2026 SPEAKING TOUR
Bring Coach VJ to Your Team While She Is In Your Area
Throughout the year, Coach VJ schedules regional speaking stops to work with schools, teams, and organizations across the country. If your program or organization is located in one of the upcoming tour states, you may have the opportunity to bring Coach VJ in for a keynote or mental performance training session while she is already in the region. Availability during each tour window is limited.
Boise Mental Performance CamP
July 7th, 14th, & 21st
Three half-day mental performance camps covering confidence, composure under pressure, and leadership. Each session runs 3 hours and delivers practical skills with immediate application.
As a high achiever, you Want Optimal Performance
and Unshakeable confidence
Built for Athletes. Designed for peak performance
You’ve put in the hard work. You’ve built your physical skills and athletic foundation. Now you’re looking to fully unlock your potential and compete with unshakable confidence in every big moment.
But sometimes it feels like you’ve hit an invisible ceiling, even though you know you’re capable of more.
If you’re experiencing:
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Inconsistency carrying your performance levels from practice to games
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Freezing up in high-pressure and high-stakes moments
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A sudden drop in confidence
You’re not alone. Many driven athletes and coaches I work with face these same challenges.
That’s exactly where Mentality Solutions comes in.
I’m Vera Jo Bustos (aka Coach VJ), former college All-American, pro athlete, keynote speaker, and mental performance coach. I help athletes and strivers close the gap between their potential and their results so they can succeed at the highest levels of competition.
The 3 Gears of Elite Performance
Every great athlete runs on three powerful gears: Body, Craft, and Mind.
The foundation of any sport begins with the first two gears: Body and Craft. You build strength, speed, and conditioning. You develop skill, technique, and mastery of your sport. These two gears create the base every competitor needs.
Once you reach a high level of mastery in Body and Craft, the third gear (the mental gear) becomes the difference maker. This is where champions separate themselves.
These three gears work together in perfect harmony. When all three are strong and aligned, you unlock your highest level of performance.
Many athletes and teams invest heavily in training the Body (with strength and conditioning coaches) and, obviously, the Skill/Craft (head and assistant coaches). Yet very few have a dedicated professional training the Mind, the gear that often determines who rises in the biggest moments.
That’s where I come in.
As a mental performance coach, I help athletes and teams fully develop their third gear, building powerful mental strength that works together with their physical training and sport-specific skills.
When you train all three gears together, you create the complete athlete.
About Vera Jo Bustos (Coach VJ)
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SPEAKER. AUTHOR.
MENTAL PERFORMANCE COACH.
Vera Jo Bustos—known as "Coach VJ"—is a trusted mental performance coach who has worked with over 3,000 athletes and coaches.
A former professional basketball player and Hall of Famer, Coach VJ helps athletes and teams develop the mental strength, confidence, and composure needed to perform at their highest level when it matters most.
As the founder of Mentality Solutions, she combines performance psychology with real athletic experience to deliver practical mental training that strengthens the mental gear and creates "complete" athletes.
Whether working with individual athletes, high school or college teams, or coaching staffs, Coach VJ equips competitors with the tools to build unshakable confidence, maintain composure under pressure, and consistently transfer their practice performance into game-day excellence.
Real Results. Championship Performance.
Here's what's possible when you train your mental gear
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RECENT CHAMPIONSHIP WINS
College programs
Idaho State Softball - Big Sky Conference Champions (2025, 2026) & Big Sky Tournament Champions (2026)
Idaho State Volleyball - Reached Big Sky Championship Final (2025) - First #8 seed in conference history to reach the final + historic upset of the #1 seed in the semifinals
Presbyterian College Women's Basketball - Big South Conference Tournament Champions (2024) & First Ever NCAA Tournament Appearance
Crane High School (Oregon) – Boys Basketball: 4x State Champions (2022–2025)
Crane High School (Oregon) – Girls Basketball & Volleyball: 4 State Championships
Snake River High School (Idaho) – Girls Basketball: 2x State Champions (2023, 2024)
Mountain Home High School (Idaho) – Girls Basketball: District Champions + Best State Finish in 20+ Years (2025)
High School programs
CHAMPIONSHIP
PERFORMANCE
MENTAL HEALTH VS MENTAL PERFORMANCE
At Mentality Solutions, we focus on Mental Performance—not Mental Health.
