Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Jacqueline Kelly on Sports Coaching, Mental Performance, and Balancing Wellness

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Jacqueline Kelly on Sports Coaching, Mental Performance, and Balancing Wellness · Scene Projects Sports Network

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  SPSN.
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  Welcome into another exciting episode of the Scene Project Sports Network.
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  I am your host Bubba Sartz, and with me today is the founder of Kelly Performance and
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  Wellness, Jacqueline Kelly.
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  Welcome into the show, Jacqueline.
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  Thank you very much.
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  I'm excited to be here.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, you have a very exciting job.
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  I know that you just picked up a new contract with a brand new National Women's Soccer League
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  team.
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  But before we get into that, wanna give you the floor here.
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  Give us a little bit of your backstory and kinda how you got to this point.
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  Mhmm.
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  Yes.
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  Through blood, sweat, and tears, I think.
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  Started right out of college doing personal training and strength and conditioning.
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  Always with some sort of mindfulness before sports psychology was cool.
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  And then went back to school to get my master's in sports psychology and then on to many other
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  certifications and education things, to get the CMPC or certified mental performance coach.
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  I've owned my own business for a lot of years, but I've also worked in universities.
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  I've worked with the military and now working with the Boston Legacy FC.
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  So one of those cliches that I've never really worked a day in my life because I enjoy so much
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  of what I do.
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  So just feeling very fortunate to be part of this new team also and still being able to to
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  work on Kelly Performance and Wellness also.
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  Yeah.
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  So did you grow up an athlete?
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  Yes.
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  I played everything.
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  I tennis.
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  I played on the boys soccer team in my high school.
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  Played basketball in college.
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  I think I was a better softball player, but somehow got a basketball scholarship, so
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  couldn't say no.
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  Yeah.
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  I love to golf and mountain bike and ski and pickleball and all of those things now, but
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  it's hard to find the time.
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  Yeah.
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  You're working too darn much.
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  There's, we love being active.
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  You know?
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  That's the reason that, you know, the scene projects as a network, started focused around
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  music.
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  That's the world that I came out of, but I played three sports all through high school.
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  I've always been active in adventure sports as well.
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  Loved to snowboard.
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  Loved hiking and being out in nature.
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  I grew up in the Black Hills Of South Dakota.
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  So we were we grew up with the national forest as our backyard.
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  It was just part of what we did, and I never necessarily got into, like, the motor sports
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  side of that.
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  My dad was a collegiate basketball player, so it's just always been a part of what we've
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  done.
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  And that's why we started the Scene Project Sports Network was to support, you know, it
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  started with our local high school football team.
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  Just talking with the coach, I kinda mentioned it in passing one day.
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  Shout out to coach Culver who, was in the weight room working out, and, I knew that he
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  had recently lost, his wife and had more time on his hands and and, you know, needed
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  something to to do.
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  Right?
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  And a way to support his boys on the team, and we started a coaches show.
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  And I feel like serving your community has always been there, your community of athletes,
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  whether it was on the, you know, kinda you said more like physical therapy stuff or sports
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  early on, but there's such a huge mental part of the game.
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  And and being an athlete yourself, you understand that better than most.
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  Yeah.
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  It it's definitely I don't think you can have one without out the other.
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  Right?
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  We gotta have a strong body.
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  You've gotta have a strong mind, and you have to have a strong purpose.
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  And now getting to help at the professional level.
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  Is this the first time you've worked with professional athletes?
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  I have worked with professional athletes one on one, but I have never worked with a team.
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  So, yes, my first experience, and it's pretty exciting.
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  Now I know this is relatively new.
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  So have you begun work with the team already?
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  Yes.
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  We're we're into preseason now.
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  We're getting ready to travel again to because the weather in Boston has been a little cold.
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  So
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  I live in South Dakota, Jacqueline.
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  You don't have to tell me about the cold.
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  Talk about the difference between working a one on one.
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  I was very fortunate to have, doctor Brett Denkin on with me recently, and he does a lot
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  of this with collegiate athletes especially, but also pros.
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  But it's always on a one to one basis.
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  Talk about the difference between working one on one with a with a player and working with a
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  group of players now on the team.
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  Mhmm.
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  So, certainly, there are there is time to meet with each individual athlete and still do one
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  on ones, But I am there to support the entire team and the staff.
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  So there are times set aside for learning.
