Shawn Humphries

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH Hello everyone and welcome to the FORE Cast. We are your connection to the who's who in the game of golf We hope to make you laugh, learn and win and grow your golf IQ

[00:00:21] I'm your host Alan Burton director of instruction for the Alan Burton Golf Academy at Lake Hickory Country Club in Hickory, North Carolina I'd like to thank our listeners for tuning in. You can find us on TheMESH.tv and all your favorite podcast platforms such as

[00:00:37] Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, iHeart Radio and Google Play. Be sure to check out all the other shows on TheMESH.tv All produced here in Western North Carolina. On today's episode folks

[00:00:53] I am really pleased to be joined by a good friend, a good guest of mine today is Mr. Shawn Humphries from Elite Performance Shawn you are a legend man. You have a lot of

[00:01:07] Accolades and it would take me about half the show to kind of go all the way down your your accolades But man I thank you for joining us today and let's chat some good golf and really let the listeners in on who you are and

[00:01:19] And all the things that you've accomplished so you said you're down in Florida today and the weather is really nice down there You are you getting ready to go on a big journey here with your coaching? Tell me where you're headed here shortly Yeah

[00:01:35] heading out this this week will be on the road for about 10 days and You know, it's interesting as is where I'm headed to is It's really not golf related which is really interesting. It's really just performance related and I'm headed to Hurricane Mills, Tennessee for the Loretta Lynn

[00:01:54] World Championship motocross championships and I'm gonna be there for the entire week coach one of the The riders his name is Matthew LeBlanc. He's the number one rider in the world. He's won 60 National titles and he's 16 years old and so

[00:02:15] You know our whole performance training has morphed in from it started in golf actually started at the Olympic level And it morphed to golf and you know, I do work with with Sean Peyton down in New Orleans and pictures for the Washington Nationals and

[00:02:30] Now it's morphed into motocross, but I've got probably you know, I've got probably one of the largest remote coaching platforms in the world we coach athletes from all over the world with our curriculum in golf so

[00:02:43] That's that's a large piece too. So I enjoy the mix-up and because it really challenges me intellectually and Because the things that we're doing is applicable from all sports across board and you listeners know that some of you have played multiple sports and

[00:03:01] So yeah, it's it's pretty cool man. I get to go up I get to go get really dirty for about a week Well, have you had any experience with motor cross yourself? Did you have a motorbike growing up or is this all brand new?

[00:03:15] Yeah, I did I yeah, I rode dirt bikes as a young kid and you know, but you know What's interesting is I mean I am and I love motorcycles and I'm a cycle owner myself and and what's interesting is is that You know if you look at motocross

[00:03:30] I mean basically it's track and field with a motor between your legs and So the strategies, you know for every turn every jump You know the preparation that goes behind that

[00:03:45] You know these these athletes are following the Olympic training model that I spent 10 years with at the Olympic level And it's the same thing I do with the golfers and it's the same thing that we do

[00:03:55] With pitching and and it's about you know growing the self-image of the athlete and you know, what's interesting is is that there's There's three performance indicators in human performance just across the board Okay, and the first is how does it how a person thinks in a stressful situation?

[00:04:16] Is going to have an indication on their performance and the second is How a person has trained in their sport or in their area of expertise How they've prepared for that competition is going to have an indication of how they perform

[00:04:32] And then the third one that nobody talks about is the the reinforcement and the reinforcement is the critical piece that Drives your self-image all three of these drive yourself image and your self-image is

[00:04:44] The sum of your habits and your attitudes at your area of comfort that we like to operate in and when we get outside that area of comfort We retract and so your reinforcement what you reinforce what you think about what you talk about what you write about

[00:05:00] Improves the probability of that happening. And so, you know, let's say after you hit a golf shot What should you do? What should you reinforce? should you reinforce anything and Actually, you should and in training, you know, your your training should replicate that it's like, okay

[00:05:18] If I hit a shot that's great I should replicate that same movement again because those are imprints towards yourself image and If you hit a shot that needs work why do we don't ever use the term bad?

[00:05:31] We don't use any negative comments at all. So if the shot needs work what needs work What solutions need to be put in place? So now it becomes more solutions-based training as opposed to problem-based training

[00:05:42] And so those imprints those the solution should be put in place immediately in your training and when you're competing I'm tossing and so those solutions are transferable across the board and and reinforcement is

[00:05:55] It's really how you change performance. It really is so, you know EPS elite performance system is really based on those three performance indicators You know And we work across the board and in multiple sports, but it really started in golf

[00:06:11] From the from the you've really you've created a system And I think that's really the important aspect to training is there's a systematic way to go about anything to become elite and And your company name elite performance systems kind of sums all that up

[00:06:26] It's a systematic approach to training elite performance And as you mentioned there's a Number of things that have to happen for the athlete or the performer To perform at their highest level I mean this is something that's been about a probably 30 plus year

