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My interests in sport and mental performance stem from my early experiences of sport and sport psychology. I played multiple sports during childhood, but I decided to specialize in tennis at the age of 12. What I loved about tennis was that success and failure rested entirely on my actions, and hard work tended to lead to performance improvements.
Throughout my tennis development, I experienced everything that young athletes face during sport: confidence and performance anxiety, determination and perfectionistic thinking, resilience and fragility. To build my mental game, I decided to learn as much about tennis and performance as I could. I read popular tennis texts by former professional tennis athletes, and I recorded my notes in a tennis journal that I reviewed during practice and on change-overs during matches. All of my tennis and mental training led to a position on an NCAA DIvision I collegiate tennis team.
I competed for the women's tennis team at Drake University (Des Moines, IA), where I double-majored in Psychology and Neuroscience.
At times, I acted as an assistant coach to my teammates. I learned to see the game as a coach, and I incorporated what I learned during my own development as a player into my coaching. I also began coaching in my spare time and became a Professional Tennis Registry Certified Instructor.
Following my time at Drake, I knew that I needed to develop a more advanced Sport Psychology skill set to continue helping athletes and coaches learn the mental skills needed for sporting excellence. To achieve that goal, I pursued graduate training in Sport Psychology. I earned a Master's of Science in Kinesiology from the University of North Texas and a PhD in Kinesiology with a specialization Sport Psychology and Motor Behavior from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville under the advisement of Dr. Rebecca Zakrajsek. I continued to play competitive tennis throughout my graduate degrees.
During my PhD, I conducted research in applied youth sport psychology and worked with the United States Tennis Association Player Development through a Sport Science grant. I also traveled across the United States and Europe to present my research.
After earning my PhD, I accepted a position as an assistant professor of Sport Psychology and Wellness at Western Illinois University (Macomb, IL) and became the director of the Leathernecks Excel as Athletes and People (LEAP) program, which provided comprehensive mental training, personal development, and nutrition resources for student-athletes and athletics staff.
In 2019, I became a contracted mental performance coach with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Player Development (PD). I also work with several individual mental performance clients. I have maintained my role in academia by becoming an adjunct professor at both Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL, and Adler University in Chicago, IL.
I am originally from Wichita, Kansas, and the proud dog-mom to Kasey.
If you're seeking Mental Training or the current rates, set up a Game Plan Consultation or contact me at earlynnlauer@gmail.com
If you're seeking Mental Training or the current rates, set up a Game Plan Consultation or contact me at earlynnlauer@gmail.com
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