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  I guess, in the beginning, probably 80% of my job is observation and where I feel like we
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  need some education, whether that is, you know, increased confidence or energy management,
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  recovering from mistakes.
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  So the yeah.
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  So it's the it's the best of both worlds.
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  You get to get to know the athletes, on a one on one basis, but I also get to work with them
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  as a whole and how to make the team stronger.
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  Is it fairly common with professional teams to have someone in this position now?
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  Because I don't feel like this was especially for me growing up, you know, in the, you know,
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  early odds when I was in high school.
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  Even in the collegiate programs at that time, you know, twenty years ago, that this was
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  really part of every single team that you had a a sports psychologist or, you know, someone in
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  this coaching realm working on the mental game.
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  Is this relatively new to the industry as a whole?
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  For sure.
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  Yes.
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  We maybe got a little bit more recognition with the military, and then baseball.
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  Mental performance coaches are very, very strong in baseball, but now you're seeing it at
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  the collegiate level and the professional level for sure.
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  Obviously, you can see the banner behind me, operation combating veteran suicide being a big
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  part of what we do here with the SCENE Projects Network.
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  I'm the marketing and PR director for the foundation as well.
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  Talk about your work with the military and starting off there and what it means to you to
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  serve our country in that way.
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  Yeah.
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  One of the biggest honors I've ever had to work with the military as a mental performance
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  coach.
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  I specifically was at the Defense Language Institute where all the military branches come
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  to learn a language, so it's very high stress.
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  Suicide prevention is not my expertise, but something I'm very passionate about also.
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  So being there to support them at at at a basic level and then also being able to refer very
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  quickly if things seem to escalate or I wasn't able to give them the support they needed.
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  So very passionate about that and still do some volunteering with some surfing groups and some
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  ski groups for the military.
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  Just incredible.
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  I I don't think enough of us civilians understand the amount of stress, especially
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  these very young people are under going through boot camp or going through training.
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  And and, I mean, most people, it's a young man's, you know, industry.
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  Right?
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  The military is.
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  It's not necessarily something where you're dealing with very fully fledged adults who have
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  a lot of those and the military at at their very base are are made to take you as a very
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  moldable piece of clay to break you down and to build you back up.
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  But we don't often think about these stresses that it puts the human being under to be broken
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  down or to the learning the new language, I think, is so key because it's not easy.
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  I speak a little bit of Spanish, but even watching, you know, dating this, episode a
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  little bit, watching Bad Bunny's performance at the halftime show for the Super Bowl last night
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  where it's very hard to understand things rapidly.
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  And now you're talking about having to learn a language that you're gonna need to use in a
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  high stress, high octane environment.
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  Right?
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  And it can be very, very challenging to learn it, but then to put it into practice as well.
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  Yeah.
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  No.
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  And just kudos to our military and almost all the branches and how they are bringing in
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  multiple mental performance coaches now to to have that support.
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  I was very busy when I was there, and every single one of those were regardless of the
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  branch, were very thankful for the help and support that we could provide.
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  I think we just need someone to tell us that, like, it's okay that this is hard.
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  Right?
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  Not not well, very basic line.
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  It seems kinda silly to say it, but it's it's supposed to be challenging, And and you're
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  going to get through it.
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  And having just that, like, those small reassurances can be so important.
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  It's it's not life isn't easy in general.
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  And to work under high stress environments, whether it's on the field or it's on the
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  battlefield, are extremely stressful.
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  And it's a reason that the suicide rates for our military are as high as they are.
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  And I don't think that there's enough credit given to these soldiers whether they're still
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  enlisted or retired from the military, for what they've been through and what they go through
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  on a daily basis.
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  Right.
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  I agree completely.
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  And we don't know, you know, the stories of before they came into the military, what
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  stories they're bringing with them too.
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  So to have this continued support, hopefully, we're able to make continue to make some
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  changes with our military and and give them the support and care that they need.
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  No.
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  I would say a vast majority of people, sometimes the military is a way out of
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  circumstances.
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  Where on the sports side, mostly what you're working with, especially if you're working at
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  the upper echelon of collegiate or professional athletes, that they've, for the most part, have
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  had a I don't wanna say easy life, but a much more maybe, you know, an easier time in that
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  life.
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  Right?
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  Usually have a little bit better family structure around them, you know, have had some
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  advantages whether it's at the collegiate level or even just being high school.
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  We know what it's like to be a star athlete, some of us.
