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Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
Coaching Mind's Podcast: Perform at your best!
#123 - FC Pt 5: Little League World Series Example - Conversation with Caleb and Noah
Join youth baseball stars Caleb and Noah as they take center stage, sharing how they leverage the Focus Cycle framework to conquer performance anxiety and excel in the Little League World Series. In this episode, we dive deep into the essential skills of Focus, Self-Talk, and Body Control—key components that empower young athletes to manage their emotions and perform at their best, even under pressure.
Through Caleb and Noah's experiences, you'll discover practical strategies for shifting focus away from distractions, using positive self-talk to reinforce confidence, and controlling physical responses to maintain composure during critical moments. We break down how athletes can consciously create the emotions they need to succeed, harnessing the power of intention and presence to stay in the moment.
This episode is a valuable resource for coaches, too, showcasing how the Focus Cycle can be adapted for athletes of all ages. Whether you’re working with budding players or seasoned competitors, these insights will help you guide your athletes toward mental resilience, providing them with the tools to transform nerves into peak performance. Coaches will also gain actionable techniques for embedding these practices into training, creating a supportive environment where young athletes can thrive both on and off the field.
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/academy
Hey, welcome to the Coaching Minds podcast, the official podcast of Mental Training Plan. We help individuals and teams perform at their best when it matters the most, by giving them the skills and the tools they need to control their mind and body. So today you're going to hear me talking with two youth baseball players and actually taking them through the focus cycle. Players and actually taking them through the focus cycle. Caleb and Noah both play pretty high level little league baseball. Caleb's team recently made it to the little league world series. Noah has played on that team before currently playing on a different team, has played in some Cooperstown tournaments, and so these kids have played in the highest level of competition in their sport at their age. And you're going to get to hear them talking about some of the things that they struggle with mentally, physically and emotionally. And you're going to hear me sort of guiding them through how to fill out the focus cycle worksheet. And if you're a coach, hopefully you can get you know sort of an idea of what are some ways that you communicate this to the athlete, how do you present it, how do you go through it, how do you lead them through what if they say something that's maybe a little bit off of what exactly you're looking for, because they've never used this tool. So if you're asking them about, you know what are you focused on in that moment and they're answering what their self-talk is saying. How do we help them differentiate that in their mind? Because I think it's really important, if we're focused on the wrong stuff, that we change what we're focused on and if we've got that negative voice in the back of our mind that we're changing that story we're telling ourselves. So yes, they are certainly similar. Yes, you could argue that gets a little bit into the semantics of it, but in my experience I do think that there's value in helping them see how those are related, but a little bit different.
Speaker 1:I'm going to skip through and cut off the first part of the interview and we're just going to hop right into them explaining what that big moment is, and then we'll go through the reaction and then we'll go through the tools and what they're going to use. A lot of this is going to sound familiar, so there's not necessarily new knowledge to be gained, as much as you just get to hear. This is what it sounds like being implemented in real time with high-performing youth athletes who have never heard of this and never gone through this before, so hope you enjoy this, and then, at the end, we'll wrap a few things up. So, noah, let's start with you. What was the specific big moment that you wrote down?
Speaker 2:Uh, I went 0 for 4 at the plate for the day.
Speaker 1:And then, caleb, what was it that you wrote down?
Speaker 2:So for me it's also in the Little League Girls series I was trying to. I was like, I was like shaking in my last at-bat with two outs in the last inning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, those are perfect. As you guys think back to that, I want you to think really hard. What were you focused on? Where was your mind at? Because some people will think into the future. They'll maybe think what's the score? Are we going to win, are we going to lose? Some people will think into the past oh no, this is just like the time where I struck out. Some people will think all internal. They'll maybe say something like gosh, I just want this so bad. Or sometimes people will think all external and they're worried about like, what's the coach think? What do maybe scouts or recruiters in the stands think, noah, as you're thinking about that time, what comes to mind that you were focused on, maybe as you're coming up to the plate, knowing that you were focused on, maybe as you're, as you're coming up to the plate, knowing that you've already gone over for uh, like I was focused on like negative talk.
Speaker 2:I was like, come on, like I said, like talking down to myself because I'm not performing to what I expect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're, you're kind of is it fair to say, rather than being more dialed in on the present moment that you were kind of thinking about what had happened in the past? Mm-hmm, okay, so do you see where it says down at the bottom on the left-hand side, underneath reaction? Do you see where it says focus?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So I want you to go ahead and write that down my past at bats, and then caleb, when you, when you think about what you were focused on, what, what do you think it was in that moment?
