The Lampeter-Strasburg (L-S) High School Varsity Club welcomed Major League Baseball (MLB) player and World Series champion Travis Jankowski as a guest speaker at the club's October Monthly Mindset Meeting. The meetings are new to the school this year and invite high school athletes and other interested students to explore how mental preparation and positive habits can lead to success both in sports and in life.

Jankowski, a Lancaster Catholic graduate who has spent more than a decade in Major League Baseball and helped the Texas Rangers capture the 2023 World Series title, spoke at the club's October session focused on "Routines and Habits." Now a Strasburg resident and owner of the new Formula Fitness at Jankowski Performance Complex, he shared how his mental approach and daily discipline have carried him through the highs and lows of professional sports.

Speaking to a room full of student-athletes, Jankowski said his success began with learning to handle failure. "It's really easy to be happy when things are going well," he said. "But it's when you fail that your true character shows. I never let the game define who I was. I'm a Christian, a man of faith. I know I'm defined by what Jesus says I am - sports is what I do, not who I am."

Jankowski told students that baseball and life are overwhelmingly mental. "People say baseball is 90% mental - I'd say it's 98 or 99%," he explained. "You're going to have stretches where you fail over and over. The question is, how do you respond?" His answer came down to faith, consistency, and routine.

To illustrate the power of habit, Jankowski walked students through a typical day during his 11-year MLB career. Though playing a 7 p.m. game under the lights seems glamorous on the surface, it actually requires a day packed with structure and discipline. His mornings began early with breakfast and family time, followed by hours of physical training, film study, hitting practice, and strategy meetings before the first pitch. "From 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., it's nonstop," he said. "Routine is what keeps me grounded in a game that's full of ups and downs. It's my constant."

Even after the final out, Jankowski said, his day didn't end until he had mentally reset. "I never left the field with baseball on my mind," he said. "When I got home, I needed to be a husband and a dad. If that meant sitting at my locker for 20 minutes to decompress after a bad game, I did it. My family deserves all of me, not what's left over after baseball."

Jankowski urged students to develop their own routines and to stick with them. "Find what works for you and be disciplined with it," he said. "Every decision you make builds momentum. Good or bad, those decisions shape where you end up."

After Jankowski's remarks, Varsity Club adviser Todd Garber and Jeffrey Swarr, both high school teachers and baseball coaches, connected his message to the club's ongoing mindset curriculum. They led students through an acronym-based discussion of active listening and engagement, skills that are as valuable in the classroom as on the field. The session also included short motivational clips from public figures like author Mel Robbins and Duke University women's basketball coach Kara Lawson, emphasizing confidence, self-discipline, and the importance of eliminating "losing habits" before they take hold.

When the conversation returned to Jankowski, he reinforced one of his core values: taking ownership. "Excuses are my biggest pet peeve," he said. "Failure isn't bad - it's just another way to learn what doesn't work. But when you make excuses, you stop learning. Don't transfer blame to your coaches, your teammates, or the officials. Own it. That's how you grow."

He applied the lesson directly to the field. "Umpires make bad calls. It happens," Jankowski said. "But if you let that affect your attitude, you've already lost focus. I can't control the umpire. I can only control my reaction. That's true in baseball, basketball, football, and in life. Success starts with how you respond."

As the meeting concluded, students reflected on their own "above-the-line" and "below-the-line" behaviors, habits that can support or undermine performance. For Jankowski, that exercise summarized his message perfectly. "Discipline, preparation, and ownership," he told them. "Those are the habits that build champions."