The Power Five: Five Pathways to Optimized Performance and Mental Wellness

Data-driven. Results-oriented. It’s no secret that the Venn diagram of sport and life has an overlapping middle section filled to the brim with values, lessons, and experiences. The complex relationship between performance on the field and wellness outside of athletic endeavors has been explored by athletes and professionals long before the days of NILs, Gold Gloves, and Super Bowl titles even existed. And while there have been many leads, advancements, and discoveries, the outcome has been simple (or anything but): far too much information; too much for an athlete to comprehend and translate to results on the field. An all-compassing smorgasbord of theories, ideas, and principles spanning the spectrum with […]

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Athletic Identity and Complex Health Concerns

I was sitting in my office a few years ago with a high level athlete as she described her recent experiences with continued health concerns.  She was facing another flare up of symptoms, which prompted feelings of isolation, uncertainty, and frustration regarding her season and the need to dial back her training.  “I feel like I’ve lost a huge part of myself,” she said, as she reflected back on the last decade of competition.  Her current reality no longer matched the trajectory she set for herself just a few years prior. I have seen several clients over the years who have faced complex and chronic health concerns: Diabetes, Ehlers Danlos […]

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Behind the Curtain: A Look Inside Premier Consulting and the AWPA

Last season, our Premier Team worked with a Division 3 Women’s Basketball team to pilot our new Athletic Wellness and Performance Assessment (AWPA).  The young team sought to kick-start their development, creating the perfect opportunity to introduce our new measure.  Their sole senior would be graduating after the season, and this would be the first collegiate season for the first and second year students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The team and coach had goals for the season, though they weren’t sure where to start with respect to their mental game.  Like a lot of teams, the athletes wanted to target the areas that would make a difference in their […]

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Five Keys to Beating Distress and Burnout

The past few years have been nothing short of challenging for athletes, coaches, and those in sport. As the world seemingly came to a standstill in spring of 2020, athletes and coaches grappled with the unknowns regarding their season plans. Sport psychology providers saw heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and depression for athletes and coaches alike. As a sport psychology consulting firm committed to understanding the intersection of performance and wellness, our team wanted to give athletes everything they needed to be at their best—both mentally and physically. In the fall of 2020 we launched a research project to answer one important question: What are the actions, thoughts, and feelings […]

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Neutralize Negative Self Talk in Under Ten Seconds

We’ve all had it, that niggling voice that discourages us before or during competition.  Self-talk is our inner narrator, and when it directs our attention to destructive thoughts or feelings, it can deep-six our performance levels.  Thankfully, mindfulness training teaches us an easy way to strip power from this kind of talk, and separate ourselves from its consequences. Mindfulness teaches us to shift away our attention away from analysis or judgement, and toward observation and acceptance.  An analytical mind evaluates and reacts.  It examines the past, it anticipates the future.  It worries and it avoids.  The observing mindset merely notices and accepts.  It doesn’t get hooked by negativity or try […]

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Becoming Resilient: Daily Mental Health Routines

To become resilient, routine and mental health are paramount.  Let’s dive into a practice that achieves both, and create a Healthy Daily Mental Health Routine.   Morning Routine: Set Your Intention Starting the day with an intention can be a very positive, a very important first step.  So often, we just wake up and we let the day, and the stress of the day, hit us without thinking of how we want to be, how we want to respond. Some of the best athletes and the best leaders that I’ve worked with set their intention for the day when they wake up in the morning.  They think through what the […]

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