What people are saying…

  • "Nate Shuman brings his authentic experiences as a high level chess competitor and multiple time US National Championships to his new and innovative program Mindmates. Mindmates provides incredibly useful tools to help mentally prepare and optimize performance during chess competition. Our ICN students have greatly benefited from the simple exercises they have learned and we look forward to having that translate into strong performance at this year's City, State and National Championships."

    Russell Makofsky, Founder of Impact Coaching Network (ICN) & The Gift of Chess

  • "Nate Shuman’s Mindmates program is a great companion to competitive chess or any other pressure situation. It teaches you to set goals, focus your attention, and respond to challenges with composure. Our chess students were inspired to apply the techniques during tournaments and they reported improved chess results. They even used the techniques in school during exams. They learned to coach themselves to relax and concentrate. I recommend Mindmates for anyone who wants to improve their performance."

    Debbie Eastburn, retired President & CEO of Chess in the Schools

  • “I’ve been 1600 for 4 years. Always getting stronger, but my rating never showed that. I went from 1600 to 1699 a couple of times. Yet, whenever I had the chance to break 1700, I would always fail to win a critical game. My biggest obstacle was capitalization. I would be winning against a high rated opponent, but my anxiety would overpower my logical thoughts, and I would blunder the ending. That is, until you brought Nate as a guest. Later that Thursday, I played in a Marshall chess tournament and I checkmated a 1932, 1800, AND A 2213!!! I went from 1611 to 1762!! My best tournament of all time. And it’s all thanks to what Nate taught us. I palmed before every difficult move. Did box breathing in order to calm myself down when I was better positionally. And visualized/reflected after each game to keep myself humble and motivated for the next game.”

    - Chess in the Schools Student

  • "Personal growth often occurs outside of our comfort zones and Nate confidently led workshops that had Publicolor students step into the unknown, embracing discomfort and ambiguity and taking on new challenges and exercises that led to setting, harnessing and achieving goals. Our students were able to learn the importance of breath and how it has the power to influence their lives in the most positive of ways. With utmost delight, I highly recommend Mindmates to anyone looking to optimize their performance!"

    Natasha Seng, Director of COLOR Club + Design Education at Publicolor

  • "Mindmates takes the best of sports psychology and mindfulness and applies it to chess. It's a highly accessible way to teach your child (or yourself) some simple techniques to get around their anxiety and perform their best. My students use the mindful breathing techniques before games, but other times as well: one kid who plays goalie in soccer tells me it's great for focusing his mind before games. Nate is a compelling, highly likeable speaker who offers a lot of instantly useable advice."

    Elizabeth Spiegel, Head of I.S. 318 Chess Program

  • “Goal setting/visualization helps me find purpose in what I want to achieve.”

    - Publicolor Student

  • “I was able to use my visualization to set different ways to make it to my goal.”

    - Publicolor Student

  • “This workshop helped me realize that having a goal is better if you want to really push yourself.”

    - Publicolor Student

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