By Michael Purtell, Collin Bolebruch
Every athlete has been told to get their head in the game, but it isn’t always easy to stay focused on athletics. Gena Trombley is the secret weapon for several Plattsburgh State programs, helping Cardinals hone a winning mentality in sports.
Trombley is a Plattsburgh alum and women’s soccer Hall of Famer who was hired by multiple programs at Plattsburgh State as a mental performance consultant. Starting last year, she has been involved in helping members of teams such as softball, tennis and men’s basketball navigate the mental barriers of athletics and life.
“Athletes don’t have a lot of outlets, so to come in as an unbiased voice and give them an outlet to talk to somebody that isn’t a coach or a player is so valuable, and that’s so much of what they need,” Trombley said.
‘LIFE HAPPENED’
Trombley graduated in 2006 with a degree in psychology and a minor in coaching. Two years after graduating, she decided she wanted to get involved with athletics in some way again, and began studying massage in Rochester.
After two years in western New York, Trombley came back to Plattsburgh to start a business as a massage therapist for athletes. Over time, her business grew and “life happened,” Trombley said. She got married and had three kids.
Then, in 2021, one of her clients brought to her attention a new way she could help athletes flourish — not physically but mentally.
The Plattsburgh student explained that they struggled on the field because of family issues and had no one to talk to about how her struggles affected her athletic career. When the student vocalized that there were no outlets in the area, Trombley was inspired.
“The whole reason why I did this was to work with Plattsburgh athletics. I really want to give back to this whole area, because nobody here does it,” Trombley said.
Determined to give back to her alma mater, Tombley earned her master’s degree in sports psychology from the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon. Now, she is awaiting her Certified Mental Performance Consultant Certification, using her hours working for Plattsburgh to help bolster her case.
In the meanwhile, she can be found in the Plattsburgh dugout, teaching what she’s learned to whom she can.
“I want to just spread this knowledge to any athlete,” Trombley said. “I want to advocate for the athletes all over the place.”
‘THE MENTAL SIDE OF THE GAME’
Sports psychology is something that is on an upward trend across athletics of all levels.
“It’s already in professional leagues, so now it’s moving its way down,” Trombley said.
Baseball and softball are the sports at the forefront of embracing mental counseling because of all the downtime during the games, Trombley said. It can be integral to an athlete’s performance to keep their thoughts productive during trips to the dugout so that when it’s time to bat the athlete isn’t distracted.
“It really comes down to the mental side of the game, because it keeps going — whether you’re with it or not,” softball’s Megan Pillus said.
‘ITS LIKE TALKING TO YOUR FRIEND’
For the teams that pay for Trombley’s services, Trombley first speaks with the coach to get an idea of the team’s goals and identity and then meets with the team as a group. The meeting is informal, but Trombley gets whatever she can from whoever is willing to speak, whether that’s off the court issues, chemistry concerns goals for individuals or sport-specific areas.
“At first it kind of caught everybody off guard,” Pillus said. “But we all talked to her really fast, and she kind of filled a bunch of roles. She was kind of like our school mom, she was our therapist. She heard all the rants. She’s like our best friend, but she’s really good at making you think deeper on things.”
Athletes are then free to approach Trombley at their own comfort to seek out individual meetings. There they tackle more personalized problems, and Trombley looks to improve their lives on and off the playing field by building a personal relationship with all of the athletes.
This season, these meetings with softball happen during the offseason, so that athletes have time in lower stress environments to adapt the skills they learn from Trombley.
Some students can find seeking out help from a consultant can be daunting, but softball’s Michelle DeFina says it’s anything but.
“It’s not awkward at all. She talks about life,” DeFina said. “It’s like you’re talking to your friend about yourself.”
DeFina’s meetings with Trombley were focused on mental awareness on and off the pitch, and brought her to “the top of her confidence” in the sport.
When Trombley isn’t running meetings, she’s in the Cardinals dugout cheering on athletes and observing the behaviors athletes meet with her about. She is available to talk and cheer on the athletes when she sees them succeed.
“It’s actually really nice to have somebody in the dugout that’s not necessarily my coach.” Pillus said. “I’m not going to go to Gena for feedback on my skills, but she acts like a sounding board to get my emotions out: the good, bad, whatever. She takes it, absorbs it and then gets me back on track,“
The biggest thing about Trombley’s work is that it extends past just athletics. Lessons from Trombley can be applied broadly, helping athletes now during their athletics career, but long into the future.
“Her lessons are strategies that you can use for the future in anything that you do. It just helps to learn it through sports,” tennis’ Ava Carey said.
Trombley’s lessons are all about picking up what the athletes can. Not every problem can be solved through athletics — and especially not in college — but things can always be improved.
“I just always tell my teams and my clients ‘if you can just take one thing from this, that’s all I want. That’s all I ask for you to do, but you don’t have to completely buy it,’” Trombley said. “I’m not asking everybody to buy in, but just know that if you can just take one thing, it’s going to make the biggest difference.”
