Many people say that there’s magic in the air during October baseball, but what really makes that “fall magic” happen? And what does it look like?

To first answer the question of what this fall magic looks like, consider Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, which from an outsider’s perspective went down in history as one of the greatest baseball games of all time. As Skip Schumacher (a Cardinals outfielder who was on the winning side of the game) put it, “This is the best game I’ve ever been a part of, ever seen.” The Texas Rangers may have been the only ones who did not see the game through the same “best game” lens that late October night. Up two runs and one strike-out away from winning their first ever championship – twice – the Rangers could not seal the deal. They had chances in the 9th and 10th innings to close the game, but the St. Louis Cardinals erased those multiple two-run leads and walked off in home run fashion in the bottom of the 11th. That’s fall magic.

The World Series – a.k.a. “The Fall Classic” – which involves the champion representatives from the American and National Leagues in Major League Baseball has long been titled America’s pastime. Although slow to the plate in comparison to the three other major league sports in the US, (pun intended) the MLB has instituted instant replay these days. Managers (or the umpire crew chief) may now issue a challenge during a game to review a variety of game time calls and situations. However, one of the things managers are not allowed to review is the home plate umpire’s call of balls and strikes, which undoubtedly has the greatest impact on how each game is played. The call of balls and strikes is just one of the things outside the control of this year’s Fall Classic participants, the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians. Additional factors and distractions are endless (home field advantage, crowd noise, weather, the opposing pitcher, the manager’s decisions, etc.) and can all influence the final score. Moreover, all of these factors fall outside the control of the players. With both the Cubs and Indians waiting so many years for the opportunity to win the Fall Classic, tensions are high as is the susceptibility of the players to focus on factors outside of their control. We know that focusing on what is within their control (“controllable factors”) instead of what is not (“uncontrollable factors”), will likely have a positive influence on the ability of the players to regulate their emotions, and ultimately, their performance during the World Series.

To answer the original question of what makes “fall magic” happen, we should consider the importance of these controllable and uncontrollable factors. Looking back to Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, was the Rangers’ closing pitcher (who was one strike away from helping his team win its first ever championship) thinking about the ultimate outcome of the game (uncontrollable)? Was his focus perhaps shifted from what he was doing (controllable) to how fans or teammates would react to his potential game winning pitch (uncontrollable)? It’s very likely. When the Rangers were up again by 2 runs and 1 strike away from winning the World Series in the bottom of the 10th inning, the whole team had likely shifted their focus from what was within their control to those things outside of their control.

Although there are many factors that likely went into the Cardinals being able to come back and win Game 6 (and ultimately the World Series in Game 7), accounting for controllables and uncontrollables within the game was likely crucial to both teams’ performances. Replay or not, bad umpiring or not, freezing temperatures or not, one strike away from winning the championship or not, the Indians and Cubs will want to focus on what they can control in this year’s Fall Classic (such as their Attitude, Preparation, and Effort) to give themselves a better chance of performing at their best and creating that fall magic.

Play ball.

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. The athletes who strive to Be. Better. are the ones that dive into deeper levels of mindset training and excel into the highest levels of peak performance.

To Be. Better. is to always strive to improve at what you’re doing – regardless of how good you already are or what circumstances surround you – and it extends further beyond physical performance. To Be embraces the process of accepting who we are as an individual and allowing ourselves to exist in the present moment. Only then can we begin to understand ourselves more deeply – the pros and cons, the strengths and weaknesses – so that we can use that awareness to our advantage. Being Better means putting in the time and effort each and every day with the intent to improve ourselves – from a physical, tactical, and mindset perspective. When we combine these concepts while maintaining focus on a growth mindset each day, we become efficient, and eventually, elite. We don’t get as easily stuck in similar patterns; we don’t fight with perfection. We accept who we are with the lean-in that we’re always trying to do something more – something greater than our previous self.

