Your mental health journey
can transform your performance
Empowering athletes with mental health challenges
This site creates a vibrant community of athletes who seek to push themselves hard and far, while maintaining optimal mental health, including the coaches, parents, friends and companions of these athletes.
Who are you?
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Balance your competitive drive with mental wellbeing. Here you'll find:
Personalized strategies to transform mental health challenges into performance advantages
Community support from athletes who understand your unique journey
Evidence-based techniques to maintain focus and resilience during training and competition
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Support your athlete and guide them to their best performance while understanding their mental health needs. Here you'll find:
Guidance on recognizing signs of mental health struggles in competitive athletes
Communication strategies that support both performance goals and emotional wellbeing
Resources to help create a balanced approach to sports and life
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Support your spouse, partner or friend while understanding their mental health needs. Here you'll find:
Guidance on recognizing signs of mental health struggles in athletes
Communication strategies that support their performance goals while helping to foster emotional wellbeing
Resources to help create a balanced approach to sports and life
Dr. Jud Heugel has experienced firsthand—both personally and professionally—how endurance sports and mental health are deeply connected.
Drawing from his experience as a pediatrician, startup executive, husband, father, coach, and student of sports psychology, Jud created The Balanced Athlete to share evidence-based strategies and personal insights.
As someone living with a mental health "disorder," Dr. Heugel uniquely understands the challenges athletes face and how to transform these experiences into performance advantages.
To endure is to embrace imbalance
and yet keep moving forward.
We live in imbalance — We train to find our center
At The Balanced Athlete, training is about more than miles—it’s about building mental strength, resilience and self-compassion.
Here, you will learn to:
Apply the strategies and tactics of sports psychology to help overcome mental health challenges.
Use the learnings and experiences of your unique mental health journey to help transform your performance and fulfillment in your sport.
Free perks you’ll receive:
Newsletter with quick tips
Blog posts with academic insights, interviews and experiences from Dr. Jud
Workshops and Events (both online and in-person)
More to come as the TBA community grows…