How you handle cuts says as much about your training as it does about her talent. Learn more here, coach → https://coachfreetraining.com

===========================
📌 Resources & Tools:
===========================

FREE:

🎓 Mental Game Training for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
📬 Join our weekly Varsity Squad newsletter: https://coachhergame.com/yt-varsity-squad
🔹 Player Impact Plan Template: https://coachhergame.com/impact
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:

👉 Grab the Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for Teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🔹 Championship Program Mentorship: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com

===========================
Connect with us!
===========================

IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/coachhergame
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergame
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

===========================
⏰ Key Timestamps:
===========================
00:00 Introduction
00:29 Reduce Anxiety Early
03:49 Avoid Surprises
05:55 Setting Evaluation Criteria
07:32 Evaluating Intangibles
10:13 Communicating Teams and Cuts
13:53 Final Thoughts

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

In this video, I break down how I make tryout cuts after 14 years of coaching and four state championships, including decisions I still think about years later.

This episode covers the evaluation system I built so those decisions come from data and clarity, not just a gut call under pressure.

What You'll Learn:
✅ Why real evaluation starts in the summer, not on day one of tryouts
✅ The FAQ document that gets every athlete and parent on the same page about how cuts work before tryouts begin
✅ How a two-day structure gives you the data to back up a hard decision
✅ Why I stopped fitness testing and what I watch instead to decide who makes the team
✅ How to evaluate leadership and mental toughness without cutting a player for a skill you're going to teach her anyway

💬 Coaches — comment below: what's the hardest cut you've ever had to make, and how did you handle telling her?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

⚡️Larger high schools tend to cut more athletes than smaller ones, which is linked to earlier single-sport specialization in female high school volleyball players. (UW-Madison School of Education, 2026)

⚡️A study of 22 head coaches found deselection happens in four distinct phases, and coaches often lean on intuition when evaluation criteria run into uncertainty. (Dunn, McHugh & Holt, The Sport Psychologist, 2016)

⚡️A growing body of research now supports mental toughness as a trainable skill, not a fixed trait athletes are simply born with. (American College of Sports Medicine, 2025)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#mentalperformance #coachinggirls #youthathletics #tryoutcuts #volleyballcoach

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Every roster has a cactus kid. Most coaches never get trained for her. Learn more culture tips here, coach → https://champions.elitecompetitor.com

📌 Resources & Tools:
FREE:🎓 Mental Game Training for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
📬 Join our weekly Varsity Squad newsletter: https://coachhergame.com/yt-varsity-squad
🔹 Player Impact Plan Template: https://coachhergame.com/impact
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Grab the Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for Teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🔹 Championship Program Mentorship: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/coachhergame
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergame
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: The Gift of Strong-Willed Kids
01:13 Meet Wendy Snyder & Fresh Start Family
03:05 Traits of Strong-Willed Kids & Future Leaders
06:06 Coaching Cactus Kids: Earning Respect
07:03 Handling Intensity Without Disrespect
09:44 Teaching Peaceful Conflict Resolution & Win-Win
12:54 Detachment & Handling Different Personalities
13:25 Team Conversations & Detachment Skills
16:27 Reframing Complaints as Requests
21:16 Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Wendy

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

🎙 Joined this episode by Wendy Snyder, positive parenting educator, family life coach, and founder of Fresh Start Family.

Coaches, you already know the player. Intense, competitive, hard to read, and probably one of the best athletes on your roster.

This episode breaks down how to coach that intensity without letting it slide into disrespect, and how to run a team conversation about it without shaming the kid who brought the energy in the first place.

