The Mental Mettle Podcast

Regional Superintendent and ultramarathoner Kyle Thompson joins The Mental Mettle Podcast to break down how “time on feet” in the mountains has reshaped the way he leads, parents, and lives.

Kyle is the Regional Superintendent of ROE #11 in Charleston, Illinois, and a 100-mile finisher who believes deeply in intentional adversity—choosing hard things on purpose so you’re ready for the hard things you don’t choose.

In this conversation, we cover:

• How a simple question from his kids (“What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?”) completely changed his life
• Why he prefers 90-degree runs, 2 a.m. training sessions, and brutal trail conditions
• The mental and physical battle of his first 100-miler at Grindstone (106 miles, 35+ hours, cold rain, and massive elevation)
• DNFs, disappointment, and what failure in ultrarunning has taught him about leadership
• The difference between optional adversity (what you choose) and mandatory adversity (what life throws at you)
• How trail running and ultras have made him a calmer, more resilient leader and parent

We also dig into the work Kyle has done with Mental Mettle Coaching:

• Why he brought me in to do an 8-session group coaching series with his ROE #11 team
• How that coaching helped his staff with self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and vulnerability
• The culture shift that happens when a team feels genuinely invested in, not just managed
• Why he actively promotes my professional development and coaching to superintendents and schools across his region

If you’re an educator, coach, or leader who:

• Wants to build real resilience (not just talk about “grit”)
• Is curious how endurance training and leadership intersect
• Is looking for PD that actually focuses on the adults in the room, not another buzzword program

…this episode will give you a clear picture of what intentional adversity looks like in real life—and how it can transform both your work and your life.

———

WORK WITH MENTAL METTLE COACHING
→ Group coaching & PD for schools, districts, and teams
→ Coaching for educators, leaders, and coaches who want to build real mental mettle

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Listen, share, and if this resonated, consider passing it along to a leader or educator who needs to hear it.

Unlock the real difference-maker in sports performance: your mind.

In this solo episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann reveals the Secrets Behind the Third Skill Set: Mental Performance—the hidden skill set that separates average athletes from consistent peak performers.

You already train skills and strength. But if you’re not training your mindset on purpose, you’re leaving a huge part of your potential on the table.

In this episode, Coach Thomann breaks down exactly how he coaches mental performance for athletes and why it works:

What the “third skill set” is—and why most athletes never train it
How neuroplasticity lets you literally rewire your brain for confidence and composure
The two keys to lasting mindset change: Recognition + Repetition
How to stop wasting energy on uncontrollables and dominate what you can control
The ACE Framework (Attitude, Communication, Effort) that athletes write on bags, bats, cleats, and guns (for competitive shooters)
How to change your self-talk from brutal and negative to a powerful inner coach
Why “positive toughness” and gratitude beat fake positivity and empty slogans
How values work explains burnout, frustration, and losing the joy in your sport
What an actual mental performance coaching session looks like with real athletes
How these mental skills transfer to life: school, relationships, adversity, and career

Coach Thomann also shares his personal story—battling cancer, a stroke, PTSD, and panic attacks—and how the same mental skills for athletes he now teaches helped him rebuild his own mindset and life.

🔊 This episode is for you if you’re a…

• Athlete who chokes under pressure, overthinks, or struggles with confidence
• Parent who sees your kid spiraling mentally and doesn’t know how to help
• Coach who keeps saying “be more mentally tough” but doesn’t have a system to train it

You’ll walk away with a clear picture of what mental performance training is, how it works, and why mastering the third skill set can completely change how you compete and how you handle adversity.

🔗 Free Resource for Parents:
Check out Coach Thomann’s free course, The Resilient Parent’s Playbook, to learn how to support your athlete’s mindset at home without accidentally feeding anxiety or negativity.  www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

📩 Interested in Mental Performance Coaching?
Coach Thomann works with individual athletes, teams, and schools.
To inquire about coaching or PD for coaches, reach out at:
[email protected]

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

Listen to more episodes of The Mental Mettle Podcast for tools, stories, and strategies to help athletes forge real resilience and confidence—on and off the field.

In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann sits down with 24-year coaching veteran and fellow Millikin alum, Coach Lee Mateer of Taylorville High School.

By his own words, Lee used to be “the raging psychopath” on the sideline — yelling, screaming, cursing, and tying his entire identity to wins and losses. He was the classic old school, outcome-obsessed coach who wore misery and grittiness like a badge of honor.

Then life hit at home.

Lee’s transformation didn’t begin at a clinic or in a playbook. It began with deep personal struggle: watching his daughter enter high school and battle an eating disorder rooted in crippling anxiety. Seeing his own child waste away and suffer shook everything he thought he knew about toughness, mental health, and what today’s kids are actually fighting through.

