Animo Performance | Sports Psychology | Mental Skills Training

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College Soccer ID Camp

Get exposure to top college coaches and introduction to mental skills. We have a custom mental skills curriculum for elite level soccer players looking to play at the next level. Find more camp and registration info at the link below.

Learn More

2025 College ID Camp ⚽️

-Link to register in bio-

Join us this summer and showcase yourself in front of top college programs.

Dates: June 7-8

Location: Chabot College (Hayward, CA)

Participants: Elite high school & junior college soccer players (age 15+)

Confirmed College Coaches:
* Cal Poly Humboldt (D2, CCAA)
* Carnegie Mellon (D3, UAA)
* Brown University (D1, Ivy League)
* NYU (D3, UAA)
* Pomona Pitzer (D3, SCIAC)
* Dominican University of California (D2, PacWest)
* Chabot College (JC, CCCAA)
* + more colleges to be announced soon!

-Register at the link in bio-

#collegeidcamp #collegesoccer #ccaa #uaa #pacwest #sciac #ivyleague #mentalskills #sportpsychology #ncaa

2025 College ID Camp Details ⚽️

-Link to register in bio-

Join us this summer at Chabot College for an opportunity to showcase yourself in front of top college programs. We will also have experts in sports psychology leading mental skills activities in between soccer sessions.

Dates: June 7-8
Location: Chabot College (Hayward, CA)
Participants: Elite high school & junior college soccer players (age 15+)
College Coaches:
* Cal Poly Humboldt (D2, CCAA)
* Carnegie Mellon (D3, UAA)
* NYU (D3, UAA)
* University of Hawaii Hilo (D2, PacWest)
* Dominican University of California (D2, PacWest)
* Chabot College (JC, CCCAA)
* + more colleges to be announced soon!

-Register at the link in bio-

#collegeidcamp #collegesoccer #ccaa #uaa #pacwest #sciac #mentalskills #sportpsychology #ncaa

College ID & Mental Skills Camp 2024!! 🧠⚽️🎓

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. We had over 60 players attend camp to learn about mental skills and get exposure to college coaches.

We had 6 colleges represented from 5 conferences and all 3 NCAA divisions.

Thank you @cmumsoccer @tuftsmenssoccer @smu_msoc @dominican_ms @uhhilomsoc @humboldt.msoc !

We also collaborated with @dominican_aspp and Mindset Coach Fred Lange @deliberateperformance for our mental skills activities.

Like and comment if you want to see more camps and events like this!

Follow our link in bio to learn more.

#mentalskills #performancemindset #sportspsychology #mentalskillstraining #mindset #performance #mindfulness #visualization #breathwork #collegeID #ncaasoccer #pacwestsoccer #ccaa #nescacsoccer

🚨The number 10 is one of the most important positions in soccer and we only have 10 more spots to be sold out 🚨

📲 Register now and be part of our College ID & Mental Skills Camp - Link in bio

#SoccerIDCamp #FutureAthletes #CollegeRecruitment
#collegesoccer
#NCAA
#sportspsychology
#mentalskills

Exciting news! We’ve added two more coaches to our upcoming camp staff. University of Hawaii at Hilo @uhhilomsoc and Saint Mary’s College of California @smc_msoccer

⚽️ Only a few sports left so be quick in registering at the link in bio 🏆

#SoccerIDCamp #CollegeRecruitment #collegesoccer #NCAA #ccaa #pacwest ##wcc #nescac #uaa #sportspsychology #mentalskills #californiasocceridcamp

💥 Here is a glimpse into Fred Lang’s work. He currently works with athletes and teams at Dominican, and will be leading mental skills activities at camp!

⚽️ Get ready to level up your mental game and unlock your full potential on the field. Stay tuned for more details!

🤓😎 Plus some words from student-athletes that have worked with Fred during their college years.

#SportPsychology #IDCamp #MindsetMatters 🧠🔥

📣 Hurry! ⚽ After the info call half of the spots for our event have already been snapped up!

