Geoff Miller

Archive for November, 2009|Monthly archive page

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Setting Goals: Mental Skills Manual Part IV

In Tips for Improving Performance on November 30, 2009 at 7:32 pm

Goals

Know what you want

The Mental Skills Manual is meant to teach players how to answer the following:

1. Know who you are

2. Know what you want

3. Know what to do when you don’t get what you want

4. Know what to do in the meantime before you’ve mastered these concepts.

Step two involves helping you understand what you want and why you want it.  Of course everyone wants to get to the big leagues and of course everyone wants to win 20 games or hit .300, but there is something deeper and more meaningful behind those aspirations.  This section is not about traditional goal-setting, although it will describe differences between process and outcome-oriented goals and will explain how to set simple, measurable goals that can be 100% controlled.  The section is about gaining clarity on what you want and letting go of a limiting factor in achieving success… the need to know HOW instead of just knowing WHAT.

Key ideas:

  1. What do you want?
  2. Letting go.
  3. What is the first thing you need to do in order to ultimately achieve this?

Today, my post is only focused on the “what do you want” part of this equation.  I’ll follow up soon with letting go and taking first steps toward achieving your goals.

What do you want?

When you set a goal, you are recognizing that you want something and making a decision that you’re going to get it.

With so many statistics driving the culture of baseball, it is easy for players to set a number in a statistical category as a goal.  Players at all levels set goals to hit .300, collect 200 hits, hit 30 home runs, win 15 games, strike out 200 hitters, and on and on.  And when young players become professionals, their measurement scales are usually way off.  For example, high school hitters who have hit over .500 their entire careers expect that hitting .300 will be a breeze.

Traditional approaches warn against setting goals that are too lofty and guide the athlete to set measurable and attainable goals based on a process, not an outcome.

Process vs. Outcome Goals

Process goal: Is achieved by measuring HOW you execute your skills.  Process goals help players stay focused on the little things they need to do in order to get the results that they want.  They are 100% controllable.

Examples:

  • Take a deep breath before every throw playing catch.
  • Get a good first step on ground balls to my right.
  • Improve my two-strike approach.

Outcome goal: Is achieved when a desired result is recorded.  Outcome goals give players objects of motivation upon which they can focus their efforts.  They are typically not 100% controllable.

Examples:

  • Hit .300 with 20 HR and 85 RBI.
  • Be named to the All-Star team.
  • Sign a long-term contract.
  • Win the World Series.

There is a place for this approach, but it should be in support of what you really want, not what you think you can get.  How will you know how good you can really be or how far you could actually go if you don’t aspire to want the very best for yourself?

Every player should set the loftiest, dreamy goal he can imagine and let that become the “outcome” that he wants to achieve.  Then he should set specific “process” goals that he can focus on day in and day out that will get him closer to his outcome.

This strategy can work to help people maximize their potential ONLY if they apply both the process and outcome goals together.  Process goals without outcome goals will result in ordinary results.  Outcome goals without process goals are nothing but empty promises.

To be continued very soon…

Click Here for Part I of the Manual, which offers an Introduction.

Click Here for Part II of the Manual, which begins the unit on self-knowledge.

Click Here for Part III of the Manual, which discusses Comfort Zones, Confidence, and Keeping it Simple.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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Positive Role Models in Sports

In Mental Game Info on November 28, 2009 at 11:33 am

A few years ago, I was at a networking event in downtown San Diego and I had an executive tell me that he thought you could count the positive role models left in sports on one hand.  I immediately pointed out that 30 Major League Baseball players had been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award for outstanding community service.  The problem isn’t that there aren’t enough positive role models in sports, it’s that we don’t hear enough about them and instead we hear about scandals, steroids, affairs, and police reports.  So on a weekend that reminds me how much coverage those negative stories get (I’m not going to bother mentioning the headlining story, but you all know what it is and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more events unfolding for weeks after this), I wanted to make sure that the world knows that both AL MVP Joe Mauer and NL MVP Albert Pujols were their teams nominees for the 2009 Clemente Award and that Derek Jeter won it this year in addition to his fifth World Series ring.  Here’s MLB’s page on the Clemente Award and the full list of nominees.  You can click on each nominee to find out why he was nominated.

