Track Bulldogs Sharpening Their Minds
May 09, 2025 | Track & Field
Kyle Tatelbaum
UGA Sports Communications
In the world of collegiate sprinting, where races are often decided by milliseconds, the Georgia Bulldogs have found that a mental edge can make the difference between winning and losing.
"Mental resilience is huge. Focus is huge. The ability to be able to perform under pressure is huge," Georgia sprinting coach Karim Abdel Wahab said.
Before each race, every Georgia sprinter engages in a team ritual, homing in on mental anchors designed to ground them amid the pressure. For Jehlani Gordon, a sophomore sprinter who represented Jamaica in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the routine is a carefully choreographed sequence:
"When they say on your marks, I'll shake my legs," Gordon said. "Stand up, put like arrows to the finishing line to focus, and then tap my head twice [on the temples] to show that I'm prepared, I'm ready".
Will Floyd, the 2025 NCAA Indoor 400-meter champion, has also adopted the team's pre-race routine.
"It's kind of like it's a ritual in a sense. It's to center ourselves in the moment and kind of like the tempo of pointing forward so to lock in on what's in front of us. Everyone kind of still has a little variation on it, but that's kind of like what it's supposed to do," Floyd said.
Freshman Xai Ricks has put his little twist on it. After the first two steps of the ritual, pointing towards the finish line and tapping his temples, Ricks lifts both of his hands, extends his index fingers, and exhales, like cooling the barrel of a smoking gun. It's his signal to himself that he's "locked and loaded, ready to unleash".
These rituals underscore a fundamental shift in the Bulldogs' training philosophy. Georgia's coaches understand that physical conditioning, technique and tactics form the foundation, but mental resilience, focus, and the ability to perform under pressure are the keys to unlocking their athletes' full potential.
"The student-athletes themselves have to want to improve in that department. You don't see improvement only by getting help," Abdel Wahab said. "The ones that are more of a growth mindset, that are willing to ace every part of their development to enhance their performance, are usually the ones that get the most out of it".
Enter Dr. Dylan Firsick. Every Tuesday, he leads team meetings in which he addresses mental performance, sports psychology and emotional and psychological preparation. Coaches actively reinforce the principles discussed by Firsick throughout the week.
"Anxiety management is just making sure that the athletes are near their baseline when they go compete, not too far out, not too far off," Abdel Wahab said.
Firsick's influence extends beyond the classroom. He travels with the team, providing on-site support and reinforcing the mental strategies they've cultivated throughout the season.
"He's with us even at the warm-up area," Abdel Wahab said. "And at that point, at the very big meets like SECs and Nationals, it's reinforcement of what they've been taught weekly by sports psych and what we've been enforcing daily at practice."
This consistent support is echoed by Ricks and Floyd, who describe how the team benefits from hearing Firsick's insights during meetings and competition.
"Just hearing him speak every Tuesday in our team meetings, we get to hear different inputs from teammates and stuff," Ricks said. "So really just know that everybody's going through that same thing mentally."
"(Track) is a lot of physical activity. So sometimes you kind of forget about some of the things you need to do to keep your mind straight, so kind of having at least like a weekly reminder of things that could be going on mentally that you're not even aware of."
Firsick's work has fostered a culture of openness where athletes feel comfortable discussing their mental struggles and seeking support. The Bulldogs have transformed potential vulnerabilities into strengths. That culture leads to confidence, Gordon said.
"You gotta have exuberant confidence," Gordon said. "You gotta be like the most confident person in the world to be a sprinter — if you have confidence and you believe, I'm the best today, then as my coach always says, whatever you believe, you're right."
The results speak for themselves. Georgia's men's and women's teams finished second at the NCAA Indoors earlier this year, and the women are ranked No. 1 and the men No. 5 in the latest outdoor rankings. The Bulldogs will compete in the SEC Outdoor Championships starting May 15.
They are not only physically prepared but mentally resilient, focused, and united by a shared understanding of the mental game. The Bulldogs are showing that cultivating mental strength can be just as valuable as honing physical skill.
