Interview with Dr. Garrett

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”

~ Hebrews 12:1

“I do not lose. I either win or learn.” -Nelson Mandela

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Introducing Dr. Ed Garrett, PsyD, AASP Approved Mentor, Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology. Dr. Garrett applies 30+ years of athletic knowledge to his consulting work. He has spent time with the Colorado Rockies, 1996 Summer Olympics, and multiple years as a club, high school, and college coach. Dr. Garrett specializes in increasing confidence through a variety of cognitive practices and focusing on the intrinsics of athletic performance to help athletes play smarter, not harder.

Also known as Dr. G, Dr. G says that the field of Sport and Performance Psychology (SPP) chose him, having lived in the athletics world for the past 30 years, he felt compelled to utilize his experiences to impact lives through the love of the game. Each day, he feels blessed to have the opportunity to use the language of sports to motivate others to be better versions of themselves. During his undergraduate program in physical education, Dr. G stumbled across a course titled “Sport Psychology” that was new to mainstream coaching, but also a course that revealed tremendous impact on how to cognitively interact within the performance arena. After taking this course, he committed to the idea that if he were to pursue a doctoral degree, then SPP was the field he would study. He accomplished just that, stating that “hard work pays off.”

Having been involved for over 30 years, Dr. G has contributed to and evolved with the field of SPP. Though SPP is not a young field, the pandemic of 2020 highlighted the importance of mental health and brought about a greater role for cognitive services to address the mental health field. Dr. G views this to be the direction SPP will continue to expand moving forward. In addition, with this heightened awareness of mental health and well-being, the number of organizations looking to better support their cognitive performance is increasing, and continues to grow based on demand. Dr. G feels that as SPP evolves, we should also expect to see more universities/colleges appointing full-time cognitive coaches as well as possibly physical therapy clinics to guide clients during the rehabilitation process.

In his practice, Dr. G takes a holistic approach that aims to strengthen and motivate the whole person, on and off the field. SPP is founded in serving others, with the potential for those involved to positively impact several lives and he strives to provide individuals with skills and lessons that can be applied to sports and transferred to life overall. Dr. G states that, “There are three types of people in this world: People that make things happen, people that watch things happen, and people that say, ‘What happened?’ Our role as SPP professionals is to help our performers develop cognitive abilities to persevere through the ‘What happened?’ part of life, while celebrating the ‘making things happen’ moments.” Dr. G takes pride in getting out there, doing the work, and welcomes anyone interested in this field to shadow him, cautioning to “be ready to keep up with this old man (tip: wear comfortable shoes)” as he is always on the move.

Dr. G’s favorite thing as a mentor in CBU’s CSPP program is his ability to use his faith in his Lord and Savior to impact the next generation of SPP professionals and advises his mentees to put in the time, build the trust, and do the work to be successful in this field.

As always, Lance Up!

*Interviewed by CBU grad student, Skyla Wilson. 2022.