Don’t miss your chance to join us at our College ID & Mental Skills Camp on June 1-2.

Move fast and secure your place before it’s too late! 🏃💨🎟️
Limited spots remaining – grab yours now, at a special price before May 1st!

#SoccerIDCamp #FutureAthletes #CollegeRecruitment #collegesoccer
#NCAA #sportspsychology
#mentalskills #EarlyBird #CaliforniaSoccerIDCamp

🌟 Exciting News! 🌟 Join us for an exclusive Zoom call where we’ll dive into all the details and activities planned for our upcoming California Soccer ID Camp! 📅 June 1-2

Mark your calendars and get ready to learn about what’s in store. Don’t miss out – stay tuned for more updates! ⚽📱🎉

#ZoomCall
#SoccerIDCamp #FutureAthletes #CollegeRecruitment #collegesoccer
#NCAA #sportspsychology
#mentalskills #EarlyBird #CaliforniaSoccerIDCamp
🎉🔥

🚨 Early Bird Alert! ⚽ Don’t miss out on our exclusive discount for the California Soccer ID Camp on June 1-2!

🌟 Showcase your skills in front of college coaches, network, and get valuable insights with sport psychology sessions to boost your mental game. Limited spots available – secure yours now!

#SoccerIDCamp #FutureAthletes #CollegeRecruitment #collegesoccer
#NCAA #sportspsychology
#mentalskills #EarlyBird #CaliforniaSoccerIDCamp
🎉🔥

🚨Calling all talented high school soccer players! 🚨

👟 Get ready to showcase your skills at our upcoming ID camp. Trainings will be led by top college coaches! ⚽️🎓

🔍 This is your chance to take your game to the next level, and an opportunity you don’t want to miss.

🗓 Save the date and mark your calendars for June 1-2! More details coming soon. You can register at the link in bio! And get ready to show what you’ve got! 💪

#SoccerIDCamp #FutureAthletes #CollegeRecruitment
#collegesoccer
#NCAA
#sportspsychology
#mentalskills

⚽️ Calling elite soccer players! Do you want to improve your mental game?

Join us at our upcoming ID camp designed for aspiring college recruits. Show off your skills, meet coaches, and take your game to the next level learning about applied sport psychology!

Don’t miss this opportunity to kick-start your collegiate soccer journey.

#collegesoccer #SoccerRecruits #CollegeBound #IDCamp #ncaasoccer #ccaa #pacwest #uaa #nescac #sportspsychology #mentalskills

#rest for the #mind
#rest for the #body
#rest for your #neuralnetworks
#rest for your #mentalhealth

#Flow #autonomy #resilience #mentaltoughness #selfdeterminationtheory
#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit
#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness

Check out our new blog post!
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Topic: Mental Health Awareness in Sports
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Sneak peak:
"Psychological health and well-being are important concepts to review for both the general athlete population and also for elite athletes and peak performance. Professionals in the top ranks of performance fields often forget the value of enjoyment, while performance becomes paramount. For example, extrinsic motivation (money, fame, awards, praise) can drive a person to perform well, and we know that those factors are at play at elite levels of sport. However, research shows that this type of motivation undermines satisfaction and enjoyment, and therefore is unsustainable in the long term. Some argue that it is a necessary skill to learn to perform well even when not enjoying it—a type of grit or mental toughness. While it may be true that learning to cope with adversity and building resilience is important, chronically fighting these battles over time can lead to fatigue and burnout."
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#MentalHealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentaltoughness #mentallytough #mentalskillstraining #mentalhealthmatters #prioritizeyourself #treatyourself #psychology #sportspsychology #sportspsych #sports #animo #mindbodyspirit

Mental toughness, resilience, grit - what do these buzzwords mean?
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Read more on our blog [link in bio]
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#animo #sportspsychology #sportspsych #blog #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #resilience #grit #mentallytough #resiliency #passion #perserverance

"And I say, put mental health first because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to, so it's okay sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are."
Simone Biles.

