The Fearless Warrior Podcast

108: Behind the Scenes of Professional Baseball with Hana DeGuzman, CMPC

• Amanda Schaefer

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On this week's episode, I sat down with our former Community Manager and Mental Performance Consultant, Hana DeGuzman. We go down memory lane on her path from college softball to working with the MLB across the Minnesota Twins organization as a Mental Performance Coach. She shares the practical tools she uses to help athletes reset under pressure in the professional setting.

Episode Highlights:

• Day-in-the-life on game and non-game days
• Pressure, identity, and the realities of pro baseball
• The road to learning Spanish
• The SERR model
• Best advice learned: stay open-minded

Connect with Hana:

Premier Sport Psychology: https://premiersportpsychology.com/our-team/hana-deguzman/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hanadeguzman



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SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Fearless Warrior Podcast, a place for athletes, coaches, and parents who know the value of a strong mindset. I'm your host, Coach A B, a mental performance coach, animation, former softball coach, wife, and mom of three. Each episode we will dive deep into all things mental performance, mindset tools, and how to rewire the brain for success. So if your goal is to gain the mental edge and learn the secrets of mental performance, you're in the right place. Let's tune in to today's episode. Hannah DeGuzman is a mental performance consultant for Premier Sports Psychology and servicing a contract with the Minnesota Twins organization. She recently obtained her certified mental performance consultant, also known as CMPC, which in the sports psychology world is a huge accomplishment. And you might recognize her name because for the past four years, she's been our community manager here for the Fearless Fam. And so she spread her wings and we're bringing her back to interview her. She currently lives in Fort Myers, Florida, soaking up the sun with her pub Emmy and working with the Minnesota Twins organization and all their affiliate teams. I'm so excited. I have her here live. This is going to be just an amazing conversation. And I can't even say welcome to the pod. I get to say, Hannah, welcome back.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks, A B. So happy to be here. So grateful to be here. Thanks for bringing me back.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that we get to do this and we have been catching up. And I said, we're just going to hit record because everything that we're already talking about is everything that the fearless fam wants to know. So give us a quick, you know, brief overview. I bet there's some people that may have not even realized that you have been gone. So what have you been doing the last eight months?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So the last eight months, I guess I at the beginning of this year in January, I moved to Fort Myers, Florida, like A B said, and I started as a mental performance consultant with Premier Sports Psychology, servicing our contract with the Minnesota Twins. So Premier Sports Psychology is a Minnesota-based company for just background context. Minnesota-based company, we have lots of different contracts with different universities and pro teams and Olympic teams and things like that. Very cool opportunity. And so I serve on their contract with the Minnesota Twins, which is why I'm based here at our training complex in Florida. And I've been doing pretty much 80% of my work is with these professional baseball players, doing a lot of mental performance consulting, one-on-one meetings, programming and consulting with coaches, traveling to all of our affiliates. It's been really awesome and a really, a really cool experience. I finished grad school over a year ago and have kind of been dipping my toes in different waters, but it's really awesome to be able to find a landing spot here with Premiere and doing kind of exactly what I've wanted to do, what I've wanted to set myself out to do for a long time now, working in pro sports and doing the whole sport psychology and mental performance consulting. So that's a little bit of what I've been doing. Outside of work, I've been playing a lot of pickleball. I don't know if you've played pickleball, A B, but it is a wild, wild west out here.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. I have not converted the pickleball yet, but I'm very curious. I made the mistake of saying to my uncle, oh, it's just like table tennis, but on like a tennis court. And he immediately corrected me.

