At the end of January, the weekend of Jan 21st and 22nd to be specific, I will be speaking at the National Baseball Expo in San Diego. The topic I will be addressing is Developing Young Pitchers. For about a month or so now I have been stewing on how I want to present the information at the expo. Sometimes when you are talking to an audience it can be a little goofy trying to get the info out the way you want to, with the message you are trying to send. I always look for a nice opening to get the attention of the crowd and set the tone for the talk.
So today when I got out of the water from a fun and peaceful surf in Encinitas, it hit me. I know exactly how I should start the talk and the angle I will take to share the information I have learned and loved since I started playing baseball when I was 6 years old. Guess what that angle is.....wait for it....I HAVE NO ANSWERS!!! LOL...how does that one feel audience?? It is the truth though and here is why. (I am fast forwarding some of the background info so give me some leeway on this one)
Let's all pretend that there really are no wrong or rights in this game of baseball and how to teach pitching to young athletes. And since there are no wrong or rights the individual needs to decide what is best for them. What is wrong or right for them. But since there are no wrong or rights we will call it, what FEELS best for them. Now here is where I come into play. Since I have no answers what good am I??? Well, the experiences I have been having over the past several years as a coach has assisted me to come up with guidance and suggestions on what pitchers should do to train themselves and reach the goals they are striving for. I am not giving them right or wrong answers, I am having experiences along the way that FEEL good and as I continue to have those experiences I choose to bottle them up and pass them on to the clients that choose to work with me. But the funny thing about all this is that it doesn't mean that since it worked for some of the kids I work with, that it will work for all of the kids I work with. So now my job is to identify what works for which athlete and curtail a program that works for them.
Now the athletes part is really simple. They must first take ownership for what they are doing. They can't just go to a lesson and wait for me to tell them what they need or do not need. This process takes them further away from who they really are and now we are both going to be lost. The reason why something a coach tells a kid to do actually works is because the coach and kid believe in what the coach is saying. Either the kid really trusts the coach and then the underlying feeling from that kid is a good one and so he proceeds or the coach is so good at inspiring the kid to believe in him (the coach) and in himself (the athlete) and now the suggestions work.
But I want everyone to understand the underlying points here:
Coach has ideas....athlete listens....coach believes in ideas....athlete responds to the belief....coach continues to see the athlete as a success....athlete holds that same belief and now succeeds....
So is it really about right or wrong answers??? Or is it more about believing and having a feeling behind the actions that are taking place, the actions that the athlete takes to become better???
This is why it is soooooo important for the athlete to be present when these "lessons" take place. It can't be an excuse that a kid is too young to understand or to care about what they are doing. It can't be an excuse that the kid is too young to understand the process of how the body works to throw a ball and that they must be aware of how their body moves in space to create an efficient and powerful throw.
This is also why the parent should be present in this process as well. To support the young athlete and continue to believe that their young pitcher can and will turn into something great if they so choose, no matter what the situation!!!
That is just about it for this blog....just wanted to write a little about my slant on the topic of Developing Young Pitchers and share that with you. Now, to get the rest of the info, as in, the suggestions I have for these young kids.....well.....guess you are going to have to come to the expo to find out!!! LOL....at least for now...I'll shoot out another blog after the expo for all those who were not able to be present to let you all know what we discussed.
Ok, that's all for now....happy pitching!!! Hope everyone truly enjoyed their holidays!!! I know I have!!!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Want and Believe
So I went to a workshop this weekend, one that I normally attend at least once a year. This workshop is for my personal growth, but then again everything in life really is. But I use the workshop as a way to evolve as a person which in turn will always allow me to evolve as a coach. My job as a coach is to not only research, watch film, gain knowledge in my sport, but it is also to get better as a person so I can have better relationships with the players I work with. In the end that is what it is all about because I could have all the answers and the best information in the world, but if nobody wants to listen because I am the worlds biggest jerk, then none of that really matters.
The message I wanted to talk about and get across to the lovely athletes who actually read this thing is a little thing called Want and Believe. This is something that stuck with me this weekend. In order to manifest anything you want in life there is always a process of creation that is going to take shape. But before you can move forward in the process you must bring along two very specific things, Want and Believe. Seems pretty simple right. This is the starting point and basis to everything you go for in your life.
Now in my line of work this is a HUGE deal. To want and to believe is really what it is all about. The thing is though that the wanting has to be through the roof. You have to want so badly that you will do anything to get what you want out of this profession. You have to want so badly that there is no real sacrifice because you don't care about anything else. You have to want so badly that all the workouts and the games and the traveling and all that other stuff you could throw into the bag is never called work or a job. You have to want so badly that you eat, sleep, drink... (you know the rest)...this sport. To be a professional pitcher in the biggest of stages your wanting needs to consume you. Yes!!! Consume you!! I understand I am on the verge of sounding cultish and insane and overdone but it is the truth. There is always perspective that comes into this as well. So when I mention all these crazy sentences you must realize the perspective that you must have on all this. The perspective is coming from a passion and a love. Not from a lack or a longing for. This means that sacrifice doesn't exist because your perspective on what you are doing is clean. This means that work or a job type focus is not in your vocabulary because it is just your life and what you love to do. This means that the choice to have baseball consume your life is a choice of joy and not insanity. It just means you love the sport so much and you choose to succeed so you practice at your craft and you study your craft and you love your craft. That is the "consume" that I speak of.
