Takeaways From the World Cup Final

        Like many of you, I fulfilled my American duty of watching the Women's World Cup final last night between the United States and Japan.  I have to admit my soccer background is limited.  My playing career lasted but one spring and fall season before Dad forced me into an early retirement at the age of 7.  If only Dad had known about the benefits of playing multiple sports, then maybe I'd be in the big leagues now!  Regardless, my interest in the sport has grown over the last several years.  I've become an admirer of greatness in any form, and watching the world's best in anything has appeal.  There were several interesting articles about Carli Lloyd after the semi-final match against Germany, and her commitment to the mental side of the sport piqued my interest as well.  Because there are many much more qualified than I to recap the game and discuss the strategies and sets and blah blah, I won't waste your time with an amateur attempt to do so.  What I will talk about are a few of my mental takeaways as a casual observer of one of the greatest individual and team performances I have ever seen on such a big stage.

1. Playing with Conviction as a Team:  Those of you who are regular readers of the blog or of my Twitter feed know of my belief that playing, hitting, pitching, shooting, throwing, etc. with conviction is one of the most important qualities an athlete can have.  I said something a few days ago about Max Scherzer and the way he is pitching with complete conviction.  Well, last night I saw a team playing with complete conviction, and it was awesome!  The United States came out and absolutely dominated for the first sixteen minutes of the game and took a commanding 4-0 lead.  Everything they did seemed to go as scripted, and they made it look so easy.  The announcers made the comment of it seeming like they had an extra player on the field.  It was a joy to watch.  The term zone was thrown out, and I do believe the entire team was playing with zone-like qualities at the very least.  Carli Lloyd was absolutely in the zone and even said she felt like she blacked out when she scored her incredible goal from near midfield.  The closest I could think of from a team standpoint is the Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals when they just absolutely blitzed the Heat.  The feeling was the same, and the stage was at it's biggest.  Both teams played with such freedom that is earned through more preparation than any of us who have not experienced firsthand could imagine.

2. Overreaction to the United States not keeping up the first 15 minutes:  So the score of the game is 4-0 after fifteen minutes, and I don't think anybody would have predicted that.  Then, the United States began to play just well instead of out of this world like they had for the first fifteen minutes of the match.  The announcers overreacted and said they had to get back to playing like they had for the first fifteen minutes.  Come on!  I don't think anyone went into the game thinking the United States had to take a 4-0 lead in fifteen minutes to have a chance to win the Cup.  So why would they HAVE to do so when they couldn't keep up the impossible pace?  Luckily, there was zero panic or wavering of trust where it mattered most:  the players playing.  They kept playing, didn't overreact to Japan scoring a goal, and controlled the game.

3. Sportsmanship:  This was the biggest stage in the world.  The players wanted to go out and dominate the game.  Despite this fact and the lopsided nature of the match, both teams showed incredible sportsmanship and grace in the way they handled themselves.  Players were helped up after fouls were committed.  I'm sure some people out there thought, "What?!  What are they doing helping up players from the other team?!?! Aren't they competitive?!  Aren't they TOUGH?!?!"  What about being tough asks for not showing respect for the other team?  Many of the best in the world, after all, play the game or themselves instead of the opponent.  Phil Jackson, Arthur Ashe, and Nick Saban are three examples for you if you need them.  The United States showed an impressive ability to be great sports while still wanting to beat the snot out of the opponent.  Not to be overlooked, the Japanese handled getting beat badly very well too.  They were equally good sports.  They didn't want it any less than the Americans.  They just lost and were women enough to do so with grace.

4. Team, Team, Team:  Everything in the game and in the post-game comments was about the team.  There were really good players on the bench for the good of the team.  Abby Wambach, widely regarded as one of the best ever in the sport, played a meaningless fifteen minutes at the end of the game with the team up three.  It didn't matter because the experience wasn't about her individually.  Carli Lloyd's comments were all about the team and how proud she was of them.  Carli, you just had maybe the greatest individual performance I've ever seen in my life.  Don't you want to talk about yourself?  No.  There was no need for her to do that because the performance did all of the necessary talking on its own.

5. "She believed in every single one of us."  This was a quote that stood out to me from Carli Lloyd about the head coach Jill Ellis.  I think I have referenced such belief before, but to me this is critical of great teams.  The coach has to AT LEAST give off the impression of having belief in every single member of the team.  If the athlete is good enough to be a part of the team and to do everything asked of them, the coach owes that belief to the athlete!  If a coach only shows belief in select players or starters, then the coach sets himself/herself up for disappointment when any form of adversity hits.  It's stubborn to put all of the responsibility for belief on the individual player.  The announcers discussed how one of the players on the team had really been helped by Wambach with her confidence.  This is a player on the best women's soccer team in the world, and she has trouble with confidence in herself.  That was a telling story and one I think speaks to the responsibility we have to foster confidence in athletes at all levels.  Before you bash me for that, I am not saying to baby and coddle them.  I just tend to think all athletes have strengths.  The more we get the athletes to believe in those strengths, the greater chance they have for success.  That is part of why we coach them, correct?  Although I would agree it is crucial to have belief in one's own abilities in order to be a good player, support is something we all need as human beings.