SPEAKER_00:

Love that. It is not.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. You'll have to tell me all about it. So I love that you mentioned that this has been something that you have been dreaming of. And so I think what's so cool about this is some of the girls that may have interacted with you at the retreat may know this. But can you kind of talk about this evolution of you discovered mental skills, you discovered, you know, mental performance. And then step by step, I've gotten to have literally just a front row seat to your career. And we talk about all the time abundance, dream big, go for your goals. And just step after step, four years later, you're here. So go back, you know, even to HANA at Puget Sound of like you're playing college softball. What piqued your interest? And where did this all start?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I love walking down memory lane. Um, I was playing Division III softball at the University of Puget Sound. And originally, so I graduated with an exercise science degree from undergrad. And I originally wanted to go more into the physical therapy realm or maybe athletic training, um, just kind of the physical side, the medical side, if you will, of biomechanics and the body and things like that. That was always really interesting to me. Um, and then I was taking a psychology class and we spent maybe a week on sport psychology or several, several different conversations, just talking about mental performance and sport psychology in the overall umbrella of psychology. And I had never heard about that. And that was um pretty much my sophomore year. I think that seed was planted just in terms of looking into it myself. Um, sports psychology and mental skills sort of became a thing that I would use all of the time, pretty much religiously, when it came to my own skill set and developing that myself as an athlete. Um I was utilizing a lot of mindfulness techniques, self-talk, confidence building, confidence building strategies, goal setting strategies, anything under the sun that you can probably think of. I didn't realize that it was, you know, uh necessarily an occupation or a career. I was just, wow, this is really helping me with softball. And I felt a dramatic increase in my performance and just how I felt about my sport. Um, I started kind of my senior year of college, um, started looking more into jobs and occupations and things that I would maybe be interested in doing. Sport psychology just kind of came into fruition of wait, could I make a career out of what I've been doing myself for the past like a couple of years, couple of seasons? Um, you know, looked into graduate schools and took a leap of faith and really just I just applied to graduate schools for sports psych and decided to completely across the country. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That and just kind of pivot my my career path. Um and I guess from there, and I've I've always wanted to work in professional sports. I've always wanted to be surrounded by athletics and sports my entire life. Um, and I essentially I got into Boston University's mental health counseling and sports psychology graduate program, flew across the country. It was insane just thinking about that from when I was younger, taking a leap of faith. Um and kind of the rest is the rest is history. I guess, you know, after graduating, I did several internships. I then I moved to Arizona and I completed a four-month internship with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where I was also a mental performance intern there. And then that brings us to the holidays of this past year, um, interviewing for different jobs and essentially landed with Premier in the Minnesota Twins. So here I am. Um, abundance is key and it feels like it's been a very linear process, but not linear by any means.

SPEAKER_01:

Definitely not behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_00:

No, not behind the scenes for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so I love that we're talking about this because, as you know, because you've been involved with our community, I think what has been so cool, even recently, since you've kind of had this experience to come back and to interview, what piece of advice would you give? And I'm finding that I'm hearing this answer a lot more. A lot of our girls that have now gone through our program or have experienced what you experienced of, oh, there's these work, right? There's a little bit of skepticism of like, what is mental performance? What are mental skills? How do I use them? To, oh, okay, this actually works and has benefited me. To now, we've had warriors come back and say, Oh my gosh, Coach A B, I I want to do this, I want to learn more about this. And I'm, you know, we've got girls that are going to college. What piece of advice would you give, not just to somebody who's dead set on following your career path, but somebody who's curious, what's your advice to them about this career?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I mean, there's so many pieces of advice. I would probably say that my number one is essentially when you're doing your own research and things are exciting or things maybe feel scary. And actually, I want to speak more to that part is when things feel scary. Um, a lot of the times we as humans, we're kind of scanning for different threats. And so we're thinking to ourselves, what if everything goes horribly wrong? What if I regret this? What if this is a horrible decision? What if I don't want to do this anymore? And I find this a lot with different athletes and clients that I work with, just people in general. A lot of the times we are thinking about the negatives of what ifs. But then I also want to provide the perspective of the positive what-ifs. What if this is a really good move? What if someone says yes? What if this makes me really happy? What if this is the best decision I've ever made? And so just thinking about, I mean, a lot of your clients and a lot of the fearless warriors are just are very young. And, you know, there's so many years of experience and different knowledge and career paths to explore. Um, that I guess, yeah, my overall piece of advice is doing when you're doing your own research about things that interest you and things that really light that fire under your butt. It's just kind of thinking of um, you know, I guess when choosing a career path, wanting to choose something that you can really see yourself doing that would actually provide a lot of fulfillment and worthwhile night. Um yeah, there's actually something I might go on a soapbox here for a slight second. One of my our founder of Premier Sports Psychology, Dr. Justin Anderson, he asked us a question one day and said, How many of you guys want to be happy? And you know, we all raise our hands, right? And uh then he says, Okay, well, how many of you guys want to have kids? We all raise our hands. Uh not all of us, but many people might raise our hands in theory, right? And he said, Wait, I thought you just said that you wanted to be happy. And we were like, Oh, well, yeah. And you know, studies show that happiness levels are very subjective. And when you have kids and things like that, thing life can get tough, life can get hard, lots of different conflicts, things can come up. But it's maybe about shifting your perspective about happiness, but then shifting it from happiness to worthwhileness. And you know, having kids is a very worthwhile thing. Having kids is a very fulfilling goal. And so I guess, you know, having kids may be analogous in this case. I'm using this as a career path, but essentially just thinking about okay, we're not so much thinking about what would make us happy, but what would be really, really fulfilling, regardless of what you do choose. And I for me, that is sports psychology. For me, that is mental performance.

