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ELLIOTT WAKSMAN: I enjoy
working with athletes
and hearing the athletes
describe their progress,
specifically athletes
will reach their goals.
They'll find that
motivational source.
They'll gain that self confidence.
Listening to them to describe those
issues is really rewarding for me.
As sport performance
consultant, I work
with athletes on the mental game.
It's mental challenges.
It's confidence.
It's motivation.
It's helping athletes
where other coaches
or nutritionists or trainers don't.
Sports psychology exists
to help athletes and teams.
It's an extra resource.
And the mental game is oftentimes
overlooked unfortunately,
yet it's so important.
So it's adding that
resource to the field.
Sports psychologists work in
private practice or with teams.
For example, an athletic
department at a college
will hire a full time sports
psychologist or an organization
professionally.
I'm in a private practice.
I network with different
professionals and gain referrals
from coaches or athletic
directors or parents.
And individuals come to my office.
Some psychologists work
directly with athletes.
And their focus is more
practitioner, more applied based.
In contrast, there's
researchers that focus more
of their work on journals
and empirical studies.
A researcher publishes
empirical studies.
They collect data.
They collect all the findings.
I take those findings
and apply it directly.
There are several misconceptions
in the field of sports psychology.
People think that we
over-analyze our clients
or dig to deep, when in fact,
we're talking about sport
and really teaching mental skills.
As a sport performance
consultant, I do not clinically
label my clients such
as depression, anorexia.
I work directly with the
sport and teach mental skills.
Insurance and clinical labels
are not involved with my work.
 
One of the more difficult
aspects of my work
is actually listening to the
clients and understanding
what actually needs to be done.
Clients will come in and they'll
describe their obstacles,
yet I have to listen.
And my training helps me
understand what interventions
or what solutions
need to be applied.
The most difficult issue
to deal with is confidence.
That's a huge factor in sport.
Regaining that self confidence,
that self satisfaction,
that self pride is a
big part of my work.
And it's difficult to help
athletes find that again.
It's doable.
But it's definitely an issue
that I find a lot in my work.
The most rewarding
aspect of my work is
hearing the clients
describe their progress,
how they reach their goals.
For example, a client
talked about how
he was looking forward
to competition this week.
And he never would have said
that or felt that last season.
So that sense of eager and
that sense of satisfaction
and that sense of
pride and enjoyment
really is rewarding on my end.
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