So…you’re a High School senior, and a pretty good football player.  You’re trying to figure out about where to go to college….how to make it at the next level…

Who would you MOST like to turn to for advice?  How about a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.

Imagine getting advice on dealing with the media from Howie Long.

….Or envision Jerry Rice jumping out of his seat to meet you.

…Or Michael Irvin looking you dead in the eye, and talking about leaving a legacy with what you do.

Intimidating ideas, right?  But if you can introduce yourself to these men, and hold a conversation, you can lead the huddle.

Allow me to introduce you to Dr Casey Cooper, Director of the Legacy Leadership Project, which pairs up NFL Hall of Famers with deserving young people from Southern California (and your city too, soon….we hope!).

The LLP offers life skills mentoring, and a fantastic development opportunity to HS athletes in Orange County, but plans to expand to other major US cities, and the four major sports.

Dr Cooper brought two HS athletes out to Canton, OH for the recent NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and is able to provide the boys an introduction, and forum for conversation with the best of the best that the NFL has ever produced.  Players like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Warren Moon, Steve Young, Jack Youngblood.

And the conversation never turned to football!

The program exists to show the young men these gladiators as people first, and get them thinking about their life after football.

Dr Cooper, and the Hall of Famers do all of this as a giveback opportunity, to leave a legacy of development for young people, and they’re willing to give you the entire blueprint to get a Legacy Leadership Project started in your city.

You can reach her here for more information.

Dr Cooper received her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Southern California. During her graduate work, Dr. Casey designed an approved Sports Psychology specialization in collaboration with the Kinesiology Department. To date, Dr. Casey is the only clinician to graduate from USC with this unique combination of coursework and training. Therefore, she is able to treat a wide range of athletic and family issues utilizing general and specialized techniques to maximize her client’s goals.



The Athlete’s Audio Academy is proud to visit with Robert Andrews, our first repeat guest to talk parenting, performance, and progeny.

We discuss empowering the young athlete, helping them develop new communication skills, and being aware of how what you do in the stands is having an effect on your child during athletic performance.

Robert is founder and director of the Institute for Sports Psychology in Houston.

The Institute of Sports Psychology has provided services for athletes and coaches from the NFL, Major League Baseball, USA Gymnastics, Rice University, University of Houston, Houston Baptist University, Sam Houston State University, UTEP, University of Texas, Fresno State, Oklahoma, Boston College, Michigan, Ohio State and many other colleges and universities across the country and has also developed a program to help college football players prepare for the rigorous NFL Combine.

Robert has been in private practice as a sports psychology consultant and psychotherapist for 18 years. His areas of expertise, primary areas of focus and passion are working with athletes to help them realize their peak potential as an athlete, helping injured athletes overcome the emotional, mental, and spiritual effects of their sports related injury and teaching coaches how to coach at their best when things are at their worst.

Do you remember how tough it was to be 13?

Your body is changing….your voice is changing….you’re trying to figure out what it means to be cool (or if you even care).  You’re experiencing your first tastes of independence, and learning different roles, and different ways to communicate…

Pile on top of that the additional challenges of trying to develop as an athlete.  Sports has such a visible role in our culture, and youth sports participation is at al all time high.

Being 13 is tough enough.  Being a 13 year old athlete is even tougher.

There are differences in the expectations of your coaches (and perhaps) parents, the additional pressure of trying to keep it all straight, and develop confidence.

Sports Psychology Consultant Erika Carlson, of Excellence in Sport Performance in the SF bay area works specifically with young athletes 12-14 and up, and she has a unique approach, focusing on development, instead of achievement.

Erika works with youth athletes in soccer, golf, tennis, and many other sports to help them develop as people, not just achieve success on the field.  In this Athletes Audio Academy interview, Erika discusses key mental skills that relate specifically to the younger athlete, and has some advice for parents and coaches, too.

Erika designs and implements comprehensive mental training programs for clubs, teams and individuals.

Erika also has the privilege of working as a Leadership Coach for the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, and is a Certified Consultant by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.

You can contact Erika Carlson, M.A., Certified Consultant-AASP here.

Here’s a fascinating story about how the Lakers use meditation to calm their minds, focus on the moment, and relax with all the pressure facing them.  It’s related to Game 7 of the NBA finals (which I know was a few weeks ago).