Speaker 2:like. For me was just like trying to get ahead, just keep my team alive and, uh, having like a higher chance of bringing the game open.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you are. Is it fair to say you were kind of thinking about what's the score, what's the outcome? You were kind of thinking into the future a little bit. Is that fair to say, yeah, perfect. So where it says, where it says, focus down there underneath reaction, go ahead and write that down. The focus down there underneath reaction, go ahead and write that down.
Speaker 1:The next thing that we know is the average human has about 48.6 thoughts per minute, which means when, in my example, when I couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher, that means my brain wasn't going. The pitcher, that means my brain wasn't going. Well, this stinks. It was more like, oh my gosh, what's going on? Why can't I do this? What's wrong with my arm? Why can't I throw this back to the pitcher? I should know how to do this. I've been doing this since I was in kindergarten, like my mind was just racing. Noah, you actually already started to talk about some of the some of the negative self-talk. As you think about that, that little voice in the back of your mind, was it saying things like you know, I don't know if I'm good enough to do this, or a cash, I can't believe. I struck at like what? What was that little voice in the back of your mind saying in that moment?
Speaker 2:Uh, it was more like I can't believe quotes and like I suck quotes, so like it was more like I can't believe quotes and like I suck quotes. So like I can't believe I'm over four. I'm better than this, like I suck, yeah, no, that's perfect.
Speaker 1:So I love how you phrased that that I can't believe. Kind of dot dot dot. I would write that down and the I suck dot, dot dot, just telling yourself you know, know, you haven't been doing well enough that day. And then, caleb, what's, what's that sound like for you? What do you, what do you think? That that little voice was in the back of your mind?
Speaker 2:so I kind of had both so like oh, when I got two strikes on me, the last pitch, I was like like how did I miss that? Like how did I miss that? And then there's like oh okay, I was like okay, I got this. I'm just trying to do my job, just keep, keep, keep it on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's perfect, and I and I love that it sounds like you. You already are realizing that negative voice isn't going to help me out and I need to kind of switch the story that I'm telling myself. So what I want you to write down in this, in this reaction spot down on the bottom of the page, is how did I miss that Kind of that initial? You know what was that? What was that initial reaction, that negative voice? Go ahead and write that down in that box. That's perfect. Negative voice. Go ahead and write that down in that box. That's perfect.
Speaker 1:And then we know that physically there's all kinds of stuff that happens. So we can, we can look at somebody who's had that switch flip in their brain and we can see that their breathing rate increases and their heart rate increases. Your mouth gets dry. Sometimes you get butterflies in your stomach. Both of those are because your digestive system temporarily shuts down. Your muscles kind of tense up sometimes, or sometimes the opposite. They get shaky and you kind of feel weak. You know your liver releases fats and sugars. You got adrenaline just being dumped into your body, noah, as you think back to some of the, maybe some of the physical things that were going on, when you know here you are over four on the day. What did you notice physically?
Speaker 2:Uh, like I was showing emotions and uh, uh, like it didn't help me. Uh, it just brought me down more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and did you? Did you have butterflies in your stomach or anything like that?
Speaker 2:Uh, not that I can remember.
Speaker 1:Okay, good, Did you have. So you didn't, you didn't feel like tight or you didn't feel tense.
Speaker 2:You didn't feel like your heart was racing.
Speaker 1:Okay, so kind of, maybe muscles are starting to tense up on you. Does that make it easier or harder to swing a baseball bat the way you're supposed to? Yeah for sure. So in that, in that box where it says body on the left hand side down at the bottom, go ahead and put that muscle tension or starting to tighten up. And, caleb, I think that you already mentioned a little bit kind of a shaky feeling. Tell me a little bit about, like what else was going on physically with your body that you could notice in that moment.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. So like when the camera zoomed in on me, I had two strikes Like you could just see, like my eyes start to like water up and like I had like major, like butterflies.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's write down butterflies in the stomach and did you feel tight or tense or shaky, or was there anything muscular going on?
Speaker 2:So like in that moment, like I try not to like tense up, but like there's like some pitches that I did, but Okay.
