
Former MLB Player and Chairman of The League of Dreams, Mike Bordick on ”Connecting Neuroscience and Sports for Our Next Generation”
07/16/23 • 72 min
“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 led him to baseball began. Majid filled in some of the blanks that I had, from the point on view of an avid Mets baseball fan.
I learned that:
- Mike Bordick, while on the Orioles, was so highly regarded that they shifted Hall of Famer Cal Ripkin Jr to 3rd base, so that Mike Bordick could play short stop. In 2000, he was traded to the NY Mets during the Pennant Race, where he went onto the World Series and most importantly, he was a part of the first Subway Series between the NY Mets and the NY Yankees in the 2000 World Series.
Hearing this, made me see a different side to Mike Bordick and his vision for youth. He brings all the attributes he learned and developed in leadership with his 14-year career in the MLB. What I’m interested in learning more ab...
“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 led him to baseball began. Majid filled in some of the blanks that I had, from the point on view of an avid Mets baseball fan.
I learned that:
- Mike Bordick, while on the Orioles, was so highly regarded that they shifted Hall of Famer Cal Ripkin Jr to 3rd base, so that Mike Bordick could play short stop. In 2000, he was traded to the NY Mets during the Pennant Race, where he went onto the World Series and most importantly, he was a part of the first Subway Series between the NY Mets and the NY Yankees in the 2000 World Series.
Hearing this, made me see a different side to Mike Bordick and his vision for youth. He brings all the attributes he learned and developed in leadership with his 14-year career in the MLB. What I’m interested in learning more ab...
Previous Episode

”Beyond Our 5 Senses: Understanding and Using the Six Higher Faculties of Our Mind”
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 #294, we are going back to the basics, with the Fundamentals of Understanding How Our Mind Works, that started for me with Bob Proctor’s Youth Mentor Program, that I was the Executive Director with, until the program dissolved with the Sept 11th, 2001 tragedy. This weekend I reviewed ALL of these cassette tapes, and when I got to the last one, the tape broke. I didn’t want to miss anything that might be important that I could share with you here, so I watched a YouTube video on “how to fix a broken cassette tape” and what do you know, it worked! Times really are different than the days we used to carry these cassette tapes around, with our Sony Walkmans, but what came through loud and clear to me, was that the messages and lessons we were teaching those teens were timeless, and it all began with an understanding of our mind, how it works, and how to use it. The program consisted of 6 SERIES: SERIES 1, The Fundamentals (you can see these tapes in the image in the show notes). SERIES 2 went into the importance of your attitude, SERIES 3, Your Self-Image, SERIES 4- How to Set and Achieve Goals, SERIES 5- The Laws of the Universe and how to use these laws for your health and relationships and SERIES 6 reviewed all lessons, with the goal that the teens would experience PRAXIS, or they integrated their beliefs with their behaviors.
It was strange for me to hear some of these tapes that were recorded back in early 2001, using conference calls, but what was interesting to me, was hearing the teens explaining exactly HOW these timeless principles were helping them.
Teens would call into a conference call line, from around the world, and meet with Bob Proctor monthly, to review these lessons, and how they were applying them. Nothing made him happier than to hear someone applying what he had dedicated his life teaching, and I know it surprised him that the teens seemed to pick these concepts up quickly. This makes sense to me now that we know how neuroplasticity works, as it’s much easier for a young person to learn something new, because their brains are more plastic, and they also have less habits to overcome.
I listened to one call, and there was a young guy named Greg who shared how he used visualization to go from the last place on his golf team to be the 3rd highest on his team. I wondered why he picked the 3rd highest, and not first on his team, but anyway, that was his goal, and he achieved it. We asked him “what exactly did you do when you were visualizing?” and he said “he put himself at the 5th hole on the golf course, then pictured himself hitting the club, feeling the wind on his face, and imagined where the ball would land.” His vision was clear and specific, and listening to him talking was something else. He was confidently telling the others how he achieved his goal. Greg had mastered TAPE 2 of the Fundamentals thinking in pictures, TAPE 3, using his conscious mind and his senses (to set his goal, he even showed us how he felt it), he used TAPE 4 when he threw his goal into his subconscious mind, and TAPE 6, Greg was able to review exactly what he had done, inspiring others on this call.
