Book Lessons with Coach Maggie

Hi, I’m Maggie, though most athletes call me Aunt Mag. I’m a former Division I soccer player, mental performance coach, and someone who genuinely loves helping athletes navigate the mental and emotional side of sports. As someone who struggled with confidence and self-doubt for years as an athlete, I understand how quickly pressure, expectations, mistakes, and setbacks can impact performance and identity.

For more than 10 years, I’ve worked with student-athletes and families helping athletes build confidence, resilience, composure, and healthier ways to respond to adversity both on and off the field. My coaching style is supportive, relatable, and practical, focused on giving athletes real tools they can actually use during games, practices, injuries, and high-pressure moments.

Outside of coaching, I’m a sports mom, mentor, and someone who believes the mental side of competition deserves just as much attention as the physical side. I’m passionate about helping athletes keep their head when sports start getting in their head.

I help athletes improve the mental side of their game by building confidence, composure, consistency, resilience, and self-awareness under pressure. Together, we work on practical strategies to manage nerves, overcome self-doubt, respond to mistakes in healthier ways, and keep your head during competition.

I also help athletes navigate challenges that often impact performance off the field too, including pressure from expectations, injuries, playing time, confidence dips, communication struggles, and the emotional ups and downs that come with sports. My goal is to give athletes real tools they can use during games, practices, and everyday life so they can compete with more confidence and keep the joy of the game.

A typical session with me is conversational, supportive, and practical. I create a space where athletes can be honest about what they’re feeling without fear of judgment, whether that’s nerves before a game, frustration after mistakes, pressure around playing time, fear of letting teammates down, pressure from parents or coaches, or worrying about embarrassing themselves during competition.

Sessions are tailored to the individual athlete and may include conversations around mindset, confidence, emotional regulation, communication, visualization, routines, goal setting, injury recovery, handling adversity during competition, and understanding their role within a team. We also work on building healthy communication and clear expectations with coaches and teammates so athletes feel more confident, prepared, and connected. Together, we identify patterns that may be impacting performance and build practical mental performance tools athletes can actually use during games, practices, and high-pressure moments.

My coaching style is relatable, encouraging, and honest. The goal is not just to improve performance, but to help athletes better understand themselves, compete with more confidence, and keep the joy of the game along the way.

Former Division I soccer player at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with more than 10 years of experience supporting student-athletes through mental performance coaching, confidence-building, and mentorship. After years of coaching youth soccer and raising four highly competitive athletes, I developed a strong passion for helping athletes navigate the mental and emotional side of sports in a healthy and productive way.

My experience as both an athlete and parent gives me a unique perspective on the pressure, expectations, setbacks, confidence struggles, and emotional ups and downs that athletes and families experience throughout their journey. One of my daughters is playing soccer at Army West Point, another stepped away from soccer after competing in a Group 4 State Final appearance her senior year, another is on a Division I volleyball pathway, and my son is developing within one of New Jersey’s top high school golf programs at St. Augustine Prep.

My coaching style is supportive, relatable, honest, and focused on helping athletes keep their head when life around them is moving at lightening speed.

My high school softball coach, Doc Medrick was the best coach I ever had. He pushed me physically and mentally, but more importantly, he saw me as the player and person I wanted to become. When I was struggling at third base and clearly “wasn’t myself,” he recognized it immediately and coached me through it.

He was emotionally aware, understood how to connect with athletes individually, and helped turn me into one of the top high school softball players in the state that year. I had the opportunity to pursue Division I softball as well, but ultimately chose to play soccer in college.

What stood out most about Doc was that he saw me as both a person and an athlete. No coach before or after him impacted me in that way, and that experience shaped a huge part of how I work with athletes today.

I believe every athlete is different, which means every athlete deserves to be coached differently. One of the first things I try to understand is how you respond best to coaching, communication, pressure, and feedback. Some athletes need a more direct conversation. Others need a softer, more supportive approach. Most need a little of both depending on the moment. I pay attention to that and adjust because I want athletes to feel seen, understood, and supported while still being challenged to grow.

My coaching style is honest, relatable, encouraging, and practical. I genuinely love working with student-athletes, and there’s nothing more rewarding to me than watching an athlete improve their confidence, mindset, and emotional control week by week.

Yes, winning is fun and sometimes makes everything better. But I truly believe if you train your mind the same way you train your body; growth, confidence, and performance will follow, whether that shows up internally, on the scoreboard, or both.