You are listening to Coaching the Athletic Mind podcast, episode number one.

Welcome to Coaching the Athletic mind podcast, where you can learn how to quiet your inner critic so you can excel on the field. Now here's your host, Megan Weaver. Hello everyone and welcome to Coaching the Athletic Mind. I'm your host, Megan Weaver, and I'm so excited to get this podcast started. It's been a dream of mine for a while now, so let's jump in. I just wanted to mention why I wanted to start this podcast. Athletics has always been a big part of my life and now my kids lives, but I don't think there's enough support for the mental side of the game. And honestly, I'm fascinated by it, and now I have started a business coaching the athletic mind and this podcast to support teenage athletes involved in the game. So whether you're a player battling with self doubt and trying to figure out how to overcome it, a parent seeking to understand and support your teenage athlete, or a coach looking to build stronger connections with your players, this podcast is for you. We aim to create a community where stories, strategies, and insights are shared to empower players, inform parents, and teach them the tools needed to succeed both on and off the field. So join us as we explore the mental game, share expert advice and celebrate the journey of every athletic mind. Now I know I'm going to make a bazillion mistakes on this podcast. I know that for sure, but that's how you learn, right? So we're just going to be excited about it and jump right in. So a little bit about me. I played softball in high school, Madison high school in Vienna, Virginia. I then went to Le Moyne, which is a Division II school at the time, and was a four year starter playing second base and batting second. We went to the Division II World Series three out of the four years. It was such an amazing experience, it was so fun. But even after college, I was invited to play on an Athletes International USA team. and those next couple summers I traveled to Europe and Australia to play, against different countries and it was just such an amazing experience. So really sports has taken me farther than I had ever imagined. And yet, probably in high school, I was getting so down on myself and on my performance that I knew I wasn't playing my best, but I didn't know how to mentally improve my game. I would spend hours in the cage practicing, you know, working on my muscles and the way I would swing the bat. But it took me so long to realize it had nothing to do with that. It was my mind, how my mind was preparing for the plate. So more on that later, fast forward 20, 20 plus years, I guess, and I'm now a mom of three kiddos. My oldest is 11 and she's playing travel softball and soccer. My eight year old is playing softball and Ninja Warrior, just started softball. And my little three year old boy is just toddling around me right now. keeping all of us on our toes for sure. So I guess you could say I'm really in the thick of parenting right now. So I'm sure you'll hear some side notes of things I'm going through throughout the year about parenting in general. But also I am a varsity assistant softball coach. Go Wildcats! A 12U travel softball coach. A certified life coach from the amazing Life Coach School. Thank you Brooke Castillo. And of course, owner of Coaching the Athletic Mind. So I am super freaking busy right now, but honestly, I'm like loving every single minute of it. It's just, it's crazy, but it's, it's just so fun. But now let's talk about why you jumped onto this podcast in the first place. The mental performance side of sports is so freaking emotional. I am like, not even joking. When I'm the one just sitting in my living room watching a game, like, it's insane. I get so excited. I just, I do, I love the ups and downs of the games. this past weekend we were watching Manchester United, which is a Premier League soccer, or UK, like, football team. So anyway, we're watching this game and my husband and I are just like screaming and yelling at the TV when something goes well. We're giving high fives. We're so excited. And we go crazy. And then when something goes not so well, like one of our players gets a yellow card or misses the goal, we're like, Oh, like, you know, you're just, you are in it. You are invested in it, even though this is like, you know, in England, right? And all those ups and downs are so fun as a fan. Like, just love it so much. I mean, some people can say that they're just, it's like too much. And I guess that's kind of how I feel when Cora is pitching, when my daughter, my 11 year old daughter Cora is pitching. Like I get a little too crazy on that, like nervous, as a fan, but I'm sure, a lot of, you know, what I'm talking about there, just the emotion sports is just so much fun when you're a spectator, but it's different when you're the one playing the game. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but the great players have a way of controlling or somehow not letting their emotions get the better of them while they're playing. They're like almost stoic. Their feelings and thoughts are just not in the way. They keep their feelings in check so they can concentrate on the next play. If they're still thinking about what happened in the last inning before, they're not going to be at their peak performance for the next play. So now hear me out. Our thoughts are The main reason why we feel something is good or bad. Something happens on the field, We have a thought about what happened and then we feel a certain way about it. Now, I'm sure you guys are going to be like, what are you talking about? Like if I strike out that I'm mad because I struck out and that's the reason why I'm mad because of the strikeout. But let me give you an example of this. almost all emotions come from the thoughts you're having about what happened on the field, rink or court. Honestly, it really doesn't matter what sport you play. I've noticed with all my clients, hockey, softball, lacrosse, basketball, it really doesn't matter because it always is the same thoughts and feelings that are coming up for you. It's just specific to what you're feeling and thinking at the time. So let me give you an example about what I'm talking about. Let's say a player strikes out at the plate in softball. I'm a softball player, we're going to give you a softball analogy right now. the batter's thought is I can't hit, I'm the worst, which makes them feel frustrated. Another person, a player strikes out, and the opposing team's player thinks, that's awesome, and they feel happy. A third person on the field, the same circumstance happens, a player strikes out, and the umpire says, Strike three, batter