Approach to the Mental Game

HOW will you know if we're going to be a good fit?

While we’re confident that we can help most high-performing athletes break free of inner game challenges that hold them back, we specialize in working with mindset-embracing, competitive athletes to develop their mental game.

That said, if the following sounds like you, chances are we’ll work well together!

Total Person Athletes: Our clients care about both their athletic performance and their life goals. They want to learn mental skills that can be applied to sport and life.

Goal Getters: Our clients are self-motivated. They realize that ultimately “the fire must come from within” and they’re excited to take a step (or even a leap) to achieve their goals.

Athletes with Ambition : Our clients are determined and resilient. They have grit. They have moxie. They know that there is no quick fix, and they’re glad to have a coach who truly gets the mental side of sport.

Open Minded: Our clients are open to new ways of thinking, doing, and being.

Fun: Our clients are excited to do the work and they want to enjoy the process along the way. They can be productive and still take a little time to enjoy the journey.

WHY coaching for student athletes?

“During my years as a college athlete, sport psychology consultant, and university professor, I’ve seen the system and I know how it works. I know that athletes don’t always get the support they’re promised and that the transition from high-school to collegiate and collegiate to pro sports can be daunting.

Competitive sport is a whole new ballgame. Since talent and skill level are similar among athletes when you get to varsity/college/pros, it’s often the mental game that makes the difference. I’ve had so many athletes say, I wish I would have known these things when I was playing. This would have made a huge difference in my game.

With our coaching, you don’t have to look back on your playing career and say I wish I would have. You’re going to say I’m so glad I did.” – Dr. Linda

ARE YOU READY to train your brain for the game?

You may be facing some challenges, but you’ve got grit. And with the right support, game plan, and sport mindset coaching, you know you’ve got this.

There are many benefits to working with a sport mindset coach with the biggest outcome being a more confident, focused, composed athlete who is able to bring your best performance to every performance. Even better, we will expand that game plan to the game of life.

During our Complete Mental Game coaching, we’ll cover topics like:

Discovering Where You’re Strong and Where You’re Ready to Grow: We’ll determine which mental skills are your strengths and which we’ll need to focus on to raise your level of play.

Tailoring Your Sport Performance Goals to Fit YOU: Based on your performance goals and your current level of sport mental skill, we’ll develop a targeted goal and personalized achievement plan to get you there, one step at a time.

Embracing the Championship Athlete Mindset: We’ll cover the basics of a championship athlete mindset which well-rounded and well-respected athletes model, on and off the field. Being a champion is more than just what happens in practice and game day. This mindset will help you stay the course.

Developing & Implementing Your Tailored Mental Game Plan: Once the first three phases of clarity happen, we’ll put your plan into action to hit your sport goals. We’ll adapt the plan to your life as well. This will be like developing your own personalized playbook for creating new success habits.

Coaching You Through the Twists and Turns of Habit Change to Ensure Success: Implementing a new game strategy is a habit change. It can take a few months to release old habits and implement new ones. Together we’ll work on getting your mental game as automatic as your foundational sport skills.

Winning off the Field: There are athletes who are great on the field…then there are the ones who are great at life too. What kind of athlete are you going to be off the field? Unlike many sport psychology coaching programs, we’ll work to apply your game plan to success outside your sport.

Navigating Athletic Culture & Life: No less important, knowing how to handle the athletic culture and life can make or break your sport (and life!) goals. We’ll explore things that will deepen your commitment to your sport, and to your future beyond the game.

The How of Sport Mindset

Normally, when you’ve been making mental mistakes or you’re trying to make sport performance changes, you may run more miles, take more ground balls, and berate yourself on what’s going wrong. But here’s the thing: When you think negatively, you get negative. If you think, “don’t miss it,” you can be almost certain you will. You may seek advice from a coach who is likely to tell you to focus, be confident, shake it off, but they don’t tell you HOW to do this. We can show you how. 

In our coaching program, we’ll start right where you are and custom create action steps that fit YOU, your sport, your performance goals, your style, and your life goals.

We’ll use our coaching time to:  

show you how to implement your Complete Mental Game Plan.

including specific strategies to help you maintain your focus, control what you can control, gain confidence, or hit that “just right” pumped up but not anxious pre-game feeling.

You’ll build a Complete Mental Game Plan to get you from Pre-Game to Podium to Beyond Sport. After working with us, you’ll know what to do before, during, and after every competition to be your best.

We’ll navigate challenges that would normally throw you off track. Things like extra busy times at school or work (midterms, projects, etc.), disagreement with a coach or teammate, long road trips to away games, acute injuries, and more. This is a training program for bringing your best despite the circumstances.  

During your sessions, we’ll discuss what’s working, what’s not, plan your next action steps, and provide coaching to help you transform old habits into new choices that create what you want.  

You do NOT need to already have a clear idea of HOW to achieve what you want -- that's what you'll learn when we are working together!

Outside of Session Support Included in our Complete Mental Game Program.

We know that sport happens outside the session and we’ve got you.

Message Support

We offer unlimited support via secure messaging. Here are a few ways we use this feature:

  • Ease excessive game day jitters.
  • Share a mid-week thought you’ve been pondering.
  • Celebrate a win.
  • Do a quick post-game debriefing.

Ready to learn more and see if this is for you? Take the first step and schedule your initial consultation!

Which Coach would be the Best Fit for You?

All Sterling Sport Mindset coaches have graduate level training with an emphasis in Sport Psychology and Counseling Psychology. In addition, they each implement the Sterling Sport Mindset Complete Mental Game framework.

Rest assured, all of our coaches are top notch. During your initial consult, we’ll help you choose the best fit.

Read more About the Team, to find the sport mindset coach who resonates most with you. You can’t go wrong!