How To Master The Mental Game of Baseball: An Interview with Ken Ravizza

it's super excited today to be with without question when the top mental guys in the game if not the pioneer of the mental game can revisit who authored heads up baseball and now he's got the newest version with heads up baseball 2.0 but but welcome if you if you could come down to just one thing if you tell a coach right now listening what's the most important thing he could teach or that you've learned from the mental game what would it be make sure Lance wheelers mastermind pitching program great scientific principle phenomenal awareness of how you have your body moves and how it needs to move to increase your velocity that works at Lance is doing you know he's outstanding he's gonna teach you how to take ownership of your own career and when it comes down to it that's what really matters when you're in the heat of the game and you have to self coach so you're gonna get something that you're not gonna get with other guys and I can't recommend it enough [Music] I mean too big to sit here with you it's it's exciting it's alright this is this is a special treat for me because I've been a big fan of his and so I walk into the seal and get the chance to interview him you know I can't say no to that so glad to have you man ron's glad you're gonna be here to ask me questions the coaches of America all right now let's see what we got okay when we think about the mental game what's the first if somebody was cuz you often hear about the mental game but what does a mental game mean to you great question I think the mental game has two components to it in the game of baseball one component of the mental game is the strategy the strategy part of the puzzle what do what do i do what's the plan for this situation for the pitcher what pitch do I make in this situation for the hitter what's going to be my approach at the plate that's one side of a mental game the other side of the mental game is self-regulation I've got to be in control of myself before I control my performance and I think in the area of sports psychology that's really where our emphasis is more on making sure the athlete is in control of him or herself when they step in that box when they towed that rubber because some of the strategy stuff a lot of that is between the player and the coach sir and that isn't necessarily the sports psyche person's expertise so I want to bring the player to that opportunity so that they're fully functioning their head is clear and they're able to do what they do in the pressure situation that they do in their practice and training okay if you were to give somebody three tips a player at any level three tips on how to be better at that what would it be first thing would be long haul know why you play the game and what your passion is for the game because when you know you why you're playing the game and where you love about the game it's going to help you sustain your motivation over the duration of the period you're playing so while you playing the game is a critical first question for me second would be that you've got to learn how to regulate yourself and be in control of yourself before you try controlling your performance the third thing would be the use of routines they the if that begins before it begins what's your routine what's your funneling in process to get you so that you may not have consistency of results but you have consistency of your approach and that routine you go through before your performance so why you play the game regulating yourself and having good routines what when you see the the good players from the great mental the guys with a really good mental game what's the difference between the guys that are able to perform at a higher level versus the ones that can't a lot of its ability if we had the ability balances out it's the guys that are aid but know themselves know themselves know what it's like to perform with their a-game their be game in their C game and when they have their C game with their big game they're not panicking and wish they had their a-game but they're getting it done with what they got and they know how to do that how would you how important is criticism we're being able to accept criticism failure and how do you respond to that if somebody were to fail like a kid had a really bad game what would be your first thing to each other this kid well I think one of the things is whenever you perform in athletics you're gonna get immediate feedback on how you did whether it's a gymnast did she stay on the balance beam you fall off the figure skater did she make the jump did she make the jump the baseball player did I get my result didn't I get my result okay you're going to get immediate feedback feedback is information sometimes we fail but we can learn from that information to get better the key becomes how I use what just happened to me and how I use that information to get better for the next time I approach it to just be stuck in I got my result I didn't get my result it's too crazy it's too intense puts too much damn pressure on it and I've heard Augie Garrido talk about this and he talks about the difference between results and outcome outcome is a closed deal we won we lost successful unsuccessful results our information how do I use that information to get better and that's key for me because how you use the information from your performance to get better if you practice you took three hours that day to go through your practice in training what did you learn from that practice in training today to get better because if you didn't learn anything just because you were out there working hard it doesn't matter what matters is there's something you learned from what you did today now what helps with that is having a mission going into practice having some type of plan something you're working on when you take that bull pen what am i working on today to get better so then you can use that as a benchmark and then other things may come up in the myths of it and you make those adjustments and you evaluate your critique are you gonna fail absolutely failure is part of learning nothing wrong with it nothing wrong with it I think we get to come hung up on I got to be successful all the time no you got to take the risks of fail to get better how's Brad well if you were a coach in today's game whether