[00:06:43] Process for you to develop. I know Didn't come out overnight take us back a little bit and along your journey I mean as a golf instructor is kind of where you started coaching. I'm assuming is that Was golf the first sport you coached? Yeah, it is

[00:06:58] It is and you know, I grew up in Oklahoma just north of Tulsa in a small town of about 2500 people and It was a unique community. We had a lot of activities. We had a nine-hole golf course We had an eight lane bowling alley

[00:07:12] We had a billiards parlor that had two snooker tables and eight regulation size pool tables we had a we had a community swimming pool and we had community tennis courts and We had dirt tracks that we could ride on motocross and

[00:07:27] You didn't there was no reason to leave heaven as a kid growing up, right? It really is and I got into golf and I mean our golf club was really kind of our local honky tonk, you know, and uh

[00:07:40] There was always tractor trailers and pickup trucks and people playing in Overalls and boots and man. It was a great way to grow up and that's kind of how I grew up playing the game

[00:07:49] I hadn't I'd never seen a driving range before because I just learned to start playing the game. Yeah and developed a decent game and afforded me to play college golf and

[00:07:59] When I got into college when I got into college, you know, things started kind of changing a little bit I I played pretty decent college, but I would have these highs and lows

[00:08:07] You know, I'd shoot a low number one day then a high number the next I shoot a A low front nine and a high back nine make X amount of birdies in a row followed up by x amount of bogies in a row and it was really

[00:08:18] It's like man. Why does all this happen? Right? Why are these highs and lows and these ups and downs and I would just I would continue to Train harder than anybody else train longer hit more balls stay out later and work on my game and

[00:08:36] And I found myself, you know, I would over try in competition. So, you know, that's really Over trying has caused more good competitors to lose competitions than any other form of mental error

[00:08:50] And that was the paradigm that I was living in and I'm telling you that recipe didn't work and So I majored in education And when I got out, I taught for my first year out and then I turned professional And my numbers did get lower

[00:09:07] Because I didn't have as many obstacles and But what was interesting is I still had those highs and lows I could shoot 67 But then it was 74 and then I would come back with a 70 then it was a 75 and man, that's just

[00:09:20] What's interesting is is and I and I visited a lot of coaches around the world and Everyone just wanted to work on the technical piece Right and I'm like man. This isn't technical. I had course records

[00:09:33] I could you know, I shot back to back 64s in in one day and qualifying and I knew it was more than just working on the tech technical piece And so it drove me out of playing professional golf and you'll like this. This is pretty funny

[00:09:48] So when I went into teaching and so what did I do? I became a really good technical coach Because that's what we did right and that's what we still do. It's the paradigm that we live in and

[00:10:03] unfortunately, it's extremely archaic and antiquated because it's not the way other sports are taught and trained and coached and I had players win all around the world and you know what? I couldn't even tell you why they won. Yeah

[00:10:17] I mean, I just always went to the technical piece the most important pieces. I couldn't tell you why they lost And I would just always go back to their swing and oh man, you're hitting it great

[00:10:27] Okay, come back and see me when it gets off track. I mean really that I mean that's what we live in sure and And I knew there was a better way because no one was training their athletes for high-stakes situations. They're No one's training had higher

[00:10:43] Consequences than the competition, right? But they do in all the other sports And so I got really frustrated with it. I really just got so sick and tired of being sick and tired And I was building my youth academy at that time now we're looking at early 2000s

[00:10:57] and I knew I knew I had to get outside of my sport and about that time bill parcels who was You know on top football coaches in the country was came to Dallas and jerry jones introduced me to bill and bill played golf and

[00:11:14] We spent some time together and I just asked a lot of questions He's like man, you sure do ask a lot of questions And I'm like man. I said bill

[00:11:21] I said I need to learn to train my athletes for high-stakes situations. He goes you don't know how to do that I said I don't have a clue He goes really I said no I don't and I said I don't know anyone that does in my sport now

[00:11:32] I know they do it in all the different sports and martial arts and boxing and wrestling and all the olympic sports And he goes well, I said, I know you do it and I said you rebuild franchises and he goes. Yeah

[00:11:43] And so he goes why don't you come to the NFL? So I did and at that time shon payton was his quarterback coach and offensive coordinator and The late tony spirona was his defensive line coach and mike zimmer was his defensive coordinator and tawd haley

[00:11:56] Was his receivers coach so I spent a lot of time with these guys and I started bringing these concepts back into my academy Right because everything was defined. It was measured. It was timed There's no random rainless stuff going on

[00:12:09] Oh my gosh performance just started showing up. It was insane and I knew I was on to something I knew I knew I was on to something and That went on for about three years and And I knew I needed to get to a higher level