There’s an advantage of focusing on progress over perfection. Many athletes that come into Premier Sport Psychology are doing so because they feel like they’re not living up to what they think they should be. Many of these athletes have a set standard of who they want to be or how they want to perform, and they’re constantly looking at the deficit of where they aren’t versus where they are. That constant perfectionistic lens of only focusing on the deficit leads to burnout, lack of confidence, performance anxiety, pressure…you name it. What Be. Better. does – focusing on the progress over the perfection – is saying, “Look, we are where we are (Be.) and, there’s room to grow (Better.)”

If we look at the major factors playing into to any elite athlete’s performance, we can see that there are three areas that stand out more than others: the physical, the tactical, and the mindset. The physical component can include everything from strength and conditioning or agility training to the physicality of sleep and nutrition. These different aspects of an athlete’s physical well-being play into stress management and their energy to focus on the things needed in order to perform at their best. The tactical component is understanding the game at a higher level. Once athletes climb into the collegiate and professional leagues, we hear a lot about athletic intelligence – and that’s really talking about how well the athletes know the game and how well they anticipate different aspects of the game: how well they manage their energy, how well they read plays, how well they respond to offenses or defenses, etc. The mindset component relates to how aware athletes are to the things that might distract them or detract them from more optimal performance. This includes how aware they are of their emotions, and an understanding of how their emotions can hijack their brain at various moments in competitions or under stress. It includes how well they activate their sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems to increase or decrease their activation, depending on what they need in order to better perform. The athletes that are really well-trained and able to do all of this tend to be the ones that we see really making more efficient gains in their ability to perform at a high level. These are the athletes that want to Be. Better.

No matter the sport or the level of competition, we must each individually strive to define what growth and success looks like to us. Not everyone wants to be an Olympian or a professional athlete, but everyone can benefit from self-acceptance, present-moment focus, and a growth mindset.

School has started. Days are getting shorter and darker. As an athlete, are you focusing enough on sleep this time of year? Or at any time of the year?

Sleep is essential for our body’s regulation of internal processes, maintenance, and rhythms. It is also essential for muscle repair and vital organ function and is a key ingredient that influences mental health and resilience. Not getting enough sleep has been associated with a decreased ability to concentrate, perform, and make decisions, higher levels of irritability, and increased cortisol levels (stress hormone that damages our bodies when we are exposed to it over a long period of time), for starters. Sleep sounds important, doesn’t it? It is. As the research on sleep and its effects on the human body and mind has advanced, the old adage of, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” begins to hold less and less weight. In fact, people who sleep a healthy amount every night are found to live longer and healthier lives than those who are routinely sleep deprived.

Sleep effects our everyday functioning and performance. Although your performance might not always suffer if you’ve had just a few bad nights of sleep, performers have been found to experience a 10-30% increase in performance due to establishing a better sleep schedule. Imagine the impacts a regular and healthy sleep routine can have not only on yourself, but your players or teammates!

If you aren’t getting enough sleep, you may not even know how much it is affecting you because the more impaired you become with too little sleep, the less you are able to recognize how impaired you are. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you may be likely to report that you’re ok and you can survive on little sleep, but pay attention to others’ observations of you. Sleep deficits are cumulative, so if people are saying you are not performing like you typically do or appear tired all the time, it may be a good time to buff up your sleep hygiene.

College student-athletes have the most sleep disturbance of any group of individuals and people tend to over report and think they sleep more than they actually do. If you’re sleeping at least 7- 9 hours a night and waking up feeling alert and refreshed, you might need to add some more sleep to your routine. Some factors to consider that can help you with your sleep include buying a white noise maker to cancel out loud and distracting noises, using blue light blocking glasses to block daytime signals to your brain (that may be coming from devices such as your cell phone, tablet device, or computer), or meditating at bedtime. Also, be aware that drinking caffeine later in the day may affect your body as well, as it is still in your system for approximately 4-6 hours after consumption.