This Sports Psychologist Has Worked With Shaq—Now He Works With MDC Athletes
Jason Scott Hamilton prides himself on helping athletes tackle the mental aspect of their sport.
During the past two decades, the veteran sports psychologist has worked with retired NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, the Jamaican women’s track team that won seven medals, including three golds, at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and Veronica Toro, the first female athlete to represent Puerto Rico in rowing at the Olympics.
Last month, Hamilton was in London, England at the Commonwealth Games where he helped the Jamaican Track and Field Team win fifteen medals including six golds.
Now, the loquacious mind guru is helping sculpt the mental performance of Miami Dade College athletes as the team’s sports psychologist. It’s a mantle he took up last November when he started working with the school’s baseball and softball teams.
“I like helping young people,” Hamilton said. “I think this is my assignment on earth.”
Hamilton’s teachings are built on the simple idea that production is interconnected with a positive mindset, smiling and having fun.
To achieve that, the “doctor,” as he is referred to by many of the athletes he works with, uses techniques such as visualization sessions, meditation and journaling positive mindset statements.
At MDC, Hamilton, who was born in Jamaica, works in tandem with the coaches from the softball, baseball, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball teams to assure players are meeting their daily goals.
Athletes complete a clinical evaluation twice a year—in the spring and fall semesters— to gauge their mental health status and evaluate what they need to work on.
One of Hamilton’s success stories is Sharks baseball player Jose Hernandez.
Hamilton started working with the uber-talented center fielder/shortstop last season before the State Tournament.
He stressed writing daily goals, meditation and visualization exercises.
Hernandez complied. The results were eye-popping.
During a five-game stretch at the State Tournament last May, Hernandez rode Hamilton’s teachings to statistical bliss. The outcome: nine RBI, a .348 batting average and he drove in five runners in the semifinal game versus the College of Central Florida.
“The outcome [at the] state finals was incredible,” Hernandez said.
Hamilton, who has a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the Miami Institute of psychology at Carlos Albizu University, was an assistant dean in the College of Medicine at Florida International University from 2002 to 2010.
In 2008, Hamilton, who is also a licensed clinical psychologist, founded Elite Sports Psychology. The project offers counseling services to teams, athletes and corporations.
Hamilton started working with MDC students in 2013 as a part-time clinical psychologist for the TRIO program at North Campus, an initiative that helps first-generation students acclimate to college life. He assisted the program until 2019.
Last fall, he connected with Alysia Dyer, the director of intercollegiate athletics at Miami Dade College.
She was impressed with his positivity and genuine interest in helping young people.
“He teaches them how to improve, to get over those mistakes because guess what, once you have done something, the mistake is in the past,” Dyer said. “There is no reason to hold on to it. Move on to the next point and execute.”
Hamilton has quickly become the go-to guy when MDC athletes need to work out issues with anxiety, high-pressure performance and fear of failure.
“The energy he brings and the experience he brings is amazing,” said Sharks Head Baseball Coach Adrian Morales.
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