Raising Elite Competitors

Two moms share what helped their daughters bounce back after a mistake. 🧠 Learn more here, mom → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:
FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:39 Meet the Moms and Daughters
02:59 Why They Joined the Academy
03:18 Elyse's Struggle on the Field
04:19 Ella's Individual vs. Team Pressure
04:58 Danielle's Perspective on Building a Foundation
06:21 Overcoming Early Skepticism
09:14 Program Overview and How to Join

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎤 Joined by two Elite Competitor Academy families, Michelle and her daughter Elise, and Danyell and her daughter Ella, sharing what changed for them inside the program.

Michelle describes exactly what she saw from the sideline when Elise made a mistake, and the moment that changed how her daughter handled it. Danyell shares why she wanted her daughter to hear these same tools from someone other than her, before the pressure of competitive swimming caught up to them.

What You'll Learn:
✅ What Michelle saw from the sideline when Elise made a mistake, and what changed once she got support
✅ The specific moment Elise decided to trust her skills again mid-game
✅ Why Danyell wanted the message to come from someone other than her, even with a psychology background of her own
✅ The exact question Michelle asked Elise that opened the door to try mental training
✅ Why doubting this will work at first is a normal reaction, not a red flag

💬 Moms, comment below: What's the exact moment you realized your daughter's mental game needed more support than her physical training?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
👉Parents' influence on youth athlete motivation has been found to surpass coaches' in some respects (Frontiers in Psychology, 2023)
👉A qualitative study of coaches, parents, and athletes found a consistent gap in know-how around mental skill development, meaning families are often the ones initiating outside resources (Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2025)
👉A network meta-analysis of 46 randomized controlled trials found psychological interventions meaningfully reduced competitive anxiety in athletes (Sports Medicine – Open, 2026)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentalgame #girlathletes #sportsparenting #confidentathletes

14-year-old, Maeryn, a nationally ranked tennis athlete, shares her advice for showing up on bad days. 🎾 Learn more about the Elite Competitor Academy program she uses to keep centered → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:28 Intro
01:11 Meet Maeryn
02:41 Recent Tournament Wins & Mental Prep
05:09 Snapback Routine & Breathing Techniques
06:35 The Brain Dump Strategy
08:48 Positive Affirmations
10:25 Overcoming Past Struggles
12:00 Advice & Closing Thoughts

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎾 This week's guest is Maeryn, a 14-year-old nationally ranked tennis player and our July Athlete of the Month. She joins Coach Saylor to share her advice for athletes and parents on showing up and competing even on the hard days.

Maeryn walks through her Snapback Routine, box breathing, and the pre-match worry list she hands straight to her parents so she can't carry it onto the court. She also shares the four-line affirmation script she reads during changeovers.

This episode is for the athlete who's had a bad week and the parent trying to figure out what to say to her. Share it with your daughter, then come back and comment below.

What You'll Learn:
✅ How Maeryn shows up and competes even during a rough stretch
✅ The exact Snap Back Routine she uses to reset mid-match in under 20 seconds
✅ Why she writes down every worry before a tournament and hands it to her parents
✅ The four-line third-person affirmation script she reads during changeovers
✅ How she reframes a loss so it doesn't turn into a weeklong spiral

💬 Moms — comment below: What's the first thing you say to your daughter in the car after a tough loss?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
👉Third-person self-talk improves emotion regulation and self-control under pressure by creating psychological distance from the stressor. (Moser et al., Scientific Reports, 2017)
👉A meta-analysis found pre-performance routines meaningfully improve concentration and lower pre-competition anxiety. (Gröpel & Mesagno, International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2021)
👉A brief writing exercise immediately before a high-stakes moment significantly boosted performance, especially for those who are habitually anxious. (Ramirez & Beilock, Science, 2011)
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The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentaltraining #girlsintennis #confidencebuilding #athletemindset

She wants to quit and it's probably not burnout. Check our free training for sports parents to help her stay in the game → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:
FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 The Hook: Is It Burnout?
00:16 The Competitive Dancer's Story
01:26 The Gap Between Success and Feeling
03:57 Burnout vs. Mental Game Problem
06:26 Three Questions to Tell the Difference
07:39 My Own Experience With This
08:44 How to Build the Mental Game Toolkit

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

Your athlete says she wants to quit, and your first instinct might be to call it burnout. 

