Author: Coach Traub

Father of 5, Husband, Speaker, Author, Mental Skills Coach. Musician. I love helping others get more of what they want out of life and always try to find WIN/WIN scenarios.

In the Words of our Students

We asked student-athletes who completed this course for feedback. Here are some highlights (these are all direct quotes):

What is the single most important lesson for YOU from this class?

  • I learned a lot of valuable information that will help me thrive. However, one of the ideas that stood out most to me was the thought that our thoughts can be considered illusions.
  • I am going to encourage my teammates more and work on combating negative language and self talk I have.
  • Don’t be overconfident.
  • I need to shed more positivity on other people’s lives and show my appreciation.
  • Don’t let thoughts of fear and doubt take root and have meaning.
  • I really liked the first lesson and using power phrases.
  • emotions and handling that
  • CAR your ANTS
  • I really loved Dr. Eddie O’Connor’s lesson that negative thoughts happen and they aren’t always bad. It’s how we react to our thoughts and feelings that really matters.
  • I am going to take time in my day to sit and breath. I am going to do this in between class and practice or class and a game, etc. I want to focus on being able to focus on one activity at a time.
  • Remember Mrs. Cindra’s word of mental toughness and her stories on what she did to get her through the tougher times.
  • Dr. Cindra and Brad were the two most important lessons for me. I think Dr. Cindra’s tips for self talk are something I will implement and Brad’s focus on breathing and meditation as well. I am going to use the app he suggested for meditation and I am going to write my power phrases in some way so I can see them when practicing and competing.
  • stay focused and be in the present moment
  • practice mindfulness, breathing, and meditate a little every day
  • Deep breath
  • Not try to get rid of all negative thoughts, but learn how to react to them
  • I am going to make time for myself and take deep breaths. get more into my journal
  • When it explained the breathing techniques, and the overthinking and how it could be fixed. I’m going to hold myself accountable to do these.
  • Focusing on my breathing after I made a mistake, so I can refocus myself for the next play.
  • Keep things into perspective, focus on my breath if I am in an intense situation
  • Encouraging the people I chose in Dr. Rob’s lesson. Also, the breathing lesson was most important for me.
  • The most important lesson for me would be the confidence part. I struggle with self doubt and thinking I’m not good enough. I’m going to remember who I am, and know that with struggle and failure comes success.
  • the whole confidence one, about how it can hurt you if you are too confident, I am going to remember to just keep working and continue to get better so my confidence can match my skill
  • I loved the leadership part. I need to be a better leader and get out of my comfort zone.
  • I can, I will, I am
  • Mine would be the live and let go. Sometimes I get so caught up in the end result instead of focusing on what I need to do in the present moment. everything will work out itself and all I can do is my best. If I don’t accomplish something then let go and move on.
  • Focus on controlling the controllables.
  • The breathing exercise because sometimes when situations get intense I forget to take a deep breath and calm myself down. I plan to hold myself accountable by taking five minutes of each day to work on this.
  • Overconfidence is worse than low confidence. CAR your ANTs.
  • Not believe in everything I think. Talk to myself not listen. Look at things from others perspectives.
  • Confidence and positivity lessons
  • one of my favorite things that I learned from this course was the W.I.N section because I feel like problems seem less as important as long as you are focusing on what is important now.
  • Power phrases and motivating others
  • Remembering that negative thoughts are just a part of life, and to not try to control them. Instead validate them, and then try to focus on W.I.N.
  • Focus on what’s important now, and remind myself that negative thoughts/feelings are normal.. it’s just how I respond to them that matters.
  • For me, I’m going to remember to have confidence, use the power of my teammates, and control my ANTs because it’s all about controlling your REACTIONS to them and that is so important.
  • To find time to practice my breathing and meditate so I can become less stressed and slow everything down when things seem to be getting faster.

What was the best thing about this course?

