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In the last twenty years, sports performance studies have focused on the mental abilities most developed in athletes and how they affect their performance. The theoretical models underlying the test Psychological Inventory of Sport Performance (IPPS-48) developed in 2009 focus, unlike previous instruments, on both positive and negative mental abilities that influence sports performance. Contemporary literature provides an articulated framework of mental abilities that strengthen, support or impede sporting performance. For example, it is referred to the self-efficacy, the definition of objectives, the control of thoughts, the simulation through the imagination that anticipates the competition, the management of the emotional arousal (stress, anxiety, etc.) and channeling the concentration on the performance, but also in negative we refer to concern and disturbances in concentration and attention. From a methodological point of view, a systematic review of the existing literature on both dimensions of mental abilities will be provided, examining both the negative effects on athletic performance of athletes and the strategies aimed at promoting positive effects aimed at success in competitions. By comparing empirical studies and international experiences, it can be suggested that mental skills play a key role on a par with professional skills and physical performance. The analyzes reported show that the performance of high-level athletes is related to high cognitive and mental skills, and that the experience of senior athletes is characterized by complex psychological dimensions to train in junior athletes to achieve the same results in terms of performance.