Robert Price, CEO at Elite Minds LLC, has worked with hundreds of athletes in a diverse variety of sports to set goals, problem solve and create lifelong success strategies.
Price started working with Richmond Hill High School cross country standout Garrison Gilbert a few months ago, and the results were immediate. Gilbert, 17, is a s
enior and a member of the Richmond Hill team that won the Georgia High School Association Class 6A state meet in November.
Price, who played football at the University of Pittsburgh and holds Masters degrees from both the University of Maryland Johns Hopkins University, founded Elite Minds in 2000 and has since worked with a wide range of athletes that includes collegiate and professional kickers, amateur tennis players, golfers of all levels, basketball players, gymnasts, hockey players, lacrosse players, soccer players, ice skaters, field hockey players and track and field athletes.
Elite Minds is a mental performance coaching and consulting service that works with athletes to help them reach and exceed their potential on and off the field. Through proven mental skill techniques, athletes are led to more consistent performances even in the face of adversity.
Gilbert started running competitively in elementary school and enjoyed tremendous success in middle school, including a region championship and placing eighth in the state in the mile while living in Camden County.
But after relocating to Richmond Hill and joining the RHHS cross country team, Gilbert became frustrated with his race performance. As his frustration and anxiety increased, his race times began to suffer.
“(Garrison) was putting a lot of expectations on himself because of prior success,” said Garrison’s father, Brian Gilbert. “We even took him to the doctor and checked his blood levels to rule out any physical issues. He just wasn’t comfortable running at the time.”
But after starting sessions with Price, Brian Gilbert said Garrison began knocking a minute or more off his previous times. Garrison and Price focused on managing pre-race anxiety, developing and executing a solid race strategy and running within himself rather than worrying about other runners in the field.
“(Working with Price) has helped me a ton, and there has 1000 percent been a huge difference,” said Garrison Gilbert, whose personal bests are 17:12 in the 5,000-meter race and 4:44 in the 1,600-meter race. “I feel a lot more mentally ready. I’m not as shaky, I’m more calm and and I have more of a plan coming into a race. Now I know what I need to do.”
Price and Garrison Gilbert spend time each week discussing what happened in the previous race as well as what happened during training to construct strategies that can be applied both in race and during training. Gilbert is considering colleges and universities in the Southern Conference as potential landing spots for collegiate running, and Price is working with him every step of the way during the college recruiting process.
“Garrison is just more confident in his game plan and what he is going to do,” Brian Gilbert said. “He feels much less anxiety about his performance and is just going out there and enjoying running. To have him finish a race and feel good, that’s the biggest thing.”
Price has received training in Mindfulness Meditation at the University of Miami under Dr. Amishi Jha and achieved a Level III Master Resilience Trainer from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a certified therapist using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) certified by EMDRIA and a licensed clinical professional counselor in the state of Maryland and Georgia.
Visit Elite Minds to learn more about Elite Minds LLC and Robert Price or schedule a consultation.
