NAMPA - As the Northwest Nazarene University women's soccer team prepares for the opening of their season, the Crusaders had the privilege of spending an afternoon last week with world renown sports psychologist Dr. Colleen Hacker.
"Very few people get to spend any amount of time with someone who is the best in the world at what they do," commented NNU head coach Jamie Lindvall. "It was definitely a unique privilege for us to get to spend several hours with Colleen and learn from her expertise."
Dr. Hacker has served as the Sport Psychology Consultant to the Women's U.S. National Soccer Team since 1995. During her tenure, the National Team won Gold Medals at the 1996 Olympic Games, the 1998 Goodwill Games, and the 1999 World Cup. Named as an assistant coach in 2000, Dr. Hacker helped lead the National Team to a Silver Medal at the Sydney Olympic Games, a third place finish in the 2003 World Championships, a Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and a Gold Medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China.
Most recently Dr. Hacker was again behind the scenes as the U.S. Women Team won the 2010 Algarve Cup 3-2 against Germany in Portugal this past February. It was at the Algarve Cup that NNU coaches Jamie & Rachel Lindvall first had the opportunity to meet Colleen and see firsthand the impact that she continues to have on the Women's National Team. Through this relationship developed at the Algarve, the opportunity arose to have Dr. Hacker come and spend the day with the NNU women's soccer program.
"Dr. Hacker has been the person behind some of the greatest players and the greatest teams the game has ever seen and getting the chance to have her be a part of our preseason training was an incredible experience that I know our girls will never forget," Lindley added. 'I've already seen the impact that Colleen's insight has had in our training sessions and I'm looking forward to seeing how it continues to impact out team throughout the course or our season."
In addition to her work with US Soccer and the USOC, Dr. Hacker holds the distinction of having won three national championships during her tenure as the head women's soccer coach at Pacific Lutheran University, where she currently serves as an Assistant Dean and Professor of Physical Education.
