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Tom Hanson - Recreational And Leisure/Sports/Baseball has been a member since June 8th 2010, and has created 538 posts from scratch.

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Mom Saves Son’s Season (could you?)

Hi:

Here’s a good story — I got it yesterday from a
mom who used the Play Big principles to “save” her
son’s season.

DISCLAIMER: Coaches and parents should know Gina
Parris already was a trained tapper before Play Big
(ginaparris.com), so I can’t say these results are
“typical,” but I believe it is very possible for
any parent or coach do something similar with the
training I’m offering this week.

Check it out….

——–

“Well Tom I loved your email about the high school
hitter whose future was nose diving due to his
microscopic batting average. I forwarded it to
Firstborn who was experiencing the exact same thing
in his sophomore college season.

After one double header he had come up to the fence
and just looked at me with tears of frustration
welling up in his eyes and no words. He surely
didn’t need to say, “Hey, about my 15 strikeouts
and 5 ground outs in 20 at bats?” We both knew.

But after reading your email, he set two
appointments with me to coach him through the Play
Big techniques. I realized that in intersquads and
practices he is absolutely a power hitter. I didn’t
even know that.

It was so awesome to watch him in the days that
followed our phone calls. Three days in a row this
weekend, he prevailed at the plate! I had to listen
to the last game from home, and I loved hearing the
announcer say, “It looks like J P has really come
around as the player that Coach knows he is. The
starting catcher is hitting the ball very hard this
weekend!”

He also threw out 3-5 runners per game from behind
the plate, but that’s nothing new. It’s just so
exciting to see him bring the confidence he has
behind the plate to his at-bats. And certainly if
it had not been for YOU, he wouldn’t have called
his own mom for mindset help.

We love Play Big!

Gina

Feel free to share this with your readers. Parents
need to know they make a difference if they don’t
push. All I did was look at my kid and ask, “Any
chance you would call me?” (His 13 year old baby
brother on the other hand, is a PLAY BIG
Evangelist! )

———–

Every day I get emails (and I love them) from
parents, coaches and players singing praises for
the benefits of the Play Big principles.

If you’re SERIOUS about your playing, coaching or
parenting, I’ve got 4 spots left in my powerful
3-week program, “The Play Big Belief System
Intensive,” and one spot might be for you.

As the name suggests, it will be an intensive
“upgrading” of your belief system (which determines
the course of your life, much less your baseball
career).

It starts Thursday night at 9pm and already has a
fired up group of players, coaches and parents who
are ready to play big.

(Yes, parents and coaches: You can’t inspire others
to Play Big if you aren’t playing big yourself!)

For 3 straight Thursday nights I’ll work them out
doing inner strength training exercises that will
pump them up to new performance levels.

Sort of like a mental game “Biggest Loser” — see
who can lose the most emotional weight! — and gain
the most freedom (so they can

To join them, register and watch my webinar replay
here: Click Here to Register and Watch

Play Big,

Dr. Tom

p.s. As always I have a money-back guarantee. If
you sign up for the Intensive and aren’t thrilled,
I’ll instantly refund your money no questions asked.

Click:
Click Here to Register and Watch

Great in Practice, But ….

Just a quick shout out today for a young player I’m coaching
who is getting a taste of a wonderful lesson.

(I’ll of course tell you the lesson, but it won’t
mean that much to you. We have to experience
things, get them into our bones, not just our
cortex to really make a difference.)

This guy was virtually 0 for the Fall — a
microscopic batting average.

And this spring started out more of the same and
his once promising career was in flames and in a
nose dive.

He really wanted to play well so he could get into
a great college program.

And he played great…in practice. A real “Showcase
Player.”

But in games it all fell apart — a Jekyll and Hyde
tragedy.

Everyone could see the problem — he stepped in the
bucket… but only in games, not in practice.

Essentially the hitting yips.

He told me he would fix that problem and then work
with me.

A week or so later he wrote back and said, “oh, I
think I know what you mean now by this being a
mental thing. I do great in practice but still step
out in games.”

He’d taken my Play Big Profile and it was clear he
was in really rough shape. He could see what it
takes to win in baseball, but had no access to his
own talent.

Fast forward a few sessions and some practice and
he’s on fire, ripping balls all over the yard…
with a nice straight stride.

I used to have to put a protective energy field
around myself to read his emails to keep his energy
from infecting me.

Now they fire me up.

It’s not like more down times aren’t coming: they
are. But he’s made a shift I don’t think he’ll ever
totally give back.

He’ll always have this time as a resource he can
come back to.

At the heart of the issue, the shift he’s made is
from playing IN ORDER TO get into college to play,
to now playing for the joy of playing.

