LIFE FORCE PERFORMANCE
Nikki Dunlop
Nikki is a high performance coach working exclusively with collegiate and professional female hockey players. Her approach is built on a simple but powerful belief: the athlete who learns to get out of her own way can be unstoppable.
Nikki's path to this work wasn't conventional. She came to hockey late, starting at 13 years old, and had no business trying out for a college team. She did it anyway. What followed was five years of unlikely success, culminating in back-to-back championships and a deep education in what it actually takes to perform under pressure.
When hockey suddenly ended after her final collegiate season, life handed her something far more difficult than retiring from the sport she loved. Losing her sister, her biggest supporter and best friend, cracked her open in ways she had never felt. It was in that grief that she found presence. And in presence, she found everything she had been searching for as an athlete.
Nikki brings 15+ years of coaching experience across personal training, holistic lifestyle coaching, and integrative movement science, having worked with elite executives and athletes alike. What she discovered across all of it is that the physical and the mental are inseparable. The whole person shows up to perform, so the whole person needs to be coached. She holds certifications as a Mental Performance Coach for Athletes, CSEP Certified Personal Trainer, NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist, Holistic Lifestyle Coach, and Integrative Movement Specialist.
She believes what matters most in coaching is how coach and athlete show up together. These values guide every conversation, every challenge, and every moment of growth on and off the ice. Through presence, fun, self-leadership, self-responsibility, and expansion, Nikki helps athletes build the awareness, confidence, and freedom to lead themselves and create what’s next.
Values in action
Presence – I meet every athlete with curiosity, warmth, and genuine connection so we can do our best work together.
Fun – I bring humor and joy into the coaching process because growth should feel alive, even through challenges.
Self‑Leadership – This is the foundation of my work. I teach athletes to lead themselves with calm, clarity, creativity, compassion, courage, confidence, connectedness, and curiosity, on and off the ice.
Self‑Responsibility – We own our actions and participation in life, knowing that growth starts with what we choose to bring to the ice and to ourselves.
Expansion – I believe in stretching beyond comfort zones, on and off the ice. I help athletes expand their awareness, confidence, and capacity to create what’s next.