Faculty - College of Education

Dr. Ashley Kuchar is a mental performance coach and the founder of Fail Better Training. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and works with high-performing professionals, including athletes, educators, and lawyers. Drawing from cutting-edge research and her background as a collegiate athlete, Dr. Kuchar helps individuals build resilience, manage stress, and optimize performance in demanding, high-stakes environments.

Learn more about her work at failbettertraining.com

Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, 2022

M.Ed. in Quantitative Methods, The University of Texas at Austin, 2020

B.A. in Psychology, Fort Lewis College, 2014

I help athletes and other high performers develop resilience and self-compassion.

Advisory Board Member, LearnYou Academy(2024)

Mental Health Advisory Committee Member, Strong Girls United Foundation(2024)

SIG Coordinator, Self-Compassion in Sport and Performance SIG, Association for Applied Sport Psychology(2023)

Kuchar, A. L. & Neff, K. D. (2024). Self-Compassion. In Pressman, S.D., & Parks, A. (Eds) Activities Activities for Teaching Positive Psychology, Volume II: American Psychological Association..

Kuchar, A. L., Neff, K. D. & Mosewich, A. D. (2023). Resilience and Enhancement in Sport, Exercise, & Training (RESET): A brief self-compassion intervention with NCAA student-athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 67(1469-0292). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102426.

Gonçalves, L., Angélico, A., Oliveira, M., Kuchar, A. & Andrade, M. (2023). Potential attenuating factors of anxiety in college students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of self-compassion. Trends in Psychology. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-023-00347-y.

Neff, K., Tóth-Király, I., Knox, M., Kuchar, A. & Davidson, O. (2021). The Development and Validation of the State Self-Compassion Scale (Long- and Short Form). Mindfulness, 12(1), 121–140. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01505-4.

Kahtani, N., Faridi, M. & Kuchar, A. (2020). Cultivating a compassion-centric academic environment: an empirical study at a higher education institution in Saudi Arabia. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 19(5).

Neff, K., Long, P., Knox, M., Davidson, O., Kuchar, A., Costigan, A., Williamson, Z., Rohleder, N., Tóth-Király, I. & Breines, J. (2018). The forest and the trees: Examining the factor structure of the self-compassion scale and the association of its positive and negative components with psychological functioning. Self and Identity, 17(6). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2018.1436587.

AASP Collaborative Research Grant
Association for Applied Sport Psychology

NCAA Graduate Student Research Grant
Bouncing back from failure: A self-compassion intervention with NCAA student-athletes.

Cultivating Confidence Through Self-Compassion: Translating Self-Compassion Practice to Competition, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Montreal, Canada (2025)

Reimagining Self-Compassion in Sport: Diverse Psychological Perspectives on a Growing Practice, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Montreal, Canada (2025)

Exploring Entrepreneurship: Is It Right for You?, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Montreal, Canada (2025)

Demystifying self-compassion: Data-driven approaches for conceptualization and integration into mental performance consulting, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Las Vegas, NV (2024)

Being kind to oneself and beyond: Diverse and flexible approaches for working with athletes on self-compassion, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Orlando, FL (2023)

Coping with failure: The role of perspective-taking and self-compassion for undergraduate students and athletes., American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA (2022)

Receptiveness to self-compassion: The roles of language, athlete status, gender, and traditional masculinity ideology., North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, Kona, HI (2022)

Resilience and Enhancement in Sport, Exercise, & Training (RESET): The impact on student-athlete coping, well-being, and perceived performance, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Fort Worth, TX (2022)

Making mistakes: What athletes perceive as most harmful to performance and well-being., North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity Annual Conference, Virtual Conference (2021)

Fail Better: A brief self-compassion intervention with NCAA student-athletes, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Virtual Conference (2020)

What would a positive coach say? Enhancing goal-directed self-talk through self-compassion, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Virtual Conference (2020)

Positive Coaches: A new perspective for self-compassion in sport, Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Virtual Conference (2020)

Self-compassion in sports: Athletes may benefit more from taking a coachs perspective than a friends, North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, Baltimore, MD (2019)

Self-compassion as a moderator between fear of failure and academic motivation for undergraduate student-athletes, American Educational Research Association, New York City, NY (2018)

Insights into common athlete mistakes and the role of sport motivation on goal commitment, Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology, Toronto, Canada (2018)

Courses by year and semester
Year	Semester	Course
2021	Fall	EDP 304: Strtgc Learning For 21st Cn-Wb
2019	Spring	EDP 304: Strtgc Learning For 21st Cn
2018	Fall	EDP 304: Strtgc Learning For 21st Cn

Fail Better Training: Building Resilience in Sport and Performance
Fail Better Training provides evidence-based mental performance coaching, workshops, and courses designed to help athletes, coaches, and professionals build resilience, reset after setbacks, and perform at their best.