Dan Gould is not an Olympic skier, but he knows how to think like one.

The sports psychologist who helped freestyle skiers get in the zone for the 1998 Olympic Games will join the MSU faculty next fall.

"I got to work with some of the best athletes in the world," Gould said. "We did things like talk to athletes to help them set goals and build team cohesion."

The U.S. team took home three medals in 1998, winning gold in the men's and women's aerials and men's moguls.

Gould, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will bring his expertise to campus as the new director of MSU Institute for the Study of Youth Sports. He will lead the institute as it continues to research the pros and cons of youth participation in sports. Gould specializes in the relationships between stress and athletic ability, burnout in young athletes and mental preparation for peak performance.

"We try to find out what the best athletes do and expose those techniques to the athletes just starting out," he said.

Gould began his career as a professor at MSU from 1978 to 1983. He has worked as a consultant with several Olympic teams, but said his best experience was in Nagano in 1998.

"When you go to the Olympics there are a lot of distractions," he said. "We used imagery to warm up both mentally and physically."

Gould plans to use the institute, part of the Department of Kinesiology, to share his research materials with parents, coaches and athletes. He said he will work closely with the Michigan High School Athletic Association to help both inactive and highly athletic teens.

"I believe we can use sports to make better athletes and better people," he said.