The Pressure Lab

What does a professional soccer player actually eat to perform at the highest level, and how does that translate to a youth athlete eating lunch between classes and playing a game at 7 PM?

In Episode #11 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Marissa Gaab, Head of Nutrition for the Philadelphia Union and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, to bridge the gap between elite sports nutrition and the practical realities of feeding a young athlete in the real world.

Marissa works daily with professional MLS players to optimize how they fuel, recover, and sustain performance across a grueling season. In this episode she brings those same principles down to earth for the audience that needs them most: teen athletes, their parents, and the coaches who work with both.

What should young athletes eat before a game and how much does it actually matter?
Pre-game nutrition is one of the most misunderstood areas of youth sports performance. Most young athletes either undereat before competition because of nerves or grab whatever is convenient. Marissa breaks down what the research and her professional experience with MLS players actually shows about fueling for performance, including timing, food choices, and the biggest mistakes athletes make in the hours before a game.

Why do so many young athletes underperform in the second half?
Energy depletion mid-game is one of the most common and most preventable performance issues in youth sports. Marissa explains the physiology behind it in plain language: what is happening in the body when an athlete hits a wall in the 60th minute, and what simple nutritional habits in the days and hours before competition can prevent it entirely.

What does recovery nutrition actually mean for a teenage athlete?
Most young athletes think recovery means stretching and sleep. Marissa makes the case that what an athlete eats in the 30 to 60 minutes after training or competition is one of the highest-leverage performance decisions they can make, and most of them are missing it completely.

How does nutrition affect mental performance and focus under pressure?
The connection between what athletes eat and how they think, focus, and manage pressure is underexplored in youth sports content. Marissa addresses it directly: how blood sugar instability affects decision-making on the field, how hydration impacts cognitive function, and why the brain is as much an organ that needs fueling as the legs.

What do parents of young athletes get wrong about sports nutrition?
Marissa works at the professional level but she is also a parent. She speaks to the most common and well-intentioned mistakes parents make when trying to feed their young athletes, from over-restricting to over-supplementing, and what practical, realistic habits actually make a difference.

When does healthy nutrition attention become disordered eating in young athletes?
Youth sports nutrition has a shadow side that most episodes on this topic avoid. Marissa addresses it honestly: the warning signs that an athlete's relationship with food is moving from healthy performance focus into territory that needs professional attention, and what coaches and parents can do when they see those signs.

What this episode covers:

• Pre-game nutrition for youth athletes: what to eat and when
• Recovery nutrition after training and competition
• Why young athletes hit a wall in the second half and how to prevent it
• How nutrition affects mental focus and decision-making under pressure
• Hydration for teen athletes: how much and what kind
• Common nutrition mistakes parents make with young athletes
• What professional MLS players eat and what youth athletes can learn from it
• The connection between food, energy, and mental fitness in sport
• Warning signs of disordered eating in young athletes
• Practical, affordable nutrition habits for busy athletic families
• Supplements: what youth athletes actually need and what they don't
• How a professional sports dietitian approaches fueling across a full season

Guest: Marissa Gaab, MS, RDN, Head of Nutrition, Philadelphia Union

Host: Keith Wilford

Related Episodes: Catch the Good (Ep. #11), Built in the Dark (Ep. 8), Face the Feed (Ep. 5)

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What happens to a young athlete's mental health when the label the world gave them stops being true?

In Episode #10 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Philadelphia Union midfielder Ben Bender for one of the most honest conversations about athlete identity, injury, and resilience The Pressure Lab has produced.

Ben Bender was the first overall selection in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft. He was 20 years old. The expectations attached to that number, to being chosen first above every other player in the country, are enormous and immediate. He contributed 8 goals and 8 assists in 61 matches for Charlotte FC before a meniscus root tear in September 2023 changed everything. 

Bender underwent surgery to repair the meniscus root tear in October 2023 and spent the next year and a half fighting to feel like himself again. "I didn't start feeling like myself until this off-season," Bender said. "So it basically took almost a year and a half." He struggled to regain his form quickly enough under a new manager at Charlotte, and by April 2025 the club waived its former number one overall pick.

For many players, that is the beginning of the end. For Bender, it was a door reopening. The Philadelphia Union signed him in May 2025, the club that had first introduced him to professional soccer as a teenager, now offering him a chance to revive his career. He posted a career-best 82% pass completion rate across 320 minutes in MLS play that season. He was part of the Union's 2025 Supporters' Shield-winning season and re-signed through June 2027. 

