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MESSAGE #932 WE’RE TALKIN’ BASEBALL…
Mike Sheppard, Jr talks about pressure at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center
Today I was invited to attended a workshop for baseball coaches at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center entitled, “How Top Baseball Coaches Build Successful Programs.
Why would I go listen to people talk about baseball? Because coaching is coaching. And the great coaches know that it’s not about sports, it’s about life.
The panelists were Fred Hill, Sr (Rutgers University), Mike Sheppard, Jr (Seton Hall Prep), and Ted Jarmusz (Monmouth Regional HS). The moderator was award-winning coach, John McCarthy, co-founder of the Yogi Berra Museum’s Coaching Institute.
Motivating and conditioning your athletes, Focusing on the big picture, Getting the most out of practice sessions, and Mentoring assistants were some of the topics. It’s amazing to me how all three legendary coaches talked very little about winning. They talked about effort and attitude. “You’re not going to succeed if you don’t put the time in,” said Coach Hill.
“Work ethic is the key…and passion,” added Sheppard, Jr.
Coach Jarmusz said, “Our philosophy is Pride and Hustle…that’s it. You don’t have to be a great athlete or talented to do those things.”
Hill believes that there should not be very many rules.
“My only rules are: 1) Be on time 2) Give 100% every day”
It’s amazing how I could be so motivated and learn so much from baseball coaches. The thing that I like most about myself is that I love learning; I love seeing how everything relates to everything else…sports, school, business, art.
We should play sports because we love to play.
We should coach because we love to coach. It’s not about the results, the trophy or the money.
Arthur Ashe said, “Success is a journey.”
Give it your all, enjoy the process and make a difference.
Moderator, John McCarthy put it best, with a quote by the great Lou Holtz…
“Do you want to be successful or do you want to be significant?”
MESSAGE #929 LEARN CPR…
Yesterday I got re-certified in CPR.
Everyone should get certified in CPR. Today I’m going to certify you.
Let me explain…
Do you learn CPR when someone has a heart attack?
No, you learn CPR so you can help someone when they have a heart attack.
I want you to learn mental CPR – the ability to relax, perform under pressure, focus, and stay motivated, so you can use it when you need it.
It amazes me how most people practice under low-pressure situations, and then wonder why they break-down in competition.
The more you can relax when the pressure’s on, the better you will perform. The more you can focus when there are many distractions, the better your results.
Learn it, then use it.
Here’s part of your training…
Just sit for two minutes observing the rising and falling of your abdomen. Don’t force it, just let it rise and fall naturally. If thoughts arise, just accept them, and let them go. If you hear sounds, be aware of them and let them go.
Practice this technique and then you can use it anytime you are nervous, anxious, negative or scared. It brings you back to where the power is – the present moment.
Keep visiting this blog to continue your certification.
Thanks for reading.
MESSAGE #928 TO DO LIST…
Please put this on your To Do List today…
“Be so happy that when others look at you they become happy too.”
The best way to be happy is to make someone else happy.
The best way to be motivated is to motivate someone else.
So it goes both ways.
The quote above is from my teabag this morning, but there’s something that the teabag failed to mention.
It’s difficult to make yourself feel happy.
But you can act happy.
Smile. Act like the happiest person in the whole world. Then, after a while, you will feel happy.
Remember, it’s easier to act yourself into a way of feeling than it is to feel yourself into a way of acting.
This applies to sports, sales or school.
Give it a try.
I’m sure the New Orleans Saints were nervous before last night’s Super Bowl, but they sure didn’t look nervous.
Even when they went for it on 4th down early in the game and didn’t convert, I knew that they were going all-out and playing to win. And as a by-product, they were pleased with the result.
Congrats to the Saints and the city of New Orleans.
MESSAGE #927 A SUPER BOWL PREDICTION…
Well, today is the day. The Super Bowl. The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. All eyes will be on this event. The Who will be performing during the half-time show, and the average 30-second advertisement will cost over US $3 million.
This is the biggest game of the year for both teams, but who will win?
My prediction is:
The winner of the Super Bowl will be…
The team that plays better.
Let me explain – the best team doesn’t win, the team that plays best wins. Does the fastest horse always win the race?
Of course not.
Nothing matters except what happens today.
If there are any Saints or Colts reading this before the game, here’s how you can increase your chances of winning.