SPEAKER_01:

And this immediately rings back to what we what you were saying before we hit record of some days you're waking up at 5:30 and it's a long day and a long season. I mean, you've been a baseball fan your whole life, you know how long the season is, and now you're traveling to your different affiliates. And you know, you even listed at the beginning of this, you're working with one-on-ones, you're programming, you're working with coaches, like you're just in it every day. And so if you're seeking happiness, probably not going to be happy at 5:30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Happiness is fleeting, but at the end of the day, I love what I do, and it is so fulfilling. And while the work is crazy, while it's chaotic, while it's there's a lot of moving parts and it's challenging at many different times, at the end of the day, I just love what I do, and it's the most fulfilling and rewarding thing that I think I've done so far.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome. So give us a day. I mean, there's different scenarios where paint a picture for us. If it's a a game day, I think a game day would be really fun. And then maybe like a non-game day, what you wake up, you the alarm goes off. What the heck is is Hana doing? Like give us the picture.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'll give a game day experience in terms of like at an affiliate. So one of our, let's say our double A affiliate is in Wichita, Kansas, um, the Wichita Wind Surge. So when I would go travel there, I'd go for about a week or so um where they have a week-long home series. And, you know, a typical day, you know, I'll wake up around 7, 8 a.m. I might have a few morning meetings, I'll kind of do my own thing, I'll go work out, I'll go for a run. Um, and then I basically get to the complex around or the stadium, if you will, maybe around like 11 a.m., maybe around noon when the complex and when the stadium opens and the clubhouse opens, I'll say hi to a lot of the guys, to our coaches, our manager, um, just kind of you know building those relationships still and checking in on guys, seeing how things are going, you know, not just from a baseball perspective, not just from a work perspective, but also, hey, how's your family? Do you have any family that's visiting in town? Are your kids coming? Is your wife coming? Things like that. Um, and then also, you know, kind of just from there, maybe they go about their work day. Maybe there's bullpen's, there's live, there's uh on field BP, there's uh lots of different things in the training room with you know, um, pre-performance routines and/or like day after recovery, things like that for different players. Everyone just kind of has their own routine. So that's pretty much what happens during an actual game day. And then, of course, there's the game that comes up around 6 or 7 p.m. Um, of course, there's several hours leading up to that of when I've actually been there. And a lot of the times it maybe is meeting with athletes or meeting with players, meeting with coaching staff to see if there's any programming that they would like to see happen. Um, and then, you know, I just kind of stick around and let the guys do their own thing during game day. What is really cool is that I do get access to be part of the dugout staff. Um at the minor league level, it's not super strict at the major league level. That's when they change it up a little bit in terms of what coaching staff can be in the dugout. But I do get to see firsthand, you know, experience the dugout life, if you will, and be kind of in the muck with them. Um, if I am needed, then I'm there. But oftentimes I just kind of let the guys be themselves, you know, if they need support, I'm there. Um, then we just kind of go about the game. I'll do some observations, watch any guys if I'm working with them, or just noticing body language, noticing self-talk, or different strategies. If we have talked about it, just noticing keeping mental note myself. And then that time game's over, and then kind of everyone just disperses and it happens again the next day. So that is a very like it's it's very variant when it comes to a game day. I would say a non-game day is sort of similar with just again the relationship building. I'm consulting a lot with different coaches. Maybe we're talking about certain players and how we can help increase or you know, optimize their development, or maybe I am talking directly with players and we're talking about skills that we've discussed before, or just talking about mental skills in general, or we're just talking about life and what's impacting them because I see a lot of my clients and players more than just baseball and work. Um, I think a lot of what I really appreciate doing with my job is humanizing the experience and baseball season is a very long season. So knowing that it's not just baseball and it's not just work that's getting them through every single workday, it's also their lives and their hobbies and their passions and their families and things outside of it that I like to inquire about because I know that impacts their performance as well. So I would say just overall, that's a really big part of it. Um, that relationship building and the connection, and just of course the the nitty-gritty with maybe one-on-one meetings or uh mindfulness sessions or programming that we're doing with the guys in certain curriculum. So it kind of just depends day to day. Every day looks significantly different, maybe some routines here and there, but that's the beauty of it. And I it keeps me on my toes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that's the appeal, is that it it almost feels surreal in that, like this is what we get to do. This is what I get to do. I'm I you've been a fan your whole life, and now you get to like work day. I wrote this down in quotes. You said work day. And I think what so many people fail to realize, and please know this is not a this is not a soapbox to my parents listening. I just want you to listen to this of like at the professional level, you said it more than once. It's a work day for these guys. Yeah, like baseball becomes their job. And so when we think about the pressure that we put on our athletes at the youth level to get recruited and get a scholarship, at the end of the day, it's not their job. And they have a life outside of sports, especially teenagers. But I also notice the conversations you have if even at the professional level, you're still supporting them beyond their identity as an athlete.

