OCA Schedule | 9/14/2026 4:40:00 PM

PLEASANT, S.C. — Oceanside Collegiate Academy Athletics has named Kaci Allen, LPC-MHSP, MCMPC, its Sports Psychologist and Mental Performance Coach, adding an experienced professional who has worked with athletes and families from the elite high school and collegiate levels through the professional and Olympic stages.

Known to athletes as "Coach Kaci," Allen is a Master Certified Sport Psychology and Mental Performance Coach, Licensed Professional Counselor, former NCAA Division I student-athlete and founder of Catch23 Performance. For more than two decades, she has helped athletes address the mental side of competition while developing skills designed to enhance performance and support their overall well-being.

Allen's work has included athletes from the NFL, MLB, PGA, LPGA, MLS, NHL, NBA, UFC, Team USA and NCAA programs. She is also a preferred clinician with the NFL Players Association and Major League Baseball and has taught sport and performance psychology at the university level.

At Oceanside, Allen will bring those experiences directly to Landshark student-athletes, helping them develop the mental skills necessary to navigate competition, preparation, expectations, adversity and the demands that accompany high-level athletics.

Her understanding of those demands comes not only from her professional career but also from her own experience as an elite athlete.

A standout multi-sport athlete at Dorman High School in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Allen was a four-year varsity athlete in volleyball and softball. Her accomplishments included All-State and All-Region recognition, Region Player of the Year honors, selection to the North/South All-Star Game, team captain and MVP honors. She finished her senior softball season with a .562 batting average.

Allen went on to compete in NCAA Division I softball at Belmont University. An injury that affected her pursuit of an opportunity connected to the 2000 Olympics became an important part of her eventual professional journey, increasing her awareness of the unique psychological challenges faced by high-performing athletes and the close relationship between mental health and optimal performance.

Allen earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont before pursuing graduate education in clinical mental health counseling. She earned a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus on sport and performance psychology, graduating with a 4.0 GPA and highest honors.

Her professional credentials allow Allen to approach athletes from multiple perspectives. As a mental performance coach, she works with athletes on the psychological skills that contribute to consistent high-level performance. As a Licensed Professional Counselor, she is also qualified to address clinical concerns within the appropriate counseling relationship, including anxiety, depression, grief and loss, relationships and other mental health issues.

Allen founded Nashville-based Catch23 Performance to provide performance psychology and mental health resources to athletes and their families. Her practice works with professional, collegiate and elite high school athletes throughout the United States and internationally, combining performance psychology strategies with clinical mental health counseling when appropriate.

She also presents nationally on the mental health challenges faced by elite athletes and their families.

The addition of Allen provides Oceanside Collegiate Academy Athletics with another resource in its commitment to developing the whole student-athlete. Her work will focus not simply on how Landsharks perform in competition, but on helping student-athletes develop confidence, resilience, focus, healthy coping strategies and other mental skills that can benefit them in athletics, academics and life.

Allen's appointment brings to OCA a professional who understands high-level athletics from both sides — as a former Division I competitor and as a clinician and mental performance coach who has spent more than two decades helping athletes perform and thrive.

About Oceanside Collegiate Academy: Oceanside Collegiate Academy (OCA), located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., serves high school students in a safe, small and family-centered setting. Our students seek the opportunity and challenge of rigorous curriculum, high academic standards and elite athletics while earning up to two years of college credit. OCA serves students in grades 9-12 using an honors curriculum in 9th and 10 grades with a dual enrollment curriculum in 11th and 12th grades.

Learn more about OCA by visiting our website at OceansideCollegiate.Academy and by following us on social media on Facebook, Instagram and X. For video content, visit our YouTube channel.