I also wanted to share two more links.  The first is a story on NBA player, Baron Davis.  I used this story to teach minor league players more about perspective this year and I think it’s a great example of how an athlete’s identity shouldn’t just be as an athlete.  The quote that really sticks with me is from his grandma, who asked him when he was growing up, “If I take that ball away, who are you?”

Baron Davis Story

The second link is a story about Pirates pitcher, and a former client, Ross Ohlendorf.  Ross is doing an internship with the Department of Agriculture in DC this winter after earning 11 victories in his first full season as a starting pitcher in the big leagues.

Ross Ohlendorf Story

There are plenty of positive role models in baseball and in all sports that we can all learn from.  Let’s make sure that their stories get heard and that we continue to develop character on and off the field in the athletes we teach and coach.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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Helping Athletes Develop Perspective

In Mental Game Info on November 23, 2009 at 11:27 pm

“Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on this Earth.”

- Roberto Clemente

We worry about a lot of silly things in our lives.  One of the most intriguing elements of my work with athletes has always been the fascination I have taken in what constitutes pressure in sports.  Sure, most people think there is pressure in the situations that have become cliché.  The full count with two outs and the winning run on second base, the free throws down by a point with no time left on the clock, the fourth and long in the middle of a two-minute drill on a snow-covered field in January.   But the thing about pressure is that no matter how many reporters will be waiting to grill us after the game, pressure is something we choose to feel.  Some players feel pressure to perform on the field.  Some feel more pressure to explain their performance after the game than they did executing their skills during the game.  Once in a while, special players come along who don’t appear fazed by what’s happening on the field and they are able to sign every autograph, gracefully accept every interview request, and seem to say the right things to their teammates to maintain the mood in the clubhouse.

I have found that more baseball players feel pressure from the daily grind of the game than from the big moments.  In the big moments, it seems as if batting average and OPS and all the statistics that help us evaluate performance go away and it becomes easier to simply compete because the outcome is so close that the only statistic that matters is the win or loss.  Lots of players get so wrapped up in results that they have lost sight of the competing part of the game and they end up competing with themselves instead of with their opponents.  The pressure we place on ourselves to perform is almost always greater than the pressure that others place on us.  Over the years, I began to notice a pattern in the sources of pressure that professional baseball players placed on themselves, so I proposed an idea that would change their perspectives and gave them chances to see just how silly it was to be worrying about how many hits they got each night.

On the surface, this wasn’t an idea about performance at all.  It was a community service program meant to teach the minor league players in the Pirates organization how to become role models in their communities, a valuable skill in its own merit.  Each player would volunteer a total of ten hours of his time helping out at Boys and Girls Clubs, serving breakfast at homeless shelters, visiting children in hospitals, or spending time with seniors in assisted living facilities.  Each minor league affiliate would appoint a liaison to coordinate volunteer opportunities and track player involvement and the players would sign up for events and attend as representatives of the Pirates and of their minor league teams. We packaged the program with a personal spin for the Pirates, telling our players that we believed they had a greater responsibility to volunteer in their communities as this was Roberto Clemente’s organization and his legacy.  Most of our players knew that Clemente was a great player and that he had died in a plane crash, but few of them knew that his plane went down on it’s way to bring emergency supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

So the communities in Indianapolis, Altoona, Lynchburg, Hickory, State College, and Bradenton would benefit from the program, but the players who truly got involved would benefit just as greatly.  The goal was for each player to develop perspective, to see how silly it was to worry about how many earned runs he gave up the night before when someone in the world was worrying about how many white blood cells he had coursing through his veins.  Or how silly it was to wonder when he was going to move up from Lynchburg to Altoona when there were people wondering where they were going to sleep the next night or what they would eat the next day.  I wanted every player to remember that he should be grateful to have the physical strength, health, ability to be on the field every day, to remind himself how lucky he was to have the opportunity to earn millions of dollars doing something he loved.  If our players could embrace that perspective, then there wouldn’t be any pressure to get a hit or to throw strikes and they would end up getting the results they were trying so hard to achieve.