In February 2026, when Bender struck from 18 yards out against Defence Force in the Concacaf Champions Cup, he described the relief of scoring after nearly two years without a goal: "Even though we were up six or seven on aggregate at the time, it was still a relief to get a goal after not having scored in almost two years." 

This is not an episode about soccer. It is an episode about what happens inside a young athlete's mind when the identity built around them, number one pick, rising star, the guy everyone expected, collides with the reality of injury, roster decisions, and starting over.

What does it do to a young athlete's mental health to carry a number one pick label?
Bender was 20 when he was drafted first overall. Before he played a single professional minute the narrative about who he was supposed to be had already been written by others. This episode explores what it means to perform inside a label you didn't choose and what happens to your sense of self when the performance doesn't match the expectation.

How do athletes maintain identity during long-term injury recovery?
Seventeen months is a long time to not feel like yourself. Bender speaks to the specific mental experience of injury recovery that most sports content skips over: not just the physical rehabilitation but the psychological work of staying connected to who you are when the thing that defines you has been taken away.

What does being waived by your club actually feel like?
Being waived is one of the most psychologically brutal moments a professional athlete can experience. It is public, it is final, and it arrives with a clear message: you are not what we need anymore. Bender talks about that moment with a honesty that most professional athletes never allow publicly.

What is the mental experience of starting over at a new club?
Bender described landing in Philadelphia as a "full circle" moment. His parents live just over an hour away. He spent a year in the Union Academy as a teenager. He even suffered his knee injury playing against the Union. The symmetry is remarkable. But beyond the narrative, what does it actually take mentally to walk into a new locker room, prove yourself again, and rebuild confidence from scratch? 

What does resilience actually look like from the inside of a professional athlete's experience?
Bender's story is not a redemption arc told from the finish line. He is still in it, still rebuilding, still earning his place. This episode captures resilience not as a completed chapter but as a daily choice, which is exactly the message young athletes need to hear.

What this episode covers:

• Athlete identity and mental health when attached to a high-profile label
• Long-term injury recovery and the psychology of coming back
• What being waived from a professional club does to a young athlete's confidence
• How professional athletes rebuild identity after major career setbacks
• The mental experience of starting over at a new club
• What resilience actually looks like from the inside, not the highlight reel
• How personal stability, family, and environment affect athletic performance
• The difference between surviving a setback and finding genuine forward momentum
• What the number one draft pick label costs a young athlete mentally
• Full circle moments: how returning to a familiar environment can restore confidence

Guest: Ben Bender, Philadelphia Union Midfielder, 2022 MLS SuperDraft #1 Overall Pick, Former Charlotte FC

Host: Keith Wilford

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. New episodes every week.

What does it actually take to build mental toughness in young athletes, and how does the psychology used at the Olympic level translate to a 15-year-old competing on a Saturday morning?

In Episode 9 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with one of the most accomplished sports psychologists in the world to find out.

Dr. Colleen Hacker has served as a member of the United States coaching staff for six Olympic Games as a Mental Skills Coach and Performance Psychology Specialist, beginning her national team service in 1995 with the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team. During her tenure the team won the first gold medal ever awarded in women's soccer at the 1996 Olympic Games, followed by the dramatic overtime victory over China in the 1999 World Cup. She most recently served on the gold medal staff for USA Ice Hockey at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang. Across six Olympic Games her teams have won four gold medals and two silver medals. She is also the author of Catch Them Being Good, co-written with champion soccer coach Tony DiCicco, and her most recent book Achieving Excellence. 

This episode is not about elite performance for elite athletes. It is about the mental skills that work at every level, and why the principles Dr. Hacker has applied in Olympic locker rooms are exactly the same ones that can change how a young athlete experiences pressure, failure, and growth.

What does "catch them being good" actually mean in practice for coaches and parents of young athletes?
The title of Dr. Hacker's book is also a philosophy. Most coaching, most parenting, and most self-talk defaults to what went wrong. Dr. Hacker makes the case that the most powerful developmental tool available to any coach or parent is learning to identify and reinforce what is going right, consistently and specifically. This is not about ignoring mistakes. It is about where you direct your attention and what that does to an athlete's confidence over time.