[00:12:26] I mean, I didn't even know what performance was and it was in the name of my business I mean, I just and I asked people, you know, I get an array of answers from everyone in definitions of performance and none of them ever matched and

[00:12:42] And I knew I needed to get to the olympic level because that's that's That's where the best happens because they're They're sacrificing their life for um four years and For a single performance. Yeah, or one performance for one performance. You're exactly right

[00:13:01] And that's a hard place to crack into right? I mean, I'm I've got no relationship with the olympic piece. I'm About as close to the olympics as california is to new york, you know and but out of the blue

[00:13:15] Um, one of my good friends I'd coached his son for so few years called me and says hey I've got an introduction to an olympic coach my holy cow so, um, he introduced me to coach basham and

[00:13:29] I kind of explained to him what my frustrations were and where I was and And he asked he kind of said, you know, I I I get it shawnt. He goes I get it and

[00:13:41] He said can we come watch you train? I said sure so he came and watched his train And he asked these where did you learn to train like this? And I told him in the nfl

[00:13:48] And he said who in the nfl and I said bill parcels. He goes You're very close to training like olympians. I said really I said, I knew I was on to something Because their performance was starting to change

[00:14:00] And so that really kind of helped me have an end with coach basham and So he goes shawnt. He goes I was like you he goes I got frustrated and sick and tired of being sick and tired

[00:14:10] He goes it was just back in the 1960s. He goes I knew I could beat these guys at the gold medal But they were doing something that I couldn't see And I could beat them in world championships and qualifing and all that

[00:14:22] But when it came down, he goes I'd won the bronze. I'd won the silver And he goes I just got so sick and tired of being sick and tired. He goes and I did this while I was an olympian And he goes

[00:14:33] I just started interviewing all the gold medalist And he goes I started asking them all the same questions And I had had access to him. I had access to the coaches And he goes it was interesting. He goes all these answers started showing up

[00:14:47] and we all followed the training model the direct affirmation model the goal planning model and You know, he says then I really started understanding What you should think about before the action? And it needs to be defined. It needs to be measured. It needs to be timed

[00:15:06] And you have to be able to replicate it over and over again in your training and you have to test it all the time At its highest level with the intensity and the pressure and the anxiety

[00:15:17] In misery so that it becomes like you to do something that you haven't done before And He goes I started building his systems. I defined the principles. I built the steps. I built the framework

[00:15:27] I replicated it and duplicated it and he went and won a gold medal that stood for decades and set 25 world records and I spent 10 years training with him And I brought everything down from the olympic level into my academy everything and

[00:15:43] I was I'd won the lottery and and then I begged him to come train in our academy And he did and I had to pay the piper and it was probably one of my best investments ever and And over a 17 year period

[00:15:56] 100 of our graduating seniors were offered scholarships and we'd won right under 1500 titles around the country Wow, that's just domination. Well, what's interesting is is that What I what I realized is is that If you have a system you have to test it

[00:16:17] And you have to test it over and over and over again, but you have to have a laboratory And I was fortunate enough And blessed enough to have that laboratory with 150 athletes

[00:16:29] And so I was constantly testing this all the time the think piece the training piece the reinforcement piece And then that's when it kind of morphed into where it is today with elite performance systems

[00:16:40] So in the last six years I rolled this out to the college space and We now have 30 universities around the country running the systems and do a lot of consulting on that piece as well and

[00:16:52] Helping, you know college says like it like if I can run this system with 150 athletes in a charter type school Surely you can run it with a 12 man team, you know

[00:17:02] And and so it has and now it's grown into this remote coaching platform because we built the curriculum, right? and It's you know, everything's Built out completely and so now we do remote coaching. We probably have You know the largest remote coaching platform in the world

[00:17:19] I've got athletes in new zealand and sweden and all through asia all through the united states And it continues to grow and with with covet, you know setting everybody back

[00:17:31] It actually grew our business and that's an that's an interesting piece too is that you know, everybody was sent home and I Made sure that I reached out to every parent And reassured them that this was going to be the best thing that ever happened to them

[00:17:48] And they're looking at me like I have three heads and so I made sure everybody had their training equipment we set it up with vendors and They had their hitting nets or chipping pads or chipping nets everything and

[00:18:02] I said the reason this is going to work is because you're going to replicate training like an olympian olympians isolate And master the steps of performing well. That's what performance is Right, they isolate and master the steps of performing well

[00:18:17] And that's what training is and then what they do in competition is just execute those steps So they're in they're in these hotbeds. They're at the olympic training facilities. They're removed from mainstream

[00:18:28] They don't have any contact with anybody and so they're isolated and I said you've got an opportunity to isolate and you know what? The results have been

[00:18:38] Unbelievable, I mean I had athletes that hadn't teed it up in eight ten twelve weeks going out and shooting under par for the first time In their life and having personal best and they're like oh my gosh coach. We're not even focused on outcome anymore

