides lies less in what the Americans lack, and more in what the Europeans do. Here are six lessons that will serve any team and its' leader, not just Ryder Cuppers. 

Past European captain Paul McGinley says, "When you engage the heart, that's where the magic happens." This year, personal video messages from family and friends were sent to each European player, moving many to tears. It further reminded them that what they were playing for was bigger than themselves, and that spirit showed up on the course. 

"It's the ability to walk through those doors and forget about who you are outside of this week," Jon Rahm said. "What you have done or what you may do afterwards really, truly doesn't matter,"  Another way the Euros embrace humility is with a healthy dose of humor that includes needling each other. Laughter and humility are two of the quickest ways to build connection.

Celebrate your history

"We are united by a culture, and we are united by a generation of players that have come before us," said Justin Rose. Captain Luke Donald noted the importance of both understanding history, and then creating it. To that end, Donald commissioned a tifo commemorating Seve Ballesteros, one of Europe's greatest Ryder Cup competitors. The Euros' celebration of past Ryder Cup heroes is certainly different from the Americans.

While American Ryder Cup venues tend to be major championship courses that are only seen by players every five to ten years, the Europeans host the Ryder Cup on courses that are regular tour stops. Their players are comfortable with the courses and have a history of success on them. The Euros further amplify their advantage through the use of analytics to modify the course setup to their strengths, while negating American strengths. As a result, the Euros have a greater home-field advantage in Europe than the Americans have at home.

Create the platform

Although some observers like to call the Euros overachievers, writer Kyle Porter points out, "It's not 35 years of overachieving; it's 35 years of culture building." Culture starts at the top, and Euro captain Luke Donald noted that the captain's role is to create a culture and environment for his players to succeed. Identifying unity as the "bedrock of success," he worked to build relationships, gain trust, be consistent, communicate, and have fun. Paul McGinley found that, "Putting the people out there to play the best game is about creating the platform . . . you're creating the energy, you're creating the buzz, you're getting the atmosphere in the team room, and you're trying to create a platform that is phenomenal and exciting so the players go out and play to the best of their ability."

In the challenge state, performers perceive that their resources are sufficient to meet the challenge before them. They seek to approach success and play to win. In the threat state, performers perceive high demands but low resources. They seek to avoid failure and play not to lose. These states have clear physical, psychological, and performance differences. When Paul McGinley joined the Ryder Cup team as a player, he noted that the team was, "excited and they had not an aggressive determination, but a sense of adventure and relishing of the challenge that was ahead." Further validating this approach, he said,  "The golden rule is to create an environment for players to go out unburdened and unshackled and inspired to play as good as they can play." His comments mirror the research, which suggests that familiarity, uncertainty, required effort, skills, knowledge and abilities, and the availability of external support can all affect one's state. The Euros have clearly performed in a challenge state over the past 35 years, while the Americans frequently look tight, stressed, and threatened.

A common investing disclaimer is that Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The same appears to be true in sport. Research shows that most successful junior (<20 years old) athletes don't becomes successful senior (>20 years old) athletes. Most successful senior athletes were not successful junior athletes. In fact, there was just a 7% overlap between the two populations. Choosing to specialize in a single sport may lead to junior success, but it might also inhibit senior success. Put another way, those who spent less time training in their main sport and more time playing other sports as kids make slower initial progress, but eventually catch and pass the junior stars. No matter where you stand currently, there's always room for improvement, so keep working and growing.

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