Mental Skills Training for Advanced Athletes & High Performers
For competitive athletes and high performers who are ready to train the part that separates good from elite: the Mind.
You might be experiencing:
What You’re Seeing
You are well prepared, but it's not translating when the moment counts most
Scouts are watching, a roster spot is on the line, or a contract is in play, and the pressure is affecting your performance
You've hit a wall that more practice, conditioning, and more preparation is not breaking through
After an injury, you've done the physical rehabilitation, but getting your mind back to where it was is a different challenge entirely
You're questioning whether you still love this, whether it's worth it, or what comes next
You know mental performance matters, and you are ready to incorporate it into your routines
How Apex Helps Advanced Athletes & High Performers
At this level, the physical and mental gap between competitors is often razor thin. We work with advanced athletes and high performers to help:
Build Mental Skills
- Pre-competition preparation routines tailored to your specific sport and competitive level
- Visualization and mental rehearsal techniques used by professional athletes
- Self-talk strategies that hold under scrutiny and high-stakes performance pressure
- Advanced focus and concentration techniques for split-second decision environments
- Emotional regulation strategies that allow you to compete freely rather than carefully
Perform When It Counts
- Controlling your physiological response to pressure using biofeedback training (see your progress in real time)
- Closing the gap between practice and competition performance
- Competing with confidence during recruiting showcases, tryouts, and evaluation periods
- Preparing mentally for the transition from high school to college competition, college to professional and professional to retirement
- Managing the external pressures of public performance, social media scrutiny, and team expectations
Strengthen Confidence & Resilience
- Rebuilding identity and confidence after injury and the physical and mental work of return to play
- Reconnecting with your motivation when the pressure and grind start to outweigh the love of competing
- Developing the mental durability to sustain elite performance across a full season, career, and beyond
- Setting goals that are process-driven, not outcome-dependent
Organizations
Why Apex is Different
Mental Performance Focused
Athlete + Apex Counselor/Coach
Our Apex team is composed of former competitive athletes who understand what it means to perform in front of coaches, scouts, teammates and spectators.
Built For Your Level
The mental performance demands of a high school athlete preparing for a showcase event, a college athlete managing team politics, and a professional fighting through a performance slump are not the same. We build programs specific to where you are and where you are trying to go.
Biofeedback Training
At the advanced level, the margins are everything. Biofeedback training gives you a real-time window into your body's stress response and the tools to regulate it. It is used by professional athletes across multiple sports.
Gateway Approach
Mental performance training is not a sign of weakness or that something is wrong. Working on the mental game is what the best-in-class performers do.
What Brings Advanced Athletes to Apex
Closing the Gap Between Practice and Competition
What we work on: Pre-competition mental preparation routines, staying present under evaluation, managing the physiological response to high-stakes moments, and building the consistency that allows your preparation to show up when it matters most.
Performing During the Recruiting Process
What we work on: Managing the weight of recruiting timelines, showcase pressures and negotiation uncertainties, focusing on controllables during evaluation, making decisions aligned with your values, and competing with confidence when scouts and coaches are watching.
Preparing For the Next Level
What we work on: The mental and emotional transitions from high school to college competition, and professional careers, including identity shifts, new team environments, elevated expectations, and the psychological demands of performing at a higher level. We also help professional athletes mentally transition to retirement or other careers.
Returning From Injury
What we work on: Rebuilding trust in your body after time away, managing fear of re-injury during return to play, reconstructing the competitive identity that injury can disrupt, and developing the mental resilience to come back performing rather than just participating.
Competing Under Pressure and Public Scrutiny
What we work on: Regulation techniques to help perform in front of crowds, handling pressure related to contract expectations, interpreting social media criticism, and processing the critical moments when careers are made or lost.
Reconnecting With Why You Compete
What we work on: When the grind overtakes the love of the sport, we help athletes reconnect with their intrinsic motivation, separate their identity from their performance outcomes, and make empowered decisions about their future in athletics on their own terms.
Meet the Team
Collectively, the Apex team brings over a decade of experience counseling athletes and high performers, including work with professional NASCAR organizations, MLB, NBA, NFL, and PGA players, and NCAA athletic departments at every division.
Dr. Ben Oliva | Doctorate in Psychology (PsyD) | Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) | Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) | Biofeedback Certified (BCIA)
Dr. Oliva and his team specialize in working with competitive athletes at every level. The Apex team includes former athletes who understand competitive sports from the inside, bringing that experience directly into their performance counseling and coaching work. Dr. Oliva has been featured as an expert in Bustle and on podcasts, including Michael Lewis's "Against the Rules" and Leadership Under Fire.
Victoria McKnight | Master of Social Work (MSW) | Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate (LCSWA)
Victoria is part of the Apex team of former athletes who understand competitive sports from the inside, bringing that experience directly into their performance counseling and coaching work. A five-year Division I soccer student-athlete and All American she works with athletes and high performers navigating the pressures of competition and life transitions on and off the field.
Based in Charlotte, NC. Virtual sessions available.
FAQs
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The Apex team works independently from any athletic program, coaching staff, or organization. Your sessions are fully confidential, with no reporting relationship to anyone in your athletic environment.
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The Apex team offers both performance counseling and coaching, and they work together. Coaching builds practical skills: routines, focus strategies, and pre-competition preparation. Counseling addresses the deeper psychological side: anxiety, identity, and pressure responses. Most advanced athletes benefit from both. We meet you where you are.
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That is a legitimate dilemma to work through. Some advanced athletes come to Apex carrying this question. We help you get clarity, not push you in a direction. Whatever you decide about your athletic future, the mental skills you build will serve you beyond sports.
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Yes. Virtual sessions are available, and many of our athletes work with us remotely. For athletes who are local or visiting Charlotte, in-person sessions are available as well.
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We are a private pay practice and do not accept insurance. We provide superbills for clients who wish to pursue reimbursement through their insurance plans.
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Our team has worked with athletes across baseball, basketball, football, soccer, golf, tennis, swimming, track, lacrosse, volleyball, and more, at levels ranging from elite high school programs to professional organizations.
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We start with an initial contact where we learn about you, your sport, your current challenges, and your goals. From there we build an individualized program designed around your specific competitive context and what you are working to achieve.
Ready to Train Your Mind to Help Elevate Your Game?
Start your journey by contacting us.