[00:18:50] We're just we're just focused on the steps of performing And executing and that's it so um That's kind of where we are today That's a very fascinating. Uh look into what what the elite performance

[00:19:05] Systems does for players this gives them the framework and you mentioned that and in the framework obviously that isolation is a big deal I've seen young players Who are you know distracted by the social connection of their friends and they don't they don't progress

[00:19:22] They get trapped into hanging out on the range and leaning on an off club and they think that's practice and Uh, it's funny story. I was sitting on a bench watching about 70 plus junior golfers Hit some putts on a putting green before junior tournament and

[00:19:39] One of my friends who is a division one coach here in north carolina sat down beside me We hadn't seen each other in a while So we began talking and I just looked up and I looked at all these young kids and

[00:19:49] One one kid was hitting putts in a in a drill like environment by himself and The remainder of the kids were all leaning on their putters talking to each other And I said, who do you think's going to be prepared to play golf today?

[00:20:01] It's like it was so apparent That this one kid was working and training and these other kids were just y'all flapping and it's like What is going on in these kids minds the majority of them are not

[00:20:14] They're not managing the impress right to train. They're not managing the environment And then the the challenge is they've never been taught how to do it right weeks, you know Bill Parcell's told me this a long time ago. He said Sean he goes The second you assume

[00:20:34] An athlete knows it seconds too late That's brilliant and So as long as they're in our corral and training we're on them And we're on them 24 7 because it's not their fault that they've ever they've never been taught

[00:20:52] To do this. I mean, you know, you talk about the paradigm that we operate and the first thing that we do is We start working on the technical piece of the game

[00:20:59] And we start teaching them how to swing a golf club, but we never teach them what to think about before We never teach them what to think about during And we never teach them what to think about afterwards

[00:21:14] It's always an afterthought and you know, you've you've done it and we talked to all these athletes And I interview them all and I said tell me what percentage of the of the game is Is mental And everyone says 90 or higher and that's in every sport

[00:21:28] But why is it that 90 of the time you're spent on working on the technical aspects of your game? And none of it's spent on the mindset piece Sure Yeah, I refer to it You know as pre-shot routine the shots execution and the after shot and in generally speaking

[00:21:45] I want the player to have a framework for all three of those Pieces of the puzzle so to speak and in the after shot I call it the a's of the after shot And this is my country boy way of putting this together

[00:21:58] But I say you know a lot of people choose anger and aggravation as their a's of the after shot I said if you if you're going to choose anger and aggravation You're going to be angry and aggravated with your golf game for a long time. Yeah

[00:22:13] And so the a's that I want them to kind of use I want them to be aware And I want them to be able to ask themselves and answer Questions about the performance of the last shot as you referred to it

[00:22:26] I believe you said the shot needs work What about the shot needs work? Yeah, what's the solution? What's the solution? Yeah, and so that's a form of analyzing the shot You're analyzing for a solution and so now that if you were given a second attempt

[00:22:46] What would you alter or adjust? So what this does okay from a conscious mind subconscious and self-image standpoint It occupies the conscious mind So that you cannot think about outcome And you're immediately because the conscious mind can only have one thought at a time

[00:23:09] So if you're it's designed to occupy the conscious mind and focus on the solutions that grow the self-image That's what this is designed to do everything that you do better be about growing your self-image

[00:23:24] Because it's the sum of your habits and your attitudes. I mean the challenge of it is is that your your self image Controls your technical performance and people don't even realize that And people think that you know, they're coming down the stretch and so

[00:23:43] If I'm a 75 shooter and I'm three under par And it's not like me to shoot under par and I'm three under I'm going to figure out how to shoot 75 because that's where I'm comfortable

[00:23:54] And the challenge of it is is that they say oh my gosh, I lost my golf swing coming down the stretch And you know, they went double double, you know bogey and they three putted the last hole

[00:24:06] They run to the driving range to go hit balls and they realize. Oh, I didn't lose my golf swing What you lost was your ability to control your thoughts in a stressful situation Because it's not like you to shoot under par So what's interesting is is that

[00:24:23] What I learned at the olympic level is that It's not about stats It's not about averages. Those are the worst things that you can put in front of athletes And here's the reason why it's because they're not brain compatible Why because those numbers have never been performed

[00:24:41] Because they're averages And but at the olympic level their focus is on personal best Personal best of the day the week the month the year the quarter

[00:24:53] What have you an entire year why because if I perform a personal best, I actually did that I did that number. That's me That grows the self image And so if you really want to

[00:25:06] Stagnate the self image or actually shrink the self image just talk about averages and and all that I mean think about this for a second

[00:25:13] If you look at a stat sheet and you add up all the averages and you look at the bottom and you have all these totals And you imprint all these averages what do you become? You become average Olympians are not average. That's great and

