Three Goals, Every Race. How Jack Berry Trains His Mind for the Paralympics.
Jack Berry is making his Paralympic debut in Nordic skiing, and if you ask him what he's most looking forward to, his answer is refreshingly simple: "Just the experience of it. I'm really gonna try to soak it all in and learn as much as I can."
It's this grounded self-awareness that has become Berry's competitive edge. Coming up through the World Cup circuit, he'll be the first to admit that he didn’t initially compete with confidence.
"One thing I always struggled with, coming into the sport, was my confidence in racing." Building it, he says, took real work, including dedicated time with sports psychologists and therapists, which is something he believes is "really important, and often overlooked."
To improve his mental game, he’s learned to reframe: the wins, the losses, and everything in between. Nowadays, when he lines up at the start, Berry comes prepared.
"I'll write down three goals that I want to hit throughout each race, and they’re not necessarily results-based. Maybe I attack this corner a certain way."
Without that kind of focus, he explains, "it becomes this game of: did I do good, did I do bad? And what are you really comparing that to?"
That process-first thinking traces back further than skiing. Berry got sick at 10 years old, and the same mental framework that carried him through cancer treatment, "just get to the next weekend, get past the next treatment cycle," is the one he still uses today.
"Now that I'm skiing, it's: get to this next race, get to the next one. Get to this next smaller goal, and that'll hopefully get you to the end result."
The Games have been the north star through it all. "It's always been a goal of mine," he says. "I'm very happy that I was able to fulfill that promise to myself."
Behind him is a village he's quick to name: his family ("they've been through everything with me"), his coach Mike Lessard ("he's a gift in my life"), his para coaches, teammates, friends, and the Missoula, Montana community that rallied around him when he was sick and hasn't stopped since. "They've always had my back," he says. "Missoula is a really special community."
And he's bringing all of them along for the ride. Already sharing his journey on social media, Berry says the most rewarding feedback comes from "a kid who's going through a similar thing that I went through, or just an adult that needed some inspiration." As for the Games themselves? He's planning to "bump it up a notch." You heard it here first.
His advice to any young athlete watching the Paralympics reflects the same philosophy he uses himself.
"Break your goals down into smaller pieces. It just makes them a lot less daunting. And trust your process. Believe in yourself that you're gonna get there one day."
One step at a time. He’d know.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
I'm Amy Wotovich, and I am on a mission to interview 100% of Team USA's 2026 Olympic and Paralympic athletes for Back The Team's series Inside the Mental Game of the Games — the most comprehensive mindset record of a single Games cycle. What do elite competitors actually believe about pressure, identity, failure, and joy? Jack Berry is one of hundreds of athletes sharing their unfiltered answers. Follow the journey!
