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Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#135 - MTP Certification Part I - So You Want to Coach the Mental Game? Start Here.
If you're a coach who believes in the power of the mental game — and you're ready to start teaching it — this episode is for you.
MTP founder Ben Carnes breaks down exactly what MTP Certification is, who it’s for, and how it equips you to start leading 1-on-1 coaching and team workshops right away.
You'll hear:
- The story behind how the MTP system was built
- What makes MTP Certification different from any other mental training program
- How certified coaches are using this to serve athletes in their schools or build their own coaching business
- What tools, training, and support you’ll walk away with
- And why now is the best time to join the mission
Whether you’re a trainer, team coach, AD, or just someone who wants to make a lasting impact… this is the launchpad you’ve been waiting for.
🔗 Learn more or apply at mentaltrainingplan.com → Click “Get Certified”
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/teams
Hey you welcome to the coaching minds podcast, the official podcast of mental training plan, today talking about the MTP certification and what that program looks like, who it's for. Later on we're even going to talk with Danny Tippett, who was the first coach to go through the MTP certification. On the front end. At the start it was really just kind of an invite only thing where we reached out to a few coaches, uh, who we knew already had some interest. The the training was so successful that we are going to start opening this up and you know, really my vision from the from the start of this thing was these tools need to be in every single high school all across the world. Colleges, universities, people need to be equipped with these tools, and so I really just want to start with a quick recap of our story, because I know there's going to be some new people listening on here. So you know, in 1999, that was the first time that I really experienced some failure on the mental side of the game, and I ended up starting the inaugural game on our brand new baseball diamond and I couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher and it was like something came unplugged between my head and my hand and I had absolutely no idea what to do about it and went home, got on my dial up Internet and it was like what's happening? How do I make sure this never happens again? Turns out there was a whole field, there were fields of research where they were helping people perform at a higher level and it was like, oh man, you mean you can train confidence and certainly something that was brand new to me at the time 2002, I graduated and went and played for Chris Creighton at Wabash College and we had a champion's manual. That was awesome. It was like a collection of all kinds of quotes and sayings and articles and everything that he had kind of gathered. And you know, he was really the first person that I ran to that was trying to systemize and sort of put into a program. Hey, here's how we can train the mental side of the game. Here's how you can be a little more mentally tough. You know, I got hired to teach and coach at Westfield in 2008.
Speaker 1:In 2013, we had the most talented team in school history and we go down to Lucas Oil Stadium and just collapsed, I mean physically. We had guys that couldn't control their body. They had shaky hands trying to catch the ball. Emotionally, we had guys in tears on the sidelines that just lost control, I mean mentally. We had guys that were just so distracted by the environment that we were playing in and the stage that we were on that it was like guys just play football that we were on that. It was like guys just play football. But at the end of the day that's like being the coach that stands on the sideline and screams catch the ball and it's like, well, yeah, what do you think I was trying to do? That's not coaching, that's just yelling. And so I really think what we were doing at the time we knew we wanted mental toughness. We knew mental toughness was important, but we were just standing on the sidelines screaming for kids to be mentally tough. We weren't actually teaching them how to do that.
Speaker 1:That off season really dove in headfirst to the world of self-assessment. I was getting my master's degree at the time, trying to help. I was getting my master's degree at the time, you know, trying to help, trying to come up with a way to figure how do we equip in a room full of 150 guys, how do we give everyone what they need to solve their problems and their pain points. You know, from that the focus cycle was born. You know, all a sudden we go back and we win a state championship and now, all of a sudden, some heads are turning and it's like wait a minute, why is Westfield winning games? They used to be terrible. They used to win like three games a year. What's going on? Started working with the golf program, started working with individuals from colleges and universities and high schools, started working with other sports and other teams and eventually, in 2022, I left the classroom to start doing this full time. And you know that really started to grow with one-on-one sessions when I was invested in the lives of these athletes who there was.
Speaker 1:Just there was something that wasn't right, and sometimes it was a competence issue. They had put in the time, they had put in the work, but they just couldn't get rid of that little voice of doubt in the back of their mind. Or, you know, maybe they were just too distracted by all these college recruiters that were now coming, or maybe they were being crushed by the weight of expectations that they had for themselves or mom and dad had for them. Or, you know, now they were a two-year starter and now, heading into their senior year, their coach is expecting them to be this catalyst on the team. And you know, as I started to help these kids go through a mental skills assessment and evaluate, like, where are you at in each of these different areas that we call the prime five? And you really start to get an idea of, ok, here's kind of this athlete's mental profile. Here's their strengths and weaknesses. Here's some foundational tools that everybody needs. Here's some tools that are specific to what you're struggling with.
Speaker 1:And you know, as you, as you help these athletes realize what's going on, be aware of what's going on, you know, like right now you're not paying attention to what the bottom of your feet feel like because your brain doesn't think that's important. There's some times that we start to get off track and we don't even realize it. So help the athletes with awareness, equip them with tools to take back control and then, you know, eventually, over the long haul, be able to take back control in such a way that we start to rewire their brain so that they don't even have some of these same reactions in the first place. Now, all of a sudden, like this isn't just helping people be better golfers and better football players and better professional race car drivers. These are helping people in every area of their life, taking back control from anxious thoughts, being able to focus on the task at hand and be present in the moment, being able to walk into that presentation at work. That's way more pressure than you ever felt on a baseball or a softball diamond, because you know, if you close this deal, this is going to have financial implications for your family. You're going to be able to feed them, put a roof over your head, like that.
