Hello and welcome to Headway Mental Performance!

I'm Tim Wszalek, the owner and mental performance coach at Headway Mental Performance. I've coached youth sports for over 10 years, and have been coaching mental performance for the last 3. I've worked with athletes in a wide range of sports, from youth to college.

I was born and raised in Ripon, Wisconsin. From a young age, I was involved in every sport we had access to. Eventually, soccer became my singular focus. As I became more competitive, the expectations grew higher, and my goals got bigger. I realized I was nowhere near mentally ready to be an elite athlete. Despite my self-realization, I was fortunate enough to play soccer at the collegiate level. After two years of struggling with my identity as an athlete, I left to pursue other interests. 

After moving to Madison, I took a job coaching youth soccer. Little did I know it would completely change my path and outlook on life. While completing my bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from the University of Minnesota Crookston, I took an Intro to Sport Psychology class. Having struggled with it for so long, I was always interested in mental performance. With that spark, I applied and was accepted for the Applied Sport Psychology program at Adams State University.

While pursuing coaching licensing, I noticed a severe lack of mental performance training for youth athletes and coaches. Everyone will tell you how important it is, and yet, there was no education or training. So, Headway was born! My passion lies in helping youth athletes build the skills they can use in and out of sports for their entire life. My goal is to make mental performance training fun, accessible, and a normal part of every youth athlete's development.