Today's post is written by Assistant Coach Marcus Moeller:
(Editor's note: If you haven't yet, you need to check out MSSU Womens Basketball YouTube Channel!)
In Kenny Rogers' song entitled “Baseball Song” he tells a story about a rather braggadocious young boy who proclaims “I am the greatest, player of them all.” As the song progresses Kenny gives the visual of a young boy standing in a field throwing balls up in the air to himself and swinging his little bat with all his might. After a swing and a miss on the first pitch the boy still proclaims “I am the greatest, there has ever been.” The ball goes up a second time and yet still, the only noise you hear is the sound of the ball hitting the dirt. Strike 2. “I am the greatest, the game is on the line”, utters the confident young lad. Finally the boy throws a third pitch in the air…swing and a miss. Strike 3. The boy, unfazed by his apparent failure utters these very telling words, “I am the greatest, that is a fact, but even I didn’t know I could pitch like that.”
THE MIND IS SO POWERFUL!!
At 5:45 am on Friday morning, with an audience of only the sunrise, our team ran the annual Jog-A-Thon. This fundraiser marks the midway of our preseason conditioning. The Jog-A-Thon is a 5-mile run (jog, walk, crawl, or limp in some cases) that serves a dual purpose for our program. First, it is a great fundraiser for our program. We are blessed with so many people who are generous enough to give to our program. The second purpose is to drive home a lesson that we think will serve us in a long grueling season…YOUR MIND IS SO POWERFUL.
Several on our roster have never pushed their body to run 5 miles in a row. If you have never run 5 miles in a row, you must have an enormous amount of positive self talk the entire time in order to finish the race. The liberating feeling that some of our girls felt after crossing the finish line after their run is enormous. It is our hope that when we are stuck in a long grueling workout with Coach J, or we are 8 points down with under a minute to play, our girls will remember what their mind enabled them to do on that track during the Jog-A-Thon.
Mental toughness is an absolute necessity in the realm of athletics. You hear sports commentators and analysts talk about it all the time; the thing that separates the good player from the great player is often their ability to control the mind when exterior things are swirling around. We tell our players all the time you can’t go into a shooting slump if you never miss 2 shots in a row. It is important to use your mind to evaluate the reason that you missed the shot and to correct it. The same holds true in life…we like to say in our program that “we NEVER have 2 bad days in a row”. Ever felt like you’ve been in a slump? You allowed yourself to follow up a bad day, with another bad day. If you NEVER have 2 bad days in a row you will never be in a slump.
Now I’m not quite ready to crown Kenny Rogers as some great Philosopher; however, the lesson taught by the young boy depicted in his “Baseball Song”, is one that we must understand and take to heart. When you come see the Lions play this year, watch intently to see if we are mentally tough.
Until next time…It’s a GREAT day to be a LION!!
Marcus Moeller
Assistant Coach