I thought that this was an appropriate story to tell as we join our families and friends in beginning the holiday season.  Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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Poor Self-Evaluation

In Mental Game Info on November 22, 2009 at 9:49 pm

Last Spring Training, I did extensive research with Pittsburgh Pirates minor league players to understand more about how they evaluated themselves in a number of areas of character.  I first asked players to rate themselves on character traits like relentlessness, integrity, passion, energy, etc.  Next, I asked their coaches to rate them on the same traits.  What I found was not surprising, but was a nice confirmation of what we suspected…that players rated themselves higher than their coaches would.  I listed four reasons for inaccurate self-evaluation and thought this would make for an interesting topic for today’s post.

The four reasons players are poor self-evaluators are:

  1. Lack of experience.
  2. They rate their intentions rather than their actions.
  3. They are afraid to admit weakness so they project false confidence.
  4. They don’t take their evaluation process seriously.

Lack of Experience

Many younger players may fall into the category of poor self-evaluators because they don’t have enough experience yet on or off the field to know how to rate themselves.  Ratings on skills are more about the results achieved than on the learning and progress that has taken place.  And there is no criteria to rate themselves on intangibles that have always simply been words on posters to them in the past.  Young players who lack experience need to be taught how to properly evaluate themselves.

Intentions vs. Actions

Players that rated themselves based on intentions rather than actions need to start developing greater awareness of when they are truly demonstrating proper execution and good character and when they are not.  I have found that this is especially true with respect to character.  The majority of players WANT to have good character and can make improvements in the way they carry themselves simply by tracking their behavior in the same way they would measure success in throwing first-pitch strikes or moving runners over with situational hitting.

False Confidence

Players who are afraid to admit weakness need to learn that there is more strength in admitting weakness than in projecting perfection.  It is important to reinforce honest appraisal of work as well as commitment to the learning process to minimize the possibility of fearful ratings from players.  A first step toward progress in this area could be simply asking the player to re-evaluate his scores and challenge himself to be tougher in his ratings so he can identify important areas for growth.

Effort

Players who don’t put enough thought into their self evaluations need to take their baseball more seriously.  They need to spend more time evaluating the meaning of their preparation and performances.  They should not under-estimate the valuable learning opportunities they have in front of them or the quality of the competition that awaits them at higher levels.  The evaluation and review process should be emphasized so these players don’t just value working hard and playing the game.

I will be releasing more results of my research on self-evaluation in the future, but you are welcome to ask specific questions in the comments section or by emailing me directly if self-evaluation has been a challenge for you and/or your players.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

 

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Athletes Who Need To Be Tougher on Themselves

In Tips for Improving Performance on November 19, 2009 at 8:34 pm

How do you get your players to critique themselves when they are getting results, but you know they have work to do if they are going to continue to get those results? A reader submitted this comment and I’ve made some suggestions in this post.  I’ve hit a few main points, but have left some openings for others to contribute their thoughts as well.  I’d like to hear from coaches out there who have dealt with players like Thomas suggests.  Thanks for reading and will look forward to more discussion.

While I appreciate your desire to keep things simple, I believe that there is much more to being mentally tough than you suggest….I have found that one of the biggest problems is knowing what to do when you have some success. Often times success reinforces bad habits. Lots of ballplayers have big unwieldy egos that have actually helped them. Other athletes use insecurity to help motivate them. How do you deal with the athletes who have had reasonable success, who think they have all they need, who have been reinforced for sub-optimal values and psychology but who are arguably not playing as well as they could be if they made some key adjustments?

– Thomas Lerener

Hi Thomas,

I agree that there is a lot that goes into being mentally tough and I believe that everyone’s fight for mental toughness takes its own unique path.  That’s why I’m interested in teaching people how to ask the right questions of themselves instead of following a step-by-step process that might not be right for everyone.  I believe that by asking yourself to find answers to “know who you are, know what you want, know what to do when you don’t get what you want, and know what to do in the meantime while you figure those things out” there is simplicity and also lots of room for individuality.  And I’ve often told players that having a strong mental game is “simple”, but it isn’t EASY.  Taking a deep breath is simple.  So is reviewing your performance every night.  For that matter, throwing a baseball and swinging a bat are simple processes.  But they aren’t easy to repeat unless you work at them.  The same is true for being mentally tough.  It takes practice and it takes a willingness to keep things simple even when our minds are complicating things for us.  How many clichés have you heard about getting “back to basics” or “doing the little things right” when a big game is coming up or someone needs to break out of a slump?

