Yogi Berra once said baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical. So why, Brian Cain wants to know, do baseball coaches and players work on the mental part of the game less than 10 percent of the time?

Whatever percentage of baseball is a mind game, Cain is determined to get those who participate in it to pay more attention to that side of it, even if he has to use a toilet or a brick to do it.

Cain is an applied sports psychology and peak performance consultant who devotes 100 percent of his instruction to the mental aspect of the game. Teams that follow his teachings, including the 2004 NCAA national champion Cal State Fullerton squad, swear by him and his methods.

On Saturday, March 22, Cain will be at Poland Regional High School talking to players and coaches at what has been dubbed a “Mental Game Boot Camp,” which is being held as a fundraiser for the Poland High School Boosters. While it won’t be Cain’s first appearance in Maine, Poland varsity baseball coach Dave Jordan said his presentation will be unlike anything most coaches and athletes have seen.

“His delivery of the importance of the mental game is awesome. He is a very dynamic speaker,” Jordan said. “Brian keeps his audience very focused and provokes critical-thinking skills on how you can improve your thinking process.”

Cain, who also works with athletes in other sports, such as mixed martial arts, describes himself as a “edutainer,” a combination of an educator and an entertainer. He uses props, jokes, audience participation and video to make his points. For example, he’ll talk about athletes releasing their “mental bricks,” the negatives that they carry after a bad practice or game.

Sometimes, the props show up in the dugout of the teams that subscribe to Cain’s lessons. During a recent College World Series, ESPN’s cameras focused on a small toilet in the Cal State Fullerton dugout.

“There is so much failure built into the game of baseball that you have to learn how to ‘flush’ away the negative things – the bad calls, the rude fans, the bad at-bats,” Cain said. “At Fullerton and all the other programs I work with, we have a toilet in the dugout so that we can ‘flush it’ during the game.”

Jordan said he and his baseball staff saw Cain’s presentation at the World Baseball Coaches’ Clinic at Mohegan Sun in February and thought local players and coaches could benefit from his teachings.

“It is about being able to focus on the present moment, get rid of the distractions – the negative thoughts and other things going on around you – taking responsibility for our actions, not blaming the weather or the umps, and learning from each situation,” Jordan said. “We believe that these are skills that will be very valuable in life as well.”

The seminar will be held in two sessions, from 9-11 a.m. for coaches and 12-2 p.m. for players. The cost of the seminar is $40 per person ($30 per person from Mechanic Falls, Minot, and Poland). Contact Nancy Whittier at 441-0151 or [email protected] for more information. School coaches and players need to register for the separate sessions. Parents, college athletes and other adults can register for either.