Dr. Jennifer Bolt started dancing at a very young age, in an environment where autocratic teaching methods were the norm. Dancers were to be seen and not heard. This resulted in debilitating perfectionism and other unhealthy thinking. One day while attending a high-performance dance camp she stumbled across a group of skiers and saw first-hand what coaching for well-being, and a positive learning experience could look like. This set her on a quest to find a better way to train and create an optimal learning environment for dancers and other athletes.

Dr. Bolt joins SeeWhatSheCanDo Conversations to share the teaching framework and holistic strategies she designed based on her doctoral research to support dancers through life’s most challenging transitions. Dr. Bolt explains how airplanes hitting the World Trade Centre during 9/11 had a big impact on the mental health of her first-year ballet students and illuminated why managing transitions and uncontrollable circumstances is critical for overall health and learning. She shares the practical things we can do today to help us all embrace our new realities and get through the ever-changing transitions caused by COVID-19 and life in general.

Dr. Bolt explains her approach to supporting the whole student through the pandemic while teaching at York University, Toronto. She talks about applying her PRIMEDTM for Life framework and the amazing student success, resilience, and growth she has seen throughout this crisis. Dr. Bolt opens up about her life theme song and what she does to fill her own cup and re-center.

Our guest, Emily Renneberg, joined us to talk about her passion for sports, making a difference and standing up for inclusivity within the sport world. Emily grew up playing ringette and surrounded by people who shared a love for sports. Her mother, Judy Renneberg, also played a part in her journey and shares her joy in raising a confident and ambitious daughter. This mother/daughter duo have been a source of inspiration and have really modeled a fun, healthy dynamic between parent and daughter.

Together we discuss Emily’s endeavors after a 15-year ringette career which include working as a live sports broadcaster and starting her very own podcast, “Even Strength”. Judy describes Emily's confident demeanor as a quality that has been evident ever since she was young. This character attribute is what pushed Emily to pursue different avenues and interests from a very young age. In many ways, her confidence, which was built through playing ringette, is what opened up doors of opportunity.

Emily is an active advocate for equality and inclusion within the sports realm as well as someone who makes space for women in the sport world. Emily shares an experience that impacted her and why it was such an important and monumental moment in her life.

We hear from Judy, and how she paved the way demonstrating sports leadership, community building, and why someone has to do the bottle drive.

Our hosts and guests connect over the importance of stepping up and making a difference no matter how small.

Hosts Tina Finelli and Lisa Dunbar welcome Kelli McRobert to the show. Originally from Quebec, Kelli has set up roots in Ontario, and is passionate about getting women involved in sports from the shy amateur up to the fierce competitor.

Anxiety has been Kelli’s companion for the past 30 years and her struggles have pushed her to challenge her beliefs, change her way of thinking and re-evaluate, how to push on with positivity and humor when things get rough. The pandemic has forced her to re-focus her energy both personally and professionally, and she continues to evolve and adapt while coping with life's uncertainty, constant changes, and simmering internal fear.

In this episode our hosts speak with Kelli about steps we can take to manage life transitions, mental health (PTSD), grief and loss. We talk about how sport, physical activity and a community of women can help us get back on our feet, manage day to day, and even thrive in the thick of challenges. Kelli shares her passion for pickleball and invites listeners to lean in and learn more about this fun, growing sport.

Ursula Perl, an International Bestselling Author joins us from Austria to discuss how cleaning up our inner world along with meditation and yoga can be life changing. Ursula was always involved in sports. Often excessively. After a chronic shoulder injury became unbearable, she finally quit power lifting and turned to meditation and yoga. It was a tough road but one that taught her many life lessons that she incorporates into her first book – Living The U.P Way. We dig into insights from Ursula’s book and talk about the importance of motivation, resilience, and stress–resistance particularly during a pandemic. Ursula offers seven steps to help gain inner strength for a happier life. So, what does it mean to clean up the world within me? Ursula gives specific examples of how to clean up your home, habits, friends, mind and love. She also shares a few tips to help beginners to embrace meditation and personal affirmations.

Our guest Corey McCusker leads the charge in helping humans and dogs excel. Corey works with
business leaders and high-performance athletic teams on mental performance, plus she coaches canines and their humans. Corey describes how she came to start two coaching companies and how these seemly different businesses are interconnected.

Together we chat about how recreational and high-performance athletes can improve success by building mental strength – 80% is mental, and 20% is physical and technical. Most people however, spend 80% of their time trying to improve the physical and technical paying little attention to mental performance.

