Supporting the person behind the athlete.

Sport can bring joy, connection, and purpose. It can also bring expectations, uncertainty, and difficult feelings—alongside everything else that comes with growing up.

SOAR Sports offers counselling for children, youth, and young adults across recreational, competitive, and high-performance sport. Whether someone is finding their confidence, navigating pressure, recovering from a setback, or questioning their next steps, we make space to understand their experience and what matters to them.

Research supports approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for treating anxiety in children and youth. Studies involving adolescent and young adult athletes have also found that structured psychological support can reduce competitive anxiety.

At SOAR, we bring that understanding into personalized counselling that considers sport, relationships, school, family, and identity together. Support is adapted to each person’s age, needs, and goals, with parent or caregiver involvement where helpful.

Our focus is helping young people feel more grounded, develop practical coping and performance skills, and build a sense of self-worth that extends beyond results.

Room for ambition. Space to be yourself.

Sometimes the hardest part of sport is what you carry into it—or take home afterward. SOAR Sports offers space to work through those experiences, supporting the person behind the athlete and the goals that matter to them.

Counselling may help with:

• Anxiety & pressure: Pre-game nerves, tryouts, fear of mistakes, and expectations from yourself or others.

• Confidence & self-worth: Self-doubt, comparison, perfectionism, and negative self-talk.

• Focus & performance goals: Developing helpful routines, managing distractions, and resetting after mistakes.

• Emotions & setbacks: Navigating frustration, disappointment, difficult performances, selection decisions, and changes in playing time.

• Injury & recovery: Working through the emotional impact of injury, time away, and worries about returning to sport.

• Relationships & belonging: Team dynamics, communication with coaches, feeling excluded, and finding your place.

• Balance & enjoyment: Managing sport alongside school, work, relationships, and rest; exploring burnout or changing motivation.

• Identity & transitions: Understanding yourself beyond athletic performance, changing teams or competitive levels, and deciding whether to continue or step away.

Together, we work toward greater confidence, balance, and well-being—in sport and beyond.

The initial consult is a free (15 min) opportunity for the parent and/or child, youth, or young adult athlete to assess fit with us by learning more about services offered, approaches utilized, and asking any questions they may have prior to deciding to move forward with counselling. In some cases, referrals for alternate supports may be provided.

This gives a chance to share your story, ask questions, and get a feel for whether SOAR Sports is the right fit. We want to understand how things feel, what has been difficult, and what they hope might change. Parents and caregivers are welcome to share their perspective, too.

Sport counselling is client-led, confidential, and focused on creating a safe space to explore current challenges, goals, and next steps.

Through SOAR sports counselling, you bring your whole self. There is room to talk about the game, school, friendships, family, and everything that connects them.

We begin by building trust where each person feels heard, understood, and respected. Drawing on evidence-based approaches tailored to their age and needs, we explore challenges and develop practical ways to respond to worry, manage emotions, and navigate setbacks.

If supporting performance is one of their goals, we also work together on strategies such as managing competition nerves, maintaining focus, setting realistic goals, and resetting after mistakes.

Each person’s priorities help guide the work, with their mental health, confidence, and well-being at the centre.

During counselling we will incorporate evidence-based techniques that are suitable and tailored to the specific needs of the client and their therapeutic goals, meeting each client where they’re at.