Arguably, the Celtics, and Lakers (and all professional teams for that matter) are physically pretty much the same.

When asked….they’ll all tell you that the game is mental.  But even they can be resistant to some of these approaches.  Read down into the article to see what some other NBA players think of meditation!  How could you argue with the Lakers’ (and Coach Jackson’s) approach??

Another real-life example comes from the mental preparation for the upcoming Tour de France, from Sports Psychologist Paige Dunn of XCEL Sports Psychology.  She’s writing for the Master the Shift Facebook Page as a part of Team Lance, and she’s a regular contributor to a number of magazines.

Scroll down to find the story titled:  TdF 2010: How Lance Recons the Alps.  It’s absolutely loaded with quotes about how mental imagery improves performance.

So here’s the question.  In these examples…The most elite athletes in the world are doing it.  In our Athlete’s Audio Academy video interviews below with elite sports psychologists, almost all of them discuss some sort of visualization, or mental imagery training.

So how are you training your mind?  What are you visualizing about your next game, match, round, race, or practice session?

Perhaps a more interesting question is ‘what is your opponent doing‘ to visualize beating you?



What a week for poor mental performance in sports….

First, three of the top six golfers in the world, with a chance to win, fall apart on the last nine holes of the US Open at Pebble Beach.  To quote Phil M.  ”If I’d have shot even par on the back, I’d be in a playoff”.   Distractions from these players contrasted with the relaxed, fun behavior and attitude of the winner, Graeme McDowell.

Then, the French soccer team mentally implodes after a controversy between a coach, a player, a team, a federation, and a country.  Some of the highest paid, and most talented individual performers in soccer could not overcome their internal conflict, and join together.  And they’re watching the rest of the World Cup.

This is the kind of week that gives sports psychologists plenty to talk about, and (probably) plenty of new clients.

We dig into the mental aspects of both of these breakdowns with Robert Andrews, founder and director of the Institute for Sports Psychology in Houston.

The Institute of Sports Psychology has provided services for athletes and coaches from the NFL, Major League Baseball, USA Gymnastics, Rice University, University of Houston, Houston Baptist University, Sam Houston State University, UTEP, University of Texas, Fresno State, Oklahoma, Boston College, Michigan, Ohio State and many other colleges and universities across the country and has also developed a program to help college football players prepare for the rigorous NFL Combine.

Robert has been in private practice as a sports psychology consultant and psychotherapist for 18 years. His areas of expertise, primary areas of focus and passion are working with athletes to help them realize their peak potential as an athlete, helping injured athletes overcome the emotional, mental, and spiritual effects of their sports related injury and teaching coaches how to coach at their best when things are at their worst.

Robert has two children who are actively involved (and having fun!) in sports, and he has played football himself.

Here’s some more information about Robert, and the Institute of Sports Psychology, including how to reach him.

The Athlete’s Audio Academy exists to offer a voice to Sports Psychologists from around the world who are committed to improving athletes’ performance, overall health, confidence, and mental skills.  If that describes you, we’d love to interview you!  Contact us, and thanks for watching!



It isn’t every day that you get to interview one of the heavy hitters in any industry, but that’s exactly my privilege today.

Dr. Robert Weinberg, PhD, is the co-author of the most popular textbook in the world for students studying Sports Psychology, “Foundations in Sport and Exercise Psychology” which he wrote with Daniel Gould.  It’s currently in it’s 4th edition, and is used in universities around the world to prepare the next generation of Sports Psychologists.

He joins me today to talk about his new book, Mental Toughness in Sport, Business, and Life.  In the book, expected just after the first of the year, he discusses the concept of mental toughness, and breaks it down into 4 pillars:

-Motivation

-Dealing with Pressure

-Focus / Concentration

-Self-Confidence

This interview primarily focuses on the application of mental toughness to sports, and contains a brief breakdown of each of the concepts above.