        Those are just a few of the many takeaways I had from watching again what I consider to be one of the greatest individual and team performances I have ever witnessed in my life.  To all of the women on the US National Team, it was an absolute pleasure.  As someone who appreciates greatness, you all provided me with 90 minutes of it with the way you played and conducted yourselves.  I won't pretend to understand all of the hard work and dedication it has taken for that 90 minute masterpiece to transpire.  All I will say is it paid off.  You all didn't just inspire little girls who dream of one day being in your shoes.  I can say with certainly you inspired a 31-year-old man, and I can say with confidence you all inspired a nation!  Thank you!


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        Side Note:  What were your takeaways?  I'd love to hear them from you.  Shoot me a tweet, an email, or comment below.  Thanks again for reading!

A Freedom I'm Thankful For More and More

        Happy Fourth of July to all of Win Now Nation!  As I sit in my house this morning I have no choice but to think about what the Fourth means to me and what it represents.  First, it is a great reminder of what an amazing country we are fortunate enough to live in.  People have risked their lives just for the opportunity to live in the United States, and that alone speaks to the greatness of the country.  Second, I am thankful for all of those who have fought for our freedom and to protect it.  They are largely nameless and faceless which means they are easy to take for granted for a concrete thinker like myself.  Thank you to all the men and women, past, present, and future, for protecting us.  Third, I think of some of the freedoms that make our country so special and how they connect to me and where I am in professional venture.  One, in particular stands out.

         The right that I have been feeling more of a connection to lately is freedom of speech, or more specifically, the freedom to believe whatever we want.  As I started to learn about sport psychology, I believed everything I read.  This was easy at first because I was starting from scratch.  It wasn't unlike people across the world who create beliefs based on the information they are presented with.  It's natural human behavior but can be dangerous when the information you're exposed to only comes from a specific source.  For example, if Twitter is your only source for ANYTHING, imagine the skewed perception of reality you get!  Just the other day, I stumbled on a Twitter handle advertising itself as a source of quotes for someone widely accepted as one of the greatest within the field of sport psychology.  Although the concept is outstanding, the account it littered with quotes that are not from the person.  How dangerous!  If that account is someone's only exposure to sport psychology, they are getting an extremely warped sense of what it is about.

        With the progression through my degree program, talking with people within the field and coaches, and reading LOTS of books, I've been fortunate enough to move past this initial phase of accepting everything I read as ultimate truth.  The experience has created the challenge of deciding what I believe and to what extent.  It has been difficult and has forced me to completely reassess major parts of what I initially thought was my philosophy on sport psychology.  It has also resulted in the temptation to write off those who disagree with me.  In really any part of life, this is a challenge.  We tend to choose to be around people who believe the same things as us.  I think the thought is especially true as we are new to anything.  I can remember my early days as a teacher and coach.  I would say something with the soul purpose of others echoing what I thought to make myself feel better.  A sense of comfort comes from others reinforcing our beliefs.  By only talking with people who think like us, however, we are missing a tremendous opportunity for growth.  Discussing topics with people who disagree with us forces us to think about the reasons behind whatever we believe.  It forces us to contemplate our "Why?"  If the discussion takes places with an open mind, then we are better off.  Some of my favorite students to teach are kids who I would have never been friends with when I was in high school.  They are people I have great admiration for because of their courage to be themselves and be different thinkers at such a young age.  I love it when people think differently.  Some educators/coaches take it personally, but I embrace the challenge (at least sometimes)!

        In closing, I am reminded of a great quote by a guy named Voltaire.  He is one of the contributors to a period in history called The Enlightenment.  Voltaire said, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."  Outstanding and really what our military is doing on a daily basis.  This is an oversimplification of so much, but I encourage you to understand it is okay to disagree with others.  Challenge yourself to get something out of the experience of disagreement, and force yourself to grow.  I will be challenging myself to do the same.  Everybody have a great Fourth of July, and celebrate all that is good in our country and it's people!

  

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A Fine Line Between Self-Awareness and Development

        Some of you are aware of this, but many of you are probably not.  My roots are actually in education.  I've taught social studies at the high school level for the past seven years and am reminded of one of the characteristics of adolescence from a Sociology course I caught a few years back as I write this morning.  The characteristic I am thinking of is called "Search for self" and refers to the very tenuous nature of what high school kids are experiencing as they try to find themselves.  They are no longer little kids who blindly follow the direction of all adults, but they are not yet adults themselves.  It's a period of self-discovery that is crucial for development not only as athletes but as people.  That is part of what makes coaching at the high school level both so special and so important.  We really have the chance to make an impact on people.

