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Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#136 - MTP Certification Part II - Inside the MTP Certification Journey with Coach Danny Tippit
What’s it really like to go through MTP Certification? In this episode, you’ll hear directly from Coach Danny Tippett — the very first coach to complete the program.
Danny shares:
- Why he decided to pursue mental performance training
- How the tools helped him coach his son, lead a middle school football team, and improve his own anxiety
- What the certification process was like
- How he’s now applying MTP tools in sports like cheerleading, volleyball, and football
- Why every coach should have this in their toolbox — even if it’s not their main role
Whether you're a coach, trainer, or someone who wants to make a bigger impact — this episode gives you a clear picture of what’s possible when you get MTP Certified.
🔗 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, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the official podcast of Mental Training Plan. Today we're going to dive in a little deeper and we're going to follow up on previous episode which, if you did not listen to it, about the MTP certification. Go ahead and pause this one. Go back and get caught up on what the certification program is, who it's for. Today we're going to be joining with Danny Tippett. It was the first coach to go through the certification program and just kind of hear his side of what was the benefit, what was the value on the other side of it, you know what were the things that he got out of it.
Speaker 1:Just for anyone who's potentially interested in going through the MTP certification program, depending on when you're listening to this, our next one is coming up. We've got one here in a couple of weeks. We've got one in a couple months. We've got one at the end of this year. That's an application process to get signed up and again, if you want more information, that's at mentaltrainingplancom. Click on the Get Certified button at the top. But without further ado, let's hop in and check out our conversation with Danny. For this next part, I want to talk with the first coach to go through the MTP certification. Danny Tippett's with us today. Coach, appreciate you being here. Would love to just kind of hear a little bit about your story and how you got to where you're at today.
Speaker 2:Well, I would say, as far as like mental training, I've always had this desire to coach. So I coached my son in football when he was in Pop Warner in Florida. He was, you know, five years old and getting into the Mighty Mites, or actually it was Tiny Mites at the time years old and getting into the mighty mites, or actually those tiny mites at the time and so so just coached him through all those years and, just having been formerly an athlete myself, you know there's there's all these things I think of as a parent, right, as a dad, when your son or your child period because my other two of my daughters also did sports as well you just sort of how do I coach them but parent them and how do I keep them from doing some of the things that I did, like my dad will always bring up the time when I was a freshman quarterback in high school and I got so, so frustrated with my offensive line because I couldn't even turn around, I couldn't even hand the ball off, I couldn't barely get the snap before I'm turning around, getting hit and a couple fumbles. I'm just getting demoralized. It was bad. I got so angry. I'm jumping up and down on the field, yelling and screaming, and I can picture it how embarrassing it would have been for my dad.
Speaker 2:But for me I was just lost in just this anger, and so he brings that up all the time. He was like do you remember that time when you looked like a total fool, jumping around and yelling at your lineman and everything? I was like, yes, dad, I do remember that time. So coaching my son who ended up being a quarterback. One of the things I wanted him to understand was like I could tell right away kids, they're six, seven, eight years old, they're playing a position like quarterback and they know they have to lead the team. And then they do something they fumble, they throw an interception and at that age they throw a lot of interceptions, right.
Speaker 2:Just throw the ball up in the air and hope and pray right. And I remember one of the first times he comes walking off the field his head was down. And I remember one of the first times he comes walking off the field his head was down. And we were in a game where we were in it. We were losing but we were in it and I said, look kid. I said, son, you've got to remember, your position doesn't allow for you to have your head down. So I'm not telling you not to think about what you just did, I'm asking you to process it. But put it aside Because you have to go back out on the field and you have to be ready in your mind that you can do this and you can push.
Speaker 2:And I can almost tell you that happened about twice before he just ended up understanding his role and what he had to do in order to keep his team going. So mentally he locked in pretty early age. So, moving forward, as I just watched him progress and play the game, my daughters get into cheerleading. I have another daughter who was in volleyball. You know I love X's and O's, but I don't pride myself on being the coach that really knows. I learned from a lot of other coaches and I will parrot a lot of what they say. That's good.
