Power of positivity: Sestina’s LSU performance one example of training the brain
Nate Sestina typically begins the day by making coffee. Once that’s done, he sits down. He turns off his phone. The social media world goes dark. He then talks to himself.
“Talk through what I’m trying to get accomplished during the day,” he said. “Kind of speak it into existence.”
The desired result of this routine was on display in Kentucky’s victory at LSU on Tuesday. Sestina moved purposefully around the court as he contributed 11 points, eight rebounds, three three-pointers and an assist.
To explain his first double-digit scoring game and first time making more than two three-point shots in a game since UK played Ohio State on Dec. 21, Sestina credited a book: “10-Minute Toughness.”
Of what he learned by reading the book, Sestina said, “If you sit here and think negative thoughts, you’re going to do things negatively. But, if you say it out loud and it’s positive, then you’re more likely to do it.”
Sestina acknowledged the temptation to think negatively — he hadn’t made a three-point shot since January — in his season of adjustment as a graduate transfer from Bucknell.
The book’s author, Jason Selk, worked as the St. Louis Cardinals’ director of sports psychology from 2006 until 2011. He said it’s normal for people to focus on the negative. His St. Louis-based company, Enhanced Performance Inc., seeks to help people think positively.
Or as its director of mental training, Lexington native Ellen Reed, said, “What we work on with our athletes, our clients and our business professionals is really how to be abnormal. Mental toughness is really abnormal.”
UK Coach John Calipari recommended Selk’s book to Sestina. Tom Bartow, a son of former college coach Gene Bartow, is a mutual friend of Selk and Calipari. He sent the UK coach copies of the book, Selk said.
In his time as UK coach, Calipari has made repeated references to how a player’s mental approach to sports affects performance. He has had sports psychologist Bob Rotella work with UK players.
When asked recently how a player’s mental well-being can affect performance, UK assistant coach Tony Barbee said, “It’s huge. It’s 90-10, mental to physical.”
Dealing with what seemed life-changing adversity led Selk to become interested in sports psychology. He played high school football and aspired to play in college. Then, as he put it, he “blew out a knee” in the first game of his senior season.
“I believed I wanted to be a physical therapist,” he said. The therapy he received on the knee changed his plans.
Of the therapist who guided him through physical exercises, Selk said, “she was actually talking me through the issues. Losing football was a big part of my life. And it was really the talk therapy that I found most helpful.”
In his freshman year at the University of Missouri, Selk changed his major from physical therapy to sports psychology.
Reed, a 2002 graduate of Lexington Catholic High School, said self-confidence is the “No. 1 predictor of performance.”
UK freshman Keion Brooks spoke of self-confidence as foundational.
“If you don’t believe in yourself, why should someone else believe in you?” he said. “That’s really what it comes down to.”
Calipari likes to speak of demonstrated performance as the foundation for self-confidence. Selk and Reed said visualizing success and breathing exercises can also help someone increase the level of confidence.
Of course, the intense interest and scrutiny associated with Kentucky basketball would seem to make it fertile ground for anxiety.
“It’s important to learn to focus on what you can control instead of what you cannot control,” said Selk, who added that he learned this from John Wooden.
This would apply to social media.
“Social media is so embedded in the culture these days, you have to control what you can control,” Selk said. “I don’t think social media, the entity, is something controllable. I would just make sure I put some boundaries on it.”
Selk said he felt honored that Calipari would recommend “10-Minute Toughness” to a player.
“It means a great deal to me to know there are players out there who my work is having a positive impact,” he said.
Coaches in family
Before the Kentucky-LSU game, former LSU coach Dale Brown proudly pointed out that one of his grandsons is a graduate assistant on the staff at Baylor. That would be Peyton Prudhomme.
Prudhomme, 24, played for Northwestern State for two seasons before transferring to Texas Wesleyan, which won a NAIA national championship during his time as a player.
A family connection helped Prudhomme join the Baylor staff. Baylor Coach Scott Drew’s father, Homer Drew, was an assistant for Brown at LSU.
“My mom used to babysit (Scott Drew),” Prudhomme said. His mother, Robyn, is Brown’s daughter.
The graduate assistant’s duties include film breakdown, helping scout opponents, giving players rides to classes and rebounding for players who want to get in extra shooting.
“Everything but laundry,” Prudhomme said. “Being a utility player is what I call it. The main thing is kind of being a middle ground between players and coaches.”
Prudhomme has two brothers. Chris Prudhomme is a lawyer in New Orleans. Cameron Prudhomme is a student at LSU. Of the three brothers, “I’m the basketball nut,” Peyton said.
Brown, whom Prudhomme called “Poppa” as a child, annually took his basketball-loving grandson to the Final Four. He also took him to the NBA Finals when Shaquille O’Neal’s team was involved.
UK-Baylor?
UK Coach John Calipari is a family friend and a reason Dale Brown’s family roots for Kentucky, Peyton Prudhomme said. Brown encouraged Calipari early in the UK coach’s career.
When asked a hypothetical question about a NCAA Tournament game pitting Baylor against Kentucky, Prudhomme said, “Oh, it’d be something. I haven’t talked to Coach Calipari in a few years, so it’d be something to see him again. He’s been such a great friend to our family, and I’d love to play Kentucky. I really would.”
Who?
More than once in recent weeks, John Calipari has used a player he coached with the New Jersey Nets to make a point about Nate Sestina’s defense. The UK coach said that Keith Van Horn expressed concern about defending Karl Malone. Calipari said that he told Van Horn not to worry if his defense could not shut down the future Hall of Famer. Instead, Van Horn should try to score himself in order to neutralize Malone’s points.
Sestina did not sound ready to fully embrace this approach when asked about it a week ago..
“He was talking about outscoring your matchup,” the graduate transfer said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m trying to stop my guy from scoring.”
Sestina, who comes across as conscientious in all he attempts, said he thought he had done a better job moving his feet and staying in a defensive stance in recent games.
And Calipari’s execution in bouncing the Van Horn-Malone analogy off the UK players could have been better, Sestina said.
“That story, for everybody, was kind of funny,” Sestina said. “Because he didn’t remember Karl Malone’s name. He was, like, talking about it and he’s, like, ‘That Malone guy.’”
Happy birthday
To Rajon Rondo. He turned 34 on Saturday. … To Phil Argento. He turned 73 on Saturday. … To former UK assistant coach Herb Sendek. He turned 57 on Saturday. … To Jamal Murray. He turns 23 on Sunday (today). … To Tom Heitz. He turns 59 on Sunday (today). … To Joey Holland. He turns 65 on Tuesday. … To former Florida center Joakim Noah. He turns 35 on Tuesday. … To Billy Packer. The former CBS college basketball commentator turns 80 on Tuesday. … To former UK basketball sports information director Chris Cameron. He turns 60 on Tuesday. … To Chuck Aleksinas. He turns 61 on Wednesday.