SPEAKER_00:

100%.

SPEAKER_01:

And if that's a pro like, look at the transition between okay, youth athletes. I think parents forget all the time of hey, let's step back. She's just a teenager, she's you know, going to school, they've got prom, they've got homecoming. Like they have a life outside of softball. But I think the pressure, and I would love for you to speak to this. I think once you get to the pros, there's this level, and I can speak to my client that's working through the system of it's a very real factor now that it is your job. It's your salary. You're expected to perform. Can you speak to that? Like, what are those conversations like?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I kind of am in a unique position. Like I said, I'm serving a contract with the Minnesota Twins, but I also have several different clients with Premier Sport Psychology, seeing them one-on-one. So, yes, 80% of my work that I'm doing with the Minnesota Twins is obviously working with professional baseball players. The other 20% of my job and working with one-on-one clients through Premiere are actually a lot of youth and or collegiate athletes one-on-one, where their sport is not their job yet. Um, and seeing the difference, I mean, of course, I'm supporting the athlete beyond their identity in sport. And that's just a very point-blank simple thing, simple approach for me to take. At the end of the day, yes, with professional baseball and professional athletes with it becoming their job, those conversations are it is a very humbling and sobering experience working with them just because their performance now becomes or their, I guess, livelihoods become a direct outcome of their performance, if you will. Um, however, they're performing is what is going to bring the paychecks in, what is going to help provide for their families. A lot of too, a lot of the professional baseball community are Latin players. So a lot of these guys don't get to see their families. They are in a completely different country, like they're here from Venezuela, from the Dominican, from Cuba, from Mexico. And if they're in the United States in American culture, and they don't get to see their families, they don't get to be home. It could be really difficult for them in that sense where there's a lot of pressure being built around performing well so they can stay here and provide those opportunities and the financial responsibility for their families. So that's a whole other component of professional sports that of course I thought about going into it, but is it uncovers, you know, the sobering reality of professional sports. And it's not just sunshine, butterflies and rainbows, especially in baseball where the minor league system and working up this realm can be very difficult.

