Here’s What It’s Like to Be an Olympic Mental Skills Coach

The following article is from Self.com.  I am fascinated with the world of mental-performance and how our minds can and are a separator for success.  I am in no way trying to profit from this article, but find it to be a valuable resource in my own growth and understanding of how to get the most of the athletes that I work with.

Olympic athletes push their bodies to the limit. From the outside, it seems that they develop this ability through dedicated training regimens and long days practicing and perfecting their sport-specific skills. Which, of course, they do. But being an elite athlete is not just a physical feat. To perform at the top of their game, professional athletes spend time training their brains, too.

“There's not an athlete or team, either Olympic or professional, that’s not utilizing the services and expertise of a mental skills coach,” Colleen Hacker, Ph.D., a five-time Olympic Games coach who currently serves as the mental skills coach for the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team, tells SELF. (Her impressive resume also includes working with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team during its 1996 Olympic victory and 1999 World Cup victory.)

“The physical differences between athletes or teams at the elite level are almost negligible,” she says. “What separates out the good from the great and the great from the greatest is often that psychological component.”

SELF spoke with Hacker to learn more about what goes into being a mental skills coach and how she helps athletes become champions.

Q: Can you explain what exactly a mental skills coach does?

A: I work with clients—who have ranged from executives to professional athletes and teams—using evidence-based skills and strategies to help them perform better in whatever they do. Some of the big things I work with them on are calming down or gearing up before a big event, performing on demand, facilitating productive and purposeful self-talk, and building mental toughness.

Q: What does a typical day look like for you?

A: I have the best office—it’s companies, fields, pools, and sheets of ice all over the world. On any given day, I might be giving a talk on a related topic, conducting a team-building exercise, or working one-on-one with athletes. I’m also constantly reading primary scholarly research on sports psychology, performance enhancement, and organizational psychology so I can apply this in the real world with my clients. In addition to my full-time practice as a mental skills coach, I’m a tenured full professor at Pacific Lutheran University, so I teach, conduct research, and engage in community service as a faculty member.

Q: How do you turn the research you’re looking at into something athletes can use?

A: I spend hours reading and translating studies and then reconstructing information to make it accessible to athletes and applicable to what they’re doing. I give them practical techniques that work in real situations. For example, I might read a scholarly research article on mindfulness practice. Assuming the study had positive results, I’ll translate those findings into a succinct phrase my athletes will remember. Then I’ll give them a graphic illustrating different scenarios to help them understand what concepts we’re talking about in the context of their sport. Then they’re ready to listen to some techniques I have for practicing mindfulness.

Q: What advice might you give an athlete who is dealing with anxiety before an event?

A: Anxiety is an inside job, so it’s important to understand that you are generating it. You can be taught to manage it, but we don’t want to get rid of butterflies. We want to teach them to fly in formation. Being anxious and nervous just means you care. You need to reframe anxiety as normal, then gain control by focusing on the present. One way to do that is by focusing on your breathing. I teach clients a “four square” breathing exercise. Place your hand on your belly to facilitate deep belly breathing. Inhale for four counts, then exhale for four counts as you imagine drawing the first line of your square. Pause for two counts. Repeat three more times to complete the square.

Q: What’s an area that you focus on with your athletes that most people wouldn’t expect?

A: Confidence building. Most people are surprised at how ephemeral confidence is for elite athletes. It's not just something you have. People may think you just have it when you are the best in the world, but the best of the best really struggle with their confidence because performance varies from day to day and week to week and event to event.

Q: What is one tactic that anyone can practice in their own life (in athletics or not) to enhance their performance?

A: Be where your feet are. I always tell my athletes to be in the now. Experts in my field estimate that 60 percent of our thoughts are in the future and 30 percent are in the past. That means only 10 percent of our time is in the here and now. If you're constantly thinking about something other than where you are and what you're doing, your performance will suffer, whether that's at work, at home, or in the gym. Having that self-awareness is the first step.