Speaker 1: What is it with young people these days? How many
Speaker 1: conversations have started with that question that complaint Just in sports,
Speaker 1: there's a clear generation gap when it comes to athletes
Speaker 1: in gen Z. Those are the ones now in college
Speaker 1: and high school and very early in their pro careers.
Speaker 1: Their loyalty, toughness, resilience, and commitment to team are being
Speaker 1: loudly questioned by some folks in older generations. My guest
Speaker 1: is Dr Kensa Gunter, an esteemed sports psychologist and one
Speaker 1: of the smartest people I've met when it comes to
Speaker 1: gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation for where young athletes
Speaker 1: are coming from, ways to reach and motivate them and
Speaker 1: maybe melts away some misconceptions. Kensa's work with athletes from
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Tech and organizations like the
Speaker 1: NBA and U S Olympic Committee. But Kenson's field of
Speaker 1: expertise is much wider than sports. We also talk about
Speaker 1: useful tools for all of us to improve mental wellness
Speaker 1: and ways to proactively treat our total health well cancer.
Speaker 1: I am so excited about this conversation I could geek
Speaker 1: out on the topics of psychology and sports psychology of
Speaker 1: young people areas you're an expert in, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to approach this with a genuine enthusiasm but hoping to
Speaker 1: learn a lot from you today. Well, thank you for
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be here. I am absolutely looking forward
Speaker 1: to this conversation, and like you, I could geek out
Speaker 1: on the same topics and so I'm really hoping that
Speaker 1: the audience gets something from this and it's interested in
Speaker 1: what we have to discuss, no doubt, that's our job here.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about your work with younger people. I've seen
Speaker 1: you give amazing talks explaining concise, concisely and beautifully what
Speaker 1: is inside the head of what has become known as
Speaker 1: generations Z kind of the post millennials born nineties seven
Speaker 1: or later, so roughly twenty four years old or younger,
Speaker 1: and some of the things that confound people in my
Speaker 1: generation and in your generation, different generations. About this younger group,
Speaker 1: is there unique way of looking at things? And in
Speaker 1: the world of sports, lots of older people complain about
Speaker 1: younger people because of things they don't do, the ways
Speaker 1: that they don't think like we think, what can you
Speaker 1: share with the group about you know, this generation, the
Speaker 1: characteristics in general understanding that generations are generalities and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of diversity and complexity within a generation. What
Speaker 1: have you found there the common threads for folks who
Speaker 1: are in gen Z. So, so the first thing I
Speaker 1: want to say is is that when we think about
Speaker 1: generations and the uniqueness that exists in generations, the uniqueness
Speaker 1: exists across all generations, right, So we think of it
Speaker 1: as a facet of diversity. And so when we look
Speaker 1: at this current generation, what we have to do is
Speaker 1: look at the context in which they were developing in
Speaker 1: their formative years, what was going on in the world
Speaker 1: around them, right, And so this is the generation that really,
Speaker 1: if you think about it was was raised in the
Speaker 1: time and if we think about sports like professionalization of
Speaker 1: youths for the era of the helicopter parents or the
Speaker 1: law more pearance, right, the idea of instant access to information,
Speaker 1: and so you have a generation who's used to those
Speaker 1: things being very commonplace world. And so this is a
Speaker 1: generation that really is interested in belonging. They're interested in meaning,
Speaker 1: they're interested in having opportunities to showcase their abilities. They're
Speaker 1: interested in connectedness. But with the era of social media
Speaker 1: and technology, they're also very interested in expressing their individuality.
Speaker 1: They're interested in understanding the why behind certain things, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, we live in the Google era where you
Speaker 1: can google anything and in five seconds, so they're interested
Speaker 1: in understanding the why. I understand how they fit in
Speaker 1: a larger puzzle. Puzzle. This is a generation that is
Speaker 1: more diverse culturally than any of our past generations, so
Speaker 1: they're very interested in again understanding and allowing space for
Speaker 1: unique differences. Um. But it's also a generation who may
Speaker 1: have had different experiences as it comes to learning how
Speaker 1: to manage frustration, learning, how to deal with setbacks and disappointments, UM,
Speaker 1: learning how to develop what previous generation might think of
Speaker 1: as some of those kind of automatic skills that you
Speaker 1: just get from from moving through day to day. They
Speaker 1: may not have been had the opportunity to develop those
Speaker 1: skills in the organic way that previous generations did. So
Speaker 1: we may need to teach a little bit more for
Speaker 1: this generation to help them understand some of those principles
Speaker 1: that may feel automatic and commonplace again to generations in
Speaker 1: the past. Yeah, as those things apply to attention span.
Speaker 1: You mentioned handling adversity, UH with patients. Some of the
Speaker 1: things that have always taken time to learn. What does
Speaker 1: it speak to the current situation in college athletics where
Speaker 1: the transfer portal exists and a couple of thousand players
Speaker 1: are in the portal because they're seeking a new opportunity,
Speaker 1: a fresh start, and and choosing to when the time comes,
Speaker 1: maybe opt out of a bowl game because they want
Speaker 1: to preserve themselves for their own individual careers down the line.
Speaker 1: Things that just rock the world of of baby boomers
Speaker 1: and other generations. What does it say about this young
Speaker 1: group that that they don't think like we want them
Speaker 1: to think all the time? Yeah, I think historically what
Speaker 1: we have thought of and what we have placed value
Speaker 1: and is this idea of loyalty and this idea of
Speaker 1: enduring right that was a common principle and theme that
Speaker 1: existed in the world of sport kind of you just
Speaker 1: you sacrifice for the team, You endure, you suck it up,
Speaker 1: you you deal with whatever the circumstances may be in
Speaker 1: the situation that you're in. But again, what I think
Speaker 1: we're seeing with this generation is a desire for the
Speaker 1: values that they hold personally to match the values of
Speaker 1: the team in which they're on or the university in
Speaker 1: which they're attending, and I can really what I've seen
Speaker 1: is a connection between this and what I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: that professionalization of sport. If we think about the youth
Speaker 1: sport landscape right now, you have not only the school
Speaker 1: the teams that exist at the school, but you have
Speaker 1: community based teams, you have travel teams. It really is
Speaker 1: um a very intense and robust endeavor. When you think
Speaker 1: about youth sport, you have different teams that may recruit
Speaker 1: kids from across town. It's not that you play in
Speaker 1: the on the team that's in your area. You may
Speaker 1: be recruited by a team across town to be the star,
Speaker 1: to have the opportunity to get the playing time. And
Speaker 1: so that's what kids are familiar with it at a
Speaker 1: very young age. So the idea that they would take
Speaker 1: that mentality that I can go to a different team
Speaker 1: and be a star and get the opportunities that I want,
Speaker 1: it's something that just stays with them. It doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like a foreign concept to them in the way it
Speaker 1: seems like it is to us. But that has become commonplace.
