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A tribute to the great Scottie Pippen (#33)

A player we SportsPsychMDs refer to as the Greatest Role Player of All Time 🐐🥈

This episode is dedicated to the role players and the challenges of putting your ego to the side in order to fill a role that may not garner as much praise or validation for betterment of the team and the pursuit of a championship.

Athletes Featured: Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, Ray Allen, Lamar Jackson

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We breakdown the NFL Draft in 3 segments:

First, we discuss how psychological and personality assessments (DISC) can be utilized in the front office when making selections.

We then do a deep dive into the recent #1 picks in both the NFL and NBA drafts discussing the busts and the booms highlighting how having all the data in the world isn't enough to make the best choice.

Lastly, with each prospect drafted in this years NFL draft there may be a huge weight off their shoulder, a sense as if they have made it. Will accomplishing a life long goal be reason to become complacent or will they take this opportunity to add fuel to the fire and come up with new SMART(ER) goals?

Athletes Featured: Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Tom Brady, Gronk, Russell Wilson and all the #1 picks in both the NFL and NBA drafts dating back to 1998.

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We brought back Infectious Disease specialist, Dr. Ramee Younes, to provide us some updates on COVID-19.

Ramee shares her perspective on public health policy, social distancing as well as treating patients with COVID-19 in the hospital setting--and the impact this has on both patient and healthcare worker wellbeing.

Afterwards, we discuss how we are each adjusting to working from home while providing a blueprint to overcoming the unknown, life without sports and the future of sports.

Retired Professional Soccer Player, Diana Redman, MSW, Psy-D joins us to discuss the challenges of having a family and being a high level athlete. She details an incredible story of resilience describing how she bounced back from pregnancy to reclaim high level performance within 6 weeks.

Diana’s journey from player to mental fitness expert began after playing over a decade for the National Team of Israel. In the pod she gives us unique insights into the long standing gender inequalities in sports that make it difficult for female athletes to be able to perform as well on the field as they do at home and how few sports organizations that feature women have policies that support maternity leave or other important family planning policies.

Diana is now a Mental Performance Consultant and

advocate for athletes who want to start a family while playing at a high level.

Athletes Featured: Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux, Serena Williams, Alysia Montano, Sylar Diggins-Smith, Sarah Brown

Another Public Service Announcement from your friendly neighborhood psychiatrist(s):

Suicide affects each and every one of us. Athletes are not immune. There are many ways it can be prevented. To learn how join the conversation.

Together We can make a difference.

Athletes Featured: Junior Seau, Ronda Rousey, Michael Phelps

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The SportsPsychMDs welcome Sports Psychiatrist & Board Certified Sleep Medicine Specialist, Dr. Shane Creado to the podcast. We discuss how athletes can maximize sleep for improving performance using the principle that the process of achieving higher quality sleep should be approached in a similar manner to preparing for competition.

Dr. Creado’s book underscores not only the value of sleep but also teaches how sleep can be integrated into an athletes daily routine, providing simple guidelines and practical tools for achieving the high quality sleep needed to perform at the highest level.

Title: Peak Sleep Performance: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee A Competitive Advantage.

Available now, on Kindle and Amazon.

FREE ON KINDLE FOR THE NEXT 48 hours.

Kindle USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YFP9YW

Kindle India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B085YFP9YW

Paperback USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085R72QQM

The Butterfly Effect is the principle of how even small changes (like the flapping wings of a distant butterfly) can have much larger effects on the balance of an ecosystem. This principle teaches how even the untimely death of that butterfly can have far-reaching, unforeseen ripple effects on subsequent historical events.

Such is the case with the spread of a viral outbreak like COVID-19. In this episode we investigate the current state of the this Pandemic along with special guest, Infectious Disease Specialist, Ramee Younes, MD.

We also take a closer look at how this pandemic gives new meaning to march madness, exploring the psychological implications of surviving a pandemic and living in a world without sporting events.

We then show how powerful mindfulness and gratitude practices can be to preserving wellness and maintaining resilience in times of crisis.

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“Perform at your best when your best is required... your best is required each day” - John Wooden

What characteristics are most important for being the leader on a team of professional athletes?

In this Part 2 of the Identity of the Athlete series we break down the Alpha personality detailing how it works within team dynamics and what characteristics enable these athletes to consistently perform at a high level in competitive sports.

We also compare and contrast the two predominant types of Alpha personalities embodied by legendary NBA athletes Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant - who project the “give me the damn ball” attitude vs the less traditional types like Magic Johnson and LeBron James who possess the playmaker and “ultimate facilitator” approach to the game.

**Moment of Mindfulness segment: NBA Allstar game and Ottawa Senator’s Bobby Ryan’s hat trick in his first home game back after entering the NHL/NHLPA’s player assistance program for alcohol abuse.

Athletes Featured: Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Peyton Manning, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Zion Williamson, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Kemba Walker, Joel Embiid, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Draymond Green, Steph Curry, Madison Bumgarner, Bobby Ryan

Game within the game refers to the dynamic shifts in momentum that occur in performance and competition. We kick things off by first highlighting a moment of mindfulness in sports related to a controversial federal lawsuit filed by female high school student athletes arguing that they should not have to compete against transgender athletes for having what they argue are inherent biological advantages.

We then discuss our own formula for what important mental fitness tools are most useful for developing resilience in competition and how that resilience can be used to generate momentum. We describe how momentum can be created within teams and within individual performers and how that relates to dynamic game scenarios like scoring runs, being in the zone or catching fire.

We wrap up by explaining how developing resilience and momentum, - which we believe can be achieved through guided, wellness-centered mindfulness and gratitude practices - are key tools for successful performance in all industries and career paths.

#mindfulness #effort #reinforcement #gratitude #energy #resilience #momentum #motivation

Athletes Featured: Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, Lebron James, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning & The best ever NBA Jam video games duos,

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

In this episode we focus on what makes coaching so important to success in sports and discuss how great coaching enhance performance and transform good players into great players.

Whether it's on the gridiron, in the workplace or in everyday life, great coaching can be a literal game changer in how it can shape potential and help bring out the best in each of us.

We discuss some legendary coaches and how building relationships beyond the field of play may be the most important factor in determining success (on and off the field).

We introduce the NCAA's new ‘Mental Health Best Practices’ which are a set of guidelines that are changing the landscape of how mental health is treated in college athletics.

Although coaching must be distinguished from traditional approaches to mental health care, such as medicine and therapy, there is no doubt that it improves mental fitness and serves as both a way to

enhance performance and augment any mental health treatment or recovery program.

Coaches featured: Gregg Popovich, Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Pat Summitt, AJ Hinch, Alex Cora