About Dari

Darielle Watkins, M.S., CMPC, is a sport, exercise, and performance psychology consultant with years of experience helping athletes, performers, and first responders. A competitive athlete her whole life, Dari’s passion for sport and exercise psychology emerged through injuries, enduring multiple shoulder surgeries, and experiencing performance anxiety and other mental hardships, which forced her to recognize that she lacked access to proper mental training or resources during her athletic career. With her firsthand experiences similar to what many other athletes and performers face daily, Dari was inspired to pursue a degree in sport, exercise, and performance psychology, blending her love for sports with the science behind the mind-body connection and achieving optimal performance. Ultimately, to become the resource she never had.

Being a multisport athlete growing up, a former collegiate swimmer, and current surfer, exerciser, and ocean lifeguard, Dari understands how vital mental strength and personal well-being are to athletic, and life, success. As a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), she has applied her expertise in mental performance to a wide range of clients, working with NCAA athletes across various sports, including swimming, water polo, track & field, volleyball, softball, baseball, and skating, as well as semi-professional athletes. Along with consulting, she supervises individuals seeking their CMPC certification. Her experience also extends to first responders, where she has consulted with ocean lifeguards to help them build mental resilience in high-pressure environments, along with serving as an EMS Basic Peer Support Counselor. Dari’s approach is to meet performers where they are at, providing a safe space to work through hinderances to performance, while building mental skills and strengths to reach one’s potential.  

Alongside working with athletes and performers on mental training, Dari is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology at California State University Long Beach, teaching courses on sport and exercise psychology, and other sociocultural sport topics. She has also served on multiple research projects, currently a co-founder of Surf Psych at the Beach, a research lab dedicated to the study of sport psychology in surfing.

Southern California born and raised, and now residing in Redondo Beach, Dari enjoys surfing, running, lifting, skiing, traveling to different beaches for surf adventures, and baking.

Dari Headshot Performance Consultant

Education:

  • M.S. in Kinesiology: Sport and Exercise Psychology, California State University Long Beach

  • B.A. in Psychology, Business Minor, University of California San Diego

Professional Certifications:

  • Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) by the Association of Applied Sport Psychology

 

Schedule a session with Dari

 

SCHEDULE YOUR FREE CONSULTATION with a consultant on our team

Click the link below and discover how we can assist you achieve the performance and results you desire!

Click to Schedule a Free Session