Speaker 2:That's good. Well, let me keep reinforcing that. I always say I would be a really good supportive assistant coach. But I was a head coach at one point for middle school team and let me tell you, they were a group. My first group was really raw, really rough. They didn't, they just wanted to do their own thing.
Speaker 2:So there was a shift I had to make for them mentally, um, and it sort of was good because it wasn't needing to be like they knew pretty much offense, defense, they were experienced. Uh, we gave them some plays, we gave them strategy and schemes and, you know, set up a pretty easy defense, but it was more about, like, controlling their anger. They were all angry kids and the ones that weren't fed off, the ones that were and the ones that were were my leaders, which was you know. So I'm seeing this. I'm a need to say, okay, these kids don't respond to yelling, they're not going to respond to a coach that screams, they're going. They need somebody to calm them down and get them to think and focus, like shift back right. And so I this is when I actually I think, I think I'm we ran into each other.
Speaker 1:I honestly try to remember how we met the first time I think the first time it was when fbu had reached out and there was a I. I came in and I spoke to a group of athletes and then we were going to be doing the online academy and you came up and we started talking about your son and then also your team and it kind of you know, order wise I don't necessarily remember which was first or second, but I'm pretty sure FBU kicked that off.
Speaker 2:So I wasn't sure if that we had met before that or I heard your name, but yes, I do, and we talked after. After that, I was super impressed with it clicked with me. I'm like gosh, this is, this is so needed. And I know coaches in my past. They didn't care about me mentally. They was like suck it up, get back on the field. Yeah, do your thing. And I know their own way. They're trying to sure, trying to get me going in my head. Um, but I saw the value in what you're talking about, this idea of the focus cycle, this idea of positive statements and reinforcing yourself on the mental side, because that's the separation between those who are good and those who are great. And I saw something in my son that I was just like he's really good and FBU is about having some of the best of the best out on the field. So we're already at this camp looking at a program who's trying to really take those who are really good and make them really great, and that's why FBU had brought you in. So, talking to you afterwards, I was like, yes, this is something that I think it was about my son. But I was like this is value for my middle school team. Yeah, so I brought you in. You did some sessions.
Speaker 2:Some of the kids, some of the kids really grasped a hold of it. Matter of fact, one of them that I know of um he actually I think now um is going to be gosh. He just committed to a d1 school. His name is damien shanklin. He is now um. He went to warren and stand out and now he's playing you're going to be playing D1 ball and some of them grasped it. Some of them didn't, which was understandable at eighth grade, but the ones that grasped it saw more success at the next level. And you know, look, we were on the east side of Indianapolis. There's already a lot to deal with over here on this side of town, and so my goal was just to try to make sure these kids stayed out of trouble, stay focused. Um, and they were all talented and there was a lot of talent of it. I wanted them to be talented and knowing why they're talented and not just because somebody said well, you can do really good at this and then just focus on your skills, only your physical side of it. So you came in and you did that. That was very helpful for us. That team actually went undefeated that year and won everything. And then they continue to win everything and they had a really good season last year that senior class graduated and a really good season their senior year. That was a positive, that was a benefit, and so for me, I'm like man, I wish I could do more with this.
Speaker 2:I was also applying some of the things to my own life. I had struggled with anxiety. It really hit me around 2009. And from about 2009 to 2024, especially COVID COVID just really when I actually had gotten that it really had done something to me, anxiety-wise, mental health-wise. It really had done something to me, anxiety wise, mental health wise. It was something that really helped me, like the breathing cycle particularly. It was something that really I needed help with. And so just practicing some of those things, focusing the positive statements you know, you know, the breathing cycle was huge sort of recentering that vagus nerve and connecting it all. I didn't know anything about all that and when I'm learning about these things, I'm like gosh, I'm not practicing any of this. I'm high anxiety right now. I need to figure this out. Well, little did I know. I was also projecting it a lot onto my son, who was getting it.
Speaker 2:Honestly, he was dealing with a lot.
