Sports Psychology Shapes Career of Assistant Coach Pariseau
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Marissa Pariseau competed in track and field while attending college in Upstate New York. Her positive memories as a student-athlete led her to pursue a career in coaching. Now she is an assistant coach for cross country and track and field at Willamette University, where she is in her fourth year with the Bearcats. Pariseau also is the assistant director of operations and recruiting for cross country and track and field. She earned a bachelor's degree in Zoology at the State University of New York at Oswego in 2015 and received a master's degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Springfield College (Mass.) in 2017.
"My experience of running track in college at SUNY Oswego was so meaningful to me that I decided I wanted to have a part in helping other athletes have just as impactful of an experience," Pariseau said.
As a track and field athlete at SUNY Oswego, Pariseau competed in the 400-meter dash. She set individual school records in the indoor 400-meter and 500-meter races as well as the outdoor 400-meter dash. She competed on record-breaking relay teams in the indoor 4 x 400-meter relay, the indoor distance medley relay, and the outdoor 4 x 400-meter relay. She was a team captain for three years.
"My coaches took a genuine interest in my life, asked how classes were going, what I was going to do when I graduated," Pariseau said. "One of my coaches even became an advisor on my undergrad thesis. My teammates challenged me, supported me, and opened my eyes to a world outside my own narrow perspective. I also loved traveling all around New York and New England to compete.
"I learned during my time as a student-athlete that my mindset often dictated how successful I was going to be on that day," Pariseau commented. "I could be in peak condition, but if I didn't believe that I was going to run well, it wasn't going to happen.
While working on her master's degree, Pariseau completed her thesis regarding the impact of imagery on performance by distance runners.
"I was lucky enough to become a graduate assistant at Springfield College and work with their track and field/cross country teams while pursuing a degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology," Pariseau recalled. "I worked with some incredible athletes and coaches who further cemented my desire to become a coach. I continued to learn about the mental side of athletics and how you can use your mind to become a better athlete, completing my thesis on imagery use for distance runners."
"For my thesis, I had distance runners engage in immersive imagery by reading scripts that I wrote for them before races. The scripts touched on different aspects of a distance race (start, middle, finish)," Pariseau explained. "On the day of the race, I had them rate their self-efficacy on a scale of 1-100 (self-efficacy is your confidence to execute a specific task, which in this case, was the race). I found that over the course of the season, the runners' self-efficacy increased, suggesting that imagery may positively affect a distance runner's self-efficacy."
At Willamette, Pariseau has continued her interest in imagery. She holds mindset meetings with some of the student-athlete to help them prepare for practices and competition.
"The mindset meetings helped me get out of a mental block I had been experiencing with racing," said Molly Murphy-Brown (Jr., Sandy, OR/Sandy HS). "It was especially helpful for our home meet last fall. Marissa helped me map out my race plan for the specific course and strategize what things to think about at certain points during the race. She considered the specific things that helped me as a runner and figured out how to implement those into a solid race plan for me. That was the best race I have had so far in my running career."
Carson Herrick (Jr., Newberg, OR/Newberg HS) said "Running is as mental as it is physical and you need to have both aspects in check to perform to the best of your ability. In our mindset meetings, Coach Marissa helped me with the mental side of running, breaking through mental barriers to help me train and race harder. I have learned that in racing, your mind gives up before your body, so if you can train your mind to push through its breaking point, results will follow."
"I have found the mindset meetings to be very helpful," said Gabriel Regimbal (So., Bellingham, WA/Squalicum HS). "Many individuals, athletes, and-non athletes alike can assent to the fact that competition is largely based on mental strength and mental preparation. I found that the mindset meetings made me more relaxed and confident when I would run in races. When the race would get tough, I would be mentally strong and think about all the work I had put in."
Runners also benefit from other interactions with Pariseau and often receive encouragement from the assistant coach.
"Marissa is always interested to hear how we are doing in our lives outside of running, and I can tell that she cares a lot about us," Murphy Brown commented. "I also meet with her for academic meetings, which help me to stay on top of things for school and to stay motivated."
"As a student, I meet regularly with Coach Marissa to discuss how classes are going, and we have an accountability system set up to ensure that I am performing to the best of my abilities in the classroom," Herrick added.
"While racing, it is easy to get inside your head ... a few days later we would have our mindset meetings and it was really nice to just be able to talk about and have those thoughts validated," Risa Shutz (Sr./Jr., Snohomish, WA/Snohomish HS) said. "We also came up with a mindset goal for each kilometer. When I was racing she would repeat those goals back to me when I would see her on the course, which held me accountable and I did not want to let her down."
"Coach Pariseau is very supportive," Regimbal noted. "She was once a student-athlete, so she can relate to a lot of the things that we go through. Her experiences as a student-athlete make her coaching advice very genuine. Coach Pariseau always gives supportive comments in races and practice."
Pariseau joined the Willamette coaching staff for the 2017-18 athletic year. She helped the Bearcats win the Northwest Conference men's cross country championship in 2017 and the NWC women's cross country title in 2018. Several Bearcats have competed at the NCAA Championships in cross country or track and field in recent seasons. Equally important for Pariseau are the things she's learned as a coach and the improvements she's seen in the times and positive attitudes of Willamette's runners.
"I am thankful to Matt McGuirk and Brett Franz for giving me the opportunity to coach at Willamette," Pariseau said. "This campus, and these athletes, are so unique in their passion and drive to make the world a better place. I am inspired and encouraged every day that this is the future that will be leading us someday. I have learned so much about coaching and about life from Matt and Brett, and I feel privileged to be a part of such a storied and successful program. I can't wait to see the things they go on to do with their lives!"