We explore techniques that can help with visualization for success and talk about how to centre ourselves to mentally prepare for the athletic (or work) task at hand.

We are joined by Kate Kurtz, our host’s dear friend and fellow dog-lover. Tina, Kate and their daughters have experienced joy, connection and confidence by participating in several of Corey’s Muttz with Mannerz dog training programs.

In her youth Kate was a high-performance dressage athlete. She talks about how she applies the mental strength techniques she learned in riding to her work life and how her daughter Alison carries the confidence-building dog leadership skills she’s learned into school.

Shifting gears, we talk about dogs and the impact of the pandemic on canines and their owners. Corey gives advice to new pandemic puppy owners on what they can do today to minimize canine anxiety when the world opens up and owners are spending less time at home.

Our hosts and guests have a heart-to-heart about the unconditional love of dogs and the amazing results that can be seen when people take a leadership role in their animal’s lives. We hear about the St. John’s Ambulance Dog Therapy Program and the new ways that dogs are helping with trauma, anxiety and more.

Our guests are two game-changing women entrepreneurs who share our passion for doing good by creating products thoughtfully, and with purpose. Meet business owners Chantal Carter (Love & Nudes) and Rosaria Giorgi (Xauxa).

Together we explore pandemic self-care strategies for women business owners, chat about how we can all do our part to support women led businesses and see how chocolate and underwear are making a difference.

Chantal describes how the pandemic dressed up like a nightmare is really a dream – helping her accept ‘perfect imperfection’. With the gift of time, she’s been able to step back, really look at her business, and think about running it with compassion and care.

For Rosaria, running a food-based business with a complex supply chain, the pandemic has been a logistic nightmare. In some dark moments she wondered if this would be the end of her business. In reality, it has given her time to grow stronger by concentrating on neglected aspects of the business and deepening relationships with others in the food and beverage community.

Our hosts and guests chat about the power of community and how we all become stronger when we lift each other up. We get loads of insights and inspiration and end this episode with a sneak peek at these beautiful, world-changing products.

Travel with us across the ocean to Bermuda as we chat with Jessica Lewis, a 2-time Wheelchair Track Paralympian and a force to be reckoned with. While Jessica represents Team Bermuda in the Paralympic Games, she has some special connections to Canada where she studied at Brock University to be Certified Therapeutic Recreation Therapist (CTRS) and trains for her sport. She shares her story and inspires us to keep going for greatness. Jessica shares 6 life lessons that help her to keep moving forward despite obstacles. She reminds us that goal setting, mindset, finding mentors and community will help us follow our dreams. Canadian Coach Curtis Thom is Jessica’s wheelchair racing coach and joins our discussion from Mississauga, Canada. We uncover the impact that both Curtis and his dad - late Coach Ken - have had on Jessica’s life and talk about the amazing power of cross-country cooperation for aspiring athletes.
Our guests describe what wheelchair racing looks like, how fast athletes go and what it’s like to compete and coach at the elite level. Finally we hear about training for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games during a pandemic and get inspired by Curtis’ mantra.

If you are a parent with young kids, this episode is for you! Our guests Lakshmi Jayanthi and her husband Dr. Neeru Jayanthi are the Founders of Pickup Sports and parents of two young boys. Joining us from Atlanta Georgia the day after American Thanksgiving, they share how they’ve created an easy way for parents to teach their young kids (ages 3-6) the sports and physical fitness skills that really matter right at home. Lakshmi decided at young age that she was never going to marry anyone who was into sports. Hear how meeting Neeru changed her mind and why sport is now so essential for her whole family. Dr. Neeru tells us how he grew up in the 80s in an environment where he played for fun. Most activity was pickup sports, self-directed and fun. He tried virtually every sport and loved them all. He shares insights from his research around the advantages of playing multiple sports and the long-term impact of hyper focus on single sports. Lakshmi explains how building motor and ball control skills (physical literacy skills) at a young age can build long term confidence and gives us a peek into their fun Pickup Sports boxes. We experience a cameo from one of their boys and chat about things we should consider when teaching young kids how to play sports.

Browse Pickup Sports starter kits for kids and get a special SWSCD discount when you buy: https://pickupsports.co/discount/SWSCD

Encouraging Our Kids To Play, Guest Blog by Lakshmi Jayanthi: https://www.seewhatshecando.com/discover/encouraging-our-kids-to-play