Meet Aaron Goldman
“Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse…if you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong.”
Ted Lasso
Bodywork for Recovery, Rehabilitation, Performance and Improved Health
Aaron S. Goldman, M.Ed., CMPC, PLAYfree Founder
I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I played every sport I could find, from t-ball and flag football to baseball, swimming, water polo, and skiing. My first love, though, was basketball. When I was a young kid growing up in Boston, my dad and a few of his friends split season tickets to the Celtics. I have vivid memories of the sounds and smells of the old Boston Garden, and the way the place literally vibrated with energy and excitement. I remember walking around courtside during pre-game shootaround and marveling at the sheer size and presence of the players. I’ve been hooked ever since.
When I was 8, my family moved to Oregon, and one of the things that helped me through that tough transition was playing sports. They provided structure, an outlet, and a place where being tall was an advantage rather than a discomfort. I played water polo and basketball in high school and college and then recreationally, and whatever time was left I spent on skis. Looking back on my life as a multi-sport athlete - and later as a coach - I recognize a lot of strong positives in my experiences. I also see that there were a lot of things that could have been better, both in the sport environments and inside me. Eventually, my questions about how to improve the sport experience for young athletes like I had been, and how to increase joy in sport while improving athlete mental health and performance, led me back to Boston for a Master’s degree in Positive Youth Development and Sport Psychology.
Today, I use my experiences as an athlete, mentor, coach, and student; my education in counseling, human development, and sport science; and my firm belief in the positive potential of self-aware human existence, to collaborate with athletes, teams, coaches, and parents in an effort to increase self-awareness, curiosity, and self-determination, and to bring compassion, joy, intrinsic meaning, and developmentally appropriate coaching and parenting practices back into the world of sport.
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
I work from a “whole-person” viewpoint, centering the human being within each athlete and taking a solution- and opportunity-focused, strengths-based approach to life skill development, learning, intention, and peak performance. By re-humanizing athletes and creating safe competitive spaces, we can together access the potential - to uplift, unify, teach, and transform - that exists in sport. And: Joyful, purposeful, resilient, and overall healthy athletes will always perform more consistently at a high level.
I believe that we can - and must - work to challenge and change the top-down, adult-driven, reductive and combative culture of sport in order to re-humanize athletes, embrace their complexities, and help them create the internal conditions that allow them to thrive through their sport experiences as they actively and intentionally drive their own growth, evolve as people, and find courage and joy in the process. I hope that you’ll join me as we explore that potential together.
What is “Mental Performance”? Learn More
Accomplishments & Experience
Mental Performance
2017-18: Get Ready English High (Boston, MA): Life Skill Development through Physical Activity (Youth Mentor and Life Skills Coach)
2019: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA): NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer (Mental Performance Coach)
2019-2021: Southern Oregon Golf Academy (Medford, OR): Junior Elite Golf (Mental Performance Coach)
2021-Present: Rogue Valley Timbers Soccer Club (Medford, OR): Premier youth soccer (Mental Performance Coach and staff advisor)
2022-Present: Rogue Community College (Medford, OR): Junior College Men’s Soccer & Women’s Volleyball (Mental Performance Coach and staff advisor)
2022-Present: Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR): NAIA Women’s Soccer and Women’s Basketball (Mental Performance Coach & staff advisor)
Education
2009: Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR): B.A. Chemistry
2019: Boston University (Boston, MA): M.Ed. Applied Human Development - Positive Youth Development & Sport Psychology
Coaching
2014 Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (Bend, OR): PNSA Regional U14 Boys’ Alpine Team Champions
2014 Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (Bend, OR): PNSA Regional U14 Girls’ Alpine Overall Individual Champion
2014 Summit High School (Bend, OR): Oregon 5A Boys Water Polo State Champions
2015 Summit High School (Bend, OR): Oregon 5A Girls Water Polo State Champions
2019 MIT Women’s Soccer (Cambridge, MA): NEWMAC Regular Season and Conference Tournament Champions, NCAA 2nd Round
CERTIFICATIONS
Since 2021 Association for Applied Sport Psychology (USA): Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC)