Every few weeks, Associate Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences Lindsey Kellar leads student athletes through a program called Titan Mindset. As the Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Wellness, Kellar leads student athletes through exercises that help improve their confidence and nurture their mental health. She is accompanied by Illinois State sports psychology graduate student and former student athlete Brett Haffner.
The series started in September of 2024 to acclimate student athletes to college life and protect their mental health throughout their season. “This past fall was the first year of the ‘Titan Takeoff’ program in which every first year student-athlete participated. The program focused on successfully navigating the challenges of the first year of college and first year of participation in a collegiate sport.” Kellar said. Other topics have included managing stress, regulating emotion and transitioning out of sports for graduating student athletes.
“Titan Mindset was started alongside the Athletic Departments’ growing emphasis on student athlete mental health in 2019 and 2020. The idea of the program grew out of increased interest in supporting our student-athletes more holistically.” Kellar said. “Although the workshops focus on the sport context, each strategy or skill taught in the workshops can be used outside of sport as well.”
On Tuesday, January 21, Kellar’s talk focused on helping athletes improve their self-talk, in practice, in games or meets and outside of sports. Representatives from the women’s volleyball, women’s golf and mens and womens track and field teams came to the Ames Library to listen to Kellar and Haffner’s talk.
The speakers covered the types of confidence in sports, including mastery of skills, experience, support from coaches and teammates and gaining confidence from others around them. The athletes were asked to identify areas where they felt most confident and areas where they struggled to maintain confidence.
Kellar and Haffner then discussed with attendees how to take self-deprecating statements that lower confidence and turn them into statements that would build confidence. Haffner explained that this practice can make self-talk more personalized to the athlete, as well as how to check in with your mental health and confidence.
Alex Bardouniotis, a first-year volleyball player who attended Tuesday’s talk, spoke on the benefits the program can have. She said the Titan Mindset program is a great way to help student athletes put thoughts into words and manage their emotions. “Lindsey and Brett create activities that help to write down and process things you feel as a student athlete,” Bardouniotis said “Whether that is talking about confidence or what you say to yourself in high energy or high pressure moments, it helps student athletes pinpoint those emotions to help improve confidence in the future.”
Upcoming talks will happen in February and March, and they will cover building resilience and regulating emotions surrounding competition time. Any student athletes are welcome and encouraged to attend.