That crisis forced him to confront his ego, his fear, and his entire coaching philosophy.

In this conversation, we dig into:

• How an old school “tough guy” coach became the self-described “raging psychopath” on the sideline
• His daughter’s battle with anxiety and an eating disorder—and how it broke him and opened his eyes
• Why that personal struggle became the turning point for his coaching, parenting, and faith
• Moving from yelling, fear, and control to connection, standards, and real trust
• The three “sins” he sees in all of us: fear, ego, and laziness—and how they show up in coaches
• How trauma and past experiences drive emotional volatility in athletes and adults
• Building a 17-lesson leadership and character curriculum into his strength program
• Getting teenage athletes to honestly reflect on jealousy, fear, and toxic masculinity
• Why you can still demand toughness and excellence without being a miserable coach
• How faith and Scripture reshaped his definition of success on and off the field

If you’ve ever felt burned out, bitter, or trapped in the old school vs new school coaching battle—and especially if something at home has made you question everything—this episode will hit close to home.

This conversation is exactly what my Ember to Inferno program is about—helping coaches intentionally develop that third skill set:

• Mental skills
• Emotional regulation
• Response to adversity
• Program standards and culture systems

Coaches go to clinics every year to sharpen their press, their zone defense, their ball-screen offense. But if you truly believe culture > X’s and O’s, your professional development should reflect that.

If you’re thinking, “I love this stuff, but I don’t know how to start,”
that’s where I come in.

Contact:
[email protected] for a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

mentalmettle | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook:
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Today’s episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast is all about what you do after you hit rock bottom, in sport and in life.

My guest is Olympian discus thrower Joe Brown (@joethethrower on Instagram)—one of only a handful of Division II athletes to make it all the way to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Joe is the:

• 2019 NCAA Division II national champion in the discus (won on his final attempt)
• 4x USATF national qualifier (every year since 2021)
• 4th place finisher at the 2023 USA Championships, earning a spot on the Pan American Games team (5th place finish)
• Bronze medalist at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials—again, on his final throw in a historic competition, punching his ticket to Paris
• Currently ranked 31st in the world and in the top 100 male discus throwers of all time

But this conversation is not just a highlight reel.

When Joe talks about “throwing it into the pole,” he means it literally—slamming the discus into the metal pole of the cage under massive pressure at the Olympic Trials and nearly knocking himself out of contention. On his very last attempt, with his Olympic dream and his entire career on the line, he had to decide: walk away, or step back into the ring one more time.

That moment in the stadium mirrors the rest of his life.

Joe opens up about years spent in a destructive loop with alcohol—training hard all week and then erasing it with blackout weekends, drinking alone, using it to numb grief and depression, and “throwing it into the pole” in his own life over and over again.

We get into:

• The resilience it takes to keep fighting after you fall flat on your face on the biggest stage
• The mental framework behind being able to win on your final throw
• The discipline required to train in solitude with no coach, no teammates, and no cheerleaders
• How he handled doubt, depression, grief, and self-sabotage while still chasing an Olympic dream
• The tools he built through construction work with his dad, books, meditation, visualization, and trial and error

We also dive into Joe’s “Olympic Decisions” series on Instagram—where he breaks tough moments down into simple but powerful choices (confidence or curiosity, belonging or independence, etc.) and uses those choices to come back from failure instead of being crushed by it.

If you’ve ever felt like you keep slamming into the same wall—whether in competition, with alcohol, or in your own patterns—Joe’s story is a blueprint for how to step back into the ring and take one more throw.

To learn more about the American Paragons Foundation:
americanparagons.org

For more information about Mental Mettle Coaching:

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook:
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Contact:
[email protected] for a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

mentalmettle | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Before the crisis hits, your team has already decided how it will respond.

In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann sits down with IBCA Hall of Fame coach Chad Cluver to unpack how daily habits, standards, and relationships shape a team’s response to adversity long before the big moment arrives.

Across 36 years on the sidelines and over 450 career wins, Coach Cluver has built competitive, resilient teams by putting culture before X’s and O’s. In this conversation, we dive into:

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why culture must come before schemes—especially when flipping a struggling program
• How clearly defining roles, standards, and expectations transforms team chemistry
• Practical ways to teach emotional regulation, vulnerability, and next-play mentality
• How to train responses to adversity instead of labeling kids as “tough” or “soft”
• What adversity actually reveals about your preparation, habits, and relationships
• How to give players real ownership with tools like code words, communication systems, and feedback loops
• Why coaches say culture matters most—but often invest PD time only in X’s and O’s

If you’ve ever thought:

• “My kids just aren’t mentally tough,”
• “We fall apart when things get hard,” or
• “I believe in culture… but I don’t know how to build it,”

…this episode will give you both a mindset framework and concrete ideas you can use with your team tomorrow.

