Cal student-athletes may go to Dr. Graig Chow to help make a free throw, hit a curveball or sink a putt.

But what they don't know is it may also help them get a better grade in their business, communications or psychology class.

Chow is the Director of High-Performance & Well-Being for the Cameron Institute, and has been busy working with Cal's student-athletes and coaches to optimize their performance. But it's not just limited to the athletic arena. In alignment with one of the primary desired outcomes of The California Way – the Cameron Institute's framework for success - Chow's training is designed to assist student-athletes in excelling in school, sport and life.

"Whenever I teach a mental performance topic or tool, I always discuss how it translates to other domains like school and life," Chow said. "If they learn how  to manage their anxiety before a competition, they can use that same mental skill before they give a presentation in class. That's ultimate success. If they can learn to translate some of these mental skills, then they are really achieving  a high-performance mindset beyond sport."

High-Performance & Well-Being is one of the four pillars of the Cameron Institute, and Cal is the only athletic department in the country to include that topic in similar structures. Chow hosts team workshops, one-on-one sessions with student-athletes and executive coaching for head coaches and assistants.

"Working with Dr. Chow over the past few months has given me the strength and courage to enjoy my sport again, at the highest collegiate level," one Cal student-athlete said. "During a time of much uncertainty and self-doubt, I have gone from questioning my abilities and place in the sport to reframing and channeling my emotions and energy into every athletic performance and practice. I attribute this transformative shift completely to the sessions and support I have received from Dr. Chow. It has been an incredibly gratifying opportunity to work with him, and I am beyond thankful to the Institute for providing me with someone who has helped restore my mental wellbeing, and elevated my athletic performance to new levels."

Chow employs a "train-the-trainer" approach when working with teams, giving coaches the necessary tools to improve the performance of their student-athletes. Chow still works directly with coaches and athletes, but his training method provides a supplement to Cal's teams when he is unable to be there in person.

"I might do a workshop on resilience with all of the athletes and coaches in that session," Chow said. "Then I might not be back with the team in person until two or three weeks later, so what are they doing during those two or three weeks to build their resilience? That's where the model works really great because the coaches can implement and follow up on some of the topics and tools that I did in the workshop so it's integrated within their practices and meetings on a daily basis."

Chow is also regularly working with student-athletes individually, typically 10-12 on a weekly basis. His general approach is to educate the athlete on the topic for which he or she is seeking help, facilitate self-awareness and insight using  self-reflection on the thoughts,  feelings, and experiences they are having, and finally to implement skills and tools to purposefully improve mindset and performance.

"It really helps athletes perform at an optimal level more consistently," Chow said. "We are all aware of athletes who have an amazing game, and then follow that up with  a poor performance. And then they have another amazing game and then another poor game. A lot of that is based on their mindset  and ability to respond to challenges in those games. I've always tried to help athletes bring their mind to a place that allows them to perform better. That way, your bad performances are raised up to a good level and you're more consistent overall."

Executive coaching consists of one-on-one sessions with coaches who are interested in professional development and improving their own performance. Chow works with coaches to improve leadership skills, communicating constructively, engaging in difficult conversations, and more. Chow is also developing All Coach Programing, designed to get coaches talking about mental performance through forums such as think tanks, panel discussions and book clubs.

"We saw a clear need for a sport performance and psychology professional," Cameron Institute Director Dr. Marissa Nichols said. "The Cameron Institute was comprehensive as designed, and now you can make the case it's holistic and comprehensive as it can possibly be with the addition of this pillar.

"Graig has been the most incredible fit - he adds tremendous value and is so dynamic. He thinks through the lens of the Cameron Institute and what we are trying to accomplish. He's thinking about how his work transfers to the career domain, and how it transfers to life after sport."