WELCOME TO WINNING EDGE SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

Welcome to Winning Edge Sports Psychology your Saint Louis, Missouri and Vail, Colorado based sports psychology resource. At Winning Edge we partner with athletes and their families to develop the optimal balance of mind, body and spirit. Athletes at elite and professional levels utilize sports psychology skills to gain a mental edge against their competition. These top athletes know that mental skills lead to improved consistency and performance. Sports psychology services are not just for the professional athlete; we partner with athletes at all competitive levels. Our athletes include developing juniors, club/select level, NCAA division I, II, and III athletes, minor league and Major League Baseball, the National Football League, MSL, NHL, Olympic level, as well as weekend warriors. Winning Edge teaches the secrets of sports psychology to help athletes achieve personal bests in sport and life. At Winning Edge you will work directly with a licensed psychologist who has helped athletes at all levels learn the mental skills necessary for peak performance.

Sports psychology develops the mental and emotional skills that athletes need for successful competition. The physical and mental skills of sports are intertwined. The connection between your physical ability, your thoughts and your emotions is crucial for you to perform your best. When the mental/emotional side of your game is out of balance with your physical skills, your performance suffers. Most athletes are willing to work long and hard on their physical skills; however many athletes fall short when it comes to mental preparation. The Winning Edge philosophy is to teach each athlete a core set of sports psychology skills that create a focused, motivated, balanced, confident, and consistent athlete.

Our program of core skills begins with confidence, mental toughness and intensity. Winning Edge works with you to grow confidence, eliminate self-doubt, increase mental toughness and elevate your intensity. Surveys of US Olympic Team athletes found that over seventy percent of US athletes said they would like to increase their confidence. This survey emphasizes the importance of confidence at any competitive level. Confidence and mental toughness are skills you need to build and maintain; Winning Edge will show you how. Focus; the ability to eliminate distractions and control your thoughts, is a second core component of sports psychology. Winning Edge works with each athlete to create positive thought skills which eliminates unnecessary worry and distraction. Controlled thought keeps the athlete in the present, which equals focused energy and a strong performance.

Emotional management is a third core skill of sports psychology. The ability to deal with mistakes, setbacks, and unexpected events is critical for peak performance. Mistakes are part of sport; they are a statistical probability and are going to happen. How you perceive your mistakes and deal with them makes all the difference. An athlete who remains mentally flexible can respond with emotional balance, intensity and confidence. The athlete who loses emotional control has lost the game. Winning Edge coaches you to understand your emotional response and effectively manage yourself. Performing at a peak level requires an athlete to be consistent during the game and between games. Consistency of performance is the fourth core skill Winning Edge teaches, and a skill that many young athletes need to improve. At Winning Edge, we help you build pre-competition routines which manage your energy and place you as close to your optimal zone of readiness before each competition. If you do not have a well structured pre-competition routine, you have not developed your game to its’ fullest potential. Winning Edge also teaches positive performance evaluation skills. Positive performance evaluation teaches you how to accurately evaluate your performance while maintaining confidence and motivation; even after a bad day. The use of pre-competition routines and positive performance evaluation improve an athlete’s consistency of performance.

Goal setting is the most widely used and most effective sports psychology technique. Goal setting works because it moves an athlete from wishing or worrying about performing well, to a focused, directed and precise plan of improvement. Goal setting is the fifth core skill, and Winning Edge will teach you the keys to effective goal setting. We help you build effective and specific goal setting programs which decrease worry, build confidence, increase motivation, and improve skills. Winning Edge offers services for the injured athlete who is experiencing emotional difficulty with his/her injury as well as increasing motivation while completing physical therapy/rehab. Finally, Winning Edge offers career transition planning for the athlete that is thinking about the next stage of life, has a career ending injury, or has decided that it is time to retire.

Our programs at Winning Edge teach these core sports psychology skills, develop your mental game, and move you towards peak performance. Winning Edge takes an individual approach with each athlete, tailoring our work to your unique needs and situation. We recognize that each athlete is unique and has differing levels of knowledge, skills, and needs. Our philosophy is to develop the optimal balance of mind, body, and spirit. We achieve success together by helping athletes succeed in sport and life. We are available to athletes through out the country by phone consultations and internet video phone as well as our St. Louis, Missouri and Vail, Colorado offices.