        So where am I going with this?  Well, one of the most crucial concepts in sport psychology to me is self-awareness.  This involves knowing both strengths and weaknesses as a player/coach and person as well as understanding the connection between the two.  Who we are as people absolutely has an impact on who we are as players or as coaches.  For example, I was a perfectionist growing up.  Although it helped in developing a strong work ethic, it hurt my perception of what was tolerable in performance.  I actually thought I should get a hit every single at-bat in high school!  To expect to get a hit every time up is one thing, but the way I handled the inevitable getting out more often than not was unhealthy.  This also affected how I took criticism from coaches.  I didn't do very well when I felt like criticism was questioning my work on my swing.  In hindsight, the mental coach in me would tell myself to focus on the message not the delivery from the coaches.  I'd tell myself not to be so extrinsically motivated by how my coaches perceived me.  The mental coach in me today would also tell coaches that how you handle a perfectionist should be different than how you handle someone who is haphazard in everything they do.  But Coach Ehrlich, I thought we are supposed to treat everyone the same?  Only if you don't want to be as effective as possible.

        So, what can we do with this information?  The real message I wanted to send with the post is there is fine line between being self-aware and still looking to develop as a player and person.  Dealing with high school players is going to be different than working with ten  year professionals.  At the high school level, athletes are rapidly changing as they garner more experience and mature both physically and mentally.  What made them successful as a ninth grader would hopefully evolve as they grow.  Therefore, a delicate balance is necessary between accepting who one's self is but still looking to improve.  It would be viewed as unacceptable, as an example, for a player to just say, "Well, being lazy is just who I have always been."  To accept this would be against our DNA as coaches.  Instead, a followup for the player would be something to the effect of, "Well are you okay with being the player you have always been?"  The answer would be indicative of what a player's future goals are.  If he is okay with just being an average player, then that is ultimately his decision.  You then don't stop coaching him up, but it honestly keeps you from driving yourself crazy wanting it for him.  If he wants to be a "dude," then hopefully it clicks for the player to make an adjustment.  That "got it" moment may be what helps the player to then accept coaching to the point of being pushed to become as good as possible.

        In conclusion, I would like you to consider this point.  Being you is one of the greatest character traits I admire in both athletes and people.  I think the most exceptional of athletes are able to know what their strengths are and to play to those strengths as often as possible.  I'm also reminded of what has become one of my favorite quotes from a surprising "expert" in the field of sport psychology, Dr. Seuss.  "Today you are You.  That is truer than true.  There is no one alive who is Youer than You."  That quote will always be true.  What we have to challenge ourselves to do as people and players/coaches is to accept that while still looking to become the greatest version of ourselves possible.  When we stop learning, after all, we stop living.

Composure is King

        As noted in the last blog entry, I'm camped out at the Prospect Select Vero Beach Classic this week.  Many  things have stood out to me as I have had the pleasure to watch some incredible talent throughout the week.  While the last entry focused on how "elite" can take many different forms, I would like to address one distinct commonality I have noticed as well.  The "Elite Player" is composed as they perform.  The "as they perform" phrase is key to what I am saying.  As noted in the previous blog, it was interesting to see how some of the players at the Topps Showcase were joking around beforehand while others were locked in.  Some appeared very relaxed while others appeared to have some nervous energy worked up.  The reality of the situation is none of that ultimately matters.  What matters is the composure during actual performance.  What matters is the ability of the player to lock into the present moment and focus on the external task at hand.  Don't get me wrong.  If a player's nervousness prior to a game has an effect on the ability to perform, it absolutely needs to be addressed.  All I am saying is it is possible to be on either end of the nervousness spectrum before competition (think Inverted-U) and still perform on a high level.

        Much of what I see as I watch NCAA regionals and super regionals centers around building a facade of bravado as players and as teams.  That is how a hitting routine turns into a hitter looking like he is a samurai warrior.  Ultimately, it is eyewash and a very surface level understanding of what sport psychology is really about.  One of my mentors within the field, Geoff Miller, has said what I mean really well.  Miller, or G as he is known to many, has questioned this "pump myself up" "confidence confidence" focus of the mental game by saying something to the effect of, "Well, what  happens if I take my deep breath and still don't feel confident?"  What does happen?  Do you just turn around and go to the dugout?  What ideally happens is you accept that you're not going to feel your best all the time and work to focus on the external task at hand.  The number one task of the hitter isn't to feel good.  I've never heard a coach say, "Alright, we have a runner on third base and less than two outs.  I want you to feel good about yourself for 3 pitches, and head back to the dugout."  The task of the hitter is to see the baseball and react accordingly.  This requires the hitter to trust himself to do what he has done thousands of time before and react.  Of course it is preferable to feel confident, but you still have to compete when you do not.

        I've gotten sidetracked a little bit which is not unlike me for many of you who are regular readers of the blog.  Let's get back to the composure deal.  What stood out to me, again, about the elite players at the Topps Showcase was their composed look during performance.  They all had a look of confidence in their abilities that comes from any number of factors including talent, preparation, and past success.  Players stepped into the box for BP with some presence.  Infielders had a little "swagger" in how they took ground balls.  One player, Albert Suarez, even went between the legs on the transfer after he fielded a ball!  You don't do that if you are not confident in your abilities (I'm not recommending this on a regular basis, but it definitely made Suarez stand out!).  Pitchers took the mound and announced their presence with authority.  The look of composure was just as much in what didn't happen as what did.  Guys who took a bad round of BP or had a bad at-bat, for the overwhelming majority, did not come out of the cage pouting or slamming bats.  There was little, to no questioning of umpires.  One player was particularly impressive when he struck out on a called strike.  Another player, who had just done the same and complained, invited him to join in the strike zone pity party.  Instead, the player accepted responsibility and said he should have hit the pitch.  This player has a chance to be a special hitter, and I love the responsibility for performance he took!

