Most basketball players hit a wall not because of skill—but because of what’s happening between their ears. Joey Hewitt knows this firsthand—and it’s why he built his sports coaching business around mental performance training. As a Division III player who went from riding the bench freshman year to losing just five games over his next three seasons, Joey’s transformation came through mental performance coaching.
Now working with players at all levels through his FindJoeFlow brand in the Bay Area, Joey helps athletes unlock performance by training the mental side of the game alongside skill development—an approach that’s reshaping how sports coaching businesses differentiate themselves in competitive markets. In this episode of the CoachIQ Podcast, Joey breaks down the mental skills that separate good players from great ones—and why most sports coaching businesses are missing this crucial competitive advantage.
In this episode:
- Why being present is the #1 mental skill for peak performance
- The “fire and flow” framework for managing competitive emotions
- How to stop focusing on results and start playing freely
- The next play mentality that eliminates mistakes from your mind
- Why Division III athletes develop unmatched work ethic
- How to integrate mental training into your coaching programs
How the mental game shaped Joey’s sports coaching business
Joey wasn’t a natural. Growing up, he was always the shortest player, a late bloomer who struggled with confidence. “I was never really that good at basketball or any sports in general. I was pretty mid as the kids say these days,” Joey explains.
That insecurity followed him to Whitman College, where he expected to play right away at the Division III level. Instead, he sat. “I’m not playing and that really shattered my worldview. It shattered any semblance of confidence I had left.”
The turning point came when Joey did something most athletes—especially male athletes—struggle with: he asked for help. “The moment I opened myself up to be vulnerable was the moment that changed my career.”
Working with a mental performance coach, Joey learned breathing techniques, self-talk strategies, and visualization. Everything clicked. Over his final three years, his teams lost just five games total.
That transformation is why Joey now dedicates his sports coaching business to mental performance training. “The mental game started off as the thing that held me back, and it turned into something that really springboarded me to a new level.”
Being present beats thinking every time
Ask any coach what athletes need to perform their best, and they’ll tell you: be present. But what does that actually mean?
For Joey, presence means getting out of your head and into the moment. “In a game, the more you think, especially in basketball when you’re attacking the basket or playing defense, thoughts do not help you in that moment. They only will hinder you and make you overthink and play hesitantly.”
Think about the last time you played in the zone—where everything felt effortless, automatic, instinctual. You weren’t thinking about your shot mechanics or whether you’d score. You were fully immersed in what was happening right now.
For sports coaching businesses, teaching presence becomes a retention tool—parents see their kids not just improving skills, but developing mental toughness that translates beyond the court.
The breath is your reset button
Joey’s go-to tool for returning to the present? A simple breath.
“I would use a breath as a reset. Focus doesn’t have to be something necessarily philosophical or through language. Focus can be through feeling as well.”
When you catch yourself dwelling on a missed shot or worrying about the score, one intentional breath brings you back to what matters: the next play.
This is where automated session reminders help coaches reinforce mental skills training—you can send pre-practice prompts reminding players to use their breathing techniques before stepping on the court.
Results are the enemy of performance
Here’s the paradox: the more you focus on scoring, winning, or stats, the worse you’ll perform.
“Everything about your upbringing tells you to focus on results within sports,” Joey says. “It’s how you get minutes, it’s how you play, it’s how you get recognized, but it’s so ironic because that doesn’t mean you should focus on it.”
Joey experienced this himself even after learning mental performance principles. “I was like, yeah, I shouldn’t focus on scoring, but I still did it. I would know how many points I had. I’d constantly remind myself, I just need 10, I just need 10, let me get to 10.”
It wasn’t until years after college that he finally detached from results completely—and his performance reached another level.
For coaches building systems to track client development, this means using client management tools that emphasize process metrics—effort scores, attendance consistency, skill progression—rather than just outcome statistics.
This process-focused approach also applies to how you get paid. When you implement automated payment processing, you eliminate the mental overhead of tracking who paid and who owes—freeing your mind to stay present with coaching, not billing.
The next play mentality
So if you shouldn’t focus on results, what should you focus on?
Next play.
“Results are damn near always in the future or the past,” Joey explains. “You’re thinking about the points you want to score or the shot you just missed. You’re thinking about how you want to win the game or how you’ve lost to this team before.”
The next play mentality keeps you anchored in the present. Miss a shot? Next play. Turn it over? Next play. Get scored on? Next play.
This principle connects directly to skill development too. In training, focusing on the process—proper footwork, reading the defender, making the right pass—produces better results than obsessing over makes and misses.
Fire and flow: balancing competitive intensity
One question Joey gets from high-level athletes: “Can you be too present? Sometimes I feel so present that I lose my competitive fire.”
This led Joey to his “fire and flow” framework.
“My flow is being present, calm, instinctual. My fire is letting that emotion out and really competing. But if you do that the whole time, you’re going to burn out.”
The skill is knowing when to access each state—and this is something athletes can train.
Think about Duncan Robinson, one of the greatest shooters in basketball. He’s mastered this balance. “He has the emotional flexibility to self-regulate, to put himself in the optimal zone of performance,” Joey observes.
Between reps or games, Duncan might fire himself up with a pep talk (or some choice words). But once it’s go time, he shifts back to flow—calm, present, automatic.
This balance mirrors what successful coaches experience when scaling from solo training to managing multiple facilities. You need fire to compete and grow your business, but flow to execute systems efficiently without burning out.
Joy isn’t soft—it’s strategic
Playing with joy isn’t just about having fun. It’s a performance enhancer.
“Having fun is a great way to loosen yourself up and remove some tension,” Joey explains. “A lot of times athletes get tense in their muscles when they play sports. Having fun is the counter to that.”
