Kyle McDonald’s approach to performance is grounded in science, experience, and one essential truth: human behavior matters. As a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, High-Performance Practitioner with Sport Canada, Ph.D. candidate, and Founder of Competitive Will Performance Consulting, Kyle brings a unique perspective to the development of athletes, teams, coaches, and even executives within an organization.
In his work across youth, collegiate, and professional sport, Kyle consistently returns to one tool that bridges self-awareness, communication, and peak performance. In partnership with Athlete Assessments, Kyle has integrated DISC Profiling into nearly every performance environment he supports, from provincial ice hockey teams to elite-level golf and beyond.
“I have used it everywhere from professional to university environments. I think every organization I have been involved with… has started with the DISC,” Kyle shared.
DISC Profiling: A Tangible Tool for an Intangible World
Kyle emphasizes how valuable DISC is for athletes and coaches alike, particularly in turning something as intangible as emotion or psyche into a concrete, actionable framework.
“I always compare it to strength and conditioning. If you're lacking speed, you're going to test your agility, get a number, and work on that. DISC gives us something tangible to review and go back to, even when we're dealing with things like emotion and mindset.”
Each year, Kyle reintroduces DISC with both new and returning athletes. For new athletes, it becomes a baseline for understanding themselves and how they contribute to their new team. For returning ones, it provides a consistent framework to build on their knowledge and explore new ways to enhance their performance.
“I think when you build trust, you have to extend it, and I think the AthleteDISC gives practitioners an opportunity to do that.”
For Kyle, one of the most powerful aspects of each DISC report is the word sketch feature, included as part of each individual’s detailed report. The word sketch acts as a personalized vocabulary tool, that helps the individual better understand the degrees of their behavior along with identifying potential adaptations they may need to make when performing in their sporting role. Kyle shared that he also uses it to help athletes create intentional language and self-talk under pressure.
“Language is the precursor to everything we do. I tell athletes to choose their words wisely because it can provide energy and focus.”
For fast-paced sports like hockey, coaches are encouraged to use athletes’ word sketches to reinforce performance cues from the bench. For individual sports like golf, athletes integrate these words into their pre-shot routines.
“It creates identity, individually and organizationally. We spend a lot of time on those words because they explore how we navigate stress and make decisions.”
Transforming Team Dynamics Across Contexts
Kyle’s use of the Team Dynamic Report is foundational to his work with provincial-level teams, particularly those that only come together temporarily, such as national team’s Male U16 and Female U18 hockey programs.
“The Team Dynamic Report does a good job of cutting some of the noise that often surrounds teams of young people. It gives us an extra step toward team building,” Kyle explained. “It shows us communication keys, how we adapt, and gets us ahead of the curve.”
In high-pressure, short-term tournaments like the Canada Games or the Western Hockey League Cup, Kyle sees the benefits of DISC reflected in performance outcomes, both on and off the ice. He highlighted, “We’ve seen results… but even if we didn’t, there’s a huge holistic development aspect. At the highest level, everyone is technically skilled, so what separates them? Usually, it’s mindset.”
Athlete Assessments’ Team Dynamic Report: When individuals complete their DISC Profiles, the results can be combined into a Team Dynamics Report. This powerful tool reveals the overall behavioral makeup of a group, offering coaches and leaders a ‘big picture’ view of how the team functions.
By mapping each person’s profile into a consolidated team view, the report highlights the blend of styles that shape a team’s unique culture. With these insights, consultants like Kyle can help coaches, and leaders can better understand communication patterns, potential strengths, and areas of friction; and then be more strategic in building the type of culture needed to achieve their goals.
Performance Beyond the Ice: Using DISC with Executives and Boards
Going beyond working with the athletes and coaches within a sporting organization, Kyle also implemented it with the volunteer board of directors for a junior hockey team. Adapting the application of the tool to what is most important for a group of executives, he explained, “It’s been more about communication and emotional intelligence under stress. When you go to a board meeting, stress is higher, and DISC enhances how we communicate and process under that stress.”
