Wertz, Thompson teaching mental performance across area

Dec. 15—One of the most famous college basketball coaches ever to grace the sidelines was former Indiana and Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight.

One of the biggest things that Knight stressed was the importance of mental toughness. He once famously said "mental toughness is to physical as four is to one."

In any sport, usually the team that's more mentally tough is the one that's not going to make that fatal mistake at the end of the game with the outcome hanging in the balance.

That's why teams around the area have brought in mental performance coaches like Ken Wertz and Jason Thompson in recent years.

Wertz, an Indiana native who worked as a teacher and coach for 40 years at Fremont High School, has been teaching his mental philosophy for nearly 15 years.

Since 2008, Wertz has worked with high school programs, college programs, businesses and individuals to share his Mental Magic sessions.

Thompson's much newer to the mental performance scene, having started The Mental Edge just last summer.

It's only been six months, but Thompson has positively impacted numerous athletes already, including the Bethel men's soccer team on its journey to an NAIA national championship this month.

WERTZ STILL GOING STRONG

Wertz wasn't always interested in the mental side of sports.

In fact, it took many years and a sport he wasn't at all familiar with for him to start realizing the importance.

"I coached and taught at Fremont for 40 years," Wertz said. "Thirteen years in basketball, five years in baseball and 18 years as an assistant football coach. Then, they asked me to coach golf. I didn't know anything about golf, but they couldn't find a golf coach. I told them I didn't even have a bag."

Despite his lack of knowledge, Wertz took to the links and watched the boys team for the first time back in 1983.

As he watched and became familiar with the game, the science teacher in Wertz started questioning his player's performances on the course.

"I could never understand how a player could shoot a 40 one day and a 50 the next," Wertz said. "The variables are all the same. The same golf course, the pin placement, the weather, everything is exactly the same. So, why is the player not shooting the same score?"

These questions led Wertz to discover the true importance of the mental side of athletes.

Following some research, Wertz began incorporating "the mental game" into his boys golf team's games.

His teachings made a difference, because after his 25-year run as the boys golf coach at Fremont, his overall record stood at 319-114.

Due to the success of the boys, the girls golf team at Fremont took notice.

After starting the girls program in 1996, Wertz went 143-35 in 11 years as head coach.

"The girls thought I had hypnotized the boys or something," Wertz joked. "They noticed they were different, and they said 'whatever you did to the boys, we want it.'

"Eventually, after giving them the mental game, that program went undefeated for three years and made it to the state finals back in 2007. I was just so proud of those girls and the work they put in. They were so mentally tough, and they never broke when things were tough. ... I give a lot of credit to my kids, but I give a lot of credit to my mental program too."

Following his tenures coaching, Wertz wanted to expand what he had learned and share it with others.

Back in 2008, he got his first opportunity when he reached out to Trine University head men's basketball coach Rob Harmon.

"I showed him that first draft on PowerPoint," Wertz said. "It was awful. I look back, and I mean, we're talking clipart. ... But about halfway through, (Harmon) stopped me and told me they weren't doing anything like this. He told me that, unless they have a sports psychologist on staff, nobody's working on the mental game. So, he hired me back in 2008, and that's where it all began."

Since the birth of Mental Magic — a name trademarked due to his brain-stimulating magic tricks he offers during each session — Wertz has worked with nine colleges, 20 high schools and many individual athletes.

Wertz currently offers 10 different sessions, but the three main ones are 'why a mental coach?', 'the body speaks' and 'staying in the present.'

"I try to have three sessions before the team's first game," Wertz said. "It's one (session) per week, because then they get to process it and think about it. Then I'll go to practice and make sure that whatever was talked about in the session is being implemented or the floor, the field or wherever it may be. Every session is different, because every team is different. I'll ask the coach what they are looking for, and then I'll tweak the session based on that."

Over the last 15 years, Wertz's philosophy has helped breed a number of success stories at both the high school and college level.

In 2010, the University of Saint Francis men's basketball team went into the NAIA Division II Tournament as the #15 seed. The Cougars would go on to win five straight in the tournament, bringing home the national title under head coach Jeff Rekeweg after edging Walsh University by a point in the championship contest.

"They were a young team," said Wertz of Saint Francis. "They played three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior. They struggled with the mental game at times, but then they went on that run and won a national title. ... It was like a movie. There was just no way that team should've won a national title, but they were mentally tough when it mattered."

Other success stories include Central Noble's boys basketball team advancing to the state championship in 2022 and then-Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne men's basketball's run that included an NIT bid from 2014-20.

Wertz worked with head coach Jon Coffman — who is still at Purdue Fort Wayne — helping the Mastodons to its first ever NIT bid in the 2015-16 season before he played a small part in then-IPFW's monumental upset of an Indiana University team ranked in the top five at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum a season later.

The Mastodons shocked the Hoosiers, 71-68, earning the program's biggest win in its history at the time.

"I'm an IU grad, and I was sitting down there watching the game and thinking there was just no way," Wertz said. "IU was bigger, stronger, ranked top five in the nation. There's was just no way that our guys could beat IU. But they did. There were probably 12,000 people at the Coliseum; I mean, it was packed. It looked like Assembly Hall. ... The main thing that separated those two teams that night wasn't the physical part, it was the mental part."

