Podcast: Scott Papek discusses keys to a healthy competitive mindset

When I worked on the cover story for our fall magazine — a profile of top 2027 girls prospect Bella Owumi — Owumi mentioned that her mentality as an elite basketball player has leveled up in part due to her work with Scott Papek of Max Out Mindset.

The perspective of mindset coaches like Papek are always valuable, especially as young athletes are molding their mental approaches to competition. So I thought he’d be an insightful guest for the HoopWise Podcast, and Papek did not disappoint.

He gave us a ton of valuable lessons and examples of how it’s important for athletes to have a strong sense of self, as well as strategies for when they’re in the heat of pressure and competition. Papek talked about his background in music and the parallels between the music and sports industries.

He also discussed aspects around the state of youth sports, techniques players can use to refocus during games and much more.

Watch the video

Highlights

What are the parallels between the competitiveness in the music and sports industries?

Papek: The parallel between greatness in whatever it is, — there is definitely a pattern. And it is, not looking for the hack. It is literally being clear on who you want to be, where you want to go, how do you got to train to get there, and what are the mental skills you need to get there? And then, do you rearrange your day every day to be your best? It’s not perfect, but at the end of the day, did I get better or did I not?

“But what are we measuring on what we got better? We sold a bunch of records, we made a bunch of points, we we won a game — that is where people would get in trouble because we’re letting things we can’t control dictate our success. So knowing who you are and having a self-awareness and a vision, and knocking all the rest of the stuff out of the way and just being great at that, is really a parallel I see in all high performance.”

What are reset words, and how do athletes use resetting techniques to stay focused?

Papek: “George Kittle — football player, great tight end — puts a reset button on his wrist and hits it after every play. And the reason he does that is because (he thinks), ‘Sometimes I’m too high and sometimes too low. I need to be neutral. So I reset with the a red reset after every play.’ He started that in college.

“Some athletes like to say, ‘I put in the work, I deserve to be here, I’m the best. No one can stop me.’ If that’s what they need to hear, that’s what they need to hear. Some athletes do not like to tell themselves that. A lot of it gets into technical words like footwork, hips, wrists, as reset words. Some athletes that we’ve worked with will reset by the clock. Point guards like to reset by the clock. They’ll look at the time.

“A lot of our athletes write fearless on their wrists because when one athlete talks about it, we share it with other one, all of a sudden we see people writing on their wrists fearless. And it’s really a reset. It’s like, what can you do to remind yourself every five to seven seconds that you need to be back in the present moment?”

Listen

The HoopWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.