🔴🧐In the above statement @simonebiles not only makes a choice which makes clear that she is a acting like an grate athletes connected to the Olympic games spirit, but at the same time brings out a message of wisdom, compassion and understanding towards all sport performance communities and high performance athletes.

🕊️A person able to articulate in such a way their choice for such a signficant occasion as the Olympic games stands a demonstration of mental growth and understanding. 🧠🧠🧭

🧭Setting healthy boundaries and taking responsibility of choice is mainly a trait found in a mature person.

🏔️🗿🕊️Points to consider:

⚡ Athlete's decision is probably a result of personal preference and an outcome of a team effort which supports the athlete throughout the road to Olympics. In the team we should include various scientists and specialists in the field effort and support.

⚡ Except the possible mental health problems related to previous traumatic events and enormous amount of stress of solely participating in Olympics games final series.

⚡There is also the possibility of serious implications related to mental health such as the "twisties" phenomenon which resembles to more of an organic nature.

⚡Now to evidence based theory and practice I would have to transfer you to @amyizycky where the human performance curve is on display for everyone to contemplate on it.

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit
#mentalhealth #simonebiles #simone

🌍🌎🌏 Everybody is talking about goal setting.

⭐ It is probably the most basic, still important form of regulation and motivation.

🧐 Goals could easily be misunderstood as a rigid set of guidelines that an athlete has to commit to with no regrets.

😒In other occasions they might be perceived as heavy load to carry out, specially when goal content does not serve with authenticity athletes needs and competencies.

🧙👩‍🚀 This is off course could be a coach-athlete dyadic issue asking for resolution.

⭐A valuable and useful scenario would be to establish goals linked to real life circumstances and demands.

👩‍🚀🧙Goals are meant to be set by the athlete. Aid provided by a specialist in sport psychology is suggested and its is part of our services in animo sport psychology.

Goals are set to serve as a guide for a time period. A system of navigation.

👩‍💻Goals are ought to be realistic and measurable. In lack of these elements how could an athlete bring them to fulfillment.

⚓Goals serve as places to anchor our ambitions and preferences.

⚓ Goals serve as buoy's towards the process of developing and advancing as an athlete.

And if we are to be good navigators in this sea of potential races and places,championships, fitness, recovery we should sense when our boat needs to set the anchor in a new place of concentration.

Goal setting is after all a continuous process through which each goal accomplished remains as a landmark of our grounded potential and each new goal set is about to be the ground of our accomplishments to come.

🧞Meaning that goals are ought to be considered as realistic, flexible and durable choices we make towards fulfilling outcomes of our potential future .

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit
#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness

#noamiosaka #Osaka

A smash in mental health problems.

An alarming note towards all the high performance communities.

Naomi bravely brings about the topic of mental health problems that are common for athletes despite the level and type of sport.

It is a necessity to develop mental health care provision accessible for athletes.

Making one step forward and eventually surpassing stereotypical views that mainly focus on athletes personality based on levels of achievement.

And finally avoid solely cherishing the mental toughness side off the athletic behaviour while neglecting critical aspects that endorse athlete's emotional and physical health.

#mentalhealth #naomiosaka #sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit #mentalhealthawareness

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.

Car Rogers.

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit
#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness

Animo Performance Psychology

The complete interview in the link below:

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/robby-naish-interview-the-longest-wave?fbclid=IwAR2a1M6-qDNLRwig2PAzH5qwnva2bZVBImKnr-fGZAZGYeF9FObFfnrBQ7Q

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit
#mentalhealth

It is through difficulties that man is challenged to make adjustments and adaptations and eventually evolve and thrive.

The notion of overcoming, facing and challenging difficulties, is one the main notions we meet widespreaded among sports and high performance.

And this appears to be fine.

Thought what is of our concern is to sustain a regulatory system a form of day to day remembering of performers efforts and difficulties.