These days, Wertz is still staying busy, traveling from place-to-place and meeting with teams the old-fashioned way: in person.

Right now, Wertz is working with around 10 programs, including the Lakeland boys and girls basketball teams and the Northridge boys and girls basketball teams.

In Middlebury, the Raiders appear to reaping the benefits, with the girls team currently sitting at 10-2 and the boys at 5-1.

"They have really bought into the mental game," said Wertz of the Northridge teams. "For them to allow me to come in and have access to their teams speaks highly of them as people. They are always looking for the edge that will separate them from any other team. Northridge is a beautiful facility, there's a lot of good people there, and the teams are playing well."

"This year, we are young, and we knew that we'd be in a lot of close games with the schedule we put together," Northridge head coach Doug Springer added. "I'm always trying to find some kind of competitive edge, and I've always thought that whoever can win that mental battle when the game is tight will have a better opportunity to win the game.

"Ken does a great job of giving us the tools to be able to perform at our best. Not only when it comes to the players, but the coaches as well."

At 70 years old, Wertz won't be able to continue at his current rate forever.

But for now, he's still enjoying teaching young people, much like he has for over 40 years now.

"It's fun," Wertz said. "I probably get more benefit out of it than what the teams and coaches do. I just really love the coaching fraternity and working with the kids. It's my love and passion."

CURIOSITY LEADS TO A CAREER CHANGE

The interest in the mental part of athletics for Thompson truly started to grow during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With some extra time to study and read, Thompson began immersing himself in the mental aspect of sport after having a curiosity of it for many years being surrounded by players and coaches at the high school level.

"I was fascinated with the dynamic of success," Thompson said. "Why are some teams successful, and why are some teams not successful? I had the same thought with athletes. They have the talent, but why aren't they performing better? I think those aspects really peaked my interest."

Just a couple of years ago, Thompson started to wonder if he can turn his curiosities into a career.

On top of researching and reading many materials pertaining to mental performance, Thompson earned a certification through a program taught by mental performance coach Brian Cain.

Additionally, this summer, Thompson met with Wertz, who Thompson dubbed as an inspiration to him taking the plunge into teaching mental performance.

"Seeing him do it kind of gave me the courage to try it myself," said Thompson of Wertz. "I got a chance to pick his brain and ask him what doing this on a local scale looked like for him."

This past summer, Thompson decided to make that move, and thus The Mental Edge was born.

Thompson says he currently has seven different session offerings that touch on a variety of different topics pertaining to mental performance.

"I really lean on the coaches to decide which sessions would be the best for their team," Thompson said. "I often start with one that I call 'mental pillars of an elite mindset,' where I discuss multiple pillars that an athlete that wants to have an elite mindset is going to want to focus on. Another example is one that highlights negative thoughts, and the thoughts that usually hold us back."

Thompson worked with multiple teams this past fall, and right now during the winter season, he's currently working with seven. That number includes both Elkhart basketball teams, Jimtown girls basketball, NorthWood girls basketball and Bethel University men's basketball.

One team in particular that Thompson had a chance to work with over the fall was the Bethel men's soccer team.

Led by head coach Thiago Pinto, the Pilots had a magical season, going 24-1-1 and outscoring opponents 14-3 during a postseason run that resulted in the program's first-ever NAIA national championship.

"I went in and did three preseason trainings with the team and immediately felt like there was something special about this group," Thompson said. "What I thought was really special about the Bethel men's soccer team was how many countries were represented on the team. ... I'd stay connected with the coaches and players through messages, and I'd go to games and meet with them after.

"Obviously to be a small part of something so special was rewarding, but also, to see the team really embrace the mental side and use some of the things we discussed on their way to a championship was really fun."

"His teachings were really helpful at key times in the season," Pinto added. "It was something that we referred to multiple times during the season. It was cool to see him check in and show that he truly cared.

"He did a great job of interacting with the players. ... I think something that really ended up sticking out to us was his road map analogy that basically says where your team is now compared to where you want to be in the future. That was really powerful because he put up a road map that had the path from Bethel down to Alabama, where the national championship site was."

Both The Mental Edge, as well as The Mental Edge for Classrooms — where Thompson speaks to students about the challenges of middle school, high school and beyond — have been very successful ventures for Thompson less than a year into the job.

And according to Thompson, he has big aspirations to continue growing into the future.

"I'm always asking myself how I can continue to make what I'm doing better," Thompson said. "Apart from working with local teams, I'll work individually with athletes both virtually and in person. I'm working with an athlete from Central Indiana. I've had a mom reach out to me from Texas recently to ask about working with her daughter.

"I'm also looking into making some of my material available for purchase. ... I'll always want to have a local flavor to it, because I love high school sports, and I have a lot of connections here locally. I'll always do that, but I'd also love the opportunity to grow and work with teams from other parts of the country as well."

Evan Lepak can be reached at evan.lepak@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240326. Follow him on Twitter @EvanMPLepak.