SPEAKER_01:

It's, I mean, it's a climb, right? Like they're not to where they want to go. And so, how do you support them in that journey too? Of okay, yes, this is your job, but also they're all trying to make it to the show.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And just levels of pressure and complexity.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And getting up that ladder to the show, like I said, it could take a lot of work for and several, several years for a single athlete coming from Cuba or the Dominican or Venezuela, or even the United States for that matter, getting drafted, you know, and for anyone, it's a really big challenge.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and I think that picture is kind of painted if you look at the average of once you get drafted, on average, it takes an average player three to five years to finally make it to the major leagues. And then you add the pressure of, okay, so if you get drafted right out of high school, sure, you have lots of time. You're 18, 19, but some of these guys are getting drafted after their senior year of college, which now, in the eyes of the professional world, we look at a 22 and 23-year-old, and then you add five years to it, they're no longer considered young, which is wild because you're like, okay, so I'm 34, I would be considered old as a professional athlete. Like that blows, yeah. It blows my mind.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Yeah. It is it is insane. This world of sports and professional sports, and just how age is seen, or we're just, you know, the business side of it too is uh is interesting and has been has been interesting to see throughout this experience.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So tell me more. I mean, give us a behind the scenes. What would be something either funny that has happened or like you travel a lot? Like, give us a behind the scenes of maybe something that might be funny or not so glamorous about your job. Do you have any stories?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I guess the funniest things so far have definitely been learning Spanish. So I took Spanish when I was in middle school. I also took it for a few years in high school and I completely fell off the boat with it and was really rusty throughout college because I didn't have to take it in college. But working in baseball, like I said, there's a big Latin community. And I've been getting back into learning Spanish and communicating with the guys. And I think I'm 100% a lot better now. Um, but there are definitely a lot of moments where I'm like, what is going on? Because half the time, like I said, I took Spanish and I'm continuing to learn. There are some things that I don't have no idea what the guys are saying because there's so many different slang, like Spanish slangs from different countries, which I guess makes sense within different dialects, but it's so funny because one word in Mexico is completely different than in the Dominican, than in Venezuela. Um, and it's honestly so funny. And I think now um learning Spanish, practicing Spanish with the guys, it has been really maybe not necessarily funny, but fun. Um, I actually have gotten to the point where I can present programming in Spanish to them. And um, what's really awesome, and it is funny in the moment, is when I slip up or I'm like stuttering with Spanish and they're totally helping me out. And it's a learning process with both of us, but that's probably one of my favorite things. I guess maybe not so much funny, but like fun with that being said.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. But going back to building trust and authenticity, you're not trying to be something that you're not. You they know that you're here to help them. And I that's hilarious that they want to help you with Spanish.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, and then I guess at the same time, they're also learning English too. So a lot of our American players are help really helpful with our Spanish-speaking players, where sometimes our Spanish Spanish-speaking players, you know, some greetings that us Americans have, like, what's up, bro? Some of our Spanish-speaking players have said, what's up, bro? And I'm like, what?

unknown:

Who taught you that?

SPEAKER_00:

So I guess that's maybe that's a funny component of learning, you know, the language barrier that might be there. But to your point of the authenticity and the realness and building relationships, it has been really, really awesome to, you know, meet the guys where they're at, they meet me where I'm at, and we just kind of go from there. And that's definitely been one of my favorite, most wholesome parts about my job so far.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And have you gotten to travel to the Dominican? I can't remember where you went. Where did you get to go?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I did go to the Dominican. We so all um all of the major league clubs have an academy in the Dominican Republic. And uh ours is close to Boca Chica, if not in Boca Chica, if I'm not mistaken, um, which is about 45 minutes from Santo Domingo, which is where the airport is and all of that. It was really awesome being able to experience the Dominican Republic. I have never been there before, but being immersed in the culture, in the music, in the food, and seeing our players there as well in the Academy and the Dominican was also really cool. Um, it was just it was an awesome experience. And I'm super excited to be able to go back every single year. And that's what I'm really grateful for with this job is I work with the entirety of the organization. And our team with Premier works with all the players and staff members from the DR all the way up to the major league club. Um, so we span all those different teams. Um, and it's a really awesome opportunity and experience. It's really cool meeting so many different people and being able to work in so many different departments.