Your question about dealing with athletes who have had reasonable success could be a very interesting discussion topic for our readers and I’d like to encourage everyone to submit your comments on this one.  There are two points that I think are important in dealing with athletes as you’ve described:  to emphasize the review process and to teach honest and accurate self-evaluation.

Review Process

I don’t believe that baseball players review their performances often enough or do so in the right way. When someone has a good game, that’s usually what you’ll hear from them if you ask how they did:

Coach or Parent: How did you do today?

Player: Good.

You might hear the player talk about how many innings he threw, how many strikeouts he had, how many hits, runs, RBIs, etc.  What you don’t hear enough of is a review of how the player did from a process standpoint.  And if the player had a bad game, I commonly hear him say that he doesn’t want to think about it or that he’s just going to turn the page and move on.  By skipping the review process when we don’t get good results, we lose valuable opportunities to learn.  If you ask your players to conduct a full review of their performance on a weekly basis or after each game, you help them develop a sense for critiquing themselves.  In addition, by engaging in post-game review, you can help players eliminate a common thought process that goes on during the game…over-evaluation. When players are struggling on the field, I’ve found that they start asking themselves what is going wrong.  They tinker with their mechanics, they compare each pitch after they have thrown it instead of preparing to throw the next one. When I tell players to save their review processes for after the game, they often find themselves less distracted during the game.

Self-Evaluation

I have found that most people are either too tough on themselves or not tough enough on themselves.  It is rare to find someone who knows how to balance the two.  I would put an athlete as you’ve described, who has had some success and doesn’t think he needs anything else, in the category of not being tough enough on himself.  But I think that self-evaluation can be taught to help athletes on either side of this spectrum.  When you think a player isn’t aware of where he can be better, you need to tell him what you see and then expect him to start looking for opportunities to improve himself on his own.   Here are two simple questions you can have each of your players answer to engage in a review process and develop balanced self-evaluation:

  1. What did I do well this week?
  2. What do I need to improve?

Don’t let any of your players write “NOTHING” as an answer for either of these questions.  If you monitor their answers, you can see which players are taking this exercise seriously and which are either unable or unwilling to engage in honest self-evaluation.  You can also easily see which ones are too tough on themselves and which ones aren’t tough enough.

Ultimately, your players are going to have to want to be the best they can be and to want to do whatever it takes to be that good.  Whether they are scared to admit that they have weaknesses or simply inexperienced and unable to recognize that there are lots more levels they can reach if they fine tune their games and continue to work hard, self-evaluation must be taught for most people because they don’t do it well on their own.  You might expect your players to recognize what adjustments they should make and you might expect them to have their own desire to seek out those adjustments, but if they don’t, then tell them what you see and hold them accountable for telling you what they see in the future until you’re both on the same page.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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Interview: Brian Friday

In Interviews on November 18, 2009 at 11:36 pm

The Arizona Fall League season ends today and I thought it would be an appropriate ending to a long season to interview Brian Friday, one of six Pittsburgh Pirates prospects who was invited to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions with the best prospects from all 30 Major League teams.  Brian was drafted in the 3rd Round of the 2007 First Year Player Draft by the Pirates out of Rice University.  At Rice, he was named First Team All-American shortstop in 2006, and played in two College World Series.  As a professional, he has been a Carolina League All-Star in 2008 while playing for the Lynchburg Hillcats and was named an All-Star again in 2009 in the AA Eastern League with the Altoona Curve.  A highly intellectual player, Brian has outstanding character and leadership skills.  He discusses his Fall League experience, his development on the road to the big leagues, and his perspective on life and baseball.

Geoff Miller: The Arizona Fall League is a collection of the best prospects in the game.  How much does playing there boost your confidence?

Brian Friday: It definitely provides a little boost to my confidence for the simple fact that it’s an honor to play in this league.  A lot of the most talented players in the minor leagues are here, and to be able to play with and against them helps motivate me to continue to get better.

