Athletic Coaching LAB

Why This Work Matters to Me

Sports have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up playing, and my love of movement and the human body eventually led me to earn both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Kinesiology.

I spent six years coaching high school girls’ sports—coaching at the JV level and assisting varsity—before my path eventually led me more deeply into yoga, mindfulness, and embodied practice.

Years later, becoming a mom brought me back to youth sports.

This time, I was seeing sports through a different lens—not only as a former athlete and coach, but as a parent and someone who had spent years studying the relationship between the body, mind, emotions, and nervous system. I saw passionate coaches, devoted parents, and young athletes who loved their sports. But I also saw how much everyone was struggling.

Athletes struggling with pressure, perfectionism, confidence, mistakes, and big emotions. Parents navigating their own role in their child’s athletic experience—sometimes questioning how much to push or step back, and sometimes unknowingly repeating the same expectations, pressures, and “old school” approaches to sports that they experienced growing up. Coaches bringing different levels of experience, training, and awareness to the field—from deeply passionate and intentional coaches trying to support the whole athlete but lack sport specific knowledge, to well-meaning coaches who simply haven’t been given the tools, to those still relying on yelling, threats, shame, fear, or “toughen up” approaches that have been passed down through generations of sport.

And honestly, all these years later, I realized we still have a gap.

We spend so much time training the athlete’s body and developing their skills. We talk about being “mentally tough,” staying focused, having confidence, and bouncing back—but we don’t always teach young athletes how to do those things or give them space to discover what those words mean for them.

That’s where I found myself wanting to step in.

I returned to coaching because I felt there was a need for someone like me—someone who understands sport, movement, and performance, but is equally interested in the nervous system, emotions, identity, relationships, mindfulness, and the whole human being underneath the uniform.

I’m not here to make your child tougher.

I’m here to walk alongside them as they get curious about who they are as an athlete and as a person—and help them build practices they can carry far beyond the game.

“Locked in”, “in the zone”, “hyper focus”, “cooking” – these all describe “flow” the optimal psychological state when someone is immersed in their activity (sports, music, art etc). In ancient philosophy there is a similar experience for spiritual liberation or unexplainable internal peace. The act of letting go of ego (self-consciousness), distractions and stimuli decrease, losing track of time and everything goes in slow motion, and effortless right action leading to complete absorption and ultimately bliss is accessed through the same path.

Coaching is a one-on-one session or ongoing mentorship designed to support the whole athlete – mind, body, heart and spirit. It’s not just about performance, but an total embodiment threading together the way they think, feel, sense and connect to tap into a flow state with more ease both in their sport and as they grow in life.

Athletics challenges more than physical ability. Athletes navigate pressure, mistakes, expectations, competition, confidence, injuries, conflict and identity. Utilizing a holistic lens with ancient framework and strategies that modern science has proven over and over again to be effective provides an opportunity for athletes to develop interoceptive skills that help them show up with greater awareness, resilience, and confidence – both on and off the field/court/mat.

Through individualized coaching, athletes will develop tools to strengthen:

• Emotional resilience and mental toughness

• Self-awareness and confidence

• Positive self-talk and a growth mindset

• Nervous system regulation and the ability to stay grounded under pressure

• Trust in their intuition and decision-making

• A healthy identity beyond sports

Athletes will learn practical skills and strategies including:

• Visualization and mental rehearsal

• Mindfulness and moment-to-moment awareness

• Breathwork and regulation techniques

• Performance anxiety management

• Perfectionism and fear of failure work

• Snap-back routines after mistakes or setbacks

• Cultivating empathy for self and others

• Developing a personal player philosophy

• Building healthy habits and lifestyle balance

• Non-violent communication skills with teammates, coaches, and officials

• Creating positive team energy and becoming a leader through example

The vision is to work side by side not only with athletes but their parents and coaches to nurture each player as a whole person. Because the greatest athletes are not just trained physically. They are also supported mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.