Speaker 1: If we think about the elite sport youth circuit that
Speaker 1: exists across multiple sports, kids are recruited kids are showcased
Speaker 1: as being stars at a very young age, and so
Speaker 1: I think it's not that we're seeing college kids do
Speaker 1: something different. College kids are doing what they're used to
Speaker 1: doing in they're they're just mirroring the experience that they've
Speaker 1: had in youth sport now at the collegiate level, because
Speaker 1: they do want an opportunity, and they are thinking not
Speaker 1: only about the team's success, but they are thinking about
Speaker 1: a branded name and creating opportunities for themselves. I've that's
Speaker 1: a great point that is not often considered when we
Speaker 1: judge college athletes. This is all they've known right since
Speaker 1: youth sports, So it doesn't seem like they're quitting on
Speaker 1: their team when they're seeking a different opportunity. They don't
Speaker 1: even view it that way. I think there is a
Speaker 1: concern by people who are trying to motivate and and
Speaker 1: coach this generation who are from a different generation, that
Speaker 1: there is perhaps not enough concern for the name on
Speaker 1: the front of the jersey and concern only for the
Speaker 1: name on the back of the jersey. How do you
Speaker 1: see that? Yeah, I totally think that. Um, what we
Speaker 1: have to understand is that there has been a movement
Speaker 1: and a shift for a while now, but definitely in
Speaker 1: the last few years to really emphasize and focus on
Speaker 1: the person of the athlete. I think historically in the
Speaker 1: world of sport, we've done a really good job of
Speaker 1: celebrating and acknowledging the performance and really honoring and elevating
Speaker 1: that while at sometimes not even really acknowledging or honoring
Speaker 1: the performer and the person that that that executed that
Speaker 1: awesome performance. And so to your point, I think thinking
Speaker 1: about loyalty, the team really speaks to the front of
Speaker 1: the jersey, but truly what you do see is this
Speaker 1: increased awareness and attentiveness to the name on the back right,
Speaker 1: because that's a person who is having a lived experience,
Speaker 1: regardless of what sport context they're in. And I really
Speaker 1: think when we think about teams, organizations, cultures, it's about
Speaker 1: how are you creating a system that allows that individual
Speaker 1: to thrive, right. I don't really think it's that kids
Speaker 1: want to transfer and go to different schools, just because
Speaker 1: I really think it is they want to be in
Speaker 1: environments where they feel like they are valued, respected, where
Speaker 1: they feel like they have an opportunity, where the work
Speaker 1: that they put in might an opportunity that they get
Speaker 1: on their field of play, and they really want to
Speaker 1: know that the team that they're part of cares about them,
Speaker 1: particularly given how much they are often sacrificing for the team.
Speaker 1: So yes, not only do we need to think about
Speaker 1: the name on the front, but we also need to
Speaker 1: be really mindful of um and express care and concern
Speaker 1: for the name on the back as well. You work
Speaker 1: with NFL teams and be a teams. The Olympic Committee
Speaker 1: will get to all those things. But you use the
Speaker 1: word culture, and so often it's well, does this player,
Speaker 1: this person fit into our culture and shouldn't they sublimate
Speaker 1: some of their own personality traits to fit into this
Speaker 1: culture because the collective is everything. That's not necessarily the
Speaker 1: way a lot of younger athletes view it. Is it? Well,
Speaker 1: I think the assumption is is that just because we
Speaker 1: share colors in a jersey, that we have a culture. Right.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of teams make that mistake and
Speaker 1: think just because we're all under this umbrella, that means
Speaker 1: that a culture is automatically created. And really, culture is
Speaker 1: reflected in your actions, right, It's reflected in what you value.
Speaker 1: It's reflected in how you treat one another, whether we're
Speaker 1: talking coaches to coach, coach to athlete athletes athletes like,
Speaker 1: culture has to be created, and I think one of
Speaker 1: the things that we really have to be conscious of
Speaker 1: and really really have to ask ourselves, is what is
Speaker 1: the culture we're creating? Right? Certainly everybody in competitive sport
Speaker 1: wants the culture of winning, But what else is embedded
Speaker 1: in this culture? Do we have an environment or are
Speaker 1: we cultivating an environment that allows for folks to come
Speaker 1: in with the strengths that they have, also with the
Speaker 1: weaknesses that they have, and can we create an environment
Speaker 1: that helps them to grow and thrive and fail and
Speaker 1: make mistakes and learn and still come together for this
Speaker 1: common purpose, in this common goal. It's not that everyone
Speaker 1: has to be the same on the team, right, We
Speaker 1: just need to create space for everybody to contribute. I
Speaker 1: think of it as a puzzle, right, And if you
Speaker 1: think of a team, and everybody on that team represents
Speaker 1: a unique piece of the puzzle. All the puzzle pieces
Speaker 1: aren't the same, but we need them all in order
Speaker 1: to have a complete picture. And so what I think
Speaker 1: you see is again you see individuals and wanting to
Speaker 1: be a part based system that values them, right. They
Speaker 1: want it to be a two way street. They don't
Speaker 1: want to be the only ones showing commitment, dedication, heart
Speaker 1: and passion to the team. They want the team to
Speaker 1: actually show some of that back to them too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and being valued takes different forms from making money sharing
Speaker 1: in the amazing revenues of college athletics through n i
Speaker 1: L dollars. They see their coaches being paid ten million
Speaker 1: dollars and more, breaking contracts going places, uh in the
Speaker 1: middle of a contract for greener pastors, and wonder why
Speaker 1: why they shouldn't share in that as well. You know,
Speaker 1: coaching this generation cancer has been a puzzle these athletes
Speaker 1: were talking about. In this age group. Are are coached,
Speaker 1: some of them by boomers born for six Generation X
Speaker 1: coaches in their fourties and fifties. And now there's you've
Speaker 1: got millennials, folks born between one and nineties six, you know,
Speaker 1: at forty and younger. They're millennials coaching in the NFL,
Speaker 1: the NBA. So that's just you know, one generation removed.
Speaker 1: But what are the challenges that are may be different
Speaker 1: from other generations and trying to motivate and reach Gen Z,
Speaker 1: you know, I think the bottom line is this. What
Speaker 1: we have to understand is that regardless of UM, the
Speaker 1: generation that someone identifies with UM, we really have to
Speaker 1: focus on developing relationships with folks and we really have
Speaker 1: to focus on understanding them. Right. There's a quote that
Speaker 1: says people don't care what you know until they know
Speaker 1: that you care. And so I think the real issue
Speaker 1: and the not real issue, the real opportunity, let me
Speaker 1: say it like that, The real opportunity exists in asking
Speaker 1: ourselves the question, what are we going to do to
Speaker 1: try to understand these young athletes that we're working with
Speaker 1: and what are we gonna do to try to reach them?
Speaker 1: And we can't just place that responsibility on the athletes
Speaker 1: to make all the adjustment. It may mean that me
Speaker 1: as a coach or me as a therapist, right, who
Speaker 1: who identifies in Generation Z? I mean Generation X? I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: me as a therapist was in Generation X. I may
Speaker 1: have to adopt my style to meet the person that's
Speaker 1: sitting in front of me. Right. I think smart coaches
Speaker 1: to do that, but they worry you can't coach this
Speaker 1: generation hard because if I raise my voice, I I'm
Speaker 1: not you know, consciously supportive and nurturing they're out the
Speaker 1: door like tomorrow to the other program. That's what older
Speaker 1: coaches worry about with this this current generation. And again
Speaker 1: I would say that I don't think that it's that
Speaker 1: this generation can't take criticism or can't take hard coaching, um.
