Board Chair

Kristen Dieffenbach PhD, CC AAASP
Assistant Professor - Athletic Coaching Education
WVU - School of Physical Education
USA Cycling Coaching Education Committee Advisory Board Member

Board Members

Megan Babkes Stellino PhD
Associate Professor
Social Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity
School of Sport and Exercise Science
University of Northern Colorado

Gregory A. Dale PhD
Professor of Sport Psychology and Sport Ethics
Duke University
Director of Mental Training and Co-Director of the Leadership Program
Duke Athletics

Natalie Durand Bush PhD
Assistant Professor of Sport Psychology
School of Human Kinetics
University of Ottowa
Chair, Canadian Sport Psychology Association
Vice-President, International Society of Sport Psychology

Troy H. Engle, M.S.Associate Director and Head Coach, Track & Field
U.S. Paralympics
United States Olympic Committee

Laura G. Farres PhD, Ch.P.C.
Mind in Motion Consulting
Department of Sport Science and Coaching
Douglas College, New Westminster, British Columbia

Wade Gilbert PhD
Associate Professor
Sport Psychology Coordinator
Department of Kinesiology
California State University, Fresno

Daniel Gould PhD
Director, Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
Department of Kinesiology
Michigan State University

Michael Kellman PhD
School of Human Movement Studies and Psychology
University of Queensland , Australia

Goran Kentta PhD
The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences
President, Swedish Sport Psychological Association

Larry Lauer PhDDirector of Coaching Education and Development
The Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
Michigan State University

Jerry Lynch PhD
Expert Consultant, Author, Coach
www.wayofchampions.com

Scott Martin PhD
Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion, and Recreation
University of North Texas, Denton
Certified Consultant and Fellow of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP)
Member of the United State Olympic Committee’s Sport Psychology Registry

Julian Morrow PhD
Sport Sense Consulting

TC North PhD
CEO - Catalyst High Performance
www.BoulderCatalyst.com

Tom Patrick PhD
High Performance Director & Director of the National Triathlon Centre, Triathlon Canada
Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria
Associate Supervisor within the doctoral studies program, School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland
Co-chair, Canadian Sport Psychology Association

Linda M. Petlichkoff PhD
Department of Kinesiology
Boise State University

Traci Statler PhD
Assistant Professor - Sport Psychology
California State University - Fullerton
Managing Council - International Society of Sport Psychology
Sport Psychology Consultant - USA Track & Field

Robert Weinberg, PhD
Department of Physical Education, Health and Sport Studies
Miami University, Oxford, OH

Board Member Biographies

Kristen Dieffenbach PhD is an assistant professor of athletic coaching education at West Virginia University. She has a Ph.D. in exercise science with an emphasis in exercise and sport psychology from the University of North Carolina - Greensboro and is an Association of Applied Sport Psychology certified consultant. Currently she serves as advisory board member with the USA Cycling coaching education committee and is the cycling psychology editor for Peak Conditioning for Cycling. Her areas of educational, research, and consultation concentration include coaching education, performance enhancement, talent development, and understanding and preventing underrecovery. She has worked on numerous grants, projects, and consultations in these areas for the United States Olympic Committee, United States Tennis Association, USA Cycling, USA Water Polo, Peaks Coaching Group, and Carmichael Training Systems. She has published research articles in scientific journals and has written for applied publications such as Olympic Coach, VeloNews, and Dirt Rag. Kristen has also served as an expert panelist or consultant for features in publications such as Performance Conditioning for Cycling, Runner’s World, Backpacker, Bicycling, and Adventure Sports Magazine, and on the Outdoor Life Network. As a coach she holds an elite level USA Cycling license and has earned a Level II endurance specialization from USA Track and Field. She has coached for over 10 years at the high school, collegiate, recreational, and elite levels. Through her company, Mountains, Marathons, and More, she provides sport psychology consultation and education and she coaches for Peaks Coaching Group. For more information check out www.sportpsychonline.com or contact her at kdieffenbach (at) sportpsychonline.com.

