Pittsburgh doctor, performance coach talks about importance of mental health in the Winter Olympics

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh doctor has a key role at the Beijing Olympics. Aimee Kimball is a mental performance coach for the USA Women’s Hockey team.

Simone Biles put athletes’ mental health into the forefront during the Summer Olympic games in Tokyo. Other prominent athletes, like 28-medal winner Michael Phelps, have been open about their mental health struggles and encouraging other athletes to speak up.

Dr. Kimball spoke to Channel 11′s Jennifer Tomaciz from Beijing. With the time difference she agreed to speak with us virtually at three in the morning, Pittsburgh time. She said with such high stakes of the competition, mental health is a vital part of training.

“It is a very mentally challenging competition. When you’re training for four years, and this is your one shot at this. For a lot of athletes, this might be the peak of their careers,” Kimball said.

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As Mental Performance Coach, Dr. Kimball’s job is to help the women’s hockey team keep their cool on and off the ice in Beijing.

“Just give them skills to deal with different stressors and know they’re not in it alone. They have teammates they can turn to, they have family, and they have supportive people like me as well. They don’t have to handle everything on their own,” Kimball said.

This is Kimball’s first Olympics, but not her first job as a mental health coach in hockey. She has served in that role for the Penguins, the New Jersey Devils and more recently for the Washington Capitals.

In Beijing, she checks with the members of the women’s hockey team daily.

“You want to make sure that mentally they’re as prepared as physically because they need to have the confidence, they need to have the focus, and the right attitude to go in there and perform their best,” Kimball said.

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