November December 2023 - 41

TECH FOCUS
MEASURING MENTAL HEALTH
Athletic Mindset impacts student-athlete mental health
By Wesley Sykes, managing editor
T
he Athletic Mindset Assessment believes everyone
has the potential for greatness-you just have
to know how best to tap into it. That's why they
created this affordable yet powerful software that gives
you all the information you need in one convenient place.
They've taken the latest trends in sport and
organizational psychology that have been proven
to improve athletic performance and developed an
interactive reporting system known as Athletic Mindset;
which delivers unparalleled insights into how an athlete,
team, or organization think.
Below is an excerpt Q&A from the full TechTime
discussion with Casey Cittadino, CEO of Athletic
Mindset, Liz Beville, head women's lacrosse coach
Le Moyne College, and Mindy McCord, head women's
lacrosse coach at the University of South Florida, to
discuss integrating the Athletic Mindset software into
their programs.
How does understanding an athlete's makeup
contribute to their overall performance and growth?
Mindy McCord: It's a game-changer. It's the
most important thing from the standpoint of
time devoted to the physical and technical
aspects. How much time are we spending
on mental skills? Coaches have to prioritize
this. And once they do they'll see their
athletes feel more in control of their mental game. You
can support their mental game by working through areas
where they are showing weaker scores. It also gives
you an opportunity to talk through things. A player may
receive a low score and tell their coach, " I know this is
a low score, but this isn't really me or how I'm feeling. "
I think it's been transformational by dedicating some
time to it and you enter a holistic mindset for athlete
development. When you look at the highest levels of sport,
all the athletes are physically strong and technically
strong, but what separates the best from the rest is their
mental strength and control of what's between the ears.
This program helps to define that.
What's been the student-athletes' reception of using
the Athletic Mindset software?
Liz Beville: We started using this software
back in my first year at Le Moyne. It was
tough because it was during COVID, so we
had a little different experience with it.
But when we would have meetings with
our student-athletes and review the results,
we'd talk about what was going on and they would say,
'Oh, I get it now.' I think it's similar to when a little kid
doesn't want to listen to their parents, but they hear the
same advice from someone else and it clicks for them.
We've been saying these sorts of things, but to see it on
a different platform. So while they were unsure about
the software at first, they ultimately found it to be a
successful tool for them.
Mindy: We were using the software at Jacksonville
University and are implementing it now in South
Florida. And I think that the great thing about this
software is that you can get your athletes started on it
before the season starts or before they even enter your
program. And you can learn a lot about them. I think
it's also important for your athletes to understand that
the data is not being used against them. It's being
used for them so that we can understand how they
think. I've been coaching for more than 30 years,
and I can guess how a player is going to think, but
this program can put you years ahead of the curve in
coaching your athletes because you can learn how they
think prior to even their first training session with
the program.
What is one key takeaway you'd like the audience
to know about the Athletic Mindset software?
Casey Cittadino: I'm not fully aware of
what it means to be an athletic director or
handle athletic budgets, but I can tell you
that when you invest in your players and
your developing them mentally, I think
it's going to come back to you full-fold as
a coach when you see the performance on the field. In
today's day and age of NIL and athlete's looking to get
paid, and scholarship dollars-every dollar is really
important. Where you use your budget matters. I think
this is a great investment for a coach or an athletic
director when looking at an entire department.
Liz: Investment is huge. Whether that's Athletic
Mindset or your scouting or whatever you're doing to
improve your team. You have to invest back into your
student-athletes. As a coach, this helps you develop
too. It's for your student-athletes, but it's also for you
to grow as well. Kids are different. They are coached
differently than how we were coached growing up. It's a
tool that everyone can learn from.
To watch the full TechTime discussion of 'Athletic
Mindset Impacts Mental Health,' visit coachad.com/
techtime.
COACHAD.COM 41
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November December 2023

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