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 began working with Suman Sanghera, an elite air pistol competitor, at the beginning of her senior year in high school in Virginia. Already a rising star in the Olympic sport of air pistol, Sanghera has established herself as one of the most talented athletes in the sport and has the potential to represent the United States Shooting Team in as many as three or four Olympic games.
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.
Like many of the athletes in an individual sport with very little margin for error, Sanghera is a perfectionist who can be overly critical of her own performance. With many national and international opportunities on the horizon, Price worked closely with Sanghera to develop productive self-talk and effective thinking.
“We spent a lot of our energy and time on what she called self sabotage-waiting for something to go wrong before she locked in,” Price said. “Now she’s ready to go right from the start and believes she is exactly where she is supposed to be. We talked about not forgetting to rely on all of that talent you have, and we went through a phase of trusting your training. Truly understanding what trusting the process that you’ve been practicing without hesitation. Don’t overthink and place your attention on each shot versus thinking about the overall outcome.”
At the USA Shooting National Championships in May, Sanghera recorded the highest qualification score total for men and women, won the Junior Women category and finished second in the Open Women category. Sanghera is already the No. 1 seed for Olympic qualifying that will take place in the fall and she will be one of the favorites at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
“(Price) has a really great way of explaining things I was going through and helping me work through mental blockades to enhance the training I was doing,” said Sanghera, whose decorated air pistol career already includes Gold medals at the 2022 Winter Air Gun Championships in Women's and Junior Women’s 10m Air Pistol and a Gold medal at the 2022 CAT Games in Women’s 10m Air Pistol and 10m Air Pistol Women’s Team. “In a sport like shooting, the skills you use the most are mental skills, but they’re often overlooked. We have worked together on creating a plan for how I was going to attack international competitions, so that I don’t let doubt or fear get in the way. (Price) explains things in a simple yet thorough manner, and it allows me to be the be the most confident I can be.”
Suman’s father, Paramjeet Sanghera, was impressed with the amount of time Price invested to become more familiar with the sport of air pistol and the international stage in order to best prepare Suman to compete at the highest level.
“Mr. Price knows how important it is to understand the athlete’s point of view or approach, and he spent quite a bit of time learning the sport,” Paramjeet said. “You really have to be in it in order to know, and he spent extra time understanding it so he could relate it to other individual sports out there and understand the challenges. Over the course of a few sessions, he was able to relate what Suman was experiencing in her competitions.”
At first Price and Suman worked together weekly, and once they had established a rapport the sessions became less frequent. An important element of Suman’s routine was journaling as she prepared for and completed competitions to create specific goals and determine if the goals were achieved.
“Any time I had questions or I was struggling with something, (Price) became like another coach I could explain my situation and talk through it,” said Suman, who is also a 4.0 student who plans to go to medical school after college. “Consistency is what gets you results. Working with him over months has proven to be beneficial, helping to understand not just training but also the psychology behind sports and the reasoning. That’s how I learn.”
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.
“(Suman) is incredibly motivated, so it’s getting her to not be overwhelmed with expectation,” Price said. “It’s not just her expectations but the expectations of her country, which is a lot of stress. So we are getting her to set her own goals and work at her own pace.”
Visit the Elite Minds website to learn more about Elite Minds LLC and Robert Price or schedule a consultation.