        The composed player deals with the "failures" that inevitably come with playing baseball.  The metaphor that comes to mind is that baseball, in terms of results, can be a series of peaks and valleys.  Composed players are able to limit the valleys by being steady mentally and emotionally.  They take successes and failures for what they are and move on.

Once again, "Consistent behavior leads to consistent results."- Harvey Dorfman

SS Albert Suarez pictured on right with fellow Topps Showcase participant Randy Romney

The Many Looks of the "Elite" Player

        As many of you already know, I am currently in Florida working the Vero Beach Classic.  The Vero Beach Classic, or VBC, is a huge tournament ran by a company called Prospect Select.  There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 teams playing at several picturesque locations in the Vero Beach area.  My primary responsibility for the week is in scouting, but I am always on the lookout for topics to write about.  Last night provided the perfect opportunity with the Topps Showcase.  The showcase featured approximately eighty elite players from Florida, other areas in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.  I went in with no preconceived notions about what I would write about and wanted to just kind of see what I see.  Quickly, a theme emerged.  Below are my thoughts.

        The elite player.  In sports, we are fascinated by what the best do and how they do it.  How do they swing?  What pitches do they throw?  How many hundreds of jump shots do they take?  We all want to know in hopes of bottling a secret formula allowing us to suddenly be able to churn out elite players like a factory churning out donuts.  I myself just read a book called How Champions Think.  Although the book is one of the best I have read in sport psychology, the implication that all champions think a certain way lends itself again to this factory mentality.  Twitter is peppered with tweets from coaches and messages like, "Do you want to be good?  You better be willing to take 1000 swings a day before games because that is what Joe Blow from Cocomo does! #TheGrind."  I even saw one recently, which many of you probably liked, that had the implication that a player's hydration choices have an effect on whether a college coach would recruit them.

        In having the opportunity to watch the best collection of young talent I have seen at one location last night, I was excited to see what these elite players look like.  How would they prepare prior to the showcase?  How would they warm up?  What does the body language of the elite player look like?  The answer: Every elite player is different.  Prior to the showcase getting started, some players were joking around with each other.  Others were already quiet and focused.  Some looked like nervous balls of energy, and others looked like they could lay down in the grass and take a nap.  Some players had sleeves, wrist bands, necklaces, glasses, etc.  Others went natural.  The differences didn't end there.  Some BP swings were quiet and controlled, and others were loud and violent.  Infielders all had their own way of going about catching and throwing the baseball.  Players ran really fast 60's.  Some clearly had coached form, and others just let it happen freely.  One could argue that the players who ran with uncoached form were "raw" and would be even faster if they knew how to run, but there is something to the freedom of letting the body do what it naturally does.  Maybe becoming too technique oriented would prevent their body from just going and doing what kids naturally do every day in playgrounds around the world.

        If my point isn't clear yet in what I have written, here it is:  There is no one way to be elite.  No matter how many studies are conducted, everyone is different.  What works for one player may not work for another.  We need to be aware of this as coaches.  Let's stop creating robots and start coaching human beings.  Celebrate the individuality within a team sport.  It is what the forward thinkers in sports are already doing.  Right now, they are viewed as the exceptions.  They are the Steve Kerr's, the Pete Carroll's, and the Tim Corbin's of the world.  My hope is that one day their way will instead be the rule.  Celebrate the individual nature of being elite.  If you are player, find what makes you elite.  Then do it...over and over again.  The consistency of performing would be something that I would argue elite players have in common.  All of the players I saw last night were elite in their own way.  No two players were identical.  Each had something different to offer.  And guess what?  That led to some coaches liking them and some not...which is fine!  The commonality in all of the players last night was they are uncommon.  That is what being elite is!  This absolutely ties into my thoughts on what sport psychology is and how it can best serve those in sports.  Every athlete is different.  To think that certain mental drills and skills work for everyone is to do a disservice to the athletes.  Coaches, do you want to work on the mental side of the game just to say you do it, or would you like to be as effective as possible?  The concept is not dissimilar to teaching everyone to hit the same or to pitch the same.  Some coaches do this, and some are as effective as possible in coaching the individual.  Let's move beyond this surface level understanding of sport psychology and into something deeper.  Let's help individuals perform as well as possible and to enjoy the experience.


