Tactical Performance Psychology Consultants
Dr. Dave Ricciuti is a Mental Performance Coach and contractor within the US Department of Defense. He currently provides education and training to the members of the Special Operations Community in North Carolina. Prior to his work within the SOF Community, Dave spent several years educating and training Non-Commissioned Officers as they made their transition from Sergeants to Drill Sergeants that addressed how to specifically develop the psychological attributes of the human dimension deemed critical to success on the battlefield and throughout life. While at the Drill Sergeant School he trained over 6,000 Drill Sergeant Candidates to develop mental toughness in their future warriors. Dave has also worked with the Modern Army Combatives School, the Airborne Orientation Course, The US Army Recruiting and Retention School, The Physical Training and Rehabilitation Platoon, and several Basic Combat Training units. Dave has also worked extensively with the Combat Applications Training Course (CAT-C) cadre to develop and enhance combat marksmanship training and is a coach for the Fort Jackson team in the US Army International Sniper Competition. Dave also lead the curriculum design and implementation team for at the U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Demolition (EOD) School at Redstone Arsenal where he also instructed future EOD technicians in the elements of human performance in high stress environments. Dave has also designed and implemented the mental skills training curriculum for the US Army's Jumpmaster and Pathfinder School at Fort Benning, GA. Dave initially enrolled at Saint Anselm's College as a Criminal Justice Major where he played ice hockey. In 1995 Dave enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was awarded the MOS designation Marine Corps Rifleman after graduating with company honors from the 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot, Parris Island and the Marine Corps School of Infantry (East). Upon completing his active duty service, he enrolled in Worcester State College where he played football as an inside linebacker and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. Dave then went on to earn his Master's Degree in Sport Psychology from Springfield College and his Doctorate of Education with a focus in Sport Psychology and Coach Education from Boston University. Throughout his doctoral training, Dave worked extensively as a coach and educator with the NFL's Coaching Academy and Professional Player High School Coaching Internship Program and completed a Sport Psychology Teaching Fellowship at Harvard University. Over the course of his career he has been dedicated to developing the full potential of Warriors using a systematic process to enhance the mental and emotional skills essential to Optimal Combat Performance. Dave's areas of interest include: Neuropsychology of optimal/elite performance; Optimal performance profiling; Human performance in high stress environments; Performance enhancement/mental toughness during extreme military training; Human factors issues; Experimental methods of pain induction; Methods of pain tolerance; High-risk, high-performance selection and assessments; Curriculum development and design; and Coaching and leadership. He resides in somewhere in SC with his wife Kimberly.