  • I think the relatability I had with what these people were saying. I never realized that my feelings and thoughts were common until this course when the leaders just addressed them head on.
  • The different perspectives, and the the self-reflection.
  • The varying professionals giving their insights on this topic.
  • the videos and use of images instead of someone just talking the whole time
  • The content was amazing and relatable and timely
  • The different perspectives on how important the mind is
  • breathing exercise
  • Dr. Cindra
  • That my teammates also did this. Now we can all be on the same page and use the same language.
  • learning about the meaning behind many different mental toughness mottos or ideas that I’ve been exposed to before
  • Learning about all the different ways to improve my performance on and off the field.
  • The different topics being hit on by different people.
  • The balance between meditation and mental thinking.
  • when the speakers engaged you
  • the activities
  • it wasn’t the same person speaking the whole time
  • Hearing stories of real athletes who experienced similar things
  • Mindfulness
  • The ratings asking how I related or felt towards it
  • the activities
  • hearing the different view points about the mental aspect of the game 🙂
  • The material that was being presented
  • learning about all the different parts of mental training.
  • the confidence section
  • learning the confidence thing
  • The leadership portion
  • The variance of speakers and subjects. Didn’t seem too repetetive and was engaging
  • The validation that mentality of the game is a science, there is a right way to practice the mental side, and that all the speakers were on the same page just used different verbiage.
  • concrete ideas to use in practices and competitions
  • getting different perspectives from a bunch of different people
  • The focus on improving ourselves
  • The use of examples in all the videos.
  • Hearing from the perspectives of all types of experts in this field
  • The variety of experts; I liked all the different view points.
  • the fascinating speakers
  • the information and tips
  • Getting different views and ways to improve my performance
  • Hearing different and new information. Mental training courses can often be repetitive but this one had a lot more depth.
  • The topics that were covered
  • Getting to hear different topics from different people, so you had a lot of variety and a lot to take away from the course
  • the variety of information but was all useful for us as athletes
  • the improvement on mental game
  • That the speakers had similar struggles as what I’ve experienced
  • I liked the breathing videos with Dr. Brad because it is something I have been kinda interested in but was not sure exactly how to go about it.
  • Dr. Eddie O’Connor

What was the worst thing about this course?

Note: This feedback came before we shortened the main lessons from an average of >20 minutes to an average of <7 minutes.

  • I truly cannot think about a bad part of this course.
  • Nothing wrong with this course!
  • The way the material and information was presented.
  • how long some of the videos were
  • maybe using more visual images to support the talk. I could listen but the visual wasn’t always engaging.
  • The length
  • The videos were boring
  • Some of the videos were long.
  • some of the speakers lost my interest
  • The length of time
  • I’m never a fan of quizzes, so even though they helped me retain the information, I may never enjoy taking them, haha.
  • Some of the presentations were not super engaging.
  • Being online you can be easily distracted
  • Some videos over 20 minutes long
  • How long it took me to complete it
  • the quizzes
  • Cant complain!
  • how long some of the videos were
  • the videos were a bit too long. I have a very short span of concentration so it was hard for me to focus
  • The length was long and I had to make sure I stayed focused during the videos
  • There wasn’t anything bad about this course, the length was fine, and all the speakers were awesome
  • I think it was little too long
  • I liked the entire course, no complaints
  • how lengthy the videos were. it took to long to get to the point and left time to be easily distracted
  • How long it was
  • I wouldn’t say it was the worst but the videos could be a tiny bit shorter or broken up.
  • Nothing!
  • length
  • the amount of quizzes
  • The videos were really long and I had to keep myself focused

Why should other athletes take this course?