Speaker 2:Covid was very hard for him being at home and not being at school with his friends.
Speaker 2:He's not a kid. That would be a good homeschool kid. He wants to be around his friends. Sports was sort of a struggle for him, although he was doing really well. He was just having some issues internally when it came to his play on the field. But on the field he's confident. I've seen him do things on the field for a backup quarterback to come on and do things and bring a team to a win when he didn't even want to be there at school that day. So he had this ability to do that.
Speaker 2:But he was still being affected outside of it. So grades were dropping, his desire to just be a football player anymore was diminishing. So I actually signed him up with you because he some, because he did not want to do counseling. He did not want to do any of that. So I said, well, let's do something with coach Carnes where it helps you talk through these things, work some of these things out, but also help you with the field. You know, I know that's that was important to him his athletic ability and he did those sessions with you and I know it's still to this day. He talked about how he's using the breathing cycle. He's got his go-to statements that he's trying to use to positively reinforce him. For him it's scripture. He uses scripture to help him out. He's very confident in what he knows he can do now and when he comes up against some struggles which we've had a lot of loss in our family those things are things he goes to. It helps them just outside of sports, which helps them in sport.
Speaker 1:I want to go back to. I want to go back to something that you said about that middle school team how they don't respond to yelling. They needed to be like, they needed to be equipped with some tools to be able to to perform at their best. And you know, I think an okay coach is just going to yell something from the sideline like catch the ball, like at least he's coaching his guys, he's, you know, maybe paying attention. That's better than just standing around twiddling your thumbs, I suppose. But yelling catch the ball at a kid who's thinking, man, I wish I really would have caught that ball is not helping him improve in any way. No, telling him, you know that was above your, that was above your shoulders. You need to get your pointer fingers and your thumbs together. You need to see that thing all the way in. Those are, those are tools that it's like oh yeah, I can, I can do that, I can improve that and I can get better at this goal of catching the ball. I don't think anything is different on the mental side of the game.
Speaker 1:When you and I were growing up, we had coaches that saw you know kids on the team, whether it was us or somebody else who, at times, were mentally weak and they wanted us to be just tougher, and so they. They didn't really know how to do that, and so they would just scream from the sideline. That's kind of that same. You know equivalent there. So talk to me a little bit about now, as, as you hear about this MTP certification, you hear about this opportunity where you can be equipped with some more of these tools to now take it out, and now you can go coach the individuals that are struggling with things. You can coach those teams that need a little bit of extra help. You can equip people with those tools and the frameworks and the focus cycle and improving the prime five and all those types of things. What was the draw for you? That made you think, huh, I think I want to look into this.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean partially life experience, a door opened up for me to be able to put more focus into this. But you know, I'm always a big believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and something that you have already been doing. You have already worked very hard at developing this program and developing these techniques and tools. I wanted to learn more about how you use them to help others. I told my son, I said, because my son's into coaching now he still plays, he plays at the college level, but he also does coaching on the side. And I told him I said look, if you ever want to hire me as a coach, hire me as a mental coach. I will do that. 100. I would love to do that to, to see when that student, when that athlete comes off the field and wants to slam his helmet on the on the ground and then pout on the bench. I want to be the guy that's going to be going over to him and reminding them of the tools and the techniques that we have already laid out for them to use. Because, like you said, when you're a middle school coach, there is little less talking about skills and technique. You're just really working basics right. You're trying to get them ready for high school. You're just really working basic. A lot of those kids never played a down in their life, so you're trying to give them the basics, but you're also trying to prepare them as eighth graders to be ready for the high school level. And when you're on the East side, going from middle school to Warren, that's a big deal. And so, look, there's a lot of pressure on the East side to play a certain level of football, and so I wanted to be able to say to them look, let's work on that confidence that you don't have right now about the position you want to play, but you don't have the experience, so you lack the confidence. But let's work on figuring out just these basics, because you'd be amazed at how many of these basics the higher level kids don't do and so they never actually improve right, it's like doing that one extra step above the next person, and if you're going to put that work in, even at the basic level, you're going to get better. That's going to increase your confidence because you know that you're grasping what you're doing. You know what you need to do. If you're an offensive lineman, you know who you're supposed to block, in what situation at what time, right, you know how to make do an audible in your own mind to say I see a blitz coming, I need to pick up this linebacker and let this other person because my teammate will know what to do, because he is seeing what's happening right now.
