Inside the Tri-Mind: The Psychology of Endurance-sport Technology
You might think that a sport psychologist wouldn’t be interested in technology or hard data. Aren’t we supposed to be into mind stuff like thoughts and emotion? Well yes, psychology is very much about the psyche. At the same time, you may not realize that the data that comes out of a modern endurance-sport watch […]
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Taylor Interview on Nike’s “Trained” Podcast
I was honored to have been invited to be interviewed on Nike’s highly popular “Trained” podcast. In the interview, I discuss the power of mental training to sports performance, the benefits of sports on young people, the status of youth sports in today’s sports culture, and the impact of sports on girls.
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Hit-and-Run Ain’t No Fun: Psychology of a Near-Death Bike Crash
Every cyclist and triathlete recognizes, understands, and accepts the risks they are taking every time they climb into the saddle and go for a road ride. A distracted or reckless driver can mean serious injury or death. But, in my years of cycling and triathlon training and racing, I have avoided such intimate contact with […]
Read MoreTaylor Interview about Naomi Osaka and Mental Health
I was recently interviewed by the American news network, Newsy, about the tennis star, Naomi Osaka’s abrupt withdrawal from the French Open due to ongoing mental-health difficulties. Osaka’s admission of her mental-health challenges is another compelling voice added to an increasing number of professional athletes who are speaking out about the impact of mental illness […]
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Taylor Interview for Youth Sports Podcast
I was recently interviewed by Rianna Poskin of The Youth Sports Podcast. Rianna with Dr. Jim Taylor on Toxicity in Youth Sport, Sport Psychology and Youth Sport Success April 8, 2021 “We want mental wellness, not mental hell-ness!” – Dr. Taylor This episode on The Youth Sport Podcast was great in so many ways. The […]
Read MoreResults aren’t the Only Criterion of Success in This Sports Year of COVID
The sports community is now deep into what is certainly the strangest competitive year ever, overshadowed, of course, by the Covid-19 pandemic. The predominant emotion I have seen in my work with athletes and in conversations with many more athletes on and off the field of play is…frustration. For many athletes, it feels like a […]
Read MoreFocus on the Present During This Covid Sports Season
The Covid-19 crisis has certainly presented me with new challenges in my work with athletes, whether juniors or professionals. It’s as if the pandemic has taken all of the normal challenges that athletes face and turned their volume up several notches. Whether motivation, confidence, fear of failure, expectations, or anxiety, whatever athletes are thinking, feeling, […]
Read MoreIs Covid-19 Causing an Epidemic of Sports Injuries?
Is it just me or are other people seeing an increase in sports injuries since the Covid-19 epidemic struck a year ago? It seems as if, every week, there is more than one article in the sports media describing a heartbreaking announcement of another professional athlete whose season is shortened or ended by a serious […]
Read MoreMental Health Should be a Priority in Sports
A number of occurrences compelled me to write this article. First, a growing number of professional athletes are coming forward with their own mental-health challenges in the hopes of destigmatizing mental illness and encouraging others who are struggling to seek help. Second, the Covid-19 crisis has seen an increase in mental-health issues, particularly among young […]
Read MoreChange Your Perceptions to Become a More Successful Athlete (and Person)
Since Covid-19 early in 2020, I’ve been working with a number of athletes, from junior-elites to collegians to Olympians and pros. Though the pandemic has been a truly awful experience, it has also given many athletes the opportunity to focus on aspects of their sports lives that they had been neglecting, including mental training. Of […]
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