Brent Mayne

Gettin Ready

I had a flash back this morning. Sometimes it still happens to me. I’ll wake up in a cold sweat or have a dream that I’m not ready for the season or can’t find my cleats and they need me to pinch hit or something. I think it tends to happen around this time of year cause If I were still playing, this would be the time I’d be grinding it out, getting ready for spring training. Let me tell you something, I don’t miss getting ready for spring training one bit. It’s kind of like a kid going from summer back to school. Generally, I’d roll out onto the field around the beginning of the year and start the process of getting back into baseball shape.  In an effort to stay ahead of the competition and keep myself engaged, each off season I’d try to pick something dealing with the game to work on. One year it was my eyes and improving my vision. One off season it was yoga and stretching. It might have been diet. Every off season was filled with weight room time and an effort to gain weight. Keeping weight on was always a challenge and it was important to me to try my best to start the season around 200 lbs so I could finish around 185. 

I never really did a lot of live catching work in the off season because I felt like the 8-10 bullpens a day for six weeks of spring training would get me more than ready for the season. It also never seemed like I could do enough during the off season to miss that intense soreness that you got from the first couple weeks of spring training. It’s kind of like surfing in that there’s really no way to get you in surfing shape except by surfing. You can run 10 miles a day, lift as many weights as you want and stretch all day long, it doesn’t matter. Some weaselly kid who surfs a lot will paddle circles around you if you haven’t been surfing. Same goes for baseball. You can be in the best shape ever but it doesn’t matter cause you’re still gonna be sore for the first couple weeks, especially if your a catcher. There just isn’t any way to get in baseball shape except by playing baseball. 

So now when I have one of those dreams or have a thought that I should be working out and getting ready for the season, I just roll over and smile.  There’s some things about the game I don’t miss.

44

Wow, that was an amazing inauguration. I don’t know if I’m getting old and paying better attention to politics or if this is something out of the ordinary, but I honestly don’t remember ever seeing a new president take office. I certainly don’t remember U2 playing. I’ll say one thing for the man…he can write and deliver one hell of a speech. I’ve listened to it three times now and in the immortal words of Chris Farley from Tommy Boy, “I’ve seen a lot of cool things in my life… but –  that  -  was  -  awesome!” I hope Obama can rally the masses and fulfill just half of the expectations that we’ve placed on him.

On a personal note, getting ready to travel up to Utah for the weekend to do a clinic with my father. It will be the first time I’ve ever done anything like that with him, and I’m looking forward to it. After that, I’m home for a week and then off to Arizona for a week to do the fantasy camp for the KC Royals. Again, this will be a brand new experience for me and it could either be a total bust or a lot of fun…stay posted. I do hope to capture a few interviews for the podcast series while I’m there. Speaking of that, the time in Utah might be a good opportunity to corner my dad for another episode with him, maybe on something specific like infield play or pitching or practice routines. If anyone out there has any requests or suggestions on topics that you would like to see addressed please let me know. I aim to please.

Stressy

I’ve been reading this book I picked up in the airport called “Confident Conversation” by Mike Bechtle. With my introverted tendencies I figured this would be a good fit… and it was. I found the chapter on channeling stress to be particularly wise. Here’s a sampling…

“The truth is that everyone feels stress. The more challenging something is the more stress you’ll feel. It’s normal, it’s common, and it can be a positive force for a sharp performance-depending on what you do with it.”

“Without stress, we wouldn’t have the creative tension that keeps us focused.”

“A violin string needs a certain amount of tension to play in tune. Too little and the string produces no sound; too much and the string breaks. When used correctly, stress can actually become the fuel for creative interaction.”

“The most valuable books and resources about handling stress are tools for stress management, not stress elimination. We don’t want to totally get rid of stress. We need to learn how to use it to our advantage.”

“Stress is like gasoline. When a spark hits the fumes, it explodes. If that occurs in your living room, it’s devastating. If it occurs in the engine of your car, it gets you where you’re going. The gasoline isn’t good or bad; the application is what makes the difference.”

I had my own epiphany with stress somewhere during my second or third professional season. It was then that it finally dawned on me that the feelings of pressure, the butterflies, the sweaty palms, etc. were not going away or diminishing like I thought they would. They were here to stay. So, instead of fighting them and trying to eliminate them or feeling inferior when they occurred, I finally gave in and accepted them. I finally realized that those feelings weren’t good OR bad, they just were. God gave em to me for some reason, right? I just got on with it and figured those feelings were there to heighten my awareness. No big deal. It got to the point where I actually looked forward to those times and feelings and enjoyed the rush they brought.

So I guess my message to the younger player is this…no matter if you’re a 20 year veteran or a rookie in his first game, everyone gets nervous. You don’t need to get caught in the trap of fighting it or thinking you’re less of a competitor because it effects you. Fighting it is futile. Just accept the elevated heart beat or sweaty palms or whatever physical manifestation it has on you as part of athletics and life. Be thankful for the opportunities that come with those situations and get on with it. Be patient with yourself and remember, the more you are in those situations, the more familiar you’ll get with them. You may even grow to enjoy them. You might like to keep this quote in mind….

“Sometimes a hitter gets a hit, sometimes I strike them out, but in neither case does anyone die.”                                                                                ~    Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez

P.S. The podcast with Dr. Ravizza is now up on iTunes…just go to iTunes, click podcast, and punch in The Art of Catching. Enjoy.

Dr. Ken interview done.

Alright sports fans, I’ve finished another podcast. This one is with world famous sports psychologist Dr. Ken Ravizza. Ken is a consultant to the Angels, Dodgers, CSUF and Long Beach State baseball teams, the U.S. Olympic teams, the Arizona State and Nebraska football teams, as well as many individual athletes. Dr. Ravizza is a professor at CSUF where I was a student of his in the late 80’s. Oh yeah, he’s also the author of the great book “Heads Up Baseball”. He’s a man with a ton of great wisdom on peak performance and athletics.

I hope players, coaches, and fans will benefit from the podcast…that is, if you can get past my wordiness. I’ll pre-apologize right here and now for being a shaky interviewer. I’ll tell you what, that job isn’t as easy as it looks. Having always been on the other end of the mic, I was under the impression that the journalist job was pretty simple. Wrong. It’s an art to do a good interview. I find myself really paying attention to the interviewers rather than the interviewees on TV now and I did get on to Amazon to order the best couple “Art of Interviewing” type books I could find. I promise to clean my act up and get better. Eventually I’ll mix in a grasp of the English language, learn how to ask a simple question, and then just get the hell out of the way and let the other person speak. Oh well, live and learn. At least I’m not crash and burning in front of 10 million people on the red carpet of the Golden Globes or something….hey speaking of that, Tiki Barber was solid wasn’t he?  He really held his own out there and gave me hope that an ex-athlete can thrive in that arena.

Oh yeah, to access the podcast, just go to the home page of The Art of Catching website and push the podcast button from the menu at the top. You can try the iTunes route, but as with last time, it may take a couple days to get posted there.

Grasshopper

I should remember to include this quote every time I teach catching.

“In combat, spontaneity rules; rote  performance of technique perishes.”  `  Bruce Lee

You can interpret it however you like, but for me, it says there’s practice time and there’s performance time. Recognize the difference between the two and avoid falling into the trap of thinking about technique and mechanics during game time. Game time is the moment to bring what you have to the table, be confident that it’s enough, then go to battle and have fun. In sport and combat things happen too quickly to think and react consistently well at the same time. Trust that you have created solid habits in your practice sessions, then just react and perform when the bright lights come on. Analyze later. C’mon, show me something good. Good luck soldier.