From the start, we have worked to make mental preparation a standard part of an athlete's preparation alongside physical training and tactics, not an exception to them.
How it started
Luka didn’t wait for his degree to start. Even as a student, he knew that he wanted to work with people, and specifically with athletes. The reason was not a strategic choice of sport, but the fact that sport puts a person in situations that show their entire character: pressure, fear, pride, breakdown and recovery. At that time, there was no standardized work on the mental and psychological preparation of athletes.
We started without an office, without big clients, without much understanding of the environment. We had enthusiasm and a question that has guided us through all of this today: why is mental preparation treated as a luxury and not as training?
The resistance that shaped us
“We adjusted the way we explained what we were doing until the results became clear enough to speak for themselves.”
In the beginning, we encountered misunderstanding. Coaches who thought mental preparation was “an easy, less important thing.” Athletes who thought they didn’t need it, until they did. An environment that had no reference point for what we were doing.
"I find working on mental preparation useful in certain key situations. I would recommend Mental Training to those who want to work on themselves and become better."
A short, almost poetic story about the name – why this, why like this?
The name had to be clear to the athletes. It had to say what we were doing, without explaining, sounding like something to train for, not something to be ashamed of.
Mentalni Trening. The name was not chosen by chance. Mental skills are developed in the same way as physical ones, through regular and structured work that is built over weeks and months, not through occasional interventions.
Today we are a team of sports psychologists who work with professional athletes, clubs, coaches and young athletes throughout the region. We have expanded our work and collaborations to the entire world. We have developed programs for different profiles: professional athletes, for child athletes, for coaches, group workshops for clubs and education for psychologists who want to work with athletes, .
We have worked with over 1000+ athletes, with long-term collaboration with Ante Budimir, Borna Barišić, Dion Beljo, Roko Leni Ukić, Ivana Habazin, Vladimir Cupar and dozens of other professional athletes.
More important than a name is every athlete who quietly took a step forward. Who remained calm at a crucial moment. Who came back after the toughest match of their career.
Our team
Mentalni Trening today is not the same as it was in the beginning. We are broader, more experienced, more structured. But one thing has not changed: we believe that every athlete deserves to have the mental tools that help them get the best out of themselves.
We still work with the same enthusiasm we started with. And we’re still scared of the same thing that scared us back then: athletes who never find out what they could have really achieved.
Every athlete, coach, and club we work with brings their own story. A challenge, a turning point, or a question that brought them to us.
Every athlete, who wants to be a little better than who they were last week, has a reason to talk.
