Mental Performance for Athletes and Coaches with Sara Erdner

In this week's episode of Powering Performance, we are joined by Dr. Sara Erdner, Assistant Professor of Coaching and Coordinator of the Master of Science in Coaching degree at Adams State University. Tune in to hear about her book Dear Coach and mental performance tips for both athlete-coach relationships and career development. 

Ways to listen: 

Spotify

iTunes

Web

Check out these three highlights:

1. Sara tells us about her new book, Dear Coach,  in which athletes write letters to their coaches from a positive and negative perspective that they wish they could have told them when they were athletes. 

“The book itself is an advocacy campaign for coaches because again, reading between the lines, we do a lousy job of advocating for coaches mental health. They’re such a vital component in the coach athlete relationship.”  

2. Sara explains how Uncertainty Reduction Theory and Uncertainty Management Theory come into the athlete/coach relationship. 

“As coaches, we know that we want to set an environment where we reduce any unnecessary uncertainty. But then we also teach athletes how to manage uncertainty, so coping skills."

3. Sara speaks about the trauma that is often not discussed caused by “free” and “unpaid” internships and how we can help coaches move past that and break the cycle. 

"This is anticlimactic because you are told as a young kid that like, oh, well, once you get there, it's going to be the pinnacle. It'll be great. I'll stop being abused. Then we're training people to live life for a job title instead of living life, to just live life and just be and be these worthy human beings."

Connect with Dr. Sara Erdner

Instagram: @doc_serdner

Instagram: @_dearcoach

Thanks to Dr. Sara Erdner for joining us!