Syracuse, N.Y. – United States Olympic Softball team Vision coach Tony Abbatine came to Le Moyne College on Tuesday evening to deliver a presentation titled, "Cope is Dope."

Abbatine, a performance consultant and college professor who specializes in vision and its effect on mindset and emotions, discussed anxiety and stressors that affect performance and life as well as building coping skills that last on and off the field with an audience of Le Moyne students, faculty and staff as part of the intercollegiate athletic department's programming for its "The Le Moyne Way" initiative. He also shared practical advice and strategies on how to manage and eliminate the variables that affect performance and academics.

"I really enjoyed spending an evening with the Student-Athletes at Le Moyne, talking about 'Cope and Dope,' which is our coping skills and some of the techniques and helpful reminders that will help them both on and off the playing field," stated Abbatine. "I think the feedback was good and the audience participation was great. Just getting the athletes up and having them discuss what resonated the most was probably the highlight of the night."

"These are things they can do on their own, and hopefully the little reminders that we shared with them tonight will impact their on-the-field and off-the-field performances for the rest of the semester and beyond."

"We are so excited to bring Tony Abbatine to Le Moyne to discuss a topic that is so critical to the success of all college students," said Le Moyne Director of Athletics Bob Beretta in advance of the presentation. "Tony is widely recognized as a world leader in the space of mental conditioning and he has an incredible ability to connect with his audience on a personal level.

"Tony has worked with top collegiate and professional organizations throughout the country and is highly sought-after on the international speaking circuit as well. His presentation is particularly timely with the onset of final exams only a week away. We continue to search for innovative ways to provide our Student-Athletes with an advantage over their competitors, while also aiding in their pursuit of comprehensive excellence. I believe Tony will help our students achieve those goals."

Abbatine is a Certified Open Focus Coach (COFTC), whose work in the area of Visual Psychology has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Baseball America, The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek and ESPN. He has been a consultant to several Major League Baseball teams, numerous college programs and for the last five years has been the Vision Coach for the USA Women's Olympic Softball team.

Abbatine is a regular on the speaking circuit in the United States and internationally, with recent presentations made in Dubai, Italy, France, Germany, Holland and Japan. He also is the author of the book, "Beyond the Ball."

"We live in this external world," added Abbatine. "We talked about inside-out living; that if we can control our mood and mindset its so much easier to deal with the external noise that we experience all the time. We talked a lot about discipline. We used that word over and over again, regarding eating habits, sleeping habits and emotional discipline. That was a big piece of our discussion. We all have 1,440 minutes a day and how we use them in our mental health management is crucial."