Playing on the Fearless Field
"We can't control the things around us, but we can control our response to our environment." - Coach Augie Garrido
"Fear leaves you lonely at the end of the day."- Coach Augie Garrido
We have all been frustrated by our performance. Most of these frustrations come from things we cannot control. As teenagers and amateur baseball players, it is often until our playing days are over that we realize that we did not worry about the things that we could control. Instead, we worried about things we could not control. This happens to so many people, and this leaves them with a lot of regret. Therefore I will share with you the importance of the fearless field.
As the late great Augie Garrido said, "Fear leaves you lonely at the end of the day." This is so true. The more fearful we are, the more enraged we become as individuals. The more we worry and think about things we could not control, the more we draw people away from us. People want to be around people that are helpful and pleasant to be with. The more we worry about ourselves, the more distant we become from others. Nothing ever important happened alone. In other words, we all need help from others. For example, wild animals travel in packs. The reason of the pack? There is strength in numbers. We naturally gravitate towards those who we can relate to. Therefore, those that are self-absorbed will not have a lot of people willing to help them, therefore the lonelier they are.
To prevent this loneliness and self-absorption from happening, we must enter the fearless field. The fearless field was a mental mantra that the Texas Longhorns used when legendary baseball coach Augie Garrido was at the helm. The fearless field wasn't just a mantra for the team, but became a way of life for Garrido and his players. In fact, in Garrido's book, "Life is Yours to Win," Garrido discusses his battle with fear. In fact, Garrido was so fearful of failure that when he won his first national title, you could see him gripping the national championship trophy very tightly. Garrido would go on to explain that he was so fearful of failure that he had the mindset that the trophy would be taken away from him. Years later, Garrido promised himself that when he and his team would go back to the College World Series that he would not be ruled by fear, instead he and his team would be fearless. Therefore the fearless field was created.
The fearless field simply takes fear out of the equation. Instead of worrying about results, the fearless field allows for the individual player to focus on their process. If you watch any professional sport, you will see that these elite athletes all have a routine. This routine has a two pronged approach. There is a green light approach and a red light approach. The green light approach simply means go. Just like when a stop light is green while driving, you go. You trust your plan and go to work. When the player becomes frustrated, this is called a red light. Just like when you would see a red light while driving, this approach calls for the athlete to take a deep breath, find a focal point, slow the moment down, and then trust themselves.
The focal point is crucial for any athlete to have if they are going to be successful. If you have never had a focal point before, you must find a place that is in any environment where you will be working or competing at. For former Tampa Bay Ray and current San Francisco Giant third baseman Evan Longoria, his focal point is the left field foul pole. Why? Because there is always a left field foul pole on every field that he is competing on. Whenever he feels a red light coming on, he takes a step back, looks at the left field foul pole, comes up with a plan, takes a deep breath, and competes.
The last and most important part of the fearless field is what it does for each individual athlete and the team. When an athlete or a team falls short of their plan, there are two routes that they can go. They can either come up with excuses and pout, or they can take responsibility for the short coming and learn from the mistake. Coach Garrido went a step further, he didn't allow for his Longhorns to come up with excuses, he had them have the mentality of Win or Learn. This mentality of Win or Learn takes the word lose out of the equation. If the plan was successful then the athlete or team won the situation. If they fell short, then they will take responsibility for the shortcoming of the situation, and learn from it so that they can get better for when a similar situation happens again. Without the mantra of Win or Learn there would be no fearless field. Without the fearless field, Augie Garrido would not have been as successful or as happy as he became later in life. In fact, Garrido would go back to the College World Series and win the NCAA National Championship title four more times, and this time he would cherish it with his players. No longer would he clutch the trophy in fear of it being taken away from him. Instead, the trophy would be given to the players, who influenced their coach and changed his life forever.
The focal point is crucial for any athlete to have if they are going to be successful. If you have never had a focal point before, you must find a place that is in any environment where you will be working or competing at. For former Tampa Bay Ray and current San Francisco Giant third baseman Evan Longoria, his focal point is the left field foul pole. Why? Because there is always a left field foul pole on every field that he is competing on. Whenever he feels a red light coming on, he takes a step back, looks at the left field foul pole, comes up with a plan, takes a deep breath, and competes.
The last and most important part of the fearless field is what it does for each individual athlete and the team. When an athlete or a team falls short of their plan, there are two routes that they can go. They can either come up with excuses and pout, or they can take responsibility for the short coming and learn from the mistake. Coach Garrido went a step further, he didn't allow for his Longhorns to come up with excuses, he had them have the mentality of Win or Learn. This mentality of Win or Learn takes the word lose out of the equation. If the plan was successful then the athlete or team won the situation. If they fell short, then they will take responsibility for the shortcoming of the situation, and learn from it so that they can get better for when a similar situation happens again. Without the mantra of Win or Learn there would be no fearless field. Without the fearless field, Augie Garrido would not have been as successful or as happy as he became later in life. In fact, Garrido would go back to the College World Series and win the NCAA National Championship title four more times, and this time he would cherish it with his players. No longer would he clutch the trophy in fear of it being taken away from him. Instead, the trophy would be given to the players, who influenced their coach and changed his life forever.
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