[00:25:29] Right, they're not looking for average. They don't care about that because I mean think about it is like is it is it normal to win a gold medal? No I mean no so They've got to grow their self image and their skill set at the same time

[00:25:43] So it becomes like them to win a gold medal And You know in the paradigm that we live in we don't even we don't even Take care of the self image And you have to grow skill at the same time that you grow self image

[00:26:01] Because if you want it to become like you to do something that you haven't done before You have to train like it's you to do something that you haven't done before That's right, and your training has to have higher consequences than the competition

[00:26:13] I mean I ask athletes all the time. I said okay Where are you miserable in are you miserable? Are you miserable in training or are you miserable in competition? I'm like well i'm miserable in competition

[00:26:25] Okay, so we get so I hear this all the time. Oh, I had fun in training today. It was great We did this this this and this well You perform the way that you train and you train the way that you perform

[00:26:38] Sure, your training has to have consequences. You've got to struggle. It's got to be miserable You've got to push yourself outside your area of comfort. You've got to get very comfortable being uncomfortable but The the key is is that we spend so much time

[00:26:55] On the technical piece and spend so much time on outcome That we don't even understand the steps of performing And we don't even know how to control our thoughts before the action during or after And is it defined as it measured? Is it timed?

[00:27:14] I mean we spend so much time working on the technical piece. We never even test it It's like oh, you're hitting it great now go work on it Go work on it go work on what? Mm-hmm, they don't know I mean I I've never gotten an answer

[00:27:32] except from one person I've asked him said tell me what you look like on game day Never gotten an answer Tell me what you look like the week before Tell me what you look like two weeks out four weeks out six weeks eight 24 32

[00:27:51] 52 weeks. What do you look out? What would you look like the year out? What are the goals? I mean the goal planning model is is critical. I mean most people don't even know how to set goals

[00:28:03] Most people just play around with it and most of time you're going to get beat by people that set goals And If you don't know what it looks like on game day, then you probably need to ask your coach because if they don't know what it needs

[00:28:18] To look like on game day. You're probably both in trouble This podcast is sponsored by Jackson creative a custom communication agency located in downtown hickory, north carolina specializing in online content creation To learn more visit the Jackson creative comm Jackson creative we tell your story Mm-hmm

[00:28:42] Yeah, how how similar is it to the simple game that kids played as elementary students in class with With a broomstick pole and teacher held it up and said we're going to play a game of limbo

[00:28:55] And so that limbo stick it starts out really high every kid in class gets under the limbo stick on the first round through And all of a sudden that limbo stick starts coming down and they start dropping out dropping out dropping out

[00:29:09] Then the last kid under that limbo stick is is the winner And so is it like your training needs to continue to lower that limbo stick until you bump your head? You need to find out where that is and every aspect of your game um

[00:29:23] Keep lowering the bar in other words making the challenge more and more and more difficult Until you're uncomfortable I agree. I mean I ask athletes this all the time. I said look do you work on

[00:29:37] Your four footers or five footers and I'm like they're like yeah, I said so tell me this So if you work on it, what's your personal best? How many did you make in a row and when did you do it? They can't tell you

[00:29:49] It's okay. Do you work? Do you work on distance putting? I I do and I I have these interviews all the time with athletes That's okay great So tell me at 40 feet What's your personal best of consecutive two putts in a row at different intervals with different strategies?

[00:30:03] What's what's your personal best and when you when did you do it and like coach? I don't even train like that I'm like, okay. So you have a good short game and we say yeah, it's pretty good. I said so tell me this

[00:30:15] What's your personal best of consecutive up and downs in a row at different intervals around the green not the same spot What's your personal best and also what's your personal best to overall total in one training session like coach?

[00:30:27] I don't even train to get up and down. I'm like, okay If we don't measure it How do we manage it And if we don't manage it, how do you raise the level?

[00:30:40] Of the training that has the intensity that raises the level of the pressure and the anxiety and the consequences Right Can't be done. Right. I used to work in a retail store and I used to tell this old school retail store owner

[00:30:55] Before we were on computer and had every piece of inventory in the computer I said, you know, your business would run a lot smoother if you had data to work from from a computer He said I know what I have an inventory. I said well

[00:31:10] What do we have in certain guitar strings? It was a guitar store. He said well, we got 12 boxes of strings right there I said well, okay. So are we low or are we high?

[00:31:19] He says what do you mean? I said well, how many have we sold in the last 30 days? At what profit margin are we losing money on that inventory item? Are we making money? Do we need to have more than 12? What's the sellout rate of that particular guitar string?

