Becoming HeadStrong

In this episode of Becoming HeadStrong, Dr. Nick revisits the idea of pressure. Coaches can sometimes encourage athletes by letting them there is "no pressure," but is this productive or minimalizing the moment? Nick breaks down how we can redirect this pressure towards preperations and the process to handle it in a controllable way while also reaping the benefits of pressure.

In this episode of Becoming HeadStrong, Coach Kristina talks about what we want to be as players, performers, coaches, etc. Once we can find out what we want to be, we can use this to guide ourselves towards that goal. Kristina also connects this to the role of parent, coach, and leader, as these positions also need to ask what their players want to be, so they can be a guide to that goal.

Stress seems to be killing us all, yet if we recognize that a meaningful life is a stressful life..... we can learn to utilize stress in a positive, facilitative way.

In this episode, Coach Josh walks through one of the hardest mental games out there, golf. Josh talks about working as a process golfer and not an outcome golfer. This includes not putting your focus towards the outcome of the shot beforehand and instead thinking our way through the best preperation for the present shot at hand.

In this episode of Becoming HeadStrong, Coach Hillary breaks down communication in both verbal and non-verbal senses. Communication is crucial to team success, but how do we improve on it? Coach Hillary breaks down four ways to become better communicators during performance in both verbal and non-verbal ways.

In this episode, Coach Chelsea continues her series on building mental toughness by way of definition of what mental toughness means. Listen as she talks about how important commitment is to becoming mentally tough. 

In this episode of Becoming HeadStrong, Coach Amanda unpacks the foundation of different motivations in youth sport for parents and coaches. Youth sport carries with it goals of going to the Olympics, winning championships, earning a scholarship, etc., but we cannot forget about fun. Playing sport for the love and enjoyment of it helps relieve pressure and also have a better time while we play. These big goals may come, but they may not, and most kids won't make it professional or go to the Olympics, but we can still love our sport and enjoy it either way.

Dr. Nick tries to settle an age-old debate about motivation. Fear vs. love. What should you look for while searching for motivation? Fear can be helpful and keep us ready to respond to avoid the feared outcome, but does it outweigh the power of love? Love can be seen through intrinsic motivation and pushes us to persist through all forms of adversity. Listen to Dr. Nick break down the key differences between love and fear, and how we can utilize both to reach our peak motivation.

In times of fear, stress, struggle, pressure, and uncertainty.... your job is to convince yourself. Most people easily convince themselves to NOT do things during these emotions. This podcast episode is about convincing yourself to DO IT!

We all go through difficulties, yet you can choose to GROW through difficulties as well.  This episode uses Joe Burrow's story as an example of recognizing that the things you want aren't always the things you need in order to achieve your ultimate goals.