Speaker 2:So I was excited about learning what tools were already there. I wanted to, and I'm already sort of a guy that thinks through these things, I'm a deep critical thinker and in realizing that this isn't a physical problem for this kid, this is a mental problem, and it's a mental problem that goes back to practice. So if they're not mentally ready for practice, they're not going to be mentally ready for the game, especially when that stressful moment like you're the quarterback that throws one interception and they get you down, but you throw two interceptions Now you're done. And so I wanted to make sure that If I'm going to learn this, I might as well just learn it and go through the certification that already has this set up and granted. I'm going to have my own experience and my own things that I've learned and gone through.
Speaker 2:That will be different, maybe, than what Coach Carnes says, but it's just another perspective, but it all applies to the same thing. I mean don't reinvent the wheel type deal right, it's the focus cycle. That is one of the main things. Focus and a lot of stuff goes with that. The prime five you talk about, those things are all involved in understanding how do I approach what I'm doing in practice before I even get to the game. Because one of the things I always say life happens, so be prepared for when it does. So you prepare yourself now, before that event happens. Still may not be easy to go through, but at least you're more prepared because you said this is a. This is not a what if situation, this is a win situation.
Speaker 1:For sure. So now here we are on the back end of going through the certification. Talk to us just a little bit about you. Know what? What was your? What was your experience like going through the certification? Maybe for a coach that's sitting out there listening and thinking, hey, maybe this is for me. What would you say to them?
Speaker 2:I would encourage, at the very least, every coach to go through this. You may not be the one on your staff to really enforce it or to be the accountability guy. I just think it's too good to not have in your back pocket or your toolbox. It is a tool. I mean today, look the old school coach, put ice on it right, rub it out. You got to cut, you got to scrape, you got hit, whatever. Who knows how many concussions we had back then. I mean, just get up and go back in. I had a coach when I broke my ankle. He was like get up and go back in. I was like no coach, I'm pretty sure I broke my ankle. So you know, it's that old school mentality. I get it, but we have so much in the way of science that has been able to help us understand why some of the things we used to do we now need to maybe approach it a little bit different. It doesn't mean we're getting soft. It just means that we have a little bit more of a, a little bit more knowledge to say, hey, let's be a little bit more intentional about how we coach. Let's not just say the X's and O's. Let's be intentional about how we coach the whole athlete, not just part of the athlete, because as much as you are mental, there's the physical and as much as you are physical, there's the mental. And for me I wanted to.
Speaker 2:When coming out of this, my goal when I sat through the certification was I look at it from a discipleship, rabbi type of standpoint something I've been doing a lot of studying on lately as having a master and then the apprentice. Right, you have your master, electrician, master, plumber, you got your apprentice. So I look at myself as this apprentice to Coach Carnes, because Coach Carnes has been doing this for so many years and the proof is in the pudding, there's so much success with it. We've seen this, we know the Westfield story, we know some of the other stories of some of the other athletes, and I want to be that apprentice that I am going to go out and I'm going to be another Coach Carnes, and I'm not trying to elevate you to this position, but I also have my own experiences to provide with this, whether it's my son, whether it's myself.
Speaker 2:But I want to go out there. I don't want to recreate the wheel Again. I want to just take the tools that I see, understand them and know that they've already been successful. And so I want to make sure, just like we have talked about before, not just anybody should come in and just say I'm going to just take this and do what I want with it. Don't, because it won't be as successful. I can guarantee you it won't be as successful. Just go, do your own thing. But what we're doing with MTP in the certification is I'm learning from a master mental performance coach that has been doing this. I'm going to take what he's doing, which has been successful. I'm going to bring it into my life and my experience and then I'm going to go out and I'm going to share this with these athletes that I get to have this privilege and this contact with, to say, hey, you can elevate your game, but you can also elevate your life in a lot of other ways through this mental performance coaching.