🔥 Want Help Building This in Your Program?

This conversation is exactly what my Ember to Inferno program is about—helping coaches intentionally develop that third skill set:

• Mental skills
• Emotional regulation
• Response to adversity
• Program standards and culture systems

Coaches go to clinics every year to sharpen their press, their zone defense, their ball-screen offense. But if you truly believe culture > X’s and O’s, your professional development should reflect that.

If you’re thinking, “I love this stuff, but I don’t know how to start,”
that’s where I come in.

Contact:
[email protected] for a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

mentalmettle | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook:
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

On this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Matt sits down with 2020 Olympian and NCAA national champion hammer thrower Alex Young to talk about what it really means to “do all your labor as unto the Lord.”

Alex grew up in Laverne, Tennessee as a football and weight-room kid before a high school coach pulled him into track and field. Inspired by watching Reese Hoffa at the Olympics, he took up the throws as a sophomore, went on to win a Tennessee state title in the shot put, and eventually became an NCAA champion in the weight throw and a World Championships finalist in the hammer.

But this conversation isn’t just about results—it’s about what happens when they stop coming.

Alex and Matt dig into:

• How Alex discovered throwing and chose track over football
• Becoming SLU’s first-ever Division I national champion
• Making Team USA, the 2020 Olympics, and finishing 12th at Worlds in 2022
• Then having the worst professional seasons of his career in 2023–2024
• Losing confidence, changing coaches, and rebuilding from the bottom
• Why he now competes for an “audience of One” and what that actually looks like
• The scripture that anchors him: “Do all your labor as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23)
• Learning to truly enjoy the process—even when the outcome hurts
• His thesis on self-talk, neuromuscular efficiency, and why what you say to yourself shows up in your body
• The difference between real mental toughness and just grinding yourself into the ground
• How he talks to younger athletes about finding their “superpower” and building confidence the right way

If you’re an athlete, coach, parent, or believer who cares about faith, performance, and real resilience—not just motivational slogans—this episode is for you.

If you found this helpful, hit subscribe for more conversations on mental performance, resilience, and mindset from athletes across all sports.

To learn more about the American Paragons Foundation:
americanparagons.org

For more information about Mental Mettle Coaching:

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook:
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Contact:
[email protected] for a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

mentalmettle | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann sits down with Pat Ryan, Director of High School Relations for Illinois Football and longtime head coach at Metamora High School.

📌 About Pat Ryan
Pat Ryan is the Director of High School Relations for the University of Illinois football program. Before joining Illinois, he spent decades as the head football coach at Metamora High School in Illinois, where his teams became known statewide for their toughness, consistency, and championship‑level success. A former high school teacher and coach, Pat now serves as a vital bridge between the Illini and high school programs across the state, helping build relationships, evaluate talent, and support coaches and athletes through the recruiting process.

Pat’s story isn’t about secret schemes or flashy buzzwords. It’s about a simple, humble approach to coaching that’s built on love for the game and genuine care for people.

Drawing on years as a high school coach and now at a Big Ten program, Pat talks about:

• Why “you’re never done learning in this game”
• How he helped build Metamora into a perennial powerhouse without chasing gimmicks
• The importance of relationships with players, families, and other coaches
• Getting the best athletes in your school to actually play football
• Meeting kids where they are without lowering standards
• Second chances, discipline, and not “majoring in psychology” as a coach
• What Illinois looks for in recruits and how HS coaches can truly help their kids
• How routines, preparation, and situational work build real mental toughness

If you’re a high school coach, this conversation is a masterclass in doing the “simple stuff” really well: caring deeply, staying consistent, and never stopping your own development.

For more information about Mental Mettle Coaching:

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook:
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Contact:
[email protected] for a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

mentalmettle | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Team USA discus thrower Gabi Jacobs didn’t start track dreaming of the Olympics. She joined in 7th grade just to hang out with friends, then quietly became a three-time All-American and three-time SEC champion at Mizzou. After a heartbreaking Olympic Trials in 2021 and the pressure of juggling demanding jobs with elite training, she walked away from the sport completely—fully believing she was done.

In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Gabi and I dig into how she went from that “I’m done” moment to a full-on comeback, and why her reasons for competing now are totally different than they were before. She talks about growing up a multi-sport athlete at Normal U-High in Bloomington-Normal, thinking more about volleyball than track in college, and how Mizzou’s coaches taught her to dream big while obsessing over the daily details.

Gabi explains how she used SMART goals, training journals, and small, tangible wins to build a high-performance mindset, and then what happens when that mindset collides with burnout. She takes us inside the 2021 Olympic Trials—making the final, fouling out, and the mental crash that followed. From there, she made a deliberate choice: rather than do the sport halfway, she chose to quit and focus on her career.

