Sport & Performance
Although most athletes, coaches, trainers, and mentors agree that performance is largely mental, little time is spent actually training the mind to succeed. The mind plays a key role in achieving our optimal performance. Athletes train their bodies; a sport performance coach can augment traditional training by developing mental skills for improved outcomes and peak performances.
What is a Sport & Performance Coach?
A Sport & performance coach uses psychological principles to support the mental aspects of your training, job, or recreational activities. Your performance is profoundly influenced by your psychological mindset. Too much stress can lead to anxiety, burnout and depression which will all negatively impact your performance. Sport performance coaches teach techniques that calm the mind, improve focus, and build confidence.
What are the Benefits of a Sport Performance Coach?
Working with a sport performance coach can provide both mental and physical advantages. By actively training the mind, you can:
- Increase motivation
- Reduce performance anxiety
- Maintain emotional control
- Manage mistakes
- Break through plateaus
- Cope with adversity such as injury or rehabilitation
- Set and achieve goals
- Improve communication skills
- Navigate athletic transitions
- Deal with the pressures of competition
- Address burnout
Mental training skills such as visualization, imagery, relaxation, positive self-talk, affirmations, mindfulness, and breathing techniques can be used to counteract negative thinking, anxiety, and fear. With the help of a sport performance coach, you can attain a competitive edge and achieve optimal and peak performance.
Is a Sport Performance Coach Right for Me?
People of all ages and disciplines can benefit from sport psychology tools. Typical clients include:
- Athletes (high school, college, professional, and recreational)
- Coaches
- Teams
- Musicians
- Actors
- Dancers
- Stage performers
- Business leaders
- Public speakers
People who benefit from sport performance coaching are typically interested in improving their overall health and wellness. Athletes, performers, and business executives work in high-stakes environments filled with stress and expectations. A sport performance coach can help individuals reframe the narratives they tell themselves. By caring for the mind and body in a holistic manner, individuals are better prepared to achieve their goals.
How to Choose a Sport Performance Coach
A sport performance coach typically specializes in performance enhancement training and developing applicable mental skills. The backgrounds of sport performance coaches can vary widely. At Arize Performance, Janell Kalifey, LCSW and Madison Bates, PLPC are trained clinicians with backgrounds in psychotherapy and applied sport psychology. We have devoted our careers to the study of the mind. This experience gives us a unique set of skills as clinicians and as consultants. Some clients may begin to see a sport performance coach to address performance-related concerns but discover underlying issues that may need deeper exploration. Sport performance coaches without a clinical background in psychotherapy would then need to refer those clients out to another provider. At Arize Performance, we are able to continue working with these clients and provide a fully integrated experience without the need to see multiple providers simultaneously.
A comprehensive assessment should be the first step toward developing a customized sport performance strategy. By understanding the client’s specific concerns and any personal issues that may be affecting performance, individually-tailored goals can be established, and the appropriate skills can be taught to achieve those goals. For example, some clients may have experienced a particular failure during a game and have difficulty shooting a free-throw or kicking a field goal. Other clients may have suffered an injury that prevents them from returning to their sport in the same capacity, and they could use help managing feelings of loss and reframing their athletic identity. Arize Performance approaches sport performance enhancement training as a collaborative process, working with each client to meet their personal needs and expectations.
Contact Janell Kalifey, LCSW
Learn more information about sport performance coaching or schedule a consultation.