I am currently supporting a high school basketball player that expects to have a significant role on his varsity basketball team this season. We are specifically working on developing techniques to build sustainable confidence given the challenges he’s expected to face in a highly competitive and very new environment. In one of our recent sessions, we watched a YouTube video created by a former Division I college basketball player reflecting on how he built his confidence over time. I’ll often use these types of videos as a way to help my young clients better relate to the concepts that I’m te ..read more

“Too often, sport psychologists are asked to ‘fix’ struggling athletes with mental problems as they approach major competitions or rebound from poor performances. Although MST (mental skills training) programs may prove beneficial in the short run to develop skills and deal with specific problems, such approaches fail to address athletes’ long-term development goals” (Holliday et al., 2008, p. 205). I love this quote because it encapsulates my work as a mental performance coach.  I can’t tell you how many texts, emails, or phone calls I get from a distraught parent whose young athlete is ..read more

My last blog post was on the topic of psychological safety and its role in an athlete’s experience. Now, I want to explore the concept of psychological flexibility (PF). Perhaps the primary difference between the two concepts is that psychological safety (PS) is “other referenced” meaning an athlete depends on factors outside his or her self to get it. PF is wholly a “self referenced” concept. It is up to the individual to develop the skill of PF. As I did with PS, I will first define PF to frame the conversation. One definition of PF is, “the ability to contact the present moment more fully a ..read more

In Episode 53 of The Freshman Foundation® Podcast, my guest Bill Eckstrom and I discussed the concept of psychological safety in the context of athletics. Psychological safety has a number of different definitions in the sport psychology literature. One definition that has been shared is: “A social environment within which individuals take interpersonal risks by speaking up, sharing concerns, raising questions, and offering ideas because they feel safe to do so” (Jowett et al., 2023, p. 1). Psychological safety is a big concept and one that might not be particularly well understood in the athl ..read more

As a mental performance coach, I advocate that my clients reflect on their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to build self-awareness. However, my reflective practice has been lackluster this year whether it is reflecting on my client delivery work, my self-care, or the development of a relatively nascent business. I will show myself some self-compassion in that 2022 has been a challenging year. I feel as though I developed some positive momentum during the first part of the year with respect to building my mental performance coaching business and The Freshman Foundation® Podcast. Yet, I don’t ..read more

I have been thinking a lot about the process of change lately. Mostly, I’ve been thinking about how I can best help my mental performance coaching athletes achieve their goals. I take responsibility for a large part of the change process because helping clients to generate their desired results is my job. However, there is only so much that I can control in the change process. Specifically, I can’t control my client’s desire to take the actions necessary to facilitate change. As usual, I always ask myself what I can do better when my clients. One answer that comes up quite a bit is that I must ..read more

As a clinically-diagnosed anxiety sufferer, the phase “what if” has historically had a very negative connotation to me. In the past, when I have considered a question in my mind that starts with “what if,” it has led to a vision of the most catastrophic outcome possible. Failure. Death. Embarrassment. You name it. However, I finally started to master my anxiety about five years ago with the help of proper medication and a variety of mental skills. Now, questions starting with “what if” have an entirely different meaning to me. I hate to admit it, but I have been a fan of professional wrestling ..read more

I recently let my emotions get the best of me while coaching my 8th grade son’s baseball game. I humbly say that it is a rare occurrence that I lose my cool while coaching. However, I am guilty in this instance. It led me to wonder, how do emotions affect coaches and their coaching? My emotional outburst was not directed at my players or the umpires. It was directed at the other coach. The top half of the final inning started to get out of hand. We were down by about six runs at the start of the inning. A combination of errors, past balls, and a couple of solid hits led to the game getting int ..read more

In Episode 37 of The Freshman Foundation Podcast (https://michaelvhuber.com/podcasts/), my guest is Laurence Halsted, who is a two-time Olympian fencer. Laurence spoke about his experiences as a young athlete in England.  He glowingly spoke about his first fencing coach who provided him a great deal of autonomy to explore his sport. This led to a great deal of enjoyment and cultivated a true love for a sport that led Laurence to the highest level of athletics. However, Laurence mentioned something that I’ve largely overlooked in my writings about positive coaching behaviors. “Sometimes, a ..read more

I don’t watch a lot of television and when I do, I usually rewatch shows that I really enjoy. I know that sounds pretty boring. However, I’m not afraid to admit that’s my style. Friday Night Lights (FNL) is a critically-acclaimed show about a Texas town that is centered around its high school football program. If you haven’t seen it, then I’d encourage you to watch it. The characters are complex, the themes are complex, and it is just plain entertaining. As a mental performance coach working with high school and college athletes, the theme that stands out most is the complicated relationship b ..read more