Olympic Athletes Among the First to Use New Sports Psychology App

DENVER, CO, July 03, 2012 (Press-News.org) U.S. Track and Field sports psychologist Dr. Steve Portenga is releasing the world's most advanced sport and performance psychology mobile app for the iPhone this month, with his Olympic athletes among the first to use it. Also the CEO and Founder of iPerformance Psychology, Dr. Portenga has developed the iPerformance Sport & Performance Psychology Mental Skills Trainer app behind eight years of direct professional experience and proven industry data on how to maximize sports performance beyond physical skills.

The app will be a standalone utility for training athletes--both professional and amateur--to help them reach their peak performance levels. Using a combination of tried and true Sport and Performance Psychology assessments, meditations, exercises, worksheets, games, routines, and more, the iPerformance Sport & Performance Psychology Mental Skills Trainer will act as personal advisor and trainer for those wishing to improve their mental preparation and focus for sporting events. Portenga will be releasing the iPerformance Sport & Performance Psychology Mental Skills Trainer early to members of the U.S. Track and Field team, followed by a full release to the general public in mid-July.

"The app takes the best of performance psychology and integrates smartphone technology allowing me to help performers in a way not possible before," said Portenga. "This app has grown into a tool that isn't just a substitute for face-to-face meetings; it's something I'm incorporating even when I meet with a performer in-person. In your hand you can now hold years of mentoring from the best sport psychology consultants, years of work as a professor in one of the most highly regarded graduate programs, and years of experience working with some of the best athletes in the USA and the world!"

Recent research on athlete's success at the Olympic Games highlights the importance of psychological skills. In one study 325 past Olympic athletes shared their beliefs that ambition, determination, confidence, and focus were more important than natural ability (Wann, 2012). In another on Olympic champions, the researchers found that a positive personality, commitment, concentration, and confidence were keys to managing the distractions, stress, and pressures of the Olympics (Flethcher & Sarkar, 2012).

Dr. Portenga, chair of the Psychological Services Subcommittee and the Sports Science Representative on the Coaching Education Committee for USA Track & Field, will be traveling to London for the Olympic Games as part of the 2012 U.S. Track and Field team and is using the world's largest sports stage to release iPerformance Sport & Performance Psychology Mental Skills Trainer. With beta testing still in progress, initial versions of the app will be available for free for a limited time.

The iPerformance Sport & Performance Psychology Mental Skills Trainer app came about in response to Dr. Portenga's desire to find a more efficient and effective way to help the athletes and performers he works with develop the basic psychological and performance skills necessary for consistent performance. It started with his consulting with USA Track & Field and other professional sport franchises. He wanted a better way to communicate with the athletes with whom he was working. Due to their travel schedules, he wanted a better way to help them develop as performers when they couldn't meet face-to-face. As an ex-engineer, he knew that the things he's done for years to help these athletes become the best in the world could be delivered through a smartphone. Drawing on his engineering background he set out to develop an app based on his work with performers that would incorporate technology, neuroscience, and learning theory.

Dr. Portenga earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2004 and his M.S. in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Utah in 2003. From 2005 to 2012, Dr. Portenga served as Director of Sport Psychology for the University of Denver Division of Athletics and Recreation. In addition, he is a licensed psychologist in the state of Colorado, a Certified Consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and is listed in the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Sport Psychology Registry.

Contact:
Steve Portenga
steve@iperformancepsychology.com
1720 South Bellaire Street, Suite 305
Denver, CO 80222
Phone: (303)960-5711
Web: http://www.iperformancepsychology.com