Jeff Janssen, one of the nation's premier peak performance coaches, visited Pitt Athletics to speak with student-athletes, coaches and administrators about leadership, team chemistry and mental toughness. Janssen visited Pitt as part of the Panther Leadership Academy through the Panther Game Plan Life Skills program.

The primary topic of Janssen's visit was the importance of, and the steps to take towards building leadership amongst student-athletes. He spoke about, "consciously and practically developing good student leaders," through the Panther Leadership Academy.

The Panther Leadership Academy is a recent initiative launched by Pitt Athletics' Panther Game Plan Life Skills Program.

"Through the Panther Leadership Academy, student-athletes have an opportunity to build on their leadership skills and help develop them for their future," Career/Life Skills Coordinator Penny Semaia said. "Leadership is a quality that these student-athletes will be able to utilize beyond their collegiate careers. They will take these leadership skills and apply them to their careers, families and lives. We're very thankful that we have the great support of Athletic Director Jeff Long and Pitt Athletics to make this possible."

Janssen has traveled the country and worked with other top athletic departments such as North Carolina, Michigan, Stanford, Texas and Tennessee, just to name a few. Janssen will return to Pitt in October to continue working with Pitt student-athletes and coaches as part of the Panther Leadership Academy.