Speaker 1:So maybe muscle tension sometimes is that fair to say, yeah, but primarily just kind of the butterflies in the stomach and the tears. Okay, perfect, yeah, so write those down. So all of this is going to lead to us feeling something so like in my example, my big moment. I can't throw the ball back to the pitcher. I'm focused on what is happening. Why can't I do this? The little voice in the back of my mind is saying you're never, you're, you're never going to get to play catcher ever again. My body is starting to tighten up, my arm feels tight, and then it's like I just feel unconfident, I feel anxious, I feel worried or like stressed out. What were some of of the? As you think back to that time, noah, what were some of the? What were some of the things that you felt emotionally in that moment?
Speaker 1:uh, I felt like sad mad, like because I wanted to perform yeah, because I'm guessing you put a ton of time into this sport, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. That's perfect. Write both of those down and then, Caleb, what about you?
Speaker 2:I was scared and sad, like if we went out like our little league careers are like over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so kind of scared about the future, worried about like what could happen, absolutely. So I would write. I would write both of those down. So at this point we're we're basically looking at what was the kind of the automatic reaction that just happened. I'm assuming that neither of you have ever gone to a hitting coach. That was like hey, if you could just tell yourself things like hey, you suck and maybe get upset and be worried about the future and think, gosh, how did I miss that? Or I can't believe I'm 0 for 4. If you could just think those things and get real sad and upset, that's going to help you play better, right? Is that fair to say yeah, yeah, no, no one's ever going to say that, but it happened.
Speaker 1:And a lot of times that's kind of where we get stuck and so it's kind of when we, when we think about a reaction. The example I like to use is let's say, you know you're walking out of the store and you step off the curb and a car lays on its horn. That's going to startle you. You're going to, you, don't have to think about it, you just jump back up onto the curb because you reacted. If we go back here and we look at this three, these three parts of the brain, this lower part, just kind of does things automatically right, just going to sort of react in the moment. It's like if we're stepping off the curb and the car lays on its horn, it's going to just automatically make us react in that moment. The green part, that middle part of the brain, is where we feel scared now, or we feel startled, maybe because this car just laid on its horn. And so with the blue part of the brain, we can think and we can say, all right, it's, it's okay, we're not in danger, like I'm gonna pay attention, there's no more cars coming, it's safe, let's go ahead and cross, okay. So, basically, what's happened in our situations where we're talking about whether it's, you know, noah Caleb or myself, when I was playing catcher like the red part of the brain says, oh no, we can't throw the ball back to the pitcher. This is, this is not good. Sound the alarm, this is a threat or oh no, we're over for. Sound the alarm. This is a threat or oh no, we're over for sound the alarm. This is a threat or oh no, I'm. I have two strikes in the little league world series. If I don't, if I, if I don't get a hit here, our season's potentially over. Oh no, sound the alarm.
Speaker 1:And so now, in this green part, we're now feeling these emotions and we're we're sad or we're mad, or we're unconfident, or we're worried. And so we're sad or we're mad, or we're unconfident, or we're worried. And so we're going to spend the rest of our time thinking how do we use this blue part and override that automatic reaction? And so all of this that you guys have written down on your worksheet so far, it's just a reaction. It's just your mind and your body are automatically doing these things, and it's no different if you're playing baseball. You're playing little league baseball, you're playing major league baseball, you're at your job.
Speaker 1:Someday I've got people that feel these exact same things when they're walking in to give a big million dollar sales presentation. But what are the tools that we can use to take back control? So we're going to kind of, we're going to work our way backwards, um, and we're going to start with what emotions help you guys play at your best. So, noah, if you think back to like the best game you've ever had, or you know maybe a time where you were just playing really well. How did you feel? Was it like calm? Was it confident? Were you in control? What did that look like for you?
Speaker 2:Relaxed, confident and like happy to be there.
Speaker 1:Perfect. So where it says intentional emotions, just above where you guys were just writing, go ahead and write those. And then, caleb, what about you? When do you play at your best? How are you feeling?
Speaker 2:I feel great. I feel excited that I'm helping my team. I feel very confident going up to the plate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, is there a little bit of like do you feel calm and in control, do you feel like a little bit more amped up, like what else besides confident?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like amped up.