In this episode, I walk through a true story about a 15 year old competitive dancer who placed top 10 at nationals and still wanted to quit two weeks later, and why that gap between outside success and inside confidence is almost never burnout.

I also share about my own story of walking away from volleyball my senior year and calling it burnout, when it was really unmanaged perfectionism no one taught me how to handle.

🧐 What You'll Learn:
The one gap that separates real burnout from a mental game problem hiding as burnout- Why "get out of your own head" doesn't work, even when it's true
The 3 questions to ask before deciding it's time for a break- What it means when she can't feel her own wins
How comparing herself to teammates, not outcomes, fuels the spiral

💬 Moms — comment below: Has your athlete ever said she wants to quit right after a strong season?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
- About 10% of adolescent athletes ages 13-15 report sport burnout, with slightly higher rates among girls (Saarinen et al., 2024, cited in Journal of Adolescence, 2025)
- Estimates of youth athlete burnout prevalence range from just 1% to 12% depending on the study (Systematic review, 2025)
- Higher perfectionism in athletes is linked to increased burnout, anxiety, and lower self-esteem (Frontiers in Psychology, 2024)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentaltraining #youthsports #sportsparenting #confidentathlete

 Think your coach hates you? Watch this before you believe it. 

Athletes: take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete

📌 Resources & Tools:

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
|📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:🔹 Take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:


👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre, a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

If you've ever thought your coach was picking on you or didn't like you, this one's for you. I'm breaking down what's actually happening when a coach keeps correcting you versus when a coach goes quiet.I'm also giving you the exact script to use when you need your coach to give you more feedback or clarity on your role.

What You'll Learn:
✅ How to tell the difference between a coach who's investing in you and a coach who's checked out
✅ Why the thought "my coach doesn't like me" makes practice and games harder than they need to be
✅ The Thought Wheel, how one thought shapes your feelings, actions, and results without you noticing
✅ A real story about a player who thought she was being picked on and was actually being coached
✅ Exact words to use when you need to ask your coach for more feedback or clarity

Athletes — take this quiz to find out your competitor style → https://elitecompetitor.com/athlete

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️A poor coach relationship was a significant driver of youth athletes leaving their sport, per a 2024 qualitative study of 20 youth athletes (Cogent Social Sciences, 2024)
⚡️Roughly 35% of youth sport participants leave their programs annually, and by age 13, an estimated 70% have left sport altogether (Kinesiology Review, 2024)
⚡️A study of 258 competitive gymnasts found negative self-talk predicted higher competition anxiety and lower performance, while positive self-talk predicted better results (PLOS ONE, 2022)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#raisingelitecompetitors #sportsmom #mentaltraining #girlathletes #confidence

How one teen turns comparison into fuel instead of letting it crush her confidence. Learn more about EMG here, mom → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📌 Resources & Tools:

FREE for YOU:

🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom

📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips

💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide

🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:

🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz

🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS 

👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

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Connect with us!

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IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach

Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors

YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction 

00:45 Meet Zoe Roberts 

02:07 Learning to Manage Emotions 

04:40 The Snapback Routine 

06:34 Pre-Game Routine and Support System 

07:14 Turning Comparison into Inspiration 

08:32 Zoe's Win and Becoming a Role Model 

09:42 Final Tips and Wrap-Up

🎤 This week Coach Saylor sits down with Zoey Roberts, our EMG June Athlete of the Month, a rising high school freshman who plays basketball, volleyball, and track.

Zoey used to cry after almost every mistake in a game. Now she resets in seconds and cheers louder for her teammates than she ever argued with a ref.

She walks us through the reframe that turned watching stronger athletes from intimidating into motivating, and the habit that changed her game.

