I am Mike.
I am a chronologically gifted athlete. Some might say elderly, or old, or master, or senior citizen, but I am not putting any limits on what I can achieve.
We all make transitions. I was a collegiate athlete (well, 13th person on a 12 person tennis team – does that count?) and made the transition to post-collegiate life by staying active (lots of intramurals in graduate school) and running and swimming.
There was athletic life after college – lots of road races and loads of fun. I have been fortunate to have been able to continue running for more than 45 years, and hope to do so for another few decades. Some of you may be finding this transition from college to a post-college existence challenging. Perhaps you stopped exercising for a while – a few weeks/months/years/decades. Perhaps you have been active forever, but want some new challenges as life's journey brings changes. Perhaps you were an athlete but have transitioned to being an exerciser. However, you define these terms.
Who am I? I am a retired University professor, after 40 years in academia. I am officially a Professor Emeritus, Temple University. My area of specialization is exercise and sport psychology. I started as a psychology major in college and moved on to exercise and sport psychology in graduate school, getting my Ph.D. from Florida State University. Sport psychology was the perfect way to combine my love for psychology and sports. I was always on the playground and in the gym, seemingly minoring in intramurals in college. I played almost everything – basketball, tennis, soccer, flag football, softball, racquetball, and ran and swam.
Running became my thing, and I focused on that as an athlete in graduate school and my academic research. I ran two marathons and countless shorter races over the years – with more t-shirts than I know what to do with, even having given many away.
That was one of the cool things starting out competing in road races – they gave you a t-shirt for competing. But it was the self-competition – could I set a new PR (personal record)? Sometimes it would be seeing if I could do this new distance, or beat someone, or simply enjoy a beautiful setting.
One of the beauties of running road races is you can line up (almost) next to a national champion/world champion/Olympic medalist in a race and someone who is walking the race and taking a long time to finish. But if you are fast enough, you can leave that medalist in the dust (as I often do in my dreams 😊.
What will athletic4ever do for you? In this sport psychology section, we will offer you resources and support. There will be information on athletic identity and exercise identity, finding your 'tribe' in your area/sport, dealing with injuries, finding the motivation to continue with your sport (or try a different one if you wish). There will be resources – links to articles, summaries of new research, referrals to sport psychologists in your area for you and your team/friends/children/grandchildren. We will be ready to add new information on different topics if we do not meet your needs (just contact me at mike@athletic4ever.com if you have any feedback/suggestions).
This website is for you to help you be the 'best' athlete/exerciser you can be. Perhaps you want to compete and be more successful, or you want help sticking with an exercise program, or you want to mentor younger athletes who are coming through the ranks. There are so many possibilities and so many different sports/activities in which one can participate. The possibilities are endless, and we look forward to having you join us on this journey.
You know about all the physical and psychological benefits that participation in sport and exercise provides and the social elements. There is a whole world of sport and exercise out there, and it is yours for the taking. As the famous philosopher Buzz Lightyear said, "To Infinity and Beyond." 😊