Mental training for competition and performance
Sports Performance Hypnosis
Train focus, confidence, composure, and recovery so the skills you practice are easier to access when the moment matters.
Personalized sessions with Leticia Oliveira for athletes in San Diego and through secure virtual appointments.
Over 160 five-star reviews on Google
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Your Body Knows the Skill. Pressure Changes the Response.
You can prepare well and still tighten up, overthink, lose confidence, or carry one mistake into the next play. The issue is not always effort or ability. Sometimes the trained response becomes harder to access when you feel watched, evaluated, or under pressure.
Sports performance hypnosis is mental rehearsal with a purpose: helping you practice the focus, physical ease, and reset you want available during competition.
Athletes often reach out for help with
- Pre-game nerves or performance anxiety
- Overthinking a skill that feels automatic in practice
- Negative self-talk after a mistake
- A slump, confidence loss, or fear of repeating an error
- Difficulty blocking out distractions
- Motivation, consistency, and pre-performance routines
Mental Skills That Support the Physical Work
The goal is not to eliminate every thought or feeling. It is to make your response more deliberate, repeatable, and useful.
Focus on the next cue
Direct attention toward the movement, target, or decision that matters now.
Reset after mistakes
Interrupt the spiral that can turn one error into several and return to the next play.
Compete with composure
Rehearse a steadier physical and mental response to pressure, noise, and evaluation.
Trust practiced skill
Reduce conscious interference so preparation and strategy can guide execution.
Hypnosis complements sport coaching, conditioning, medical care, and mental health treatment. It does not replace them, and individual results vary.
A Master Clinical Hypnotherapist Who Understands High Performance
Leticia works with athletes, professionals, and high performers who want their internal response to match the preparation they have already invested in. Sessions are built around your sport, role, goals, language, and pressure points.
Using her NTP Method, she may combine focused hypnosis, sensory imagery, subconscious pattern work, somatic awareness, cue words, and practical rehearsal. You remain aware, able to communicate, and in control throughout the session.
Schedule a Free Discovery Call →What Research Says About Hypnosis and Athletic Performance
The evidence is promising enough to take seriously and limited enough to discuss carefully. Hypnosis is best viewed as a personalized mental-training tool, not a guaranteed performance enhancer.
Controlled soccer study
A randomized study of 59 collegiate soccer players reported higher task-specific self-efficacy and better wall-volley performance after three hypnosis sessions than in an attention-control group, with differences also present four weeks later.
Read the researchSport hypnosis review
A peer-reviewed review discusses sport-hypnosis applications involving relaxation, anxiety, confidence, attention, imagery, and performance. The literature includes controlled research along with small studies and case reports.
Read the researchThe important limitation
A 2024 systematic review of 111 sport-psychology studies found encouraging initial effects for several mental-training approaches, but estimates weakened after lower-quality designs and subjective outcomes were removed. Better trials are still needed.
Read the researchThe Athlete Needs a Voice in the Goal
A young athlete should not be treated like a performance project. Leticia works with willing young people and involves parents appropriately while keeping the athlete’s own goals, comfort, and understanding at the center of the process.
An American Academy of Pediatrics clinical report describes clinical hypnosis as an adjunctive mind-body modality that should be individualized and delivered by appropriately trained professionals within their scope. Performance work should still sit alongside good coaching and appropriate healthcare.
Read the American Academy of Pediatrics reportA responsible plan includes
- The athlete’s willing participation
- A specific performance situation and desired response
- Clear expectations for parents and the athlete
- Coordination with coaching and healthcare when appropriate
- No promises about playing time, scholarships, recruitment, or results
Go Deeper Into the Mental Side of Sport
A Varsity Volleyball Player Finds Her Reset
One family’s experience shows how a young athlete practiced recovering after mistakes and returning attention to the next play. Individual results vary.
Read the article
Tiger Woods: Focus, Flow, and the Mental Game
Woods has confirmed using formal hypnosis and visualization when he was young. His story offers lessons about routines, imagery, focus, and recovery, not proof that hypnosis created his success.
Read the article
Mike Tyson: Mental Preparation as Training
Tyson has described repeated hypnosis under Cus D’Amato. The useful modern lesson is to practice focus and confidence as deliberately as physical skill, not to copy his exact routine.
Read the articleChoose the Setting That Helps You Focus
Sports performance hypnosis is available in person at both San Diego offices and through secure virtual sessions.
La Jolla / UTC
4445 Eastgate Mall #200, San Diego, CA 92121. Two blocks from UTC Mall.
Get directionsMission Valley
2650 Camino Del Rio N, 1st Floor, San Diego, CA 92108. Near Mission Valley Mall.
Get directionsVirtual sessions
Meet privately from home, campus, or while traveling, subject to suitability and applicable requirements.
View virtual sessionsCommon Questions About Sports Performance Hypnosis
Clear answers about goals, sessions, young athletes, online appointments, and the limits of the work.
Can hypnosis improve athletic performance?
Some studies have reported improvements in specific performance tasks and self-efficacy, while the total evidence remains limited. Hypnosis may support focus, confidence, imagery, and response to pressure for some athletes, but it cannot guarantee a result.
What is sports performance hypnosis?
It is a focused mental-training process that may use relaxation, imagery, suggestion, cue words, and rehearsal to help an athlete practice a desired response. You remain aware and in control throughout the session.
What sports can this support?
The process can be adapted for individual and team sports, including golf, tennis, volleyball, soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming, running, martial arts, and more. The plan is built around the specific moment or pattern you want to change.
Can hypnosis help with pre-game nerves or performance anxiety?
It may help you rehearse steadier breathing, a narrower focus, and a more useful interpretation of physical activation. Severe or persistent anxiety may also require support from a licensed mental health or medical professional.
Can hypnosis help an athlete recover after a mistake?
That is a common goal. Sessions can focus on noticing the error, releasing unnecessary tension, returning attention to a cue, and committing to the next play rather than carrying the last one forward.
How many sessions will I need?
The number of sessions depends on the goal, the situation, and how you respond. The discovery call is the best place to discuss a personalized plan. No specific timeline or result can be guaranteed.
Can young athletes use performance hypnosis?
Leticia may work with willing young athletes when the approach is developmentally appropriate and parents are involved as needed. The athlete’s own comfort and goals matter, and hypnosis does not replace coaching, pediatric care, or mental health treatment.
Can I do sports hypnosis online?
Yes. Virtual sessions are available for suitable clients and can be useful for athletes outside San Diego or working around training and travel schedules. You need a private space, reliable internet, and a device with audio and video.
Does hypnosis replace physical practice or coaching?
No. Mental training works alongside technique, conditioning, strategy, recovery, and qualified coaching. It cannot substitute for the physical repetitions and professional care your sport requires.
How do I get started?
Schedule a free discovery call to explain what happens under pressure, what you want to access instead, and whether in-person or virtual work is the better fit.
Hypnotherapy is complementary support and does not replace sports coaching, medical care, psychiatric care, or psychotherapy. Individual results vary.
Ready to Bring Your Mental Game Into the Work?
Tell Leticia what changes between practice and competition. Together, you can explore a plan for focus, composure, confidence, and recovery that fits your sport and goals.
Your free discovery call is a private, no-pressure conversation about what is happening and whether the NTP Method is a suitable next step.
“The deeper gain was that her mental game began supporting the natural ability others had recognized for years.”
One family’s reported experience