athlete mental resilience

Legendary Track Coach Dan Pfaff Discusses Self-Talk, Mental Resilience, Risk-Taking, and Comfort Zones

"There are a lot of people in Olympic finals who are happy to be there and like the rewards and the accolades that come out of making a final. Whereas the people who get on the podium can escape that comfort zone and take some calculated risks to get a medal." - Dan Pfaff, track and field coach

mental preparation

How Mental Skills Training with Champion’s Mind Prepared Me to Go Pro

"Mental training is THE game changer in sports performance and life." - Samuel Upshaw J, pro rugby player

game day pressure

How to Help Your Athletes Handle Game Day/Race Day Pressure

Handling pressure starts with what you do and say as the coach. If you learn to become a paragon of poise by staying calm and collected, your athletes will do likewise.

leadership mindset

How To Deal With a Disruptive Player Before They Ruin Your Team’s Culture

The first question to ask yourself is, “Does the player feel dismissed or undervalued by this new culture?” There has to be a reason why they’re acting out, and it could be because they’re feeling sidelined, excluded, or minimized.

injury recovery mindset

How to Help Your Injured Athletes Get Their Motivation and Drive Back

You need to learn to love your comeback more than you hate the setback. Your recovery is your new sport until you’ve healed, so embrace the challenge with the same level of dedication and commitment you usually bring to training and competition.

game day mindset

6 Ways Mindset Training Will Boost Your Team's Game Day Performance

“Everyone has access to the same equipment and similar coaching and facilities, so it’s only our players’ mindset that can set us apart.”

mental skills app

5 Things to Look for in a Mental Skills Program for Your Team

You wouldn’t leave your team’s physical game to chance or circumstance, but unfortunately that’s often what happens to the mental game. You probably do what you can here and there, but do you have a cohesive plan that you’re able to follow day in and day out?

student-athlete mental health

Coaches: Here’s How to Help Your Athletes’ Mental Health

"If you lead the way as their coach, it shows that you care about your players as people and removes the stigma that some athletes attach to discussing their mental health." - Dr. Jim Afremow, Champion's Mind

college sports mental skills

National Champion Brienne Minor’s Team-First Mentality

"I tried to help my teammates become better on the court and take care of them when we were off it. It wasn’t just all tennis. We had a lot going on with school as well. I did my best to keep everyone together and close knit."

positive self talk

How Positive Self-Talk Powered this Tennis Player to a College Title

"I’ll say something to remind myself that I’m here for a reason and am capable of beating this person." - NCAA champion Brienne Minor

athlete confidence

How an NCAA Tennis Champion Stays Confident and Committed

"It’s in those times when you’re tired that you have to really push yourself, and if you have people to do it with you, you’re all in it together." - Brienne Minor, NCAA tennis champion

student mentoring

The Mental Skills that Make Students Classroom Champions

What I hope kids get from our athlete-mentors is that they need to keep grinding. Even looking back at my own career, the pattern was injury, injury, success, failure, failure, success. I would never have achieved anything if I hadn’t persevered." Olympian Steve Mesler

mental toughness

Mental Toughness Tactics of an Olympic Champion

"How was I going to make it in a sport like bobsled? I made a decision to not get hurt anymore. Injury was no longer an option." - Steve Mesler, Olympic champion

mental toughness

Mental Toughness Exercises for Athletes

One way to practice being mentally tough is to reframe things that you might normally think of negatively in a positive way. Take a situation you’d usually just try to get through and turn it into something to grow through.

mental toughness

How Great Coaches Model Mental Toughness

As a coach, you’re a leader who sets the tone for your entire team. So when it comes to mental toughness, it’s important that you display the 4 Cs: composure, confidence, commitment, and concentration.

Champion's Comeback

An Olympic Champion’s Comeback

"If you approach every day like it’s the Olympics, when you actually get there, you’ve already dealt with that kind of stress on a daily basis. So now it's normal." Steve Mesler, Winter Olympics gold medalist.

Olympian mindset

A Gold Medalist’s Olympic Mindset

"Having an Olympian mindset means that the Olympics are today, tomorrow, last Monday, and last November. You wake up and approach every day as if the Olympics are right now."

mental toughness

How Mental Toughness Made a Good College Athlete Even Better

"Mental toughness might not come naturally, but every athlete can develop it." Oregon Ducks pitcher Jordan Dail talks daily mental skills training.

athlete self-talk

The Power of Positive Self-Talk

The most powerful words we'll ever hear are the words we say to ourselves. You can either be your own worst enemy or best friend.

athlete visualization

Seeing the Strike Out: How a Pitcher Uses Visualization on the Mound

"The visualization part is huge for me, because the more I can see it and the more I can see myself doing it, the more successful I become. Then I have my best games." Softball pitcher Jordan Dail tells Champion's Mind creator Jim Afremow how she uses mental rehearsal to play her best and win.

student-athlete mindset

The Mindset of a Star Transfer Student-Athlete

"The more prepared you can be mentally, the greater the edge you'll have on your opponent." - Jordan Dail, Oregon Ducks pitcher

playing in the zone

How a Star Pitcher Plays in the Zone

Softball is one of the most highly competitive intercollegiate sports out there. While in basketball, football, and others, it’s the same few teams vying for dominance each season, in softball there’s

athlete mindset

How Daily Mental Skills Training Made Michael Jordan the G.O.A.T.

Mental skills aren't magic skills. That’s why we designed the Champion’s Mind app to help your players hone their mental game in just 5 minutes a day.

daily mental skills training

The Competitive Advantage of Daily Mental Skills Training

Developing a daily mental skills practice requires a tiny time commitment from athletes – just five minutes – yet yields enormous performance dividends.

COVID-19 coaching

Student-Athletes: The COVID-19 Shutdown is Your Chance to Develop a Champion's Mind

It’s easy to think of your sport’s season getting closed down by the coronavirus as a chance to take your foot off the gas. In fact, this unprecedented period isn’t down time, it’s crunch time for your daily mental skills training.