Rox in Their Heads

Well, the best team won the World Series.

Maybe they had more talent, maybe not.

They certainly had better energy.

I don't mean they were more pumped up, more Richard
Simmons-like energy. I mean they had better focus and flow
and resilience and flexibility and power -- energy-wise.

As I've said, the keys to success include: 1) Be aware of
your emotions 2) Be able to marshall your emotions in
service of your goal 3) Be able to recognize and relate
effectively to the emotions of your teammates.

The Red Sox did a great job with those.

I like to say that E-motion means Energy in motion.

When you feel emotions, energy is flowing through your
system. Is that good? Bad?

It depends. (When you deal in psychology, the answer to
almost every question is "it depends.)

It depends on the three items above -- can you recognize
them, use them in service of your goal (as opposed to being
used BY them or hijacked by them), and relate effectively
to the emotions and individual styles of your teammates?

If so, you're a good "emotional athlete."

So the Red Sox were superior Emotional Athletes.

They could take a punch (in the form of a 3 or 2 run HR by
Colorado), they could hold their center/hold their power as
the Colorado fans went wild trying to break them.

The Rox fans' lightning bolts simply bounced off the force
field the Bosox created around them.

As a mental game coach, it was a delight to see, although
as fan I would have enjoyed seeing things come back to
Fenway.

Everything I saw and read about the Red Sox was right on
from a mental/emotional game standpoint.

The whole Manny thing ("It's not the end of the world") was
perfect.

That upset a lot of people, but that's our culture. It
upset a lot of people that would have played like the
Indians when the chips were down -- tight, like, well, it
WAS the end of the world.

The Bosox kept saying in the interviews "we're playing one
game, one pitch at a time." Everyone KNOWS they should do
that, but very few DO it.

That's why when the players actually do it, they use those
words. They can't think of any other way to say it because
that's REALLY what they're doing.

Few players, and even fewer TEAMS actually play one pitch
at a time.

Lastly, all the quotes in the paper talk about how Francona
"created an atmosphere where we were free to play loose,"
or something to that effect.

Coaching is largely about creating an environment where
players are freed up to play great, as opposed to playing
to avoid mistakes.

So my hat off to the Red Sox for a well deserved
championship.

Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson

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