Hard 90 Baseball Owner Eric Walczykowski recently published a book entitled the Hard 90 Mindset.
Here is the story behind the book.
Why did you write the book?
"I wrote the book to help student athletes and their parents learn what it takes to reach your full potential on the baseball diamond and make to most of the opportunity that the game gives you to learn about life."
What do you mean by life lessons?
Baseball, like life, is full of ups and downs. Players that are taught the game the right way learn the importance of practice - doing your very best day in and day out - to master your craft. The only thing that we have true control over is doing our best - giving our best attitude and effort everyday.
Baseball also teaches you about the importance of a team, the need to rely on others to accomplish goals and to overcome adversity.
Speaking of adversity, baseball is a game of failure. In order to achieve a high level, players quickly realize that you are not defined by what happens to you, but more importantly how you react to it.
Finally, baseball is full of learning. The best players that we have had at Hard 90 are truly students of the game. They have learned to take every situation and turn it into an opportunity to learn and to get better.
These key principles have helped me immensely in my personal and professional career.
What was the inspiration for the book?
The inspiration for the book are my children - Taylor, Devon and Jordan - whom I really wanted to learn these life lessons through the pursuit of greatness in sport. My daughter Taylor accomplished this through the pursuit of musical theatre, while Devon and Jordan are pursuing baseball.
Additionally, all of the young men and their families that I and others at Hard 90 have had the opportunity to coach. Parents today so much want their kids to be happy through the pursuit of baseball and I really wanted to provide a resource for them to have the ability to learn from players and parents that came before them and have achieved their goals and dreams.
Who influenced you in the writing of the book?
Throughout my life, I have always sought out mentors to provide advice and counsel.
In the baseball world, Roc Murray (career high school coach from Rocklin High School), Dean Stotz (former associate head coach at Stanford) and Paul Cogan and Tom Kunis from the Los Angeles Dodgers have had a huge impact on me. Additionally, I try to learn from everyone I meet and I have had the opportunity to coach with and against a number of great coaches.
In the corporate world, some of my board members and fellow executives have been very influential on my thinking, including Arnold Silverman, Sal De Trane, Mark Jensen, Tony Abena and Jack Russi.
As an avid reader, I have also studied the teachings of John Wooden, Stephen Covey and Malcolm Gladwell, among others.
What do you hope your book accomplishes?
I hope that my book helps the next generation of players and parents establish a love for the greatest game. See the beauty in baseball, savor every minute that they get to play it, take in all the lessons it has to offer and have a fire to pass on its great traditions.
Get your copy today - Hard 90 Mindset