What You'll Learn:

✅ Why comparing herself to a stronger athlete now fuels Zoey instead of scaring her

✅ The 2-second signal Zoey uses to snap back after a mistake, and why it works better than "shake it off"

✅ How the five-sense grounding countdown calms her down before a big moment

✅ What she does on the bench when she gets subbed out, and why it matters for the whole team

✅ Her honest advice for a mom whose daughter has no idea what mental training even is

💬 Moms — comment below: What does your daughter's first 10 minutes after a mistake usually look like?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

👉Psychological skills training produced a notably larger reduction in anxiety for adolescent athletes than for the broader athlete population studied (Frontiers in Psychology, 2025)

👉Self-compassion predicted a stronger performance rebound the day after a rough outing, in a study of college athletes (Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2022)

👉Peer support from teammates directly reduces mental fatigue and increases engagement in adolescent athletes (Scientific Reports, 2025)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #mentaltraining #girlathletes #elitementalgame #confidencecoaching

Your daughter's recruiting profile makes her more searchable than she realizes. 

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📌 Resources & Tools:
===========================

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

===========================
Connect with us!
===========================
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

Guest Resources:
Name: Fareedah Shaheed
Title: Internet Safety Expert
Email: [email protected]
@social handle: @CyberFareedah
Free Protect Kids Online Resource Library: https://sekuva.mykajabi.com/get-your-internet-safety-resource-library

===========================
⏰ Key Timestamps:
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00:00 Introduction: Why Digital Safety Matters
01:35 Meet Farida Shaheed
02:41 Farida's Childhood and Online Grooming Story
05:13 The Turning Point With Her Mom
08:34 What Grooming Really Looks Like
10:58 Guidelines for Young Athletes Online
13:33 Doom Scrolling vs. Dream Scrolling
17:13 The SAFE Method
21:01 New AI-Powered Threats
21:57 Where to Find Farida

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎙 Today's guest is Fareedah Shaheed, aka CyberFareedah, a Forbes 30 Under 30 internet safety expert who was groomed online as a teenager and built the SAFE Method to help other families avoid what she went through.

Fareedah walks through exactly what a stranger can find when they search your athlete's name, and why recruiting makes her more visible online than most kids her age. She also shares the exact conversation her mom had with her that changed everything, and why reacting with fear almost always backfires.

She breaks down her SAFE Method (Safe spaces, Accountability, Fun, Empathy) and gives three specific moves you can make tonight to protect what's public without hiding her talent or pulling her offline.

What You'll Learn:
✅ What actually shows up when someone searches your athlete's name
✅ Three specific ways to protect her online without going private or pulling her offline
✅ Why a fearful reaction pushes your daughter to hide more, not less
✅ The SAFE Method: Safe spaces, Accountability, Fun, Empathy
✅ The exact script for introducing phone check-ins without triggering secrecy

💬 Moms — comment below: Have you ever searched your own daughter's name to see what actually shows up?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

More than 300 million children a year are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse worldwide. (Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, University of Edinburgh, 2024)

Online enticement reports to NCMEC's CyberTipline rose to more than 546,000 in 2024, a 192% increase over 2023. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2025)

1 in 17 minors report having personally experienced sextortion. (Thorn & NCMEC, 2024)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#sportsmom #onlinesafety #digitalparenting #raisingelitecompetitors #parentingteens

Preparing her for tryouts is more about your calm than her skill. Learn more about how we help you help her → https://trainhergame.com/mom

***Resources & Tools***

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge
OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

***Connect with us***
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

***⏰ Key Timestamps***
00:00 Intro & Community Shoutout
01:44 Check Your Own Nerves First
02:46 Defining Her Goals for Tryouts
05:14 Practical Prep for Tryout Day
06:53 Mental Training Tools
09:52 Handling Disappointment & Resilience
11:06 Wrap-Up & Final Encouragement

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.  

Tryout season brings out nerves in both of you, and most of what actually helps happens before tryout day even arrives. This episode walks through how to prepare her without adding pressure, what coaches are really watching for, and how to handle it if the outcome isn't what she hoped.  

What You'll Learn:  
✅ How to check your own tryout stress before it becomes hers - What to do in the weeks (not just the day) before tryouts 
✅ The intangibles coaches are really scoring, beyond skill (hustle, resilience, teammate energy) 
✅ Simple mental tools for the lead-up: breathwork, visualization, and the Snapback Routine 
✅ How to handle disappointment after tryouts without raising a victim mindset  

💬 Moms — comment below: What's your go-to thing to say to her in the days before tryouts?  

