Meet Kip Rodgers-Watson of NeuroSport Performance Academy – Braincode Corp in Frisco

At 41, two years later, I learned there was a women’s professional tackle football team here in Dallas after a random encounter with Jen Welter, the now first female coach in the NFL. Jen invited me to an open tryout. I went to the tryout and got an invitation to mini-camp. After making it through mini-camp and hell day, I played for Dallas for several seasons and now serve as the mental skills director and therapist for the team.

Those years playing tackle football felt like redemption for me. I had a new chance to overcome the challenges I faced with my gymnastics career. You can’t have a fear factor in either sport.

Life at 41 is different than 11-18 years old. I had more experience, education, and training. I embraced challenge differently equipped with the mental skills I wish I had during my gymnastics career.

And, it was during my time as a player I met and trained with a number of NFL & CFL players, collegiate & high school athletes. Born out of several friendships with training buddies including one with former SEC leading rusher for Alabama, Shaud Williams, I created NeuroSport Performance Academy, a division of Braincode Corp, my executive coaching service.

Williams went through my simple 3-step assessment to evaluate his ‘intangibles’. Within four months after growing through this process and utilizing the plan we created, Williams had a new contract to play. He then encouraged me to do this work for athletes of all ages & ability. Since then, 1000’s of athletes, teams, agents, coaches, and parents have profited from the assessment findings and mental skills training.

There is no greater thrill for me than to teach life lessons using sports to do it!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Who actually has a smooth road? I’d like to meet that person.

No, the road has not been smooth and in all honesty, it’s in the rough spots and the challenges, we learn and improve the most.

One major struggle came when I was hit by a car while walking in a parking lot. CareFlight took me to Parkland. By God’s grace, I suffered no internal injuries, but I did sustain a severe concussion, black eyes, broken teeth, and surface scratches. That concussion ended my football days as I knew I needed my brain to do my work. It was too risky to continue playing and possibly sustain another concussion.

A second significant challenge was building my private sports psychology and executive coaching firm as a single mom raising two kids. My goal is and was to always keep my kids as the priority. Balancing working in and on a business while being there for them was difficult. I definitely learned multiple lessons from managing that balance and many I continue to navigate.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Let me answer that with a question: What is the hardest part of an athlete to assess?
Answer: the INTANGIBLES (mental game)

Welcome to the benefits of Braincoding for Athletic Performance!

For two years, Google studied 180 teams and 250 different attributes aiming to find out what lead to group success while others failed. Like many organizations, before the study, Google Execs believed building the best teams meant compiling the best people. But, Julia Rozovsky, Google’s People Analytics Manager stated, ‘We were dead wrong.’

After two years, no clear patterns could be endorsed as the ‘dream-team’ algorithm.

Google then started considering some INTANGIBLES and things started falling into place. Research found these intangible norms, some unspoken and some clearly acknowledged, created an overwhelming affect.

Engineering the perfect team is more subjective than objective. But, gaining insight on the intangibles increases the likelihood of success.

Derek Jeter, the former Yankee, founder of The Player’s Tribute, co-owner, and CEO of Miami Marlins, applies the science of intangibles to his work, “You always hear the phrase, ‘Treat everyone the same.’ Well, treat everyone fairly, but don’t treat everyone the same,” he says. ‘There are different personalities you’re dealing with. Some guys you can yell and scream at; others you’ve got to give a hug to, to get the best out of them. The only way you’re able to tell the difference is if you take the time to get to know them.”

Our differential: NEUROSPORT TAKES THE GUESS WORK OUT THE INTANGIBLES
Shorten the time-frame of KNOWING your athlete and how to get consistent performance!

Thus, what if you could prepare, predict, and even prevent when you, the athlete struggles? Whether anxiety, confidence, leadership, problem-solving, and motivation or more severe issues such as addiction, suicidal ideation, adultery, depression, communication & relationship issues, wouldn’t you want to know?

We are mental performance coaches using and applying this proven psychological technology and a personal touch. We take the unknown and make it known so you can prepare for success while minimizing and often preventing loss and falling behind.

This information helps any athlete at any level. At the highest level, thousands sometimes millions of dollars ride on figuring this out and preventing disaster!

We use an easy 3-step process to evaluate an athlete:
• Intake interview
• Intake written form
• Online assessment

Then, we customize mental and life skills training based on findings to assist athletes in achieving consistent high performance on and off the court/field/gym/ice/pool.

I’ve watched athletes go from giving up on life to achieving their goals–making Varsity, getting the college scholarship, winning a meet, getting MVP, dancing on Broadway, building their company back from the pit, improving as a parent and coach, being picked to Kevin Hart’s comedy team, and the list goes on and on. It’s truly amazing to watch people achieve what they dream about and use the coaching and tools to improve and accomplish consistency in life.

What were you like growing up?
Since the early years, I believe I’ve been the beautiful mixture of femininity and masculinity. I probably got it from my Grandmother and mom. Both of them were adamant football freaks. They taught me about the game along with my father. My Grandmother, as the story goes, taught other wives about football back in the 30’s and 40’s so they would enjoy the game more.

It was my Grandmother that also taught me about the other major F’s in life: Faith, Family, and Fashion.

Growing up, I predicted I would be a fashion merchandiser and buyer for Neiman Marcus. I told my mom to stop dressing me in Kindergarten.

Basically, growing up, you could describe me as an intense but moody athlete, a fashion freak, and creative soul who enjoyed music, art, and anything eccentric.