By keeping track of performance and psychological difficulties that arise we manage to take care of performers mental health.

Bypassing stereotyped and rigid mindsets that mainly recognise and focus on effort but not quality of rest and mental recuperation.

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit #mentalhealth #cgjung

Thinking about possible future events is a portrait of probabilities

This broadcast at times becomes so vivid that is also felt in the body ( i.e anxiety,bliss,etc)

Maintain openess, willing to accept the probabilities your mind demonstrates

Maintaining a playful attitude in this world of thoughts as you modify the probabilities in your mind

Then you may decide which probabilities to keep and which to let go off.

In case you find trouble in the way, you are welcome to share your experience in the comments below

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit

🚨 Research alert! 🚨📖🧐🎓
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We are recruiting participants for a master's thesis research study. If you are eligible to participate please follow the directions below, and pass this on to anyone else who may be interested!
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Participation instructions listed below and in the link in bio.
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https://www.animosportspsychology.com/research
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How do athletes use music to regulate emotions?
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University of Thessaly / University of Jyväskylä
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By participating in this research, you have an opportunity to learn about how emotions relate to performance. This is an exploratory study, so after we collect your data we can reveal how the results can be useful (register for the webinar below).
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Participation criteria:
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-Athlete
-15-25 years old
-Android mobile device (no iPhones)
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If you meet the above criteria, please follow the directions below to participate.
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Step 1: Download the MuPsych app to your Android mobile device. Please read and agree to the information statement and consent form for the app.
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Step 2: Select the study "Thessaly01" and choose your settings. Once again agree to privacy information and consent for this study.
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Step 3: Complete the items in the surveys tab including basic details and surveys 1-4 (takes approximately 15-20 minutes). It is important to complete this step before moving forward in the study.
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Step 4: Use your Android mobile device normally for the next 2 weeks, and answer questions when prompted by the MuPsych app.
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Step 5: After 13 days, the final survey will unlock. Please complete the final survey (takes approximately 5 mins). Terminate the app to finish the data collection process.
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Step 6 (optional): Join us for an informational webinar to learn more about the research findings, and get practical tips and tools for regulating emotions for performance. You can register at the website link below.
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Thank you for participating in this exciting new research!
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https://www.animosportspsychology.com/research

Cultivating an Attitude towards booking a place. to your own mental processes.

There several times during the day that we tend to mind travel.

- It 's been said that though travels approximately at the speed of light.

Harnessing of future planning and probability through participating in this light beam broadcast about yourself and your grow.

For further insight into this area feel free to contact through pm.

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit

. Mental Health & High Performance

Athletes need to maintain a baseline mental health status as much as physical health status.
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Mental health is a right to health mostly underestimated and misunderstood by officials and institutions.
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Before we reach the high performance we have to take care of basic psychological needs as they are major to mental and physical growth.
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In this set of slides we provide the current state of the issue and a course of action based on research

#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit

🏆Find me a great athlete poor in imagination and playfulness.🤸🤸🤸🤸🤸🤸

🌿Take care not to get so serious leaving no space for imagination and play to come out.
There are to be found valueable staff to enrich your performance.

....................................................

Every good idea and all creative work are offsprings of the imagination, and have their source in what one is pleased to call infantile fantasy.

Not the artistic alone, but every creative individual whatsoever owes all that is greatest in his life to fantasy.

The dynamic principle of fantasy is play, a characteristic also of the child, and as such it appears inconsistent with the principle of serious work.

But without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth.

The debt we owe to the pay of imagination is incalculable.

C.G.Jung.

.............................…..…………
Lets approach the idea of perfection in sport with awareness. Lets reflect! 🧘

Sometimes it could look like a never ending task of reaching out to the ideal performance. Struggle
...........

How many times perfection (the best) might cast its shadow over performance🌚

Leading to stress- anxiety or a feeling of struggle to achieve the ideal-perfect.

Seeking .....
🎖️ the perfect timing
🎖️the perfect technique
🎖️ the perfect training schedule etc.