Speaker 1:Amped up and confident. I love that. So go ahead. Where it says intentional emotions, go ahead and write that, all right. So what we don't want to do is just sit around and hope that we're somehow going to just magically feel amped up or confident or calm or in control. Amped up or confident or calm or in control. We want to do the things that it takes to create those emotions. And so you know, if, if I were to say, all right, the next time you guys are stressed, just take a deep breath, do you think that's going to fix everything? No, no, okay, I want to put my screen back up and just show you this image that I've got, because I think it's important that you're able to see what this picture looks like. So you know, if I just say, hey, the next time you're stressed, just take a deep breath, it's like, eh, why don't you give me something that's actually going to work? Next time you're stressed, just take a deep breath. It's like, eh, why don't you give me something that's actually going to work? But if I can say, look, the vagus nerve connects to that lower part of your brain and it goes through every major organ in your body and it's responsible for your heart rate, your breathing rate. Do you have butterflies in your stomach? Because it's controlling how much blood is in your stomach, or does it get pumped elsewhere to? You know, give your, give your muscles a little more energy. It's connected to your liver that releases fats and sugars. It's responsible for adrenaline that's being dumped into your body, all these things. And so now it's like, oh well, yeah, maybe this will actually work. And the United States military actually spent millions of dollars on research trying to figure out how can they help people who are in like a battlefield situation where you know people people are are trying to, you know, hurt, you kill you Like that's probably the most stressful environment that I can think of and they're trying to figure out how can we help these men and women perform at their best and make good decisions and be in control of their body. And diaphragmatic breathing was what they came up with.
Speaker 1:So here's, here's what I want you guys to do. You guys have room there. Can you both stand up? Thank you, Because you're never going to do this sitting down during a baseball game. So here's what I want you to do. All right, we're going to inhale and you're going to inhale for four seconds and I'm going to take out my phone and we're going to inhale for four seconds and I'm going to. I'm going to take out my phone and we're going to. We're going to use a stopwatch here. You're going to inhale for four seconds. Okay, try to go in through your nose.
Speaker 1:Then we're going to hold that air in your lungs for four seconds because we want your lungs to have time to absorb that oxygen. Then we're going to exhale for four and then we're going to pause for four, because the longer we can stretch out our breaths, the more it's going to turn down this activity on that vagus nerve. You guys ready? All right, here we go. We're going to inhale in three two, one, two, three, four. Hold one, two, three, four. Exhale one, two, three, four. Pause one, two, three, four. Inhale one, two, three, four. Hold one, two, three, 4. Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Pause 1, 2, 3, 4. All right, and then you guys can sit back down.
Speaker 1:So that's called diaphragmatic breathing and there's a whole bunch of people that will teach a whole bunch of different ways that you can do that breathing. What's really important is that the first two steps take about eight seconds and the last two steps take about eight seconds. So on your worksheet, there where it's intentional body, I want you up there to put four dash, four, dash, four, dash, four breathing, because that diaphragmatic breathing is the fastest way to turn down that activity on your vagus nerve. So, noah, you got those, those butterflies in your stomach. Caleb, you got. You're kind of feeling shaky, you said. As the camera zoomed in on you with two strikes you could literally see kind of the shakiness we we had. We had the exact same thing with our, with our high school guys. I've had the exact same thing with our college players, had the exact same thing with a guy that played for the Chicago Bears. It doesn't matter how old you are.
Speaker 1:If you're a human and you have a human brain, then your human brain is going to react in certain ways. Now here's the next thing that'll help specifically with muscle tension Can you guys make a real tight fist like this and then take a big deep breath and then hold it and then, as you exhale, kind of shake those hands out a little bit? And this time I want you to make a fist and then I want you to kind of curl your forearms and then I want you to squeeze your biceps and shrug your shoulders and tighten your whole upper body and then inhale and then exhale and kind of loosen those up and shake those out. So if you guys remember back to the video, you saw the lower part of the brain Bonus question. You remember what color was the lower part of the brain bonus question? You remember what color was?
Speaker 1:Yes, when that, when that red part of the brain controls muscle tension, then that red part of the brain gets to pick whether you're feeling tight, whether you're feeling shaky or whether you're kind of feeling. You know what, somewhere in between, what we're doing is using that top part what color was it in the video? We're using that top and that front part of the brain to say no, no, no, no, no, I'm going to take back control, just like the red part of the brain can control your breathing. Or you can say let's use the blue part and override that. So this is basically the blue part, overriding that muscle tension. So, caleb, you know, if you, if you feel a little shaky, this is something where you can literally step out of the batter's box. You can grab that bat and tighten your upper body as tight as you can, take a big deep breath and then loosen up and now you're ready to go. And now, instead of that red part being in control, now that blue part's taking back control. So in the box where it says body on the front, you can also add on there.
