I’ll admit it. I hated school. I could never understand how any of it was going to apply to my real life. But I wanted to learn new stuff. So my teachers had to figure out a way to serve up the new stuff in a way that I could see how it was going to be applicable.
I had to ‘eat my peas…without knowing I was eating my peas’
I’m sure that’s how a lot of athletic coaches feel about incorporating mental skills training into their work with individuals and teams. They’re interested in anything that will help their teams win, but are either not sure where to start, or don’t know how to incorporate the brain-work into their coaching.
Enter Larry Lauer, whose resume is as long as your arm:
- Director of Coaching Education and Development – Institute for the Study of Youth Sports / Michigan State University
- Mental Performance Consultant, USA Hockey National Team Development Program
- An Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) Certified Consultant and listed in the United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry, 2008-2012,
- Larry was named one of the 100 Most Influential Sport Educators in America by the Institute for International Sport.
- Author of an article that every parent should read on ‘Who’s coaching our Kids‘.
He’s kind of a big deal, and his passion is helping Coaches understand the mental skills. If you coach kids of any age, and ability level, Larry is someone you should know. You can connect with Sport Psychology Pro Larry Lauer here and here, and read his blogs on Tennis, and Hockey.
He’s here today on the Athlete’s Audio Academy to talk about some of the language that Sport Psychology professionals can use to help coaches understand the mental skills.

We’re pretty friendly…