Dr. Margaret Ottley is the Co-Coordinator of the Master’s Concentration in Sport and Exercise Psychology at West Chester University.  She is a National Certified Counselor and a Certified Mental Health Coach.  Dr. Ottley has consulted for various elite and Olympic level teams and has developed the Mental Performance initiative for WCU’s Student Athletes.

Olympic Motto and Sport Performance
Traditionally, the dynamic, rapidly changing demands of sports require coaches and athletes to possess proficient physical skills measured by speed, accuracy, agility, flexibility, strength, and endurance. This concept is consistent with the new Olympic motto: "Citius, Altius, Fortius – Community," which means "Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together." Athletes also need to be knowledgeable of their sports' technical and tactical idiosyncrasies
 
College Athletics
Today, at all levels of sport participation, a focus on the mental side of sports has become an integral part of optimal performance. For example, in college sports, coaches assist athletes with team and individual goals to improve overall well-being, advance their performance, and win championships. Collegiate athletes may even flirt with the dream of playing professional sports. However, the pressure to perform consistently at optimal levels often takes a mental toll on athletes. In addition, economic incentives, upward mobility, social prestige, and all-star privileges further amplify the pressure to excel in performance.
 
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), 2018, student-athletes who experience athletic performance-related and other forms of anxiety may find that it compromises their ability to perform at their best. Symptoms of anxiety disorders often worsen under stress. A student-athlete may experience stress because of the transition of being away from home and adjusting to a new living situation, the worry of achieving academically, and of meeting athletic expectations in their sport. Some athletes who do not meet the criteria for a generalized anxiety disorder may experience performance-related anxiety. When a coach uses punishment excessively (for example, yelling), some student- athletes may experience an alarming increase in anxiety and fear.

 
The 5 Cs
The increasingly stressful demands of academia, practice, and competition require a more holistic approach to athletic preparation. An empirically sound intervention strategy known as the "5 Cs has proven to be an effective model for helping coaches and athletes maintain mind-body connectedness and mental well-being.
 
Components of the 5 Cs are "Commitment, Communication, Concentration, Control, and Confidence."
 
A few examples of psycho-education and mental skills training strategies related to the 5 Cs are as follows:
Commitment: motivation goals, effort, persistence in the face of adversity Communication: active listening, verbal and non-verbal praise, acknowledgment, feedback, reflection, self-talk.
Concentration: attentional style, focusing on a task s, identification of irrelevant cues and distractions, concentration routines.
Control: mindfulness, emotional awareness, energy management, perceived control & Intention, relaxation, positive body language, error detection, recovery from errors, relaxation, self-talk, and imagery and visualization.
Confidence: belief, full involvement, no fear of errors, positive presence, accepting challenges, effort and persistence, self-talk and imagery.
 
About Team Cohesion:
Athletes' ability to work together is an ongoing pursuit. Team cohesion is related to sticking together to increase productivity. Team cohesion is a recipe for athletic success on and off the field, especially during internal and external pressure situations and withstanding the rigors of intense competition.
 
The Mission
To provide a psycho-educational, coach and team-specific, culturally relevant mental performance pilot program that helps athletes pursue their full potential in and out of the sport setting and to help athletes explore their inner strengths and understand the external dynamics of the competitive environment.

 
Philosophy of Practice

• Narrative and solution focus approaches help the athletes to examine various relationshipswithintheteamandgaininsightandknowledgetohelpencourage
• The postmodern approach emphasizes that all human beings are embedded and boundedbyamultidimensionalcombinationoffactors,forexample,age,disabilities, religion, ethnic and racial identity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, indigenous heritage, nationality,and gender, that intersectand mayultimatelymake them privileged or oppresses them.
• The teamwillusea "thirdeye"toexamine themicro-systems(supportsystems, parents, siblings, significant others…) and macrosystems (teammates, coaches, administrators, athletic and trainers, nutritionists…) that affect their performance, quality of interpersonal relationships, and other structural issues.

 
Objectives
To provide opportunities for athletes