Aimee C. Kimball, Ph.D., is director of mental training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Center for Sports Medicine, a position newly created in September 2004.
While physical training focuses on teaching the body how to execute the skills needed to excel in sport, mental training focuses on teaching the mind the skills needed to ensure consistent peak performances. Dr. Kimball teaches athletes and teams how to consistently perform at their best mentally and teaches coaches and parents how to enhance young athletes’ sport experience.
Athletes do their best when they are mentally focused to withstand the pressures of athletic competition and can remove mental barriers that may hinder their performance, according to Dr. Kimball. Developing strong mental skills gives athletes an additional competitive advantage. Through mental training athletes, can enhance their ability to control their thinking, their emotions, and in turn, their performance.
Dr. Kimball works with individual athletes of all levels to identify and recreate their ideal mindset during games and practices. Individual mental training not only addresses performance problems, but it is used to prevent problems from occurring and to help athletes reach higher levels of competition. Dr. Kimball also works with teams in creating mental training programs to meet their specific needs. Team training includes enhancing group cohesion through team building, leadership development, improved communication and goal setting. Additionally, she works with groups of parents and coaches’ educating them on ways they can help young athletes enjoy a positive sport experience.
She also assists athletes outside of their sport in developing life skills, balancing sport with other priorities, working through major life decisions, and transitioning out of sport.
Another aspect of Dr. Kimball’s valuable role with the sports medicine team is her work with injured athletes. For a high-performance athlete, experiencing an injury can be an emotionally stressful, mentally demanding experience. She helps injured athletes stay mentally focused and confident throughout the treatment and rehabilitation process as they prepare to return to their sport.
Dr. Kimball earned a doctorate degree from the College of Education at the University of Tennessee, specializing in mental training, a master’s degree in sports studies from Miami University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in movement science from the Pennsylvania State University.
Her mental training experience has included service with the University of Tennessee’s student athlete support program, where she assisted in the creation and implementation of a support group for injured athletes. She also has served as a mental training consultant or formal instructor to numerous collegiate, elite, youth, recreational and professional athletes, teams and athletic organizations. She has delivered dozens of professional presentations throughout the country and has authored numerous published articles.
Dr. Kimball’s research projects have involved evaluating collegiate student-athletes’ mental training needs, their experiences with stress, and the influence of teammates and coaches on their decisions. She has worked in two Division I athletic departments helping athletes in their personal and career development and creating various service programs and workshops for student athletes, coaches, athletic trainers and athletic department personnel.
She is certified as a mental training consultant from the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology, and is listed in the United States Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry and the USA Swimming Sports Medicine and Science Network.
Dr. Kimball, a native of Ebensburg, Pa., currently resides in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh.