The Power of “What If…?”: Athlete-Centered Coaching That Builds Motivation As a clinically diagnosed anxiety sufferer, I used to dread two little words: “what if.” Any question that started that way sent my mind straight to the worst possible outcome. Failure. Embarrassment. Disaster. You name it. Today, those same two words are one of my
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What’s the Most Effective Way to Coach Focus of Attention in Baseball? “Stay inside the ball.” “Sit back.” “Get your elbow up.” You’ve heard them from the dugout. Maybe you’ve yelled a few yourself. I know I have. Every one of those cues asks a player to think about their body in the middle of
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Emotions in Coaching: 5 Powerful Lessons From Losing My Cool “Show some class.” I snapped it across the field at the other team’s head coach. It was my 8th grade son’s baseball game, and I was one of the coaches. A few minutes later, in the handshake line, it got worse. I’m a mental performance
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Demanding Coaching: 3 Powerful Ways to Give Young Athletes Structure “Sometimes, athletes also just want a bit of structure.” Two-time Olympic fencer Laurence Halsted said that to me on Episode 37 of The Freshman Foundation Podcast. It stopped me in my tracks. I’d spent a lot of time writing about coaches who give young athletes
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Coach-Athlete Relationship: 3 Powerful Lessons From Friday Night Lights “Sixty percent.” That’s how much of his identity one high school athlete told me was wrapped up in being an athlete. The other 40 percent had to cover everything else. Son. Sibling. Student. Partner. He’s not alone. And the person with the most influence over how
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Dugout Culture: 5 Powerful Lessons From the Greatest Place in Sports High fives. Fist bumps. A pat on the rear end after a big hit. Grown men doing all of it without a second thought. Welcome to the dugout. I’ve played or coached baseball since I was five years old. I love everything about the
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Do you want your young athlete to chop wood, carry water? Michael Huber is a mental performance coach who helps young athletes be themselves when everyone is watching. He reviewed Chop Wood, Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf — and why it’s the best introduction to mental toughness for young athletes. I am asked this question
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By Michael Huber | September 2026 | 4 minute read I am a Certified Mental Performance Consultant® with a Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology. My mission is to help athletes ages 14 to 22 be themselves when everyone is watching. Here’s the short version: a mental performance coach for baseball players helps build the mental
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Talking to Young Athletes: Why Our Words Matter More Than We Think Fear of failure. Perfectionism. A kid who used to love the game and now dreads it. Over a few weeks, I got several calls from parents describing the same thing. One conversation stuck with me. A father wanted to know why his son
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Neutral Thinking: What Trevor Moawad and the Serenity Prayer Taught Me About Pressure Strikeout. Bad pass. Missed free throw. Every young athlete knows the moment right after. The head drops. The mind starts racing. Here we go again. That moment is where neutral thinking does its work. And I learned that long before I ever
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