       

       

     

Consistency Wins

        When I began my journey into the world of sport psychology I had a very narrow focus:  Help athletes be as good as possible all the time.  Although that is still part of what I would like to do, it is now only a part of what I hope to do with sport psychology.  My scope has broadened tremendously, and one area I hadn’t considered when I started out is helping coaches.  I can remember being exposed to several units on best coaching practices in my first sport psychology course.  It can be challenging to read something of this nature because none of us are perfect as coaches.  If you are reading this, it’s probably because you think you can do better.  When looking to improve, at anything, then you are forced to reflect on what you presently do to if you are truly hoping to get better.

         With that in mind, there are so many techniques and methods to being an effective coach.  Learning to give feedback, how to communicate expectations with players and parents, post-game management, and proper development approach are just a few of the many topics.  The greatest piece of coaching advice I have read though is that you need to be yourself CONSISTENTLY.  As coaches, we preach it constantly to the players we coach.  “You need to be consistent.”  “I need to know what I am going to get from you.”  “I want guys who will make the routine play all the time.”  This can be a maddening challenge at really every level of play.  There is a reason many high school athletes are inconsistent:  They are high school athletes.  We need to have the same expectations for ourselves that we have for the athletes we coach.  “We need to be consistent.”  “Players need to know what they are going to get from us.”  “We need to be able to make the routine decisions consistently.”  Players respond to different coaching styles.  There are some methods that are more effective than others, but looking around the coaching landscape of any sport, at any level of play, will reveal many personalities and ways of doing things.  What I would guarantee, however, is the best coaches are consistent in what they do.  Being the best version of yourself possible is something to strive for. 

I leave you with a quote from the late, great Harvey Dorfman.  The simplistic genius resonates with me, and I hope it resonates with you as well.  “Consistent behavior gets consistent results.”  We expect it from our athletes.  Let’s have the same accountability for ourselves.

Great Parenting Advice From A Guy Who’s Clearly Done it Well

             Parenting advice from a single guy with no kids?  Have you already clicked away?  Rest assured, the advice isn’t coming from me.  I traveled to Florida over the Memorial Day Weekend for the wedding of one of my good friends from college Jeremy Plexico.  I can say with the utmost confidence that Plex is in the top 1% of truly great people in the world.  Although I did not know his bride-to-be very well, all scouting reports from Plex and many others were that she is in the same category.  Among other things, this meant there would be some special people in a controlled environment for a period of four fun hours.  There were athletes, performers, long-time family men and women, authors, successful business people, and much more.  As someone who enjoys meeting different people and getting great advice from those who have done things well, the wedding was an opportunity to do both. 

One of the greatest of interactions took place in an unlikely setting: the men’s room.  Later in the evening, I was in there when the father of the bride came in.  I told him how great a time the wedding was and how everything was awesome.  There were so many happy people there, and the bride’s family included quite a few.  Clearly, there was a special bond present between father and daughters (bride’s sister too).  Among the many pieces of evidence of this was a fantastic father/daughter dance to “Uptown Funk” with clear choreography involved.  Having hopes of one day having a family of my own, I took the opportunity to ask him what piece of advice he had for having such a great bond with his children.  The bride’s father turned to me and said, “Give them your time.  Don’t get so caught up in doing this or that.  Just be there for them.  That is what matters.”  Wow.  Great stuff on so many levels, and sage advice for so many areas of life.  

In the world of youth sports today there are clearly a number of issues.  Much of the problems, in my opinion,  stem from misguided intentions of parents wanting what is best for kids.  Wanting what is best has turned into having the latest bat or a special pitching instructor when a kid is 8.  A simple reminder to just be there for the kids is something I think could help tremendously.  Just be there for them today parents.  That is what they want and need.

Three Options For Role Acceptance

        Know your role.  As coaches, we all talk about it.  "You don't have to like your role, but you do need to accept it," is a quote most players have heard by the time they are a part of a high school team.  The spread of "travel ball" has made this a greater challenge because many players haven't had to accept their roles at an earlier age.  If a player doesn't like his role, then dad just makes his own new travel team to ensure the player does.  The concept behind acceptance of a role plays like this.  You have put in whatever amount of work you have put in during the offseason, you've had the opportunity to compete in practice, preseason scrimmages and intrasquads, and now you have some sort of role within the team from the coach's perspective.  Your situation is what it is.  Accepting or denying the role are the two options often presented.  I'd like to add a third option:  Embrace your role.

        Let's go through the three options.  The first is to deny your role within the team.  This could include quitting but more often results in pouting about it.  Very few athletes strive to "not play," but I think it helps to think about the situation rationally.  If you are not playing, there is probably a reason for it.  The reason is likely that the guy who is playing instead is better.  You can either "get bitter or get better."  Something I think helps minimize the situations where a player is shocked about not playing is for coaches to meet with players and explain the current role for the player.  Sometimes we assume that what we see as obvious from a coach's perspective is just as obvious to players.  We all know the saying about assumptions.  The guy who doesn't accept his role within a team can be a major problem if teammates and coaches allow him to be.

