Student Spotlight: Kate Cohen

Program: Sport Psychology Ph.D.

Hometown: Jackson, New Jersey

Kate Cohen, a doctoral student in FSU’s sport psychology program, is also a nationally ranked powerlifter. Currently ranked 14th in the nation in the 47kg weight class, she held an American record for deadlift, squat and bench as a junior and collegiate lifter. She also holds New Jersey and Virginia state records for powerlifting.

Cohen is currently a teaching assistant in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems where she teaches the undergraduate Introduction to Sport Psychology class. She earned two bachelor’s degrees (exercise science and health and physical education) and a master’s degree in health promotion from the University of Delaware.

How did you get into powerlifting?

I played sports growing up and was a competitive soccer player. During a game, I tore my ACL and had to begin physical therapy. During this time, my physical therapist took me under his wing. The first time I ever touched a barbell and learned how to squat, bench and deadlift was with him, towards the end of my knee rehab. After nine months of physical therapy (and learning all about powerlifting), I was cleared to go back to playing soccer. Two weeks later, I tore my other ACL. After another seven months of physical therapy and continuing to work on “The Big Three” lifts, I realized at 15 years old, “Hey, I’m good at this!” and have stuck with it ever since.

I’ve been competing in powerlifting for the past 12 years. It’s my therapy to be in the gym and lifting weights. My fiancé is a gym owner and a coach. Over the past four years, he has helped me to become an even more knowledgeable and stronger lifter. I enjoy leading this active and healthy lifestyle, and I love competing. And truthfully, it is all I have ever known. Our bodies and minds are adaptation machines, so why not test their limits a bit? What got you interested in sport psychology? I have always been interested in all aspects of athletics—nutrition, the education side of it—but I had a growing interest in learning more about what makes one person drive themselves more than another person. That’s kind of what started the road to sport psychology. There’s a mental toughness component I really love, and I’ve always thrived in that area, just pushing myself. I wanted to conduct research in that area, so with my master’s thesis I focused on that.

I was the only girl on the boys’ wrestling team and in my high school, and there was a lot of chatter about a girl being on the team. This only allowed me to focus and stick to what I wanted to do. I was determined to keep coming back every single day and to compete with these guys who were next to me. It was about proving to myself that I could do it, too, and do just as well as the rest of them. I think that’s kind of what drew me more to it. It’s not just about the physical aspects, but the mental aspects, too. It’s such a big part of sport.

Photo courtesy of Win Everything Media

You recently competed at the USA Powerlifting National Championships. Tell us about that experience.

After prepping for that meet for about 20 weeks, I tweaked my rib during training the week before the competition. I’ve been to past nationals, but this was really the first time that I was on a consistent program and not working off intuition. The program was doing wonders for me, and my numbers were higher than they’d ever been. Despite the injury, I flew out to Daytona so I could at least say I gave it my all, rather than withdraw from the competition beforehand. I would have regretted doing that. For the competition, there’s three squat attempts, three bench attempts, then three deadlift attempts. During my second squat attempt, my rib was completely shot, but I somehow managed to secure the lift. After that, the pain was just excruciating. I tried the bench position, but that was it. It was at that moment I realized I had to withdraw from the competition. It was disappointing, but at the same time, coming from the field of sport psychology, I do realize there’s going to be setbacks, there’s going to be injuries; it comes with the territory. It was unfortunate timing, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t all lost. There were a lot of huge milestones that I was able to celebrate and a lot of exciting personal records I accomplished throughout my training. It is important to me that I live in the positives and embrace them. That is what helps me to keep pushing forward when the immediate outcome is a difficult one.

Why did you choose FSU for your degree?

I really liked the applied aspects of the program at FSU. I think I meshed well as far as personality, which is so important. I love the faculty, and they were doing research that was similar to what I was interested in. I also just felt comfortable. I came and visited from New Jersey; I flew out on a whim. Everyone just made me like feel right at home. I got along with all the master’s students, and the Ph.D. students were so welcoming. I just thought, “This is the place.” And of course, it’s sunny Florida! Florida State University has a great reputation and I think that’s what ultimately made me choose to come here. I was accepted to another institution at the same time, but Florida State University was really what I was leaning towards, with the people, program reputation and all they had to offer.

Photo courtesy of 9for9 Media

Tell us about your research.

I am very interested in athletes who retire from their sport and experience grief-like symptoms. If it’s a professional or elite-level athlete, it’s almost worse, because there’s so much invested into their sport. Once their sport is no longer there, they kind of have to cope with it; they have to find something outside of their sport that’s going to help them function and give them something to look forward to rather than being on the field.

We often see that they are experiencing grief-like symptoms, such as depression. They might deny that their sport is missing or something along those lines. We could prepare the athletes ahead of time through things like career exploration and finding other hobbies so that they don’t feel so lost when they retire. When they no longer have their sport, they may be losing their social network as well. For example, they may no longer have their teammates and coaches to confide in and lean on, so this can further contribute to the psychological difficulties that are experienced with their sport termination.

Through my research, I want to see if I could compare these symptoms to something like Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I know that there are frameworks I can use to work with these athletes if they’re experiencing the loss of a loved one, for instance. So, if the data demonstrates similarities between losing a loved one and the termination of one’s sport, then professionals could help these athletes when they do retire from their sport by working through a comparable framework, essentially.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

One of them is from my mom who said, “Take it to the wall.” It’s a unique expression, but essentially it means if you’re going to be involved in something, give it your best. I heard that throughout my whole life from her and I take it to heart.

Another is one I heard from a friend a long time ago and I never forgot it: success is not by accident. For people who are successful, sometimes opportunities are handed to them, but what you do with that opportunity is so important. You could have the whole entire world in your hand, but if you don’t make the most of it, then what good is that?

What are your plans for after graduation?

After graduation, I want to continue with my research and find a faculty position at a university. I love teaching and have always gravitated towards it; I was a full-time health and PE teacher for two years. I know I want to work with college students, and my first priority is to give back. I am lucky that I’ve had so many great mentors in my life, including my coaches, teachers, professors, and my family. My greatest hope is to be seen as this same type of mentor through my students’ eyes just as all these individuals have made their mark in my own life.