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:  
⚡️ Girls who quit sports are far more likely to have had parents who pressured them to play or compared them to other players (Aspen Institute / Project Play National Youth Athlete Survey, 2026)  
⚡️ Self-talk interventions produce a measurable, moderate improvement in athletic performance, especially on newly-learned skills, exactly the conditions of a tryout (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2011)  
⚡️ Diaphragmatic breathing measurably lowers cortisol, the body's stress hormone, in athletes under physical stress (Martarelli et al., Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011)  

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.  

#sportsmom #tryoutseason #mentalperformance #girlssports #sportsparenting

Your daughter's intensity might be her biggest advantage, not a problem to fix.  

***Resources & Tools***

FREE for YOU:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors

FREE for Athletes:
🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

***Connect with us***
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

Learn more about Wendy and Fresh Start Family!
Wendy Snyder — certified positive parenting educator & family life coach, Founder of Fresh Start Family, host of The Fresh Start Family Show
Book: Fresh Start Your Family: Powerful Parenting to Restore Peace in Your Home (Wiley)
Instagram: @freshstartwendy (not @frustratewendy)
Website: https://freshstartfamilyonline.com  

***⏰ Key Timestamps***
00:00 Introduction: The Gift of Strong-Willed Kids
01:22 Meet Wendy Snyder & Fresh Start Family
02:54 Wendy's Journey Raising a Strong-Willed Daughter
03:59 From Autocratic to Firm-and-Kind Parenting
09:07 What Is a Cactus Kid?
10:57 Traits of Strong-Willed Kids & Future Leaders
16:06 Coaching Cactus Kids: Earning Respect
20:46 Compassionate Discipline vs. Punishment
22:29 Handling Intensity Without Disrespect
27:13 Teaching Peaceful Conflict Resolution & Win-Win
33:30 Team Conversations & Detachment Skills
38:23 Red Flags in Coaching & When to Step In
43:21 Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Wendy

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion. 

🎙 Joining me this week is Wendy Snyder, certified positive parenting educator, family life coach, and founder of Fresh Start Family. Wendy raised her own strong-willed daughter into a Division I beach volleyball recruit, and now teaches thousands of families how to do the same.  

Wendy talks about raising what she calls "cactus kids," beautiful, strong-willed kids who are a lot to handle if nobody's taught you how. If your daughter comes home intense after a bad game, argues with the ref in her head for days, or gets side-eyed for having "too much" personality, this one's for you.  

What You'll Learn: 
✅ Why "strong-willed" and "intense" aren't warning signs, they're leadership traits in disguise 
✅ The real difference between an intense athlete and a disrespectful one 
✅ A simple win-win script to help your daughter work through teammate conflict without shame 
✅ What to actually say (and not say) when a coach flags her attitude 
✅ How to know when to step in with a coach, and when to let her handle it herself

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:  
⚡️ Structured sports programs that intentionally built in social-emotional goals improved athletes' emotion regulation by standardized effect sizes up to 0.72 across 7 peer-reviewed studies (Kanaros & Bourdaniotis, Futurity Education, 2025)  
⚡️ A study of 295 Swiss elite teen athletes found coach-athlete relationship quality directly predicted burnout months later (Gerber et al., Sports Psychiatry, 2024)  
⚡️ Among youth athletes who quit, "I'm not good enough" and "bad coaching" were the top two reasons cited, with former players reporting far more parental pressure than current players (Aspen Institute Project Play, 2026)  

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.  

#mentalgame #sportsmom #strongwilledchild #coachbre #raisingathletes

Comparison at tryouts is costing her more than she realizes. What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz

📌 Resources & Tools:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Free Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors
FREE for Athletes:🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Intro: My Best & Worst Tryouts
00:49 Why Tryouts Are a Mental Game
02:00 How Nerves Derail Your Performance
03:24 Tip #1: Reframe What Tryouts Are
05:49 Tip #2: Use Visualization
08:44 Tip #3: Focus On Your Strengths
11:11 Recap of the Three Tips
11:53 Closing & Call to Action

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion. 

