The Sacramento State softball team was given a book by its coach containing lessons and pointers from professional athletes to mentally prepare for the upcoming season – something the coach hopes will give them an advantage on the field.

Head coach Kathy Strahan gave the book, “Mind Gym : An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence,” to the team before the winter break. The team has been reading the lessons and applying them to its performance on and off the field by using focus exercises and calming techniques to improve its game.

The book, by sports psychology consultant Gary Mack, has 40 short chapters. It contains lessons and anecdotes from sports figures such as the NFL’s Jim Marshall and Major League Baseball’s Ken Griffey Jr.

Strahan first used the book for the team last season, and incorporates teachings by having teammates present chapters to each other once per week.

“It was fun to watch the athletes dive into that realm of the inner game and do little presentations,” Strahan said. “When you have to teach something, I think it helps you learn better than just listening to somebody present.”

Senior infielder Alyssa Nakken has enjoyed the self-analysis that is encouraged with lessons and stories.

“It makes you sit down and think about yourself as an athlete, as a softball player and as a regular person,” Nakken said.

Mack’s book tells of the concept of a mind gym: a personal location someone can retreat to mentally and prepare themselves for the game. The player can create a room that helps review past performances, note improvements and visualize achieving their goals.

Mack wrote in the book, confidence comes from the player’s knowledge of being mentally and physically prepared.

One of the chapters in the book, called “Breathe and Focus,” talks of the consequences of succumbing to the pressure of a situation and ultimately lose the internal struggle athletes undertake mentally.

Mack wrote one way to keep focus during times of stress is to maintain a regular breathing pattern while repeating a single word throughout a game, which helps keep nerves steady.

In the chapter “Mind Games,” Mack wrote a player should concentrate on a neutral or positive thought process during a game. Instead of saying they do not want to happen, such as “Don’t hit it in the water,” a golfer should think, “Hit the ball five yards close to the pin.”

Stroud said she used this technique in her pitching, saying to herself thoughts such as, “This run is not going to score,” as opposed to negatively thinking “I can not let this run score.”

Some of Stroud’s favorite passages from the book are quotes for Yogi Berra, former New York Yankee catcher and manager. He wrote a strong mental game is needed when playing sports.

Strahan also said the quotes from Berra give odd insights into sports and life, and plans to post quotes in the dugout to provoke thought within the players throughout the season.

Berra is quoted in the book as saying “90 percent of the game is half mental,” and after overcoming a 0-for-20 hit drought, he wrote he was not in a slump, just not getting any hits, enforcing the principle of positive thinking.

Nakken said softball is a mental game and the book gives advice on how to overcome bad trials and have good production.

She said to overcome a bad streak such as not being able to hit a pitch from a previous game, she visualizes herself successfully hitting the pitch, and also reviews different situations she would encounter in her next game.

Stroud prepares herself with her team by reviewing reports of hitters they will be facing in the upcoming match and notes the weaknesses to determine which pitches to use.

She said the book is a good read and athletes and non-athletes could apply the principles it teaches in their daily routines.

“(The book) could be applied to daily life, like work, where work ethic is like ethic on the field,” Stroud said.

One chapter in the book, called the “Mirror Test,” informed athletes to reflect on the results of a game, win or lose, and know the best effort was given, based on what Mack calls the “five L’s”: love, labor, learn, laughter and leave or let go. The end result should be the player has satisfaction with their game.

“With the mirror test, you step back and look at how you learned from the book and applied it to the game, to see if you are becoming the elite athlete,” Nakken said.

Outside of the game, the players applied the book to their lives and their daily tasks.

Nakken said she used the teachings of the book off the field with her test taking. When she starts to second-guess and overthink, she applies what she learned to have faith in herself and overcome stress.

“I think some of the best ways to learn is from other peoples’ insights, their experiences, whether they have been successful or unsuccessful,” Strahan said. “Failure is a part of success. It’s a process.”

Joe de Ocampo can be reached at [email protected].