Silent Mind:
Before you do sports, you can meditate very intensely to make your mind quiet and silent, this way no negative thoughts can enter it. Once negative thoughts have taken the mind in their possession, they create tension and this lets you loose all your concentration.
Power of Imagination:
With our power of imagination we can forget our tricky mind and win. We weaken ourselves if we imagine us to be weak. However we can strengthen ourselves if we imagine us to be strong. Often we use our power of imagination in the wrong direction. Instead of getting setbacks from our ideas, we should use them to get us forwards to our goal.
The material world is not the only word. The inner world is as real as the material world. If you don't get enough joy from the physical training, you can go into the inner world and meditate. You can also bring capacities from the inner world to the outer world. First imagine that you are better than your momentary physical standard, then bring your mental capacity down to your physical plane and thus let your imagination become reality.
Openness to spiritual energy:
The source of power is infinitely stronger than the physical strength of any human being.
Physical energy has only one source, and this source is the spiritual energy. As long as we find ourselves in the physical consciousness we are not aware of it. However if we go in our meditation deep within, we see that the spiritual energy is the source of the physical, vital and mental energy.
Aspiration, recognition of the meaning of spirit and matter:
Spirit and matter belong together. The inner life of aspiration and the outer life of manifestation must go hand in hand. Otherwise the spirit remains uplifted in heaven and the earth remains full of ignorance and unconsciousness.
Gratitude:
Before the training or a race I offer a moment of gratitude to my beloved supreme for inspiring me to be an athlete. If we offer Gratitude, we increase our receptivity towards god. The increment of this receptivity will automatically increase our sportive capability.
Be an instrument, Devotion:
Convince yourself that you are not the contender but somebody else in and through you is doing the race. I do it this way. I try to become an instrument and let myself feel, that god acts in and through me.
Never give up, straight forwardness, determination, patience:
If you have a goal, than you will for sure sooner or later reach the goal at god's choice hour. Renew your enthusiasm every day. If you have fallen year after year, try to stand up. If you are going, go faster. If you are running, run faster. However never think of giving up.
(translated from: Sri Chinmoy, Sport & Meditation, 1990)