Megan Babkes Stellino PhD is currently an Associate Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Northern Colorado. She specializes in the area of social psychology of sport and physical activity. She teaches courses on the psychology of sport/exercise, sociology of sport/exercise, developmental kinesiology, research methods, applications of sport psychology and theories of motivation. Dr. Babkes Stellino’s research focuses on the influence that significant others have on the developmental psychosocial components (perceptions of competence, motivation, body image, and affective responses) of youth achievement. She also studies the impact that Special Olympics, and other adapted physical domain activities, have on individuals with mental retardation and their families. Additionally, she conducts research on how the choices that children make during free time (e.g., school recess) and the nature of social relationships relate to obesity. Dr. Babkes Stellino has experience working with athletes of many different abilities, levels and sports including gymnastics, tennis, wrestling, volleyball, golf, track and field, soccer and football kickers. She has also conducted numerous workshops for coaches, athletic trainers, group fitness instructors, personal trainers and parents of young athletes.

Gregory A. Dale PhD is a Professor of Sport Psychology and Sport Ethics at Duke University. He is also the Director of Mental Training and Co-Director of the Leadership Program for Duke Athletics. In addition to his work with Duke athletes and coaches, Greg consults with numerous college and professional athletes and teams. Greg has written three books related to leadership and performance. In addition, he has written scripts and served as the “expert” on a series of eleven videos for coaches and athletes. Greg has been featured on Good Morning America, MSNBC and numerous national radio programs. He is a member of the Sport Psychology Staff for USA Track and Field.

Natalie Durand-Bush PhD is an assistant professor of sport psychology in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. Her areas of interest and specialization include the development and maintenance of expertise in sport, consulting/counseling, and resonance, which has at its core the concept of “feel.” She is particularly interested in the relationship between athlete, coach, parent, and consultant in the development of optimal performance and well-being. Dr. Durand-Bush is the co-author of the Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool (OMSAT), an instrument developed to help athletes and coaches evaluate a variety of mental skills perceived to be important for consistent high-quality performance. She has presented her tri-council funded research and applied work at numerous international conferences and published several refereed articles and book chapters. Among other accomplishments, Dr. Durand-Bush received the Young Scientist Award from the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology in 1998. Aside from teaching and conducting research, Dr. Durand-Bush has been working for the past 13 years as a performance psychology specialist with hundreds of athletes competing at different levels in various sports, including athletes from five Canadian national teams, a men’s major junior hockey team, two University varsity teams, and professional athletes from the Peak Centre for Human Performance. At a physiotherapy and sport medicine clinic, she works with individuals striving to increase their level of fitness and well-being, overcome injuries, manage their stress, or reduce their weight. Dr. Durand-Bush is currently the Chair for the Canadian Sport Psychology Association and the Vice-President of the International Society of Sport Psychology.

Troy H. Engle, M.S. is an Associate Director of the Paralympics Division of the USOC and serves as the Head Coach of US Paralympic Track and Field. Prior to joining the USOC, Engle was a collegiate track and field coach for over 20 years at Occidental College, Kansas State University, the United States Military Academy, Washington University, Swarthmore College and Amherst College. In addition, Engle has served as the Director of Sport for the Papua New Guinea Sports Commission, overseeing all sport for the nation of five million. He has served as Chair of the NCAA Track and Field Committee and currently serves as Chair of Coaches Education for USA Track and Field.

Laura G. Farres PhD, Ch.P.C. has a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Ottawa. Her formal training is in the area of educational psychology and the psychology of performance. She is a Sport Psychology Consultant with the Canadian Sport Psychology Association (CSPA) and has worked in the field as an applied practitioner for over 12 years. In addition, Laura is a National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) level four coach and a chartered professional coach (Ch.P.C.) with the Canadian Professional Coaches Association. She applies her knowledge and skills of mental training to sport and exercise, health, and business contexts through her private consulting practice, Mind in Motion Consulting www.mindinmotion.ca. She works with a number of national, provincial and regional organizations in this capacity. She also teaches part-time at Douglas College in New Westminster, British Columbia in the Department of Sport Science and Coaching. Website www.mindinmotion.ca