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  You get treated a little bit differently, and members of our military aren't necessarily
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  always coming from that world.
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  Right.
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  I agree completely.
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  Yeah.
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  Jacqueline, in your work with your company, Kelly Performance Sport and Wellness, how much
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  of it is on the performance side and how much is on the wellness side?
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  I I feel like while they can be very closely knit together, that isn't always the case.
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  Yeah.
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  No.
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  I I work with people on building a physical program.
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  I work with people on building a more resilience.
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  I have a program a virtual program that you can do in seven days called Unfragile, trying to
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  basically make it a movement so that you understand that life is hard, but we're not
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  here to suffer.
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  So if you are putting certain strategies in order when the next storm comes, you'll be a
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  little bit more equipped, to suffer a little bit less.
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  And then I also do sports hypnosis, virtually, So cover lots of performance and lots of mental
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  and physical wellness.
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  Who are the toughest athletes?
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  And maybe just narrow it down to sport, not personally.
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  We're not trying to pick on anybody.
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  But what are kind of the hardest sports for you in your experience that you've worked in?
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  I don't know if it's a specific sport, but maybe the sport that makes you control your
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  emotions the most.
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  Right?
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  Maybe the highest stakes.
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  You take a lot of emotion into that and being able to regulate your emotions so that you're
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  not too high and heart rate's too high or you're not too low and you're not going in at
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  your peak, right, finding that flow.
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  So I don't know if I could pick a specific sport.
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  Well and I think any sport where it's, high pressure individual moments, golf would
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  obviously be a massive one where you don't have a team necessarily to fall back on.
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  I think the team sports are maybe a little easier, but you mentioned baseball, as well.
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  And, it's a very personal, you know, stepping up there to the plate.
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  It's just you and that ball coming at you.
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  Right?
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  So I I feel like those two of sports that I've played are the most challenging to me to get
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  out of your own head and rely on your training and your physical ability.
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  I work with a lot of golfers, and there is so much time in between shots.
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  So there are a lot of supports or skills that we teach for the times.
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  So I would agree with you very much in baseball.
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  But, you know, when you when you go to the professional level and it's your job, that's a
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  completely different conversation than even high school or college.
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  Yeah.
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  And maybe that the amount of money you're making takes some of the other stresses off of
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  you.
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  Right?
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  Guys playing professional ball aren't necessarily thinking about an exam that they
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  have coming up, later in the week possibly.
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  Mhmm.
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  But the pressure is also mounting because it is your paycheck.
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  And these, professional sports especially can be so volatile.
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  We know how the media can be, myself being on the other side of that, yeah, of that
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  conversation now.
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  So it's it's intriguing to me, and I really look forward to, talking with you.
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  Maybe we can get together after your season here of working with the soccer team and talk
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  about some of the, you know, the the situations that you're gonna deal with over the course of
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  a season and being totally fresh to this as personally.
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  Right?
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  I know that you've done this job for a long time, but you're going to go through things
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  that are going to be a first for you this year and being attached to a team like this and
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  going through it.
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  So really intrigued and very proud of you for accepting this new challenge in your life and
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  excited for you to go have some new experiences.
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  Yeah.
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  Thank you so much.
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  That's that's exactly how I'm looking at it and right, trying to be as prepared as possible,
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  but being prepared for the unknown.
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  It's often the hardest thing we can do.
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  Right?
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  I've lived most of my life kinda shooting from the hip, so I find myself kind of innately
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  prepared for those moments.
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  But, I I still, you know, have to respect that other people necessarily haven't had that lived
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  experience.
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  So, Jacqueline, I appreciate you taking some time for me today.
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  This has been a lot of fun.
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  Yeah.
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  This is great.
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  I it's great to meet you.
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  Go ahead and tell everybody where they can find your company, where they can get ahold of you
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  if they need some help in the, psychology department or on the performance side of things
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  as well.
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  Yeah.
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  So it's, www.kellyperformancewellness.com and all of my information there, the the
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  information about my book coming out on fragile, the program, and anything you need is
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  on there.
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  Fantastic.
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  Well, we're looking forward.
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  I hope everybody goes and gets a copy of that new book when it comes out.
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  We're gonna be watching, this new Boston team out in the National Women's Soccer League and,
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  football league rather and, getting to, enjoy, some really great performances on the field.
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  Jacqueline, thank you for taking a little bit of time for me, and thank you for being part of
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  the scene.
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  Thank you very much.