sport psychology Why Does an Athlete Play Well in Practice but Not in Games? You've got an athlete who's one of your best in practice. Fluid, instinctive, makes the hard play look easy. Then game day comes and someone else shows up — tight, hesitant, a step slow, nothing like the player you see every Tuesday. It's one of
sport psychology How Can an Athlete Improve Focus During Competition? You can see the moment an athlete's focus goes. They're in it, reading the game, and then something pulls them out — a bad call, a parent in the stands, the score, a thought about the last mistake — and for a few possessions they're a
mental skills What Can a Coach Do to Build Resilience in Athletes? One athlete makes a mistake and you can see them metabolize it in about ten seconds — annoyed, then over it, already onto the next play. Another makes the same mistake and it follows them for the rest of the game, then into the car, then into the week. It'
sport psychology How Do I Build Confidence in an Athlete Who Doubts Themselves? You have an athlete who can do it in practice. You've seen it. They've seen it. And then they get to the game, or the tryout, or the big moment, and you watch the doubt take over — the hesitation, the "I'm not good
mental skills What Are the Most Common Mental Skills Gaps in Youth Athletes? You can see a missed tackle. You can see a dropped pass, a slow first step, a shot that sails wide. So that's what gets coached — the visible, physical things, over and over, because they're the things in front of you. The part you can'
sport psychology How Can an Athlete Manage Stress Before a Competition? It's the drive to the game. Your athlete has gone quiet in the back seat, or won't stop talking, or keeps asking to stop for the bathroom. The heart rate is up, the stomach is tight, and you can see them reading all of that as
sport psychology What Does Poor Mental Preparation Look Like in a Youth Athlete? You have an athlete who does everything right physically. They show up to practice, they put in the reps, the skills are there on a Tuesday. Then game day comes and you never quite know which version you'll get. One week they're locked in. The next
What Is My Competitive Athlete Not Telling Me? What is my competitive athlete not telling me? Your athlete is likely hiding struggles that don't fit sport's "toughness" narrative—perfectionism that extends to every area of life, using training as armor against feeling inadequate, or carrying the exhausting weight of being watched as
sport psychology How Do I Stop Thinking About Getting Injured Again? Stop intrusive injury thoughts by systematically rewiring your threat response through four cognitive techniques: naming the thought pattern to interrupt autopilot, reality-checking predictions with logged evidence, replacing fear thoughts with prepared mental cues, and building counter-evidence through progressive exposure. These work over 4-6 weeks with daily 5-
Why Am I So Scared to Play After My ACL Surgery? Re-injury fear after ACL surgery is a normal nervous system response, not weakness. Your brain remembers the original injury and scans for threat signals even after physical clearance. Female athletes experience 2-6 times higher re-injury fear than males due to biological factors including hormones, joint mechanics, and
sport psychology Making Mindset Visible: Why Female Athletes Need a Different Mental Game Plan Mental Performance Training for Young Female Athletes: The Case for a Specialized Approach Executive Summary Youth sports are reaching new heights of popularity, yet the mental performance training that underpins athletic success has lagged behind – especially for young female athletes. Sport psychology research and practice have historically centered on male
DIY Growth Toolkit for Young Athletes: A Parent's Guide Parents of student-athletes often find themselves navigating a complex world of training schedules, competitions, and developmental milestones without a roadmap. This guide introduces a simple but powerful approach to supporting your child's sports journey: a flexible, personalized toolkit that grows and changes with your child's
sport psychology From Stress to Success: The Reset Button Technique for Young Athletes This piece first appeared in SportPsychMike, Mike Mata's newsletter on Substack. There is a world where we work very hard and we make the time to reset. — Having a ‘reset button’ creates a space to be curious. It enables you to take an inventory of things at that
sport psychology Mindset Matters: The Key to Student Athlete Success For student-athletes, understanding and developing the right mindset can be crucial for success both in sports and academics. Defining Mindset A mindset is a set of beliefs that guide our perceptions, and subsequently, our actions. These beliefs are internalized from several sources, like: * Peers * Media * Parents * School and Youth
sport psychology Book Excerpt: Called to Greatness This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Called to Greatness. Welcome to your handbook on high performance. This book is my endeavor to synthesize two parts of the human experience which have both fascinated me and informed my performance coaching philosophy: what allows humans to perform at their best