SPEAKER_01:

And also before we hit record, you also were explaining to me that you also have a team. So it's not just you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, exactly. Yeah. So with Premier Sports Psychology, um, I have a few other colleagues that are on board with me as well. Um, we have Aaron Sanchez and we have Luis Torres. We're kind of the boots on the ground in terms of working with our players and our staff members. And then we have Ben Merkling. He also works with players and staff, but also has a lot of connections with our front office. Um and he helps kind of bridge that gap between front office and our baseball operations. And then Dr. Justin Anderson, who I mentioned earlier on in this interview, he's the owner of Premier, of course, but also oversees a lot of our professional contracts. So, of course, he helps bridge that gap with the front office as well. So it's really cool that we have such a close relationship being a third-party resource with the Minnesota twins. We just have a really awesome relationship throughout the entirety of the organization. And I think that that's really cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, everything is fascinating and giving us a behind the scenes of like the structure, the schedule, your day-to-day. I mean, there's really nothing that we haven't touched yet, but I kind of want to dive really deep for a second. Can you give us an example of maybe a curriculum that you ran or programming that you ran, or maybe a skill that you taught your athletes, or maybe a specific one-on-one situation where an athlete's eyes were opened? He tried a technique, really liked it, and it completely transformed his game. Like, can you think of I'm wanting you to toot your horn, Hana? That's what I want you to do. Like, show us the magic of mental performance. Like, does anything come to mind?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Uh, one thing in particular comes to mind as you ask about just like programming or certain things that we did with different teams. Um, and I was really fortunate to and honored and grateful to be part of some programming that we were able to spearhead and develop for the entirety of the organization. Um, it, I don't believe, has been done before with Premier and the twins in terms of providing programming, just because there are so many teams and so many players, but providing programming for every single level of our organization from the DR through each of our affiliates and at the major league club. And one of the biggest, I guess, skills that we teach, uh, one of the biggest models that we taught within that programming was something called the SUR model. It's S-E-R-R. Um it stands for situation, emotion, response, and result. Um, and we kind of follow, I guess, this very methodical approach, if you will. It sounds methodical, but that there's a method to the madness. Um, and it's kind of just thinking about overcoming adversity. And, you know, there's going to be certain situations where we can't necessarily control fully. There's gonna be many situations where we actually can't control it, right? But the situation might lead to, let's say, a situation is you strike out, the emotion might come up of disappointment or frustrated or angry or sad. Your response is what kind of determines the result, which is where that last part of the serma. Model comes in. And we don't use result in a sense of, you know, a home run versus a strikeout versus a walk. The result kind of comes into as are we more confident going up to the plate during our next at bat, or do I feel defeated and fearful going up to my next at bat? So, like I said, I'll kind of run through it again, but maybe the situation is a strikeout. The emotion is angry and frustrated. The response could be throwing my bat, throwing my glove, and isolating myself in the dugout. But what was what result would that give? Right. Versus maybe my response is I engage with more productive self-talk. I'm cheering on my teammates and picking them up, even when I feel like I didn't succeed in that at bat, and getting into the next inning and getting on defense and maybe making a good play. What would my result be going up to my next at bat? You know, and it's not a guarantee of okay, I'm gonna hit a home run my next at bat, or I'm gonna hit a single, but it's just thinking about what are our approaches. So I guess in you know, long story short, that SUR model S-E-R-R is really helpful when it comes to thinking about our approach and our response, and that the response of a certain situation and of an emotion that we can't control could really contribute to the result that is more optimal for what we want.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a higher probability of the outcome. Yeah. That's awesome. Can I address a personal elephant in the room?