What You'll Learn:
✅ The difference between competitive intensity and actual disrespect, and why coaches confuse the two
✅ A simple script for peaceful conflict resolution you can use with any two players who are clashing
✅ Why "behind every complaint is a request" changes how you respond to a player who's venting
✅ How to hold a team meeting about one player's impact without making her feel like the problem
✅ When to loop a parent in versus letting the athlete handle the conflict herself

💬 Coaches — comment below: What's your go-to move when one intense player is creating friction with the rest of the team?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️Conflict communication patterns accounted for 40% of the variance in team cohesion among competitive youth athletes (McLaren & Spink, International Journal of Sport Communication, 2020)
⚡️Managing parents ranked among the top reasons coaches considered leaving the profession, per a national survey of 3,470 coaches (U.S. Center for SafeSport, 2026)
⚡️More than 40% of sports officials surveyed cited unruly parent conduct as the biggest threat to their job satisfaction (National Association of Sports Officials, 2023)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#coachhergame #mentalperformance #coachinggirls #teamculture #youthathletics

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Culture isn't a poster on the wall, it's a system you run every week. Don't miss the July templates and live call on team culture →https://champions.elitecompetitor.com

📌 Resources & Tools:
FREE:🎓 Mental Game Training for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
📬 Join our weekly Varsity Squad newsletter: https://coachhergame.com/yt-varsity-squad
🔹 Player Impact Plan Template: https://coachhergame.com/impact
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast

OUR SIGNATURE PROGRAMS:
👉 Check out the free training for coaches → https://coachfreetraining.com
👉 Grab the Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for Teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🔹 Championship Program Mentorship: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com

Connect with us!
IG: ➡︎ https://www.instagram.com/coachhergame
Tik Tok: ➡︎ https://www.tiktok.com/@coachhergame
YouTube: ➡︎ SUBSCRIBE 🙌🏼 and hang out in our community here with us!

⏰ Key Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:33 Struggle Together
02:13 Service
03:51 Stories & Vulnerability
05:10 Mental Training Program
07:23 Wrap-Up & Next Steps

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre, a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

Culture doesn't happen by accident, and trust falls won't build it. In this episode, I break down the three things that actually create team culture: struggle, service, and stories.

You'll see the exact low-lift system I run every season, from a six-part challenge series to a weekly circle where players open up.

What You'll Learn:
Why struggle, not fun, is what actually bonds a team
Why it's important build in intentional team challenges at the start of the season
How to turn a simple team meal into a leadership moment
The Open Circle Method for building real vulnerability and trust
Why pairing mental training with team bonding saves practice time

💬 Coaches — comment below: which one does your team need most right now, struggle, service, or stories?

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
Team cohesion is linked to lower burnout in female youth athletes (Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2020)
Team cohesion strengthens athletes' ability to handle adversity through social support (Frontiers in Psychology, 2025)
Psychological safety, not talent, is the strongest predictor of team performance (NYT Magazine, 2016)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#mentalperformance #coachinggirls #teamculture #youthathletics #coachhergame

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Team drama isn't about bad attitudes, it's about missing systems. I'm sharing the a simple framework that prevents it. Grab more coaching tips → https://coachfreetraining.com

In this episode, I'm breaking down the exact system I use to reduce drama and handle playing time issues without adding hours to my week.

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre - a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

This is the framework I've used with all four championship teams. It takes 15 minutes per week total, and it prevents hours of drama management.

What You'll Learn:

• The real reason team drama keeps happening (even after team dinners and bonding activities)
• How to structure five-minute athlete check-ins that actually prevent conflict
• The three questions I ask every athlete every other week that build trust and clarity
• How Player Impact Plans eliminate playing time drama before it starts
• Why mental training and individual confidence building is your best team culture strategy

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction: The Real Problem with Team Drama
01:09 Weekly Check-Ins: The Simple System That Works
04:21 The Three Questions Framework
05:54 Building Confidence Through Mental Training
08:37 Player Impact Plans: Setting Clear Expectations
10:10 Championship Culture Membership
11:53 Recap: Systems Over People Problems

💬 Coaches - comment below: What's the biggest source of drama on your team right now?

📌 Free Tools & Next Steps
🔹 Grab our in-depth FREE training → https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on IG → @elitecompetitorcoach
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame

🔔 Subscribe for More → Never miss an episode of Coach Her Game!