Speaker 1: But I do think we have to be conscious that
Speaker 1: that that has to be balanced right with praise. There's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with constructive criticism. But nobody only thrives as
Speaker 1: an environment where they're only hearing about the criticism and
Speaker 1: hearing about the things that they're doing wrong. So we
Speaker 1: have to be conscious of balancing that with positive feedback,
Speaker 1: with instructive feedback, balancing that with praise when they do
Speaker 1: something well. I know sometimes in sport there's this idea
Speaker 1: of well, if I tell them that they're doing something right,
Speaker 1: they won't be motivated. That's that's a that's a myth
Speaker 1: in fact, right, And so I don't think it's that
Speaker 1: this generation can't handle the toughness. What I do think
Speaker 1: is that this generation in some ways wants to understand
Speaker 1: the purpose for the toughness. There needs to be a
Speaker 1: purpose for the toughness, but beyond that it needs to
Speaker 1: be balanced and if you have a relationship with someone,
Speaker 1: then offering that constructive feedback and that criticism feels like
Speaker 1: just that feedback and criticism as opposed to a personal attack.
Speaker 1: There's an article that recently came out about the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Rams and they talk about how there are some
Speaker 1: principles of positive psychology that were integrated into their system,
Speaker 1: their organization, and how it contributed to the field within
Speaker 1: their team a feel of respect. They said there was
Speaker 1: no yelling, coaches didn't yell, people had conversations, they talked
Speaker 1: to one another. They were able to give feedback, but
Speaker 1: they were also able to come together and work toward
Speaker 1: a common goal that resulted in them winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And so I think again we have to shift that
Speaker 1: idea that tough love, tough coaching, hard coaching is the
Speaker 1: only way to reach folks and understand in the context
Speaker 1: of a relationship, you can had that constructive feedback, but
Speaker 1: it has to be balanced with respect, and it has
Speaker 1: to be balanced with education so that folks can learn
Speaker 1: and not just Gil attacked Rams of cars coached by
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh, who's millennial. He's just thirty six years old,
Speaker 1: brilliant guy and has a very young orientation to the staff.
Speaker 1: You talked about, you know, working with NBA an NFL players.
Speaker 1: You know John morant is in this generation, um Jamaar
Speaker 1: Chase and Justin Herbert in the NFL are are under
Speaker 1: twenty five years old. You've got maybe fifteen guys in
Speaker 1: the NBA who began this season as teenagers. Joshua Promote
Speaker 1: for the Spurs, who's having a good rookie season, just
Speaker 1: turned nineteen. In your work with pro athletes who are
Speaker 1: very young, what is the dynamic there? That's that's different
Speaker 1: about college where for generations none of the power was
Speaker 1: in the hands of the college players. In pro sports
Speaker 1: is different, I mean, certainly in the world of pro sport,
Speaker 1: it's it's a different experience than being in collegiate sport.
Speaker 1: There may be some overlap, says it relates to just
Speaker 1: being in the world of elite sport. When you think
Speaker 1: about athletic identity, the public nature of their lives and
Speaker 1: how they are um constantly living their life in the
Speaker 1: public eye right like that, those things are um certainly
Speaker 1: commonplace when we think about the transition from college to
Speaker 1: professional sports. Because the difference, one of the biggest differences
Speaker 1: is pro sports is a business right, whereas collegiate sport
Speaker 1: exists in the context of an academic institution. And so
Speaker 1: I think when you think about these young athletes who
Speaker 1: are coming in, it really is about helping them make
Speaker 1: that transition from college to this world of pro sport
Speaker 1: and understanding what that means. Right. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: steep learning curve, but the idea of still performing at
Speaker 1: an elite level, right because that's what they're expected to do,
Speaker 1: but managing some of the other transitions, the length of
Speaker 1: the schedule, the diversity that exists within the organization as
Speaker 1: we're talking about generational diversity and how to navigate that space,
Speaker 1: um thinking about how to manage their personal lives with
Speaker 1: this new professional life right and still perform, thinking about
Speaker 1: managing family relationships, romantic relationships, relationships with new teammates, relationships
Speaker 1: with new coaches. It really is providing them support as
Speaker 1: they navigate the newness of this professional sport landscape. That's
Speaker 1: that's really what we try to do, and that may
Speaker 1: look different for every individual. Right. That's why experts like
Speaker 1: you are hired because you just you iline a lot
Speaker 1: of complex stuff. That's life. It's sports. It's the explosion
Speaker 1: of fame for many of them, wealth that's beyond their
Speaker 1: imagination and the and the complications that surround that. Besides
Speaker 1: what use outline, what are some of the other challenges
Speaker 1: that that athletes of that generation have expressed to you
Speaker 1: who are already UM in the professional ranks. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that people might not
Speaker 1: think about sometimes is the loneliness that may come with
Speaker 1: making the transition UM. In the world of collegiate sport,
Speaker 1: your schedule is made for you, and you're constantly around
Speaker 1: your teammates, if not other athletes in the department. But
Speaker 1: when you may the transition to pro sport, again, you're
Speaker 1: around your team when you're practicing, when you're traveling, when
Speaker 1: you're playing games. But there is a lot of downtime,
Speaker 1: and so trying to learn about what is it that
Speaker 1: I want to do in my downtime. How do I
Speaker 1: want to spend this downtime in a way that allows
Speaker 1: me to continue developing my identity outside of my sport,
Speaker 1: but also allows me to engage in a routine that
Speaker 1: allows me to show up and perform when I need
Speaker 1: to write. So it's that balance of how do I
Speaker 1: become a professional, right, how do I, um take a
Speaker 1: different kind of charge over managing my time, managing my energy,
Speaker 1: engaging in the things that I need to do to
Speaker 1: do my job well, while also potentially exploring other areas
Speaker 1: of my life that I may not have had time
Speaker 1: to explore before. And sometimes there can be a loneliness
Speaker 1: and a real uncertainty around thinking about who am I
Speaker 1: outside of basketball? Right. But that's something that we really
Speaker 1: mentioned early in the process because for all of these athletes,
Speaker 1: at some point their sport will end, right, there will
Speaker 1: be a career transition out, um, and we want people
Speaker 1: to understand the sport is what you do, right, and
Speaker 1: for many it's a large part of their identity, but
Speaker 1: it's not your whole identity. So really just making that
Speaker 1: adjustment and expanding the view that they may have with themselves.
Speaker 1: You mentioned onliness that's interesting not from yourself and professionals,
Speaker 1: but from the public. That may be a limited appetite
Speaker 1: for people to express problems because you have defied incredible
Speaker 1: odds by making professional sports. I mean you're literally one
Speaker 1: in a million, Um, You're living the dream that so
Speaker 1: many people have and and have. You know, Riches beyond
Speaker 1: your wildest imagination, and yet you're a lonely and people
Speaker 1: don't necessarily want to acknowledge that those problems are real
Speaker 1: and significant. Uh yeah. I think sometimes people have this
Speaker 1: idea that being in the public sphere or having access
Speaker 1: to financial resources eliminates any stress and eliminates the reality
Speaker 1: of you experiencing any kind of struggle, strife, or distress
Speaker 1: in your life, right, And I think reality is is
Speaker 1: that that's that's not the case. These are people. Yes,
Speaker 1: they are extraordinary and what they do in their field
Speaker 1: of play extraordinary, but they are people first, and being
Speaker 1: in sport does not absolve people from some of the
Speaker 1: ills and the struggles and the stresses that happen for
Speaker 1: any of us as we're trying to navigate life. And
Speaker 1: so I know, for something it's like but they have
Speaker 1: access to so much, but they also have some unique pressures.
