Increasingly sports coaches are finding themselves on the front line having conversations with athletes about their mental state. The goal of a long term team engagement is to make sure that conversation has a positive, action-oriented and collaborative set of shared values and terminology.

As mental health has become a bigger part of sports, a lot of the language for communicating it has come from clinical settings. Terms like depression, anxiety and other diagnoses come into play but most coaches are not mental health professionals. I use Positive Psychology to give coaches a way into conversations without playing on unfamiliar ground. 

Parents aren’t often given education on how to interact with coaches and their children around the intersection of mental health and sports. That may lead them to make situations worse when their intention is to help. The team engagement provides education for parents to give them somewhere to put that well-intentioned energy.

In a world where athletes are performing better and better at a younger age, what often gets left behind is an understanding of what it actually means to be coached. I help athletes learn how to make best use of their coach and form stronger, more positive relationships with coaches.

• Learned Optimism :: Treat optimism as a skill and train it like any other skill

• Overthinking as a strength :: Analytical frameworks that can turn active minds into performance drivers

• Opportunity Capitalization :: How to change a culture from one that is problem focused, conservative and risk averse to one focused on opportunities, taking chances and challenge seeking.

• Perfectionism :: What role does being hard on yourself play in some level of success and sport and how to get past the bottleneck so many hard workers find themselves in. 

• Positivity = Honesty :: How to build positive thinking and communication from an authentic grounding so that it actually sticks.

• Minimum of three visits over the course of a year/season.

• Each engagement takes place over a two day period with multiple workshops within the visit.

• Topics covered are tailored to the specific team.

Learn the basics of applying Positive Psychology with your whole coaching staff.  I provide a comprehensive educational certificate in Positive Psychology for coaching staff.

The education program consists of four parts. I don’t start with performance, but that is where we end, because after all this is sports and we all want to compete at our best.

1. Motivation :: Understanding the process between wanting to do something and doing it. How to actually grow your ability to take on bigger workloads over time. The default processes for motivation that if left unchecked create bigger problems down the road.

2. Emotional Regulation :: Understanding the difference between feeling (emotion) and thinking (thoughts). How to train someone to respond differently to frequent emotional triggers. How to be empathetic while holding a high standard of accountability. 

3. Relationships :: Translating emotional skills into building stronger relationships. The benefits of deeper connection. How to improve communication and sustain change. 

4. Peak Performance :: How to leverage strong relationships into top level performance. Making a plan for mental conditioning. Never scratch your head and wonder why someone didn’t perform as well as you thought again.

• 20 hours of instruction

• Delivered on a weekly basis, both remote and in person

Coaches gain someone that is focused on their development. I challenge them and also help them process the day to day decision points in a coach's life.

I have worked with two particular types of coaches over my career: 1. Ambitious young coach getting started in a career and in a position where they don’t have final decision making power on a team. 2. Head coach who is ultimately responsible for what goes on at a team or club. The coaching looks different for each.

1. Ambitious Young Coach

   Many of the best and brightest young coaches can struggle in subordinate roles. Their passion and engagement mean that they have strong beliefs about the right and wrong choices to make, but their role as assistants or developmental coaches mean they don’t always get that autonomy.

   I help young coaches to understand how to keep their fire burning while working within whatever system they are in. I give them a place to put that energy without it turning into a source of conflict between them and their head coach.

   I also provide a systematic design for career advancement. I teach young coaches how to broaden their network. The keys to getting the next job (including knowing about job postings before they go public).

2. Head Coach

   Being a head coach often means loneliness. Gone is the camaraderie of being “one of the staff”. You are now in charge and more often than not making the final decision.

   I give Head Coaches a non-biased, confidential sounding board for the day-to-day of being a head coach. Whether it’s navigating staff relationships, hiring or situations with athletes that they have nowhere else to turn, I provide continuous support.
   I help head coaches to get out of “fireman mode”, where you find yourself reacting to problems coming at you from every direction. Instead we find proactive steps to prevent situations and keep your team moving forward.

   In short, I help head coaches organize their thoughts so they can make the best possible decisions.

• Weekly 1:1 session for one hour

• Minimum 3-month engagement; 6-months is ideal

For athletes, the individualized coaching aims to rebuild psychological processes from the ground up and allow them to engage differently with practice and competition. There is always a focus on improving their relationship with their primary coach.

Prior to any individual engagement, I will evaluate the athlete for specifics about their points of frustration, goals and particular situation. Based on that information, I custom design a coaching program for each athlete.

• Weekly 1:1 session for one hour

• Minimum 3-month engagement; 6-months is ideal