Submitted by: David Long, District Governor
Sports Psychologist Works to Get Best Out of Athletes’ Performance, Life
The guest speaker at Thursday’s meeting educated club members of the many challenges facing today’s youth, specifically young athletes. As a sports psychologist, Dr. Kelly Gast is committed to helping young athletes improve their performance and life by addressing issues such as confidence, mental health and coaching methods.
In her presentation, Gast pointed our that anxiety levels, brought on by things like technology, school shootings, the Covid pandemic and others, are significantly higher for youth today that 50 years ago.
Some areas of concern:
• 1 in 5 children are impacted by mental health concerns.
• 40-50% of children never receive treatment.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death in ages 10-34.
• 75% of Gen Z feel they don’t belong.
• There is a suicide trend with elite athletes, local athletes, local teenagers and adults.
When developing athletes, and dealing with the stresses they face in life and in competition, Gast says the approach has changed. Today it’s known that:
• Fear-based coaching puts kids in the fight or flight part of their brain and makes it impossible to learn.
• Positive coaching does NOT equal soft, wussy or no rules.
• Pro teams are switching to a more positive environment.
Gast is an instructor at Concordia College and operates her business, Elevate, to reach athletes. It’s her belief that in order to get the best performance, you have to learn skills to be the best. That requires a commitment to the whole athlete and providing education and tools to support and improve mental health.
For more information, visit www.elevate-perform.com.