[00:31:33] Because I don't need to know that he said when I look up there and I'm getting low I'll order some more. I said, well, are we low? He said well, I think 12 boxes is enough to hold us through the weekend

[00:31:42] I said well, the reality is we have 40 boxes of strings. You got 12 sitting up there and you got the rest sitting in the back room You didn't even know you had

[00:31:51] I said on computer you'd look right there and know exactly what you had you'd know yourself through and he said kids You may have a point there. So it's measuring everything and we today's a measuring society

[00:32:02] You know you measure everything. Why don't after this measuring the right things? Right and you know, everybody measures outcome And you know outcome and training is is is good To a certain extent But measuring outcome and performance

[00:32:22] Is not how you change performance. I mean you can take an eight-year-old kid and say, okay I want you to sit on this hole or I want you to follow this player

[00:32:29] And I want you to tell me how many fairways he hits how many greens and regulations that he hits Tell me how many putts that he has tell me how many up and downs that he has and where they were I mean anyone can measure that

[00:32:41] And that's what we measure is outcome But nobody measures the why Nobody measures why that shot went where it did And at the olympic level it is all about the why And they measure the steps of performing So How was the strategy?

[00:33:04] I mean there's three things that set up the the setup at great execution the strategy The commitment to the strategy and the commitment phase Those three if you don't if you're not a hundred percent on all of those It's going to affect your execution Bottom line

[00:33:26] And so everybody's measuring outcome as opposed to okay. Why well, you know what coach? I'm You know and we do a we have an extremely detailed round analysis that we use with our athletes

[00:33:40] And it takes them through these six steps of performing and they have to go through on every single shot How those six steps were managed and how well they did because it sets up Everybody measures the execution or outcome But what they don't realize is is that

[00:33:58] it's like well Coach I hit it. I hit it left in the water and i'm like okay, let's talk about this What was the strategy? Well, there was water down the left side. I said you're done You already told me what where you were going to hit it

[00:34:14] right Yep No, no, no, but I said no because you were worried about I said tell me Tell me where you want to go. Tell me where you're intended to go Well, I wanted to hit it in the fairway, but I was worried about hitting it left

[00:34:27] But okay, so that's what the imprint is And you can't clear that from your mind You know, it's funny is and you've done it too. I mean I spent a lot of years out on out on the tour and what drives what drove me nuts was is that

[00:34:42] All all of them do it all tour players say well, this is where you want to miss it It's not going to be part of their process. They're going to tell you exactly What they're going to do and where it's going to go

[00:34:53] They're going to give you all the details and this is exactly what I'm going to do Well, if that's where you're going to miss it go ahead and hit it there right Good point, you know, I mean point If you can't commit

[00:35:09] You're you're it's going to be challenging, but you have to be taught how to do it We have to teach these very cautious Decision-making athletes these kids, you know To learn how to make confident decisions separate from their natural ability or their area of competency

[00:35:25] And they have to be taught how to build strategies They have to be taught how to struggle And that misery is good for you I mean Teaching struggle is a lost art And you know, you and I growing up it was the best art we ever learned

[00:35:44] Was being taught how to struggle and that it's okay that nobody runs to you to help you And that you have to figure it out on your own And I mean, that's the that's the world that we live in right now is that you know

[00:35:59] All these young kids are very cautious fearful decision-makers Now think about this is that if you start growing that And you get them to somewhat be a little bit more confident that grows your self image So there's two separate right you got the profile of

[00:36:15] A very cautious fearful decision-maker then you've got a self image. That's very small They they feed off of one another And if you can get them make more confident decisions separate from their natural ability

[00:36:27] I'm talking about just as simple we use the exercise all the time when I was running my academy I have a you know young girl and say look, this is all I want you to do this week

[00:36:36] I want you to go home and I want you to ask your mom If you can empty the dishwasher when it gets dirty It's all I want you to do She goes really I said yeah, it's all I want you to do

[00:36:48] And I I include their parents in on what we were doing And so a few days went by she came back. I said How's the dishwasher? She goes I did it I said really I said you asked your mother. She goes. Yeah, I said what happened

[00:37:02] She goes she thanked me profusively So now what's that doing? It's growing the self image, right? Because you're getting positive imprints But she also made the confident decision to ask and say look I want to do this I want to help you I said okay now

[00:37:16] I said I want you to continue doing the dishwasher and I said next I want you to ask your mom if you can if you can clean the kitchen And so she did

[00:37:25] And I said how'd it go and she goes oh my gosh. She goes it was amazing I said what was amazing about it? She goes it was you know, she goes it gave me confident Confidence because I'm doing something that I Am taking control of I'm like yes

[00:37:42] I said how'd your mom respond to it? She was like she was calling all of her friends. She couldn't believe it She was just amazing And so you so now the self image grew right so we're talking about growing things outside of the golf course

[00:37:55] Bringing balance to these young athletes lives That's so important then it went so okay now let's talk to your dad say look at that. I want to help you sweep out the garage And it just kept growing and so then all of a sudden Now it's