GM: How do you keep from comparing your abilities or readiness for the big leagues with the abilities and readiness of other players in this league?

BF: It’s sometimes difficult to not compare yourself to other players in a league like this because that is what a lot of people are doing.  But I realize that doesn’t help me become a better player and that is why I am here.  As a player, I try to always keep in mind that comparisons and judging someone else’s ability isn’t my job.  My job is to prepare as best I can and then perform in the games.  If I can stay focused on that then all the externals should take care of themselves.

GM: What is the most important growth you are experiencing playing in Arizona this Fall?

BF: The most important growth for me has been offensively this Fall.  I have been working to make adjustments that have taken a while to show up in games, so it has tested my patience.  It has been a good experience to go through because I have been hesitant to make some adjustments during the regular season.  And since this league is more of a developmental league I have stuck with things offensively that I wouldn’t have in the past for fear of not performing.

GM: You played at one of the most successful baseball programs in the country.  How did playing at Rice prepare you for being a professional baseball player?

BF: I received a lot a great instruction at Rice, but the best thing for me to learn was mental toughness.  Playing every day professionally can wear you down, and I believe my experience at Rice has helped me stay focused and get up for each game throughout the season.  Whether I had a good or bad game the night before, I have to try to learn from it and then let it go.  That is easier said than done, but Rice helped me improve a lot in that area.

GM: How do you balance pushing yourself to be a better player so you can continue to make progress with giving yourself credit for the progress you’ve already achieved in your minor league career?

BF: This is a balance that I struggle with because I am wired to keep pushing myself forward towards perfection.  I view this mindset as a strength of mine, but at the same time I tend to overlook any past accomplishments.  This is a problem for me because I easily forget the positive times where I have performed well and focus more on the negative.  I have had some success in the minor leagues thus far, but I usually dismiss those successes because I feel I have a lot of room for improvement.  Consequently, it has been difficult for me during tough times when I need to remember past accomplishments and try to pull some confidence from those.  This balance is something that I constantly have to remind myself of during a season.  It is important to always strive to get better, but you have to give yourself some credit every now and then.

GM: What is the most important mental game lesson you’ve learned in your career?

BF: Learning that baseball doesn’t have to be life-consuming has been the most important lesson for me.  I have struggled in the past with wrapping up my life with this game.  Life was great when I played well, and life was miserable when I played poorly.  All this did was put me on an emotional rollercoaster with a lot of highs and seemingly more lows.  Baseball is tough enough as it is, and if you let it rule your life it will eat you up.

Now I still am pleased after a good game, and irritated after a bad one, but I have found it easier to move on with a positive perspective.  I attribute this to truly realizing that my Christian faith, family and friends are more important than this game.  Until I am done playing I will always strive to get better and perform, but that pales in comparison to my faith.  It is much bigger than this game and keeps me grounded.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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Comfort Zones, Confidence, Keep it Simple: Mental Skills Manual Part III

In Tips for Improving Performance on November 17, 2009 at 10:01 pm

The Mental Skills Manual is meant to teach players how to answer the following:

  1. Know who you are
  2. Know what you want
  3. Know what to do when you don’t get what you want
  4. Know what to do in the meantime before you’ve mastered these concepts.

Part III is a continuation of developing self-knowledge.  In order to “know who you are”, you must be able to understand your comfort zones and keep it simple.

Click Here for Part I of the Manual, which offers an Introduction.

Click Here for Part II of the Manual, which begins the unit on self-knowledge.

Know Your Comfort Zone

Your comfort zone is simply defined as that place in your head where the game slows to the right pace, you feel relaxed, confident, and adaptable.  It’s the psychological feeling that you have when you are in control of your thoughts, emotions, and actions.  Some people have a wide comfort zone and others feel uncomfortable unless they have everything they need working for them.

These two figures show how comfort zones can give us information on how to manage intensity and develop confidence.

