309: Defining Success and Failure with Dr. Artur Poczwardowski, Professor at University of Denver and Consultant to the U.S. Paralympic Team

Dr. Poczwardowski is an associate professor at University of Denver Graduate School of Professional Psychology and a Consultant with Sport and Performance Excellence Consultants (SPEX). He is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and is listed in United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry.

Since 1991, Dr. Poczwardowski has consulted with athletes and teams from numerous sports such as tennis, golf, hockey, judo, squash, baseball, team handball, soccer, track and field, diving, rowing, air pistol shooting, alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, and speed skating. At the elite level, he worked with the Polish national men’s and women’s judo teams (1991 & 1992 European Championships, 1992 World Championships, and 1992 Olympic Games), St. Lawrence University Division I women’s hockey team (2001 and 2004 Frozen Four), and tennis players from Academia Sanchez-Casal (Naples, Florida).

He has 38 publications and has delivered over 60 professional presentations at the national and international level and over 30 invited lectures and workshops in the United States, Canada, Greece, Denmark, and Poland. His publications and professional presentations focus on sport psychology practice for performance enhancement and psychological well-being, coach-athlete relationships, and coping strategies in elite performers. In 2006 he was nominated for the President of Association of Applied Sport Psychology, which has membership from about 30 countries.

Artur received his Ph.D. in exercise and sport science with specialization in psychosocial aspects of sport from University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

In this podcast, Artur and Cindra talk about:

• His work with the US Paralympic Team and how he has looked into his own biases
• Differences in the world’s best athletes
• His theory of performance excellence
• How to deal with expectations
• How he defines failure and success
• What do to with the “uncontrollables” in performance

You can find a full description of the Podcast at cindrakamphoff.com/artur.