'A conversation with Rachel Vickery' - High Performance, Character Development and Empowering Self-advocacy in Young Athletes

Parents in Sport Podcast

In this episode High Performance Consultant, Sports Physiotherapist and Former International Gymnast Rachel Vickery joins Gordon MacLelland to discuss high performance, character development and empowering self-advocacy in high performing young athletes.

During the conversation they discuss amongst other things:

• The human stress response
• The true meaning of High Performance - excellence in craft, character and culture
• The importance of 'Character Development'
• Not expecting perfection as a sports parent and having high expectations of the right things
• The value of intrinsic motivation and the mastery of craft
• Helping support a healthy identity in our young children
• The impact of fear and how it can derail sporting performance
• Empowering our children to have a 'choice and a voice' in their journey and advocate for themselves
• Helping support our children to understand the choices they make and the potential consequences
• Aligning our support to the goals and aspirations of our children
• Recognising and understanding that everyone has power and everyone has a voice in the process at a variety of points within the sporting journey (Organisations, coaches, parents and children)

Rachel Vickery is a Human Behaviour and High-Performance Consultant, optimising performance, culture, communication and resilience in high pressure, high-stress and high stakes scenarios. She consults with Professional and Elite athletes, coaches and organisations; and other high-performance arenas including C-suite execs, trauma and emergency medicine personnel, elite military teams and tactical professionals as examples.

In the sports world Rachel has worked with individuals and teams in the NBA (Golden State Warriors USA), the NRL (Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters) and the AFL (Brisbane Lions and Adelaide Crows) and numerous National, Olympic and World Champion level athletes, coaches and organisations from NZ, Australia and the USA, and is a performance ambassador for the global Leaders in Sport organisation. Rachel was an elite Gymnast on the New Zealand team for 6 years (Commonwealth Games and World Championships) before qualifying as a Sports Physiotherapist, then adding a few more qualifications to the toolkit to transition to her current field.

To find out more about Rachel and to get in touch with her visit www.breathingandperformance.com.