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.