FEATURE
THE SHOT HAS CHANGED Sports psychologist Dr. Dean Hinitz coaches the industry on adapting to the COVID-19 era
A
By Robert Sax
s a bowler, Dr. Dean Hinitz - known as Dr. Dean - describes himself as, “Fine on my Wednesday night league team. In the over50 handicapped division of sports psychologists, I can probably hold my own.” It’s because of his skills as a sports psychologist, however, that champions like Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and Kim Terrell-Kearney and several national bowling teams have engaged Hinitz to help them perform at their best in the most stressful and challenging competitions. A lifelong competitive athlete, Hinitz is an expert at the mental game and how to overcome the obstacles that the mind can place in
the way of success in competition. He believes that the same techniques can be used to overcome obstacles in business and in life, including a once-in-a-lifetime obstacle like COVID-19.
SAVED BY SPORTS
Dr. Dean was a collegiate-level gymnast at the University of Minnesota in the 1980s 20
IBI
February 2021
Hinitz was born and raised near Minneapolis, MN, in a part of town where he got into “a lot of trouble” as a teenager. Realizing that he had to turn his life around, Hinitz channeled his adolescent energy and frustration into the sport of gymnastics. He was good at it and competed in high school and later at the University of Minnesota. “Gymnastics saved my life,” says Hinitz. It was also gymnastics that put Hinitz on the path
