Optimal Performance Technology
Research Systems
OPT Provides Cutting Edge Physical and Mental Training Systems that Propel Athletes, Teams, and Executives to the Top of their Field
OPT
"Visualization is the road map, visualization is everything. There's nothing you can do without programming yourself and visualizing the best possible outcome."
Davis (80) in action Broncos vs. Bears 2015
OPT client Vernon Davis, Super Bowl 50 Champion, Denver Broncos, and longtime star player for the San Francisco 49ers.
As of the start of the 2025 NFL season, he is number three all-time in career playoff touchdowns for a tight end, tied with NFL Hall of Famer Dave Casper of the Oakland Raiders.
Davis reached another milestone during his last active NFL season (2019). He surpassed three-time Super Bowl Champion and Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe to become the sixth most productive tight end ever in career touchdowns during the regular season (with 63 TD’s).
Vernon Davis has become a master of mental programming. He has acquired much of this knowledge due to his time implementing OPT’s methodology.
Davis will describe in detail this process in a letter located at the end of the VKR section of this website. He gives credit in the letter for his visualizing and winning the Super Bowl to what he learned from OPT.
50 Years of Champions
OPT Research Systems have been developed over a rigorous 40 year period of investigation and testing with some of the best athletes in modern (post-1960) sports history. Anthony Hirschman and his longtime mentor/research partner, Richard Wickline, learned and refined these systems from their ongoing work with champion athletes. Wickline keeps his mental training methodology highly confidential…therefore, this will be one of the very few places one can find it mentioned online. His success working with Hirschman last decade in four pro and Olympic sports, is extensive, well-documented, and available upon request.
Though all of the athletes contributed to Hirschman’s knowledge in one form or another, two stand out: Joe Montana and Jack Nicklaus. For the 20th century, these athletes are generally considered to be the best ever in their sport. Hirschman was fortunate that they revealed their mental edge to him during his time working with them, a mindset which he has used as a template for other athletes over the past four decades. Wickline has had a similar experience in his 50 years working with some of the greatest coaches and players in modern tennis history.
Please see attached 2017 letter (in condensed form) from the Chairman Of Education of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). USADA is a regulatory entity employed by the U.S. Olympic Committee to make sure athletes are not using drugs during athletic competition. OPT Research Systems have been shown to act as a natural means to enhance performance without the use of drugs. This topic is described in detail the Circulation Training section of this website.
Jack Nicklaus
Joe Montana
From the varied types of athletes Hirschman and Wickline assisted over their careers, they found a common thread for those who achieve the highest level of success. Whether it be an Olympian or a professional athlete down to youth sports…what separates the best from the rest is the ideal blend of talent, motivation, discipline, being coachable, and most importantly, vision.
OPT Research Systems will help these fundamental attributes blossom to their full potential, allowing athletes to fine-tune their physical and mental skills to the highest level possible…which is to become a Champion. OPT uses an array of state-of-the-art and proven methods described in this presentation, all custom-designed to bring the athletes’ thinking process in sync with where they would ideally like to go in their careers.
There are three menu selections at the top of each web page to choose from that will describe the methodologies used by OPT Research Systems. They are discussed in the order in which they were developed by Anthony Hirschman and refined by Richard Wickline, starting with Circulation Training. Both the Zone Access and VKR systems were discovered as a result of Hirschman’s direct interactions with the greatest athletes in various sports. One might say that the “Minds of the Champions” are an essential ingredient within each of these systems.