Speaker 1: And again, like I said, there are people first. So
Speaker 1: they're also trying to navigate relationships, understand who they are,
Speaker 1: like I said, develop their identity, and they're also trying
Speaker 1: to perform consistently at a high level on a public
Speaker 1: stage where it has real implications um for their career,
Speaker 1: for their ability to potentially provide for their family, real
Speaker 1: implications that that they have to be mindful of and
Speaker 1: that are constantly top of mind. And so there are
Speaker 1: some there are some great opportunities, but again, the opportunities
Speaker 1: don't erase the fact that as people, they still deal
Speaker 1: with some challenges. To your pride, Graduate of University of Georgy,
Speaker 1: you're drinking from a mug that says dogs on it,
Speaker 1: and the dogs sit atop the college football world after
Speaker 1: conquering Alabama. Finally we talked about this, uh about a
Speaker 1: week or so ago. The collective psychology of sport fascinates me.
Speaker 1: I covered team sports and individual sports like tennis, but
Speaker 1: let's focus on the team aspect and the SEC mythology.
Speaker 1: Part of the mythology of Georgia, acknowledged by their fans
Speaker 1: is that Alabama was the nemesis. Alabama was the ogre
Speaker 1: that stood in the way, that constantly denied them their
Speaker 1: dreams and stepped on their heart. And you know, I
Speaker 1: was at the SEC championship game in Atlanta, and I
Speaker 1: thought Georgia was the better team. They had the lead.
Speaker 1: Alabama came back and overwhelmed them, so they rematch for
Speaker 1: a championship, and that was a big question. Cancer is
Speaker 1: Alabama in Georgia heads is Nick Saban in the head
Speaker 1: of Kirby Smart. Of course, Saban was his mentor and
Speaker 1: taught him a lot of what he knows about coaching.
Speaker 1: What what's your thought about that aspect of team sports
Speaker 1: and the collective psychology that has to be overcome sometimes
Speaker 1: to reach your goals. I mean, certainly when you are
Speaker 1: participating in as teams, for the success of the team
Speaker 1: depends upon the ability of the individuals to come together
Speaker 1: right and to be in sync in order to achieve
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you're setting out to achieve. And
Speaker 1: so certainly there has to be a synergy that exists
Speaker 1: amongst the team. But also um that again, the reality
Speaker 1: is if if you are playing an opponent and you
Speaker 1: play them repeatedly right, and you have success sometimes, but
Speaker 1: you have you don't have success at other times. That
Speaker 1: also gets in your head. I mean, we think about
Speaker 1: any competitive athletes. If I ask athletes generally what what
Speaker 1: runs in your mind? The most most competitive athletes will
Speaker 1: think about the times where they did not achieve the
Speaker 1: goal they set out to achieve. So in that case,
Speaker 1: I would say it's not so much the other team
Speaker 1: is in their head, but we tend to recycle the
Speaker 1: thoughts about our mistakes and our disappointments and the opportunities
Speaker 1: or the moments where think we failed, and that can
Speaker 1: stick with us and that can impact our ability to
Speaker 1: show up in the moment. I think what has to
Speaker 1: happen in those moments is trusting your preparation, understanding and
Speaker 1: learning from those moments where you might not have accomplished
Speaker 1: your goal, and trusting that this opportunity represents a new opportunity.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes what can happen as athletes can think
Speaker 1: that if a pattern is started where we are not
Speaker 1: winning and not beating this opponent, that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: pattern forever. But I think what what really has to
Speaker 1: shift as understanding each competition represents a new opportunity. And
Speaker 1: I think Georgia really embodied that this year and represent
Speaker 1: and in realizing each opportunity each time we step on
Speaker 1: the field represents a new opportunity. And yes, if we
Speaker 1: allow any other team to get in our head, that's
Speaker 1: gonna hinder our performance. What we need to do is
Speaker 1: trust our preparation, trust what we know we're capable of
Speaker 1: doing focus on our plan and that's what gives us
Speaker 1: an opportunity to perform at our best. If you're thinking
Speaker 1: about other people, that gets in the way of you
Speaker 1: doing what you need to do. And so I would
Speaker 1: say go dogs because that I have to say that,
Speaker 1: But I think about that collective identity too, and that
Speaker 1: people really in terms of fans, people get invested in
Speaker 1: their team. There are there, they are alumni of the school.
Speaker 1: Athens is also my hometown, so I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: doubly supportive of Georgia, but it really is, you know,
Speaker 1: this opportunity to rally behind a team that we identify
Speaker 1: with and to see them overcome right odds and to
Speaker 1: see them pushed through what has previously appeared to be
Speaker 1: a boundary. Like we all celebrate in that and we
Speaker 1: all in some ways kind of sharing that accomplishment, but
Speaker 1: we didn't play one minute on the field. There's a
Speaker 1: collective feeling of pride when you're invested in, you identify
Speaker 1: with the team who you see reach such a pinnacle
Speaker 1: in their performance. Right, that's well put. I mean Georgia
Speaker 1: players this year, we're certainly not or shouldn't have been
Speaker 1: too burdened by the fact that it had been forty
Speaker 1: two years since the school won a national championship, and meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Georgia had seen rivals like Florida and a few Alabama
Speaker 1: win a bunch ll s you Auburn, Tennessee in the
Speaker 1: interim since their last championship in nineteen eighty. That was
Speaker 1: a big backdrop for that game. You you hope it
Speaker 1: wouldn't get in the hair player's heads, it was certainly
Speaker 1: in the fans heads. I mean, Georgia fans were weeping
Speaker 1: and drinking and just celeb regular. It was quite a
Speaker 1: unique experience to be a be just a broadcaster on
Speaker 1: the periphery of that as an outsider, to watch that
Speaker 1: that relief and that joy when finally you know, Georgia
Speaker 1: got it done. Absolutely, And I think the other reality
Speaker 1: is is everybody that's out there playing is good. We're
Speaker 1: talking about the best of the best, right and it
Speaker 1: is difficult to show up and and excel day after day,
Speaker 1: week after week like that takes commitment and sacrifice and dedication.
Speaker 1: And really you can think of it being who is
Speaker 1: the team that performs best in this moment, right because
Speaker 1: they're both still excellent teams Georgia prevailed in the national championship. Again,
Speaker 1: we're thankful for that. But again we're talking about the
Speaker 1: best of the best, competing day in and day out,
Speaker 1: and that takes a lot of hard work, sacrifice, effort.
Speaker 1: It is hard to show up and be elite week
Speaker 1: after week, year after year. Um, And that's where I say,
Speaker 1: you have to trust your preparation and really focusing on
Speaker 1: the consistency that's required to endure throughout a season, whatever
Speaker 1: season we're talking about, that's important too, And so UM,
Speaker 1: I'm glad we got it done. And I also understand
Speaker 1: that the same level of work and effort in preparation
Speaker 1: will be needed next year in order for us to
Speaker 1: be in a position to try to get it done again, right.