Joey’s Whitman College teams embodied this. Before that second-round NCAA tournament game, the team was dancing in a room, loose and connected. “We were so confident that we were gonna win, we didn’t even have to focus on winning or losing, which freed our mind up to focus on playing with joy.”
Their coach, Eric Bridgland, constantly emphasized celebrating each other and playing with joy. The result? Barely any losses during Joey’s final three years.
This connects to skill acquisition science too. When players are relaxed and enjoying themselves, they move more fluidly, process information better, and learn faster. Tension restricts movement and narrows focus.
For coaches, creating this environment means reducing unnecessary pressure in training while maintaining high standards—a balance that becomes easier when automated scheduling and session reminder systems eliminate the administrative stress and last-minute no-shows that often make coaches rushed and tense.
The Division III work ethic that builds successful sports coaching businesses
There’s something special about Division III athletes who make something of their careers.
“There’s just not as much reward other than the intrinsic rewards of, I’m gonna go try and be the best I can be with the situation I’m in,” Joey notes.
These athletes aren’t chasing NBA dreams or NIL deals. They’re learning to work hard for the sake of the work itself—a mindset that translates directly to building successful businesses and careers after basketball.
Joey’s own path proves this. From struggling freshman to successful mental performance coach and trainer, the work ethic developed at the D3 level carried him through every challenge—including building a sports coaching business from the ground up.
Why sports coaching businesses need mental performance training
Here’s what most coaches miss: mental skills aren’t just for elite athletes. They’re a competitive differentiator for your entire sports coaching business. While most training businesses compete on price and convenience, integrating mental performance lets you position your sports coaching business at the premium end of the market.
When two trainers offer similar technical instruction, the one who also develops mental toughness, emotional regulation, and presence wins the client retention battle. Parents see their kids not just improving skills, but becoming more confident, resilient athletes.
Joey’s approach is unique: he blends mental training directly into basketball workouts rather than treating it as separate.
“I really believe in the idea that you can train the mind while training your basketball skills. It’s actually a little bit better to train your mind while you’re training your basketball skills because you’re gonna need to use those mental skills in the heat of the moment.”
This means:
- Taking a breath before each rep to reset and get present
- Practicing next play mentality during drills (miss a shot, immediately move to the next rep without dwelling)
- Putting pressure on yourself in training (make 5 out of 8 rather than just shooting)
- Incorporating game-like scenarios that require managing emotions
For coaches building comprehensive training programs, this is where program management tools become valuable—you can design sessions that intentionally incorporate mental skills checkpoints throughout the workout, tracking both physical and mental development over time.
How most training misses the mental component
Walk into most basketball training sessions and you’ll see stationary ball handling and shooting reps. What you won’t see is intentional mental skills work.
“Can we evolve the training field? Can we evolve player development?” Joey asks. “It doesn’t have to just be stationary ball handling and getting shots up. You can do ball handling with a tennis ball and you can do shots with pressure.”
The coaches who integrate mental performance training with skill development give their players a massive competitive advantage—and give their sports coaching business a clear differentiator in crowded markets.
Just as group training requires different systems and pricing strategies than individual sessions, integrating mental training requires intentional program design. It’s not an add-on—it’s woven into every drill, every rep, every coaching cue.
For coaches managing multiple athletes across different programs and mental readiness levels, having centralized client tracking lets you note which players need help with competitive intensity versus those who need to learn to calm down—creating truly individualized development plans.
Adding mental performance training to your sports coaching business
You don’t need to become a certified sports psychologist to incorporate these principles. Here’s how to start:
Start with breathing. Before every drill or rep, have athletes take one intentional breath. This trains presence and creates a reset ritual they can use in games.
Build next play language. When a player misses or makes a mistake, your first words should be “next play.” Make it automatic. This trains athletes to stay in the moment rather than dwelling on the past.
Create pressure in practice. Design drills with consequences—make 7 out of 10, three-minute time limits, winners and losers. This trains emotional management in a controlled environment where failure is safe.
Track mental metrics alongside physical stats. Note which players respond well under pressure, who dwells on mistakes, who competes with joy. These observations inform how you coach each athlete.
When you’re tracking both mental and physical development across dozens of athletes, coaching analytics and reporting tools help you identify patterns—like which training environments produce the most confident players, or which athletes need more competitive pressure versus more flow-focused sessions.
Educate parents on the mental game. Help them understand that confidence, resilience, and presence are skills their kids are developing—not just basketball fundamentals. This justifies premium pricing and improves retention.
For sports coaching businesses managing this level of detail across 30+ athletes, comprehensive client management systems let you track mental development notes alongside physical progress—creating the individualized approach that retains clients long-term.
Working with Joey: mental training and skill development
Joey offers both in-person and remote mental performance coaching:
In-person (Bay Area, California): A blend of mental training and basketball skill work, integrating mental skills directly into on-court sessions.
Online: Regular Zoom sessions throughout a season where athletes learn mental skills (breathing exercises, visualization techniques, journaling), discuss challenges, and have a third-party sounding board. This model demonstrates how virtual coaching platforms let trainers expand beyond their local market while maintaining quality relationships with athletes.
For coaches ready to create a premium brand experience, a custom branded mobile app becomes the hub where clients access training content, book sessions, and stay connected—positioning your sports coaching business as more professional than competitors relying on text threads and Instagram DMs.
“My Instagram, just going to my Instagram and going through the feed will help you kind of open your mind to the mental game,” Joey says. “I just post a bunch of pro athletes talking about the mental game or exuding the mental game through their actions.”
Follow Joey at @FindJoeFlow on Instagram or visit JoeFHewitt.com to learn more about mental performance training.
Ready to spend more time coaching and less time managing logistics? CoachIQ’s all-in-one coaching platform handles scheduling, payments, and client communication automatically—giving you more time to focus on developing complete players, mentally and physically.