        A second option is the acceptance of a role.  This involves understanding why you are in the situation you are in.  Accepting you are a possible pinch-hitter off the bench means not pouting when you see the lineup and staying ready to hit.  You're not going to quit.  You're not going to pout, but you probably are not as engaged in the game as you could be if you are an acceptance guy.  You don't like it, but you accept it.  On the other end of the spectrum, accepting you are the best player on the team brings with it expectations of its own.  This could mean understanding when you hit with a runner in scoring position and a base open that you are probably not going to get much to it.

        The third, and final level, is EMBRACING your role.  For me, this goes well beyond accepting the role is what it is.  Someone who embraces their role as a pinch-runner is constantly watching the opposing pitcher to see if he can pick something up that would help his team out.  A bench guy who embraces his role keeps the chart without having to be asked over and over to do so.  He's working to pick up signs.  Embracing your role as a hitter, if you are a bottom of the order type, might mean having more at-bats where you are giving yourself up for the team to move a runner or get one in. The superstar player who embraces his role craves the big situation and the feeling of putting the team on his back.  He is what people are talking about when they discuss the difference between a #2 starter and the ACE.  Accepting a role means you will do it without causing a problem.  Embracing a role means you are going to compete to the best at whatever it may be.

        This is the time of the year where in college baseball we see the different levels of acceptance play out before our eyes.  It's also happening in the NBA Playoffs and in Major League clubhouses across the country though.  The best teams have a team full of players who embrace their roles.  Be an embracer today!

        Want to share a story or give a shoutout to a player you know embraced his role this spring?  I would love to hear them.  Tweet them to me @Coach_Ehrlich or shoot me an email at ehrlichb1@gmail.com.

A Tribute to Mom

        It has been a while since I have written.  There are many reasons for not doing so.  A busy and adversity-driven baseball season, a long and grinding school year, and taking classes for my degree are among the many.  Now one is done, another is winding down, and a third is also in the home stretch.  With that, I decided today would be the perfect day to make a return to writing, and my mom would make a great topic.

        One of the topics I find myself drawn to in sport psychology is youth sports and the role that adults play in them.  As I worked on a research paper yesterday on the topic, I found myself thinking of my mom and my dad.  Their roles in the development of my love for baseball are something I probably have taken for granted a little bit and have yet to really reflect on completely.

        Adults play arguably the greatest role in what the sporting experience is like for kids.  It makes sense.  Although they have likely played around with older siblings and parents, youth coaches are the first to expose kids to organized sports.  Parents sit on edge as they find out whether their kids "are good" or not in those early years.  The really good ones focus on enjoyment, effort, and skill improvement over winning (despite pressures to win the 2015 Tony Scrubini Super NIT State Qualifier).  I am lucky to be able to look back at my youth and know that I had two great adult supporters in my mom and dad.  For this tribute, I have chosen to write about three of my greater memories of the role my mom played in my early baseball life and the hidden lessons in all three.

        Among what stands out about my early days in baseball were the car rides to practice with mom.  I played in a league that practiced about thirty minutes from where we lived so I was in the car with mom a couple of hours a week to and from practice.  For some reason, I can remember listening to sports talk radio with my mom.  She wasn't really a sports fan at all except for watching me play, but she liked to listen to sports talk radio.  Sometimes we would listen to music, and if I were in need of what was deemed an "attitude adjustment" this may mean classical music.  Maybe she was really just sensing my number getting too high and wanted to help calm me down before baseball.  Regardless, I am very appreciative for having a mom who was willing to spend hours every week shuttling me to and from baseball and my sisters to and from dance classes.  Thanks Mom!

        Another of my memories of mom and her role in my early baseball career is the traditional pregame meal.  I was always big on reading up about both the history of baseball and what modern players were doing.  I can't even imagine if I had internet access then.  My brain probably would have exploded for overload.  Well, somewhere along the way I read about Wade Boggs eating chicken before every game.  Around that time, I had eaten one of my favorites: Mom's grilled burgers.  I had a good game and of course it triggered in my head that the burgers were the reason why.  Before nearly every game I played for a span of at least two years my mom made me those burgers.  What I failed to realize then was the power of performance was not in the burgers.  The power was the comfort created by the routine made possible by a loving mom.  Thanks Mom!

        A third memory I have of my mom was her reaction to a horrible game.  I had a tendency to be JUST A LITTLE emotional about performance as a player, and there was no escaping the ride home after games (for my parents, that is).  When games were particularly bad, my mom would sum things up perfectly with, "Well...it was a game."  While it sometimes would make me even more upset at the time, at least externally, the simplicity of the words really could not have been more true.  "Well...it was a game," and there was not much else to say about it except it was over.  Sometimes we need to simply rid ourselves of a bad performance, not read too much into it, and move on.  Thanks Mom!

        Those are just three of the many memories of my mom's role in my baseball career.  To sum her role up in those three stories is probably an injustice, but I think the three say a lot about who she was and is in my life no matter how old I get.  Mom has been along for the ride to and from practice and to lend advice both welcomed and unwelcome.  She has always been there to support me however needed, and I probably took for granted the guarantee of a home-cooked meal on a nightly basis.  My mom has always been and continues to be a driving force in my life.  She has always balanced well the act of being supportive while being sobering when I need to get my head out of the clouds (or out of my rear end).  With that, I would like to wish her the Happiest of Mother's Days.  I love you and am grateful for all you have done for me.  Thanks Mom!