Speaker 1: And that's that too, is a piece of the elite
Speaker 1: athlete experience is it's the consistent UM excellence that really
Speaker 1: is something that has to be sustained, and really, UM
Speaker 1: is important when we think about these championships and just
Speaker 1: winning in general. You have the tools to understand what's
Speaker 1: going on. And I'm sure as a fan you were nervous.
Speaker 1: You're wondering, are we gonna get this done? Are we
Speaker 1: gonna blow this as a fan, you want it, you
Speaker 1: want it, you want it to happen so much, and
Speaker 1: then again, like you said, the joy and the relief
Speaker 1: once it does happen, you you just kind of revel
Speaker 1: in that until next season. You talked about the tools.
Speaker 1: I'd like to you to explain more of the tools
Speaker 1: that you've used in your professional life to help people,
Speaker 1: if not silence the inner voice, but maybe hit it
Speaker 1: on you when when the doubts come back up and
Speaker 1: the here we go again and this is a repeating pattern,
Speaker 1: and and all those things that can get in the
Speaker 1: way of performance, including the connection to the result and
Speaker 1: what's at stake in the moment, what when you could
Speaker 1: tell people, because it's not just about athlete, just about
Speaker 1: living your everyday life when those those inner voices coming
Speaker 1: and intrude absolutely, So, what you're talking about now is
Speaker 1: is our concepts that live in the field of applied
Speaker 1: sports psychology, right, And when we think about sports psychology,
Speaker 1: it really is thinking about the way in which we
Speaker 1: teach skills and implement strategies to help elevate somebody's mental performance,
Speaker 1: you know, in the same way that we think about
Speaker 1: our physical performance, in the way in which we might
Speaker 1: lift weights or engage in cardio training, or pay attention
Speaker 1: to our nutrition in order to make sure that our
Speaker 1: physical health is maintained. We also can do things to maintain,
Speaker 1: elevate um, and enhance our mental and emotional muscles as well,
Speaker 1: if you will. And so within the field of sports psychology,
Speaker 1: we think about goals, right, what are we trying to achieve,
Speaker 1: what are we trying to accomplish, and what are the
Speaker 1: markers that we have for determining whether or not we're
Speaker 1: meeting our goals of whether or not we need to
Speaker 1: adjust our process in order to meet our goals. As
Speaker 1: you talk about the attention and the the focus on results,
Speaker 1: we really stress the importance of focusing on the process. Right.
Speaker 1: If I think about I'd like to speak in the
Speaker 1: form of analogies, and if I think about an analogy
Speaker 1: standing at the bottom of the staircase and wanting to
Speaker 1: get to the top, me thinking about being at the
Speaker 1: top is not going to help me get there. What
Speaker 1: I have to focus on is the process of taking
Speaker 1: one step at a time. Right, So that's the notion
Speaker 1: of focusing on process versus outcome. But we also talk
Speaker 1: about things like motivation and internal motivation. We talk about
Speaker 1: self talk, how you can quiet the doubt, but also
Speaker 1: how you can enhance your internal cheerleader or advocate if
Speaker 1: you will right to have yourself talk be something that
Speaker 1: provides encouragement, direction, guidance as opposed to something that's just
Speaker 1: allowed internal critics. Some of the other skills that we
Speaker 1: use and focus on our mindfulness to help people stay
Speaker 1: focused in the present moment um. You can't change the past,
Speaker 1: you can't predict the future. Your power really lives in
Speaker 1: the present moment. And we also talk and teach skills
Speaker 1: of visualization and imagery. If you can see the image
Speaker 1: of your mind, it increases the likelihood of being too
Speaker 1: executed in real life. And then certainly team dynamics in
Speaker 1: terms of communication, working together for a common goal and purpose,
Speaker 1: understanding role clarity. These are some of the topics that
Speaker 1: we talk about within the field of sports sight to
Speaker 1: help enhance individual mental performance and also team mental performance
Speaker 1: as well. And if athletes you're lucky enough and work
Speaker 1: hard enough and the stars aligned, they get to championship events.
Speaker 1: And we love championship events because of what is at state.
Speaker 1: You know what's on the line and what's gone into it,
Speaker 1: and you know Eminem fan, but you know Eminem talks
Speaker 1: about you better lose yourself in the moment own it,
Speaker 1: never let it go. You get one chance opportunity in
Speaker 1: the lifetime. I guess it's tricky for an athlete to
Speaker 1: to think about that kind of thing, even if it's true.
Speaker 1: We've seen some of the biggest fighters, most mentally toughest
Speaker 1: players in tennis, people like Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic,
Speaker 1: have a chance at a calendar Grand Slam, and in
Speaker 1: those occasions, as accomplishes they were, they were not themselves
Speaker 1: in those moments. They could not elevate their performance to
Speaker 1: even a normal level is quite subpar, just because they
Speaker 1: allowed that pressure to kind of consume them seemingly. I
Speaker 1: think it's it's important for us to understand that success
Speaker 1: is not a straight line that that points upward. Right,
Speaker 1: So the idea of losing matches are losing games, the
Speaker 1: idea of failing in some capacity, that too, is a
Speaker 1: part of the process of sport, and it's also a
Speaker 1: part of um one success journey. Right. You can learn
Speaker 1: things from those moments, and I do. There are moments
Speaker 1: where you may show up and you just don't have
Speaker 1: your a game. Again, that goes back to the idea
Speaker 1: that we're not talking about robots. We're talking about people, right,
Speaker 1: and there are many different things that might influence how
Speaker 1: they show up on any given day. That doesn't take
Speaker 1: away from their excellence. It actually just highlights their humanity. Right.
Speaker 1: But I think if we think about Serena Williams, if
Speaker 1: we think about um uh Novak Djokovic, if we think
Speaker 1: about these athletes and these teams that consistently demonstrate excellence,
Speaker 1: it's not that they're perfect, right, but it's more often
Speaker 1: than not, and more often than most, they are able
Speaker 1: to show up and and produce that a game. And
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that contributes to that
Speaker 1: is another thing we talked about in the field of
Speaker 1: sports psychologist routines and coming up with your pre competition
Speaker 1: routine and coming up with your game plan and your strategy,
Speaker 1: and even having a post competition routine, because what that
Speaker 1: routine does is it creates feelings of consistency, It allows
Speaker 1: you to establish a habit, It allows you to have
Speaker 1: some level of control over how you show up rather
Speaker 1: than just leaving that to chance. You have no control
Speaker 1: over who's on the other side of the net, the field,
Speaker 1: the court, right, Like, you don't control your opponents, but
Speaker 1: you can always control how you show up. And so
Speaker 1: what we really try to do is create opportunities for
Speaker 1: athletes to understand, what is it that I need to
Speaker 1: do in order to give myself the chance to show
Speaker 1: up and be my best, and how can I create
Speaker 1: a routine that consistently allows me to do that and
Speaker 1: then do it right. So it's not about, um, anything
Speaker 1: that has to do with the opponents or the other people.
Speaker 1: It's really about creating consistency with them, but then also
Speaker 1: understanding there is somebody on the other side who's also
Speaker 1: trying to be you and also trying to win, and
Speaker 1: they're also trying to show up and be their best,
Speaker 1: and some days there's other people that are better than you,
Speaker 1: and that's okay, that's a part of the process. And so, UM,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's that, you know, they crumble under
Speaker 1: the pressure per se. Uh, it may be that they
Speaker 1: didn't have their a game or maybe there is something
Speaker 1: that got in the way of them being their best.
