Book Lessons with Coach Joanny

I’m a Cognitive Performance Specialist and performance psychology consultant with experience supporting NCAA Division I athletes, high performers, and military personnel in demanding environments where focus, confidence, composure, and communication matter. My background combines psychology, sport and performance science, and real-world experience helping individuals perform under pressure.

I earned my undergraduate degree in Psychology from Manhattan College and later completed a Master’s degree in Exercise & Performance Psychology. My work focuses on helping athletes strengthen the mental side of performance through practical, individualized coaching that translates directly into competition, leadership, academics, and everyday life.

I work with athletes ranging from high school through adulthood and believe mental skills should feel trainable, approachable, and applicable — not overly clinical or complicated.

I help athletes improve the mental side of performance by developing skills such as confidence, focus, composure, emotional regulation, communication, attentional control, and resilience under pressure.

Whether you struggle with nerves before competition, consistency in performance, bouncing back after mistakes, leadership, overthinking, confidence, or maintaining focus during high-pressure moments, I provide practical tools and strategies that can be applied immediately during training and competition.

My goal is to help athletes not only perform better, but also understand themselves better as competitors and leaders.

Sessions are tailored to the individual athlete and their goals. A typical session may include discussion around recent performances, identifying current mental barriers, learning performance psychology tools, and applying those tools through practical exercises and real-life performance scenarios.

Depending on the athlete’s needs, sessions may include:

-attention and focus drills

-confidence-building strategies

-visualization and imagery work

-composure and breathing techniques

-communication exercises

-pressure simulation activities

-routines for competition preparation

-reflection and performance review

I aim to create sessions that are engaging, practical, collaborative, and directly connected to real performance situations.

-Cognitive Performance Specialist and performance psychology consultant

-Master’s degree in Exercise & Performance Psychology

-Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Manhattan College

-Experience supporting NCAA Division I athletes in Track & Field, Softball, and Volleyball

-Experience supporting military and high-performance operational populations

-Specialized focus in attention control, performance under pressure, leadership development, confidence, communication, and composure training

-Graduate thesis focused on the relationship between mental toughness and body language

-Developed individualized mental performance programs, workshops, attention-control drills, imagery work, and cognitive performance exercises for athletes and high performers

-Designed and facilitated workshops focused on leadership, resilience, communication, focus, and performance under pressure

-Successfully integrated into and supported two battalions during operational tenure, building working relationships across all companies within those battalions

-Developed new collaborative relationships with additional units and leadership teams to expand performance support and communication across operational -environments

-Built trust within high-performance environments by embedding alongside teams to better understand operational demands, team dynamics, and performance needs

The best coaches I’ve experienced were the ones who pushed me while also helping me feel understood as a person, not just as a performer. They created accountability, confidence, structure, and trust at the same time.

That heavily influences my own coaching philosophy. I believe athletes improve the most when they feel challenged, supported, and safe enough to grow through mistakes and adversity. Great coaching goes beyond performance — it helps athletes develop confidence, resilience, communication, leadership, and self-awareness that carry into life outside of sport.

I care deeply about helping athletes grow both as performers and as people. I believe strong communication, trust, consistency, and individualized support are essential to development.

My coaching style is adaptable depending on the athlete’s personality, goals, age, and experience level. I strive to create an environment where athletes feel motivated, challenged, and supported while learning practical mental skills they can carry into competition, school, leadership roles, and everyday life.

I also understand that confidence and performance are not always linear. My goal is to help athletes develop tools that allow them to navigate pressure, setbacks, expectations, and growth with greater composure and resilience.