Advancing the field of Sports Psychology
Center for Integration of Sport, Movement, and Mental Agility (CISMMA)
Welcome to CISMMA! We understand that sport and movement are not only about performance. Participation in sports and movement is fulfilling because of the relationships built within these spaces. And when a supportive culture is formed, Athletes flourish.
Athletes discover themselves through sport and movement as they are challenged constantly within and out of sport. Yet, when their capacity to participate at their best is threatened by mental or physical injury, the disruption can be devastating. This is where CISMMA can help.
Athletes are required to consistently access their mental adaptability and flexibility to solve problems, yet few coaches within sports and movement have had formal training in just how to unlock this ability for their athletes. At CISMMA, you will work with a Mental Agility Coach to gain mastery over your strengths.
Here, we celebrate sports and movement.
About Mental Agility Coaching (MAC)
Mental agility coaching (MAC) is sports performance optimization through direct development of real relationships in sport and movement. CISMMA will work with athletes individually to fortify trust in the connections they have built themselves on.
Through MAC, athletes work diligently with a coach to:
- Map the safety net they already have access to (and may not be taking advantage of)
- Identify strengths and potential of fortifying the net
- Understand how their personal identity relates to the net
- Find sanctuary within the net
Through MAC, athletes will gain a personal understanding of their capacity to brave new challenges in their athletic (and personal) lives. Feeling connected to a personal safety net returns confidence to athletes.
For Athletes
Do you find yourself competing better at practice or in the backyard with friends than in the actual game? Are you new to a team or transitioned to college or professional-level competition and finding it hard to find your athletic identity?
It is frustrating when performance falls short of expectation and when it seems to matter most. Self-doubt and risk-avoidance limit capacity to perform, and when efforts to combat them fall short, it exacerbates the problem. MAC has the benefit of increasing your understanding of who you are in your sport and therefore increasing your capability. After MAC, problems become challenges with goal-oriented strategies that feel achievable.
How will Mental Agility Coaching influence your game?
- Emerge confidence in your athlete-identity
- Biofeedback and elite decision-making
- Authentic communication (on and off the court)
- Goal achievement, time management
- Leadership/Captain Training
- Flourish mindset
- Imagery and visualization to increase focus
- Improve trust in relationships
- Balance pressures of life off the court
- Mental resilience
- Enjoying sport under pressure
- Preparation and routine development
- Self-love and harnessing emotions
- Team building
- Career movement (leveling up and retirement)
Work With CISSMMA
Our Services
Mental Agility Coaching(MAC)
Work with an Mental Agility Coach in individual 55 minute sessions to increase your sport and movement resilience.
MAC Packages
CISMMA is offering packages sessions in response to the diversity of athletes' needs
3-sessions: "Target" Package
Work with a mental agility coach to solve a specific sport-related problem. These sessions will bring clarity to complicated, multi-faceted problems that enable athletes to find balance and peace with decision-making.
5-sessions: "Visualize" Package
Work with a mental agility coach to change your strategy on how you solve problems and see pathways to solutions. These sessions will work to adapt your decision-making style
8-sessions: "Integration" Package
Work with a mental agility coach to deepen your understanding of who you are as an athlete and how you belong to your sport and movement space. The back sessions taper in frequency so that your mental agility coach can support the full spectrum of needs over time.
MAC sessions may also be used open-ended. Number of sessions will be managed by an agreement between the mental agility coach and athlete.
MAC-TEAM for Coaches/Trainers/Family
MAC-TEAM is a service specifically designed for athlete-supports (coaches, trainers, family aka the “TEAM”). Over the course of service, you’ll learn the depth of your potential to encourage and motivate athletes, and how to wield your influence. MAC-TEAM is “athlete-centered” - meaning coaches will help athlete-supporters develop and deepen their understanding of how an athlete’s perception of you has real influence over their ability to work with you.
MAC-TEAM is being offered as a 4-session package. Sessions are 55 minutes in length.
Speaking Engagements
CISMMA is able to give 60-90 minute talks to groups of athletes, teams or sport and movement related staff (coaches, trainers, organizations) regarding specific topics of sports psychology.
Topics include:
- Mental wellness in sports and movement
- Athlete-identity
- Building a culture of trust within sports and movement
- Increasing Focus
- Injury Recovery / return to sport
- Mental preparation
- Burn Out
- Effective communication within sport and movement
- Challenging negative self-talk
- Etc.
