PERMA EPISODEs
Positive Psychology in Sports
PERMA is gold for teen athletes, and weaving it into a training conversation on your podcast will feel both practical and inspiring. You can frame it as a way to build not just better athletes, but healthier, more resilient humans. Here’s a set of strong, clear talking points you can drop straight into an episode.
Incorporating PERMA Into Teen Athlete Training
Why PERMA Matters for Teen Athletes
- Teen athletes are developing identity, confidence, and emotional regulation — PERMA gives them a framework to thrive on and off the field.
- It shifts training from performance-only to whole-person development, which parents love and coaches need.
- Helps prevent burnout, comparison culture, and the “win-at-all-costs” mindset.
- Helps celebrate small wins: effort, attitude, leadership moments.
- Uses gratitude practices at the start or end of practice.
- Reframes mistakes as data, not failure.
- Teach athletes to recognize what went right before what went wrong.
P — Positive Emotion -
“Positive emotion isn’t about fake hype — it’s about helping teens build emotional momentum.”
P- Positive emotions – the foundation of well-being, this includes joy, gratitude, serenity, excitement, pride, hope and inspiration. This element focuses on increasing the frequency of positive emotions in daily life which leads to greater overall happiness.
Positive Emotions – from Pat Ivey Performance How NFL Stars Stay Motivated & Resilient: The PERMA Model in Action - My Doctoral Dissertation Part 5 - Pat Ivey
Positive Emotions: Controlling Your Mindset
The best athletes understand one simple truth: your thoughts control your performance.
NFL players deal with extreme pressure. Every snap is scrutinized, every mistake is amplified, and every decision is made under intense conditions. If they allow negativity to take over—self-doubt, frustration, fear—they won’t last long.
That’s why elite players train themselves to focus on positive emotions that fuel their performance. They use tools like:
- Pre-game routines that put them in a confident, focused state.
- Visualization to see themselves executing at a high level. (Many of the same areas of the brain light up in a FMRI when experiencing a vivid visualization and the actual event. I did find it fascinating that there is new research from the University College London that a region in the brains temporal lobe called the Fusiform Gyrus does play a crucial role in this process. It might help them to understand more about mental health conditions such as schizophrenia}
- Self-talk to control their internal dialogue and block out doubt.
For athletes looking to build this skill, the key is to be intentional about how you think. Your brain will naturally focus on stress if you don’t train it otherwise.
How to apply this:
- Before practice or games, take time to focus on what excites you about competing.
- Use short, powerful self-talk phrases to keep your mindset locked in.
- Shift your focus from what could go wrong to what you’re capable of doing right now.
The mind is a powerful tool. Control it, and you control your performance.
Visualization techniques significantly enhance athletic performance by
improving focus, building confidence, and refining skills through mental
rehearsal.
Benefits of Visualization for Athletes
- Mental Rehearsal: Visualization allows athletes to mentally practice their movements and strategies before actual performance. By vividly imagining themselves executing specific actions with precision, athletes reinforce neural connections and enhance muscle memory, which can lead to improved physical performance.
- Improved Focus: Engaging in visualization helps athletes develop a heightened sense of concentration. By picturing themselves successfully performing complex movements or strategies, they train their minds to stay present and block out distractions, which can enhance decision-making and reaction times during competitions.
- Building Confidence: Visualization plays a crucial role in boosting athletes' confidence. By repeatedly visualizing successful outcomes, such as overcoming challenges or achieving personal bests, athletes cultivate a positive mindset and belief in their abilities. This mental confidence can reduce anxiety and increase resilience in high-pressure situations.
- Enhanced Performance: Research indicates that visualization activates the same neural pathways in the brain as actual physical execution. This means that when athletes visualize their performance, they are effectively training their brains and bodies to work in sync, leading to improved coordination and execution during real events.
- Stress Management: Visualization techniques can also help athletes manage stress and anxiety. By imagining themselves in calm and successful scenarios, they can create a mental buffer against the pressures of competition, allowing them to perform at their best.
PERMA Checklist/Journaling for Parents & Teen Athletes
a PERMA checklist is such a powerful tool for families because it gives both parents and teen athletes a shared language for well‑being, confidence, and performance. If you would like for me to send you my free PERMA Checklist for Parents and Teen Athletes, drop me a message on IG or FB with the word Free PERMA Checklist and I’ll send you a copy. We will go over each pillar’s checklist in each episode and it will also be included in my show notes.
P — Positive Emotion Check List
For Teen Athletes
- Did I notice at least one thing that went well today?
- Did I celebrate effort, not just outcomes?
- Did I reframe a mistake as something I can learn from?
- Did I do something that genuinely made me feel good?
For Parents
- Did I acknowledge my teen’s effort before asking about results?
- Did I model calm, positive energy during stressful moments?
- Did I help my teen recognize what went right today?
- Did I avoid comparing them to other athletes?
Positive emotions Car Convo Talking Points:
- What moments brought you joy or gratitude today?
- How did those moments align with your passions or talents?
- What was one positive moment today?