  • Even if you think you do not need this course, it will help you realize things you are doing that you might not have even realized. It will help you become more self-aware of your thoughts, actions, and performance. It will also help you become a better teammate.
  • This course allows athletes to self-reflect on themselves as leaders, teammates, and self-motivators, which is important in sports. It also allows you to grow as an individual throughout the course and as the course progresses.
  • To hear and understand multiple perspectives on mental health within sports.
  • It makes you realize that not everything negative is always bad.
  • It really demonstrates and proves how important your mind is and gives very good information on how to deal with it
  • If you want to be the best athlete/teammate you can be you should watch this course.
  • even when an athlete thinks they are doing well mentally, they still have areas where they can improve or ways to continue their success
  • It opens their eyes and gives them a deeper understanding to mental training.
  • Athletes should take this course because no matter what you will learn something new about yourself or something that can help make your team better.
  • The mental game of sports is even more important than the physical side at times, these tips and information can help you through competition and life in general.
  • they need to be aware of the mental game and how to practice it
  • It gives useful insight on how to be the best player possible
  • It helps you realize that you’re not the only person to experience the typical athlete thoughts and processes that are difficult
  • athletes should take this course so that they learn more about themselves and others.
  • To realize the importance behind why we play and that there are so many other ways to improve your skills in this sport
  • I believe that the mental aspect of sports is one of the most important things. This course does a great job of giving athletes tips on how to go about taking action to handle the mental side of the game.
  • To help them become more aware of their mental side of the game and how to control it.
  • I think other athletes don’t give much thought to their mental toughness and that is a huge downfall.
  • It gives a better sense of how to guide your mentality to become more successful whether or not the physical ability is there. It showed that at times physical ability may be there but the athlete holds themselves back because of the lack of mental skills or training to push the athlete past a certain level
  • To gain insight into mental limitations and strategies to improve
  • The mental side of the game is just as important as anything else and you really get some good key points
  • It makes us aware that we need to take care of our mind to reach the most success
  • It keeps you reminded of what’s really important in our sports and how to overcome adversity.
  • To learn how powerful our mind is, and learn the tools necessary to control it because it can make you or break you.
  • It helps with all situations for every athlete; it is very relatable and inspiring.
  • Athletes should take this course because it includes the best of the best mental coaches and as they explain what it takes to be the best athlete you can be.
  • to learn more about themselves and how to have the best mindset they can have
  • It could drastically improve their game by improving their mental toughness
  • The diversity and knowledge you get from all the speakers.
  • To learn how to control their own thoughts and emotions during their sport
  • To learn how to be the best athletes they can be and how to reach that next level of performance
  • every athlete struggles in one way or another and this course does a good job at hitting so many different aspects and you are able to relate to all of them.
  • It discusses things that aren’t talked about enough in the game, but things that can really help us on the mental side.
  • It helps you when you need foot treatment.
  • It helps you know that you’re not alone in dealing with mental toughness.

Rollout Options for Coaches

When you purchase this course for your team, you may want to copy, paste, and edit-as-you-like one of the following emails to your players.

Option #1 – Your players take the course on their own by a certain date

In our continuing effort to get an edge over our opponents, we will be participating in an online mental toughness and leadership development course. This course is designed for elite athletes by Coach Traub, who is a mental skills expert and former college baseball coach. It has 6 well-known Sport Psych instructors, each teaching their favorite topic. The course website is:

www.TeamMentalTraining.com

To access the Mental Toughness Course, you will each need to register. You’ll find the ‘access’ link in the header menu. Once on that log in / registration page, you’ll use your email and a password you choose to create a personal account. When you get to the bottom of the registration form, click on “Have a Voucher.” Our voucher code is: [you-can-choose-whatever-code-you-like-when-you-order!]

Once you’re logged in, click “Mental Toughness Course” in the header menu and start the course by clicking on the first lesson called “How to Take This Course.”

The course has 8 sections, each with 2-7 lessons. The average lesson is under 7 minutes long and the longest is under 12 minutes. It will take you 6 to 7 hours to complete the entire course, but only a few minutes per day to complete a lesson. Please do not wait to do the entire course in the last two days before the completion deadline. Rather, try to make it a habit to do one lesson every day. It will take 5 weeks to complete the course this way and you’ll usually be spending less than 10 minutes per day on it.

Our completion deadline is [insert DATE]. You will receive an output file when you finish the course. Please email it to me before we meet on [insert DATE].

