In the world of competitive sports, young athletes often face immense pressure to perform. This pressure comes from many places, including personal expectations, parental hopes, and the desire to impress coaches and scouts. Notably, the psychological aspect of sports is just as crucial as physical training. When young athletes stop trusting their ability, it can […]
When Young Athletes Stop Trusting Themselves: A Story Read More »
From the outside, it looked like burnout. Low energy. Frustration. A game he used to love… starting to feel heavy. But that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was how he was thinking. I was working with a college-bound high school athlete who had started to spiral. Not because he wasn’t talented. Not because
Psychological Flexibility: The Skill Most Athletes Don’t Know They Need Read More »
From the outside, it looked like he was freezing up. Taking strikes. Falling behind. Pressing late in the count. But that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem started before he ever stepped in the box. He was paying attention to the wrong thing. Let’s rewind. I sent a check-in email to a client whose
Why Athletes Get Stuck: It’s Not What You Might Think Read More »
Last week, one of the young athletes I work with said something that stuck with me. Not about his swing. Not about a tournament. About his dad. He said: “Sometimes my dad doesn’t even say anything. He just gives me the eyes.” If you’ve spent time around youth sports, you know the look. The one
The Eyes: The Silent Pressure Every Young Athlete Feels Read More »
A first-year college baseball player said something to me this week that stopped me. “I’m actually having more fun now… and I’m not even playing.” That wasn’t the case a month ago when we first started working together. A few weeks earlier, baseball had started to feel heavy. So heavy that it led to a
Why is Having Fun a Secret Weapon for Athletes? Read More »
We talked about competing in a recent session. Not dominating. Not being perfect. Just competing. I’ve been working with him since 2023. Since I’ve known him, he has been dreaming of pitching in a college game. For much of that time, his dream came with high expectations. Self-criticism. Overthinking. A need to be perfect. When
One Walk Doesn’t Define an Inning (Unless You Let It) Read More »
“Find someone who knows what they’re talking about and cares about what they do.” That’s what the father of a college baseball player said to me on Thursday morning. The implication was that I check those boxes, which is humbling — especially coming from someone who runs a sports academy and coaches for a living.
When Trusting the Process Gets Hard: A College Baseball Transition Story Read More »
I went to a youth piano recital today. One of my best friends invited me to watch his two daughters, 12 and 8, perform. The recital was held in a quaint but professional space inside a performing arts center in Jersey City, just in the shadows of Manhattan. They faced a single grand piano under
The Part of Performance We NEVER See Read More »
I never expected Miley Cyrus to give me material for a mental-performance lesson… but here we are. If you listen to “Party in the U.S.A.”, you hear a surprisingly relatable story about pressure, uncertainty, and how the right routine can pull you out of your own head. Miley lands in a new, unfamiliar world —
Why Does Miley Cyrus Know More About Performance Routines Than Most Athletes? Read More »
“I’m in my car because I can’t even be in my house. I live with my teammates.” It was as if my client “Jessica” was hiding out in shame. Jessica was ready to meet again after almost a year away from mental performance coaching. Our very first session was on October 16, 2024 — almost
The Myth of Being “Fixed”: Read More »
