--- title: Understanding Athlete Motivation with Dr. Pat Ivey description: Tune in to learn about creating a cross-functional, collaborative performance staff, and how to best motivate your athletes. image: https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/PATIVEY_coverphoto.png --- [![BridgeAthletic Blog](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hs-fs/hub/414934/file-1317417595.png?width=150&height=50&name=file-1317417595.png "BridgeAthletic Blog")](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com) - [BridgeAthletic.com→](https://bridgeathletic.com/) ![](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/PATIVEY_coverphoto.png) March 16, 2020 By BridgeAthletic # Understanding Athlete Motivation with Dr. Pat Ivey Share: - - - [![PATIVEY\_coverphoto](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/PATIVEY_coverphoto.png?width=670&name=PATIVEY_coverphoto.png)](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/powering-performance/id1402246072?mt=2&__hstc=233546881.94f89dbd081fbe7a6029a2b4a872d5fc.1516036100828.1531849525894.1533067538411.16&__hssc=&__hsfp=&hsCtaTracking=712e6a8e-b746-4595-a2b3-0b2a5662f28c%7C1330a85c-e0bd-40ab-a8c6-79f0aa062607)   In our ninth episode of season 2, we sat down with Dr. Pat Ivey, Associate Athletic Director of Student Athlete Health and Performance at the University of Louisville. Tune in to learn about creating a cross-functional, collaborative performance staff, and how to best motivate your athletes. Check out these spoilers… **♦ 1:27 - 7:30** Some background on Dr. Ivey and a deep dive into his current role as Associate Athletic Director of Student Athlete Health and Performance at the University of Louisville. *“My job is not to be a barrier.  I’m trying to connect the people that I’m supervising with the people I work with or are above me. I see myself as a helper, a servant. My job is to listen.”*   ♦ **7:53 - 12:43** Dr. Ivey shares the core values of the Louisville performance staff and how they break down traditional cycloids to ensure they are all on the same page.   *“Our core values in our health and performance department are care, communication, and collaboration. We keep it real simple.  If we're caring, and we’re communicating well that’s going to leave to great collaboration where were creating these win wins with each other”*   ♦**12:45 -17:41** Dr. Ivey hosts his own podcast, [Beyond Sets and Reps](https://pativey.com/podcast/) where he talks shop with fellow strength coaches and allows them to share their knowledge on the industry.    *“Here’s a chance to show some of the good, from some of the really good in our profession”*   ♦**19: 55 - 27:11**  Dr. Ivey has a PhD in sports psychology and provides some insight in understanding athletes motivation and how they want to be coached.    *“Learning which form of motivation is the strongest and helping athletes to be more self driven, intrinsically motivated, for their own internal reward is the strongest form of motivation. So, me standing in front of them giving a great speech works, the problem is it isn’t as strong as teaching them how to motivate themself.”*   ♦ **27:30  - 35:35** Dr. Ivey gives us a peek into his new book, *The Table.* His book is broken down into 3 sections; choices, character development, and life after sports. You can find *The Table* for purchase at [pativey.com](https://pativey.com/) *“The Table" is short for "What are you leaving on the table?”*    ♦**47:08-end** Rapid-fire -Dr.Ivey’s favorite athlete of all time, what he’s reading, advice to his younger self, and a fact you might not know about him.   [![New call-to-action](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/414934/9f3e5ed7-4c07-42f4-865d-c4d0355ca4f7.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/414934/9f3e5ed7-4c07-42f4-865d-c4d0355ca4f7) **Connect with Dr. Pat Ivey**  Instagram:  @drcoach\_pativey Website: [pativey.com](https://pativey.com/) Email: Performance@pativey.com Thanks to Dr. Pat Ivey for joining us for episode 9th of Season 2!  #### About the Author [BridgeAthletic](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/author/bridgeathletic) ![](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hs-fs/hub/414934/file-1246672403.png?width=75&name=file-1246672403.png) At Bridge, we are all athletes and coaches first. As athletes, our team has experienced everything from riding the pine on JV, to winning NCAA championships, to competing in the Olympic Games. As coaches, we have helped countless athletes reach their full potential, winning everything from age group section championships to Olympic Gold Medals. ### Related Posts [![](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/coaches%20conference_blog%20card.png)](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/2022-nsca-coaches-conference) January 20, 2022 #### [2022 NSCA Coaches Conference](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/2022-nsca-coaches-conference) The BridgeAthletic team attended the 2022 NSCA Coaches Conference in San Antonio, Texas January 6-8... [Read More](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/2022-nsca-coaches-conference) [![](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/Fusion%20Sport_blog%20featured%20image.png)](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/2021-fusion-sport-conference) December 10, 2021 #### [2021 Fusion Sport Conference](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/2021-fusion-sport-conference) The BridgeAthletic team attended the 2021 Fusion Sport Summit - North America at the UFC... [Read More](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/2021-fusion-sport-conference) [![](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/Max%20Lankheit-2.png)](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/building-connections-with-megan-young) November 11, 2021 #### [Building Connections with Megan Young](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/building-connections-with-megan-young) In this episode of Powering Performance, we are joined by Megan Young, formerly the High... [Read More](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/building-connections-with-megan-young) ## Subscribe to our blog Bunch of awesome content ![BridgeAthletic\_Icon\_Orange (1)](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BridgeAthletic_Icon_Orange%20(1).png?width=100&height=27&name=BridgeAthletic_Icon_Orange%20(1).png) - - - - © 2026 BridgeAthletic [Bridge Blog](https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/) [Explore BridgeAthletic ➞](https://www.bridgeathletic.com) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "BridgeAthletic", "url" : "https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/author/bridgeathletic" }, "dateModified" : "2020-03-17T06:59:12.603Z", "datePublished" : "2020-03-17T06:59:12.000Z", "headline" : "Understanding Athlete Motivation with Dr. Pat Ivey", "image" : [ "https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/PATIVEY_coverphoto.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/understanding-athlete-motivation", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.bridgeathletic.com/hubfs/Bridge%20Logo%20Black%20%5B1200%5D.png" }, "name" : "BridgeAthletic" } } ```