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Sport and exercise psychology grad will visit campus to speak about mental toughness

Raymond Prior will share his research with students and faculty on Thursday October 13, 8 to 10 a.m. in CPASS room 260.

“I was a college student-athlete. I often wondered why certain athletes and people weren't as good as they should be. Despite having all the physical and intellectual ability needed to be successful, many of them were inconsistent at best and they all struggled to perform under pressure,” Prior said.

“At the time I was studying psychology, but instead of being interested in brain disorders and abnormal clinical psychology like many of my classmates, I became interested in how powerful our brains are when we use them to move us toward success,” Prior added.

“I'm visiting WVU to continue my work with WVU Rifle and it's always a joy to work with programs that are really invested in building mental toughness. It's a great bonus to be able to invest some of my time on this visit speaking with the  sport  psychology graduate students. My hope is to be able to provide them with some valuable information about providing mental training,” Prior explained.

Prior attended the University of New Mexico where he studied sport psychology as an undergrad. He earned his master’s degree at Ithaca College  where he worked with elite level athletes, teams and coaches.

“Although I already had a career that I loved, I came to WVU after Ithaca College because I wanted to learn more about sport psychology from Dr. Jack Watson. During my time in CPASS' sport psychology program I began working with the WVU Rifle and Volleyball teams while also continuing to work with athletes, teams and coaches around the country.”

Prior heads RFP Sport, a performance consulting business, where he works with athletes, teams and coaches at the professional, Olympic, NCAA, amateur and youth sport levels. He has clients who are Olympic medalists and National Champions, including the WVU Rifle team. 

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