Anna Hennings, Mental Performance Coach

05/24/2025

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Portland’s KATU News featured my work with athletes in the region (in partnership with the Women’s Foundation of Oregon and Sport Oregon’s SHE FLIES initiative)! https://katu.com/features/she-flies/athletes-can-boost-physical-performance-by-upping-mental-game #

It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and feeling good mentally can be a gamechanger for athletes.

03/30/2024

Up in Spokane at the Pacific Northwest Qualifier this weekend! If you’re at the convention center, come say hello, and learn more about training the mental side of volleyball. You can even be one of the first to snag my new Train the Mind shirt ☺️

01/26/2021

“Butterflies” often show up when we’re about to do something big and important, and we often consider them a sign that we’re nervous or anxious.

This fluttering sensation is actually just the body moving blood away from where it’s not needed for the moment (like the digestive system) and into the muscles you need to play. This feeling being a sign of nerves is simply a label your mind attaches to the feeling.

You get to choose how you interpret the butterflies in your tummy before a big match, tournament or tryouts. So why not label them as they are? A sign of READINESS. 💪🏼🏐🧠

10/14/2020

I had a fun chat with Jake of Compete Every Day about two cornerstones of my mental performance coaching practice: self-compassion and gratitude. Not really the concepts that come to mind when you think about elite performance, right? In this episode of the podcast (which we recorded on Zoom), I talk about why self-compassion and gratitude are ESSENTIAL, both for sports and life. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nER1Zfey9FY

You can read a little more about the episode, here, too: https://podcast.competeeveryday.com/222/

Anna Hennings, M.A. | Season 4, Episode 222 Leave us a rating: http://bit.ly/cedonitunes 🔥 Join Competitor Nation: http://CompetitorNation.com Support Compet...

04/25/2019

Excited that my GIFTS of Gratitude technique is included as #1 of these 12 tips for self-improvement and that my go-to "formula" for self-talk is #4. I love communicating the ways in which sport psychology concepts translate into everyday life and feel honored to have been included as an expert source. Thanks, Healthline!

Feel like you're not living up to your full potential? These 12 tips can help you cultivate a meaningful life that serves both you and those around you.

03/25/2019

This! I teach my volleyball players about shifting away from "sorry" (as well as "should"!), about owning a mistake, learning from it, and moving on. Doing this is just as important in LIFE as it is on the court, and "thank you" is a great place to start to change the apology habit.

When we needlessly apologize, we end up making ourselves small and diminish what we’re trying to express, says sociologist Maja Jovanovic.