Mike Urban

Clinical Psychologist, Former XC Coach, Consultant to Family Practice Residents, husband, father, aging athlete, and proud FC & ISU grad.

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

This!

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Team USA just won its first Olympic hockey gold in 46 years.

On February 22. The exact anniversary of the Miracle on Ice.

Forget the storybook narrative for a second.

What happened today is a masterclass in what performance science teaches us about pressure, identity, and legacy.

Consider the pressure this team was under.
They walked into today carrying 46 years of near misses.

The US hadn't won Olympic gold since 1980.

They lost the gold medal game in 2002 and 2010...both times to Canada. Last year at the 4 Nations tournament, Canada beat them in overtime. That loss was still raw.

The 1980 hero, Mike Eruzione, was in the building. He told the players before the game: "It's just a hockey game."

It wasn't. And everyone knew it.

Canada outshot the US 41-26.

They dominated the second and third periods.

Nathan MacKinnon missed an open net. Macklin Celebrini had a breakaway and couldn't convert. Devon Toews had Hellebuyck beaten and somehow the puck stayed out. Then Charlie McAvoy cleared a puck off the goal line with his glove.

This was not a dominant performance. It was a team surviving enormous pressure and refusing to break. That distinction matters.

How does a team perform under that kind of weight? It starts with the environment the coach creates.

Mike Sullivan is now the only American-born coach to win multiple Stanley Cups AND Olympic gold.

When he took over the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015, the team was loaded with talent — Crosby, Malkin, Letang — and completely broken. His description: "There was a dark cloud over the locker room."

His first move wasn't a new system or a motivational speech. It was a reframe.

He told the team: "There are certain things in life we can control and certain things we can't. We needed to focus on the things that we could control and not dedicate any cognitive resources or worry to things we couldn't control."

The team adopted a two-word motto: "Just play."

Six months later, they won the Stanley Cup. Tonight, he helped USA do it again on the biggest stage in the world.

Sullivan builds what he calls a "safe zone for learning."

His video review sessions are explicitly NOT about blame.

"We don't want a player walking into our video room on eggshells worried about 'Am I going to be in the film? Is Coach going to yell at me?' It's a game of mistakes. Our responsibility is to learn from them."

His guiding principle from his college coach:

"Before players want to know what you know, they want to know that you care."

It's the difference between compliance and buy-in. Buy-in wins championships.

Research backs up Sullivan.

Fear-based environments don't produce peak performance. Especially when pressure is already high...

They produce anxiety, risk-aversion, and choking.

When people feel psychologically safe — when they know mistakes won't be weaponized against them — they take smarter risks, recover faster from errors, and perform better under pressure.

We could see it in how Sullivan framed this moment in the weeks before the game.

"What an incredible opportunity we have in front of us."

Not a burden or expectation...Opportunity.

He took the unusual step for a hockey team and kept the team in the Olympic Village instead of a hotel.

His reasoning: "The Village is part of the experience."

The Hughes brothers roomed together. The Tkachuk brothers roomed together.

He didn't try to ignore or isolate them from the pressure. He was embedding them in it, together.

And then there's the guy who scored the goal.

Jack Hughes came into the Olympics injured, underperforming, slotted on the fourth line.

Sullivan moved him up mid-tournament because, as he put it, "We thought by moving him and getting him more ice time, he could impact the game more."

Hughes's response: "I believe in myself more than anyone. Wherever I was slotted coming into this thing, I knew I was going to play well."

A coach who believed in him when results said otherwise. A player who believed in himself when the lineup said otherwise.

Then two teeth got cracked in half by a high stick in the third period. And he scored the golden goal anyway.

Everyone's going to remember this as the night the US ended a 46-year drought.

On the anniversary. In overtime. Against Canada.

But the real lesson is quieter than that.

The environment you create determines the performance you get. A safe zone for learning. A focus on controllables. Relationships built on care, not fear. Pressure reframed as opportunity.

That's what it looks like when a team is ready, with the right environment and support to tackle the ghosts of history.

They built a culture where a team could survive 41 shots and a kid with two broken teeth could score the biggest goal of his life.