....🏵️....🏵️....🏵️....

The value of the ideal performance
is to be a guide and a navigator towards fullflling our aim.

In reality, it is usually a combination of a

♻️timing

♻️training style

♻️ environmental conditions

That delivers the best performance. 🏆

🌬️☁️As for the times that we may find ourselves overwhelmed by emotions related to not achieving or not reaching the expectations of the ideal perfect.

A useful practice would be honour to those things we achieve in the moment.

🌿Cherish the day.

From a standpoint of acceptance!
In a way that does not diminish the efforts but through enabling 🌝clarity, 🌞warmth and 😌understanding to our experience.

With a quality of honouring the effort put in every training, every drill, every tackle.

As this honour and acceptance is revealing the experience in the moment and allows growth to happen.🌿

Being flexible while building rigid steps of confidence.

Step by step 🚶

Get to know thyself as this will serve as a performance enhancement.🌱

We are perfect and imperfect in many ways this is the way we evolve.

➡️What does giving your "best" look like?

➡️What influences your "best"?

➡️We can you find ways to optimize your best together ?
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Animo are a group of trained sports psychology experts, who support athletes through mental skills education and experiential training.

Get in contact with us to learn, expand, perform

#sportspsychology #performancepsych #performancepsychology #performunderpressure #giveyourbest #giveityourall #gohardorgohome #mentalskills

Blog post alert! 🚨 Building self-confidence is an essential skill in sports, and in life. Read our post to learn some specific tools to build confidence in your sport.
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What other topics do you want to learn about?
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#selfconfidence #sportspsychology #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #slefefficacy #selfesteem #confidence #usainbolt #zlatan #ibrahimovic #ibra #whatwouldzlatando #wwzd #animo #mindbodyspirit

What is sports psychology? What kind of work does Animo do?
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We try to answer some questions here in this video, and any others might be answered in the FAQ section of our website (link in bio).
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In short, we use mental skills training to help improve athlete performance and satisfaction. We work directly with athletes, coaches, and other sports professionals in the form of individual consultations, group workshops, and educational events.
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Interested to learn more? Have more questions? Feel free to reach out!
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#sportspsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentalskills #performancepsych #peakperformance #performance #performunderpressure #athletesupport #mentalhealth #adversity #adversitybuildscharacter #supportsystem #animo #mindbodyspirit

Our blog is up! Check out the updated website (link in bio) to see what's new.
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We have posted about a few different topics - motivation, confidence, and burnout.
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Let us know what other topics you want to learn more about in the comments below!
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(Hint: there's a comprehensive list of topics we could cover on the "services" page of our site)
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#sportspsychology #sportspsych #performancepsych #mentalskills #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #blog #blogger #sportsblog #motivation #habits #newyearresolution #animo #mindbodyspirit

Michalis Chantzis
Animo Performance Coach
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BA Psychology
BSc Sports Sciences
MSc Sport & Exercise Psychology (degree in progress)
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Location: Athens, Greece (& online)
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Languages: Greek, English
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Sport Experience: Water sports, board sports, recreational & health exercise
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Specialities: exercise & technology, mindfulness
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#sportspsychology #mentaltraining #mentalskills #performancecoach #performancespecialist #animo #mindbodyspirit

Juliano "Nano" Pereira
Founder & Coach, Animo Performance
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Education:
MSc Sport & Exercise Psychology, University of Theasaly & Jyväskylä (degree in progress)
BA Psychology, Vassar College
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Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA (& online)
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Languages: English, Portuguese
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Sport Experience:
Soccer (football), ball sports, strength & conditioning, martial arts, endurance sports
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Areas of Expertise:
Imagery/visualization, youth development, team building
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#sportspsychology #mentaltraining #mentalskills #performancecoach #performancespecialist #animo #mindbodyspirit

