The sport of curling is mesmerizing to new spectators. At first glance, the yelling, obscure body positioning, and commotion of the rocks are not quite like anything most have seen before, and as you continue to peel back the layers, it quickly becomes evident that curling is much more than “shuffleboard on ice”. In addition to athletic ability, the sport demands high caliber mental toughness. At this Olympic Games, the men’s and women’s fields each have ten teams, meaning Team USA will have to battle through a grueling nine-game round robin to determine their fate in the playoff bracket. While the team strategist, the skip, primarily focuses on thinking shots […]

MINNEAPOLIS — With the 2022 Winter Games well underway, one psychologist from Minnesota is in Beijing as a resident sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic Curling teams. Doctor Carlin Anderson is the co-founder of Minnesota-based Premier Sports Psychology, one of the nation’s largest  sports psychology companies. Premier’s experts help top athletes from the NFL to the U.S. Olympic Team cope with anxiety, depression, burnout and overall wellness. According to Dr. Anderson, who was a gymnast at UCLA, optimal performances are connected to mental and physical well-being. Her company has research and and resilience programs that are beginning to discover proactive methods organizations and teams can use to hone mental health skills […]

Team USA curler speaks about being part of the gold-medal winning Team Schuster, explains how important mental health is in Olympic sports, and shares why he leaned on USA Curling Sports Psychologist Dr. Carly Anderson to help him through some of the tough points during the pandemic. Watch Yahoo! Sports video.

BEIJING — American mixed doubles curlers Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys survived an extra end against Sweden for a much-needed victory in the Olympics on Friday, quickly hugged and then found two friendly faces to wave to in a far corner of the eerily quiet and mostly empty Ice Cube. Masked faces, of course, but definitely friendly faces. Persinger and Plys were pretty sure they were waving at team psychologist Carly Anderson and dietician Kaela Colvard, who were among the few spectators who saw the Americans take an 8-7 victory in the round-robin competition to even their record at 2-2. “It’s hard to tell with the masks on. I think […]