Dr. Robert Schinke joins Hitting Your Stride for the latest episode, and we hit some new heights in our quest to engage the equestrian world with information that will help them see goal-setting in a whole new way. Robert has a long history with elite-level equestrian competition, peaking with back-to-back appearances on the Canadian Pan Am team in the discipline of eventing.
Robert went from riding right into academics, where he drew on his experiences as a rider to fuel his passion for learning about the athlete’s psyche ‒ his struggles with consistent performance spurred him to learn what it was that was stopping him from succeeding, which he now helps other athletes identify and correct. He mentions ‘slicing the pie in half’ and how tricky it can be to manage, talking about how support teams around an athlete can help shoulder various responsibilities to enhance their chances for success.
Tracey and Robert spend considerable time during their chat on the topic of flow state and how it might go by another name now but still remains integral for competitors; comparison-itis comes up, to which Robert makes the simple point of how each athlete and each horse are a unique ’boutique operation’ and how they should be focused on their unique selves.