Copyright 2020 by David Angeron. All rights reserved.
Published by:
John Melvin Publishing, LLC
650 Poydras St.
Suite 1416
New Orleans, LA 70130
www.johnmelvinpublishing.com
ISBN: 978-1-7351627-0-6 Paperback
978-1-7351627-1-3 Kindle edition
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020910163
Illustrations by Muttley
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, manual, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to the loving memory of three especially important and influential men in my life, the three Berwick High School legacies: Tommy Bourgeois, John Menard, and John Melvin.
Coach Tommy Bourgeois coached me in high school basketball, baseball, and football. He was someone who pushed me both physically and mentally to be the best player and best person I could be. I had an incredibly special bond with him, and he was one of my main influences in becoming a coach. After I graduated college, Coach Bourgeois (then the head football coach and athletic director) gave me my first coaching job as the head baseball coach and his assistant football coach in 1997. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity he gave me and the belief he had in me as a coach. Coach Bourgeois was a great motivator and one of the toughest men I ever knew. Years later he faced the ultimate adversity when he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease). Through it all, he stayed positive and continued to influence and motivate people. He lost his battle with ALS in 2014 at the young age of 55.
Coach John Menard was a good friend of mine growing up. We played basketball, baseball, and football together throughout high school and graduated together in the Berwick High School Class of 1992. In 1997, when I received my first head coaching position, John was my assistant coach. He was a dedicated and hardworking coach and helped players get better on and off the field. John later became a successful head baseball coach and then became an assistant principal. John was one of the most caring and passionate people I ever knew. John made me a better coach and a better person. In his 20 years of coaching, he touched many lives with his beautiful spirit, outgoing personality, strength, and faith. In 2019, John lost his courageous battle with cancer at the age of 44.
And John Caleb Melvin Over my 20-plus years of coaching, I have coached thousands of players and I love each one of them as if they were my own. Being part of a team is a family bond for life. However, any coach will tell you that some players just click with you better than others. Similar personality types and certain players just gravitate toward you for guidance and improvement. John Melvin was the first player in my early coaching career that I had that special bond with. John was a little bit of a rebel, but he had an awesome, positive personality. I saw so much potential in him that I pushed him harder than I pushed the others. I became close to his parents and helped them by taking John on some of his recruiting trips. When he signed to be a Division I football player and track athlete in May of 2000, I was extremely excited and proud.
As John went on to be a two-sport athlete in college, and I moved on to begin coaching professional baseball, I continued to follow his college success. John always lived life to the fullest and could light up a room with his great smile and cheerful personality. On February 17, 2003, I received the call that his life had tragically ended in a motorcycle accident at 20 years old. I remember being devastated in my hotel room and feeling like I had just lost my brother. At that time, I wasnt sure why John had been such a special part of my life and why we had that close of a bond. But several years later, when I returned to my hometown after my professional coaching career, I was reunited with Johns family and ended up marrying Johns older sister, Jean. My sports brother back then and my brother-in-law now will always be loved and missed.
All three of these small-town legacies touched so many lives. I am extremely blessed and grateful to have had them as huge parts of my life and to have learned so much from them. They all have a special place in my heart, and each of them has been influential in my coaching career and in making me the Christian family man I am today.
I hope you enjoy this book written in honor of John Melvin, John Menard, and Tommy Bourgeois.
Table of Contents
Foreword
I have a great love for sports in general and for baseball in particular. Currently, I am the co-owner of Double-A minor league baseball team the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. As a community-builder, one of my big goals was bringing this team (then called the Carolina Mudcats and located in Zebulon, NC) to Pensacola. This finally happened in 2010, and since then the Blue Wahoos have played a pivotal role in driving the citys economic development. Thats the magic of baseball!
It was through baseball that I met David Angeron. We met in the pre-Wahoo days, in the summer of 2002. I had purchased a brand-new team, the Pensacola Pelicans. David had just been hired as the general manager. I saw something special in him right away. David worked around the clock to get the stadium up and running while also dealing with player recruiting and development. It was clear he was incredibly dedicated and a very hard worker, and that he had a gift for inspiring others.
I knew that when he mastered a few basic tools, he would quickly accelerate to the next level. I started coaching David on his business leadership and public speaking skills, and he took the ball and ran with it. The Pelicans went on to win the 2002 Southeastern League Championship, and from there, we started the process of making Pensacola a professional baseball town.
David and I worked together for a couple of years before he moved on to become a coach and scout at higher levels of professional baseball. Over the years, weve remained close friends.
So when David asked me to read his book, I was delighted. I loved that he was writing about the psychological aspects of playing a team sport. In getting to know many baseball players over the years, I have seen that what goes on in the mind and heart is just as important as talent or athletic ability. In fact, it may be even more important.
This is not just a sports thing either. Its true in business and in all areas of life.
Ive had the privilege of getting to know some highly successful people from many different professions and from every industry. Its widely believed that success is about how educated or well-connected or even how smart a person is, but I have found thats not always true. Passion, drive, and resilience (which is a big part of the mental toughness David writes about) are actually far better indicators of success.
This book is written to young athletes and the coaches and parents who guide and influence them, but really, its valuable for all young people. If they can master the inner game from a young agefrom learning to motivate themselves, to cultivating work ethic and grit, to setting goals, to developing confidencetheyll set themselves up for success for the rest of their life.
Over the years, Ive learned there are certain mindsets and habits that predictably lead to excellence and success. And as I read this book, I realized that all of them are woven into Davids Mental Master Method. And he doesnt just instill these points of excellence in others. He lives them.
David is a good example of the saying that you cant take anyone else further than you can take yourself. He works on himself daily. He walks the talk, and thats what makes him a great coach and a powerful influencer. (Its also what makes him a great parent: He and his wife have raised four highly successful children, all of whom are unique individuals and strong athletes!) The mindsets and habits he embodies are the same ones he shares in this bookand theyre the same ones that go into building the mental toughness that creates elite athletes.