He’s gone, as I’ve heard Augie Garrido say, from
“prospect to player.”

Coaching: Don’t be a prospect, be a player.

Don’t play IN ORDER TO, play for the joy of playing
right now.

But as I mentioned, you know that already.

It’s just that there’s a big gap between knowing
and living.

 

Play Big my friends,

Dr. Tom

p.s. If you’d like to do what it takes to shift
today’s lesson into your body (in stead of your
head where I just put it), get PLAY BIG at
www.PlayBigBook.com

Get my Confidence Training dvd program FREE when
you get the book for your team (see bottom of the
web page).

www.PlayBigBook.com

Be Strong Up THIS Middle to Win

Last night on the field coaching my son’s team I
got reminded of one of my own lessons.

“LET’S GO!” I yelled as players dragged from one
station to the next. I then had a blessed moment of
self-awareness…

In chess the goal of the opening moves is to
control the center four squares.

If you control the center you can develop your
other pieces freely.

This doesn’t guarantee victory, but it gives you
your best chance.

In baseball you want to be strong up the middle:
pitch, catch, 2B, SS, CF.

If you’re strong there you can live with big bat
guys having lesser gloves.

Being strong up the middle doesn’t guarantee
victory, bit it gives you your best chance.

How does this apply to an individual, like player,
coach or parent?

As I yelled to my players to hustle I felt
something in myself I didn’t like.

I was mad. I was rushing, speeding them up. I was
stirring up “rushing juice.”

Now of course I want them to hustle and run between
stations. But I realized I was rushing them DURING
the stations.

Yes I want them to have powerful intentions when
they are hitting, pitching or playing defense, but
it’s about finding a balance.

Psyched but calm. Energized but relaxed. Focused
but free.

John Wooden often said “be quick but don’t hurry.”

I recognized that the most important variable in
the success of that practice — MY energy — was…

OFF CENTER!

I’d lost the center!

What center? My energetic center.

I had a “yellow light.”

If you don’t know what a yellow light is you are
required to get PLAY BIG! You must have a language
to talk about the mental game or you will be
impotent playing or coaching it.

So I used a technique from PLAY BIG and got myself
back to center.

How valuable is that? I could have wasted 30 of our
60 minutes on the field by rushing my players
around as if getting through my practice plan was
more important than their learning!

Every pre-season I talk to pro players and college
and high school players who now after talking with
me or reading my books realize they “gave away” ALL
of the previous season because they realized they
lost their center early and never got it back.

Practice mechanics all you want and you likely
won’t overcome playing in an off center state.

So control YOUR center, be strong up YOUR middle.

It doesn’t guarantee victories, but it gives you your
best chance — and will change the lives of those around
you.

PLAY BIG!

Dr. Tom

Play Big Wins Best In Show

I had so much fun in Anaheim meeting several of
you.

Thank you to those who stopped by my booth.

It was an enormously gratifying and energizing
few days because of the feedback on PLAY BIG and
my other programs.

I’ll share some of the feedback next week — I
recorded several people talking about the
difference the book has made for them and their
players.

I’m honored that the book was chosen “Best in
Show” by Collegiate Baseball.

One of my favorite moments was when one man, with
his 9-year-old son by his side, said “You’re now
my wife’s favorite author,”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Because of the difference your book has made in
our son’s life.”

Now THAT’S a buzz. Plugs me right into my bigger
mission.

I’m simply using baseball as a way in to upgrade
all aspects of players’, coaches’ and parents’
lives.

I teach life success skills. Life enjoyment and
fulfillment skills.

People say “baseball builds character,” but I say
baseball is neutral. It doesn’t care about you.
It isn’t inherently anything.

It is, however, a spectacular “platform” or
“context” in which to learn life success skills.

Baseball strips you naked in front of the people
you care most about and whether it becomes a
wonderful experience or one that drives you into
therapy depends on the choices YOU make while
you’re in it.

(Note: MOST of the choices you make are NOT
conscious ones. That’s why my upper level
programs address upgrading your programming and
go beyond simply “think positive.”)

One HUGE key is the quality of the leadership a
player experiences. I love that most of you are
coaches because you can influence so many lives.

So I’m thrilled I’ve made a difference in the
lives of son, father and mother mentioned above
and I appreciate having the opportunity to do
that for you in these emails and my programs.

My traveling has settled down now and I’m ready
to roll in 2012. Stay tuned.

Play Big, Dr. Tom

p.s. if you don’t have the book yet, go to
www.PlayBigBook.com

Mental Game of Baseball: Happy Holidays

Behind the scenes at the Play Big Academy — my wife, Birgit, 2 of me, and the Babe.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!