\u201cI said, \u2018Well, maybe one day me and you go back to the Olympics<\/a>\u2014you as a coach and me as the team psychologist\u2014and we win another gold medal,\u2019\u201d Smith tells Fortune<\/em>, noting he\u2019d been half-joking. \u201cFor it to really come back full circle but in a different manner was a manifestation, a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n Kidd, now head coach of the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, isn\u2019t headed to the Summer 2024 Games in Paris; the Golden State Warriors<\/a>\u2019 Steve Kerr<\/a> will coach Team USA. Smith, however, will make his Olympic debut in the City of Light less than a year after joining the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee<\/a> as a psychological services provider.<\/p>\n \u201cMy No. 1 goal is to do anything I can do to help the American athletes\u2014and even athletes from other regions who may not have some people in our [field]\u2014to give them the best service possible,\u201d Smith tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cThey set us up in a position where we can do that, where we may work long hours some days, but we\u2019ll be able to recoup because there\u2019s so many of us to be able to do a proper rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith says he and his colleagues will be on call 24\/7 throughout the Olympics and Paralympics, ready to tend to athletes\u2019 mental health whether they\u2019re in crisis or just need to bend an ear. Athletes are also free to schedule an appointment with a psychologist, or flag one down in the Olympic Village<\/a> or the arena where they\u2019re competing. Staff are there to support Team USA without judgment, aiming to reduce stigma<\/a> in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cMental health is in the same realm as physical health<\/a>. In fact, it\u2019s one and the same,\u201d Smith says. \u201cYou can\u2019t separate physical health from mental health<\/a> and mental health from physical health, and I think that\u2019s one of the things that really benefits the athletes. If our goal is to make sure that we have the best athletes, we want to make sure we not only have the best medical care but that we also have the best emotional care<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Athletes needn\u2019t wait until they\u2019re mentally or emotionally struggling<\/a> to consult a team psychologist, Smith stresses.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk about mental health, people think of it from an illness standpoint<\/a> but they don\u2019t think about it from a wellness (standpoint)<\/a>,\u201d Smith says. \u201cWhat are those things that we can do proactively just to keep them happy? Because I believe that you can create a better person, you can create a better athlete. So if we can give them some strategies in day-to-day life, that pays dividends in the sports world.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtesy of Figs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you\u2019ve ever been an athlete yourself, whether you played on a high school sports team or compete in an adult recreational league, you\u2019ve likely experienced pregame jitters or felt like a failure<\/a> when you didn\u2019t perform as well as you had hoped. Now, imagine processing those feelings in a global spotlight. Having already overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to qualify for the Olympics, U.S. athletes have hurdles yet to jump as the Games begin.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re human. The only caveat is they live in a world that most people don\u2019t live in,\u201d Smith says. \u201cMost people don\u2019t have the additional pressure of the whole world seeing them fail or the whole world seeing them at a down time.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to practicing clinical psychology<\/a>, Team USA\u2019s psychological services staff<\/a> are certified mental performance consultants, Smith says. This CMPC designation, according to the Association for Applied Sport Psychology<\/a>, means the health care providers are specially trained to help athletes with problems such as performance anxiety and injury recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn an Olympic environment where nerves, anxiety, second thoughts, imposter syndrome<\/a> may come up,\u201d Smith says, \u201cit\u2019s good to have somebody to reinforce the confidence that they once had but might have faded for a moment, where they just needed to be reminded, to hear those special words at the right time to trigger everything that they\u2019ve already worked and done.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith adds, \u201cOur goal is to let them know it\u2019s not anything special that we do, except to remind them how special they are, and to do what they were born and built to do, and are trained to do.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Kweku](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/FIGS-Anatomy-of-a-Champion-05-e1721674579718.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)
Superhuman athleticism meets human emotion<\/h2>\n