Regardless of the sport or performance venue, through mental performance training, I assist athletes and performers in developing mental skills that will help them perform how they want, when they want, and boost their personal well-being. My performance training includes the development of skills such as:

✔︎ Focusing and re-focusing techniques

✔︎ Building and maintaining self-awareness

✔︎ Building and maintaining confidence

✔︎ Effective communication strategies

✔︎ Goal setting

✔︎ Developing a growth mindset

✔︎ Energy and performance anxiety management

✔︎ Pre-performance routines

✔︎ Productive and helpful self-talk

✔︎ Mindfulness, reflection, and cultivating gratitude

✔︎ Visualization and mental rehearsal

Some potential benefits of working with a mental performance coach include:

✔︎ “Get out of your head” faster and play more effectively in the moment

✔︎ More self-confidence on the court

✔︎ Continued improvement and ability to perform outside of your comfort zone

✔︎ Increased self-awareness, especially of thinking patterns that may, or may not, be serving you

✔︎ Experience more joy and excitement when you play (no matter if you win or lose)

✔︎ More motivation to push through challenging practices and workouts

✔︎ Deeper connection to why you love your sport

✔︎ Stronger commitment to improving and working hard

✔︎ Faster mental recovery from your losses

✔︎ Learning from your mistakes and “failures” more effectively

✔︎ Faster improvement of your physical skills

✔︎ Increased ability to stay focused and avoid distraction

✔︎ Set more effective goals and achieve them more often

✔︎ More meaningful connections with your teammates, beach partners, and coaches

✔︎ More resilience on and off the court

✔︎ Play more consistently and confidently, especially when it matters most.

Like training physically, training mentally takes time, dedication, hard work, and patience. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand I can wave that suddenly makes your mental game as strong as it can be!

Individual sessions are 50-minutes long and happen over video chat. In general, how does each session break down?

5-10 min:
Intro, recap, and changes since last meeting. Discuss what is new and what has (and has not) been working.

20-25 min:
Activity/education around a mental skill or sport psychology concept; assessment tool or survey; and/or further discussion of goals. (This is the heart of the session and will heavily depend on the client’s individual performance plan and what they bring with them to our session that day.)

10-20 min:
Brainstorm how the skill/concept/activity can be applied in the athlete’s specific performance setting. Check for understanding of what we’ve discussed and make sure there’s a clear action plan going forward.

5 min:
Summarize session and/or reflection. What stuck with the athlete? Confirm a plan for the week/next meeting.

Our individual work together starts with me gaining an understanding of your story and your athletic history. I ask a lot of open-ended questions to learn information about you as a person in addition to you as an athlete. For this work to be effective, I firmly believe it needs to happen on a foundation of mutual respect and rapport. From there, I begin to determine what you need and how I can best help. Sessions are a mix of me listening to the athlete, teaching concepts and skills, guiding the athlete to understand themselves better and how their thoughts and feelings may be impacting how they play, and helping the athlete determine when and how to use the mental skills we've discussed (read: action plan!), hearing how previously taught skills have or haven't been working, making adjustments, etc. No one session is the same.

Group or team sessions can take many forms: lecture-style workshops, facilitated discussions, active learning through team-building games, observation and in-the-moment coaching at practices, or a combination thereof. Reach out, and let’s talk about what you’re looking for and how I can help.

Mental performance training is an ongoing process throughout an athlete’s or performer’s career, especially as their goals and skill level develops.

Athletes I have coached one-on-one typically train for a minimum of 3 months, and most work with me for at least 15 sessions. We start by meeting weekly (for the first month or two), then usually taper off to bi-weekly meetings. That said, the work will always depend on the athlete’s preferences, progress, and schedule.

I find that athletes who may be somewhat shy and reserved in their daily life find they feel safe opening up during our sessions. I use a variety of interactive exercises, written reflections, worksheets, visualization and mindfulness exercises, and videos to coach and connect with my clients.

Short answer? Yes. I am based in Portland, Oregon, and have limited availability to coach athletes in-person who live and/or play in the Portland metro area. The vast majority of my coaching is conducted virtually using video conferencing.

Not at all! My practice is open to athletes in any sport at any level, performers in any performance domain, and those in high-performance professions.