Psychology Of Sports Consulting: An Interview With Kenneth D. Hartline

Kenneth D. Hartline, founder of Hartline Enterprises LLC, played all sports in high school and was especially good at golf. He was on the high school varsity golf team and was great in practice. But when it came to matches, Kenneth always freaked out and did not do as well as he knew he could without the audience of “8 parents”. That made him wonder about the psychology of athletes. For example, how could Tiger Woods stay so calm with a massive audience and cameras in his face?

While Kenneth pursued psychology and journalism degrees with minors in Communications and Human Physiology from the University of Oregon, he found himself applying what he learned in psychology class to the sports games he watched on TV. That is when he decided to start The Psychology of Sports blog, where he wrote down his analysis. His latest blog post, for example, uses Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin’s migraines to talk about “NFL’s growing fear of neurological issues”. In another post, Kenneth explains why Tiger Woods would risk everything by cheating.

Currently, Kenneth is pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Kenneth is researching how athletes handle stress and what differentiates a good athlete from a bad one.

So what does differentiate a good athlete from a bad one? “It comes down to preperation more than anything,” says Kenneth. “Good athletes replicate what they will see at the game during practice.” Professional athletes visualize the game during practice and practice all the scenarios they know they’re going to see during the game. High School athletes, on the other hand, practice because the coach tells them to.

As Kenneth’s blog became popular and he gained many followers on his Twitter psychofsports account who kept contacting him for advice, Kenneth decided to start a Psychology Of Sports Consulting company, Hartline Enterprises LLC. Currently, Kenneth consults high school coaches on how to make their practice more like the real game (by adding a competition component to practice, for example) to best prepare the athletes and increase the odds of winning. He has also been invited to talk on ESPN radio and attend a private workout of top professional athletes to observe how they prepare for the game pre-season.

If you are interested in Kenneth’s consulting, you can contact him at psychologyofsports [at] yahoo [dot] com.