Speaker 1: But again, I don't think that takes away from their excellence.
Speaker 1: It just highlights their humanity, and what great athletes do
Speaker 1: is learn from those moments and bounce back beautifully. Point
Speaker 1: the concept of pressure just fascinates me because it's been
Speaker 1: defined in many ways. Billy Gene king pressure is a privilege.
Speaker 1: In that context, she means you've earned the right to
Speaker 1: play in big matches that carry the pressure. But pressure
Speaker 1: is also seen as a burden by some could be
Speaker 1: seen by an inspiration. Some people feel that pressure is programmed.
Speaker 1: In other words, it's external, it's from outside forces and
Speaker 1: it doesn't come from within. How do you coach athletes
Speaker 1: to sort of manage it acknowledging that it's going to
Speaker 1: be felt, it's going to be there. It's not simple
Speaker 1: to say push it away and say and focusing on
Speaker 1: the process and the result doesn't matter because we're all human,
Speaker 1: right absolutely, And when someone has invested um so much
Speaker 1: time and energy and and sometimes money into being excellent
Speaker 1: in a particular sport, they're invested, right, They're invested in
Speaker 1: the outcome, and so that idea that they feel some
Speaker 1: level of angst, anxiety, pressure around wanting to do well well,
Speaker 1: that makes sense because that's why you're here and you're
Speaker 1: invested in doing that. And I think when your question
Speaker 1: is how do we kind of coach athletes around managing that,
Speaker 1: the first thing is to try to understand that athletes
Speaker 1: understanding of where that pressure is coming from, because, like
Speaker 1: you said, that may be different for different athletes. There
Speaker 1: may be some who feel the pressure internally to perform well,
Speaker 1: there may be others who feel pressure from external sources
Speaker 1: to perform well, And so really trying to understand where
Speaker 1: are those feelings of pressure coming from for them, and
Speaker 1: then identifying interventions that allow them to decrease the feeling
Speaker 1: of pressure and increase the feelings of trust and to
Speaker 1: increase their feeling and their confidence and their ability to
Speaker 1: show up and execute their game plan. So it really
Speaker 1: goes back to, rather than focusing on the pressure and
Speaker 1: the potential the potential outcomes, trying to help them control
Speaker 1: what's within their control right, how they show up, how
Speaker 1: they execute, how they how they stay calm and poised
Speaker 1: in moments where things may not be going their way,
Speaker 1: but how they stay calm and poised and moments where
Speaker 1: are going things are going their ways as well. And
Speaker 1: so it's really about again helping the athlete control their
Speaker 1: internal experience as a way of allowing them to show
Speaker 1: up and perform in the way that they want to
Speaker 1: when they need to win when they're competing. You point
Speaker 1: in the earlier teams are just collections of individuals, but
Speaker 1: it's the individual sports where the concept of pressure and
Speaker 1: the inner voice just fascinates me. Whether it's tennis or
Speaker 1: golf or Olympic sports, it can feel very lonely when
Speaker 1: you don't have the support of a traditional team well
Speaker 1: that you've got want to give sweat equity with. You've
Speaker 1: come through adversity together. You're just out there by yourself
Speaker 1: and you've done work with the U s o C
Speaker 1: and trying to address the issues of mental health. For
Speaker 1: Olympic athletes where the pressure is unique, right kens because
Speaker 1: it comes around once every four years. Yes, there's other competitions,
Speaker 1: but in many cases, your legacy, your ability to to
Speaker 1: make a living off of your sport depends on how
Speaker 1: you perform on this Olympic stage when it might be
Speaker 1: ten seconds, it might be four minutes of your life
Speaker 1: that will define that. And to just tune everything out
Speaker 1: and be at your best. What a remarkable challenge that is.
Speaker 1: And that's why it's amazing when we see athletes come
Speaker 1: through in those moments on the Olympic stage. It's incredibly
Speaker 1: remarkable when we think about those athletes who who are
Speaker 1: within the U s o PC, And again, like you said,
Speaker 1: the the frequency of their opportunity is less than it
Speaker 1: is for some of our other professional sports that exists
Speaker 1: here in the United States. Right, like you said, the
Speaker 1: Olympics happens be four years, and so you're training and
Speaker 1: sacrificing for years to get to this one moment. And
Speaker 1: the idea that that doesn't feel pressure field, or the
Speaker 1: idea that there's not some intense feeling around that. I mean,
Speaker 1: of course there is, right, how could there not be.
Speaker 1: But again, the goal is the same. It's to help
Speaker 1: athletes kind of manage those emotions, acknowledge what the moment is,
Speaker 1: but then manage the emotion and the feeling of it
Speaker 1: so that they can still perform even on that grand
Speaker 1: of a stage. Right. And that's what makes the athletes
Speaker 1: so exceptional when we think about their performance. They are
Speaker 1: excelling and executing on the grandest of stages UM and
Speaker 1: that takes a lot of dedication, will preparation, practice, UM
Speaker 1: and and mental fortitude quite frankly to be able to
Speaker 1: do that. For the individual athletes, they may not have
Speaker 1: a team around them, but many of them do have
Speaker 1: training groups that they work with. They have coaches and
Speaker 1: others in their performance team or staff who serve as
Speaker 1: kind of that team that supports them. But it's it's
Speaker 1: nothing short of extraordinary what they're able to do. Um,
Speaker 1: like I said on the grandest of stages, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: strike out three times in baseball as a game tomorrow,
Speaker 1: you throw three interceptions as a game next weekend, And
Speaker 1: and in many sports you can make plenty of blunders
Speaker 1: and then recover and the final score makes everybody forget
Speaker 1: that stuff. And some of these Olympic sports. You look
Speaker 1: at the figure skating, you know, one fall and you're finished, right,
Speaker 1: You have no chance to reach the top of the
Speaker 1: podium and maybe not get any kind of a medal.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously you you talk about the tools to
Speaker 1: be ready for that. When someone doesn't come through in
Speaker 1: those moments and they end up in a in a
Speaker 1: chair across you and they feel like they have blown
Speaker 1: that chance, yeah, it absolutely can feel devastating, right. I
Speaker 1: don't want to ignore that part of it. It can
Speaker 1: be devastating when you've practiced and tried, you've waited your
Speaker 1: whole life quite literally for this moment, and then feel
Speaker 1: as though you did not rise to the occasion. That
Speaker 1: can be devastating and there can be feelings of grief.
Speaker 1: There can be feelings of loss, There can be feelings
Speaker 1: of shame associated with that. Um, there can be a
Speaker 1: lot of pain wrapped up in that. Particularly if we
Speaker 1: also add in the factor of athletic identity and thinking
Speaker 1: about how much of a person's individual identity is connected
Speaker 1: to their performance, and we see that a lot in
Speaker 1: athletes who started participating in their sport at a very
Speaker 1: young age. Like who they are as a person, it's
Speaker 1: very much so tied to who they are as an athlete,
Speaker 1: and so if they perform well, they feel good about themselves.