Ehrlich Family Christmas Est. 1994...Respect the bowl cut

Characteristics of a Great Teammate #3: Great teammates celebrate the successes of others.

#3:  Great teammates celebrate the successes of others.

        Great teammates celebrate the successes of others.  They enjoy other players on the team doing well.  Although this seems simple enough, the reality is it doesn't always happen.  Success can often breed jealousy.  You can't watch a movie about sports without the guaranteed story line of the "jealous teammate."  Unfortunately, in this case real life can often mirror the big screen.  Teammates can be envious of other players for different reasons.  Maybe the player is rarely on the wrong end of a tongue-lashing by the coaches.  What the jealous teammate fails to realize is there is a reason for this, and it is because of the behavior of the player.  Jealous teammate fails to realize that by following the example of the other player he too can avoid such tongue-lashings.  Jealous teammate may give the player a hard time about it instead and make it seem like doing the right thing is somehow wrong.  Flawed logic at best, sorry teammate at worst.  Another situation where jealousy can happen is when there is a younger, talented player on the team.  Usually there are older players on the team whose thinking plays something like, "I'm a senior.  I should play."  When the younger, more talented player is the one in the lineup instead, jealousy happens.  Ration and reason somehow fail to get through to the older player whose only argument is, "I'm a senior.  I should play."  This may partially be a byproduct of he travel team world we live in where players are split into such narrowly aged groups (16U, 17U, 17U Black, 17U White, 17U Purple).  Entitlement is the word that comes to mind, and unfortunately for the jealous players, there is no place for it in team sports.

        Those are a couple of examples of teammates not enjoying the successes of others, but great teammates truly enjoy those same successes.  Great teammates celebrate having the guys who they can depend on because they are always doing the right thing.  Great teammates welcome that younger, talented player as part of the group because they realize the player makes the team better.  They go out of their way to accept him and make him feel as though he belongs.  Great teammates pick up guys who get a bunt down or score a run.  So much can be learned about a player based on how they react within a game to the successes of other players on the team.  One of my randomly favorite occurrences is when a player who rarely plays get a chance to pitch or hit.  This often occurs when the game has been most likely already decided.  Great teammates realize how the player has worked just as hard as everyone else and is an important part of the team.  Great teammates cheer on the player with the same focus and energy, if not more, than every other player who has already hit or pitched.  A hidden message you can get from this situation is what type of teammate the player getting the opportunity is.  If the player is a positive member of the team, then the team will usually be behind him.  If the player is a negative influence on the team, then teammates will usually react accordingly as well.

        Great teammates celebrate the successes of others.  They have a team-first attitude that understands the importance of teammates doing well.  Next time any of the situations above happen, I challenge you to observe how people respond.  You can learn a lot by doing so.  If you are a player, then challenge yourself to be a great teammate by celebrating the successes of others.   Celebrating is fun.  Don't you want to do it more often?  Simple math will tell you that by thinking about others you will be celebrating a lot more than if you just think about yourself.


http://www.csnbayarea.com/sites/csnbayarea/files/styles/large/public/cespedes_in_tunnel_as_large.jpg?itok=S8yGuUaB

2-1 in 18 innings..a Sport Psychology Dream

    The spring has had a challenging start to it thus far.  Our team has had six injuries of varying severity with three guys out for the year so far.  Without going into too much detail, it has changed the complexity of our team significantly.  More importantly, it has ended the high school careers of at least two of the players.  That is something that has been very hard to deal with.  Regardless, I do not think anyone within the state of South Carolina feels bad for us and plans on spotting us any runs when we play them!  The challenge has been to keep the same high aspirations the team had before the year as the names in the lineup have been changed.  Something I think has helped with this transition is our clear expectation for everyone in the program and a goal we set of, "Being as good as we can be each day."  Guys getting hurt hasn't changed that a bit.  It was kind of cool to see John Calipari has the same expectations for his team in pursuit of history.  I saw a quote prior to the tournament starting where he said, "All I want for my team right now is individually to be the best version of yourself."  That is really all any of us can and should expect.  That best version may change over time and may even fluctuate daily, but it's a great perspective.

        The injuries have made the start a bit of a roller coaster ride as our team searches for its identity, and that roller coaster continued with an eighteen inning game on Tuesday night against one of our rivals.  The game, a tense one for all involved because of the numerous up's and down's that an eighteen inning game will bring, was a sport psychology dream with all of the story lines that developed.  It would be impossible to mention every one, but I will discuss a few general thoughts I had and hope to incorporate some concepts that will help others in the future.