Dr. Weinberg has approximately 30 years of experience consulting with performers (recreational to elite) in a wide variety of areas in both sport and business developing mental skills to enhance performance and personal growth. Some of his specific credentials and accomplishments include the following:

•  Certified Consultant, Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology

•  Sport Psychology Registry – United States Olympic Committee

•  Past President -three major scholarly and applied sport psychology organizations

•  Author – Over 200 articles in scholarly and applied journals

In addition to his work with athletes from all over the world, he is a content contributor to OMT, and he’s also a professor at Miami University in Oxford, OH, Dr. Weinberg lives in Cincinnati.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the book, about Dr Weinberg, or about mental toughness, and its application to sport, business, or life, contact him here.



Think of it….you’ve dreamed, envisioned, and practiced for this moment your entire life.  The curtain is about to go up on your first performance at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Nervous?  Butterflies?  shaking? Mind racing?  How can your body react, move, and create when your mind is working against you?

Now picture the end of the performance.  What’s waiting for you?? Reviews, criticism, judging, and then, perhaps more auditions.

Many of the components of a successful mental game in sports apply to dancers, singers, and performing artists, too, as we explore in this week’s episode of the Athlete’s Audio Academy.

Our guest, Chantale Lussier, is herself a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Professional Division Teachers’ Course, and has served the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s Professional Division (2002-2004) and now The School of Dance (2005-present). Since 2009, Chantale has taken a seat on the National Committee of Physical and Health Education Canada’s Dance Professional Advisory Committee.

She makes a convincing case for developing a sense of identity, self-awareness, and the ability to calm the mind.

Chantale has been working with dancers, artists, and athletes for 7 years, and to inquire about how she can help you develop your mind to get the best out of yourself, and your art, look her up at elysianinsight.ca



MAN, there are some interesting, innovative approaches to mental training.

The Athlete’s Audio Academy is joined this week by Dr. Robert Neff, of Mental Training, Inc. in Dallas to talk about his new, groundbreaking tool for athletes, onlinementaltrainer.com.

Dr. Neff has worked with all levels of athletes, for over 20 years, and has created an interactive web-based application for all athletes to benefit from mental training, not just the select few that can afford one on one coaching.

Using a system that assesses the athlete, and applies artificial intelligence, you can get all of the benefits of working one on one with a sports psychologist for less than you’re spending on your gym membership.

Dr. Neff is a former professional athlete, and has partnered with some of the best-known professionals in sports psychology; namely, Dr Robert Weinberg, who literally wrote the book that serves as the primary textbook for students in the field.

Dr. Neff has some advice for coaches in team and individual sports, and will offer the top three mental training skills that all athletes need to succeed.

Dr Neff also discusses his fascinating research on, and application of the connection between imagery, memory, confidence and performance.  He’s created the ‘Memory-Confidence Web’, highlighting the importance of positive emotions in your athletic performance.  This part of the conversation starts at around 14:40 into the interview.  You can download a PDF of the ‘Memory-Confidence Web’ here.

The Athlete’s Audio Academy exists to offer a voice to Sports Psychologists from around the world who are committed to improving athletes’ performance, overall health, confidence, and mental skills.  If that describes you, we’d love to interview you!  Contact us, and thanks for watching!

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.

Of course, the whole place was on their feet…

Then he asked the people who had bought his book to remain standing.

Half the crowd sat down.

“Remain standing if you read even one chapter of my book”

Half of those standing sat down.

“….if you read the whole book”

Half again

“Now remain standing if you tried any of the suggestions in my book.

Two people were left.

Two out of 800.

I was reminded of this from a tweet by Shawn Fairweather (@mindofchampions):

“Goal Setting is Overrated”… “what makes the biggest difference is what you do AFTER the goals are set”

Don Shula…you know, the winningest coach in NFL history…That Don Shula said that. Shawn’s tweet linked to that same story, and he has a good 4 part riff on goals here.

So what are you DOING?? Are you just ‘buying the book’?…or are you taking some action?

Are you writing down your goals?? Putting them on the calendar?? Creating a visualization recording to help you use imagery? Actually dedicating 15 minutes a day to visualize them?

….Going to a workshop to clarify your goals??

If you’re in the Bay Area (Berkeley to be specific) on the 30th, Sports Psychology Consultant Paige Dunn (@paigedunn, @XcelSports) is hosting a goal setting workshop.

It’s a step.

I heard once that people fail for only two reasons. A lack of knowledge, or a lack of action.

I’ll bet you already had the knowledge before you read this post.

Just do it.