Not everyone has access to a mental strength coach, but everyone now has access to AthleteMinder, an innovative application designed to ‘improve the mental strength of athletes from the super competitive to recreational.’
The team behind the new product note that, until now, there has never been a simple and efficient way to track and build mental strength for athletes. AthleteMinder is positioned as the most comprehensive platform to date that allows athletes to quantify and track their mental strength and conditioning progress.
AthleteMinder is now available for iOS on the iTunes App Store for US$1.99, and will soon be available for Android.
Designed to benefit athletes of all ages and abilities dedicated to improving their overall performance, AthleteMinder offers an integrated program for users to understand mental training as well as they understand physical training. Following a competition, training, or rest day, users go to their mobile device and answer five short mental-skill questions about their particular activity.
By simply sliding a coloured bar on the screen up or down to record the quantitative value, their answers are then analyzed into a daily summary graph, providing users with tips on how to be their best when it matters most. Also, each athlete’s progress is tracked through weekly and monthly reports. By using AthleteMinder, ‘users will learn to recognize, understand, and track patterns of mental skills required for all activities, so the body and the mind work together in sync.’
Two-time US Olympian, Stanley Cup-winning goaltender for the New York Rangers and member of the AthleteMinder team, Mike Richter believes that AthleteMinder will bring athletes to a higher level of success.
“Mental strength, the ability to handle stress and perform our best under pressure, is perhaps the most important characteristic we can have for success both on the playing field and in life,” said Mike Richter.
“As a player, a coach, and a father, I can think of few things more vital to master ourselves and to teach our children. The mark of a great player is the ability to play to their potential on a consistent basis. Consistency of play comes from the right habits of thought and preparation. AthleteMinder is a simple but powerful tool to refine, practice, and ingrain the habits of a champion.”
With more than 20 years of working with athletes ranging from Olympians to beginners, Dr Mara Smith created AthleteMinder to offer an easy-to-use plan to build, track, and improve mental progress, strength, and fitness.
Smith is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. in Family Studies and Developmental Psychology. She did her post-graduate work at Boston University, earning an M.Ed in Human Movement, as well as an Ed.D in Developmental Studies and Counselling, with a specialty in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Her work as a mental-fitness specialist has led her to consulting with national governing bodies including USA Hockey, USA Gymnastics, US Figure Skating, USA Bobsled, and USA Luge.
“Most athletes recognize the mental side of sport, but seldom do they know how to truly master that part of their game,” said Dr Mara Smith. “AthleteMinder is a great start for any athlete, in any sport, of any ability, to be introduced to the importance of being aware of what is happening in their head—their mind-set, their choices, their thoughts, their training plans.”
She continued, “Providing athletes with a set of five simple questions each day will allow them to build a strong foundation of mental awareness. The ultimate goal of the AthleteMinder app is to give athletes the head start they need to have a strong mind in addition to their strong body.”
Smith teamed up with the Manhattan based, award-winning mobile app design team at Fueled to bring AthleteMinder to life. With the help of Fueled, Smith was able to take the abstract idea of mental fitness and transform it into a tangible tool that anyone can operate.
“Unlike most fitness-tech apps that focus on your physical fitness like Strava and Runkeeper, AthleteMinder focuses on your mental fitness, which is an emerging category in the health and tech space,” said Drew Howard, Product Strategist at Fueled. “We worked to design a highly personal experience through a progressive UX that includes familiar motions and gestures to help users form a new kind of personal behaviour.”
