Be Where Your Feet Are

        Alex Bregman has had a monster first full season in professional baseball.  He's hit a combined .310 with 19 HR, 20 2B, and an OPS of over 1.000.  Bregamn was also a home run short of hitting for the cycle in the Futures Game during All Star Weekend in San Diego.  There are rumblings of Bregman being called up any day now to help the Astros make a second half playoff run, and he's gotten more and more attention as a result.  Bregman checked in with a great quote in an article written about him on ESPN recently. 

        Bregman's quote struck me for multiple reasons.  For starters, my philosophy on mental toughness centers around the principle of "Win Now."  It means being fully invested in what you are doing and prepared to perform as well as possible at the task at hand regardless of circumstances.  "Win Now" goes well beyond actual performance within the game, and I think it connects well to what Bregman is saying.  Secondly, a couple of colleagues of at IMG used the phrase "Be where your feet are," just the other day.  Although I'd heard similar phrases, I really liked the way they described it and the great visual it provided to young athletes about proper focus.  One connected the phrase  as a possible reminder to reset during a tough tennis match, and the athletes seemed to really like the concept as well (that's who matters, after all).  The "Technically Police" may say something like, "Well, you can only be where your feet are."  Yes, but we all know there is a canyon of difference between being there and being fully present and engaged.  Skill development depends on it.  In-game performance does as well.  Every pitch, at-bat, game, etc. has a value of one unless you allow it to take greater value.

        Bregman's use of "Be where your feet are," is part of his goal to just play and not worry about when he is called up.  The decision, after all, is not one for him to make (insert required, "Control what you can control" reference here).  It's another great reminder for young athletes all over across all sports.  We know you have goals of playing in college and/or professionally.  Those are great to have.  The challenge for you is to have those long-term goals without them being at the expense of your head not being where your feet are.  Remember the daily effort it takes to get where you are going, sure.  Those who are able to lock in on, rather than glaze over, reps will be at a competitive advantage.  But also make sure you take the time to enjoy the experience along the way.  For one, enjoyment is a major part of why most of us participate in sports.  It's far too often lost at some point in an athlete's career.  A second reason is the joy of being good at something is a major part of what leads to the strong work ethic required to continue to develop and succeed as you move up different levels.  Enjoy now, over and over again.  Then, see where your feet lead you.

The two colleagues referenced in the blog are Taylor Stutzman and Zach Brandon.  Taylor is part of the full-time staff at IMG.  He works with baseball and tennis and can be followed on Twitter @tdstutzman.  Zach is finishing up his Master's at Cal State Fullerton and has worked with the legendary Dr. Ken Ravizza.  Zach is in his second summer working at IMG and can be followed on Twitter @MVPSportPsych.  Both are great people who are in sport psychology to make a difference.  I'd challenge you to look beyond the number of followers of both and understand there is a wealth of quality sport psychology information beyond the Twittersphere(ironic, I know!).

Great Competition is Great

           Right now I'm in the middle of a summer position at IMG Academy in Florida.  The position is as part of the Summer Mental Conditioning Staff, and I'm very fortunate for the opportunity.  Originally, I wasn't planning on writing about it at all.  Those who know me well know I'm very anti-self-promotion (can you double hyphenate?).  This blog is meant to inform not to brag about my work.  Sport psychology is about the athletes, coaches, and parents...not me.  Although I understand the perspective of those who tweet about their work with this team or that athlete, it's not one I share.  That said, I feel like I'm learning so much that it would be a shame not to share some of it with others in some capacity.  Writing allows that platform so I'll try to write here and there.  My hope is it will help You.

         One of the great challenges of the summer is working outside of our sports of experience.  Thus far, I've worked with tennis, golf, soccer, football, and basketball...in addition to baseball.  I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but I've actually enjoyed it a lot.  Tennis and soccer, probably my two least favorite sports of the group, have actually been my two favorite groups to work with.  The kids have been a lot of fun, and I've enjoyed learning from their experience.  Something working with the variety of sports demands is a base level of knowledge of the sports themselves.  This has led me to make an effort to actually watch a little tennis.  The effort has coincided with Wimbledon so that has helped.  This morning I had breakfast at Wimbledon with Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber.  Serena was playing to try to match Steffi Graf's 22 Major Titles, and Kerber had beaten her at the Australian Open earlier this year.  The match was well-played, back and forth, and Serena came out on top.  

         Something very unique to tennis finals is what happens after the match is finished.  Not five minutes after losing the tournament and two weeks of hard-fought matches, the loser has to give an interview in front of the entire crowd.  Could you imagine Mitch Williams giving an interview in front of all the Blue Jay fans fresh off of giving up the walkoff home run to Joe Carter?  Tennis players seem to have a different perspective though, and Kerber was incredibly gracious and articulate in her defeat.  Then, the champ gets interviewed.  Serena also showed a tremendous amount of class.  I loved several of her comments, and the one below in particular spoke to me.  Williams talked about how she loved playing Kerber because of the quality of competition she brought and her "bringing out great tennis" in Williams.  There is a message there for all of us no matter whether we are athletes, coaches, teachers, business professionals, etc.  Great athletes want to be pushed.  They want the challenge.  They aren't satisfied with just beating up on lesser competition.  Defeats against quality opponents can actually often bring greater satisfaction than a lopsided win.  

        With that, my challenge to you is to find people who are good at what you do.  Seek others who are even better than  you in whatever it is that you do.  Learn from them and their successes.  I'm not telling you to not be yourself.  I want you to be the best version of You possible though, but others can help you with that.  It's silly to think you have all of the answers.  Hopefully others will seek you out as well, and you'll be able to offer ways to help them become a better "them" too.  Pushing one another to grow continually makes ourselves and whatever fields we are a part of better.  It's been one of my favorite parts of the summer so far, and it's something I look forward to doing a lot more over the coming weeks.