COACHING THE QUIET CRISIS: Evidence-Based Master Plan to Promote Mental Wellness in Athletes

Founder and Director of Way of Champions, a human potential and performance consulting group helping others master the relationship and culture building games in athletics, business, and life. Jerry has published 18 books in over 10 languages. His work has impacted teams, coaches, and athletes in the NBA, Professional Lacrosse, and Major League Soccer, in addition to men's and women's basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, swimming, soccer, tennis, golf, and track & field at the universities of North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, California, Syracuse, Stanford, Harvard, and Middlebury. In the past 35 years alone, he has helped influence over 130 world, national, conference and state championship teams.

Founder of Changing the Game Project, an organization dedicated to helping coaches, parents, schools, and youth sport organizations give sports back to our kids and put a little more "play" in "play ball." John is a former collegiate and professional soccer player, and has coached for over 30 years on the youth, high school, and collegiate levels. John has written three bestselling books and has consulted with the USOC, US Soccer, USA Swimming, US Ski and Snowboard, USA Wrestling, Ireland Rugby, National Rugby League of Australia, the PGA, and many other entities.

COACHING 'THE QUIET CRISIS'
Evidence-Based Master Plan to Promote Mental Health, Emotional Wellness and Performance in Sports

This is a compelling, definitive and effective program that addresses the number one issue in modern athletics, that of Mental Health and Wellbeing, and the direct relationship this has to overall sports performance.

This time-tested game plan will enhance a coach's ability to create a safe environment of mental wellness that results in happy, joyful, loyal, trusting, connective athletes, and, as a result, naturally elevate the athletes' performance.

The evidence shared is based on a foundation of more than 130 championship teams influenced by Dr. Lynch and the Way of Champions' methods and strategies. These proven and timeless strategies are the "missing" pieces that Jerry has used to help coaches in all sports to lower the incidences of pressure, anxiety, depression and stress (PADS) so that his coaches and athletes become better versions of themselves and realize their ultimate human capacity. We all function at our highest levels in life when in SAFE, positive, caring, connective and loving environments.

Learn how to establish and sustain such a progressive, performance master plan, raise your effectiveness as a leader, and coach to this vital issue using this profound and penetrating video session led by Dr.Jerry Lynch and moderated with precision by Changing the Game's John O'Sullivan.

Three tremendous benefits of watching this video are:

• How to define and recognize mental wellness in a sports environment and why it's important to be prepared for it
  
• How and why the right 'mentality' and mental wellness are the same thing
  
• An easy-to-apply system for coaches that works at any level of sport
  

Mental wellness should be the foundation of modern day coaching; it is something that successful coaches have known but has not been discussed often enough. There is a correlation between a safe, healthy environment and performance. As the authors say "Constant pressure eventually impacts performance" but "pressure does not facilitate performance."

Mental wellness and the modern athlete
Dr. Jerry Lynch and John O'Sullivan break down the impact of social media on performance and the modern athlete. In a reflection of society, modern athletes oftentimes equate social media "likes" with their happiness. It should not be a surprise that when this happens, sometimes athletes suffer negative consequences. Yet one in ten athletes experience negative pressure, anxiety, depression and stress that severely affect their life and over half cannot afford treatment for a variety of reasons. This is an issue that transcends socio-economic status.

We are a performance-based society that often fails to recognize the importance of mental well-being as a direct cause of high performance. We do not acknowledge that an environment that is performance-based alone is unsustainable because 100% success is unobtainable.

Mental wellness IS the right mentality
As much as coaching has evolved, there are still a lot of coaches that coach on a philosophy of machismo and mental toughness alone. This only clouds the water further. Jerry and John do an exceptional job of explaining that the "right mentality" that coaches seek is mental wellness, defined in this context as a safe and healthy environment where athletes (and coaches) can perform and thrive.  It is not the absence of pressure in such an environment but how we teach the athletes to deal with the pressure.

A better way
In this extraordinary video, Dr. Jerry Lynch, with John O'Sullivan, present a proven system using three tools to help coaches establish the best environment for success. Dr. Lynch-created acronyms - based on athletes feeling relevant, important, valued, empowered and respected - are employed to help coaches understand and remember the pivotal concept that feelings equal function.

More plainly, how we feel is how we function. Finally, Jerry and John, employing Dr. Lynch's "secret" ingredient to effecting change, present a blueprint for building 'an environment for the best.'(Hint, it starts with YOU, the coach!)

After watching this video, you will understand the importance of being a lifelong learner as a coach and why we must strive to become better versions of ourselves. The attitude, enthusiasm and feelings we bring to our athletes will help to create a healthy environment that the athletes will reflect back to us in their performance. You will understand why the successful coach is the one who openly gives to their athletes and facilitates the tools and resources to empower them to be better.

Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 stars!

"It is useful (and recommended) for any level coach."

"I have been coaching for over twenty years. I've had the privilege of being part of three state championships in male and female high school sports. I've seen teams that followed principles outlined in this video produce successful happy adults because the lessons the athletes learned were bigger than what they were doing. Conversely, I have seen teams that have done the opposite of what's outlined in the video. Those teams were more often than not, unsuccessful athletically, and did the athletes no favors in their personal development. In general, those athletes continued to struggle in life.

I believe the philosophy that Lynch and O'Sullivan express in the video is the way coaches should coach. Being a coach is a privilege and an awesome responsibility. If we truly want to bring out the best in the athletes we must bring out the best in ourselves. We owe it to the athletes we coach. The video addresses the challenges of modern coaching and is a wonderful path to follow to meet those challenges. I highly recommend it to all!"

73 minutes. 2024.