Wade Gilbert PhD is an associate professor and sport psychology coordinator in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fresno. Dr. Gilbert earned degrees in physical education (B.P.E.), human kinetics (M.A.), and education (Ph.D.) from the University of Ottawa. Upon completion of his doctoral degree Wade was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship with the International Center for Talent Development at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Gilbert’s areas of expertise include sport and exercise psychology, coaching science, physical education, talent development, and youth sport. His work has been published in many journals and books including Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, The Sport Psychologist, Olympic Coach, Journal of Sport Behavior, Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, and the Handbook of Physical Education. Dr. Gilbert has received many grants and honors including the Dorothy V. Harris Memorial Award from the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. In addition to serving on the Podium Sports Journal advisory board, he also sits on the editorial boards for The Sport Psychologist, the International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, and the International Journal of Coaching Science. Wade teaches the coaching concepts course at Fresno State that allows students to earn coaching certification through the California Interscholastic Federation and American Sport Education Program. Dr. Gilbert has also contributed to the design and provision of sport psychology consulting services for elite amateur athletes in a wide range of sports including fencing, football, soccer, track & field, and triathlon.

Daniel Gould PhD is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports. A sport psychology specialist Dan has studied stress, burnout and motivation in young athletes, how high school coaches teach life skills to their players, talent development in children, and the role that parents play in youth sports. He is best known for his efforts to link sport science research to practice and practice to research and work as a coaching educator.

Dr Michael Kellmann is a senior lecturer holding a joint appointment with the School of Human Movement Studies and Psychology at the University of Queensland , Australia . He is a member of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and German Psychological Association. He served for six years on the executive board of the German Association of Sport Psychology and is on the editorial board of The Sport Psychologist, Sciences and Techniques of Physical Activities and Sports, the Zeitschrift für Sportpsychologie (German Journal of Sport Psychology), and the Deutsche Zeitschrift für Sportmedizin (German Journal of Sport Medicine). Michael’s current research activities include overtraining prevention and recovery enhancement, sport psychological diagnostics and intervention, coaches behaviour during competition and practice as well as personality and performance competence of coaches in sports. Michael’s work has appeared in several publications. He is co-author of Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes: User Manual and edited the book Enhancing Recovery: Preventing Under performance in Athletes both published by Human Kinetics (USA). In his applied work Michael has consulted with and conducted research for the National Sport Centre Calgary in Canada , the Olympic Training Centre’s in Potsdam and Dortmund/Bochum ( Germany ), and was the head sport psychologist of the German National Rowing Federation.

Goran Kentta PhD earned his Ph.D in psychology at Stockholm University in 2001. He has a passion for building bridges between the domains of sport psychology research, education, and applied work in elite sports. The majority of his research and publications has focused on elite level athletes and the training process with a stress-recovery perspective. Goran has an extensive coaching background with various national and club teams in flat water sprint kayaking. He is currently involved with both the Swedish Olympic Committees and the Swedish National Sport Federation (NGB) in order to develop strategies for sport psychological support for the elite athletes and coaches. Goran currently holds a research position in Stockholm at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and he is also the current president of the Swedish Sport Psychological Association.

Larry Lauer PhD is currently the Director of Coaching Education and Development in the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) at Michigan State University. His role involves working closely with the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) and Think Detroit PAL to conduct high quality coaching education programs, training instructors, evaluating the program’s effectiveness, and developing curricular materials. In addition, Larry conducts cutting-edge youth sport research at the ISYS and develops resources for youth sport organizations, parents, athletes, coaches, and administrators. For instance, Larry has worked with USA Tennis to develop junior parent education presentations on getting started as a junior tennis parent and developing your child’s talent. Also, he has spearheaded the development of a book of mental skills and drills for junior tennis. At this same time, Larry completed a Ph. D. in Exercise and Sport Science, specializing in sport psychology, at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Larry has been consulting with athletes on performance enhancement and personal development issues for the past 8 years. He has worked with athletes from a variety of sports including tennis, ice hockey, soccer, cross country, swimming, figure skating, volleyball, gymnastics, and baseball. These male and female athletes have ranged from youth to collegiate to professional in their experience. Larry has been very involved in youth ice hockey in performance enhancement and reducing aggressive play. He has created a “Playing Tough and Clean Hockey Program” to help players develop emotional toughness and avoid dirty play on the ice. This Program is now being disseminated to youth hockey coaches through a partnership with the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association. Larry also has worked a great deal with coaches and parents providing educational presentations and resources, and private consulting. He conducts coaching clinics throughout the state of Michigan for high school and youth sport coaches, and parent education workshops. Larry has 7 years experience instructing in the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program. A former coach of baseball, hockey, tennis, and basketball, Larry has also received USA Hockey’s Advanced Level coaching certification. Larry served as hockey director for over two years in Philadelphia/South Jersey and Charlotte, NC. Specifically, he worked for the Philadelphia Flyers rink development department and Flyers Skate Zone for 14 months as a community youth ice hockey director.
Lauer & Associates, Championship Performance Consulting
Office Phone (517) 353-5395 Email: lauerl (at) msu.edu