Option 2: Weekly team meetings to complete the course

In our continuing effort to get an edge over our opponents, we will be participating in an online mental toughness and leadership development course. This course is designed for elite athletes by Coach Traub, who is a mental skills expert and former college baseball coach. It has 6 well-known Sport Psych instructors, each teaching their favorite topic. The course website is:

www.TeamMentalTraining.com

We will be completing the course as a team, but you will each need to register on your phone or laptop. You’ll find the ‘login/register’ link in the header menu. Once on that login / registration page, you’ll use your email and a password you choose to create a personal account. When you get to the bottom of the registration form, click on “Have a Voucher.” Our voucher code is: [you-can-choose-whatever-code-you-like-when-you-order!] Please register before our team meeting on [insert DAY/DATE].

We will watch the videos in the course as a team and will have some group discussions. Please be aware that after each video, you will need to take the “quiz” on your own device. We will sometimes do several videos and quizzes in a single meeting. The entire course will take us about 8 weeks to complete.

(This is based on 8×50 minute classes. Times will vary based on how much group discussion you insert.)

Option #3: Your players take the course on their own time, but each section has a weekly due date

In our continuing effort to get an edge over our opponents, we will be participating in an online mental toughness and leadership development course. This course is designed for elite athletes by Coach Traub, who is a mental skills expert and former college baseball coach. It has 6 well-known Sport Psych instructors, each teaching their favorite topic. The course website is:

www.TeamMentalTraining.com

To access the Mental Toughness Course, you will each need to register. You’ll find the ‘access’ link in the header menu. Once on that log in / registration page, you’ll use your email and a password you choose to create a personal account. When you get to the bottom of the registration form, click on “Have a Voucher.” Our voucher code is: [you-can-choose-whatever-code-you-like-when-you-order!]

Once you’re logged in, click “Mental Toughness Course” in the header menu and start the course by clicking on the first lesson called “How to Take This Course.”

The course has 8 sections, each with 2-7 short lessons. The average lesson is under seven minutes of video followed by a very short quiz. We will send out an email each week in which we ask one of you to complete a section and (perhaps) comment on it. Then, we will announce the due date for the next section. If you are selected to comment, please summarize the most important points as you see them and share a specific example of how this applies to you, specifically.

We will finish the entire course by [insert DATE]. At that time, you will be asked to turn in the Output File that the quizzes produce, so please don’t skip any quiz questions.

Output File for Mental Training Course

The quizzes are an integral part of the mental training course on this site. Some questions there are designed to increase absorption of the material presented by the experts. Equally important, other questions increase self-awareness and make the tools in the athlete’s mental skills toolbox concrete. These are then compiled and delivered back to the athlete at the end of the course on the site and via email. The athlete is encourage to use this as a guide for continued mental training AND share it with coaches.

A sample of this output file is provided here. The answers are hypothetical…and represent a leader’s perspective. Some coaches may want to share this sample with their athletes before they start the course.

Success is in the Effort!

My heart goes out to athletes who cry tears of inadequacy (literally or figuratively) after a rough performance. Those tears indicate a flawed perspective and a lack of faith. Athletes who think they are bad teammates or bad people just because they had a rough game are, to be blunt, ignorant about how sports really work. Like many of their peers, they have been led astray by a sports culture that focuses too much on the simplicity of today’s scoreboard.

Struggling is a necessary part of the process of success. When a team issues a uniform, it accepts weaknesses along with strengths. Everyone has both. What a championship team really asks of its members is effort. Effort to learn, effort to perform, and effort to help teammates do the same. That is all. Your best effort is always good enough. If you give your best effort day in, day out, then over time, you will win much more than you will lose.

Additionally, we believed it would be more useful for people who were also thinking about installing a padel tennis court. Because it has many benefits for physical and mental health. It is a low-impact sport that can help improve coordination and balance.