Speaker 1: If they don't perform well, they may not feel good
Speaker 1: about themselves. It's really that direct of a correlation. And
Speaker 1: so um, yes, we try to help act. You try
Speaker 1: to change that. They try to change that that that
Speaker 1: that mindset that your your self identity is wrapped up
Speaker 1: in in the result of a game. Is it is
Speaker 1: it a losing battle? Is it challenging to do that? Oh?
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a losing battle at all. I
Speaker 1: certainly think it's something that we need to attend to
Speaker 1: and continue to talk about, but it is. It's a
Speaker 1: very it can be a very strong connection. If you
Speaker 1: think about a person, if if through the context of
Speaker 1: your it is where you get praise, validation, excessence. It's
Speaker 1: where you feel confident, it's where you feel capable. It's
Speaker 1: where many of your opportunities come from, whether it's scholarships
Speaker 1: or financial opportunities. You can understand why for many of
Speaker 1: athletes who again start at a young age or have
Speaker 1: a lot of success, where who they are as a
Speaker 1: person really can get wrapped up in there. So we
Speaker 1: do work um within within our field to help people
Speaker 1: understand that dynamic explore who they are beyond sports. And
Speaker 1: I think things that we've seen in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years is we've seen athletes, very elite athletes, some
Speaker 1: own bios Naomi y Osaka, Kevin loved and Martin ros
Speaker 1: and Michael Phelps. We've seen them come out and talk
Speaker 1: about the mental health aspect of their experience. Right. They
Speaker 1: talked about their mental health journeys. And it's not that
Speaker 1: navigating and dealing with mental health concerns and challenges got
Speaker 1: in the way of them being successful. But what we
Speaker 1: understand is that these very elite athletes our elite not
Speaker 1: because they don't experience challenges, but because they've learned how
Speaker 1: to navigate them. And them courageously sharing their stories I
Speaker 1: think has helped us to see exactly what you said,
Speaker 1: that there's there's another side to this as well, And
Speaker 1: certainly we can elevate the performance, but in doing that,
Speaker 1: we don't need to dehumanize and ignore the human because
Speaker 1: there is a person that's that's in there and that
Speaker 1: we need to actually focus on and care about. So
Speaker 1: as we think about athletic identity, as we think about
Speaker 1: the realities of anxiety, depression, other mental health concerns that
Speaker 1: may come with the pressure of being an elite sport,
Speaker 1: we really have to think about that. And I think
Speaker 1: athletes are asking and demanding that we see them as
Speaker 1: people first and not just performers. Absolutely, I mean, mental
Speaker 1: health and sports are front and center. What distinction can say,
Speaker 1: if any, do you draw between mental health is just
Speaker 1: defined by coping with pressure, coping with failure versus maybe
Speaker 1: what be defined as more profound mental health issues that
Speaker 1: require prolonged significant therapy. You listed some athletes. Obviously, it's
Speaker 1: difficult to group them together because some have talked about
Speaker 1: being in very very dark places and having profound problems
Speaker 1: they had to navigate through that. We're connected to sport,
Speaker 1: but not entirely wrapped up in sport, where some athletes
Speaker 1: say that their mental health issues come from what we're
Speaker 1: talking about in in their realm. YEA, and I think
Speaker 1: that that gray area and that blurredline that you're referencing
Speaker 1: really speaks to a misunderstanding in terms of definitions and
Speaker 1: what mental health is in our society, particularly here within
Speaker 1: the United States. When we say the term mental health,
Speaker 1: we often think about mental illness. We often think about
Speaker 1: the adversity, the stress um, the challenges, maybe the diagnosable conditions.
Speaker 1: But truly, by definition, mental health is a state of
Speaker 1: well being and which we're able to reach out, potential,
Speaker 1: connect with others, work productively, and contribute to society. The
Speaker 1: World Health Organization has defined it in that way. So
Speaker 1: I like to expect and that definition and say, within
Speaker 1: the umbrella of mental health, we have mental illness and
Speaker 1: we also have mental wellness, and so mental illness is
Speaker 1: a very real um can describes mental illness describes very
Speaker 1: real conditions that might require professional help, whether it be
Speaker 1: counseling and therapy or whether it's medication. And so mental
Speaker 1: illness refers to medical conditions that create a disruption and
Speaker 1: the way we think, the way we feel, and potentially
Speaker 1: the way we behave So when we think about diagnosable
Speaker 1: conditions such as depression, anxiety, on post traumatic stress disorder, UM,
Speaker 1: obsessive compulsive disorders, and there are a host of other
Speaker 1: conditions that are diagnosable, we absolutely need to be mindful
Speaker 1: of providing UM competent um resources to help address those concerns.
Speaker 1: But also if we think about again the other part
Speaker 1: of the continuum of mental health, we can think about
Speaker 1: mental wellness right and how we are proactively taking care
Speaker 1: of our health and at any point in time, yes,
Speaker 1: the individual, organizational, or societal factors that can impact our
Speaker 1: mental health. I think we all can agree that the
Speaker 1: last two years have been challenging in different ways because
Speaker 1: of the global pandemic, and many people have reported feeling
Speaker 1: that their mental health has been impacted as a result
Speaker 1: of dealing with the ongoing uncertainty, change and transition that
Speaker 1: we've been living in because of this pandemic. It may
Speaker 1: not be that those individuals who say in their mental
Speaker 1: health has impacted our feeling or now have diagnosable mental
Speaker 1: health conditions, but it certainly can impact the way you feel, think,
Speaker 1: and behave, and so feeling depressive symptoms or feeling anxiety symptoms,
Speaker 1: or feeling decreased motivation or increased concern about what's coming,
Speaker 1: certainly that can translate to an impact on your mental
Speaker 1: health without being a diagnosable condition. So mental health a
Speaker 1: state of well being. Mental illness refers to diagnosical conditions
Speaker 1: that impact the way we think, feel, and behave. Mental
Speaker 1: wellness refers to how we're roactively engaging in behaviors and
Speaker 1: activities to maintain and elevate our mental health. I love
Speaker 1: your way of concisely clearly expressing these I really do.
Speaker 1: I don't. That's just perfectly perfectly expressed. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's powerful to talk about proactive mental health and
Speaker 1: and aside from awareness, self awareness, getting to know ourselves,
Speaker 1: understanding how to listen to our our inner voice, what
Speaker 1: can be important tools to have to proactively take care
Speaker 1: of ourselves and others around us. Before it gets to
Speaker 1: the the category of mental illness. Right. So um again,
Speaker 1: I like to draw a parallel here between mental health
Speaker 1: and physical health because sometimes it's easier for us to
Speaker 1: think about the ways in which we take care of
Speaker 1: ourselves physically. Um. If we think about again exercise, nutrition,
Speaker 1: staying hydrated, um, all those things that we might do
Speaker 1: to take care of ourselves physically, taking vitamins. Right, whatever
Speaker 1: we may do to take care of ourselves physically, think
Speaker 1: about similar activities that could help you to maintain and
Speaker 1: manage our mental health as well. So some of the
Speaker 1: common um mental health wellness strategies that I share with
Speaker 1: folks are are some of them are similar. So exercise, certainly,
Speaker 1: exercising and moving has benefits not only to our physical health,
Speaker 1: but also to our mental health. It helps to release endorphins,
Speaker 1: which can boost our mood simply moving and accomplishing some
Speaker 1: kind of physical task and help increase our confidence as well.
