The Mental Matchup

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, we are kicking off Season 5 with Alex Concannon. Alex grew up in Long Island playing multiple different sports before deciding to ultimately pursue his lacrosse career. He committed to play college lacrosse at Johns Hopkins for four years and finished out his career playing at Hofstra. As a player, he dealt with having to navigate injuries and handling...

This week we have a special holiday podcast episode! Kat is joined by a close friend and mental health advocate Leeann Passaro. Leeann is the COO of The Hidden Opponent, a non-profit focused on breaking the stigma of mental health in athletics. During the episode, Kat and Leeann sit down to chat about different lessons they’ve learned throughout the past year and things they will take with them in...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat is joined by Emily Cole. Emily is a collegiate athlete on the Duke University Cross Country team. Emily is candid about her own experience with food and how seemingly “health eating” can potentially be detrimental mentally and physically. As an athlete, it’s important to recognize the importance of prioritizing your health in order to optimize perf...

 In today’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat is joined by Tori Bates. Tori grew up in Maryland and played collegiate lacrosse at the University of Florida. Throughout the episode, Tori opens up about her experience as an athlete dealing with multiple injuries and the different side effects that many people can experience, like more restricted eating and depression. Tori and Kat also discuss...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, we are joined by Kristyna Bertolone aka “Coach K”. Coach K is a former collegiate softball player and founded Game Changers, a platform that specializes in mental performance coaching. In the episode, Kat and Coach K cover many valuable topics such as controlling the controllables, reacting vs responding to a situation, and asking yourself important qu...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat speaks with Jillian Schumacher. After going through the recruiting process for lacrosse, Jillian ultimately decided not to play in college and attend Ohio State. Once she got to Ohio State, Jillian realized she should’ve pursued college lacrosse and transferred to UMass Lowell. Throughout the episode, Jillian opens up about her own recruiting proce...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat is joined by Kaitlyn Coffman. Kaitlyn is from California and a senior on The Ohio State University softball team. Growing up, she dealt with softball being her entire identity, focusing on her performance over different relationships within her life. During the episode, Kaitlyn discusses her experience of finding a friend attempting suicide and als...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat connects with Maxwell Nagle. Max grew up in Northern Virginia and always had a love for sports. His love for basketball drew him to try out for the Hollins University basketball team where he earned a walk-on position to the team. Throughout the episode, Max opens up about his experience starting to use he/him pronouns at an all girls college. He a...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Casey Kroll. Casey played football at James Madison University in Virginia and is currently the CEO and co-founder of The Big Man Foundation. The organization was founded in 2021 after the passing of his former coach to help provide social, emotional, and financial support for coaches and their families who are dealing with difficult...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Audrey Stringer. Audrey played college volleyball at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and graduated in 2016. Throughout the episode, Audrey opens up about different coping mechanisms that she dealt with while dealing with anxiety and how hypnosis and meditation can be amazing tools to start healing. She is extremely open about her...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Chuck Thuss. Chuck is a Canadian native who played professional ice hockey and is currently a public speaker. Chuck played collegiate ice hockey at Miami University in Ohio before continuing his career as a professional hockey player for many seasons. After playing and coaching, he became a Certified Professional Coach and started Compas...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Dan Wolfe. Dan has worked in education for over 20 years and is currently a Vice Principal for a school in Pasco County, Florida. He focuses on Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which is an aspect of education that highlights the importance of taking care of the social and emotional needs of a student. Throughout the episode, we touch on...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat speaks with Nicolette Caneda. Nicolette is currently a sophomore soccer player at Manhattan College in New York City. Throughout this episode, Nicolette speaks on her experience growing up as an athlete dealing with the pressures of perfectionism and living with an eating disorder. She unpacks her own journey and also touches on the importance of s...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Kimber Hower. Kimber is a lacrosse goalie who grew up in Utah and is currently on the Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse team taking her 5th year. She graduated high school early to play college lacrosse at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before transferring to Syracuse. In the episode, Kat and Kimber touch on many different a...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, our guest is Nick Dunlop. Nick grew up in Australia and moved to the US in 2020 to attend the University of Washington as a member of the Men’s Rowing team. Nick had the unique experience of moving to the US and starting on a new rowing team during the COVID pandemic. He shares some valuable background on rowing and how he got into the sport in the fir...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat speaks with Trey Moses. Trey grew up playing basketball, continued his collegiate career at Ball State, and currently plays professionally abroad. Throughout the episode, Trey opens up about how a close friend and teammate’s suicide has impacted his life. In 2020, he was awarded the NCAA Inspiration Award for his dedication to inspiring others to p...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Megan Campbell. Megan grew up as a competitive gymnast and earned a full-ride scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Throughout the episode, we talk about her experience growing up as a gymnast, sustaining an injury in college that ultimately ended her career, and the impact that a coach can have on individuals o...

In this week’s episode, we are joined by Wes Woodson. Wes is a professional public speaker and the founder of thehidden company. His company is a media platform that aims to use the power of storytelling to share experiences and empower everyone to love every part of who they are. As a public speaker, Wes has traveled around the world speaking to students, parents, and teachers about the importanc...

This week on The Mental Matchup, we are joined by Chelsi Battle. Chelsi is currently interning at Northwestern University as a Pre-Doctoral Psychology intern and attends Auburn University as a doctoral student in their Counseling Psychology program. Beyond being a student, Chelsi is a Graduate Assistant for Student-Athlete Support Services, a program that helps with the development of skills for s...

We are lucky to have Sarah Fischer join us for this week’s episode. Sarah is a professional dancer living and working in New York City. Throughout the episode, we dive into many different topics including an athlete’s relationship with their body, the constant strive for perfection, and the impact that injury has on a career. She also teaches us more about the world of dance and what goes into bec...

In this episode, Kat is joined by Reid Meyer. Reid is a former collegiate baseball player and the founder of a program called Athletes to Athletes (A2A). Due to Reid’s own college recruitment process, which he speaks about in the episode, he created A2A to help athletes navigate their own college recruiting process more smoothly. The program focuses on helping athletes make a more holistic decisio...

In today’s episode, we are lucky to have Hilary Lemonick join The Mental Matchup. Hilary is a former Division I lacrosse player at Cornell University. She talks with Kat about everything from having type 1 diabetes, to disordered eating after a collegiate lacrosse career, to her experience and transition out of sport into the working world. Thank you Hilary for coming on and sharing your story!

In today’s episode, we are lucky to have Sophie Speidel join The Mental Matchup. Sophie is a former Division I lacrosse player at the University of Virginia and also represented Team USA. Sophie is currently the mother of three, a lacrosse coach, and a counselor at St. Anne’s-Belfield School (STAB) in Charlottesville, VA. As a school counselor, she focuses on a specific curriculum called “Life Ski...

In today’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down and talks with Scott Kelsey. Scott founded Shareapy, an organization thatwhich centers on the concept that human connection is a key component to success and happiness through sharing our life experiences. Throughout the episode, we open up about the importance of helping others live happier and more meaningful lives. Scott talks about his ho...

This week, Kat speaks with Kelly Oberle, a leadership development expert who founded Access Human Potential. The organization focuses on working with corporate and athletic organizations to enhance the overall performance of individuals, teams, and coaches. Throughout the episode, Kelly highlights the importance of connectivity, mindfulness, and gratitude to help people achieve their highest poten...