How do the world's best athletes actually think about pressure?
Dr. Hacker has sat in the locker room before World Cup finals and Olympic gold medal matches. She has worked with athletes at the absolute ceiling of human performance under the most extreme pressure imaginable. What does that environment reveal about how the best athletes in the world manage their inner voice, and what does that mean for a youth athlete facing a penalty kick on a Tuesday night?

What is the difference between mental toughness and mental fitness?
Dr. Hacker challenges the way most people talk about the mental side of sport. Mental toughness is often framed as something you either have or you don't. Mental fitness reframes it as a trainable skill, something you build deliberately through practice, just like physical conditioning. This distinction is at the core of HEADFIRST's entire philosophy and Dr. Hacker gives it its most authoritative voice yet on The Pressure Lab.

Why do so many talented athletes stop enjoying their sport, and how do coaches and parents prevent it?
One of the most consistent findings in youth sports psychology is that athletes who tie their identity entirely to performance outcomes are the most vulnerable to burnout, anxiety, and early dropout. Dr. Hacker addresses this directly: what sport should be building in young athletes beyond wins and losses, and how do the adults around them either protect or erode that foundation?

What does peak performance psychology look like for athletes who are not elite?
Dr. Hacker's work spans Olympic gold medalists and youth players. The tools are the same. The language changes. This episode makes those tools accessible for every athlete, coach, and parent regardless of level.

What this episode covers:

• Olympic sports psychology applied to youth athlete mental health
• What "catch them being good" means for coaches and parents of young athletes
• How the world's best athletes think about pressure and failure
• The difference between mental toughness and mental fitness as a trainable skill
• Why athlete identity tied to performance leads to burnout and dropout
• How coaches and parents can reinforce confidence without creating dependency
• Self-talk, visualization, and focus tools used at the Olympic level
• What sustained excellence looks like across a career, not just a single performance
• Why psychological safety is the foundation of athletic development
• What the 1999 World Cup and Olympic gold medal programs built mentally that made them unstoppable

Guest: Dr. Colleen Hacker, Ph.D., Mental Skills Coach, Six-Time Olympic Coaching Staff, USWNT, USA Hockey, Author of Catch Them Being Good and Achieving Excellence, Professor of Kinesiology, Pacific Lutheran University

Host: Keith Wilford

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What does it take to keep training when there is no game, no crowd, and no guarantee it will ever matter?

In Episode 8 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with two Philadelphia soccer products who answered that question in real time, during one of the most disorienting periods in sports history, and came out the other side with something most athletes never build: an identity that does not depend on an audience.

Sizzy Lawton was a four-year starter and captain at Penn when the Ivy League canceled its entire 2020 season. Every other Division I conference went back to competing. She trained alone, asked herself the hardest question an athlete can ask, and answered it by choosing Tennessee, the most competitive transfer option available. In her extra COVID eligibility year she earned SEC All-Conference honors, helped the Lady Vols reach the second round of the NCAAs, and walked away from the game entirely on her own terms.

Nate Harriel faced the same silence at 19. In the middle of that same pandemic he passed on college entirely, signed a homegrown contract with the Philadelphia Union, and bet his entire career on himself before anyone could guarantee it would pay off. He put it simply: "If you'd told me seven years ago that I'd be at this point in my life right now, as a kid from Florida, I would probably say you're insane." He now leads MLS in interceptions, has captained the Union in CONCACAF Champions Cup play, represented the USMNT at the 2024 Paris Olympics, played in the 2025 Gold Cup final, and recently signed a new contract through 2028-29.

What this episode covers:

• How young athletes build mental toughness without external validation
• Making high-stakes career decisions under pressure and uncertainty
• What it means to turn down college and bet on yourself professionally at 19
• The mental health impact of losing a season to forces outside your control
• Performing in a new environment that didn't recruit you
• How homegrown athletes build leadership identity inside one organization
• How coaching changes affect athlete identity and confidence
• The difference between surviving a challenge and thriving through it
• What sport builds in athletes that transfers directly to professional life
• Identity, isolation, and belonging in youth and collegiate athletics
• Life after sport: what Sizzy's transition to Stryker reveals about mental fitness

Guests: Nate Harriel, Philadelphia Union Defender, USMNT, 2024 Olympian, MLS Interceptions Leader, 2026 Sizzy Lawton, Former Penn and Tennessee Soccer, SEC All-Conference

Host: Keith Wilford

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. New episodes every week.

