By Dr. Jason Novetsky
Sport Psychology Consultant

Baseball players attending the Prep Baseball Report Pre-Season All-State Showcase in Midland Michigan on Saturday February 23^rd, 2013 will have the opportunity to hear from Dr. Jason Novetsky, Sport Psychology Consultant from the Champion Mindset Group. Dr. Novetsky is also the Mental Skills Coach for the Eastern Michigan University Baseball Team. The following was written by Dr. Novetsky as a prelude to his seminar

At the top level of athletics (Select, College and Professional) the talent level is almost equal among participants. For athletes to separate themselves from the pack and truly become elite they need a competitive advantage (that is legal). According to the book “With Winning in Mind,” by Lanny Bassham 95% of all winning is done by 5% of participants. The main difference between athletes that win from others is the way that they think. Those top 5% believe that elite performance is 95% mental.

Recently, research and several books have agreed with Bassham’s claims and demonstrated that talent is not the defining aspect of elite performance. In fact this research has shown that talent is overrated and suggests that effort, opportunity, access to high quality coaching and most importantly deliberate practice in the physical and mental approaches to performance create elite performers.

The difficulty with this is that most athletes have been told as player to; “be tough, relax, focus, concentrate, block it out and bear down,” but unfortunately most have never been taught to perform those requests.

Athletes and teams need to be educated to help them understand who they are, where they are going and to teach them how to prepare for competition, play with passion and focus, and be proud of their play. Sport Psychology Consultants are able to teach athletes how to mentally prepare, sustain focus and recover from adversity during practice and competition to give them a competitive advantage against others with similar talent levels.

The seminar at the Pre-Season All-State Showcase on February 23rd will help prepare athletes to take their game to the next level and beyond. Athletes will learn the importance of setting proper goals, developing a mental workout to prepare off the field and plans to sustain focus and respond to adversity on the field utilizing the concepts and skills below:

• Definition of Mental Toughness
• Confidence
• Motivation
• Effort vs. Talent (10,000 hour rule)
• Goal Setting (4 types)
• Mental Workout: Breathing, Relaxation and Visualization
• Routines: Pregame, Pre-pitch, Post-pitch and Postgame
• Plans for recovering from adversity
• Self Talk and Staying in the Moment (The Zone)