Ottawa, ON, Canada

Markus

Leikkari, MHK

Professional Affiliations:

Biography:

Markus currently resides and practices in Eastern Ontario and in his hometown of Thunder Bay. Growing up in Northwestern Ontario, he was introduced to sport psychology through his passion for hockey. A former junior goaltender, Markus completed a Masters of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa following an HBK (Kinesiology) and HBA (Psychology) at Lakehead University.

Since the end of his playing days, Markus has been heavily involved in coaching, and is currently employed as a AAA coach, teacher and dorm parent at the Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall, Ontario. Previously, he has coached with the Nepean Raiders and Thunder Bay Kings AAA programs as well as a number of hockey schools as both an instructor and mental performance consultant. Additionally, Markus has worked with Hockey Northwestern Ontario and Hockey Eastern Ontario, providing mental performance services for the HEO Program of Excellence. In his time as a consultant, Markus has worked with golfers, gymnasts, curlers, badminton, soccer and lacrosse athletes. He believes that self-awareness is key to understanding and maximizing an athlete’s strengths while developing processes to overcome and enhance areas for improvement and improve self-regulation.