Speaker 1: Sleep is another We underestimate the value of sleep, but
Speaker 1: sleep really is when we allow our bodies, including our minds,
Speaker 1: to recharge and to reset um and to kind of
Speaker 1: flush off the toxins of the day so that we
Speaker 1: can be ready to perform and function on the following day,
Speaker 1: So exercise, sleep. Social support extremely important, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: It's not about the quantity of people in your social
Speaker 1: support system, but it is the quality being around people
Speaker 1: who are positive influences, who encourage support you. Being around
Speaker 1: people who I like to say, feel your bucket, fill
Speaker 1: your wellness cup, who it makes you feel good to
Speaker 1: be around them is important. One of the things that's
Speaker 1: come out of the pandemic is understanding the impacts of
Speaker 1: loneliness and isolation, which can really have some detrimental health
Speaker 1: sects and health effects, and so really being conscious of
Speaker 1: connecting with a social support system that's positive good environmental health.
Speaker 1: The other two that I'll mention gratitude. It sounds kind
Speaker 1: of strange, but the idea of being able to identify
Speaker 1: what it is that you are thankful for um and
Speaker 1: and even in again the moment that we're in where
Speaker 1: it may be hard sometimes to look beyond the challenges.
Speaker 1: Even in moments the challenges, there are things that remain
Speaker 1: unchanged and things that we can be grateful for, and
Speaker 1: if we take a moment to intentionally identify those things,
Speaker 1: it can have a boost to our our mental health,
Speaker 1: um and our feelings of wellness, and then finally mindfulness.
Speaker 1: I think there's been a mindfulness boom over the last
Speaker 1: few years. There are several apps that exist that can
Speaker 1: help in teaching and and teaching the principles of mindfulness
Speaker 1: and helping one to engage in the practice. But what
Speaker 1: mindfulness really is about is paying attention to the present moment.
Speaker 1: And I'd like to say being where your feet are,
Speaker 1: having your mind to be where your feet are. And
Speaker 1: it really is a powerful tool that allows us to
Speaker 1: monitor our emotions, regulate ourselves internally. It can help to
Speaker 1: boost feelings of calm, confidence and help boost our esteem
Speaker 1: UM and can help us really approach situations from the
Speaker 1: standpoint of UM, what can I control? How can I
Speaker 1: adjust in this moment as opposed to trying to are
Speaker 1: just focusing on the challenges that may exist. Well, thank
Speaker 1: you for bringing up mindfulness and gratitude to my favorite topics.
Speaker 1: I begin every day with gratitude, and I think it's
Speaker 1: great advice that you gave there. If you do that,
Speaker 1: it's a great place to start the day because it
Speaker 1: provides perspective, and sometimes perspective is needed when when adversity
Speaker 1: hits and and time seem pretty gloomy. Is there anything
Speaker 1: that you find it is crucial this conversation of narrowing
Speaker 1: it back to sports psychology that we haven't covered that
Speaker 1: you think is crucial to include in this conversation or
Speaker 1: if we cover most of it, Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: would just reiterate that, you know, sports psychology is an
Speaker 1: academic discipline. There are professionals out there that are trained
Speaker 1: in the art of mental performance and mental performance consultation,
Speaker 1: and so UM, certainly from youth athletes to pro athletes,
Speaker 1: this idea of having professionals in place that help people
Speaker 1: to develop themselves mentally. UM, it's really important. What I
Speaker 1: would say to sports teams is if you're not attending
Speaker 1: to the mental health or the mental performance of your athletes,
Speaker 1: like your training program is not complete, right, because that's
Speaker 1: a huge part of what kind of guides our behaviors
Speaker 1: and our thoughts and how we show up and so UM,
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate that within the world of sport,
Speaker 1: this conversation is expanding, um, one to focus on the
Speaker 1: person of the athlete and to to focus on our
Speaker 1: mental performance, but also to focus on their mental health. UM.
Speaker 1: The last point I would say, they're about the kind
Speaker 1: of sports psychology pieces. Certainly, it's important to focus on
Speaker 1: the individual, but we also need to focus on the
Speaker 1: organization and creating organizations and teams and cultures that are
Speaker 1: also characterized and defined by health and wellness. And that
Speaker 1: creates space for athletes to be successful, but also for
Speaker 1: them to fail so that they can grow, learn, thrive,
Speaker 1: and and reach whatever performance heights they and the team
Speaker 1: are are striving to achieve. You've had plenty of microdrop
Speaker 1: moments here. I just want to end on this that
Speaker 1: the work that you do with athletes who are young,
Speaker 1: who are famous on the other end of the spectrum,
Speaker 1: is by by nature confidential and private. But have you
Speaker 1: had moments where you've done work with an athlete and
Speaker 1: then you've seen the fruits of your labor and their
Speaker 1: labor come to pass and had some kind of triumph,
Speaker 1: and you've been able to to share in some way
Speaker 1: in that joy because you knew how much hard work
Speaker 1: went into without asking perhaps for a specific example, if
Speaker 1: you're not able to give one. Sure certainly if if
Speaker 1: because we as as sports psychologists and sports psychologic consultants
Speaker 1: are human too, right, so if we are privileged enough
Speaker 1: to be invited into someone's life to work with them
Speaker 1: UM certainly seeing them make progress in the ways that
Speaker 1: they want to It's it's um fulfilling. It's very fulfilling
Speaker 1: and rewarding to see someone um engage in the work
Speaker 1: and then move forward in their lives, whether we're talking
Speaker 1: about a performance or whether we're talking about just living
Speaker 1: their life in a way that feels better to them. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are certainly moments of excitement for them. There are
Speaker 1: certainly moments, Like I said, it's fulfilling, but I recognize
Speaker 1: I'm not doing the work right. I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: just a guide or I'm just accompanying them on their
Speaker 1: walk because they've allowed me to do so. So I
Speaker 1: really try to be very conscious of saying clearly, it's
Speaker 1: not my work, it's their work. And if I am
Speaker 1: so privileged and given the opportunity to work with them,
Speaker 1: that's humbling. That's humbling, And I'm grateful for the opportunity
Speaker 1: that I have to work with these phenomenal individuals who
Speaker 1: also happen to be exceptional athletes. I told you Kencer
Speaker 1: was tremendous grateful to her for her time and for
Speaker 1: her passion for guiding young athletes. I found this conversation
Speaker 1: really helpful for my life and my work, and I
Speaker 1: hope you did too. She is a truly gifted speaker.
Speaker 1: You can find plenty of her talks with a quick search.
Speaker 1: I also want to thank my good buddy, Dan Learner
Speaker 1: for his assistance on the episode and the introduction to
Speaker 1: cancer recommend Dan's book You Thrive, How to Succeed in
Speaker 1: College and Life based on his course at n y U.
Speaker 1: As always truly grateful to my co executive producer Jennifer Dempster,
Speaker 1: and to Jason Whitehel for his edity skills, and to
Speaker 1: you for listening. We'd love you to subscribe and review
Speaker 1: the podcast. I welcome all feedback. I'm Instagram at Chris
Speaker 1: Fowler and the website Chris Fowler dot com. I'll talk
Speaker 1: to you soon. M HM.