The Mental Matchup

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...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat connects with Brandon Teixeira. Brandon is the founder and CEO of Mental Health Declassified. Mental Health Declassified is a platform that focuses on creating a safe space for anyone struggling with mental health and highlights the importance of supporting those around you who may be struggling alone. In the episode, Brandon opens up about his exp...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Ben Greiner. Ben is a former collegiate ice hockey player and current founder and CEO of TadHealth. Ben is also the founder of an organization called The TAD Project. Both of these incredible platforms focus on creating a safe community and navigating the often difficult topic of mental health. Throughout the episode, Ben opens up ab...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat sits down with Shelby Milne. Shelby played lacrosse at Hofstra University, is currently an Assistant Athletic Trainer UPenn, and is getting her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling. Throughout the conversation, Shelby opens up about mental health being on a spectrum, whether or not having a competitive mindset can be healthy or unhealthy, and the i...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat speaks with Angelica Galluzzo. Angelica is the host of the podcast The Revolutionized Mind, which provides space for people to share their mental health stories in order to promote positivity and happiness even in difficult situations. She talks about finding one’s identity outside of sport, the differences in sports culture between the US and Cana...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Smita Nalluri. Smita ran track and field at Cornell University, while also handling a move from sunny California to upstate New York and balancing Ivy League academics. She opens up about her experience with depression and how important the power of connectivity can be. As a student-athlete, she dealt with injury and the difficult decisi...

In today’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat speaks with Ida Farinholt. Ida played lacrosse for four years at Cornell before transferring to UNC to complete her graduate studies. Ida opens up about tearing her ACL not once, but twice while in college and how she dealt with the recovery process along with the mental struggles that come with being an impact player to having to sit out for multiple...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Jess Goergen, a current graduate student at Auburn University in the Counseling Psychology Ph. D. program. She currently holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Auburn University and was a student-athlete on the women’s lacrosse team at Presbyterian College. During the episode we talk about the hormonal and psychological impact of bi...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Emily Barnhart, who is a registered dietician working with athletes, and runs her own private practice that is called Injury RD (working from the point of surgery to their return to play) but has also worked with general athletes throughout her career. During the episode, we talk about the impact food can have on your performance as an a...

In today’s  episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Ashleigh Shanley, who swam at Duke and is currently working as a Content Associate/Production Assistant for ESPN in Charlotte, NC. Ashleigh received her Masters of Science of Journalism at Boston University in December of 2018 focusing on both sports journalism and broadcasting.  During the episode, we talk about injury and the im...

In this week’s episode of The Mental Matchup, Kat talks with Lindsey Ronbeck, current Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach at the University of Richmond, and one of the most prolific women’s lacrosse players at the University of Florida. During the episode, we talk about the role lacrosse has played in her life, navigating athletics and education through learning disorders, grappling with disordered e...