PERFORMANCE & SAFETY: BUILT FOR PRESSURE Part 1: From Elite Sport to RCAF Pilot Training – Zoran Stojković

What happens when you know how to do something, but pressure makes it difficult to actually do it?

Certified Mental Performance Consultant Zoran Stojković has spent more than 15 years helping people perform under pressure, from professional athletes and Olympic hopefuls to RCAF pilot trainees.

In Part 1, Zoran shares the path that took him from competitive tennis and high-performance sport to 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Moose Jaw. He explains what surprised him about the pressures facing student pilots, how he earned credibility as a civilian working inside military aviation, and why relationships became central to his work.

We also hear how Zoran supported aircrew during Jaw South in Texas, how mental performance coaching became embedded in the flying environment, and what aviation taught him about the difference between high stakes and real stakes.

CHAPTERS

(00:00:00) Introduction, welcome and bio

(00:01:52) What role did sport play growing up?

(00:04:28) Why can we perform in practice but struggle under pressure?

(00:09:41) When did mental performance become a career?

(00:13:03) What did Zoran get wrong when he started coaching?

(00:15:21) What kind of pressure are Olympians under?

(00:18:35) Helping a professional tennis player turn things around