Think of it like this:
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Mental health is the training room: it helps you recover, stabilize, and heal. It addresses emotional struggles, clinical concerns, and personal well-being.
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Mental performance is the weight room: it helps you build strength, consistency, and competitive readiness. It trains your mind to perform under pressure, bounce back from mistakes, and lead with confidence.
Both are essential. Both matter. But they serve different roles.
Our work isn’t therapy. It’s training.
We help athletes build the mental habits, tools, and systems they need to unlock peak performance.
If you're looking to build confidence, sharpen focus, reset quickly, and compete with competitive fire—you're in the right place.
Ready To Unlock Your Ultimate Competitive Advantage?
SERVICES
01.
1-on-1 Coaching
for Athletes
Build confidence, mental resilience, and the ability to perform consistently using my signature mental performance systems.
02.
1-on-1 Coaching
for Coaches
Learn my signature systems to become the mental coach for your own team. You'll learn practical tools and strategies to build your athletes' confidence, equip them to handle pressure, and develop mental strength.
03.
Team Training
High-energy, practical, and inspiring training for teams. Tailored and customized to meet your needs.
MENTAL PERFORMANCE SIGNATURE SYSTEMS
The Confidence Blueprint
Build lasting confidence. Compete with clarity. Perform with purpose.
Whether you're competing in high school, college, or on the professional stage, this system is built to unlock what truly drives your performance.
You'll get hands-on tools, mindset shifts, and game-ready strategies that immediately elevate your performance—without fluff or theory overload. This is a deep-dive experience grounded in performance psychology, built to fuel your confidence when it matters most.
What's Inside the Playbook?
Master the 3 "Gears" that separate elite athletes from the rest.
Leverage 3 powerful outer sources of confidence that will boost your performance.
Train the 3 inner sources of confidence to fuel long-term belief.
Escape the mental traps of the "Dead Zone" and take control of your mental game.
Crack the Confidence Equation to drive sustainable peak performance.
Apply the Golden Rule of Performance Psychology that separates good from great.
Flip any disadvantage into an edge with mental strength strategies.
Overcome the fear of failure and transform it into your biggest asset.
This playbook teaches you how to close your performance gaps, elevate your mindset, and unlock the version of you that's been waiting to rise.
Let's build your confidence.
The Mental Arena
When the heat is on, will you rise—or retreat?
The Mental Arena (Pressure Playbook) is your game-changing guide to mastering performance under pressure. Designed for athletes who want to own the moment when it matters most, this system is designed to take your mental game to the next level.
Built on the foundation of The Confidence Blueprint, this is the next step.
The Pressure Playbook provides hands-on, tactical strategies that you can use in the moment, helping you stay composed, focused, and ready, no matter the stakes.
What’s in the Playbook?
Harness the Power of Perception to see pressure as your ally, not your enemy.
Shift from Challenge to Threat States to take control of your mind.
Separate Emotion from the Event so you can respond with clarity.
Transform Nerves into Excitement and maintain a focused mind under stress.
Return your Body to Baseline to stay composed in chaotic moments.
Build your custom Mental Toughness Routine (MTR) for consistent performance.
Master your Mistake Response and turn setbacks into comebacks.
Develop a Resilience Response that keeps you steady under fire.
Approach adversity with the powerful mindset of Standard Over Feeling.
Learn and apply Coach VJ's Growth Cycle to your game and your life.
Harness the power of the Full Benefit Mindset to squeeze growth out of adversity.
Key Learning Outcomes: You’ll learn how to thrive under pressure, turning high-stakes moments into opportunities for success. This playbook will help you manage (and reframe) your stress and teach you how to unlock the true power within you to perform at your peak when it matters most.
Ready to thrive in the moments that matter most? Step into the pressure and let it bring out your best.