Speaker 1:They were using this stuff in real life and so I didn't really have to advertise. I just had to do such a good job that it changed people's lives and they told everybody they knew. And so, you know, the, the one-on-ones really started to blow up. Uh, the the it's really just spread via word of mouth. There was, there was one point where on a local high school golf team that I was working with four of the five starting golfers on that in that program and you know they all sort of came to me at different times but as word of mouth spread that, hey, this stuff actually works, people wanted more of it.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, then I started getting approached by hey, can you come in and work with the entire team. Hey, can you come in and work with these business professionals? You know people that are saying, hey, you know I've got these relationships with these firefighters and you know there's some life and death stuff here, that there's a lot of pressure. They need some of these tools also, and you know it was hey, can you come over here and do this training on the East coast and hey, can you come over here and do this, this stuff down in Texas. And you know, as we started to kind of grow the brand into if not just a central Indiana thing or a North side of Indianapolis thing, but more of a statewide Midwest national type of thing, started to realize like we got to start equipping other people to be able to do this, because there is absolutely no way that I can work with all of these athletes and all of these teams and all of these different locations. That was a little bit of the heart behind the MTP Academy, but with the MTP certification, this is more for people who want to do what I did and what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:If you're sitting out there and you're thinking, man, yes, that's the kind of impact I want to have on athletes. I want to be able to come alongside them, I want to be able to help them figure out, like what's going on, what's wrong, what are some of the obstacles that are in the way, that are preventing me from playing at my absolute best, and then teach them and equip them with skills and tools to take back control of their mind and body, to be able to perform at their best in these high pressure moments. Perform at their best in these high pressure moments and then, you know, over a long period of time, be able to help them completely rewire their brains so that they don't have that same reaction, they don't have that same automatic response to these stressful situations. They just sort of see it as part of the process. And if you're thinking like, yes, I want to do that, mtp certification was designed for you and so what the certification looks like is we'll come in, it's all day long, they are in-person only. We've explored potentially growing this into an online training at some point, but you know, to be honest, right now we just we want this to in order to protect the brand a little bit, in order to make sure that we're doing things the right way, that we're answering questions, that we're truly equipping people so that when they leave they feel like, yes, I'm ready, I can go do this. I can go run my own business or I can work with the athletes at my school or, you know, I can do this as a part-time gig or even a full-time gig.
Speaker 1:You know we're going to take them through the what we call MTP1, which is our one-on-one coaching platform personalized coaching sessions that focus on athletes' individual needs. We do a mental skills assessment. We come up with a customized plan. We put them through phase one to be able to take back control. We put them through phase two to help them change and rewire how their brain is responding and reacting in these high pressure situations. And then we do the same thing with MTP workshops. You get the same PowerPoints that I use when I do the focus cycle presentation. You get the same worksheets that you can print off and you can start doing team sessions on the biopsychology of team sports. We take you through the MTP Academy so that you are now able to go out and sell this to schools. You get a nice commission if schools sign up and now you can be that coach that if they have issues, they come to you If you know they've got athletes who need individual help, they come to you.
Speaker 1:If they've got athletes who need individual help, they come to you. The football team at that school decides. You know what? I think we need to do a deep dive on the focus cycle, or we're going to do biopsychology of team sports here. Right before the sectionals or playoffs or something like that, they come to you and then, whether your vision is to be the expert at your school or your vision is to be the expert in your community, you know how to use these assessment tools so that you can get a snapshot of where is this individual at or where is this entire team at. What do they need? What are the prime five tools that we need to equip them with? What are the systems and the framework that we're going to use to train them? What are the basics that everybody needs? And then how do we customize this based on individual needs like your age, what sport you play, the things you're struggling with, the goals you have for the future. Our goal is for you to be able to leave that training and hit the ground running and start picking up one-on-one clients, start working with teams A few other perks that come along with this.
Speaker 1:You get listed in our nationwide coaching directory. So now, when people see mental training plan stuff come across their feed, or they on their social media platforms, or they see ads or you know, they do a Google search and we start showing up. Well, now, when they're looking for somebody to work with in their area, you can be tied in with us. You're also now covered under our insurance policy. You don't have to go buy that type of policy on your own and you get an at mental training plan dot com email address. In reality, by the time you build your own website, get your own email address, sign up for your own insurance policy. I mean, what we're offering is not really that expensive when you start looking at everything that it encompasses and everything that you get from it. My wife, dr Carmen Carnes, who's a director of curriculum and implementation she's got her EDD and instructional leadership. She basically oversees program design, curriculum updates, outcome tracking, making sure that our certification process trains coaches in alignment with best practices, so they're not just sharing the right information, but we're delivering it in the most effective research backed way possible.
Speaker 1:So if you've been listening to this, thinking, oh my goodness, like I think this is a good fit for me. Head on over to mental training plancom and up at the top, click on the get certified button. There's a button on there where you can apply for the certification program, see if you would potentially be a good fit. Or you can even click on a button to schedule a free discovery call If you've still got questions. Or you just even click on a button to schedule a free discovery call if you've still got questions or you just want to learn a little bit more about the program.
Speaker 1:I will say that right now it is a lot cheaper than it is going to be. We've got a price listed on the website for this next training. For sure, potentially the next two trainings we are offering 50% off to coaches. So if you're wanting to hop in on this early and be a part of building something that is going to change lives, we would love to have you reach out, fill out the application, see if it would be a good fit. In our next episode we're actually going to bring on and talk to Danny Tippett, who was the first coach to go through the certification program. So if you want to hear kind of firsthand just from him what to expect why he was interested. Check out the next episode and, in the meantime, if you've got questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Until next time, make your plan and put it to work.