Nick Davis is the UW-La Crosse Head Women’s Track & Field Coach and also serves as Associate Lecturer in the exercise sport science department. He led UWL to the 2019 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Championship and an 11th place finish in the 2019 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championship. Davis was also named the 2018 WIAC Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year. A member of the USTFCCCA, he has published five original research papers.
Davis earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in kinesiology from UW-Milwaukee. He was an accomplished athlete, earning 10 Horizon League individual championships in the high jump and javelin at UW-Milwaukee and being named the 2004 Horizon League Athlete of the Year. He was a four-time NCAA Division I Midwest Regional Qualifier in the high jump and javelin for UW-La Crosse and holds the school record in the high jump (indoor and outdoor) and javelin. Davis was inducted into the UW-Milwaukee Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
Coach Davis discusses developing mental skills with his athletes from a research-based standpoint. He gives his insight on preparing athletes to be their best in competitive situations and what characteristics to look for that signal a highly competitive athlete. He shares what his process for goal setting with his athletes entails and how to set goals for increased performance.
In this podcast, Coach Nick Davis and Joel discuss:
- Developing a pre-competition routine with your athletes.
- Inducing a FLOW state in practice and competition settings.
- Using visualization to prepare the athlete for competition.
- The importance of focusing on the present and how to help athletes do that.
- Using a self-talk model that includes athlete accountability.
- How to approach athletes with varying levels of self-confidence.
Podcast total run time is 1:10:18.
Keywords: mental skills, self-talk, visualization, focus