No wonder these kids caught my attention. There’s nothing like hearing how young people, from countries around the world, were helping each other to create exciting lives. If you look at the date on the cassette tape, it was just months before September 11th, 2001, and the program would dissolve before SERIES 4, 5 and 6 were even created, but I hope that sharing these ideas with you, will help someone, somewhere in the world, to implement these ideas in your own life.
So for today’s episode, #294, we will cover TAPE 5 and dive into “Going Beyond Our 5 Senses: Understanding and Using the 6 Faculties of Our Mind.”
We will cover:
✔What are the 6 Faculties of the Mind, and How Do They Relate to Going Beyond Our 5 Senses?
✔Where Napoleon Hill talks about these 6 Faculties in his best-selling Think and Grow Rich Book.
✔Where neuroscience fits into our understanding of these Faculties, to help us to understand ...
Next Episode

Futurist and Behavioral Scientist Chris Marshall on ”Decoding Change”
“With change comes uncertainty, fear, and anxiety, and the tendency to cling to the status quo—perhaps the last thing we want to do in a fast-changing world.”
Watch this episode on YouTube here https://youtu.be/Bru26OZnlmI
Chris Marshall, from his book, Decoding Change, Understanding what the heck is going on, and why we should be optimistic about our future.
We will cover:
✔ Do we ALL feel intuitively that the world is going through radical change?
✔ What happens to our creative and decision-making ability during times of change?
✔ Strategies and mechanisms to help us to prepare for a better future.
✔ Current trends and mega-trends.
✔ The mindset needed to achieve quantum leaps with our results.
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 #296, we meet up with Chris Marshall[i], a Professional Futurist, Behavioral Scientist, and author of "Decoding Change: Understanding what the heck is going on, and why we should be optimistic about our future.”[ii]
The title of his book should give you an idea of the direction of this conversation. A bit about Chris. He’s the
- Head of Investment Strategy at Dragon Investment Managers where he leads global market insights across all asset classes including equities, real estate and credit markets Founder & Chief Storyteller of Snowdonia Distillery (first copper distillery in Wales) Masters in Psychology and MSc in Behavioural Economics Host of the Transitional Matters Podcast[iii] where he covers trends, mega-trends and transitions going on in the world around us and how they impact our life.
Let’s get right to this conversation, where I’m looking forward to what we can learn together about the world from Chris’s point of view: the point of view of a behavioral scientist, and futurist, who looks at “how the world is changing, not just from the visible elements, but the things below the surface.”[iv] Let’s meet Chris Marshall and look at the trends and mega-trends, that he says are the drivers of change around us.
INTRO:
Welcome Chris!! Thank you for joining me today, all the way from Wales (is this right?) Now, you’ll understand this as a fellow podcast host, but what I enjoy the most about this medium is how far a reach we can have with our content. While we are now in 182 countries/193 I like looking to see where people are tuning into the podcast from around the world, and I noticed we’ve only had 3 downloads in Wales this month. Maybe after today’s episode we can get this number higher, especially since I was born in the UK (Worthing, Sussex). Our numbers in England are much higher. Tell me something I might not know about Wales[v] (other than what I can see on my map here—it’s a country in Southwest Great Britain known for its rugged coastline and mountainous national parks”
Do you look at your podcast stats? What do you notice as you look at your work around the world?
Q1: So Chris, I watched your keynote introduction on YouTube[vi], and I think your book Decoding Change[vii] should be required reading for anyone who wants to plan for the future, which is pretty much everyone on the planet. You ask your audiences all around the world one question, and I was captivated to learn more. Can we start with this one question, but I’d like to know what YOU see?
“Do YOU intuitively feel like the world is going through radical change?”
Q2: We focus a lot on this podcast on ways to strengthen our mind, through healthy lifestyle choices, understanding how our brain health impacts our mental and physical health...all building us towards creating stronger, 2.0 versions of ourselves. You talk about it as our superpower, or ability to be creative. But what happens to our creative ability in times of change, stress or uncertainty?
Q2B: What does uncertainty do to our decision-making ability and our brain?
Q3: I listened to your podcas...
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