What happens when the sport you love starts to feel like proof of who you are?

Washington Spirit midfielder Maddie Elwell joins host Keith Wilford for a conversation about one of the most overlooked pressures in high-level sport: the slow erosion of identity when performance becomes the measure of your worth.

Maddie played at Vanderbilt University and competed professionally in the NWSL. She knows what it costs to build a life inside a sport, and what it takes to stay yourself while doing it.

In this episode, Maddie and Keith get into:

• How athletic identity forms early and why it becomes a trap for so many young athletes
• The pressure of joining new teams and trying to prove yourself every single day
• Managing emotions on the field without losing your competitive edge
• Why self-worth and sports performance are not the same thing, even when everything around you insists they are
• The practices that helped her stay grounded: presence, real relationships, and relentless self-forgiveness

This episode is for every athlete who has ever tied their value to a result, a roster spot, or a coach's approval. It is also for every parent and coach who wants to understand what is actually happening inside the athletes they care about.

Free mental fitness tools at myheadfirst.org  

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What can a goldfish teach an athlete about mental fitness? Forget the mistake. Replay the good. It sounds simple. For most young athletes, it is one of the hardest skills to build.

In Episode [#6] of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Dr. Scott Glassman, licensed psychologist, author of A Happier You, and director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), and Will Davis, a high school sophomore goalkeeper for FC Delco 2010 MLS Next HG, to answer one of the most common questions in youth sports mental health: how do athletes stop dwelling on mistakes and start building real confidence?

Why do athletes remember mistakes more than wins? Dr. Glassman explains the science behind negativity bias, the brain's tendency to hold onto what went wrong longer and harder than what went right. For young athletes, this means one bad play can overshadow an entire strong performance. Understanding why this happens is the first step to changing it.

What does "catching the good" actually mean for a teen athlete? Dr. Glassman breaks down how athletes can actively redirect attention toward positive moments, not by ignoring mistakes, but by training the brain to give equal weight to what is working. This is a learnable, practicable skill, not a personality trait.

How do breathwork and visualization help athletes under pressure? Will Davis shares the specific tools he uses as a goalkeeper: breathwork to stay present, visualization to prepare for high-pressure moments, and trust in the people around him to stay grounded when the game gets hard. These are not abstract concepts. They are tools a 15-year-old uses in real competitive situations.

Why does athlete identity matter for confidence? Both guests address one of the most underexplored issues in youth sports mental health: athletes whose entire identity is tied to performance are more vulnerable to confidence collapse after mistakes. Seeing yourself as more than your stats protects the joy that brought you to the game.

What this episode covers:

• Why the brain holds onto mistakes longer than wins (negativity bias explained)
• How young athletes can move from a bad moment to the next play without spiraling
• What breathwork and visualization actually do for a teenager under pressure
• How to actively catch the good even in a hard game or hard season
• Why confidence is built through practice, gratitude and support, not just belief
• How athlete identity affects mental health and performance
• What parents and coaches can do to reinforce a healthy inner voice in young athletes
• The goldfish principle: why forgetting the mistake is a mental fitness skill

Guest: Dr. Scott Glassman, Licensed Psychologist, Author of A Happier You, Director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Guest: Will Davis, a high school sophomore goalkeeper, FC Delco 2010 MLS Next HG

Host: Keith Wilford

Related episodes: The Last Line (Ep. 4), Face the Feed (Ep. 5)

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. New episodes every week.

Tags: youth athlete mental health, athlete confidence, sports psychology, inner voice athletes, negativity bias sports, breathwork for athletes, visualization for teen athletes, positive mindset youth sports, how to stop dwelling on mistakes, athlete identity, HEADFIRST, The Pressure Lab, mental fitness, youth sports, teen athletes, FC Delco, PCOM, A Happier You

A mistake on the field can become a story online before the final whistle. For young athletes, social media means the scoreboard never really disappears.

In Episode 5 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Dr. Megan Walls, pediatric psychologist at Nemours Children's Hospital, to talk about what social media is doing to teen athletes and their mental health: their confidence, their identity, and their sense of self-worth when the noise never stops.

They get into why one negative comment can erase ten positive ones, how constant comparison quietly convinces even successful young athletes that they're falling behind, and why online bullying hits differently than anything that happened on a sideline. It follows you into your bedroom. It's there when you wake up. There's no leaving it at the field.

