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MESSAGE #1486 CONTROLLABLES

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Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Oliver Winterbone, video coordinator for the University of Florida Gators Men’s Basketball team.

Right about now, high school and college coaches are gearing up for their fall season. Tomorrow, at Princeton Day School, we have a coaches cookout and the Athletic Director asked me to say a few words to all the coaches. Below is an exercise I will recommend they use with their team.

1. With your team, make a list of things you cannot control in sports (referees, opponents, court/field conditions, weather, etc).

2. Then make a list of things you can control (your effort, your focus, your attitude, your reactions, your strategy, your adjustments, etc).

3. Throw out the list of uncontrollables and focus on the controllables.

Not a coach? You can still use this exercise in sales, school and relationships.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1482 NERVES

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Here I am in my hotel room after a great day at Billy Donovan’s Coaching Clinic at the University of Florida. It was a great day.

I was slated to speak to 60+ college and NBA basketball coaches tonight.

I was nervous.

But I didn’t ACT nervous.

How did I do?

By the number of books/workbooks/audio CDs I sold and the fact that coaches were coming up to me afterwards asking me how they could bring me to their teams, I would say it went well.

How does this affect you as an athlete, coach, student or parent?

Accept your thoughts and feelings and take action anyway.

Don’t worry about the results, focus on the process instead.

Time for bed and goodbyes in the morning and flying out back to the Northeast.

Thanks for reading.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1481 GREETINGS FROM FLORIDA!

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So here I am in Gainesville, Florida getting ready to speak at the prestigious, Billy Donovan Coaching Clinic at the University of Florida. 50 of the top college basketball and NBA coaches have been invited to this two day event filled with information and networking for the upcoming season. I will be speaking tomorrow night after Steve Clifford of the Orlando Magic and Bob Bender of the Atlanta Hawks. The topic? Building toughness in your team and individuals.

How do you do it? Well, for starters, everyone needs to play as a team. Babe Ruth said, “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”

TEAM—Together Everyone Achieves More…as long as..there’s a Total Effort from All Members.

It’s good to be the best ON the team; it’s better to be the best FOR the team.

Stay tuned for more from the Sunshine State.

Ed Tseng
Director of Mental Conditioning
Monroe Sports Center
609.558.1077

MESSAGE #1412 LESSONS FROM AN NCAA CHAMP

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Recently, Lauren Embree clinched the NCAA title for the University of Florida Gators women’s tennis team. She beat Mallory Burdette, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) after losing a 5-1 lead in the first set and overcoming a 0-4 deficit in the final set.

I caught up with Embree after her incredible win.

“I had different thoughts racing through my mind when I was down 4-0 in the third. I kept fighting. I knew I still had a chance no matter what the score was.”

“I just told myself, ‘one point at a time,’ ”

“I kept telling myself positive thoughts.”

Embree’s goal was to fight her way back and instead of focusing on the situation, she focused on the process and just tried to get the ball back deeper.

So what did Embree do?

1. She went all-out.
2. She played in the present moment (not the past or the future).
3. She told herself affirmations to keep her performance, focus and energy levels high.

She could have easily fallen apart after losing the lead in the first set, but she didn’t—she fought back. Even when she was down 0-4 in the final set, she went all-out until the very end.

And we can all do that…it’s a choice.

You may not be an NCAA champion, but you can use Embree’s strategies to succeed in sports, sales or school. And you can begin today.

Thank you Lauren and congrats again.