Watch and learn from former collegiate swimmer and mental health advocate, Nina Kucheran'’s experiences through every part of her journey so far.

One thing that stuck with me after our conversation was, “Your mental health is your responsibility.”

Nina also answers…

‍ Being a student athlete, what have been your biggest struggles in your career and how have you overcome them?

‍ What do you do to feel confident for your races/swim meets?

‍ You're a Head Campus Captain for Hidden Opponent, how did you step into this role or why is mental health important to you?

‍ What's it been like having a confidence coach?

‍ What keeps you motivated when you're just not feeling motivated?

‍ For all the girls that want to compete in college and are going through the recruiting process, what advice do you have?

‍ What is one thing you wish you would have known sooner as an athlete?

A few of my favorite other pieces of advice from Nina:

Ground...

This is what mental preparation looks like. Nothing fancy, simply visualizing what SHE wants instead of letting her mind spiral to all the doubt, fear, and negative outcomes.

Visualization is one of the most powerful mental training skills your daughter can use. When you visualize yourself succeeding (getting the hit, making a play under pressure, executing when your team needs you most), your brain is tricking your body into thinking you really did that thing physically, even though you only saw it in your mind. Meaning… if your daughter is working tirelessly physically and not seeing the results she wants, she could add this simple tool to her game and it could be the missing piece she’s needed all along to finally feel confidence in all her preparation.

Does your daughter need this?! Does your team need this?! I’ve got you! Did you know that my Game Ready Confidence (pre-game mindset routine) teaches to use visualization and has a bonus add-on to get a guided...

Watch and learn from former collegiate volleyball player and coach, author, speaker, sports reporter, and even more, Cameron Dobb’s experiences through every part of her journey so far.

One thing that stuck with me after our conversation was, “Play where your feet are, not where your teammates or parents or friends or others are.”

Cameron also answers…

You have had an incredible career so far, What have been your biggest struggles along the way and how have you overcome them? What do you do to be confident?

Did you ever work on your mindset while competing and going to school?

What do you think has brought you success in your career?

How do you lean on faith when things are hard? And in your every day life?

What keeps you motivated when you're just not feeling motivated?

What is one thing you wish you would have known sooner as an athlete?

A few of Cameron’s favorite verses are:

Proverbs 19:21 - God will give you the desires of your heart

...

I often think about the Oklahoma Softball program coached by Patty Gasso and what they have accomplished and created. If you aren’t familiar with the college softball world, Oklahoma has been one of the most dominant teams in softball history.

14 Conference Titles
15 NCAA Women’s College World Series Tournament Appearances
6 NCAA Women’s College World Series Championships… SIX!

In 2022, this team put up these records…
Won 30 of it’s 36 games by run-rule
Outscored opponents 354-27
Hit homers in 30 of it’s 36 games
4 players had at LEAST 10 home runs
Jocelyn Alo broke the NCAA DI home run record with her 96th career home run

This is incredible.

I have been drilling it into the girls I mentor that ANYTHING is possible. This team, this program has already proved what’s possible. So, why not her?! I want each girl I work with to know she is 100000% capable of this. It starts with her thoughts. What she thinks. You become what you think!

I try...

Watch and learn from collegiate D1 soccer player Rowan Lapi’s experiences competing at the college level!

One thing that stuck with me after our conversation was, “my mental fortitude came from knowing how important the mental game was.”

Rowan also answers…

You had an incredible career at NU, what have been your biggest struggles along the way and how have you overcome them? What do you do to be confident?

Did you ever work on your mindset while competing and going to school?

What do you think has brought you success in your career?

For all the girls that want to play college ball and are going through the recruiting process, what advice do you have?

What is one thing you wish you would have known sooner as an athlete?

Rowan’s favorite mantras are:

Consistency compounds

Should’ve never passed me

You belong

Trust the process

What’s next?

You can follow Rowan at @rowanlapi!

 Paige

I’ve really struggled to tell the girls I work with to let go of expectations because I have a really hard time just letting go of my own expectations. It feels like lowering my expectations or having no expectations. And I really believe that the expectations I have had in my life have catapulted me into success in all the things that I do. 

But, I also know that as athletes and high achievers, sometimes our incredibly high expectations can be detrimental to our success and hold us back because we are just too dang hard on ourselves. Never giving credit where it’s deserved or celebrating the progress. 

And then, I heard this from a guest speaker I had in the program…

“The higher your expectations are, the more grace you must have for yourself.”

Boom. That message has stuck with me ever since. How GREAT is that?! 

Every time I am not meeting my very high expectations, I remind myself to extend some grace. A lot of grace. Being kind to...

Watch and learn from former collegiate rowers and collegiate coaches, Carmen and Fran’s experiences competing and coaching at the college level!

One thing that stuck with me after our conversation was, “you belong somewhere.”

Carmen and Fran also answer…

What have been their biggest struggles along the way and how they have overcome them. What they have done to be confident or work on their own mindset.

How they bring their college experience and coaching experiences into helping with the recruiting process for the families they work with today.

What they have found that helps athletes perform under pressure, in front of college coaches.

What one thing she always wants her girls she coaches to walk away with.

What college coaches are looking for in their recruits.

One thing they wish they would have known sooner as athletes

You can follow Carmen and Fran at @rowersreach!

Paige

P.S. Loved this interview? Share it with another mom or dad or athlete...

Sounds like…

What if I don’t get the hit? 

What if I get pulled out of the game? 

What if I let my team down? 

What if I suck?

What if my coaches get mad? 

What if my parents get mad? 

She’s not the only one. I used to be the “What If Queen!” What iffing myself to death! Always worrying about the bad things that could happen. 

I remember being in the on-deck circle knowing that I was going to get up to my at-bat and have an opportunity to knock in some runs for my team. But, I didn’t think about it as an opportunity. I what iffed it. 

What if I strike out? 

What if she pitches me inside?

What if I fail…again? 

What if… what if… what if? 

Way too often, I ended up with those kinds of results. Because what I think about is what I believe.

It wasn’t until my senior year that I started thinking differently when I created different results. Successful results. Hits, higher...

Does your daughter get nervous about having to talk to her coach about playing time? Where she wants to play? College recruiting? Feedback?

I did too as an athlete! All the way up to college.

I remember being soooooo incredibly nervous for my meetings with my college coach. I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it all day. Sometimes, I would even schedule them earlier in the day if I could, just so I didn’t feel like that all day long!

But, after I left that meeting with my coach, after talking about what her expectations were for me, what I wanted, what I needed, my goals, how I was doing, what I could do to get better…

I FELT SO MUCH BETTER!

Even if there were emotions and tears in the meeting, I felt like the weight was off my shoulders and I could just go play, perform, and compete!

Having these conversations with my coach helped me…
Build trust with her
Understand what was expected of me
Grow as a leader
Be on the same page as my coach
Have a plan...

I have a few questions for you parents!

Is your daughter afraid to have a conversation with her coach?
Ask about playing time?
Tell them what they want out of their season/experience?
Are you the one doing the talking with coaches?

First off, you’re not doing her any favors by talking for her (as hard as it is, I get it, Mama Bear over here now).

Second off, it’s time to empower her to have these conversations with her coach! Think about how much success this is going to set her up for in her future as well (with teachers, professors, interviews, authority figures, etc.).

I get it. I was so nervous to talk with my college coach. We had these monthly meetings that I would absolutely D R E A D. I would think about it all day long and didn’t want to do it, but they always ended up being the best conversations and helped me be more successful and earn more playing time because I knew what her expectations were for me and she knew where I was and what I needed.

This...