This Work

The work I complete with my athletes provides me with one of the most unique and rewarding feelings I have ever experienced. There’s just something about helping an athlete achieve their goals and dreams that energizes me. And as I think about that, it makes perfect sense… of course it does. While I’m very much in the beginning phases of my career as a mental performance coach, I can honestly say I’ve walked away from each session I have had with an athlete feeling excited, motivated, and energized. As I write my notes following a session I can’t help but feel thankful for the opportunity that I have to work with these athletes, not because I have all of this knowledge and expertise to give them, but rather because I get to watch them put the puzzle pieces together.

A common misconception people have is that mental performance coaches and sport psychologists have all the answers for their athletes. Sure we have expertise and knowledge in researched backed sport and performance psychology theories, principles and techniques, but in session we aren’t just rattling off theory and research to them… that would be awful, no one would pay for that! Instead, in session we ask athletes simple questions about themselves that a lot of them have never been asked. Naturally that can be uncomfortable for athletes, but that’s one of the most important parts of this work and helping athletes reach peak performance. In that moment I get to see and hear their response to a question that they have never been asked. I hear a lot of “umms”, “uhhh’s” and “I don’t know’s”, but the crazy thing is that athletes do know the answers, it's just that no one has ever asked them or given them the opportunity to think on that. Sure it sometimes takes a little while for the athlete to articulate an answer.. sometimes a few minutes.. sometimes even a few sessions. That’s okay though, because when that answer comes, that athlete has successfully put a puzzle piece together and is one step closer to better understanding themselves as a person and as an athlete. And while that seems like a small feat, it’s in that instant that we see growth and we see progress.

That very moment in this work is what inspires me to keep doing this work. To keep bringing energy, excitement, and curiosity to each session. As I continue to do that my athletes start bringing those very things into sessions as well. When that happens we get places.. we challenge the way we think and perceive situations, we remove the obstacles to change, we learn and we grow. All of those things combine to help athletes take their performance to new heights.