out. his thought is strike three, next batter. And he feels indifferent. You know, he's not supposed to care one way or the other. Now, how can the exact same circumstance of striking out, the ball going into the glove and it's a strikeout, same circumstance of striking out elicit three different thoughts and feelings about that one event? It can't be the circumstance. It's our thoughts. So we now know it's not the circumstance that made us frustrated. If the batter strikes out, it's the thought, I can't hit, I'm the worst, that elicited that feeling of frustration, not the striking out to begin with. What if that pitcher just struck out the batter, had a fantastic drop ball, and the same batter thought, that was a really good pitch, but next time I'll look for the outside drop ball and take it to right center field. Would the feeling of frustration be what that batter was feeling or would it be motivation with the drive to get it next time? So we have thousands of thoughts every single day that guide how we feel, which guides our actions. The very first step in mental performance coaching is you need to start asking yourself, what am I thinking right now? You need to get curious about what your thoughts are on the field. Now, most of our thoughts are automatic. We run on autopilot all day long. As a mom, I'm doing all the errands, all the things. I don't even realize what I'm thinking to myself, but I do realize kind of how I'm feeling throughout the day. So since we don't even know what we're thinking as we go through the day, the secret sauce to mental performance is to find out what we are thinking. Define those thought patterns that aren't serving us and tweak them. Don't judge them, but find other thoughts that would serve you better. Now let's talk about the thoughts that don't help get you to where you want to go. I like to call those thoughts your inner critic. Now coaching the athletic mind's tagline is quiet your inner critic so you can excel on the field. And that's exactly what I want to do as a mental performance coach. So when you talk about this inner critic, these are the thoughts that come up. When you throw a bad pass in lacrosse or miss a wide open shot in soccer, this negative voice that automatically jumps in and says, you're horrible. You should just quit. You're never going to get it. Now, if you're saying, get out of my head, Megan, right now, you are exactly in the right place. Cause let me tell you, everybody has these thoughts. We just don't talk about it. So I just have to say right now, number one, you are not alone. Everyone has this negative inner critic that likes to give its opinion. And for some athletes, it's a lot of the time, it's constant. and number two, I want to promise you, you can get to a place where you stop believing that inner critic. If you keep listening to this podcast, you're going to be able to find a way to do it. We're not going to have this inner critic go away completely. And the reason why will be in another podcast. But I've gotten to a place where I watch my brain lash out at me and I don't have to believe what it says. I let it have a pity party or an anger party, acknowledge that it's there, and move on with my life. When I was a teenager and young adult, I could not do that. My inner critic was running on repeat in the background of my high school and college career. I wish I had learned these tools when I was younger, but since I can't change the past, I can pay it forward and teach the younger generation these life changing mental performance tools, which guess what? I'll be leaving you with one today. So we're going to start off easy. Start checking in with your thoughts throughout the day. If at practice, you're noticing you're angry or frustrated at yourself. Ask yourself right then and there, what am I thinking right now that's causing me to feel frustrated? Get curious. If that inner critic keeps sending you the same thought over and over again throughout the day, write that thought down in a journal and ask, is this thought always true? So let me give you an example. If you play soccer and became frustrated after your game because you kept missing the goal and didn't score at all. Even though you had like a bunch of shots, your thought might be, I suck at soccer. And maybe your inner critic keeps throwing that thought at you throughout the day, write it down, look at it and ask yourself, is this a hundred percent true? And now what do I mean by a hundred percent true? I mean, would it hold up in court with that thought hold up in court? Is it like a fact? Can I show everybody that this is always true? That this thought is always true? So then, when you think about it that way, when you think, I suck at soccer, is this thought 100 percent true? You get curious and honest with yourself and you might see, huh, well, I didn't shoot on goal at all during the game. I wasn't able to score a goal. That is a fact. But I did make three great passes to my teammates. And two of them scored a goal. Or, I did make a goal last week. Play with your thought, and try to poke holes in it, because it really becomes less scary when you're able to do this. Now I'm just letting you know, a disclaimer, I am not a licensed therapist. So if you ever get so down on yourself that you can't seem to get out of your head, please, please, please talk to your parents, find a counselor or therapist to help you. Your light is way too bright to let your inner critic take you down. Okay? Like I'm super serious about this. Counseling is such a wonderful thing. But if you are having these thoughts, you know, occasionally, and they're really bothering you while you play, then let's talk. If you would like to dive deeper into this work and have quicker results, then click on the link and work with me. I offer a free 30 minute consult where we talk about where you are, where you want to go and how to work with me. So go to coachingtheathleticmind. com. That's coachingtheathleticmind. com. Please drop any questions or ideas for topics in the comments section and please hit the like button. Thank you so much for listening to Coaching the Athletic Mind podcast, our first episode. new episodes will be dropped twice a month. Hopefully, sometimes we'll get interviews in there from players, from other coaches, from even some parents to get their point of view because I know it's crazy out there right now with the sports stuff. Um, thank you so much. Cause I love having conversations with people about this topic. So if this is your jam, like it is mine, please just keep following cause it's going to be a wild ride. I hope everyone has a great couple of weeks and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks.