MESSAGE #1076 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AUSTIN ROMINE


Depending on who you ask, Austin Romine is either the #1 or #2 prospect in the New York Yankees organization. He was named Minor League Player of the Year last year and is currently the catcher for the Double-A Trenton Thunder. Last night I caught up with Romine in the locker room before the game.

ET: How do you prepare mentally and physically before games?
AR: I have a set routine and I do it every day. This consistency off the field helps me on the field.

ET: Do you ever feel like not doing your routine?
AR: There’s days where you don’t feel like doing anything, but those are the days that you have to. Those are the days you can’t take a break – you can’t stop. You just have to keep going.

ET: What do you say to yourself when you don’t feel like doing your routine?
AR: Get up (laughs). Just do it. This is a shot in a lifetime. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You don’t get another shot.

ET: You talk about staying in the present moment. Is that your philosophy?
AR: Yes. If you’re living in the moment and you don’t let anything get in your way, then you might have a future. But I think you can learn from the past. Take the good from the past, not the bad.

ET: Who is your favorite player and why?
AR: I had the opportunity to play with Posada (Jorge), the last three years and he is a role model.

ET: What’s the best piece of advice that Posada gave you?
AR: He didn’t tell me anything. It’s from what I saw. Don’t get me wrong, he said a lot of things to me, but what I saw was that this guy is a fifteen year veteran and he’s working harder than the 19, 20, 21 and 22 year old kids every day. That really opened my eyes to how much work it takes once you get there. He doesn’t have to work that hard, but he does.

ET: How did you get to where you are now?
AR: Not making it never crossed my mind. I put in a lot of work and effort to get here and there’s still a lot to go. I remember being 9 years old in the back yard in a hitting cage that my dad made, hitting at 10 o’clock at night with the neighbors banging on the door. It was long nights of grinding. I got here because of hard work. My dad always told me when I didn’t want to hit and wanted to go out with friends, “Someone else is hitting right now.”

ET: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?
AR: In high school, if you threw the rosin bag, I probably would have hit it and I probably would have hit it far. But now you can’t always swing at everything. It’s growing up and getting experience.

ET: You are one of the top 2 Yankee prospects. What are your thoughts on that?

AR: It’s an honor. That helps me; it drives me to remain in that light.

ET: What do you think about when you’re in a slump?
AR: I think about EVERYTHING (laughs). That’s the problem. It’s mental. I don’t feel confident during a slump. I was in a slump this year – 2 for 40-something. And I said, “You know what? Screw it!” Then I went out and hit 3 for 4, and got back on track. I stopped thinking.

ET: How has baseball helped you in other areas of life?
AR: Discipline. It’s taught me that nothing comes easy. If you let it, it (baseball) will roll you over and spit you out. Don’t let it. Life is the same way. Do whatever you can to be on top at all times.

ET: I always say, don’t try your best – do whatever it takes.
AR: I like that. That’s GOOD.

ET: Take it, it’s yours (laughs). Thank you for your time, Austin.
AR: Thank you.

MESSAGE #1075 YOUR ABC’S…

Always remember your ABCs…

Ability, Breaks and Courage

and…

Always Behave Confidently.

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

MESSAGE #1074 AAIIWITF

I have recently worked with an elite athlete who was in a slump. They were not performing at their peak.

Most slumps are in athletes’ heads. They try to change their technique, but that doesn’t help.

They need to change their minds.

When you are in a slump, you go into the competition expecting to fail.

When you are on a streak, you go into the competition expecting to succeed.

So how do you get out of a slump?

AAIIWITF

Act As If It Were Impossible To Fail

Go into the competition (or school, or work, etc) and act like the person you want to be.

Then tell me what happens.

MESSAGE #1072 A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL JORDAN…

MESSAGE #1069 YOU ARE A BAMBOO TREE

When you plant bamboo seeds, nothing happens for the first year. Or the second year, the third year, or the fourth. But in the fifth year, the bamboo tree does something amazing – it will grow about two and a half feet every day for six weeks until it is approximately ninety feet tall.

You are a bamboo tree. You are germinating right now.

Keep learning. Keep working hard.

And one day you will shock the world.

MESSAGE #1068 TALKIN’ BASEBALL

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Brandon Laird, 3B for the Trenton Thunder (Double-A, New York Yankees).

 

Brandon Laird currently leads all of professional baseball with 77 Runs Batted In in 72 games.

He was named Eastern League Player of the Week and Player of the Month.

He was only the second Thunder player to hit for the cycle on May 26, including a walk-off home run.

Two nights ago, he hit a grand slam and a three-run home run (for the second time this season).

Did I forget any impressive stats? Probably.

I have been fortunate to spend some time with Laird over the past month. His numbers are amazing and his attitude is even better. He is truly a class-act and is mentally tough beyond his years.

After last night’s game, I spoke with Laird and he was telling me how he was in a bit of a “funk” last week.

I asked him how he got out of it and he said, “At first I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ then I thought about what I was doing well before and tried to focus on that. I just trusted that it would come around because failure is part of baseball.”

Laird was persistent in his approach and stayed optimistic. As most great athletes do, he focused on his effort, not his results.

I had to ask Laird about his streak and having the most RBIs in professional baseball.

“You know, I’m just taking it one day at a time. I have a plan, I try to hit the ball hard and have a good at bat,” commented Laird.

Tonight is exactly one month since I first spoke to Laird, which was the same night he hit for the cycle with a walk-off home run.

I will be talking to #29 again before the game and we’ll see if he can continue to stay hot with his bat. I have a strange feeling he will.

Play ball!

MESSAGE #1065 WHO ARE YOU?

How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.
-LOU HOLTZ

Do you play to get a lot of trophies?

Do you work to make a lot of money?

Do you study to get a lot of A’s?

Don’t get me wrong, trophies, money and A’s are desirable things to have, but they should not be the ultimate goal.

I think that what really matters is what kind of person you become.

Trophies, money and A’s will not last forever. But your character will.

Training yourself to go all-out, striving for constant improvement and enjoying the process is success to me.

What do you think?

MESSAGE #1063 I’m NOT Teaching Tennis Today

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Nic Cecan.

Summer Tennis Camp 2010 officially begins today.

Though numbers are down, I am very excited.

I’m sure there will be some new faces, which will bring new opportunities.

I look at every session as a way to positively affect our youth. It’s life lessons through tennis. Sure, the campers will improve their tennis game, but more importantly, they will learn confidence, teamwork, how to perform under pressure, focus and much more.

Honestly, I don’t look at Tennis Camp as a way of making money, or getting a nice tan. I look at it as contribution.

Helping others become healthier, mentally and physically.

Teaching them that effort and attitude are more important than results and materialistic objects.

Making the world a better place.

What if everyone on the planet had this mentality?

MESSAGE #1060 FIXED VS GROWTH MINDSETS

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Carol Dweck, Ph.D. at Stanford University.

I just finished listening to and interview with Carol Dweck, Ph.D. and author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.”

I talk about Dr. Dweck in my book, “Game. Set. Life.” and her research on fixed versus growth mindsets.

In a fixed mindset, people worry about their skills/talent and think that you only have a certain amount.

People with growth mindsets feel that the sky is the limit and that it takes challenges for you to grow and improve.

With a growth mindset, setbacks are opportunities to grow and improve.

I asked Dr. Dweck what an athlete can focus on when they are not playing their best game, or when the pressure is on.

She said that instead of beating yourself up after a loss, you should think about what you can do to improve next time and what you can work on in practice. The key is effort and practice, not results. Don’t worry about talent.

Dweck talked about her own career and said that “Everything involves setbacks.”

It’s true.

And I always say, “A setback is a setup for a comeback.”

Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #1057 PAIN MANAGEMENT

I recently received an email from a psychology student at UCLA asking, what is your favorite “pain management” technique that you would share with a marathon runner to help get through “the wall”?

As a runner, pain is part of the process and as long as you are not risking injury, you have to push through it.

Too often, our mind gives up before our body.

In yoga, when you feel you cannot hold a pose any longer, the secret is to shift your focus to another body part, your breathing or anything besides the fact that you cannot hold it any longer. Once you fight through that pain, it becomes easier. Running (and life) is the same way.

If you don’t feel like working out anymore, or if you don’t feel like making more sales calls, or you don’t feel like studying anymore…FIGHT THROUGH IT.

And remember…

Don’t Quit. Can’t Fail.