🏀 Want to know how Coach Cori Close built UCLA into a national powerhouse? It wasn’t just talent—it was MENTAL TRAINING. Learn how to train your team’s mindset too → https://coachfreetraining.com 👈

In this episode, we dive into the mental side of the game that separates elite programs like UCLA Women’s Basketball from the rest—and how YOU can bring the same sports psychology techniques to your high school or middle school team. Whether you're coaching 7th graders or state contenders, you’ll walk away with simple, powerful mental training techniques you can implement right away.

👋🏼I’m Coach Bre – a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach + 4x state champion. I help coaches build resilient, confident athletes without the overwhelm.

Here I break down:
✔️ How Cori Close and UCLA created one of the most mentally tough teams in the country
✔️ The game-changing Mind Gym system that transformed Lauren Betts from a transfer struggling with confidence into an All-American leading scorer
✔️ The top 3 mental training techniques championship teams use: visualization, self-talk, and failure recovery systems
✔️ Why your team can’t reach peak performance without training the mental side of the game
✔️ How to build daily mindset habits in your practice—even if you have zero extra time or budget

👀 We’re unpacking the sports psychology coaching strategies behind programs like UCLA, so your athletes can learn to:
• Navigate pressure with poise
• Bounce back from mistakes
• Cultivate peak performance with confidence
• Strengthen team dynamics and communication

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction: The Real Reason for Losing Games
00:23 The Importance of Mental Training in Sports
01:48 UCLA's Mental Training Success Story
02:53 Mind Gym: The Secret to Mental Toughness
03:51 Key Mental Training Techniques
08:25 Implementing Mental Training in Your Team

🧠 Want to help your team recover fast after mistakes? Learn the Snapback Routine and more in our free coach training → https://coachfreetraining.com

👇 COACHES – comment below: What’s one mental skill your team needs to improve most right now?

✨ Bonus links:
• Grab our in-depth free training → https://coachfreetraining.com
• Learn more here → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT1LkVw5Xvg&list=PLYeP0oZHlVGnxJfK4m7ViFejx8r3hnHWL
• Dive into the full breakdown of recovering from mistakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ6OmF7gC3I

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Mental toughness isn't something athletes stumble upon. It's something you train every single day → https://coachfreetraining.com

If your athletes check out during hard drills or lack competitive drive, it's not a physical problem. It's a mental one.

As a championship head coach with 14 years of experience, I'm breaking down three drill-based strategies to train mental toughness in your gym. This isn't motivational speeches. This is intentional, daily training that builds focus, competition, and performance under pressure.

What You'll Learn:
Why mental toughness is trained, not stumbled upon
How to optimize pre-practice time to train focus and connection
The 3-2-1 BRAVE daily mindset routine (5-7 minutes that saves you 20-30 minutes of wasted practice)
The competitive cauldron system that trains competitive drive
How to create pressure situations that train athletes to perform when it counts

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre - a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🕓 Key Moments
00:00 Introduction: The Mental Game Problem
00:50 Strategy 1: Optimize Pre-Practice Time
06:06 Strategy 2: Implement Competitive Cauldron System
07:35 Weekly Competition Tracking
09:21 Strategy 3: Create Pressure Situations
11:14 Recap and Final Thoughts

💬 Coaches - comment below: What's one mental skill you wish you could train your athletes to have tomorrow?

Next Steps:📌
🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game!

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

• Athletes who practice mental skills show 15-20% improvement in performance consistency under pressure (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2022)
• Teams that implement structured mental training programs report 40% fewer in-game mental errors (International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2023)
• 85% of high school coaches believe mental training is important, but only 23% feel confident teaching it (National Federation of State High School Associations, 2023)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

😩 If your team struggles to recover from mistakes and stay mentally tough, they might be missing one key thing. Learn the #1 sports psychology tool to build resilience in girl athletes and help them recover from mistakes fast → https://coachfreetraining.com

In this episode, we’re digging into why simply telling athletes “shake it off” doesn’t work—and what to do instead.

Discover how to train mental toughness in your team using a system that’s simple, fast, and game-changing. Whether you coach volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball, or any other team or individual sport... this tool will help your athletes respond to mistakes like champions and stay in peak performance mode. 🧠💪

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre – a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4x state champion. I’ve been in your shoes—and I’ve seen how one mental skill can transform a team’s confidence under pressure.

Today, we’re breaking down the “Snapback Routine,” why it works, how to teach it, and how to measure growth in the mental game.

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction: The Problem with Normalizing Mistakes
00:55 Why Telling Isn't Teaching
02:05 The Snapback Routine: A System for Recovery
03:26 Customizing the Snapback Routine
06:14 Practicing and Measuring Mental Toughness

💥 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ Why “mistakes are okay” isn’t enough
✔️ How to teach your team to recover from mistakes in 3 seconds or less
✔️ The science behind fight/flight/freeze and how it shows up in games
✔️ How to measure mental toughness over the course of a season
✔️ Real practice ideas to integrate this today

👇 Coaches – comment below:
How long does it take your team to bounce back from mistakes?

🔗 Grab our in-depth free training → https://coachfreetraining.com
📩 Subscribe & never miss a strategy that changes the game for your girls

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!