THE ORIGIN OF PRESSURE

“Pressure comes when someone calls on you to perform a task for which you are unprepared.”

-Tony LaRussa

LOVE OF THE GAME

“People ask me what I do in winter when there is no baseball. I will tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

-Rogers Hornsby (Hall of Famer)

DON'T CONFORM...BE DIFFERENT WITH ENTHUSIASM AND ATTITUDE

When the Cincinnati Reds signed Pete Rose in 1961, the organization made a regular habit of signing young Cincinnati-area players to fill its minor league rosters. Rose was signed not because he was an attractive prospect but because he was from the area. When he arrived at spring training in Tampa, Florida, he had one above-average tool—his speed—plus an abundance of enthusiasm and determination. His arm strength was barely average, his defensive skills were unimpressive, and he lacked power. But Rose was always among the first to work out in the morning and the last to stop at night. When his assigned team was not scheduled to be doing anything, he would mix with another team and find some way to get extra work. Rose had been assigned to Karl Kuehl’s Class D Geneva, New York, team for spring training, but one day Kuehl went over to the Triple A game. One game was not enough for Rose, so after his workouts ended he would dash over to the Triple A game and tell the veterans, “If you’ve had enough for today, I’d love to finish the game for you.” When a veteran chose to opt out, Rose would take over for the late innings. No other young player had the nerve to make such an outlandish request, and it paid off for Rose—he got noticed and kept moving through the system.

Rose thus ignored the tacit demands to conform, and he advanced by not being afraid to be different. He chose extra work and spending time with more advanced players over team bonding. This takes some degree of courage, since he did make himself stand out from the crowd with his work ethic and relentless hustle.

From "Mental Toughness: Baseball’s Winning Edge" by Karl Kuehl, John Kuehl, and Casey Tefertiller

DREAMS

"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable and eventually inevitable."

-Christopher Reeves

WHAT SERPARATES A WINNER FROM SECOND PLACE

“In the end, it’s extra effort that separates a winner from second place. Butwinning takes a lot more that that, too. It starts with complete command of thefundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice.And finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man.Put all these together, and even if you don’t win, how can you lose?”

-Jesse Owens

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

Practice is finished, but Patrick Peterson isn’t.

He walks across the green turf of LSU’s indoor practice facility, into a corner of the massive building next to the north end zone where a row of blocking pads are attached to the wall.

Knees bent, he locks into ready position as though the pads are a real live opposing receiver and begins his work. He slides from one pad to the next, back and forth, his arms firing out like pistons, slapping them like they’ve hurled an insult his way.

Bap...bap...bap...bap...bap.

No one is around. No coach is in his ear imploring him to work harder. No one has to tell him anything.

The voice is in his head. The voice telling him that it isn’t just talent alone that will take him where he wants to go.

It’s sweat. It’s the extra mile. It’s every day.

Bap...bap...bap....bap...bap.

“It comes from my father,” Peterson said. “He always put in my head that you’ve got to be better than the next man. While I’m working, someone else is sleeping. I definitely took that to heart. That helped me be the player I am today, but there are definitely things I can sharpen up.

“I tell myself, I want to be the best cornerback to ever come out of not only LSU, but the whole NCAA. That was my goal coming into college. I believe I have achieved some of the goals I have set.”

Read Scott Rabalais' complete article at: http://bit.ly/gEha9f

WE'RE ALWAYS TRYING TO GET BETTER

''We got better yesterday. We got better on Wednesday. We're going to have a better team this Sunday. That really has been a trademark of this team ... to always make improvements over the course of the season. So I don't think we take weeks off. I don't think we take days off. We're always trying to get better.''

-Tom Brady

NEVER CONCEDE

As he neared retirement, Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett said, “In my last at bat, I would like to hit a ground ball to the second baseman and run it out as hard as I can, because that is the way I have played the game; that is who I am. That is what I want people to remember.” This is the essence of professionalism that makes for greatness: by never conceding an out on the bases, players such as Brett and Bench pick up an extra base or create errors by the opposition. This can be the difference in scoring a run, the difference in winning and losing a game.

From "Mental Toughness: Baseball’s Winning Edge" by Karl Kuehl, John Kuehl, and Casey Tefertiller

CHARACTER

You identify yourself by what you do when no one is watching.  The supervised athlete may be the harest worker, the most selfless and responsible competitor.  But how he practice3s when no one sees him, how he interacts with teammates when the coach is not within listening distance -- that's when he defines himself.  His character.

Theodore Roosevelt extend the definition to self-awareness and independent self-evaluation saying, "I care not what others think of what I do, but care very much about what I think of what I do.  That is character."

From "Coaching The Mental Game" by H. A. Dorman

A CHAMPION'S ATTITUDE

"Today I will do what others won't,

so tomorrow I can accomplish

what others can't."

-Jerry Rice-

WHAT MADE TED WILLIAMS GREAT

"Ted Williams, who knew just about everything there was to know about hitting, was always trying to learn more."

-Ernie Harwell

AIM HIGH TO REACH YOUR GOAL

"If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that files feels the attraction of earth."

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

THE ULTIMATE TEAM PLAYER

For the first 10 years of his career, Ron Harper played for Cleveland, Toronto and the Los Angeles Clippers.  He averaged nearly 20 points a game over those 10 years.  In that time he went to the playoffs four times and never won a series. Over the next seven years, he spend five with Chicago and the last two with the Los Angeles Lakers.  Five of those years, Harper played on teams that won the World Championship though only once did average over double figures.  He altered his role for the good of the team and was reward with championships.

"Perhaps the most moving speaker was Ron Harper, who talked about what it was like to be playing the limited, unglamorous role of defensive specialist on this team after years of being the main man on weak teams. It was so much sweeter, he said, being just a cog on a winning team than being the superstar on a weak one."

From "Playing for Keeps" by David Halberstam

PLAY TO WIN

"You'll always miss 100% of

the shots you don't take."

-- Wayne Gretzky

UTILIZATION OF GOOD BODY LANGUAGE

The following comes Rahel Smith via Crieghton Burns:


Body language can be described as how one uses gestures and body movements to communicate. Body language can give insight into what an individual may be thinking or feeling. On a basketball court players frequently send messages to coaches, teammates, referees, opponents and crowds.

Below are four ways to exhibit positive body language on the court:

1. Look your coaches in the eye when receiving instruction. nod your head to show them that you are paying attention.

2. When your teammate makes a bad play, keep your head up, give them an encouraging look and keep playing hard. The selfish, immature thing to do would be to whine, roll the eyes or pout at a team mate.

3. Look enthused and energetic in practice and game situations even when you don't feel that way.

4. If your team should happen to be losing in a game, keep a stone face. Show a confident demeanor and don't let opponents see you rattled.