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Ben Strack & Wes Sime – Mental Conditioning for Intense Focus in Baseball

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I sat down with Dr. Wes Sime and asked him a few questions about the upcoming seminar he will be presenting with Dr. Ben Strack. Drs. Strack and Sime are part of a high performance training team that supports numerous elite Olympic, professional and collegiate sports teams. The Biofeedback Federation CIC is working with them to develop software applications for baseball.

Prior to the interview, I read an article on the New York Times website about golfer Charlie Beljan’s panic attack on the PGA Tour and his subsequent win. I am surprised that it doesn’t happen more often in amateur and professional sports. There is an excerpt from the article with comments from a golf instructor.

McLean, who is ranked among Golf Digest’s top five teachers nationally, said he saw a lot of panic attacks on the golf course from pros and recreational golfers alike. He said that being calm under pressure is part of the Darwinian weeding-out process in professional golf.

A lot of golfers are out of the game because of anxiety. They are people you don’t know of and never heard of, because they couldn’t handle it. Some very talented guys are included. It is just as important as hitting the ball in the game. It is an incredible story that Charlie won.

Mental training for peak performance is more important than physical training according to Dr. Sime, who has worked with both professional golfers and pro baseball players. His training sessions are tailored to the individual athlete. According to Dr. Sime, sport pychophysiology and biofeedback provide the mind gym training needed to shape the mental and emotional state of the player to deal with pressure and to thrive under difficult conditions.

Over the years the use of peak performance training has increased but is not well known. How does it work? It’s like a window into the self. Imagine if we could see what was happening in our bodies when we were stressed or anxious. Our hands may become sweaty and our muscles may become tense when our respiration rate increases. Imagine if we could alter our response to stress. That is not normal.

Below Dr. Sime answers a few questions about using bio and neurofeedback as part of his training program:
Peak performance training is important to baseball.
The 2012 World Series revealed more than ever that teams with the largest payrolls, the best hitters and the most talented pitchers do not always produce dominant results. The game of baseball is more than raw physical power and technique. Not surprisingly, getting results comes down to the individual player’s and team’s ability to overcome adversity, anxiety and to maintain confidence without recent hits and runs to build high expectations. Physical strength and conditioning make an important contribution to the game, but the mental conditioning for intense focus, together with calmness and composure to optimize reaction time is equally important.

What is involved in a training session?
I begin by assessing the individual needs of the player. It usually starts with “I’ve got to get better at hitting” or “I really want to get around on the ball faster,” or “I want to be less nervous and more confident in the batter’s box.” We’re really problem solving and we have this sophisticated technology that allows the player to look under the hood and see along with us what’s going on so we can all share in the solution.
What signals do you watch?
In the beginning, it is important to capture the athlete’s attention and get them interested in doing this with very simple, straight forward illustrations. I usually start with monitoring respiration and heart rate variability or the combination of skin conductance and skin temperature so they can see when they’re stressed or when they’re in coherence. Then, I want them to be facing a simulated challenge while monitoring coherence and we have this technology in the BFE ProBaseball suite which is called is ReactTrak.

The player has to keep a ball within a specific field of play by using the mouse on the computer. The player needs to stay focused and very intent on tracking the ball on screen just like the pitcher does. We want the biofeedback to be accounting for and helping us condition toward better performance on the next trial so we can explain why the player lost that previous event. The player might discover that his breathing was messed up or that he was getting too uptight. To answer your question on what signals are used, respiration and heart rate to begin with, skin conductance and temperature, followed by muscle tension and at the most sophisticated level, the brainwaves become important.

What does that mean to hitting?
The goal in baseball hitting is to locate the ball coming out of the pitchers hand at lightning speed and tracking that ball whether it’s going straight or it’s breaking to one direction or another. The additional challenge is to bring the bat around with sufficient force and with perfect timing to meet the ball squarely. This complex motor learning task requires exquisite eye/hand and body coordination to bring the bat around at the right moment in time and on the same plane as the ball is crossing the plate. It’s all about hand and eye coordination and that’s what the ReactTrak game teaches. The benefit of using the game is that the player learns to do it all in a relaxed and focused state.

What do the players think about the training?
Part of the challenge in implementing program is presenting the relevance of the training in such a compelling manner that players and the coaching staff get on board. If they aren’t familiar with biofeedback, they may perceive it as too complicated, too “wired up” and might feel that it’s a little out of their control. However, when we get access to players, one-on-one, really wanting to get better at this game, then the instrumented, sensor and game driven training in the office comes together very well.

This type of training is part of the arsenal. 30-40 years ago, no one in any sport did any training or conditioning, they just did their sport. Strength and conditioning is now done by full time people in the weight room who are trained to make sure that the work is done properly. I think it will be the same with regard to mental training. We have to be prepared to use the latest technology and we have to be the interface between the athlete and the equipment so that we can demonstrate how it works in preparation for The Game.

What advice do you have for people in this field?
If you’re a biofeedback person, in your community, go find a sport psychologist. If you’re a sport psychologist, and you don’t know biofeedback, go find a biofeedback person in your community and collaborate together. You need to partner up with somebody where you can help each other.

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If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Sime and his techniques, we invite you to attend the upcoming webinars.

Baseball has mental conditioning for intense focus. January 18 is the date. The time is 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the US and Canada. Dr. Wes Sime and Dr. Ben Strack were present.

The BFE ProBaseball team can be reached at support@nextskillup.com.

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Dr. Ben Strack is a doctor. Dr. Ben Strack is a licensed psychologist and a certified sport psychology consultant. He teaches sport psychology at the university. He consults with professional athletes, Olympic athletes, college athletes, and youth athletes.

Dr. Strack is an author and editor of the sport psychology book. He is a founding partner of Proball Inc., a private baseball academy. He was a batting practice pitcher for the Anaheim Angels during the 1999 and 2000 MLB seasons. He was the personal pitcher for Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Raphael Palmeiro, Jose Canseco, Shawn Green, and Magglio Ordonez in the Big League Challenge Home Run Contests.

Dr. Strack is a member of the United States Olympic Committee, a board member of the Orange County Psychological Association, and a co-chairperson for the Optimal Performance/Functioning division of the Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.

Wes Sime is a doctor. A pioneer in the field of Applied Sport Psychophysiology, Dr. Sime has helped to develop the technology to measure the over effort and muscling up tension that occurs in the batters box while baseball players face tough pitching Wes is a former Sport Psychologist for the Omaha Royals and has worked with many athletes. He helps make sport psychology come to life in professional golf by working with Payne Stewart and many others. Wes is a health psychologist and a sport psychologist. He worked with Jane Arave to develop the ProGolf Suite for BFE.