Coach Traub’s Elite Athlete Audio Lesson #2 – Success

Coach Wooden’s Definition of Success

Coach Wooden, the UCLA basketball coach who won 10 National Championships in 12 years, defined success as, “the peace of mind that comes from knowing you did your best.” That peace of mind is possible to find, even before the pitch is thrown. What does it take to earn that ease, to know that you are giving your best effort? That is a big question! It requires that the athlete is not distracted by things outside of her control. It starts with trying hard, but since it is common to try hard and stink, it is clearly more than just this. Some people might argue that you can never earn this peace of mind because you can always get better, which is true. However, being successful is not about giving your best effort ever. That may not be in the cards. It is about doing the best you can today, in the current environment.

Because of the importance of this question about what is controllable, I consider this diagram to be one of my more significant professional contributions. Ultimately, success comes from knowing that you did your best to do everything you know to do at this point in your life to create an ideal state, commit to a plan, and focus.

RELENTLESSNESS

I like to imitate John Wooden (10 NCAA DI Basketball Championships between ’64-’75) , who said that balance is his second-favorite word, behind love. No disagreements here, but in this article, I am promoting Harvey Dorfman‘s favorite word: relentlessness. Do you want to know my least favorite words to hear during competition? “Nice try.” Arrrgggghhhhhhh. It’s like nails on a chalkboard. I’m not 6-years old. I’m not playing just to try; I’m here to get the job done! On the flip side, if my competitor comments that I am “relentless,” I will have a huge smile (on the inside).

Coaches want leadership and toughness from their players. They get it when their athletes understand what it means to give their best effort one step at a time. So often, unfortunately, athletes allow the situation and their fears to keep them from giving their best effort. I don’t know the athlete in this video (other than his name is Igor Plotnikov), but I believe he has plenty of toughness.

Normal athletes don’t max out their effort consistently. Of course, the goal is not to be normal, because that would involve losing just as much as you win. Normal athletes have an unseen safety net that holds them back because they don’t believe that their best effort is always good enough. It’s tough to say always, but your best is ALWAYS good enough…if you define success the way Coach Wooden did: the peace of mind that comes from knowing you did your best.

That’s a tough perspective to swallow, but I hope you’ll try. Even athletes who do gain this healthy willingness to “fail” often hold back until the situation is perceived to be particularly important: a big game or moment in the game, a rival opponent, or an “important” audience. Some “gamers” coast along early in the contest and truly put out their best effort only when they fall behind or it’s close late in the game. Many others push at the start, then coast if they get a lead. Others quit working hard when way behind because they don’t think a comeback is going to happen. Most athletes have a natural letdown when the opponent is perceived to be weak.

Coasting is not the only reason athletes fail to relentlessly give their best effort one play at a time. “Normal” competitors have trouble staying confident when things aren’t going well, and they don’t perform as well when they’re not confident. Some athletes become negative when it’s too cold, too hot, too steep, too bumpy, too far, too dry, too wet, or too dirty — even though they know they give a better effort when they are positive and having fun. Many lose intensity in particular situations. Some stop putting out their best effort when they perceive (whether it’s true or not) that the referee, a teammate, or a coach is putting out less than his or her best effort. Whatever the situation, all of these examples represent a lack of mental toughness, a lack of leadership by example, and a missed opportunity to practice giving another best effort performance.

Hopefully athletes learn the dangers of letting an inferior opponent hang around, the risks of taking any situation lightly, and the joys of walking through the door that the other team left open for a great comeback.  Hopefully athletes learn to compete one play at a time.

Now ask: what about relentlessness in practice? If you are going to be relentless, it’s not good enough to just turn it on at game time. You have to always be “on” because winning begins now! Of course this is difficult, but that’s no reason not to strive for perfection. If you can do what’s difficult and do it with enthusiasm, you’ll gain an edge over your competition. (Remember not to expect perfection while you’re striving for it, though). A great exercise: at the end of practice, rate how well you did at being relentless today on a scale of 1-100. Then, set a goal at the beginning of the next workout to be 5% better.