1. Why sport psychology?
Because it makes sense. It’s a crucial piece to the athletic puzzle that too many athletes go their entire career without truly taking advantage of. It just seems too important to not share. If I can play a role in improving the experience that an athlete has, whether in sport or in life beyond the sport, I’ll be satisfied. I also love the concept of giving your physical skill a definite and measurable advantage by sharpening your mental skill. How could someone not be on board for that?!
2. Do you have a favorite mental skill to work on with clients?
I love to explore the goal setting process with athletes. There’s something fun about temporarily joining someone’s journey towards a specific destination – or, sometimes, giving them the tools to decide what that destination is. Everyone seems to be in a different and unique place on the goal setting spectrum, which makes it pretty hard to get bored ;)
3. Which skill do YOU need to practice more often?
Confidence. Confidence. Confidence. It’s the root of anything and everything. The more one’s confidence improves, the easier it is to improve nearly every other mental (and possibly physical as well) skill. I also think it’s cool that confidence CAN be practiced. It’s just easier to tell other people how to practice it than it is to implement it into a daily routine myself – hence the needing more practice!
4. What is your favorite moment in your athletic career?
It’s hard for me to break it down to one favorite moment. I could say the day that I ran my fastest 400m, or the 4x400 that qualified us for NCAA’s, or the day that I won the Big East Championships, and all of those answers would be true! I still get a rush of adrenaline when I imagine chasing down an opponent. The truth is I am so thrilled to have experienced all that my athletic career allowed me to, and it makes me uneasy to single out one moment as my absolute favorite. It’s all more than I could have asked for – everything from realizing I was fast in junior high, to learning to love the sport in high school at Rockford Christian, to seeing how far I could take it in college at St. John’s. It, as a whole, is my favorite thing ever.
5. How do you want people to remember you?
Happy and with a hearty appetite.