This episode features Coach Saylor, one of our mental performance coaches inside The Elite Mental Game, teaching athletes three mental training tips for tryouts. 

In this video, Coach Saylor breaks down why comparison is one of the biggest confidence killers at tryouts, and gives your athlete three specific mental training tips to walk in ready instead. This one's built to be shared directly with her. If tryouts are coming up for your daughter, this gives her something real to lean on beyond just physical prep.

What You'll Learn:
✅ Why tryouts should be reframed as a showcase, not a test
✅ A visualization technique that uses a real past best moment, not an imagined perfect one
✅ How to name three personal strengths as anchors against the comparison spiral
✅ Why comparison rarely works in her favor, and what to focus on instead
✅ Where to find her free Competitor Style Quiz for a mental edge going into tryouts

💬 What's one strength you bring to your sport that you might not give yourself credit for?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️Reframing pre-performance anxiety as excitement improves confidence and performance (Brooks, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014)
⚡️A 2025 study of 500 athletes found imagery ability is directly linked to athletic achievement level (Malinauskas et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2025)
⚡️A meta-analysis of 32 studies found self-talk interventions produce a real, measurable improvement in sport performance (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2011)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#tryoutprep #sportsmom #mentalperformance #girlssports #elitementalgame

Tryout nerves are normal, and there's a real plan that helps. What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz

📌 Resources & Tools:
🎓 Strengthen Your Athlete's Mental Game - Free Training for Parents → https://trainhergame.com/mom
📬 Join our weekly TIPS newsletter → https://sportsmom.fyi/yt-tips
💬 Use this Conversation Guide w/ Scripts to talk to your athlete about mental training → https://sportsmom.fyi/convo-guide
🎙 Listen to the Podcast: Raising Elite Competitors
FREE for Athletes:🔹 Share with your athlete: What's Your Competitor Style Quiz → https://athlete.fyi/yt-quiz
🎥 YouTube Playlist for Athletes → https://www.youtube.com/@AthleteMentalEdge

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Join The Elite Mental Game for girl athletes → https://trainhergame.com/yt-emg

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/elitecompetitorcoach
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@raisingelitecompetitors
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome & Introduction
01:32 Why Tryouts Matter
03:55 Building Your Tryout Plan
06:03 The Night Before
07:32 Nerves Are a Good Thing
09:31 Morning of Tryouts
10:02 During Tryouts
11:46 After Tryouts

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a former head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

This episode features Coach Saylor, one of our mental performance coaches inside The Elite Mental Game, teaching athletes exactly how to prepare for tryouts.

In this episode, Coach Saylor breaks down exactly how to help your athlete prepare for tryouts, from the training plan months out to the night-before checklist. She covers the mindset work most parents skip, and it's the piece that actually determines how tryout day feels.If your daughter has tryouts coming up this week or this season, this episode gives her (and you) a real plan instead of just "good luck."

What You'll Learn:
✅ How to build a tryout training timeline for the months, weeks, and night before tryouts
✅ Why nerves before tryouts are actually a good sign, and how to help her use them
✅ A simple visualization exercise that builds real confidence, not just hype
✅ What to say (and not say) about mistakes during and after tryouts
✅ Why the outcome of tryouts doesn't define who she is, and how to help her see that

💬 Moms — comment below: What's the one thing that actually helps your daughter calm down before a big tryout?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️Reframing pre-performance anxiety as excitement improves confidence and performance (Brooks, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014)
⚡️A 2025 study of 500 athletes found imagery ability is directly linked to athletic achievement level (Malinauskas et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2025)
⚡️A meta-analysis of 32 studies found self-talk interventions produce a real, measurable improvement in sport performance (Hatzigeorgiadis et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2011)

The Raising Elite Competitors podcast and YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping sports moms strengthen their daughter's mental game and confidence in order to help her perform her best when it matters most.

#tryoutprep #sportsmom #mentalperformance #girlssports #elitementalgame

Register for the Summer Strong Mental Game Bootcamp! We kick-off June 24th (registration closes June 19th). The earlier you register, the better price you get! https://elitecompetitor.com/summer-strong-bootcamp/