Dr. Raylene Ross currently serves as the Director of Sport Leadership and Mental Performance to assist University of South Carolina student-athletes and coaches in maximizing performance, managing mental stressors, and coping with pressures inherent to their highly visible environments. In her role at South Carolina, Raylene’s reach is broad as she provides education and outreach to student-athletes, coaches, and other athletics staff on well-being, leadership, resilience, and mental performance through sports psychology team sessions, presentations, and workshops. Ross collaborates with the sports medicine, sport science, nutrition, and strength and conditioning staff as Gamecock Athletics embraces a multidisciplinary approach to student-athlete performance.
Raylene worked as a Master Resilience Trainer and Performance Expert at the R2 Performance Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, before settling at Fort Jackson, S.C., serving as a mental performance consultant at the United States Drill Sergeant Academy and within the 193rd Infantry Brigade. She taught mental skills techniques to maximize performance in rifle marksmanship qualification and the Army combat fitness test. Her work with soldiers and officers focused on performance, resilience, and well-being.
Raylene has a Master’s of Psychological Services with a concentration in Athletic Counseling from Springfield College; a Master’s of Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Louisiana-Monroe, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Foundation with cognates in Sport Psychology and Counseling from the University of South Carolina. She’s completed many years of sport psychology consulting with athletes across many sports at youth and collegiate levels. She sees sports as an avenue for athletes to be empowered to express themselves while embracing challenges. Raylene’s motto is to “live your truth by being the first you.”