Figure 5: Intensity Comfort Zone

In this figure, you can see that performance is best with just the right amount of intensity.  If you are tired, bored, or don’t care about what you are doing, you won’t have enough energy to compete.  And if you have too much intensity, your strengths turn into weaknesses and you get inflexible.  This inflexibility comes from recognizing that you are outside your comfort zone.  If you can’t be comfortable because you’re too amped up, at least you can make yourself comfortable by behaving in your tried and true ways.  The control freak has to be the one driving when he is stressed out or late.  The introvert wants to be left alone when he feels pressure.  And the extrovert wants someone to talk to in that same pressure situation.

You’ll see these characteristics get magnified when intensity goes up.  And you’ll notice that those same people who were flexible under normal conditions “need” to have their environments right in order to deal with added intensity.  It’s important to know where that threshold is on the high side so you don’t turn your strengths into weaknesses and on the low side so you can stay alert and energized throughout the daily grind of the baseball season.

Figure 6:  Building Confidence by Expanding Your Comfort Zone

Imagine that you are riding a bike downhill along the slope of the line in Figure 6.  At the beginning of your ride, you’re feeling comfortable and confident, just breezing along.  By the middle of the graph, you start to pick up some speed and you’re recognizing that you’re not quite sure how you’re going to stop yourself at the bottom.  And then you reach the really steep part of the hill, go even faster, and start careening out of control.

This example demonstrates an important difference in comfort zones that can be used to build confidence.  Most people mistake the feeling of discomfort with the true recognition that they are in physical danger.  We all have felt that sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs when we are outside our comfort zones and it can feel like we are actually in harm’s way.  But the truth is that most of the time, our bodies are reacting to a stressful situation that isn’t dangerous.  Recognizing the difference between discomfort and danger is the trick to learning from experience.  The biggest benefit of experience is that we’ve been there before, and we know the situation that we’re facing.  As you gain experience, you get more comfortable with what you’re doing and your confidence increases.

Keep it Simple

This final section on the topic of Knowledge is a reminder to keep it simple.  The discussion of knowledge immediately gets people thinking about becoming smarter, which it should.  But getting smarter doesn’t necessarily mean being more analytical, especially when translating this knowledge on to the field.  There is a danger in overloading yourself with too much information or engaging in too much thinking when you set a goal to increase learning.

Remember, our ultimate goal is to KNOW what to do WITHOUT thinking about it.  So keeping it simple reminds us that we are still playing the same game we all have known since we were young.  We are just adding more of what we know to that equation so more and more of the game becomes automatic.

One simple note on why it is important to keep it simple:

Player Drafted from: Learning Style Too Much Info Keep it Simple
A. Plus Ivy League NCAA Analytical Overcomplicates Back to Basics
F. Minus Rural High School Slow Overwhelms Comfort Zone

The chart above shows that keeping it simple is the best strategy for slow learners and analytical brains.

  • For the slow learner, more than simple bits of information will be overwhelming.  Keeping it simple keeps this player in his comfort zone.
  • For the bright mind, more information leads to complication.  In a pressure situation on the field, thinking should be minimized.  Reminding the analytical type to keep it simple helps him get back to basics.

To be continued…Part IV will begin discussion of the next section, which addresses how to “know what you want.”

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information on the mental skills manual please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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Staying Focused for 27 Outs

In Tips for Improving Performance on November 16, 2009 at 11:04 pm

I thought I’d take an opportunity tonight to answer a question from a professional coach on a topic I know is a popular one. I’d like to hear what you think about these suggestions and would appreciate hearing from others if they have ideas for helping players to maintain or regain focus over the course of a game.  And please keep the questions coming as I believe this is a great way to address topics on the blog.

Pro Coach: Geoff- We have had issues with keeping players focused for 9 innings.  I’m looking for a suggestion to try to keep them locked in.  We talk all the time about 27 outs and focusing on the task at hand but we just have found ways to make stupid plays at inopportune times.  Feedback, thoughts are appreciated.

GM: Thanks for your question, coach. Ultimately, staying focused is about desire and a willingness to pay attention to what’s important.  That’s why I believe it’s so important to find out so much about what motivates players as well as their learning styles and styles of focus.  For some players, if you give them too many details, they tune out.  For others, if you don’t give them enough, they tune out.