Dr. Walls breaks down what actually helps: learning to ask whether what you're consuming is building you or breaking you, understanding whose voice deserves space in your head, finding trusted adults who can hold what a comment section never can, and building real-life connections strong enough to anchor you when the feed gets loud.

If you're a teen athlete, a parent of a young athlete, or a coach working with youth sports, this episode is for you.

Topics covered:

• Social media and athlete mental health
• Why negative comments stick longer than positive ones
• Online bullying and youth athletes
• Self-esteem and identity in youth sports
• How comparison affects athletic confidence
• Building mental fitness in the digital age
• Sports psychology tools for teen athletes
• How parents and coaches can help young athletes navigate social media

Guest: Dr. Megan Walls, Pediatric Psychologist, Nemours Children's Hospital

Host: Keith Wilford

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for new episodes every week.

For a goalkeeper, every mistake is in the spotlight. There is no hiding, no reset, and no one standing behind you. It is the most isolated position in soccer and the most unforgiving one mentally.

In Episode 4 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Cate Cantu, ECNL national champion, U.S. U19 Youth National Team goalkeeper and Louisville signee, and Jillian Loyden, former U.S. Women's National Team goalkeeper and professional coach, to talk about the mental health and sports psychology of the most unique position in the game.

They explore what it actually feels like to be the last line of defense: where one moment can shift everything, where the loudest voice is often the one inside your own head, and where the mental game is not a supplement to the physical one. It is the whole thing.

Cate and Jillian get into perfectionism and what it does to young athletes, the specific loneliness of the goalkeeper position, the mental weight of penalty kicks, how to recover after getting scored on in front of everyone, and the difference between playing to prove your worth and actually learning how to grow. They also talk about routines, self-talk, identity, and why a goalkeeper's real strength is knowing how to come back to the present moment when everything in you wants to spiral.

This episode is for every goalkeeper who has ever stood alone between the posts and wondered if they were enough. It is also for every coach and parent who works with one and doesn't always know what to say.

Topics covered:

• Goalkeeper mental health and sports psychology
• Perfectionism in young athletes
• Recovering mentally after conceding a goal
• Penalty kick psychology
• Self-talk and routines for athletes
• Identity and self-worth in youth soccer
• Loneliness and isolation in sport
• Mental fitness tools for goalkeepers
• Youth athlete confidence and resilience
• How coaches and parents can support goalkeepers

Guests: Cate Cantu, ECNL National Champion, U.S. U19 Youth National Team Goalkeeper, Louisville Signee Jillian Loyden, Former U.S. Women's National Team Goalkeeper, Professional Coach

Host: Keith Wilford

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for new episodes every week.

Tags: goalkeeper mental health, youth soccer, sports psychology, teen athletes, mental fitness, perfectionism, youth athletes, goalkeeper training, self-talk, identity, HEADFIRST, The Pressure Lab, women's soccer, ECNL, USWNT

Alan O'Mara knows what it feels like to reach the top, and then lose yourself on the way down.

Keith Wilford sits down with Alan O'Mara, GAA footballer, founder of Real Talks, and author of "The Best Is Yet to Come," to explore what resilience actually looks like from the inside. At the height of his career, Alan was playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Six months later, he hit rock bottom. He became the first active inter-county GAA player to speak publicly about depression, and he opens up about the slow slide into burnout, the moments he almost asked for help but didn't, and the decision to finally speak out when vulnerability in sport was still rare.

They get into what resilience actually means: not just pushing through, but learning how to come back, rebuilding identity after sport, and developing the mental performance tools that help you hold steady when things get hard. From journaling and breathwork to honest conversations and real connection, Alan shares how resilience is built in small, consistent ways.

This is a conversation about identity, isolation, and the courage it takes to speak up. Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask for help.

Carli Lloyd’s legendary career was built by learning how to lose. Carli and host Keith Wilford sit down to explore the mental work behind one of the most decorated players in the game. Carli looks back on getting cut from the U-21 National Team, questioning whether she wanted to keep playing, and rebuilding her confidence after setbacks. They get into the pressure she carried into the 2015 World Cup, learning to compete against herself, and how failure became feedback instead of something to fear. This is a conversation about pressure, identity, and what it takes to keep going when things get hard. Because the real work of being an athlete happens after the mistake.