Washington Spirit midfielder Maddie Elwell joins host Keith Wilford for a conversation about one of the most overlooked pressures in high-level sport: the slow erosion of identity when performance becomes the measure of your worth.

Maddie played at Vanderbilt University and competed professionally in the NWSL. She knows what it costs to build a life inside a sport, and what it takes to stay yourself while doing it.

In this episode, Maddie and Keith get into:

• How athletic identity forms early and why it becomes a trap for so many young athletes
• The pressure of joining new teams and trying to prove yourself every single day
• Managing emotions on the field without losing your competitive edge
• Why self-worth and sports performance are not the same thing, even when everything around you insists they are
• The practices that helped her stay grounded: presence, real relationships, and relentless self-forgiveness

This episode is for every athlete who has ever tied their value to a result, a roster spot, or a coach's approval. It is also for every parent and coach who wants to understand what is actually happening inside the athletes they care about.

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In Episode [#6] of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Dr. Scott Glassman, licensed psychologist, author of A Happier You, and director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), and Will Davis, a high school sophomore goalkeeper for FC Delco 2010 MLS Next HG, to answer one of the most common questions in youth sports mental health: how do athletes stop dwelling on mistakes and start building real confidence?

Why do athletes remember mistakes more than wins? Dr. Glassman explains the science behind negativity bias, the brain's tendency to hold onto what went wrong longer and harder than what went right. For young athletes, this means one bad play can overshadow an entire strong performance. Understanding why this happens is the first step to changing it.

What does "catching the good" actually mean for a teen athlete? Dr. Glassman breaks down how athletes can actively redirect attention toward positive moments, not by ignoring mistakes, but by training the brain to give equal weight to what is working. This is a learnable, practicable skill, not a personality trait.

How do breathwork and visualization help athletes under pressure? Will Davis shares the specific tools he uses as a goalkeeper: breathwork to stay present, visualization to prepare for high-pressure moments, and trust in the people around him to stay grounded when the game gets hard. These are not abstract concepts. They are tools a 15-year-old uses in real competitive situations.

Why does athlete identity matter for confidence? Both guests address one of the most underexplored issues in youth sports mental health: athletes whose entire identity is tied to performance are more vulnerable to confidence collapse after mistakes. Seeing yourself as more than your stats protects the joy that brought you to the game.

What this episode covers:

• Why the brain holds onto mistakes longer than wins (negativity bias explained)
• How young athletes can move from a bad moment to the next play without spiraling
• What breathwork and visualization actually do for a teenager under pressure
• How to actively catch the good even in a hard game or hard season
• Why confidence is built through practice, gratitude and support, not just belief
• How athlete identity affects mental health and performance
• What parents and coaches can do to reinforce a healthy inner voice in young athletes
• The goldfish principle: why forgetting the mistake is a mental fitness skill

Guest: Dr. Scott Glassman, Licensed Psychologist, Author of A Happier You, Director of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Guest: Will Davis, a high school sophomore goalkeeper, FC Delco 2010 MLS Next HG

Host: Keith Wilford

Related episodes: The Last Line (Ep. 4), Face the Feed (Ep. 5)

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. New episodes every week.

Tags: youth athlete mental health, athlete confidence, sports psychology, inner voice athletes, negativity bias sports, breathwork for athletes, visualization for teen athletes, positive mindset youth sports, how to stop dwelling on mistakes, athlete identity, HEADFIRST, The Pressure Lab, mental fitness, youth sports, teen athletes, FC Delco, PCOM, A Happier You

In Episode 5 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Dr. Megan Walls, pediatric psychologist at Nemours Children's Hospital, to talk about what social media is doing to teen athletes and their mental health: their confidence, their identity, and their sense of self-worth when the noise never stops.

They get into why one negative comment can erase ten positive ones, how constant comparison quietly convinces even successful young athletes that they're falling behind, and why online bullying hits differently than anything that happened on a sideline. It follows you into your bedroom. It's there when you wake up. There's no leaving it at the field.

Dr. Walls breaks down what actually helps: learning to ask whether what you're consuming is building you or breaking you, understanding whose voice deserves space in your head, finding trusted adults who can hold what a comment section never can, and building real-life connections strong enough to anchor you when the feed gets loud.

If you're a teen athlete, a parent of a young athlete, or a coach working with youth sports, this episode is for you.

Topics covered:

• Social media and athlete mental health
• Why negative comments stick longer than positive ones
• Online bullying and youth athletes
• Self-esteem and identity in youth sports
• How comparison affects athletic confidence
• Building mental fitness in the digital age
• Sports psychology tools for teen athletes
• How parents and coaches can help young athletes navigate social media

Guest: Dr. Megan Walls, Pediatric Psychologist, Nemours Children's Hospital

Host: Keith Wilford

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for new episodes every week.

In Episode 4 of The Pressure Lab, Keith Wilford sits down with Cate Cantu, ECNL national champion, U.S. U19 Youth National Team goalkeeper and Louisville signee, and Jillian Loyden, former U.S. Women's National Team goalkeeper and professional coach, to talk about the mental health and sports psychology of the most unique position in the game.

They explore what it actually feels like to be the last line of defense: where one moment can shift everything, where the loudest voice is often the one inside your own head, and where the mental game is not a supplement to the physical one. It is the whole thing.

Cate and Jillian get into perfectionism and what it does to young athletes, the specific loneliness of the goalkeeper position, the mental weight of penalty kicks, how to recover after getting scored on in front of everyone, and the difference between playing to prove your worth and actually learning how to grow. They also talk about routines, self-talk, identity, and why a goalkeeper's real strength is knowing how to come back to the present moment when everything in you wants to spiral.

This episode is for every goalkeeper who has ever stood alone between the posts and wondered if they were enough. It is also for every coach and parent who works with one and doesn't always know what to say.

Topics covered:

• Goalkeeper mental health and sports psychology
• Perfectionism in young athletes
• Recovering mentally after conceding a goal
• Penalty kick psychology
• Self-talk and routines for athletes
• Identity and self-worth in youth soccer
• Loneliness and isolation in sport
• Mental fitness tools for goalkeepers
• Youth athlete confidence and resilience
• How coaches and parents can support goalkeepers

Guests: Cate Cantu, ECNL National Champion, U.S. U19 Youth National Team Goalkeeper, Louisville Signee Jillian Loyden, Former U.S. Women's National Team Goalkeeper, Professional Coach

Host: Keith Wilford

Subscribe to The Pressure Lab on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for new episodes every week.

Tags: goalkeeper mental health, youth soccer, sports psychology, teen athletes, mental fitness, perfectionism, youth athletes, goalkeeper training, self-talk, identity, HEADFIRST, The Pressure Lab, women's soccer, ECNL, USWNT

Keith Wilford sits down with Alan O'Mara, GAA footballer, founder of Real Talks, and author of "The Best Is Yet to Come," to explore what resilience actually looks like from the inside. At the height of his career, Alan was playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Six months later, he hit rock bottom. He became the first active inter-county GAA player to speak publicly about depression, and he opens up about the slow slide into burnout, the moments he almost asked for help but didn't, and the decision to finally speak out when vulnerability in sport was still rare.

They get into what resilience actually means: not just pushing through, but learning how to come back, rebuilding identity after sport, and developing the mental performance tools that help you hold steady when things get hard. From journaling and breathwork to honest conversations and real connection, Alan shares how resilience is built in small, consistent ways.

This is a conversation about identity, isolation, and the courage it takes to speak up. Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask for help.