Staff Highlight: Amanda Carr

Meet Amanda Carr, MEd, our new mental skills specialist! Amanda was a member of the Springfield College women’s basketball team as an undergraduate and as a grad student, also at Springfield, she worked directly with the women's basketball, women's lacrosse, and women's field hockey teams.

Hometown: West Haven, CT

Alma mater: Springfield College for both grad school and undergrad

Favorite professional sports teams: Celtics and 76ers, Patriots, Las Vegas Aces, Red Sox, and Angel City FC

Favorite place you’ve traveled to: Nashville, Tennessee

What drew you to The Micheli Center: My goal in life has always been to help individuals the best I can. I feel like The Micheli Center completes that goal using a team approach by helping athletes as a whole on both the physical and mental sides to get to a better overall state of wellness. Seeing a team that cares for the human before the athlete was a huge push for me to come and help be a piece of the puzzle.

How did you develop an interest in mental skills and sports performance: During my time as a basketball athlete in undergrad at Springfield College, I personally hit a slump my sophomore year. I mentally could not break out of the performance slump myself no matter how hard I tried. I went from being named captain, averaging good numbers, and playing a full 40 minutes to not playing at all. I lost the love of the game a bit in the midst of this and that love did not come back until Covid took away my junior year season. During that time off I realized my drive to compete and perform was still alive. Having gone through this, it pushed me to pursue higher education in the sport psychology field to help others not have to go through experiences that I had battle myself.

What are small changes people could make that would have a large impact in their overall health: Finding a way to move that is fun for you. Whether that is walking, dancing, biking, or playing a sport again just something to get you moving. Have a person you can let out your thoughts to at least once a week. I call it the 8-minute method with my friends. We give ourselves 8 minutes to dump all our thoughts out we are feeling and for 8 minutes everybody just listens and the stage is yours. 8 minutes is small enough you can step out in between meetings or connect quickly and return back to your schedule. Try it out with someone. Stress shared is stress divided. Lean on people around you if you can. And if you don’t have anyone I would love to listen to your 8!

What is your preferred method of exercise, either a certain activity or specific regimen: I have been getting into distance running to practice a bit of what I preach to my athletes. If I ask them to mental tackle challenges, I think it is only fair for me to try the same for myself and distance running has been the product of that. I also lift consistently and still play in basketball leagues as well!

Favorite motivational/inspirational quote: People will not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Favorite novelty treat from the ice cream truck: Bomb pop