MESSAGE #1571 VICTORY IS NEAR!
Anthony Robbins via Twitter:
When it looks impossible and you are ready to quit, victory is near!
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MESSAGE #1569 A MESSAGE FROM JOHN WOODEN
From John Wooden’s book, “Wooden”…
Preparation Is the Prize
Cervantes wrote, “The journey is better than the inn.” He is right and that is why I derived my greatest satisfaction out of the preparation—the “journey”-day after day, week after week, year after year.
Your journey is the important thing. A score, a trophy, a ribbon is simply the inn.
Thus, there were many, many games that gave me as much pleasure as any of the ten championship games we won, simply because we prepared fully and played near our highest level of ability.
The so-called importance of a particular game didn’t necessarily add to the satisfaction I felt in preparing for the contest. It was the journey I prized above all else.
Thanks to the great Fred Klatsky for sharing this with me.
MESSAGE #1568 HOW ARE YOUR EYES?
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
-MARCEL PROUST
As coaches, athletes, parents and people, we often look at things through our narrow perspectives. When we keep an open mind with new ideas and ways to do things, we frequently find better ways to do them, and continuously grow in the process, oftentimes improving our results.
Mental Toughness Homework: Just for today, have an open mind and listen to what others have to say. Look at the world through new eyes and your world just might change.
MESSAGE #1565 GREETINGS FROM TEXAS!
Well, here I am in Austin, Texas visiting my sister Grace and her family.
On the plane I watched Tin Cup starring Kevin Costner on my iPad. It was great. In fact, it was one of the best sports movies I’ve seen in a long time.
If you don’t know, Tin Cup is about a driving range golf pro (Costner) who has all the talent in the world but a weak mental game.
At one point in the movie, Costner gets the “shanks” which is an inexplicable glitch in a golfer’s swing. He can’t hit the ball straight. He tries all these high-tech gadgets and they are not working.
Finally, Romeo, his caddy tells him to do the following:
1. Take all the change from his right front pocket and put it in his left front pocket.
2. Wear his cap backwards.
3. Double-knot his left shoe.
4. Put a tee behind his ear.
He looked ridiculous and was obviously embarrassed. Well guess what? It worked! He hit the ball straight.
Why?
Because he wasn’t thinking about his swing, he was just hitting the ball. Romeo said his brain was getting in the way.
When you think too much in sports (and life), you get paralysis by analysis. Peak performance occurs when you play loose. Loose, but focused.
Yogi Berra says you can’t think and hit at the same time. A full mind is an empty bat.
Well, it’s off to explore Texas. Talk to you soon!
MESSAGE #1561 A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL JORDAN
I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot…When you think about the consequences, you always think of a negative result.
-Michael Jordan
When I give seminars on the psychological aspect of peak performance, I always ask someone in the audience to name their favorite athlete. Many times it is Michael Jordan. I then ask the following questions…
“Who is faster, you or Jordan?”
“Who can shoot better, you or Jordan?”
“Who can jump higher, you or Jordan?”
The answer is always Jordan (if they are being honest).
I then ask how long it would take for them to be physically equal to Jordan.
Most say forever.
I follow up and say, “Do you know how you can become just as good as Jordan, almost instantly?”
I have the entire auditorium’s attention as I say…
“By having the same mindset as Jordan. And by giving the same effort as Jordan.”
I recently asked the winningest coach in college history, Paul Assaiante, squash coach at Trinity College, if giving a full effort was one of the main goals for his team. He responded…
“It’s the ONLY goal.”
Comments? Leave them below.
MESSAGE #1560 THE WINNINGEST COACH IN COLLEGE SPORTS HISTORY
The Trinity College Mens Squash team has won 244 consecutive matches, the most in college sports history. They have won 13 straight national championships. Their coach is Paul Assaiante, author of “Run to the Roar.”
I spoke to Coach Assaiante this morning and he shared with me his favorite story of an athlete overcoming adversity, which is also in his book.
When I was coaching squash and tennis at West Point, I had a kid named George Geczy. An army brat, the son of a high-ranking officer, he was a special kid, with a concentrated stare and an acetylene voice. He was not a great tennis player; when God was handing out tennis skills, George was in the men’s room. In the winter of freshman year, he got knocked out during a boxing class, and X-rays revealed a brain tumor. It was lucky that he had gotten knocked out; otherwise they would have never discovered the tumor. Doctors operated on him that night. He recovered enough to travel to Germany, where his father was stationed. Because of residual damage from the tumor, the doctors said, he would have trouble walking for the rest of his life.
The following September, George came back to West Point. He walked with a cane. He forgot names. He did pushups agonizingly slow. For a second time, he went through all the plebe-year hazing. In the spring he came out for the tennis team. He couldn’t run, he couldn’t walk. There was no way he could hit a tennis ball. But George was driven. I couldn’t say no and kick him off the team. I remembered how, in my freshman year of college, I had appeared at Springfield College after a couple of years of gymnastics training as a schoolboy on the weekends. Springfield had a rich tradition in gymnastics. Frank Wolcott had run Springfield’s program since 1955, and by the time I arrived on campus in the fall of 1970, he was firmly entrenched as one of the nation’s great gymnastic coaches—so great that he rightly judged my abilities and cut me after I tried out as a walk-on. He kindly said I could try out the next year. I refused to listen. “You’ll have to call security every day, because I intend to keep coming,” I told him. “I’m going to make the team.” Wolcott agreed to name me the “manager” of the team and let me attend practice. By the end of the season, I had made varsity.
In the same vein, I named George manager and assistant coach, assigning jobs like collecting towels and carrying the ball hoppers. In his sophomore year, he threw away the cane and was able to get on the court, so I asked him to feed balls to players. Then he became a hitting partner for the junior-varsity guys, and then a doubles partner when someone was late. George came to every practice. He lifted weights. He hit hundreds of balls. He worked relentlessly. In his junior year, he played doubles in a couple of junior-varsity matches at the beginning of the season, and by the end of it, he was at the top of the JV. The team elected him captain for his senior year, and he played on the varsity.
So if George can do all that, imagine what YOU can do?
Thanks for reading, and thank you, Coach Assaiante.
Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077
MESSAGE #1553 WANNA BE IN THE HALL OF FAME?
I recently attended the USTA Middle States Hall of Fame Induction Dinner and Auction at the Seaview Hotel and Resort. The inductees were: Louise Gengler Thomas, William Stoner, Jeff Holman, and Dave Haggerty. It was a great event and I enjoyed seeing so many wonderful people in the industry, including my fellow USTA NJ board members.
As I sat during the induction ceremony I couldn’t help but think about all the great things Louise, Bill, Jeff and Dave have done for the game of tennis. But if you asked them if they were TRYING to get into the USTA Hall of Fame, they would say no. They made a difference in the industry because they WANTED TO. They wanted to add value and focused on the process instead of the results.
Another way to say it is, if you want to get in the Hall of Fame in tennis, or life, the best way is to stop trying to get into the Hall of Fame. Strive for excellence every day and as a by-product, you just might like where you end up.
Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077
MESSAGE #1549 PEAK PERFORMANCE IN JUGGLING
In this vlog, Ed interviews professional juggler, Jen Slaw. For more on Jen, visit: http://www.jenniferslaw.com/
MESSAGE #1548 FEAR QUOTE
Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.
-Brendan Francis