Weber Chosen To Speak At National Baseball Convention
Dec. 19, 2003
Lakeland College Baseball Coach John Weber has been given a rare honor to speak at the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in San Antonio in the first week of January. Weber is one of only 3 coaches to have been selected from 350 Division III head coaches from across the country. He will be making his presentation in front of an audience of about 4,000 college, high school, professional and youth coaches.

Weber's speech is titled "Keeping Your Head In The Game" and is about using sport psychology to help your baseball program succeed. He will be giving the lecture with Mike Riggs, a sports psychologist Weber brought in to work with the Lakeland baseball team the last few years.

Weber and Riggs will be presenting a case study of how the Lakeland Baseball Team made a remarkable turnaround and overcame long odds and obstacles to move into the national spotlight with an improved mental approach.

Weber and Riggs both teach that success is the product of intelligent, systematic, and intentional effort, housed within a positive and passionate environment where commitment, confidence, concentration and composure rule.

The clinic generally attracts the top speakers in the nation. This year's clinicians include Wayne Graham (from Division I national champion, Rice University), Mark Johnson (head coach of Texas A&M), Mark Marquess (head coach of Stanford University), Jim "The Rookie" Morris, and former major leaguer Howard Johnson. Last year's headline speakers included Mark Prior, Nolan Ryan, Tony Gwynn, Pat Murphy (head coach at Arizona State) and Paul Mainieri (head coach at Notre Dame).

Over the past three years the Muskie coaching staff has gained a strong reputation by being nationally ranked each year, winning 3 straight conference championships (only 2 had been won previously in the history of the program), making two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and finishing 5th at the 2002 College World Series, making Lakeland the smallest college ever to make a CWS appearance.