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:

• Athletes who receive regular individual feedback from coaches show 32% improvement in self-efficacy and confidence compared to those who receive only team-level feedback (Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2019)
• Teams with structured communication systems and role clarity experience 45% fewer interpersonal conflicts during competitive seasons (International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2021)
• Student-athletes who understand their specific role on a team report 28% higher satisfaction and 35% lower anxiety related to playing time uncertainty (Journal of Sport Behavior, 2018)

The Coach Her Game podcast is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

This is Part 2, here's exactly what my team does every practice, and how it held up at championship point. Grab the full training → https://coachfreetraining.com

Coaching Resources
👉 Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🎓 Free Mental Training Resource for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Championship Program Membership: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com
🔹 Player Impact Plan: https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast

Connect with Me
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
📲 Instagram: @coachhergame

🔔 Subscribe for weekly mental training strategies built specifically for coaches of girl athletes.

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 The Moment I Almost Quit Coaching
00:40 Searching for Answers
01:54 The Real Problem Coaches Face
02:35 In-Season Mental Training: 3, 2, 1 Brave
05:41 Why Consistency Beats Guest Speakers
07:03 Postseason: Training the Response to Pressure
10:35 How to Get Started

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

In Part 1 I covered the pre-season setup. This time I'm showing you what actually runs every single day once the season starts. 🏐

And what happens when the pressure hits hardest, postseason.

What You'll Learn:
✅ The exact 3-2-1 BRAVE routine my team runs before every practice
✅ Why a one-time guest speaker can't do what a daily habit does
✅ How postseason pressure training is different from in-season training
✅ The real championship-point story where this routine made the difference

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️Higher trait gratitude in athletes is linked to greater perceived social support and lower risk of burnout (Gabana et al., 2017)
⚡️Athletes who train with visualization methods report real improvements in confidence and self-control while competing (Predoiu et al., 2020)
⚡️My program hasn't missed a state tournament in 8 years, with 4 consecutive state championships since building this system (Coach Bre, personal coaching record)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#mentalperformance #coachinggirls #volleyballcoach #mentaltoughness #highschoolcoaching

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Is your team falling apart under pressure? I'm breaking down my full season mental training system starting with pre-season. Grab the training → coachfreetraining.com

***Coaching Resources***
👉 Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🎓 Free Mental Training Resource for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Championship Program Membership: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com
🔹 Player Impact Plan: https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast

***Connect with Me***
📩 Work with Coach Bre: coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
📲 Instagram: @coachhergame

🔔 Subscribe for weekly mental training strategies built specifically for coaches of girl athletes.

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 The Wake-Up Call
00:41 Hitting Rock Bottom
01:25 Turning Point: Training the Mental Game
02:58 Pre-Season Foundation Building
06:47 Weekly Mindset Mondays
07:51 Resources & Closing

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre — a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

I used to think talent was enough until my team fell apart in a state semifinal and I froze right along with them. 😳

That loss sent me down a rabbit trail that turned into an actual system, one I still run every single season.

You'll learn how I use pre-season to set the foundation for mental training all season long including setting the vision, affirmations, and mindset Mondays.

P.S. A few stats worth knowing:
⚡️Athletes who train with visualization methods report real improvements in confidence and self-control while competing (Predoiu et al., 2020)
⚡️Mental imagery training has been shown to help athletes maintain and improve performance, especially at the pre-elite level (Dello Iacono et al., 2021)
⚡️My program hasn't missed a state tournament in 8 years since I started intentionally training the mental game (Coach Bre, personal coaching record)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#mentalperformance #coachinggirls #volleyballcoach #mentaltoughness #highschoolcoach #sports #headcoach

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

"Earn the Right" is the preseason tradition I run every single season to test the mental toughness of my team. Get the free mental game training → coachfreetraining.com

👉Grab Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg

Every year, before my athletes touch a jersey, a backpack, or a jacket, they earn it.

"Earn the Right" is the preseason tradition I run every single season. It tests their mental toughness, their teamwork, and their ability to handle frustration - before it costs us a game.

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre - a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

In this video I'm breaking down all six challenges, how they build on each other, and why I believe practice should feel harder than the game.

Here's what you'll learn:
Why I intentionally make athletes fail in practice
The exact six-challenge sequence from individual drills to six-on-six
How this trains mental toughness without adding extra time
What "everything is earned, not given" actually looks like as a system

This works for any sport. Grab what fits your program and run it.

