Ben Freakley is our guest today, and we will be discussing the roles of a performance psychologist and how he or she can use coaching techniques like mantras, visualization scripts, and breathing exercises to improve the performance of tactical athletes and first responders. We enjoyed this episode because the suggestions and tips Ben talks about can be applied to everything in life. Ben is incredibly humble and insightful, and you will see that he truly admires the men and women who serve our country and communities.

Ben Freakley is the founder of Ready.Set.Resilient© and currently works for the Toronto Blue Jays as a mental performance coach. For over 15 years he has been helping individuals, athletes, teams, soldiers, and businesses improve individual and collective performance. Along the way, Ben has been a head soccer coach at the PDL and NCAA Division I level, a mental performance coach for special operations forces and general manager for a sports club with over 1100 members. He has consulted over 15 different university athletic teams across the country on leadership, culture and team dynamics. Additionally, he has worked with businesses providing team building events and motivational speaking and consulted hundreds of individuals motivated to achieve success in 1 on 1 settings. In 2016 Ben was a keynote speaker at the Southeast Regional Applied Association of Sport Psychology Conference (AASP) as well as inducted into The Georgia Southern University Alumni Association 40 Under 40 Class out of 33,000 alumni under the age of 40. He is a national staff instructor with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and presented at the 2017 NSCAA Convention on “Developing The Mindset of a Master Coach.” Ben holds masters degrees in Sport Psychology and Sport Management from Georgia Southern University where he was a NCAA Division I athlete.

Topics of discussion:
How to achieve the best blend of physical and mental performance by acknowledging the relationship between pressure and performance.

Working towards understanding the factors that can lead towards improved or hindered performance.

Using goal setting, breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation techniques, not falling into the trap of comparing yourself to others, and always looking towards becoming the best version of yourself.

Ben describes how his process and application of mental skills training by listening to his clients and building rapport. Similar to a strength coach asking a player about his prior weightlifting experience, Ben asks questions on what goals they are hoping to accomplish, what are their motivations, and what is their role on the team?

Change takes time, and Ben explains how he encourages his clients to stick with the program by being up front about the challenges and the time required to be successful.

The two things that wreck performance and how breathing techniques, mantras, and visualization scripts improve your skills and lower anxiety before a stressful situation.

What are the common characteristics of the mentally tough?

Ben mentions an Israeli Defense study on motivation. Click here to read it.

Check out Ben Freakley's website, benfreakley.com, for more information.