Speaker 1:So I love that and the as you're moving forward kind of into your own journey, I guess you know what are. What are maybe some of the areas of expertise you know, cause, I'll be honest, I haven't worked with a lot of football coaches who are also competitive cheerleading coaches Like you've got, you got a. You got a pretty unique skillset. Um, talk to us just a little bit about maybe, your passion, your future, where you see this going for you.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's interesting you say that because that was the cheerleading experience that I've had. I coached cheerleading for 16 plus years. I did everything from judge to coach to choreograph, had my own gym, so I was really deep into it. And, man, let me tell you, if there is a sport that has its mental blocks, it is cheerleading we're doing, we're teaching these kids at young ages to do something that's not natural for the body, that's flip over and over and over again, fly high in the sky and all these things. So there's a lot of mental blocks that happen. And so, as I am going, you know, I'm just sort of following what you're doing. I'm seeing what you have done with my son, what we have learned with the coaching in the middle school team, my own life. I'm like man. There are so many other sports that this could benefit. Cheerleading is a huge one and I want to see it get applied in that realm. I think there are some good coaches out there that are starting to understand, because it's so frustrating when you got a kid that can throw this and you may not understand this language, but this roundup, back handspring, double through the double and then next week they can't do a back handspring, which is the basic foundation of anything that they're doing. It's the first thing they learn. So it's helping them have the tools, as a coach, to say, hey, this is something that may be valuable because before your cheerleader and it's inevitable every cheerleader and some come over, some make it over, some will have that victory in that area. They'll have that moment, but then they'll overcome it. A lot of them don't. It's to say, how do you coach them through that? How do you remind them to use the tools they already learned if you've already implemented that program? So you know, for me and also my daughter just this past year played volleyball and the team had all the tools physically, they had all the skills individually. Every one of those girls were amazing.
Speaker 2:But for some reason there was a mental breakdown at some point of the weekend of games. And I'm watching this happen and I'm just baffled and some of the other parents are looking and they're just baffled and we're like, okay, what's happening? But while I'm sitting there watching them play, I'm seeing, you know, a coach throws hands up in the air, I'm seeing him drop his head and I'm seeing him yell and and, and the girls are not responding to that. So I mean, as a coach, we have to notice those things. I had to notice that in my middle school team. They're not going to respond. They get yelled at all the time at home they're not going to respond to me yelling to them. So why would I think that's going to help, not to say it didn't happen? Still, from time to time Some of them they needed it.
Speaker 1:But there needs to be this ability to say, okay, this is how you do it, this is what you're doing, but they also want to understand why they're doing it, and you don't get why without using your brain. Yeah, and I'm so glad you bring that up because I've had people approach me and say, hey, have you thought about working with firefighters and EMS and police officers with this? And it's because they need it. And it's like, yes, 100%. I don't have the bandwidth right now to go work with people like that and explore that program, because I got a list of golfers, football players I don't have room for that in my life right now. But let's give you the tools and you go teach them and you go do it. Have you thought about doing this in the business world? Because I got guys that you know they're walking into a $10 million deal and their hands shaky on the briefcase and they need this. They need this physical and mental control and it's like I know I just I can't go do that right now. And the you know professional singers need this, and the band kids and the choir kids and the drama kids and the athlete kids and the kids that are going to be like who doesn't need all of this stuff? And so that the whole heart behind the MTP certification is. Hey, here's everything that I've learned over the last 15 years. You know, very rarely anymore Do I run into a kid where it's like, wow, I, I don't really know what to do.