Luka Dragicevic
Animo Performance Coach
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Education:
-MSc Sport & Exercise Psychology (degree in progress)
-BA Psychology, University of Nis
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Location: Nis, Serbia (& online)
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Languages: Serbian, English
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Sport Experience:
Combat sports, football (soccer), basketball, tennis, e-sports
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Areas of Expertise:
Individual athlete preparation, performance consultations, self-talk
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#sportspsychology #mentaltraining #mentalskills #performancecoach #performancespecialist #animo #mindbodyspirit

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We have added two members to the Animo team - Luka & Michalis. All three team members studied together in Trikala, and we're passionate about helping the next generations of athletes flourish.
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Visit the Animo website (link in bio) to see our profiles and learn more!!

Online classes starting next week! Find more information and register on our website (link in bio) or send us a DM to learn more.
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Class dates & topics:
-INTRO TO SPORTS PSYCH Wed. Oct 21, 7pm (PST)
-IMAGERY/VISUALIZATION Wed. Oct 28, 7pm (PST)
-FLOW STATES Wed. Nov 4, 7pm (PST)
-ROUTINES Wed. Nov 11, 7pm (PST)
-LEADERSHIP Wed. Nov 18, 7pm (PST)
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Classes will be hosted on Google Meet, and links will be sent to participants the same day as the class.
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Class format: Lecture (50%), activities (25%), discussion (25%)
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentalskills #mentaltoughness #mentalfortitude #imagery #visualization #flow #flowstate #routines #performanceroutines #leadership #mastery #animo #mindbodysoul #mindbodyspirit

Website is up! Feel free to spread the word, book sessions, or inquire about anything.
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New online classes and topics will be posted soon. Please comment with any topics you'd like to explore!
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#animo #mindbodyspirit #sportspsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltoughness #mentaltraining #mentalcoach

MENTAL SKILLS: Motivation
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Motivation is the foundation of athlete development. In order to pursue mastery, one must be moved and inspired to take the actions necessary to improve.
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Motivation has both personal and social qualities. Individually, one must value and prioritize the activities they want to master. It is a basic need to feel a sense of control and participation in their activities, as well as feeling capable of meeting the demands of the sport, or developing the necessary skills to be successful. -
An athlete must feel a deep connection with their environment, which can include the physical environment (facilities, grounds, nature), as well as the social climate (people, teammates, coaches, support staff, fans).
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Motivation is not so much a cognitive process, and more of a combination of personal and environmental factors that drives people to give effort and intention to their activities. Motivation can be enhanced by manipulating those variables through mental training and sports psychology consulting.
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltraining #mentalskills #mentalconditioning #mentalcoach #trainyourbrain #trainyourmind #mentalhealth #confidence #perspiration #regulation #inspiration #motivation #volition #willpower #autonomy #competence #relatedness #basicpsychologicalneeds #regulation #deliberatepractice #mindbodyspirit

MENTAL SKILLS: Confidence
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Confidence is simply a belief in oneself. Having a great belief in oneself liberates the potential of an individual which otherwise may have been limited. In other words, low self-confidence is inhibitory, while moderately high self-confidence can help with sport performance and satisfaction.
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Confidence can be cultivated in many ways, both directly through experience and indirectly through mental training and environmental support. The most powerful source of confidence is real-life practice and experience. The more time, energy, and perspiration we devote toward mastery, the more evidence and validation we have to support our beliefs.
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Furthermore, mental training serves to help manage the factors that may shake confidence. Developing self-regulation strategies is key for maintaining healthy levels of confidence. Lastly, social forces, such as social support from family, friends, teammates, coach, as well as an empowering environment and role models, also serve to strengthen belief in oneself. The social ties we have in life, especially sports, can serve as great inspiration for our own abilities.
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Luckily, most of these factors are somewhat controllable, and therefore confidence can be enhanced through deliberate practice. If you don't know where to start, performance psychologists are trained to help you navigate this process. Don't hesitate to reach out.
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltraining #mentalskills #mentalconditioning #mentalcoach #trainyourbrain #trainyourmind #mentalhealth #confidence #perspiration #regulation #inspiration #regulation #deliberatepractice #mindbodyspirit

