What’s the most important piece of equipment in your sport? The six inches between your ears. Regardless of your sport, the mind is the most important piece of equipment you will ever take with you. After spending months of time trying to improve your skills by focusing on physical, technical and tactical skills, that improvement can plateau. Improving your mental preparation can go a long way with helping progress psychologically in areas that don't come naturally.. Goal setting After setting a long-term goal, break it down into smaller short-term, performance goals related to a specific technical or tactical element and focus on one of those goals each time when heading out to train. This prevents becoming overwhelmed by your training schedule and lets you acknowledge each small success along the way.