UGA Sports Communications
In the world of collegiate sprinting, where races are often decided by milliseconds, the Georgia Bulldogs have found that a mental edge can make the difference between winning and losing.
"Mental resilience is huge. Focus is huge. The ability to be able to perform under pressure is huge," Georgia sprinting coach Karim Abdel Wahab said.
Before each race, every Georgia sprinter engages in a team ritual, homing in on mental anchors designed to ground them amid the pressure. For Jehlani Gordon, a sophomore sprinter who represented Jamaica in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the routine is a carefully choreographed sequence:
"When they say on your marks, I'll shake my legs," Gordon said. "Stand up, put like arrows to the finishing line to focus, and then tap my head twice [on the temples] to show that I'm prepared, I'm ready".
Will Floyd, the 2025 NCAA Indoor 400-meter champion, has also adopted the team's pre-race routine.
"It's kind of like it's a ritual in a sense. It's to center ourselves in the moment and kind of like the tempo of pointing forward so to lock in on what's in front of us. Everyone kind of still has a little variation on it, but that's kind of like what it's supposed to do," Floyd said.
Freshman Xai Ricks has put his little twist on it. After the first two steps of the ritual, pointing towards the finish line and tapping his temples, Ricks lifts both of his hands, extends his index fingers, and exhales, like cooling the barrel of a smoking gun. It's his signal to himself that he's "locked and loaded, ready to unleash".
These rituals underscore a fundamental shift in the Bulldogs' training philosophy. Georgia's coaches understand that physical conditioning, technique and tactics form the foundation, but mental resilience, focus, and the ability to perform under pressure are the keys to unlocking their athletes' full potential.
"The student-athletes themselves have to want to improve in that department. You don't see improvement only by getting help," Abdel Wahab said. "The ones that are more of a growth mindset, that are willing to ace every part of their development to enhance their performance, are usually the ones that get the most out of it".
Enter Dr. Dylan Firsick. Every Tuesday, he leads team meetings in which he addresses mental performance, sports psychology and emotional and psychological preparation. Coaches actively reinforce the principles discussed by Firsick throughout the week.
"Anxiety management is just making sure that the athletes are near their baseline when they go compete, not too far out, not too far off," Abdel Wahab said.
Firsick's influence extends beyond the classroom. He travels with the team, providing on-site support and reinforcing the mental strategies they've cultivated throughout the season.
"He's with us even at the warm-up area," Abdel Wahab said. "And at that point, at the very big meets like SECs and Nationals, it's reinforcement of what they've been taught weekly by sports psych and what we've been enforcing daily at practice."
This consistent support is echoed by Ricks and Floyd, who describe how the team benefits from hearing Firsick's insights during meetings and competition.
"Just hearing him speak every Tuesday in our team meetings, we get to hear different inputs from teammates and stuff," Ricks said. "So really just know that everybody's going through that same thing mentally."
"(Track) is a lot of physical activity. So sometimes you kind of forget about some of the things you need to do to keep your mind straight, so kind of having at least like a weekly reminder of things that could be going on mentally that you're not even aware of."
Firsick's work has fostered a culture of openness where athletes feel comfortable discussing their mental struggles and seeking support. The Bulldogs have transformed potential vulnerabilities into strengths. That culture leads to confidence, Gordon said.
"You gotta have exuberant confidence," Gordon said. "You gotta be like the most confident person in the world to be a sprinter — if you have confidence and you believe, I'm the best today, then as my coach always says, whatever you believe, you're right."
The results speak for themselves. Georgia's men's and women's teams finished second at the NCAA Indoors earlier this year, and the women are ranked No. 1 and the men No. 5 in the latest outdoor rankings. The Bulldogs will compete in the SEC Outdoor Championships starting May 15.
They are not only physically prepared but mentally resilient, focused, and united by a shared understanding of the mental game. The Bulldogs are showing that cultivating mental strength can be just as valuable as honing physical skill.
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