"She's a shooter; she could shoot the lights out. But she wasn't being a shooter during the game and was hesitant to make mistakes." Nathan explains, "When Presley did make a mistake, it would get at her for the entire game. She wasn't turning loose; she was thinking too much instead of just playing the game."

“Presley was nailing it in practice, then getting out there in a game, and it's like a different player.”

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“Presley was nailing it in practice, then getting out there in a game, and it's like a different player.”

Despite having a coaching background, Nathan stays out of that role with his daughters. He considers it essential for them to train independently and have their own space. Seeing his responsibility more as providing mental and emotional support, “I leave the coaching to the coach,” Nathan says, “ I just try to be there for them.”

So when he noticed basketballer daughter Presley doing 300 makes in practice but holding back during a game, he knew there was an underlying mental aspect that needed addressing.

"I've always been interested in the mental aspect. And I've always thought great coaches were also great psychologists."

Proud "girl dad", Nathan, is a rancher and former coach with four daughters, all into various sports from basketball to golf to donkey training. Coming from a sporting background and playing himself in college, Nathan appreciates that the challenge of being an athlete extends beyond physical training.

practice

Nailing it in                     but holding back in the game.

"We talked about when she would make a mistake, just flush it. I would watch her out there playing, and she would miss like two shots in a row. And as she's running back to play defense, she'll do the hand motion of flushing it. So every time she makes a mistake, it's very subtle, but it clicks in our mind — Flush it, next play."

Presley jumped at the opportunity to improve her game as the type of athlete driven to be better no matter what it takes.
 

"That's just her personality. She doesn't have a lot of ego; she wants to do whatever it takes to get better."
 

Presley started putting the techniques of the EMG into practice immediately. The training modules in the EMG guided Presley to develop a unique-to-her ‘snap back routine’ that helps her to move on when things don't go right and not get caught up in a bad play.
 

Dad Nathan also quickly started seeing the shift, "The biggest thing I noticed is just her immediate ability to just switch it, forget about it and move on to the next play."

"The mental and emotional part in sports is 90% of the game. If you've got a kid that's solid mentally, they'll be good."

Searching for a solution, Nathan googled sports psychology, watched videos and read literature, but the lack of detail and structure in the information frustrated him. So discovering The Elite Mental Game was like a bright light in the dark, and he knew it was the right direction for him and his daughters.
 

The Elite Mental Game caters to both the athlete and their parents. Targeted training modules and techniques from both program streams work hand in hand to elevate the performance and strengthen the competing teen athlete's mental game with their parents' support.
 

"If I had known all this when I was playing college," Nathan says, "I would have been so much better; it would have helped me so much."
 

"What's crazy is we send these kids to all of these sports specialists. They've got trainers, personal trainers and everything else. And we think, okay, she needs to get in the gym and shoot more, or she needs to lift weights more, or she needs to go to this specialist, but it's not all of that. It's the mental side of it."

direction

The right                      for dad and his daughters

"She sees her dreams beginning to come true. It's been fun and really exciting for her."

Having a shared language and understanding from Elite Mental Game has also enhanced their relationship.

"We've always had a great relationship, but it's now even better," Nathan says, "I can speak the same jargon that she gets from the EMG, and we can stay on the same page."

“Because of EMG, all of it improved… not only athletically.”

Presley's dream is to play at an elite level. She's only in her junior year, but after attending two successful camps, she got offers of an athletic scholarship from both.

reality

When dreams become               

When dreams become