“We spoke to sports psychologist Dr. Carlin Anderson, a Licensed Psychologist and certified consultant for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), who specializes in sport/performance psychology and counseling psychology. Dr. Anderson offered some useful tips for the adults closest to high-achieving youth to foster healthy self-esteem and life-skills to manage stress and anxiety. Be Curious & Focus on the Process Students are well-aware of their academic and athletic performance scores. They also know when they put in full, half or partial effort to achieve those results. Try to help your student athlete measure and evaluate them self based on the effort they put in, rather than the results they […]

Anderson surmises the kicker’s problems come from the fact there’s no new mountain to ascend. “… As a NFL rookie or when he was coming into college, he was sort of climbing the mountain, and he had a lot less to lose,” he says. “For smarter guys than say the stereotypical ‘dumb’ jocks, it’s about climbing the mountain. My guess with him is he’s a smarter guy and as he’s become [more successful in his career] he thinks he’s got more to lose. He’s already climbed. He’s already got the millions of dollars and so now he’s on top of the mountain and he doesn’t have to climb anymore. The […]

Dr. Justin Anderson, Dr. Alexandra Wagener, and Simon Almaer presented at the Minnesota Wild Development Camp in mid July. This video by the Iowa Wild recaps their work.

Athletic Visualization: How to train your brain to win “When American soccer player Carli Lloyd was preparing for the World Cup, she not only trained her body, she also trained her mind. The star player says she visualized scoring goals and winning games to help her overcome her anxiety. “It sounds pretty funny, but over the years and definitely over the last four years, I’ve taken that visualization part to another level,” Lloyd told the Philadelphia Inquirer as the U.S. team traveled to the site of the World Cup final Sunday night. “I’ve basically visualized so many different things on the field, making these big plays, scoring goals.” Visualization is […]

“Many people take on these events because they want to challenge themselves,” says Justin Anderson, Psy.D., LP, at Premier Sport Psychology in Minnesota, a mental skills training and counseling organization that works with amateur and professional athletes. “It’s been my experience that many marathon runners have an internal drive to grow and do more. Combine that drive with the fact that many professionals (in their) mid-20s to mid-50s are ‘stuck’ in their daily routines or careers and are not getting that psychological need for growth met,” says Anderson. Read more: The Start of Something Big – Inlander