1. The Toughest Moment in Baseball History That Wasn't:  Somewhere around the 5th inning or so, we were locked in a 1-1 tie.  We pinch-hit a kid with freakish athletic ability who has worked to try to play catch up with some baseball skills and knowledge of the game over the last couple of years.  He worked the at-bat and got drilled in the arm.  After advancing to second base on a bunt (I think?  18 innings remember!), he stole third.  The player slid extremely late and crushed his ankle on the bag as the ball scooted away.  "Score!" was the call and the goal of the player as he proceeded to do the unthinkable.  With his left foot dangling to the side, he hopped on his right foot in a perfectly straight line and scored ahead of the throw.  The player then collapsed in agony and had to be carried off the field.  Unfortunately, he got the bad news of having a severe leg and ankle injury that required surgery Thursday.  That is much more important than the result of a game, but the focus of the blog is the game so back to it.  As the player is lying in agony, the opposing coach is discussing the play with the umpires.  The umpires walk off several times to discuss what happened.  Any coach knows this is never a good sign and is likely going to result in 50% of the people involved in the game being extremely upset with the end of the conversation.  The umpires decided that one of them had blown the play dead because of a "concern for safety of the player" (never mind that he had been standing on third and decided on his own to go home).  I've never seen this happen in a baseball game in my life, but the decision was indeed made.  Our team was upset (about the player and the play), the hitter ended up striking out to end the inning, and little did we know the night was just getting started.  Regardless of the result, the player who hopped home showed unbelievable courage with his effort on the play.  It was the toughest individual effort I have ever witnessed in person and something I will never forget.  Moving past it proved a tough challenge.  Much thought was spent on how we should have scored instead of how we would do so again in the present moment.

2. Hitting In the Dark:  Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in baseball.  We've all heard the axiom about hitting a round ball with a round bat square.  Well something that can make it even harder than normal is attempting to hit in the dark.  Once we got into the seventh inning or so the sun was down completely, and any light would be of the man-made variety.  The lights at the field we were playing at were better served for listening to a little Barry White and making some moves than hitting.  This led to 11 innings of pitchers looking like they are all throwing 7-10 mph harder and an unprecedented amount of fist pumps as they threw fastball after fastball past hitters on both sides.  This was a major challenge to hitting.  When broken down to the most fundamental of levels, one must see the ball to hit.  The lights made it tougher than normal.  What made it even tougher, however, was if the hitters allowed the lights (uncontrollable) to take away from their focus on the task at hand (controllable).

3. Separating Elements of the Game: This relates to some of the inevitably gross offensive lines that occur in an offensively-challenged eighteen inning baseball game.  As hitter after hitter went back to the dugout or ended an offensive threat shaking their head after a strikeout or weakly hit ball, the challenge was to then move on and play defense.  Both teams did a really good job of this.  Guys did a really good job of separating different elements of the game and moving on.  Again, both teams did well with this and are to be commended.  Although it has been said that experience is the best of teachers, my hope for the offensive players is that they do not have too many opportunities to learn like this one!

4. How to Pitch in the Dark: It was at least as fun to pitch as it wasn't to hit during this one.  The confidence of three guys in particular who threw during the "Dark Ages" portion of the game was great to watch.  They threw like nobody was going to hit them and pitched through some tough spots.  The hitters did a poor job of placing proper value and effort with each pitch of each at-bat.  What I mean is all too many times one strike quickly became three, and swings were either of the gorilla or puppy variety.  There was very little free and easy to anything offensively.  The pitchers were the direct inverse of this.  "Here it comes.  See if you can hit it!" was the attitude on the mound when one run was probably going to win the game.  I'd encourage these guys to "pitch like you're in the dark" every game by throwing each pitch with the same conviction.

5. Every Moment Is as Big as We Make It:  This is perhaps the greatest lesson I think a game like this can teach.  In sports, so often we place an added emphasis on "crunch time."  This could be the final two minutes in a football game, the last inning of a baseball game, or the closing minutes of a basketball game.  My questions would be this: "What makes the final out of a baseball game any more valuable than the other twenty-six?"  "Is a touchdown in the final two minutes worth more than six points?" "Why do basketball teams change the way they have successfully gotten the lead in the first fifty-nine minutes in hopes of hanging on to a game?"  With this in mind, everyone will remember one or two plays from a 2-1, 18 inning game that "made the difference" in the game.  That difference, in reality, isn't any greater than every other play.  A baserunning mistake to start an inning is just as important as one to end an inning.  A great defensive play is still only worth one out.

In my opinion, the greatest of both athletes and teams are those who are able to best approach every pitch or every play with the same intensity and focus.  Consistent behavior yields consistent results.  Why would you then purposely have a completely different approach to the end of the game?  That only creates discomfort and likely hurts performance.  Now, if you are the rare player who seems to perform better in these "clutch" situations, then I would challenge you to reevaluate where your focus is during all of the other situations.  Chances are an adjustment in doing so would help you to be a better overall player.

Those are just a few of the topics that stood out to me in this marathon game for the ages.  There were certainly others like guys battling through 0-6's to get big hits late in what proved to be the deciding inning (we won 2-1).  It was a great game though and one I will never forget being a part of.

Have you ever participated in a long, extra inning game?  Were there moments or lessons that stood out to you?  I'd love to hear about them.  Tweet @Coach_Ehrlich, or shoot me an email atehrlichb1@gmail.com.  Win now!