Former MLB Player and Chairman of The League of Dreams, Mike Bordick on ”Connecting Neuroscience and Sports for Our Next Generation”

“Teaching our next generation the drive, desire, work ethic and character, that will take them to new heights, using neuroscience.” Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/oXfQPEJWwbM On this episode you will learn: ✔ How Former MLB Player is taking the mental and physical skills he learned over his 14 year MLB career, connected to neuroscience to help our next generation of youth. ✔ The leadership ingredients that Mike Bordick thinks made some players stand out over the rest with their results. ✔ Why Mike Piazza (NY Mets) was such an outstanding and unique team player. ✔  How Mike Bordick's childhood contributed to his success in MLB and beyond, and why he thinks it's important to give these skills back to our next generation. ✔ What sport Mike chose to unwind after a busy season, to enjoy the "solitude of nature." ✔ His vision for League of Dreams www.leagueofdreams.org (that's just celebrated it's 20th year). Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights.    For today’s EPISODE #295 we are going to speak with someone who I feel connected to with where he is going, but for many others, like my husband, he’s formed a huge connection to where he has come from. We will be speaking with Mike Bordick, a former MLB player, whose 14 year career included time with the A’s, Orioles, Blue Jays and Mets. I came to meet him when he contacted me, brainstorming ideas for ways he can continue to give back to youth in his retirement, with the organization he has formed www.leagueofdreams.org, that is celebrating their 20th year and is now looking at including content that links neuroscience to learning and physical education. When I saw his email to me, I wondered “what is a former baseball player emailing me about” and then when I got to what he was looking for, I thought that he definitively found the right person, as this is what the podcast Neuroscience Meets SEL is all about. I wrote back to him with ideas, and resources from the podcast, with episodes that tied back to PE and the brain, and connected him to everyone I knew that’s focused on PE and neuroscience. I can’t wait to meet with Mike and learn more about his vision for neuroscience, (that stems from his college degree in PE and kinesiology) and see what he does with this new program that he’s working on, that links brain health, physical activity and nutrition. I also knew I couldn’t ignore the path the led him to where he is today with his vision, so we will dive a bit into his past on today’s interview. If you know me well, you’ll know that I’m not really a sports fan, (while I love being physically active myself, I haven’t spent much time watching sports, since I was around twelve, and my Dad took me to hockey games in Toronto. I think I’ve been to one baseball game, but never went back because it just wasn’t my thing sitting in the stands and watching the fans spitting on the ground.  So, when Mike’s email came in, I asked my husband, Majid Samadi, who is a huge baseball fan, “Have you ever heard of Mike Bordick” and the answer was a definite “Yes, and why do you ask?” Before learning more about Mike’s vision, you can go to his About Us page on his website and see where his path that l