Extra special thanks to Dana Blackmer Ph.D., CC-AASP, founder of The Extra Gear for kicking off our Athlete’s Audio Academy learning resource for athletes.

Dana works with athletes on psychological skills, and had some great insights into how mental skills training can benefit all athletes, as well as military personnel, performing artists, and others.

A few highlights:

“What’s in your thought bubble?” When working with an athlete who’s struggling, Dana asks the athlete to reflect on the moment of difficulty, and observe what’s going on in the mind as if it were a thought bubble in a cartoon. “What’s going on in your thought bubble at that moment”

“What’s going on in your mind affects what’s going on in your body”

“Over 90% of Olympic athletes use some form of Mental Training”

“The Olympics tend to focus attention on the practice of Sports Psychology”

Dana is a great resource, and I look forward to working with him again. He can be reached at The Extra Gear.