1. Go all out.
2. Focus on the process (effort, strategy, attitude) instead of the product (winning).
3. Know that it’s not pressure, it’s perception.
4. Focus on the things you can control and forget about everything else.
5. Don’t try your best…do whatever it takes.
Good luck gentlemen.
Be safe all…
MESSAGE #926 26 REASONS TO EXERCISE…
Recently, I attended a lecture given by pediatric nutritionist, Dr. Joanna Dolgoff. One of the shocking statistics was that obesity will soon overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of death.
Scary. But fear is a great motivator, isn’t it?
Below are my 26 Reasons to Exercise Starting NOW…
1. Boosts your immune system.
2. Helps you lose weight.
3. Improves your posture.
4. Reduces your risk of heart disease.
5. Improves your body’s ability to use fat for energy during physical activity.
6. Helps relieve headaches.
7. Increases your muscle strength.
8. Helps you preserve lean body tissue.
9. Reduces risk of high blood pressure.
10. Increases the levels of HDL, good cholesterol.
11. Helps boost creativity.
12. Helps you overcome jetlag.
13. Assists you in your efforts to stop smoking.
14. Lowers your resting heart rate.
15. Enhances you sexual desire, performance and satisfaction.
16. Helps improve short-term memory in older individuals.
17. Helps relieve many of the common discomforts of pregnancy.
18. Reduces your level of anxiety.
19. Helps you to incur fewer medical and health-care expenses.
20. Provides you with protection against injury.
21. Helps you sleep easier and better.
22. Reduces your risk of developing breast cancer.
23. Helps you relieve constipation.
24. Increases your ability to adapt to cold environments.
25. Helps to alleviate certain menstrual symptoms.
26. Improves your mental alertness.
Enjoy your snow day everyone in the northeast…and get on that treadmill, roll out the yoga mat or just do some jumping jacks. Doing a little a lot is better than doing a lot a little.
MESSAGE #925
“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”
-DAN GABLE
MESSAGE #924 LEARN FROM BASKETBALL
“I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.”
-MICHAEL JORDAN
Mike Cavallo is a basketball coach from Staten Island, NY. Cavallo attended St. Peter’s High School and scored the most points in a playoff tournament (78 points in three games). He then went on to play at Susquehanna University and is now coaching the stars of tomorrow.
I recently caught up with Mike and asked him what it took to reach peak performance in basketball. Here’s what he said:
#1 Dedicate yourself – You have to commit to a growth mindset and constant improvement. The sky’s the limit.
#2 Have fun – If you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll work harder. If you work harder, you’ll get better results.
#3 Be confident – No matter what the score is, stay confident. The key is believing in yourself even when nobody else does.
Great advice. Thank you, Coach Cavallo.
MESSAGE #920 FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY II…
PART II
The other scene I really liked in “Fetch Clay, Make Man” was when Stepin Fetchit was teaching Muhammad Ali the secret anchor punch of the great Jack Johnson.
Fetchit said it started from the stomach and goes through your whole body. You reach back and use all the years of slavery and hardship and you put it all into that punch.
Don’t get me wrong, by no means am I promoting violence. It doesn’t matter if you’re boxing, playing tennis, making sales calls or taking a test.
You have to go all out. You have to make it important.
I remember a story about a grandmother that picked up a car by herself when her grandson was stuck under it. She had never lifted a weight in her life.
That’s desire. And desire wins.
“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.”
-WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD
We are like ten-speed bikes…we have gears we have never even used.
MESSAGE #919 FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, PART I
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.“
-MUHAMMAD ALI
Last night I saw an amazing performance at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. It was “Fetch Clay, Make Man” by Will Power, featuring Ben Vereen.
Two scenes stuck in my mind.
The first one was when Muhammad Ali, played by Evan Parke, was visualizing his upcoming boxing match with Sonny Liston. Stepin Fetchit, played by Ben Vereen, watched as Ali visualized the win, and then said, “Very good, now let’s see how it will look when you lose.”
“I’m not going to lose,” Ali snapped.
“Are you sure about that? Jack Johnson used to visualize his losses, so that he saw all possible outcomes.”
I really like that.
Not enough athletes visualize, and the ones that do, only visualize the positive scenarios. When you visualize potential problems, many times you will overcome them when they arise.
Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow…