The end of the academic year is nearing which also signals the end of collegiate athletic careers for a number of student-athletes. While athletic careers can end for a variety of uncontrollable reasons as well, regardless of the cause, ending your time as an athlete can be difficult, especially after all of the years dedicated to sport and the athletic identity many of us form over these years. Join Olivia and Mikaela in today’s episode as they discuss athletic identity, factors that impact the salience of this identity, and some of the misconceptions surrounding the process of moving on to the next chapter.
On this episode, Olivia continues the conversation on leadership with a special guest, Jason Cummins. From the military to NCAA Student-Athlete Experience Leader, Jason discusses what it takes to be a leader. Whether you’re a team captain or an aspiring CEO of a company, this episode is for you.
When you listen to our podcast intro can you picture the buzzer-beater moment being described? What does that moment look like in your mind? Creating this mental representation is a form of imagery which is what Olivia and Mikaela focus on in this week’s episode. They discuss different forms of imagery, how and why imagery can help give you that competitive edge, and how they each used it during their own athletic careers. If Happy Gilmore can do it, so can you!
Whether you're a bot or a sweat, playing video games with your friends can be incredibly fun. Fun, however, isn't the only thing you can get out of gaming as an athlete. Join Sam on this short episode as she discusses 5 skills that you can develop while playing action video games (like CoD and Fortnite) that can directly benefit you as an athlete.
In this episode Kaite interviews Katie Adams – a 2019 Louisville Ironman finisher. Katie discusses how she remained on track while training, how she overcame mental and physical barriers to training, and what kept her motivated toward the finish line. Kaite and Katie discuss resources for Ironman training and how to approach various aspects of training in order to optimize performance. Could there be a better episode to follow International Women's Day?!
Join Natalie as she discusses the challenges of giving and receiving constructive feedback. These two important aspects of life are not always easy to do. Thankfully, through the help of mental skills and strategies, we can implement giving and receiving constructive feedback as ways to help us learn and grow along our journey of life, both on and off the field/court.
Do you need to listen to a song before you step onto the court? Or maybe you have a pair of lucky socks that you wear every meet-day. What you do to prepare yourself and get into the right mindset to compete is as important as ever. In this week’s episode, Sam and Mikaela break down pre-game routines and discuss what goes into an effective routine to help you figure out helps you perform at your best.
In this episode, Trevor and Natalie discuss the state of peak performance known as flow. Specifically, common characteristics of flow, strategies for increasing it’s likelihood, and personal experiences with this state are explored. Give it a listen and learn how to optimize your performance!
This episode features a special guest, Zac Tierney. Zac began his professional hockey career after playing collegiate hockey. He was playing overseas when the spread of COVID skyrocketed throughout the world in early March. In this episode, Olivia and Zac talk about the fragility of returning to sport after having COVID, and how athletes can overcome the uncertainty of getting back to play.
On part one of this two part leadership series, Mikaela and Kaite differentiate between the eight styles of leadership and discuss when and how each style is beneficial when leading a team. As the episode goes on, Mikaela gives personal examples of how she has experienced different leadership styles as a part of the Harvard University Swim and Dive Team, and Kaite poses an interesting question to the audience. Trust us when we say that you do not want to miss this episode.
It can be really hard to let go of mistakes in the heat of the moment, but also hard to move on from stellar performances. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to just push a button and reset? What if we told you that there is a way to mentally reset? Join Sam and Olivia as they talk about different types of reset buttons, when to use them, and why they’re such an important tool to have in your mental performance toolbox.
In this episode, Kaite and Natalie discuss the different types of motivation and how they affect performance. Also in this episode, we give some examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and ask our listeners some prompting questions! Give it a listen and comment your responses!
Join Olivia and Natalie as they unpack what it means to possess energy. They will lead you in a breathing exercise with the goal of helping you relax, refocus, and renew your energy. After that, they will provide suggestions for beneficial times to practice the breathing exercise as a way to ultimately help you enhance your performance. We hope you feel rejuvenated after listening to this episode!
Hey everyone! Welcome back for Season 2 of the Kentucky Resilience Lab. We hope you had a great holiday and were able to relax a bit but still take time to practice your mental skills! Today’s episode with Sam and Myles is an introduction to the new season where they’ll briefly review last season, give you a sneak peak of what to expect in this season, introduce a new lab member, and let you know how to stay engaged with everything we’re doing in the lab. Happy Wednesday!
That's a wrap on season 1 of the Kentucky Resilience Lab! Join Kaite as she highlights the incredible episodes from members of the lab, shares what this experience has meant to us, previews what is coming in season 2, and shares a little surprise! Thank you for all those who laughed with us, learned with us, and grew with us. We CANNOT wait to see you for season 2.
In this week’s episode, Mikaela interviews Schuyler Bailar, a graduate of Harvard University and a former member of the Men’s Swimming and Diving team. He is also the first trans man to compete for a men’s Division I NCAA team. Schuyler and Mikaela discuss his transition and simultaneous adjustment to being a member of the men’s team, in addition to being a collegiate student-athlete. Schuyler mentions how it’s okay to not know exactly how to balance the competing demands in your life, and how mindset, along with reframing his goals, and prioritizing his happiness helped him find success in and out of the pool.
If you want to connect with Schuyler or find out more about him, you can check out his website pinkmantaray.com (pinkmantaray.com/FAQs for answers to commonly asked questions and resources, and pinkmantaray.com/post to set up a free Video Chat Support Session with Schuyler). You can also find him Instagram at @pinkmantaray
In this episode, Kaite interviews Chelsea Kuzel, a Bodybuilding competitor in the Bikini Division, group fitness coach, and personal trainer. Chelsea breaks down how she prepares for competitions, how she maintains motivation and consistency, and even provides some personal notes and insights about her own journey in health and fitness.
Music is a gift that inspires us in many areas of our lives. Two of these areas are sport and exercise. Natalie discusses benefits of music for sport and exercise, based on insight from the textbook, Applying Music in Sport and Exercise, written by Dr. Costas Karageorghis. She also explains a few key tips for when and how to use music during sport and exercise. The episode concludes with a few personal examples of how music has benefited Natalie’s sport performance in the past.
By now, you’ve heard the expression, “practice makes perfect” countless times throughout your life, but how true is it really? Spoiler alert: Not even a little bit. Join Sam as she discusses the idea of perfection, the reality of making mistakes, and the effects of expecting perfection from yourself. In the spirit of trusting our preparation and accepting our mistakes, this episode has a special little twist to it. Tune in to find out what that special twist is!
Possessing a gratitude attitude has the power to boost your mental well-being and lead you on a more satisfying path of life. Natalie hopes to inspire a feeling of thankfulness within in you as she acknowledges the different types of gratitude, shares research on the benefits of gratitude, applies gratitude to sport, and provides suggestions for how to practice gratitude. She finishes the episode with a gratitude exercise in which she invites listeners to reflect on questions related to what they are thankful for.