The 1980 Miracle was about belief overcoming talent. Today was different.

Today was talent, preparation, identity, and 46 years of accumulated hunger arriving at the same moment.

-Steve

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

@batty_leslie Congrats!!!

[The Associated Press @AP]

Australian Open champion Madison Keys credits therapy with helping her off a tennis court and on https://t.co/P4iE3qP9Hk

[Danielle DuClos @danielle_duclos]

Local journalists work tirelessly to make their communities better by uncovering wrongdoing and holding power to account.

This thread is just a fraction of that work:
https://t.co/FUdn4H8kwl

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

So fun to watch @IndStVB play in Hulman Center! The team played hard & the fans had a great time! An awesome venue to support the Sycamores & enjoy time w/ @katiegoldner1 @Josh_Goldner & friends! Just look at the smiles on these 2 super fans! Good luck tomorrow @ashleepritchard

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

This!

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

On your phone before performing?

Research finds being on your phone before practice:
-Impairs decision making in Volleyball players
-Reduce training gains on swimming and endurance performance.

Scrolling doesn't prime you for performing or learning.

[Pat McAfee @PatMcAfeeShow]

"We deal with a lot of stuff & I developed a bond with my counselor at Seton Hall that has lasted until today..

She got me to talk about a lot of stuff that was bothering me & helped me get to being my best self" ~ @dhurley15 #PMSLive

[GreggDoyelStar @GreggDoyelStar]

Something special is happening at Indiana State, where the Sycamores are the state's second-best bet to get into the NCAA Tournament -- and if they get there, remember where you heard it first: They'd better pack for a long stay.
https://t.co/6eo201Ghwr

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

Congrats @menser5 !!

[IndyStarSports @IndyStarSports]

Plainfield goes the distance, and then some, to earn the Hendricks County girls basketball championship.

https://t.co/0qcBkav5LF

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

@GreggDoyelStar A poignant tribute - Thank you for sharing, Greg.

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

Regardless of your stand on abortion, this story exemplifies the need for local journalism. The search for the truth is often a long complicated journey. Too many times we listen to someone’s opinion vs facts.

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

@powens33 @lavern_gibsonXC @IHSAA1 @THSouthSports @TimingMD @MileSplitIN It’s always sunny in paradise! (At least prior to tournament time!)

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

So it begins. ⁦@lavern_gibsonXC⁩ is the place to be for the Valley Cross Kickoff No better way to start the ⁦@IHSAA1⁩ XC season than at the most iconic course in the country! Thanks to ⁦@THSouthSports⁩ & ⁦@TimingMD⁩ for this event! ⁦⁦@MileSplitIN⁩

[Coach Hines 🇺🇸 @CoachKurtHines]

If anyone ever tries to tell you that you need to “specialize” in one sport, in order to be great, ask them this ONE question:

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

Thank you once again @GreggDoyelStar

[GreggDoyelStar @GreggDoyelStar]

Wasn’t sure I had enough to say on this topic, but I was moved to start writing and see where my story went. Sure enough, I had a lot to say about mental health and sports, and you, and me: https://t.co/9GtvbeVAGn

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

Yet another opportunity to support the institution that has been so important in my life. @FranklinCollege offers a 1st class education & a preparation for life that is 2nd to none. Thanks FC! #GivetoGRIZ https://t.co/wcGbdtym6a

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

@sycamoretwitch Congrats to you all! So much to look forward to!

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

Great program for anyone interested in multi-sport.

[Team Acorn @acorntriathlon]

This Saturday!

[Mike Urban @dr_urban]

Another great read by @GreggDoyelStar Speaks to a more systemic/cultural problem about the way we treat one another and the lack of connection/compassion with/for others, that gives way to some of this behavior. Thanks for taking the time to write this!

[GreggDoyelStar @GreggDoyelStar]

The Naomi Osaka incident last night is a discouraging reminder of the cowards in our midst. This goes way beyond sports:
https://t.co/6FbK2A8ZoA

[S. Marie Belzile Theisz @SMarieTheisz]

TAKE ACTION: Tell legislators to oppose bills that would stifle students’ freedom to learn https://t.co/vO1osPdDJ2