Reflection is a skill that I believe all athletes should have in their toolbox. Learning from our experiences is critical to long-term development. However, many times we don’t want to reflect on our performance because things didn’t go exactly as planned. Reflecting makes us uncomfortable. Reflecting can even make us feel bad about ourselves. So, of course, we avoid reflecting. Being that I’m human, I too have a natural instinct to avoid reflection, especially when things don’t go as I planned. I find this kind of ironic given that I advocate that young athletes develop a reflective practice ..read more

I am currently supporting a freshman 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 new and highly competitive 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 ..read more

A number of years ago, I took my daughter to a local art studio to have some daddy-daughter time. I can’t recall exactly how long ago it was, but my daughter was in grade school and it was likely before I returned to school for my master’s degree in sport psychology. It was certainly before I started my mental performance coaching practice. I’m a kid at heart. When I take my kids to do kids stuff, I generally participate. I don’t like to just watch them. I don’t like to stare at my phone (I do that enough). I like to do stuff. On this particular day, I felt compelled to be creative because we ..read more

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