Speaker 1:You know, because at this point all the problems pretty much just it's either it's either confidence or it's focus, or it's confidence and focus, or it you know what. Whichever take your pick from the prime five, it's, it's less of, it's less of having an answer, you know, ready for for every single kid, and it's more of just let's learn. Where's this kid struggling? What's this kid need? What's this? What's this grown man need? What's this grown woman need? What are the, what are the obstacles that are in the way? Oh well, we've got tools for that right. Here they are, and they're, they're time tested. There I'll be honest, I didn't come up with them Like I've, I've, I'm using all of them, but like we're, we're, depending on all the research that's been done by the sports psychologists, by, you know, the U S military, pumping millions of dollars into research. How do we get our men and women, when their life is on the line, to perform at their best? Where I, where I do think we're a little bit different is how do we implement this in a team setting where every single person can walk away with their own plan? Because that you, that was the. That was.
Speaker 1:The frustration in the early days was we would bring in these experts and what they were saying was dead on. It was at yes, absolutely, but there was a. There was always these little pockets of athletes that was like well, but this isn't really what I'm struggling with. I'm struggling with something else. And if, if we don't address that, as coaches, we're not doing our job. Like we got to put a product out on the field and the whole community is going to come watch and they're going to see did we prepare the team? I'm pumped for the impact that you're going to be making. One of the things that I always love to close episodes with is just knowing what you know. Now, if you could go back and tell a younger version of yourself something, maybe that getting ready for your, your senior year of high school, what would that be?
Speaker 2:Well, can I go back to when I was throwing my little temper tantrum?
Speaker 2:on the field when I was a freshman, against, uh, the Thompson high school JV team. For sure, um, yeah, thompson, georgia that day, if, if I could have told myself before that game, or prepared by practicing this understanding that number one and you mentioned team, I think that's highly important is not only is it on me to try to control and understand what I need to do for my own mental whether you want to call it mental health or mental awareness, or your focus, your confidence, whatever you want to call it my teammates are doing the same thing, like they're human, Like if you're a human being, there's a mental side to you, right? And I needed to understand that. They were having a struggle. And this is what I love about MTP and I love about the team aspect of it, especially what we've seen. What I think you're doing, what has happened at Westfield, is this legacy right Of how the seniors have poured into the freshmen. They're coming in like. This is what we do, this is how we operate, this is our culture. It's a culture, right?
Speaker 2:If I could have had that ability to know that in my freshman year and practice that through my senior year, I would have been a better leader. I would have been a better player. I wouldn't have done a lot of the dumb things that I did to try to gain an edge, and it would have been better for my teammates to try to be able to be this guy that says, hey, that's not what we do or how we do it, and it's just better for you if you understand that every practice we got to go into this, physically we're going to get tired, we're going to get wore out, we're going to get our butts kicked, but mentally we also need to stay strong in there too, because when you get tired, mentally that's a whole nother tired versus physically. I would have loved to been able to have that ability. Again, you're a teenager and there's obviously scientific reasons why we don't think as much when we're younger or that age. But I still believe we have the ability to have that critical thinking or that mental assessment to where we say what am I lacking and I need to do this? They're older and they are adults. They would have been able to see those things, but it's just that wasn't coaching back then.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I would have loved to told myself um, hey, just calm down, let's let's breathe. Breathing was huge. And I will say this. My dad used to tell me to breathe, but I didn't hear much of that until I got older, you know. But, um, those types of things would have been helpful to know. Um, that I could have said it's going to be okay. But just let's, let's work on these things and you won't have that temper tantrum in that game against Thompson.
Speaker 1:Well, danny, thanks so much for for joining us today. It's been a pleasure just getting to hear a little bit about your story. If anyone is interested in reaching out Danny working with him, head on over to mentalaltrainingplancom. You can scroll down and see meet our coaches section and you can click on that to learn a little bit more about Danny, to get in contact with him. If your son or daughter or your team is interested in having him come in and do some work on the mental side of the game, I know he would, uh, he would certainly love to help you guys out. So, coach, thanks for being here, man.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you, yeah, appreciate you.
Speaker 1:If you're interested in learning a little bit more about the mental training plan certification, or MTP certification, head on over to mental training plancom. Click on get certified at the top and you can fill out an application right there on that screen. If you've got questions, don't hesitate to reach out and until next time, make your plan and put it to work.