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

As young women, you now have to hold adult grown, we're adults, but grown men, grown men who are professional players, you now have to hold them accountable to your SER model. And so let's say somebody is isolating in the dugout. Are you the one that now has to come up and say, like, yo, I'm your coach, I'm noticing that you're doing this. I mean, like, you you essentially have to tell grown men, hey, we don't throw our bats, we don't isolate in the dugout. Like, have you had to encounter that where you have to now enforce?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So the thing is, is I'm a big advocate for autonomy. If an athlete is thrown out a bad word, throwing out a bad word or throwing their bat or slumping their shoulders or isolating themselves in the dugout, I actually notice that. And it hasn't gotten to a point where I'm necessarily gonna go up to them and try to enforce or correct their behavior. Because if I were to do that, then they don't necessarily, and this is my take on this, then they might not necessarily learn on their own. And it's almost just like a, oh, I'm gonna get called out from HANA if I do this, as opposed to I want to have a better response or a more productive response because I know that this would help my performance. And it also makes me feel better in the long run, right? So, I mean, there have been moments for sure, and I think it definitely depends on the relationship that I hold with a certain player, um, especially if it's a player that I'm pretty close with. Maybe I might give them a Q couple minutes or a couple seconds, a couple moments, if you will, to maybe settle in, kind of debrief and and calm down for a second, if you will, if it's a heightened moment. And maybe I'll go up and I'll be like, how was that? Or, you know, maybe not necessarily asking, how are you? Because maybe one could assume how they are feeling based on their responses, right? But you're giving them an opportunity to own it. Right. And it's like, okay, like how are we feeling? What are we gonna do now? Or what's your next move? What's our next play? Um, and just thinking about, you know, providing them the opportunity and again, like I said, the autonomy to come to that moment themselves and notice, okay, I threw my bat, or yeah, I didn't need to scream out a bad word out of frustration, um, different things like that. Um, and I think that could really be a good approach as opposed to kind of enforcing right away or just saying, hey, don't throw the bat.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Even though maybe everyone's thinking it. But you know, emotions could be really tough to handle and difficult emotions, especially. Um, but that's what we that's what we teach with our programming and with our conversations.

SPEAKER_01:

Which doesn't sound all that different from parenting a teenager.

SPEAKER_00:

I would imagine.

SPEAKER_01:

If you're listening to this, I mean, this is a great model to follow of if you really want somebody to own it and understand the impact of their mental performance. What better way than to let them continue on that path of if I make this decision and I'm following this model versus a more wanted, you know, response? I think that's great. I mean, wouldn't you say that that would transition over to parents that might be listening?

SPEAKER_00:

100%. And I'm a big believer that mental skills are life skills and thinking about you could use this not just in performance, but in really any situation that might happen in your life, right? The S of the SER model, it just stands for situation. It could be someone makes a comment on social media that you don't like, or you get a haircut that you're not a fan of, or you get into a fight with your sibling or your parent or your friend, you know, and certain emotions might come up, leads to our responses and maybe our natural response. But it's thinking about what was our natural response compared to our more productive or trained response that we want to have to lead to more probable optimal results, right? And just thinking about what I would imagine with parenting. I know parenting is a lot, a lot easier said than done. Um, but thinking about, you know, how that could transfer over with this SER model, having those conversations with your child and with your athlete of just naming the situation that comes into play, naming the difficult emotion that might happen during that situation. And then thinking about, hey, how do we evaluate our response? Or just what was our natural response? What do we want our response to be if this happens next time or tomorrow? And then thinking about what those results are again, not the stats and not the outcome specifically, but maybe how do we feel? What's our next approach and how does that help us going forward?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, essentially you're asking them to dig a little bit deeper because we want to focus on the outcome, the results, or the body language. And what I'm hearing you say loud and clear is get to the root, right? What are what's the situation? What are their thoughts? What are their emotions? And I think a lot of the time we try to squash that as coaches and parents of like, you're not allowed to have negative body language, you're not allowed to be angry, like get be a good teammate. And I think the message, hopefully, for parents that have listened to the podcast or been in our programming, is it's a tough sport, like whatever sport they play, especially professional baseball. But I love this so much. And thank you for giving us a behind the scenes. Are you allowed to share this? We're not like if the Red Sox are the Twitter, are the twins gonna come lock our podcast down? I'm so proud of you.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. Thanks so much, AB. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so we're in like a new batch, a new season of the podcast. So we're kind of toying around with some new ideas for the ending question. We used to ask the time traveler question. Yeah, so here's my idea for a question, and then I'll open it up for you if you want to add anything to this. What I know this is gonna be a tough one. You're the first one I've asked. What's the best advice you've ever received?

