Baseball

I don’t need to tell you how important discipline is. But, what a lot of coaches don’t know is that discipline is a muscle that can be trained. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “Well, he’s just not disciplined enough.” When really, what should be said is “He Does Not Train For Discipline Enough.” The things we do everyday build patterns in our minds. Practice makes perfect, right? Well, then … we better be super aware of what we are practicing! Training. For Discipline. The elite teams who are headed to Omaha practice discipline. Many times a day. How do I know? Because I taught many of them how! Here is a sample of what I teach:

Talent doesn’t win championships because by the time you get to the championship game, everyone is talented. Effort wins championships. Effort comes from the knowledge that anyone can grow. Elite champions have elite mindsets and know that they can grow. As a coach, you need to develop an elite mindset, and you need to know how to coach your players to develop theirs.

In The Baseball Mental Performance Mastery (MPM) Podcast With Cain & Casey, Brian Cain, creator of the MPM Coaches Certification and 30 Days to MPM Athletes Program and Sean “The Mayor” Casey, MLB Network Analyst and one of baseball’s all-time best hitters talk about success strategies you can use to master mental performance both on and off the baseball field. In episode #4 Cain and casey talk about maximizing your performance and creating your ideal life through process, structure and patience.

Bob Tewksbury is an icon in the field of mental performance in baseball. Largely considered one of the best control pitchers of all time and best mental performance coaches in the sport.  He was a 1992 MLB All-Star and in the last century, no pitcher has a lower ratio of base on balls per innings pitched. “Tewks” had a playing career that spanned from 1986 to 1998 in which he racked up 812 strikeouts. After his career he went back to school at Boston University and earned a masters degree in applied sport psychology. He has worked as a mental performance coach with the Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants and currently serves in that capacity with the Chicago Cubs.

Are you committed to leading your team? Do your players trust you and are they committed to the process you’ve put in place? Staying committed to the process is a daily decision.  You must decide everyday to stay the course. All the coaches and players headed to Omaha are committed to the process we put in place. Here is how they maintain their commitment:

All winning coaches and teams have clearly stated principles. The coaches with the most championship titles expect that the team’s principles are developed and demonstrated.

What are the core principles driving your player’s performances?

Where in your office or locker room do you advertise these principles?

Can your players quickly name these principles if I ask them?

Earlier this week, the NCAA released the Division I Men’s College Baseball World Series Tournament Bracket. In the college baseball world this is more commonly known as “The Road to Omaha”. Tomorrow starts the regionals where 64 teams will compete in 16 different 4 team brackets, narrowing themselves down to the following weekends 8 super regionals where 16 teams will battle and give us the 8 teams who will compete in Omaha, Nebraska vying for the National Championship.

Every college baseball player dreams of this time of year and competing in the “The Road to Omaha”. But, in order to win, each team will have to treat these regional and super regional games like any other game or practice.

Nothing special. Even though it’s crazy special. Why? Because champions…

And he’s being compared to Cy Young. This is exciting in of itself, but his success has been amplified because of how he started and where his stats were in 2019…

There is a long list of outcomes that athletes fear. Fear of losing. Fear of getting cut. But we know that fearing outcomes will not help your athletes perform well today. As a coach, it’s your job to teach your athletes how to manage their fear. It starts with them knowing that fear grows out of feelings of what might happen in the future. Rule #1 about Fear: Fear feeds on feelings. If left unchecked, fear can kidnap the athlete’s mind and body. But you can coach the fear out of your athletes and teach them how to regulate their emotions.

Why what you don’t know about Mental Performance Mastery (MPM) is holding you back from your true potential (and what to DO about it) “Elite performance in any arena is 90% mental, yet most competitors work on the mental game less than 10% of the time in their training. Mental Performance Mastery (MPM) training is… Read More

Josh Jung attended Douglas MacArthur High School in San Antonio, Texas where he starred in both baseball and football.  Undrafted out of high school he enrolled at Texas Tech University to play college baseball for the Red Raiders.   Jung had one of the most historic careers in Tech history as he worked himself into a 3x NCAA All-American, played for the Team USA Collegiate National Team and in 2019 was the Texas Rangers 1st Round Pick, 8th overall. Josh has been a student of the Mental Game of Baseball since he was 11 years old.

Great athletes are great for a lot of reasons. Often one of those reasons is pure talent. When you combine pure talent with consistent physical strength and conditioning, you get something magical – like going 7-0 and helping your team get to the National League Championship Game in your rookie season. That is what Corbin… Read More