[00:38:12] Transferring back to the golf course that okay now when we teach them how to build strategies And commit to the strategies and then in the commitment phase and run in the mindset program and executing and reinforcing They get it

[00:38:27] And that's that's how you that's I mean that's that's been that's that's been a huge education for me Yeah, that's fantastic Well, that that's why you're uh, you're off on these journeys and going to all these different countries and teaching and all these different sports because

[00:38:42] You understand the process and you know, you've got a very very unique position in the industry Where you've put it into a system and in your studies are obviously paying dividends to your clients

[00:38:54] So let's talk a little bit about how your year is going to pan out. I know with With sports kind of sitting several sports sitting on the bench at the moment We're looking at football and what's going to happen there. I mean

[00:39:09] Yeah, it's uh, it's it's it's interesting, you know, we're gonna Looks like we're going to try to move forward with it baseball's got some complications right now because you know, they've got Some teams that have that have You know become

[00:39:26] You know, they've had 14 15 cases on a team, right? And I don't know if they're even going to finish major league baseball right now The nfl is You know that the challenge with the nfl is that the nfl, you know, of course doesn't want to have a preseason

[00:39:43] the teams do the nfl wants to have constant testing basically, you know on a Almost on a daily basis a weekly basis. I should say because it takes a few days to do it But they're doing a more faster process of getting the results

[00:39:58] the teams want to you know slow that down a little bit and It's it's going to be it's going to be a challenge. I just don't I don't know if we're going to get a training camp starts now it's getting getting underway as we speak and

[00:40:18] I'm not actually going in this this this season because of cove it and I'm just doing remotely, you know It's going to be interesting. You know what's interesting is for us On our remote coaching platform it's grown significantly because Our athletes were all sent home, right? And

[00:40:40] I made it a point. I said look this is the greatest opportunity that you're ever going to have And here's the reason why Is because you're going to be isolated And that's what Olympians do they isolate

[00:40:53] And master the steps of performing well. So we made sure they had everything, right and That's really the wave of the future Remote coaching is and I was talking to someone the other day About you know our engagements that we have with each athlete And

[00:41:15] Because we have a system we have all the tutorials filmed. We have the workbooks. I mean everything's laid out, right? It's like a school and that matter what sport it is and We have more touches and more engagements

[00:41:32] Excuse me with our athletes then I remotely then I possibly could in person There's no possible way I could have this contact these contacts with these athletes in person Just don't have the time of the day. Sure to do it um, and I I think that

[00:41:51] It's really cove it has really tested us In that in that category And it we've been able to prove that it uh, it's it's it's extremely in a ball And um, I'm excited about it to implement your system. Yeah

[00:42:07] You've been able to implement your system in a lot of different venues probably that you might not have been able to before cove it Yeah draws people into an opportunity as you mentioned to isolate and train differently and to train better. Yeah

[00:42:21] That's that's the fascinating thing about it. You know and golf instruction as as we talked about is forever used video and certain Ways to kind of connect and for me it was a challenge. I had to sit back and I love to be in front of someone

[00:42:36] I love to be face-to-face with an individual that I'm working with and it was definitely a challenge to kind of Move into a different direction with that But I was able to stay connected with a lot of my serious golfers and

[00:42:46] found ways as you mentioned to get training aids into their hands and hitting nets and um, one young man bought a Ami-vo a little flight scope device to kind of measure some things and we conducted our sessions online with FaceTime or zoom

[00:43:00] Or several different technologies and and kept training Um, you just have to make some adjustments in how you do it and what you do and uh, it's been very good for me because like you said It's it's always a growing process for for me as a coach and

[00:43:15] This has just presented a new challenge for all of us No, it has and I love it and I love the challenge and I'm you know looking at the voids that are out there and trying and filling those voids and it's um

[00:43:30] It showed that you know if if these remote schools, right? If these online schools can do it. Well, why can't we do it? Absolutely And I think they were they were not prepared nearly as well as you were

[00:43:43] See a lot of the online school curriculums lacking because they've never been into that medium so you had all of your Your training components in place and systematically there So it was just a phenomenal opportunity because we were doing it with the colleges already, right

[00:43:59] And yeah, so it um it bled in it bled into that You know, we're teaching these athletes, you know how to train them. They film their training, right?