SPEAKER_00:

I think the best advice that I've received is actually this is gonna be really silly, but I wrote a letter to myself when I was, I think it was starting my freshman year of college, and I wrote it where it would come to me and get emailed to me by the end by graduation day of my senior year of college. And the piece of advice that I basically said on there was be open-minded. Not in the cliche sense of, oh, there's going to be opportunities or there's gonna be doors that we don't know about, which yes, that is all true. But also thinking about how my life has kind of come into fruition since my freshman year of college has been wild in a sense of being so open-minded to any opportunities that come my way and not looking at it again. I mentioned this earlier, the negative what-ifs that we find ourselves thinking, because again, we're human and from a biological standpoint, we're standing for threats that are coming towards us and how can we be prepared? How can we limit pain or suffering that we feel? But then there's also the positive what-ifs of anything that could come from these opportunities. And I think it's really cool if I think about what my life could have been like if I didn't stay open-minded to an opportunity, or if I didn't say yes, or if I didn't take a certain job, or didn't move to that certain place. Um, and A B, you know my story. I've moved several different times to several different places in a span of, I guess, like six or seven years now. And, you know, I think there's a lot that comes with all of the what ifs. And I could have said, what if this goes horribly wrong? What if this is the worst decision I've ever made? What if they say no? What if everyone makes fun of me? But in my opinion, I mean, of course, there's been a lot of failures, there's been a lot of challenges and a lot of struggles. But I think in the grand scheme of things, I took opportunities and saw these yes, open being open to everything as the positives of what if this is the best decision I've ever made. And I think that that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

And that is a mic drop moment because you are living, breathing proof of the what ifs and they happened.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

So awesome. Well, I can't wait to see you when I book my tickets for Florida. So I'll see you in Florida in a couple months. Yes. Um, and all things. What uh I know we asked this of guests, and I know you've been part of Team Fearless. Where are you most active on socials? Are you still posting to socials and where can we follow you?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm not really active in terms of mental performance and things like that on socials when it comes to like Instagram. Definitely use that more. Instagram and Facebook are more private for friends and family. Um, this is gonna be such an adult answer, but LinkedIn okay, let's go. LinkedIn is my place for mental performance and connecting with folks and things like that. Now, if people are so interested in learning about my life and what I'm doing, I'd be more than happy to connect on social media. It's just my first and last name. Um, but or premiere psychology. Yeah, but if you're interested in premiere psych sports psychology and on LinkedIn, I have many different, like I guess, websites and links that I can send you that you could hyperlink to. But um yeah, yeah, it's amazing. It's been a fun ride so far.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's just beginning. I think that's the best part. Just beginning. You are so right. Well, congrats on your rookie year. Do you count the Arizona Diamondbacks as your rookie year, or do you count this as your rookie year?

SPEAKER_00:

I definitely count this as my rookie year.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, well, congrats on an amazing rookie year. You did it, girl.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, season one almost under the belt, and I'm I'm really excited for what season two is gonna hold.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we'll have to keep bringing you back on the pod.

SPEAKER_00:

I love it. See you soon then.

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds good.

People on this episode

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Amanda Schaefer

Host