The board not only completed DISC but committed to one-on-one debriefs — modeling the very buy-in they hoped to foster throughout the organization.
“It’s just people trying to be their best version and using these tools to do that. I think that’s great.”
A Practitioner Who Practices What He Preaches
Kyle’s own DISC Profile? A classic High Conscientious ‘C’ style — precise, systematic, and exacting. True to form, he approaches situations with careful analysis, a desire for accuracy, and a tendency to hold firm to his well-considered opinions. “I had an opinion that I carried for about eight months and didn’t change,” he admits with a laugh. “That’s high C behavior. But I’m aware of it, and with self-awareness comes self-control.”
This self-awareness is precisely what DISC Profiling is designed to cultivate. By shining a light on natural tendencies, DISC gives individuals the language to recognize their default patterns and, crucially, the strategies to adapt them when needed. For Kyle, that means noticing when his High C inclination toward structure and certainty could hold him back from being flexible in dynamic situations.
He applies this insight in every area of his life. Walking into a team session, he knows when to step back from being overly detail-focused and instead create space for athletes to engage. As a parent, he recognizes when his preference for order might need softening to meet his kids where they are. Even in everyday moments, like attending his wife’s Christmas party, Kyle draws on the awareness DISC provides, sharing, “I might not want to go, but I never don’t go. I just need to persuade myself. That doesn’t mean I’m not confident, I just have to talk myself into it.”
These reflections underscore the real power of DISC. It isn’t about labeling people or putting them into a box; it’s about giving them the tools to understand their natural style, adapt when circumstances call for it, and recover more effectively afterward. For Kyle, that adaptability is as important on the ice or in the boardroom as it is in his personal life, a testament to how universally applicable DISC can be.
Adding the Missing Piece to the Performance Puzzle
Kyle is passionate about encouraging organizations to reallocate just a small portion of their time away from technical skill work and toward developing the mental side of performance. The idea isn’t to replace technical training but to recognize that peak performance is built on more than physical ability. Mental resilience, self-awareness, and communication skills can often be the differentiators at the elite level, where talent gaps are razor-thin.
“If we took that hour of ice time and did something like DISC instead, it gives an athlete another piece of their performance puzzle.”
Importantly, Kyle emphasizes that the shift doesn’t need to be radical. He’s not asking coaches or organizations to cut training in half. “It’s not about asking for 50% of training time,” he clarified. “Even 10% can have a transformative impact across an eight-month season.” That small adjustment compounds over time, creating athletes who are not just technically proficient but mentally prepared to navigate the pressures of competition.
In reframing performance this way, Kyle is challenging a traditional hierarchy in sport: that physical preparation comes first and everything else is optional. Instead, he shows how even modest investments in mental and behavioral development can unlock an edge that technical training alone can’t provide.
“Even one word in the word sketch can become an anchor. That’s huge.”
A Lasting Partnership Built on People First
Kyle’s long-standing partnership with Athlete Assessments is built on a shared belief in what matters most: people. Tools, systems, and strategies may evolve, but at the heart of every performance environment are individuals striving to be their best.
What sets his approach apart is not just the application of DISC Profiling, but the way he makes it practical, powerful, and profoundly human. “Being human is complicated,” he reflects, “and DISC gives us a great foundation to start understanding that. From there, we can start to truly perform.”
This philosophy is also the foundation of Athlete Assessments’ work with practitioners, consultants, and organizations worldwide. Through the DISC Accreditation Program, Athlete Assessments equips professionals with the same sport-specific behavioral tools Kyle relies on, ensuring they can build stronger teams, foster self-awareness, and unlock performance at every level.
For coaches, sport psychologists, and consultants who want to elevate their impact, the Accreditation Training provides not only the technical knowledge of DISC but also the practical application strategies that bring it to life in real environments. Just as Kyle has demonstrated, the greatest results happen when we take the time to understand people first.
If you’re ready to integrate DISC Profiling into your own practice and join a global community of accredited consultants, explore the Athlete Assessments DISC Accreditation Program today.
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