Without knowing more about the specifics of what your players are like, here are two simple generalities that might be helpful:

1.  ”Call the Game”

If you have players that find their minds “drifting” during games, they can reduce this by simply trying to stay focused on describing the details of the game like they would if they were radio broadcasters.  If you have an outfielder who isn’t making good decisions because he isn’t paying attention in the field and then when the ball is hit to him he doesn’t know what to do with it, he might stay locked in more often just by telling himself what’s happening.  It might sound something like this if he said it out loud:

Okay, there’s a man on first base, he’s their number two hitter in the lineup and looks like he can steal a base.  Their best hitter is at the plate, he’s someone who likes the ball down and when he gets it he hits it in the gaps.  The pitcher comes set and checks the runner and here’s the pitch…

By describing the action to themselves, they might stay in the game more and be more alert when the ball comes their way.  Calling the action keeps a player outside his head and keeps him from thinking distracting thoughts.

2.  Have a Routine That Gets You Back on Track

Before and during pre-pitch set up, make sure that whatever the player is thinking about between pitches has a chance to be “cleared”.  I believe that it’s close to impossible to keep your thoughts on exactly what you’re supposed to for three hours.  So rather than hoping that your players will do that, I’d rather have you have ways for them to get re-focused than to stay focused.

A deep breath is a simple thing and it’s a total cliché in sports, but if it’s used to tell the player “okay I was drifting and this breath is my reset button” then it can be a good way to get guys back on track.  You might go through a pre-pitch set up with a player and add in a deep breath to help them start over between pitches or between hitters.

The same could be true for separating between offense and defense or for preparing yourself before you go pick up a bat.  Most guys are more focused at the plate than they are on the bases or in the field because that part of the game means the most to them.  They take the most pride (and are most easily measured) on their hitting so they are focused there.  That gets back to my point about desire.  If you care about something, you are much more likely to be focused than if you don’t care.

Remember that these are just two simple suggestions for helping players maintain focus.  The best way to help players focus is to know them well and to be able to have honest conversations with them about what helps them stay focused, when they struggle with staying focused, and what works best for them to get them back on track.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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College Baseball Coaches Discuss the Mental Game, Part IV

In Mental Game Info on November 15, 2009 at 4:48 pm

Before the 2009 season began, we asked 42 Head Baseball Coaches at Division I universities to help us better understand how the mental game of baseball is perceived and used in college baseball. Our goal was to learn more about how coaches taught the mental game in their programs, the biggest mental game challenges their players faced, and where mental skills training could make a bigger difference in the future.  The following summary provides statistics and commentary on the results of our interviews.

The interview began with eight open-ended questions, asking coaches to offer their opinions on a number of topics.  We accepted as many answers on each question as each coach cared to give.

The second half of the interview asked coaches to rate their players on 15 statements that defined different areas of the mental game.  Coaches would hear the statement and then provide a rating on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being most applicable and 1 being least, for how much the statement applied to their team.

Survey Questions

How applicable are these statements on a scale of 1 – 10?

(10 is most applicable, 1 is least)

Rank

Item

Avg.
1 The parents of our athletes put too much pressure on them. 7.27
2 I have players on my team who have trouble slowing the game down. 6.83
3 Our athletes put too much pressure on themselves. 6.71
4 My players get caught up with winning and losing (outcomes) instead of simply focusing on the “basics” (processes) that lead to victory. 6.51
5 I have players who think too much instead of just playing the game and trusting their gut. 6.46
6 I have players on my team who are physically talented, but completely unpredictable in games. 5.68
7 I have players on my team who have trouble concentrating on executing their skills. 5.56
8 I have players on my team who are afraid to face big challenges. 4.85
9 We lose to less talented teams because we get overconfident. 4.34
10 We lose to more talented teams because we play scared. 4.15
11 My players don’t work hard enough to succeed on their own so I have to constantly push them harder. 4.10
12 My players make too many mistakes on routine plays. 4.07
13 My players lose their cool too often in competition. 4.05
14 My team plays well in practice, but not in games. 3.88
15 Our failures can be traced directly to lack of effort in practices. 3.10

These results suggest that coaches believe that they can affect the mental game, as shown by lower scores on statements regarding areas that coaches have direct control.  Coaches are directly responsible for effort levels, quality practices, hard work, and setting the emotional tone for their players.  The statements that coaches agreed with most dealt with sources of pressure (in fairness to parents, it would be interesting to find out from players themselves whether they think their parents place more pressure on them than their coaches do), thought processes, and players maximizing their physical talents.  Perhaps the best individual formula for coaches defining how sport psychology consultants could help their programs is to consider where their players’ greatest challenges lie and to think about their own comfort levels and abilities to help their players overcome those challenges.