Two years away from throwing changed everything. Watching SECs, USAs, and then Worlds in Budapest lit a fire she didn’t expect, especially seeing women she used to compete against on the world stage. A simple conversation with her dad, a longtime high school track and cross-country coach, gave her the framework for coming back: start again, and if it brings you joy, keep going. If it doesn’t, it’s okay to stop.

Now training again in Columbia, Missouri with Coach Dane Miller of Garage Strength, Gabi is rebuilding as a Team USA discus thrower with a very different internal compass. She’s structuring her life around training and part-time work, coming back from a knee injury, and using the same process mindset to navigate recovery and the long season ahead. The focus is no longer on sponsorships or status, but on seeing how good she can become and enjoying the grind along the way.

Gabi also holds a master’s in Positive Coaching, so when she talks about goal setting, small wins, burnout, and joy, she’s drawing from both lived experience and positive psychology. If you’re an athlete, parent, or coach wrestling with pressure, expectations, or burnout, this conversation will give you a real, practical look at what it means to step away, come back, and truly trust the process.

If you found this helpful, hit subscribe for more conversations on mental performance, resilience, and mindset from athletes across all sports.

To learn more about the American Paragons Foundation:
americanparagons.org

For more information about Mental Mettle Coaching:

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook:
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Contact:
[email protected] for a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

mentalmettle | Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Former pro hockey player, Air Force veteran, and sport & performance psychologist Dr. Dave Jones joins The Mental Mettle Podcast to unpack the battle between fear and faith—and how “toxic motivators” quietly drive so many athletes and high performers off course.
Dr. Dave shares how a brutal slap shot to the face ended his early hockey career, led him into the Air Force, and unexpectedly opened the door to playing pro hockey in Germany while serving as an F‑16 crew chief. That season of pain, identity loss, and rerouting became the foundation for his faith, his work in performance psychology, and his work as founder of the Christian marketing agency MisGood Marketing (misgood.com).
A lot of what we talk about in this episode flows directly into his upcoming book, Plan to Win, which you can learn more about on his site.
In this episode, we dig into:
The four toxic motivators: fear, lust, anger, and pride
Why fear-based and anger-based “mental toughness” can work in the short term but destroy you in the long run
The difference between identity and role (you’re more than your sport, job, or scoreboard)
How faith, vision, and humility create a healthier, more sustainable form of toughness
High vs. low emotional intelligence in sport: calm, confident, team-first vs. reactive, revenge-driven, and self-focused
Practical ways to start shifting from fear to faith, including gratitude, “fruit‑checking,” and choosing the right people around you
How Plan to Win helps you identify which toxic motivators you struggle with most and walk through devo-style steps to replace them with faith-driven motivation
To learn more about Dr. Dave’s work, his Christian marketing agency, and his book Plan to Win, visit https://misgood.com.
If you’ve ever felt driven, successful, and yet strangely empty—or if you’re tired of being powered by fear, anger, or pride—this conversation will show you a different way to be mentally tough, rooted in faith instead of toxicity, and point you toward tools to keep doing that work long after the episode ends.For more information about Mental Mettle Coaching

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook.
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Contact:  [email protected]

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

Schedule a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

Order The Mental Mettle Podcast Gear
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McKenna McKee is a 16-time National Champion in sprint cycling, she is an Olympic hopeful for Team USA, and she is also in school to become a nurse.  She is an impressive young woman and her accomplishments are notable.  What makes it even more impressive is that she was diagnosed with diabetes at age 6.

Or does it?   Does the diagnosis make it harder for her to be an elite athlete or did it actually help?   Because of the diagnosis, she learned to eat right and fuel her body at a time in her life when most of her classmates at whatever and whenever.  It also taught here that focusing on excuses does translate to results.  With the right attitude, she was able to take something that happened TO her and turn it into something that happened FOR her.   

You and your athlete may not be facing a chronic health issue, but you are likely facing some sort of scenario that could be seen as a disadvantage.   Forging Mettle is about not only facing that disadvantage, but also turning it around.  McKenna has done that and is on her way to being an Olympian for the United States of America.   

Along the way, she has become an advocate for athletes competing with diabetes.  As a member of Team Novo Nordisk, she races to inspire, educate, and empower athletes who face the same struggles.  Check out the episode to learn more about her journey and purpose.       

If you found this helpful, hit subscribe for more conversations on mental performance, resilience, and mindset from athletes across all sports

To learn more about the American Paragons Foundation at americanparagons.org

For more information about Mental Mettle Coaching

Sign up here for the FREE Resilient Parents Playbook.
www.resilientparentsplaybook.com

Contact:  [email protected]

www.mentalmettlecoach.com

Schedule a free coaching session with Coach Thomann

Order The Mental Mettle Podcast Gear
The Mental Mettle Podcast | Official Gear | Bonfire

Mental Mettle Links