Ancient Greek phrase: "Νουσ υγιήσ εν σώματι υγιεί"
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Latin equivalent: "Mens sana in corpore sano"
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English translation: "Sound mind, sound body"
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It is an ancient belief that mind and body are inherently connected. The popular phrase "sound body in sound mind,", used in more than one culture, was coined long before modern technology and research that now support the idea. There are numerous studies that show that keeping a healthy mind helps to prevent injury, enhance performance, and maximize satisfaction. Likewise, maintaining a healthy body can encourage the mind to thrive. Ancient Greek gymnasiums were athletic training facilities, and also places of social gathering and intellectual pursuits. In addition to physical training, these sites also held lectures and discussions in philosophy, literature, and music.
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Sports psychology is the study and practice of synchronizing mind and body. As society has changed, the sports psychology professional has emerged as someone who can work with athletes, coaches, trainers, referees, parents, and the organizations in order to support mental and physical development.
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltraining #mentalskills #mentalconditioning #mentalcoach #trainyourbrain #trainyourmind #mentalhealth #mindfulness #meditation #deliberatepractice #mindbodyspirit #soundbodysoundmind

MENTAL SKILLS: Attentional Focus
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Attention is about directing awareness and headspace to specific stimuli. Those stimuli can be in the outside world, or within our own bodies (sensations and imaginations), and they can be pinpoint specific, or generalized observations. In any case, choosing which stimuli to attend to can be a real challenge, and a necessary skill for performance.
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Performance environments often include distracting stimuli, such as fans and noise. Opponents, who are in direct opposition to goals, often try to derail focus as a competitive strategy. Furthermore, physiological cues from our own bodies may send misleading signals, such as the sensations of discomfort in physical exertion. Learning to attend to the correct cues, and maintaining that attention for the necessary duration of time of competition segments is key.
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Attention can be practiced in many ways, often through mindfulness training. Meditation anchors, like the breath, serve to give a focal point for the meditation. The practice is to gently and non-judgementally return attention to the anchor whenever it drifts away. Similarly, imagery can serve as a mental exercise to attend to sport specific cues and details which are relevant to competition. Furthermore, cognitive strategies such as focusing phrases and performance plans require doing the thinking beforehand and practicing over and over until automatic. Lastly, routines can serve to habitualize behaviors and create attentional patterns.
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TL;DR: If you couldn't focus long enough to read the full post, and read only this sentence, give us a shout! Maybe we can help...
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MENTAL SKILLS: Self-Control
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The ability to control and regulate thoughts, behaviors, and emotional responses is one of the most essential, yet difficult aspects of performance. Techniques used by sports psychology professionals universally include some element of self-control.
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People tend to choose things that are easy and comfortable, often falling into old patterns. However, we know that for growth and development it's important to push those boundaries and step out of the comfort zone. Knowing this should make it easy to change behaviors. Push yourself to think, do, and feel new things and you will learn. However, even those who are aware of this are perpetually enticed into old habits, and fail to successfully self-regulate.
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Humans are habitual beings, and therefore behavior change requires incremental modification of habits.
Habits can be altered through self-awareness (mindfulness) and targeting specific areas to change (goal-setting). Understanding psychosomatic cues can inform the direction of change (relaxation/activation) and lead to specific planning strategies like thought management (self-talk). Change and possible future outcomes can also be imagined to strengthen neural pathways to prepare for future obstacles and visualize success (imagery). All of these can be combined into consistent, ordered sets of behavior (routines), to create systematic triggers and make thoughts, behaviors, and emotional responses more automatic.
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Mental training techniques can be used in a variety of ways to improve self-control, and each individual case may have different needs. Consult with a professional to learn more!
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Animo Activity: 5 Minute Calming Imagery
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Build yourself a mental fortress of calm, impenetrable by outside stressors.
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1) Take a mental picture of somewhere relaxing. Soak in details and sensations (sight, smell, sound, taste, feeling, emotion)
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2) Revisit that place to calm the nervous system when feeling pressure. Take several slow, full breaths for 60 seconds. Transport yourself mentally to your location. With each inhale recall pleasureful sensations and emotions, and with each exhale breathe out any tension.
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3) Hold this image in your mind for 4 minutes, shifting attention to different aspects–fine details, broad picture, internal feelings, surrounding environment–using vivid imagination.
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4) Slowly return awareness to the present moment, feeling calm, mindful, and positively energized.
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltraining #mentalskills #mentalconditioning #mentalcoach #trainyourbrain #trainyourmind #mentalhealth #performunderpressure #imagery #mentalimagery #mentalimagerytraining #visualization #calmingimagery #calmingimages #mentalfortitude #mentalfortress #mindfulness #mindfulpractice #meditation #breathing #centering #livepresent #presentmoment #deliberatepractice #cultivategreatness #mindbodyspirit #animo

