Your daughter will build a personalized mental-performance system to prepare with intention, play more decisively, recover faster after mistakes, and show coaches more consistently the player she has trained to become.
You have seen her make the read in practice. You have watched her knock down the shot in workouts. After the game, she can often tell you exactly what she should have done. Then pressure shows up and she starts hesitating, second-guessing, or playing not to mess up.
Instead of moving on, she carries the last play with her.
More hesitation. More checking the bench. Less freedom.
She knows the game, but pressure pulls her attention away from the next action.
You can remind her how talented she is. She still has to learn what to do when doubt shows up in the middle of competition.
The goal is not to make her feel fearless. The goal is to build trainable responses she can use when nerves, mistakes, coach feedback, pressure, or self-doubt show up.
We first understand what is happening, then build the right mental skills, then work on using those skills when the game gets hard.
This is not twelve disconnected coaching appointments. We begin with a mental performance assessment and Athlete DISC Profile so I can understand how she tends to respond, communicate, and approach situations. Then we use the practices, games, mistakes, pressure, and challenges she is actually experiencing as part of the work. She tries the skills, comes back with what happened, and we adjust together. By the end, she has a repeatable system for preparing, competing, resetting after mistakes, and reflecting without tearing herself down. Three dedicated parent sessions help you support the work at home without becoming her second coach.
Twelve full private sessions across 16 weeks: eight weekly sessions followed by four biweekly sessions. The early intensity helps her build the tools, while the second half gives her time to apply them independently and return with real performance feedback.
We begin with a research-based sport psychology assessment with established validity and reliability. It gives us a credible baseline of key mental skills so we can see where she is already strong, where gaps may be showing up, and what deserves attention first.
A behavioral style profile that gives us another lens for understanding how she tends to communicate, respond, and operate in different situations. It is not a personality test and it does not put her in a box.
Her plan is built around what she actually struggles with, how she plays, the pressure she feels, and what she wants to change.
Games do not wait for our next appointment. She can bring real moments from practices and competition into the coaching between sessions so we can work with what is actually happening.
Three private sessions for you across the 16 weeks so you understand what she is working on, how to support her progress, what to say after difficult games, and how to help without becoming her second coach.
When appropriate, I observe her in competition so we can coach from what is actually happening in the game, not only from what she remembers afterward. This gives us real performance moments to review and work from.
She receives practical tools, workbooks, and training resources that reinforce the coaching and give her specific ways to practice her mental skills between sessions.
Your daughter is not getting twelve disconnected coaching appointments. Across 16 weeks, I get to know her game, her patterns, what pressure looks like for her, what happens after mistakes, how she responds to coaching, and where she tends to get stuck. We use her real practices and games as part of the work so the coaching stays connected to the athlete she is becoming.
The Mentally StrongHer™ Method gives us the framework, but the coaching is personal. I get to know the athlete in front of me, what she is experiencing in her season, and what she needs as she learns to handle pressure more independently. The goal is not for her to depend on me. The goal is for her to become the athlete who knows how to coach herself through the hard moments.
The goal is not perfect confidence or a guarantee that every game goes well. We look for observable change in how quickly she resets, how decisively she plays, how consistently she uses her preparation tools, and how productively she responds after competition.
The last possession stops controlling the next one.
Less hesitating, second-guessing, and looking for reassurance before making decisions she already knows how to make.
She has routines and tools to lean on instead of hoping she wakes up feeling confident that day.
Games become useful feedback instead of evidence about whether she is good enough.
I am Val Whiting, CMPC®, a former WNBA player, two-time NCAA Champion at Stanford, and mental performance coach specializing in competitive female basketball players.
I know what it is like to have the physical ability to perform and still struggle to access it when pressure takes over. That experience is part of why I now teach athletes how to train the mental side of competition with the same intention they bring to the physical side.
I care less about whether she can explain a mental skill perfectly and more about whether you start seeing a difference in how she prepares, responds to mistakes, and competes when the game gets real.
“After only a couple sessions with Coach Val, we saw a huge improvement! Her mental preparation for games was focused and her evaluation of her play after games was much more productive.”
This works best when the athlete wants to be part of the process. The application helps me understand what is happening, what your family is looking for, and whether private coaching is the right level of support.
Mental performance coaching works best when the athlete understands what it is and feels like she has a voice in the process. These resources can help you decide what the next step should be without turning the conversation into another critique of her game.
Use this guide to start a supportive conversation about the mental side of basketball without making her feel like something is wrong with her or that she is being forced into coaching.
Read the Parent GuideGet a personalized look at what may be getting in the way of her performance, plus a Mental Game Audit Report and a 90-day mental game plan.
Explore the Mental Game AuditThe Competitive Edge Blueprint™ is an intensive 16-week coaching experience built around the athlete in front of me.
Tell me what is happening, what you want to see change, and how your daughter feels about coaching. I will review your application and, if private coaching appears to be the right fit, I will send you the next step.
Apply for 1:1 Coaching