Jerry Lynch PhD has been a sport psychology consultant to over 24 international and national championship teams at the professional and NCAA collegiate levels. He is the former sport psychologist for men’s and women’s basketball, lacrosse and soccer teams at the universities Duke, Maryland and Stanford and continues to work with several teams nationally. He has been involved with junior athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado, helping them overcome fears, blocks and slumps, and to perform up to their potential. Several of his clients have participated in various summer and winter Olympic games. Aside from sports, Dr. Lynch has worked with performing artists and corporate executives. Dr. Lynch is a well known and in-demand public speaker at athletic and corporate conventions, a national presenter of clinics and workshops for coaches and athletes in college and high school. He is a dynamic, entertaining, motivating, provocative and humorous speaker presenting topics on Peak Performance and the Ways of Champions in a practical, easy-to-apply manner. Some of his presentations include keynote talks at the New Zealand Academy of Sport, Der Deutsche Schmerztog in Germany, the National Field Hockey Coaches Convention, the Ironman Sports Medicine Conference in Hawaii, and the USA Lacrosse National Convention. Dr. Lynch has had extensive media interview coverage such as being an invited guest on CBS, NBC, and PBS national television, The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Baltimore Sun, Outside Magazine, and several national radio broadcasts. Dr. Lynch received his doctorate in psychology from Penn State University, and has done extensive post-doctoral work in the area of philosophy and performance enhancement. He has been a national class athlete, having been a member of a national championship team and, to this day, continues to train and compete in running and cycling. He has coached at the high school level as well as AAU sports. He is the author of nine books, in as many as seven languages, on coaching, peak performance and sport psychology. He has five video DVDs on the Way of the Champion as well as two 6-CD audio boxes on Performance in Athletics. Dr. Lynch is the founder and director of WAY OF CHAMPIONS, a performance consulting group geared toward helping others master the inner game for peak performance in athletics and life. He maintains a private practice and an extensive sport psychology consultation service for athletes, coaches and parents around the world.
Website: www.wayofchampions.com
Email: docj (at) wayofchampions.com

Scott Martin PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion, and Recreation at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas. Dr. Martin is a Certified Consultant and Fellow of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and a member of the United State Olympic Committee’s Sport Psychology Registry. He has extensive experience in sports and coaching at the NCAA Division I level that has allowed him to help numerous athletes and sport teams with performance and personal concerns. His research interests include athletes’ use and perceptions of psychological skills training, preferred leadership and coaching styles, coaching effectiveness, perceived effort, psychology of injury and rehabilitation, and multisport endurance athletes. He has authored or co-authored over 30 refereed professional articles, 10 nonrefereed articles, two book chapters, and given over 75 presentations at national and international conferences. He has received over $1,250,000.00 in external funding.

Julian Morrow PhD received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from New York University in 1983 and was subsequently certified by the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP) in 1986. His career has included: academic appointments on both, graduate and undergraduate levels, publications in refereed journals and textbooks and the construction of two sport related personality inventories. More recently, however, J has turned his attention towards: consulting a client base that has included, NCAA Division IA and professional/elite level athletes and organizations and penning articles for the popular press. His writing typically concerns issues related to: performance enhancement, goal setting, leadership, exercise and fitness, stress management, biofeedback, and body satisfaction. Dr. Morrow has presented his research findings and chaired panel discussions at AAASP, the American Psychological Association, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the American Psychiatric Association conferences, as well as, been requested to provide interviews for the news and entertainment media.

TC North PhD is CEO of Catalyst High Performance. He is an international speaker, consultant and coach. He works with executives, sales teams, network marketers, athletes and other motivated people, but he has a particularly strong passion to work with teenage athletes, their parents and coaches. He has counseled teenage athletes, college athletes, scores of world and national champions, Olympic athletes and professional athletes and has consulted with many club and college sports teams, a professional team and several USA national teams. His work has been published in both medical and business journals and his unique talents have been featured in the Channel 9 KUSA News, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boulder Camera, Women’s Magazine and Boulder County Business Report. His greatest accomplishment to date…. is that his 13 year old daughter still likes and respects him … (at least most of the time).
Phone: 303.665.8920
Email: TCNorth (at) BoulderCatalyst.com.

