Mindset Matters

Progress isn’t always visible, but the climb matters. Confidence and resilience come from doing hard things. For over 30 years, I’ve had the privilege of coaching youth athletes. And while I love competition, what I love even more is watching kids grow, seeing them surprise themselves, step into their potential, and do something they once thought was out of reach. It’s the kid who finally scores that first goal after a season of near misses. It’s the girl who didn’t make the

Throughout my coaching career, I’ve tried to help players connect with themselves and move through self-doubt so they could push beyond what they thought they were capable of. I didn’t always get it right. I’m sure there are a few (maybe more) athletes who might say I had the opposite effect. To those I didn’t get right—please know that I’ve learned and grown, and I do apologize. As I’ve reflected on thousands of conversations and interactions with players, a few patterns ha

As I was recently reworking my website, I couldn’t help but notice the two seemingly lonely and forgotten blog posts sitting here at Mindset Matters . I took pause. Another reminder of a well-intended idea, this one both an entrepreneurial pursuit and a cathartic outlet, stalled. A false start. Great concept. No bandwidth to execute. That was the story I started telling myself, the familiar, self-sabotaging loop that begins as reflection and slides into negative self-talk. I

We all know that any success comes with a natural level of pressure. But for many people, especially teens and young adults, learning how to navigate that pressure can be incredibly difficult. While we, as adults, can often look back and recognize that failure is the foundation of growth, teens don’t yet have the benefit of hindsight. For them, pressure is new, and it can feel overwhelming, even paralyzing. How many times have you seen your teen stay up all night before a big