Pricing
MAC and MAC-TEAM are $200 per session. Mental agility coaching is not a clinical service and therefore not covered by health insurances at this time.
Speaking engagement please inquire for pricing
CISMMA's Sport Psychology
The Power of Connection
Athletes walk a thin tightrope. They are challenged unlike ever before, and although athletes are expected to be mentally tough, bounce-back, or keep emotions under control, few sport and movement programs have the capacity to teach them how. Traditional sports psychology presumes athletes must take sole responsibility to face adversity with grace to overcome challenges.
Emerging research in psychology proves that a person’s connections to a web of trusting relationships are at the core of personal achievement and well-being. With each relationship a person has, a rope is tied into a metaphorical safety net that rests underneath them. As a person develops awareness of and trust in this net, suddenly the tightrope doesn’t seem so scary to cross.
Sports and movement put athletes in unique environments to connect with others to create diverse and empowering relationships. So far, the direct development of these relationships has been neglected. As a result, athletes must walk a tightrope without a resilient safety net. Cognitive Behavior Institute’s CISMMA helps athletes find, build, and feel secure in their safety net. When an athlete believes in the strength of their safety net (support system) under them, they can walk across any tightrope with confidence.
Feeling Connected
Athletes who feel secure in their safety-net no longer fear failure and their tolerance to risk unlocks and widens. Secure athletes train at the edge of their physical and mental capabilities. They push boundaries and have fun with movement. Mastery returns to the athlete as they learn about their bodies and feel excited at opportunities.
CISMMA enhances an athlete’s connections with others through pragmatic interventions informed by attachment-science as well as positive and sport psychology. Its programs are dedicated to empowering athletes, coaches, and teams with skills to optimize connections with others and within themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mental agility coaching psychotherapy?
No. MAC focuses on goal-oriented achievement in sports whereas psychotherapy is the medical treatment of a mental health disorder.
Is Mental agility coaching only good for the "yips"
No, while MAC can help return the athlete to satisfactory performance, MAC is also effective at prevention and flourishing of performance.
Does my health insurance cover MAC?
Currently, MAC is not a covered service by health insurance. It is a cash-pay service at the rate of $200/hour.
How can I begin MAC?
Fill out our New Patient Inquiry form.
Why Sport and Movement?
CISMMA recognizes that athletics extend beyond what would be considered within the scope of sports. Participants of other movement-related activities, such as dance, martial arts, hiking, surfing, etc. are no less "athletic" than those who participate on sport teams.
What if my Mental Agility Coach does not have personal knowledge of my sport and movement?
The role of a Mental Agility Coach is to help inspire your own strengths to answer your unique problems, this is called a "person-centered approach". While there may be a need for explaining some dynamics of each athlete's movement space to add context to each case, the Mental Agility Coach is an expert at interviewing and checking for clarity from the athlete. CISMMA uses sports psychology to define and strengthen the athlete within sport and movement. You are the director.
Recent News
The following is the video recording of Spencer’s speech at The Human Behind the Athlete.
This Spring, CISMMA was invited to speak at a panel event called, “The Human Behind the Athlete”. The event brought together licensed psychotherapists, clinical researchers, and two professional athletes to discuss how mental health concerns threaten to interrupt athletes. Spencer Kilpatrick, LCSW spoke about CISMMA’s treatment approach to helping athletes overcome mental unhealth.
At CISMMA, we believe all mental unhealth can be healed best when an athlete is supported by a strong network of close-others. This network of close-others can be understood to form a metaphorical safety net which is securely positioned under an athlete who walks dangerous tightropes. When an athlete trusts their support system, the empowerment to challenge mental unhealth ensues and healing occurs.
About Our Center Lead
Spencer Kilpatrick, LCSW
Center Lead
Spencer Kilpatrick is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker working with athletes in PA. He is the creator and Clinical Lead of the CBI Center for Integration of Sports, Movement, and Mental Agility (CISMMA). He uses a humanistic approach to work with the individual as a whole person, not simply the “athlete”, which leads to increased mental health wellness.
Spencer has extensive experience working as a tennis coach across various roles and levels. He has been certified as a professional coach with the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) since 2012 and enjoyed playing tennis in college at the Division II and club levels. A rigorous athletic and academic schedule in college led Spencer to a greater understanding of how athletes benefit from mental health wellness. Spencer values the emergence of a secure self within sport and movement, and he is intentional in assisting athletes to unlock it within themselves.