Tom Patrick PhD is the High Performance Director and Director of the National Triathlon Centre for Triathlon Canada. Tom was formerly a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Health at the University of Winnipeg where he lectured on coaching, leadership and the psychology of sport. Tom completed his PhD at the University of Southern Queensland where he studied the lived experiences regarding the practice of sport psychology. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria and is an Associate Supervisor within the doctoral studies program at the University of Queensland in the School of Human Movement Studies. Tom is also currently Co-chair with the Canadian Sport Psychology Association and has worked with a number of international elite athletes and teams in Canada, the United States and Australia. He served as a sport psychology consultant with the Canadian Sport Centre-Manitoba from 1998 to 2006 and was an instructor with the National Coaching Institute and is currently a Mentor Coach at the National Coaching Institute – Victoria for the sport of triathlon. He has published a number of articles, chapters and books on various issues related to the psychology of human performance and he is currently working on a collaborative research initiative with the University of Queensland and the University of Ottawa exploring the potential of workplace learning and communities of practice on coach knowledge and learning in triathlon coaching.

Linda M. Petlichkoff PhD is a Professor with the Department of Kinesiology at Boise State University. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois where she received her degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in sport psychology. Dr. Petlichkoff serves as a Development Consultant to The First Tee - Life Skills department, a program for teaching character education through specific life skills that promote positive youth development for youth between the ages of 7-17 years. She also participates in activities at her local chapter, The First Tee of Idaho, as a The First Tee Coach where she teaches after school sessions and classes during the summer and serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors. Dr. Petlichkoff has served as a member of the Gatorade Board of Advisors for Science and Education (BASE) North America; provided psychological skills training programs for the US Yacht Racing Union and the National Guard Biathlon teams, as well as the Boise State Women’s Gymnastics and Tennis teams. Dr. Petlichkoff is a Past-President of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Her main research interests focus on issues related to youth sport participation and withdrawal, competitive anxiety, goal setting techniques, self-regulation skills and positive youth development through sport. Before returning to school, Dr. Petlichkoff taught secondary mathematics and coached a number of sports for 10 years in the Wayne-Westland Community Schools, Wayne, MI and was the Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, MI. Linda is an avid golfer and applies many of the life skills taught at The First Tee to her own game.

Department of Kinesiology
Boise State University
1910 University Dr.
Boise, ID 83725-1710
Phone: 208-426-1231 (O)
Email: lindapetlichkoff (at) boisestate.edu

Traci Statler PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University - Fullerton, with an expertise in the area of applied sport and performance psychology. She received a Ph.D. in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Utah in 2001, with an emphasis in applied sport psychology. Dr. Statler’s research interests include the “art” of applied sport psychology consulting, the psychology of high-level human performance, and the psychology of injury and rehabilitation, with numerous professional presentations in these areas. She currently serves as a performance psychology consultant to the United States Association for Track and Field (USATF), and a variety of collegiate athletic programs, as well as conducting individual performance enhancement sessions with professional athletes, police officers, and fire fighters in southern California.

Contact Info:
Dr. Traci Statler
Assistant Professor - Sport Psychology
Department of Kinesiology
California State University - Fullerton
Fullerton, CA 92834
tstatler (at) fullerton.edu
(714) 278-8554

Robert Weinberg, PhD is currently a Professor and Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Physical Education, Health and Sport Studies at Miami University. He was voted one of the top 10 sport psychologists in North America by his peers and has been president of both the more scholarly (North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity) and applied (Association for Applied Sport Psychology) sport psychology organizations in North America. He was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology and sits on the editorial boards of 6 other sport psychology journals. He has published over 130 refereed, scholarly articles, and has (along with co-author Dan Gould) published the most widely used text in the world in sport psychology (Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology 4th ed.). He is a member of the United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry and regularly consults with athletes of all ages and skill levels. His focus is on the development of mental skills to enhance performance and psychological well-being .
Email: weinber (at) muohio.edu