This research is meant to be ongoing and we would love to have your participation in completing the survey.  If you are interested in submitting your answers or if you would to offer additional thoughts, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

Click Here to go to Part I.

Click Here to go to Part II.

Click Here to go to Part III.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

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Interview: Nate McLouth, 2008 NL All-Star

In Interviews on November 12, 2009 at 3:10 pm

Nate McLouth, CF, Atlanta Braves, 2008 NL All-Star, 2008 Gold Glove

Nate McLouth plays center field for the Atlanta Braves.  He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 25th round of the 2000 draft out of Whitehall High School in Whitehall, Michigan, turning down a scholarship offer to Michigan. His high school career included a remarkable 179 SB in 180 attempts.  Nate progressed quickly through the Pirates’ minor league system, making his major league debut at 23 years old, in August of 2005.  He spent the next two seasons in the majors in a battle for playing time and finally became the every day center fielder for Pittsburgh in 2008.  In his first starting role, Nate hit .276 with 26 HR, 94 RBI, 23 SB, scored 113 runs, and led the NL with 46 doubles.  He made the NL All-Star team and won a Gold Glove in center field as well.  He was traded to Atlanta on June 3, 2009, and hit a combined .256, 20 HR, 70 RBI, with 19 SB last year.  In his career, he has stolen 57 bases on 62 attempts, for a 91.9% success rate.  A true five-tool player with surprising power despite being 5’11”, 185 lbs, Nate excels at the plate, on the bases, and in the field.

Geoff Miller: You didn’t get a chance to start every day until the beginning of the 2008 season and you made the All-Star team that year.  What did you do to stay patient while you waited for an opportunity to prove yourself?

Nate McLouth: I just reminded myself every day that I was still in the big leagues even though I wasn’t playing every day and I knew that eventually I would get my shot.  Finally, that opportunity came and I made the most of it.

GM: Does your approach at the plate change much when you hit second or third as opposed to when you are hitting lead-off?

NM: When I lead off, my approach is really only different if it’s the first at bat of the game or if I’m following the pitcher with two outs and nobody on.  In those situations I need to be more patient and see more pitches, but the rest of the time, regardless of where I’m hitting in the order, I try to be aggressive.

GM: What do you do to try to make every AB the same, no matter what situation you are facing?  Are there ever times in close games or when you hit with runners in scoring position when you feel more pressure?

NM: I used to feel more pressure in different situations, mostly when I hit with runners in scoring position. But now I just try to hit like I’m hitting with nobody on base every time I come up.

GM: How do you deal with the daily grind of the season from a physical and a mental standpoint?

NM: I try not to look too far ahead, especially at the beginning of the season.  I try to play each game and prepare myself for that day instead of thinking about the whole season. It’s such a long season that it can be overwhelming if you look at it like that.

GM: You have managed to move forward throughout your professional career without any real setbacks.  How do you continue to get consistent results and how much has your mentality helped you in getting what you want?

NM: For me, it has nothing to do with my numbers and everything to do with my preparation.  I have a specific routine and I do it every day.  When I get to game time and I have completed my routine, I know I’m where I need to be mentally and that lets me relax and play the game.

GM: What is the most important mental game lesson you have learned in your career?

NM: I have to stay focused only on things that I know I can control.  For example, I can’t focus on how nasty the pitcher is that night or I’m going to have a bad night.  Instead, I have to focus on knowing that I’ve prepared myself and go to the plate aggressive and looking for a pitch to hit.  Or I can’t worry about whether I’m starting or where I am on the depth chart, I just have to focus on what I can do each day.  When I focus on things I can control, I don’t feel any pressure.

If you would like to receive new posts from The Winning Mind in Baseball by email, please CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Geoff Miller at miller@thewinningmind.com.

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