Still
in Soil: A Collection of New Poems
by Kyle Torke. Professor Torke teaches English at the Air Force Academy. Buy his excellent collection of poems today. Read
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The Mental Performance Index: Ranking the Best Teams in Super Bowl History
by Dr. John F. Murray
Sports psychology is a great source of inspiration and I love helping people improve, whether in a clinical situation calling for psychotherapy, stress management or better life adjustment, or a performance situation where the goal is to compete better and win more in business or sports. As far as sports, I was lucky to grow up in South Florida in the early 70s, and my passion intensified listening to Don Shula’s wisdom as legendary coach of the Miami Dolphins. My dream at age 10 was to bat 4th for the Yankees and quarterback the Miami Dolphins to a Super Bowl win. Dreams have become reality as I’ve coached and played tennis worldwide, worked with many pro athletes and teams as a sport performance psychologist, helped NFL quarterbacks overcome slumps, coached tennis at major tournaments like the Australian Open, trained athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and developed a unique system for including mental performance in the scoring of a football game – the Mental Performance Index or MPI – that has almost perfectly estimated the relative performance of teams in the past 6 Super Bowls. I’m absolutely convinced that solid mental training is a necessary and huge key to success, and an often overlooked advantage. If you just want to cope better with life, a family situation or a relationship, psychology can help too, and the performance psychology focus is an extremely positive approach and quest for more success that many enjoy.”
– John F Murray, October, 2008
Services
Dr. Murray has been providing sports psychology and clinical psychology services to help individuals, organizations and teams succeed for more than 14 years. He is a best-selling author and columnist, media resource for psychology and sports psychology, and seminar leader to business and sports groups worldwide on topics such as performance enhancement, mental health, general psychology, fitness, wellness, and lifestyle. He frequently appears on national television and radio, and his commentary is found almost daily in thousands of newspapers, magazines, and trade journals.
Credentials
Dr. Murray is a rare sport performance psychologist and clinical psychologist, and licensed psychologist in Florida since 1999. This dual specialization provides him expertise to handle personal as well as performance-related issues, allowing for the highest standard of professional care.
Unique Training
He received his professional training at one of the top ranked doctoral programs in the country involving academic coursework, publication of a master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation, and rigorous supervised clinical training. This training in the psychology clinic of the University of Florida was housed within Shands Teaching Hospital, providing John one of the finest clinical experiences available in which he provided supervised client services beginning in his second year of study in 1993. The majority of doctoral programs do not provide this experience until the 4th or even 5th year while on internship.
Athletic Background
In the 1980s John traveled worldwide as a tennis professional. He coached the sport, achieved high rankings as an open division player in Florida, and later wrote the top-selling “Smart Tennis How to Play and Win the Mental Game,” cover endorsed by #1 ranked player in the world Lindsay Davenport. Tennis professional Vincent Spadea credited Dr. Murray for helping him overcome the longest losing streak in history and return from nearly 300 to top 10 in the ATP Champions Race in 2003. He also served as Vince’s official traveling tennis coach at tournaments in Nashville in 2006, and Montreal, Adelaide, Sydney and in Melbourne at the Australian Open in 2007. In 2008, Dr. Murray traveled to the Beijing Summer Olympics as a sports psychologist.
Academic Background
Dr. Murray earned a bachelors degree in psychology from Loyola Univeristy of New Orleans (1983), two masters degrees (1992 and 1995), and a Ph.D. (1998) from the University of Florida Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. His first master’s degree is from the sports psychology track within the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences in the College of Health and Human Performance. His doctoral dissertation examined the psychology of stress and coping with injury on the 1996 national champion University of Florida Gators football team. He then completed a unique counseling and sport psychology internship (1997-1998) at Washington State University, and a similarly designed postdoctoral fellowship (1998-1999) at Florida International University.
Leadership
Dr. Murray is past-President of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Psychological Association (2002) and his writing and contributions have been published in Sports Illustrated, SI.com, ESPN The Magazine, and USA Today among thousands of others. He is a national spokesman on issues of sport psychology and performance enhancement and believes very strongly in the benefits of psychology for both enhancing well-being and promoting success in competition.
Personal
Dr. Murray enjoys playing the piano, competitive tennis and golf, traveling, reading, writing, and public speaking. He is married to Charlotte, an accomplished professional ballet dancer, and they have a five year old daughter who loves to create her own ballet choreography and then dance it with style and grace. His biography appears in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.
Contact
Call 561-596-9898, Email John, or write to:
John F. Murray, Ph.D.
139 North County Road Suite 18C
Palm Beach, Florida 33480
I look forward to talking with you about clinical psychology or sports psychology!
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