it be high school college what would you stress about the middle game what would be if you had 10 minutes to practice the mental game each day set aside what would that include the major thing I would stress is for the athlete to be able to think clearly and use the information from his performance to get better to get better and now personalize it and not beat himself up because he didn't do well that doesn't mean he or she's a terrible rotten person all that means is they didn't perform well at that time get the information get the information forgive yourself and play forward get the information forgive yourself play forward pitch but you do have to take the time to get the information this is not just about flushing it letting it go and moving on no get the information key so just learning from your failures is a big part of them absolutely so how hard how big is is breathing how integral is breathing to to mental and the physical component for me the breath is a very powerful tool because it represents so much one it's a behavior that you can see as a coach you can see whether the player is stepping out taking his or her breath and you can at least see they're doing that and it sounds so simple but it's so hard to do but what does the breath do number one the breath brings oxygen to the brain into the blood supply which brings oxygen to the brain which helps you think clearly number one number two the breath will always pull you to the present moment in an exhale it helps get you back the breath when you need to relax a little bit focus on the exhalation when you need energy focus on the inhalation so that you can sort of regulate yourself just with your breathing by bringing energy and when you need it letting energy go out the breath helps you shift from consciously thinking to just do it inhale exhale let go of the thinking and move to the doing the breath good breath is the start of good rhythm good rhythm is so critical but it's got to begin with good breath see you asked the question about breath Lance in my nine Olympic Games that I've been involved with six Summer Olympics three Winter Olympics the major feedback I've gotten from athletes when we debrief their experience and I asked them what did you get out of our work together the overwhelming reaction from athletes that I've worked with this Ben Kent the breathing helps so much because when the pressure was on I had something that go to that could pull me into the moment and gave me a very basic fundamental skill that I could use in that intense situation now how often should someone practice breathing and should it be part of the daily process ideally if you could spend five minutes just sitting and especially in this day and age where it's very hard for people to just sit without having their phones and all the other things but to just sit and watch your breath for maybe just five minutes to just relax and quiet down you may not even get to the breath watching part but just sit by yourself for maybe five minutes and just calm yourself down and if you can start doing that on a regular basic basis fantastic fantastic does it have to be every day no I think for me what I've always told people don't make this a should do it because you want to do it and build them a little bit you that you do and stop beating yourself up for what you didn't do but do what you're doing and validate yourself for doing that what would you tell a parent of a kid or something's dealing with a coach it's may be really tough or they're having some issues as far as they're being told to change this or change it how do you deal with the situation like that or you maybe you practice this but then when you go in the coach is totally against it your question is how do you deal with the coaches trying to make changes yeah if something that you don't he's he doesn't believe in the breath or he doesn't believe everything's physical nothing's mental he doesn't ever give you a chance to work the mental then what you would have to do is that's something you're gonna have to do on your own and you're gonna have to be developing your system to make it work for you because no one has to know what you're doing I mean but you know that hey I'm in control of myself and I can do that without the coaching now if the coach can support you that's fantastic because it needs reinforcements it's the thing I find when I work with teams my goal is to coach the coaches so that the coaches can be reinforcing this now if the coach isn't going to be into it then you realize that and you work as best you can in that situation cuz I'm sure if you're with that coach he or she has some other skills that are pretty good or you're an idiot to be with that coke so the middle games of choice it's up to you right yeah yeah you get to choose now how important is a journal to success for developing the mental game I think the journals are in writing stuff down for some people that's very important for other people it's not their thing and once again on a lot of this mental game stuff there is not a cookie cutter and this is the way you do it this is the way you do it you've got to know yourself and come up with a system that works for you but one thing I always did with the athletes I've worked with and especially at the university level is they're gonna keep a journal for a while just to see how it goes you know so that you sort of push them to take that leap of trying to get some of these things written down but for some they're gonna get more into it than others and that's an individual difference but the real skill we're teaching is the act of reflection the act of learning from my experience that I take a few moments and I just settled down and I asked myself what did I learn from that today and sometimes writing it down it's nice when you can go back and read hey this is what I thought at that time so how important is believing you're a good player confidence belief where does that come into the middle game I think confidence has a huge role Lance but for me there are so many times you play the game man and the confidence isn't there I think sometimes we get overrated but and I've been around enough professional and college athletes lagger don't have swag i got swagger I mean I've worked with these people confidence is fragile for all of us as human beings let me say that again confidence