MENTAL SKILLS: Emotion Regulation
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Emotions are vital to human functioning, and serve various evolutionary purposes. If allowed they can also consume our thoughts and behaviors in ways that are counterproductive to performance.
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Emotions arise as consequence of a complex interaction between person and environment. It is not possible to control the emergence of emotions, although it is possible to learn to identify and understand emotion triggers in order to develop productive responses.
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Emotions may vary greatly by their range and intensity. Distinguishing between discrete emotions and recognizing accompanying feelings are useful ways of developing emotional competence. Taking that one step further, the ability to express emotions effectively and manage interpersonal relationships through empathy can be referred to as emotional intelligence.
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It is important to consider that each individual has their own set of optimal and dysfunctional emotions for performance. Utilizing sports psychology and mental skills training, one can learn to evoke desired emotions on command to maximize performance.
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltraining #mentalskills #mentalconditioning #mentalcoach #trainyourbrain #trainyourmind #mentalhealth #emotion #emotions #emotionregulation #emotioncontrol #emotionalhealth #emotionalintelligence #emotionalcompetence #emotionalwellness #performunderpressure #mindfulness #mindfulpractice #meditation #livepresent #presentmoment #deliberatepractice #cultivategreatness #mindbodyspirit #animo

MENTAL SKILLS: Stress/Anxiety Management
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Athletes experience an infinite number of stressors in sport, which depend on the person and the situation. These pressures add weight to the perceived challenge of competition, and when this outweighs a person's belief in themselves, symptoms of anxiety often arise.
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Anxiety is both experienced in the mind and felt in the body. If not managed properly, the symptoms of anxiety can be detrimental to performance.
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There are many ways to cope with stress and anxiety, and the secret lies in balancing the perceived challenge and perceived competence. It's important to make sure that the competition is set at the appropriate level (especially for young athlete development). Assuming it is, athletes should be reminded that their competition is not unbeatable, and that strong competition is a healthy motivator.
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Furthermore, perceived competence can be enhanced by drawing upon examples of ones skillsets and strengths, and equipping athletes with tangible coping skills. These skills can include several forms of mental training and applied tools. This will help build the belief that any stressors or adversity can be met and overcome (also known as resilience).
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Anxiety is experienced through mental time travel into the past or the future. Humans are often fearful because of negative experiences that happened in the past (traumas), and what they anticipate might happen in the future (uncertainty). Finding ways to ground oneself in the present moment is one of the most powerful ways to make anxiety dissipate.
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#sportspsychology #performancepsychology #mentalskillstraining #mentaltraining #mentalskills #mentalconditioning #mentalcoach #trainyourbrain #trainyourmind #mentalhealth #stress #anxiety #pressure #performunderpressure #mentalrepetitions #mindfulness #mindfulpractice #livepresent #presentmoment #resiliencd #deliberatepractice #cultivategreatness #mindbodyspirit #animo

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