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction
00:16 What Is Earn the Right?
01:19 Mental Training & Testing
02:13 The Challenges Overview
02:25 Challenges 1–3: Individual & Small Group
04:32 Challenge 4: Free Ball Passing
05:11 Challenge 5: Serve Receive
06:05 Challenge 6: Six on Six & Wrap-Up

*****Connect with me*****
📩 Work with Coach Bre: coachfreetraining.com
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
📲 Instagram: @coachhergame

*****Free Tools*****
👉Grab Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🎓 Free Mental Training Resource for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast
🔹 Championship Program Membership: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com
🔹 Player Impact Plan: https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f

🔔 Subscribe for weekly mental training strategies built specifically for coaches of girl athletes.

P.S. Here's what the research shows:
⚡️ When athletes mentally rehearse a skill in vivid detail, the neural pathways fire the same way as during physical practice. (Cleveland Clinic)
⚡️ Athletes who reframed pre-competition anxiety as excitement showed measurably higher performance than those who tried to calm down. (Wood Brooks, A., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014)
⚡️Only 9% of high school coaches report receiving formal training in sport psychology or mental performance. (Journal of Athletic Training, 2021)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#coachinggirls #mentalperformance #girlsinsports #highschoolcoach #athletemindset #leadership #culture

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

The off-season is where championships are built and most coaches are only training half of it. Grab Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg

I spent two seasons watching talented teams crumble at match point. Not because of physical failures. Because we hadn't trained what actually determines performance when the pressure is real.

Mental game. Leadership. Culture.

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre - a mental performance coach for girl athletes, Co-Founder of The Elite Competitor, and a long-time head volleyball coach and 4-time state champion.

In this episode, I'm sharing the three things I now do every summer to build a championship team before the season even starts:
👉 Build a Leadership Core: an application-based system that teaches athletes to lead instead of just naming them
👉 Run a Squad System: peer accountability that gets athletes to workouts and shows you who's actually leading in real time
👉 Train mental skills now: because you cannot pull out a Snapback Routine in a championship moment if you've never practiced it

These are the exact systems that helped us come back from championship point down to win our first state title.

If you coach girl athletes and you're serious about what next season looks like, this one is for you.

What You'll Learn:
✅ Why physical conditioning alone is not enough to win when pressure hits
✅ How to build a Leadership Corps that develops real leaders before the season starts
✅ The Squad System for peer accountability and off-season workout attendance
✅ How to teach athletes mental skills in summer so they can access them in October
✅ The exact failure recovery tool that came through in a championship moment

🕓 Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction & Coach Bre's Story
00:45 Why Physical Training Alone Isn't Enough
03:06 Thing #1: The Leadership Core
05:55 Thing #2: The Squad System
07:37 The Three Leadership Meetings
08:37 Thing #3: Mental Training in the Off-Season
13:24 Plug & Play Mental Game Curriculum

💬 Coaches - comment below: What's the one off-season thing you keep meaning to build but haven't made into a real system yet?

📩 Work with Coach Bre: coachfreetraining.com

📌 Free Tools & Next Steps
👉Grab Plug & Play Elite Mental Game for teams → https://elitecompetitor.com/plugplayemg
🎓 Free Mental Training Resource for Coaches: https://coachfreetraining.com
📲 Instagram: @coachhergame
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
🔹 Championship Program Membership: https://champions.elitecompetitor.com
🔹 Player Impact Plan: https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f

🔔 Subscribe for weekly mental training strategies built specifically for coaches of girl athletes.

P.S. Here's what the research shows:
⚡️ When athletes mentally rehearse a skill in vivid detail, the neural pathways fire the same way as during physical practice. (Cleveland Clinic)
⚡️ Athletes who reframed pre-competition anxiety as excitement showed measurably higher performance than those who tried to calm down. (Wood Brooks, A., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014)
⚡️Only 9% of high school coaches report receiving formal training in sport psychology or mental performance. (Journal of Athletic Training, 2021)

The Coach Her Game YouTube channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#coachinggirls #mentalperformance #girlsinsports #highschoolcoach #athletemindset

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!