Speaker 1:A second tool that we have is FMR, or Forced Muscular Relaxation. Instead of letting the lower part of your brain pick, we're going to use the red part. All right. Next one kind of working our way backwards. The next one is self-talk. And so I know that I've got some athletes that you know they like to use a Bible verse like I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I've got some athletes that you know they like to use a Bible verse like I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I've got some athletes that have a mantra they want to use like I can, I will. I've got other athletes that really like using what we call a go-to statement. Do you guys have that second page by chance?
Speaker 1:Is there anything on the back of your worksheet? Have a that second page by chance, or anything on the back of your worksheet Perfect, excellent. So on the on the back there you've got three boxes, and the first one says why I am great. I want you guys to come up with a list of what are the things that you know are always there, of what are the things that you know are always there, even on your worst day. And what I don't want you to write is I have an amazing fastball, or I'm an amazing batter, because what happens if you're 0 for 4 on that day? Or what happens if two batters in a row crank that fastball. So instead we want stuff that it's even when you're playing your worst what's always going to be there.
Speaker 1:Some athletes will write things down Like I work really hard. So if, if, if you guys feel like you work really hard, you could add that to your list. Some athletes feel like you know what. I put in a ton of time into playing my sport. So if you put in a bunch of time, then I would write that down. Other athletes maybe they're the kind of person that's just never going to quit. They're tough, they're gritty. They know that, no matter how bad things get, they're never going to quit.
Speaker 1:I want you guys to fill in that first box. And then this is. I also want to be clear on this. I would not necessarily encourage you guys to share this on your podcast. All the athletes that I do this with, they have a go-to statement. But even the athletes that get on my podcast and tell our audience about literally everything they do, they don't talk about their go-to statement, because studies also show that sometimes that just puts a little bit of extra pressure on you, because now you feel like people are watching you and, oh, are they judging whether or not the statement's working? So it's just, it's nobody else's business. If you want to share it with, like a coach or a parent, that's cool. If you want to reach out to me afterwards, absolutely I would love to help you out with this. I'm happy to help you out with this. I'm happy to help you guys any way that I can, but I like I just you don't need to blast it out there on your show.
Speaker 1:So here's the second part in that second box. It says what I will achieve. I want to know what do you need to believe in that moment, noah, when you're 0-4 and you've got to go up to the plate and you've got to put the ball in play or you've got to have a quality at bat, what is it that you want to believe? Are you trying to be the best? Is it? I'm the best player out here? I'm the best player in the state? I'm the best player in the country? Are you trying to believe that you're this unshakable force that the other team doesn't have the power to beat you or knock you down, that you're going to get up there and fight, no matter what? Is it I belong on this diamond or I've earned this spot? So, caleb and Noah, I'm going to have you guys in that second box. Write down what you're working towards that you wish you believed, like I am the best player in the country, or I belong on this diamond, or I have what it takes. And then I want to tell you guys my story.
Speaker 1:So I'm in year two as the offensive coordinator, so I'm calling the plays and we're going down to play this team at Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts play, and I was in a bad spot. They were good, they were better than us and their defensive coordinator had been coaching longer than I'd been alive and my self-talk was like man, I don't know if we can do this. I don't know if we can beat these guys. And I was literally in the middle of a sports psychology class and I'm reading this textbook about a go-to statement and it says you take this, you know why I'm great. And all I wrote down in the first box was I watch a lot of film and I'm organized. That was it.
Speaker 1:And in the second box I wrote down I'm the best coach in the state. And it was like there was this voice in the back of my mind going best coach in the state, You're not even the best coach on your staff. What are you talking about? And then it said you take the first box and you take the second box and you add them together and you come up with your go to statement. And so I said I put in the time. I put in the work, I'm the best coach in the state. And then it said you got to say time I put in the work, I'm the best coach in the state. And then it said you got to say it 50 times a day. And I was like 50 times a day, is this actually going to do anything? So I started saying it and I was like I put in the time, I put in the work, I'm the best coach in the state. I put in the time I put in the work, I'm the best coach in the state. And you know what happened? By the end of the day, absolutely nothing. And by the end of the day Monday, still nothing. By the end of the day Tuesday, I'm starting to think like is this actually going to do anything? Am I even doing this right? And by the end of the day Wednesday, that little voice in the back of my mind was like you know what you do put in a lot of time. And by the end of the day Wednesday, that little voice in the back of my mind was like you know what you do put in a lot of time.
