Welcome to 3 Points

An introduction to what this is all about and what's to come

Thanks for subscribing to 3 Points!  Sport and performance psychology is something I’m passionate about and excited to share with you. Before we get into the content, I want to introduce myself and share the game plan for 3 Points.

I’m Brian Sullivan and I’m a former college and professional basketball player. As an NCAA Division I player, I loved to shoot three pointers – hence the name of the newsletter! I played at Davidson College where I was an All-Conference player and captain of the first Davidson team to receive an NCAA at-large bid. Upon graduation, I played 3 seasons professionally in Europe and Australia where I was exposed to different performance environments, coaching styles, and individual roles. Following my playing career, I joined the coaching staff at Davidson College where I served as the Director of Player Development for three seasons. Currently, I am pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Denver in Sport and Performance Psychology.

Full disclosure, I am not an expert in the field (yet🤞🏼), so I will not pretend to be one. Instead, I will use this newsletter to share what I have learned that I wish I knew while I was coaching. This newsletter is intended to introduce you to evidence-based ideas and potential applications to optimize performance and enhance mental health. My hope is that this newsletter gets you curious and willing to try new ideas. Lastly, I know how busy each of you are - so I will keep the information brief. Each newsletter will feature just 3 Points.  

For our inaugural 3 Points, I would like to share the framework that will set the foundation for future newsletters.

1. I will be sharing ideas about sport and performance psychology and my lens will be focused on two of the field’s core objectives: helping performers use psychological principles to improve performance and achieve optimal mental health.

2. Coaches* are performers and can benefit from sport and performance psychology too! I have sat in your seat – coaches train, prepare, strive, and face expectations, pressure, self-doubt, and adversity. I aim to introduce you to tools, skills, and ideas to help you perform at your best and more thoroughly enjoy coaching.

3. Coaches are the key. Ultimately, I want to help performers perform better, of course, but also enhance their mental health. Through each of you, I hope athletes can experience environments that challenge them, allow them to grow, hold them accountable and bring out their best, allow them to feel cared for, and build skills that will help them handle all that life will throw at them.

*I will be speaking to coaches; however, the field of performance psychology can be applied to anyone who needs to perform when excellence matters.