is fragile no one's got their self all together we all have our frailties it's called being human okay but the issue is do you have something to go to when you're not feeling great so question Lance I'm always asking players is are you that crappy you have to feel great and be confident to perform well I haven't thought about that yeah well let's stop worrying about the confidence and let's get back to this is what I need to do when I'm putting on my batting gloves this is what I need to do when I'm in the hole this is what I need to do when I'm on deck and this is the way I'm going to get in and I'm going to take possession of that batter's box and when I'm in that batter's box I own that batter's box and sometimes you got to talk your way through it that's part of the dance man yeah but you can't be freaking out that I don't feel good I don't feel right feeling Goods overrated so would you say that like say during the World Series is it the guys are really playing to a higher level is are they performing at a higher level do the stress or is it the the idea of the others caving and lowering their name great question when when you look at the World Series you're looking at 162 games than these teams now eleven play out there about 170 374 games no one there feels great your bodies beat up you're beat up mentally you're exhausted and you're grinding men and yep you're going to win some pitches you're gonna lose some pitches but can you get to the next pitch because you're one pitch away and you see it there hey the confidence just in the last couple games the ebbs and flows Dodgers up 3 boom Houston's back Dodgers down boom they battled it's about taking those clothes absorbing those blows and giving jabs and you give the jabs by doing the basic little things and doing them with a hundred percent of what you got to execute that skill that's powerful what about a pre pitch routine what are your thoughts on a pre pitch routine what would include how absolutely pre pitch because when we look at routines you have your routines going into your performance during the performance the actual skill execution and then the coming out so it's like in baseball where you have a pitch that lasts ok the pitches may strike you got 15 seconds 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 next pitch and in the World Series it's up to 25 30 seconds alright but that time between pitches that's where the mental game lives Lance when does the last pitch end and the next pitch begin it's going to vary after each pitch based upon if that's a successful pitch right where I want it BAM I'm on the next pitch really quick but let's say that ball is up in a way I've got to think about that pitch get the information from the pitch and quickly maybe four seconds make them adjustment in my mind and what I need to do to get to the next pitch so that next pitch begins before it begins okay now we have the landmarks like putting your foot on the rubber meaning I'm ready I'm here I'm on this pitch but before you put your foot on the rubber you can be on the last pitch a little while if you need to but now I'm on this pitch so the pre pitch routine is to get me so I'm right here right now ready to give a hundred percent of what I got to win this pitch to win this at-bat to win this game whichever way we want to break that down but it begins before it begins and it ends after it ends what about your thoughts on body language you see a lot of kids that was one thing that watch a lot but just body language how powerful how does it affect others body language is used because everyone can see it hitters the on deck guys are watching pitchers hitters are like sharks man they smell blood and when that pitchers bleeding their batting averages go up their confidence goes up but the key for me is when he toes the rubber what's the body language is he present is he focused is he in he may have his momentary where he's a little upset and he may show that a little bit let's not overdo it but then there's the release of that and then when I get back it's my rubber you get in your box buddy I'm coming yeah yeah so every guy's a little different Lance every guy's a little different some pitch they pitched like their personality some guys are more emotional some guys are more intense some of the silent assassins you know they do it in the gentle way there's many ways to get it done the key is knowing what's your weight and how important is it for your coaches to really have a history or know the know the pitcher and treat them we're coaching them the middlegame differently I think it's I think it's critical and it's one of the things that's changing and teaching and coaching is that now we're being more sensitive and aware of the individual differences that people have different styles and different personalities and we've got to take that person from where they are and sort of move them along to get better at what they're trying to do but we all start in different places and I think I've seen just in the last 15 years dramatic changes with coaches being more tuned into that and I'm really excited about that if you if you could come down to just one thing you could tell a coach right now listening what's the most important thing he could teach or that you've learned from the mental game who would it be make sure they're breathing sometimes just when you're talking with them settle them down just make sure they can breathe because if they can't breathe they're not going to hear what you're saying and so so that if I can be in control of me then I got a chance that I can think clearly and then once I can think clearly commit to it don't have a chance of going out and doing it yeah

Channel: Lantz Wheeler's Baseballthinktank

Views: 24,374

Rating: 4.9429736 out of 5

Keywords: Lantz Wheeler, Baseball, Pitching, Mental Game, Ken Ravizza, Heads Up Baseball, Pitching tips, Youth baseball instruction, Pitching velocity, Pitching drills, Alan Jaeger, baseball pitching, pitching drills, baseball pitch, baseball, baseball pitching drills, pitching mechanics, pitching mechanics drills, baseball coaching drills, baseball coaching tips, coaching youth baseball, pitching drills for baseball, baseball tips, youth baseball drills, core velocity belt

Id: DLIX63yTckI

Length: 21min 19sec (1279 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 26 2018