Speaker 1:And by the end of the day Saturday, that little voice in the back of my mind was like yeah, let's go play this game. And so we scored a lot of points, which didn't matter. That's not a determining factor in did this work or not. We lost the game. That didn't matter, that's not a determining factor. And did this work? What determined that was? I was able to just get out of my own head and just go do my thing. And so if you guys in that third box right there can combine whatever you have in the first box and whatever you have in the second box and come up with that powerful go-to statement, that's going to help you guys in that moment when that little voice is saying, gosh, how did I miss that pitch, or I can't believe I did that, or I suck, or whatever that looks like. So I'm going to give you guys just a minute to fill that out real quick and then, like I said, if you guys want to, if you want to reach out afterwards, you know, have somebody, shoot me an email, we can hop on a phone call. I'm happy to go a little bit deeper into this with both of you, um, but that's, that's at least kind of how the tool works.
Speaker 1:And then on the front of your sheet, you kind of have you've got, you've got some options.
Speaker 1:So you know, some athletes, like I said, they've got a Bible verse that they say so when their mind starts thinking negative thoughts. That's what they say. Some athletes I work with they've got a mantra like I can, I will, or I put in the work I'm the best and other athletes. They really like the idea of the go-to statement. So, whatever it is that you guys want to do self-talk wise, go ahead and write that down on the front of the sheet where it says self-talk, because the only thing we don't want to do is have a plan and just hope for the best. So, whether you like the verse, the mantra or the go-to statement, write that down on the front of your worksheet, all right? And then that kind of brings us to the last category on here, which is focus, and again I'll have you go to the back sheet, kind of that scratch paper there, and there are some things that are in your control and some things that are not in your control. So, like your attitude, would you say you can control that or no?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so put that in my control my attitude, what about how good the other team is? Can you control that? No, so put that in the I cannot control. And then maybe you guys come up with some other things on your own and then I'd love for you to share. You know, like what are some things you can control, Like maybe your attitude and your effort and how hard you hustle. Or what are some things you can control, Like maybe your attitude and your effort and how hard you hustle, or what are some things you can't control the past, the future, how good your teammates play. Like you guys write down some things that maybe you think about sometimes during a game and figure out whether you can control them or you can't control them. Noah, what do you got so far?
Speaker 2:I have my attitude. How good is what I can control? I can't control how good the team is the umps the past and the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good one. The umps especially, you know. Maybe they miss a call, they make a bad call, doesn't matter. I mean, we can't control that caleb. Did you have any others that were that were different from any of those?
Speaker 2:yeah, so things I can't control is um like how hard I I put in the work and um like my emotions and on on and off the field and uh, how good the team, uh, things I can't control how good the team is and the outcome of the game well, I like that all right.
Speaker 1:And then the the things that matter right now and the things that don't matter right now. So let's say, you guys miss a sign, does that matter? Like should you pay attention to that, maybe, and fix that moving forward.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. But if you missed a sign early in the game and it cost your team a run, should you still be beating yourself up about that later on in the fifth inning? No, absolutely not. If you're doing, if you're doing the wrong thing with you know, when you're swinging that bat maybe you're dropping your shoulders way too much. Do you need to fix that?
Speaker 1:yes, yeah but should you be worried about that? Right in the middle of a game Should you be changing your fundamentals or your technique? No, absolutely not. So you guys kind of write down some things like maybe what are some things that matter right now and what are some things that don't matter right now? We can take care of them later and write those down in the box. And I would say, I mean, really the only thing that I think really matters right now is like this pitch Alright. Was there anything you guys came up with?
Speaker 2:My swing and my performance.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:For me things that matter right now. I said this pitch the game and I forgot to add it. But like um, like getting like locked in in the moment.