[00:44:09] they they have all these segments that they have to do and they have to film them and they upload it and They have all this homework that they have to do they've got to do training analysis

[00:44:18] they got to do performance analysis and and we do zoom classes twice a week and They're they're really they've really gotten engaged. I mean you have two pieces, right? of Of development you have your skill acquisition and you have your knowledge acquisition

[00:44:36] And everybody tilts towards the physical skill acquisition And the knowledge acquisition skill is really left behind And I I have the The great opportunity to spend some time with some unbelievable athletes And you know for example like drew breeze You know if you removed

[00:44:57] The knowledge acquisition piece from drew breeze. He'd just be just another run on the mill quarterback I mean he can barely see over the line of scrimmage And he's not a really good runner And he can't throw the deep ball But he's breaking all the records

[00:45:18] His knowledge acquisition so he gets he gets the We'll use the 10,000 rule the 10,000 reps on the physical skill acquisition But he's also got the 10,000 reps on the knowledge acquisition skill And when those two work together supported by the self image

[00:45:39] That's how you can become superstores. I mean look at the three modern-day quarterbacks, you know patent manning drew breeze and our The quarterback from the Patriots on tom brady, right? I mean those are probably the three You could probably maybe put erin rogers in there, but

[00:45:56] You know you look at patent manning, you know not really a good runner, you know And he could throw the ball extremely well, but what did he do? He redefined calling

[00:46:07] Multiple multiple plays and audibles at the line changing the play four or five times that was never done And you can't do that. You don't do that with physical skill Right um It is it's the knowledge acquisition piece and I think it's

[00:46:26] It's a huge piece that miss it that's being missed when we're educating Our young athletes It's you know, everybody just wants to everybody's so focused on outcome. I mean The score scoring is a function of great execution And winning is the result

[00:46:44] Okay, but thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution In a competition The second your focus shifts To outcome of the shot outcome of the hole outcome of the nine outcome of the event performance drops

[00:47:06] Drastically Sean what would you do for an athlete was physically skilled? Uh, they seem to possess this human emotion or this human trait Called laziness or low work ethic They don't want to do the work. They don't want to do

[00:47:23] What's necessary to elevate their physical ability to the highest level? What are some ways that you as a coach might try to take that athlete? And get a better performance out of them I mean I think the first thing is is that in order for that to change

[00:47:40] They've got to be sick and tired of being sick and tired Of where they're at It's the only way that you're going to the the needle is going to begin to move And They they got to get to the bottom of you know, okay, I'm done with this

[00:47:58] I mean just like me with with coaching right And just like with coach bashman this point is like man. I just got so sick and tired being sick and tired I Had I had to change so in order to make change Okay, we have to change

[00:48:17] Okay, so what has to change? Okay There's two things that have to change our habits and our attitudes If we don't change those two things We're not going to be able to start the course of making a change

[00:48:36] And those habits and attitudes have to constantly change all the time every time you get better Because the habits and the attitudes of an Olympian are superior to a professional athlete They're superior To a professional athlete Professional athletes are superior to the amateurs

[00:49:01] The amateurs is superior to the juniors So the habits and the attitudes constantly have to get better And you know when you set goals your goals have to be life changing enough That it changes your habits and your attitudes if it if you if you don't

[00:49:23] It's not going to be worth it Powerful messages today listeners. I hope you're taking notes as you're listening to Sean Humphries Elite performance systems Sean. It's been a great pleasure having you on today And I know we could talk for hours, but I think there's no point

[00:49:43] Our listeners need to get in touch with you. What's the best way to do that and to get your information and spend time with you? Absolutely, uh, you I'm going to give you my my email address. It's Sean shawn at Sean Humphries.com and that's Humphries h umph

[00:50:04] Hr i s Sean at Sean Humphries.com That's the easiest way to reach out to me and you can visit my website at Sean Humphries.com You'll see a little bit of the stuff that we're doing there Yeah, it's

[00:50:19] Reach out. I mean, I'd love to just have a dialogue with you because that's all I do is just have dialogue with parents and Athletes just talking about okay, what are you currently doing? What's the goal?

[00:50:31] What does it look like and what does the plan look like to get there? Fantastic, you know, well, I tell you what my friend you have put the performance into the most impressive array of of techniques to develop

[00:50:47] Athlete performance and it's um, it's phenomenal. It's fascinating and I've heard you speak many times and every time it's an inspiration I appreciate what you do for the world. I appreciate what you're doing

[00:50:59] For the industry of golf and other sports abroad and safe travels to you out there as you continue your year And we'll stay in touch. I'd look to have you back on the show soon and our listeners reach out to Sean Humphries

[00:51:11] Sean thanks again for being on today man pleasure Thanks again for having me. It's been a great pleasure and and and don't don't sell yourself short because you're doing excellent work yourself And I keep up with what you're doing and know that it doesn't go unnoticed

[00:51:26] Well, thank you sir. You're a big hero of mine. I really appreciate you saying that it's very nice I look forward to seeing all my golfers Reaching out to Sean sending him a message saying thanks for being on the show

[00:51:37] And uh, I know you got something from today and if you didn't my goodness your ears were not plugged in Please take notes because these are phenomenal pieces of information to help you and your golf and And anything else that you want to perform at an elite level

[00:51:50] You can put his practices Into play and I'm sure you'll see results Listeners, this has been the forecast. I'm your host Alan Burton until next time. I look forward to chatting

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