MP Seminar Topics
November 19 – Mastering Your Mind: Process Over Outcome
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Understanding the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and performance.
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Shifting from outcome-focused thinking to process goals and controllable factors.
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Developing awareness of mental habits.
December 17 – Performing Under Pressure: Managing Thoughts and Emotions
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Managing negative self-talk, pressure, and race-day nerves.
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Responding constructively to setbacks and unexpected challenges.
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Developing a mental reset routine to regain focus during difficult moments.
January 21 – Building Your Race-Day Mental Game
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Developing pre-race routines and effective mental cues.
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Applying process goals, self-talk, and reset strategies throughout a race.
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Creating an individualized mental performance plan for competition.
The overall goal is to help athletes understand their mental approach, develop strategies for managing challenging situations, and ultimately apply those skills in a practical race-day plan.
The sessions are intended to be interactive, with triathlon-specific scenarios, group discussion, and opportunities for athletes to practice the strategies.
The seminars will be feature experts in their respective fields.
Zach Copeland is a Master of Human Kinetics student specializing in Mental Performance Consulting at the University of Ottawa. A former U SPORTS football player for the uOttawa Gee-Gees and professional football player with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Zach brings firsthand experience with the mental demands of high-performance sport. He works with individual athletes and teams to develop mental skills related to confidence, focus, emotional regulation, resilience, and performance under pressure. His experience includes working with athletes across football and hockey, as well as supporting rehabilitation patients at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Zach takes an athlete-centred, evidence-informed approach to mental performance, helping athletes reach their potential both in sport and in life.
Ed McKneelyis a career sport scientist, having spent 35 years working in high performance sport, delivering physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition. planning and coach education services to 20 Canadian National Sport Organizations. He is the former Strength and Conditioning Lead at the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario and is a founding director of the Canadian Strength and Conditioning Association.
Ed is the author of five books, Power Plyometrics, The Resistance Band Workout Book, One Hundred Strength Exercises, Training for Rowing, and Skillful Rowing and has contributed to several others. He has published over 150 articles on training and athlete conditioning covering topics such as strength training, plyometrics, making weight, assessing fitness, speed and power development, planning and periodization, and aerobic fitness. Ed has been a frequent speaker at national and international sport and coaching conferences having presented through out North America, Europe, and Asia.