Speaker 1:Ooh, I like the yeah being okay. Yeah, deciding that you're going to focus on what you choose. I like that, all right. You're going to focus on what you choose. I like that, all right. So you guys down at the bottom have what's called the game plan or my game plan. So, on the left-hand side, I want you to write down what are some big moments that might try and flip that switch for you. Maybe it's your first at-bat. Maybe sometimes you get nervous for you. Maybe it's your first at-bat. Maybe sometimes you get nervous for that. Or maybe it's after you get down 0-2 at the plate. Or maybe it's after you walk a batter. Or maybe it's playing at Cooperstown, maybe it's playing in the Little League World Series. The fact that now you're going to be on TV and now all these eyes are on you, everybody's watching you Like what are the times where that switch on the inside, that middle green part of your brain, might get flipped? And write those down on the left-hand side.
Speaker 2:I'll go like we're losing my teams down and I'll like try to bring them up, try and bring their confidence back.
Speaker 1:Okay, so okay. So that's a. That's a good situation. My team is losing. Does that sometimes make you feel, maybe a little bit stressed? All right, noah, let's think of one for you when you're pitching, what's's a, what's a situation for you? That is it. Maybe you walk two batters, you walk one batter, you throw a ball, you throw three ball. Like where's that for you?
Speaker 2:uh pass balls and when my team is making errors I love that.
Speaker 1:Write both of those down so my team makes it, my teammate makes an error in the field and I throw a pass ball. Those are perfect, caleb. Are there any other situations for you, maybe at the plate specifically, or in the field specifically?
Speaker 2:I got two for each, so one is like I'm up to bat and I'm down on the count. What I will do is like try to battle as much as I can On defense. There's a runner on second. No outs, I will if the ball is coming to me. My goal is trying to throw this kid out the hole, like you.
Speaker 1:I got you so kind of making sure that you understand the situation, you understand where you're going. If that ball is hit to you, right, that's perfect. So what we want to do is basically have a plan. So you guys have four tools that you wrote down. So, on the you know, on the body section, where it's the intentional, how do we going to control our body? You wrote down the breathing, the four, four, four, four, or the four by four breathing. You wrote down the FMR, or the forced muscular relaxation. For self-talk, you wrote down either go-to statement or verse or mantra, and then for focus, you know we want to focus on things that matter right now and that we can control. So really, probably this pitch is a good reminder for us. What I, what I want to encourage you guys to do now is go to each one of those scenarios. So let's say you know, noah, let's say your teammate makes an error, right? So how are you going to get back control of your mind and body? Maybe you want to do all of those things. Maybe you want to take a deep breath, do forced muscular relaxation so you don't get tight. You want to say your go-to statement and you want to? Okay, let's focus on this pitch, let's focus on this batter. Or maybe, caleb, you know you're down in the count, you're up at the plate, and so what you want to do is say, all right, I'm going to do the forced muscular relaxation, because I know sometimes in the past I've gotten a little shaky, so I'm going to do my breathing, the forced muscular relaxation, and now I'm good to go. Basically, what we just what we want to have you guys do is figure out how am I going to use these four tools, when am I going to use these four tools so that you can take back control of your mind and body? My hope is that you got a lot out of this, especially if you're a coach and you're trying to figure out okay, how am I going to implement this with my team? How am I going to teach this to my athletes, how do I get them to go through and fill this out? And obviously, this is just the first step.
Speaker 1:This episode is basically kind of the same as episode number 119. It just lets you hear instead of me just talking to you, lets you hear kind of both sides of that interaction, and then, obviously, after this, the next steps would be okay. Now they need to go use these tools on the diamond. They need to use this during competition and then after that we need to have a follow-up conversation. How did it go? Did you use the tools? If not, how do we help you remember to use the tools? Uh, if you did use the tools, did they work? Did they not work? Do we need to make any tweaks? Do we need to make any changes? Obviously, that's episodes one, 20, 121, and 122.
Speaker 1:So you're going to hear we've got one more interview that's lined up in this focus cycle mini-series, you could call it that we have. And the next one, while this was with youth league players, we're going to go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Youth league players, we're going to go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum, and the next conversation is going to be me and a coach who has actually implemented this with her team but then reached out to me and needed a little bit more help with hey, how do I implement this with myself? How do I use this with myself? So hopefully, you'll join us for that. In the meantime, if you got anything out of today's episode, we always appreciate when you guys share the podcast. Share your favorite episodes with people that you think will benefit from them. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and until next time, make your plan and put it to work.