The next step is the Believe part. If you have this ever-burning desire or wanting to be a major league pitcher you must then have the belief in yourself, no matter what the situation brings, to back that wanting up. You have to believe so clearly and confidently that you never hear the doubters, the naysayers, the people who tell you that you are too small, too short, too fat, too slow and whatever else the critics think of. The perfect example of belief right now is Tim Tebow. Look at that guy. You think he believes in himself?!? He believes so strongly in himself and he wants to succeed at quarterback so badly that he has convinced his entire team, his entire organization that he can win, no matter what. No matter how bad it looks or how bad he throws or how bad the game goes into the 4th quarter. Nothing matters, nothing shatters his belief because he knows he is capable of anything. Just think of the belief he has in himself when week after week he has to hear the critics and the opposing teams continually criticize the way he looks on the football field. But yet he wins and has been highly successful solely based on his wanting and his belief.
So the next time you go to practice or to your game and are wanting to have results that are satisfying, just think about how much you want it and then believe that it can happen. You could go as far as measuring on a scale from 1 to 10. 1 being the low and 10 being the high. If you go home each night and answer the question honestly to yourself you will know exactly why you get what you are getting out of your sport right now. Increase the wanting, increase the belief and see the performance in your sport flourish!
Ok, that's all for now folks...hope all is well in your baseball world and keep throwing!!!!
The message I wanted to talk about and get across to the lovely athletes who actually read this thing is a little thing called Want and Believe. This is something that stuck with me this weekend. In order to manifest anything you want in life there is always a process of creation that is going to take shape. But before you can move forward in the process you must bring along two very specific things, Want and Believe. Seems pretty simple right. This is the starting point and basis to everything you go for in your life.
Now in my line of work this is a HUGE deal. To want and to believe is really what it is all about. The thing is though that the wanting has to be through the roof. You have to want so badly that you will do anything to get what you want out of this profession. You have to want so badly that there is no real sacrifice because you don't care about anything else. You have to want so badly that all the workouts and the games and the traveling and all that other stuff you could throw into the bag is never called work or a job. You have to want so badly that you eat, sleep, drink... (you know the rest)...this sport. To be a professional pitcher in the biggest of stages your wanting needs to consume you. Yes!!! Consume you!! I understand I am on the verge of sounding cultish and insane and overdone but it is the truth. There is always perspective that comes into this as well. So when I mention all these crazy sentences you must realize the perspective that you must have on all this. The perspective is coming from a passion and a love. Not from a lack or a longing for. This means that sacrifice doesn't exist because your perspective on what you are doing is clean. This means that work or a job type focus is not in your vocabulary because it is just your life and what you love to do. This means that the choice to have baseball consume your life is a choice of joy and not insanity. It just means you love the sport so much and you choose to succeed so you practice at your craft and you study your craft and you love your craft. That is the "consume" that I speak of.
The next step is the Believe part. If you have this ever-burning desire or wanting to be a major league pitcher you must then have the belief in yourself, no matter what the situation brings, to back that wanting up. You have to believe so clearly and confidently that you never hear the doubters, the naysayers, the people who tell you that you are too small, too short, too fat, too slow and whatever else the critics think of. The perfect example of belief right now is Tim Tebow. Look at that guy. You think he believes in himself?!? He believes so strongly in himself and he wants to succeed at quarterback so badly that he has convinced his entire team, his entire organization that he can win, no matter what. No matter how bad it looks or how bad he throws or how bad the game goes into the 4th quarter. Nothing matters, nothing shatters his belief because he knows he is capable of anything. Just think of the belief he has in himself when week after week he has to hear the critics and the opposing teams continually criticize the way he looks on the football field. But yet he wins and has been highly successful solely based on his wanting and his belief.
So the next time you go to practice or to your game and are wanting to have results that are satisfying, just think about how much you want it and then believe that it can happen. You could go as far as measuring on a scale from 1 to 10. 1 being the low and 10 being the high. If you go home each night and answer the question honestly to yourself you will know exactly why you get what you are getting out of your sport right now. Increase the wanting, increase the belief and see the performance in your sport flourish!
Ok, that's all for now folks...hope all is well in your baseball world and keep throwing!!!!
Monday, November 14, 2011
How I Conquered The Impossible cont...
I wanted to clarify some things on the recent Blog I wrote about my troubles with BP. I wanted to let you know why I really ended up deciding upon writing that Blog. You see for me, I believe there is a process to this life we all live. There is a consistent path there to assist you in times of contrast. A path that never leaves you, never strays, never goes off into the woods. A path that you may not be able to see all the time, but it is always there.
I wanted to share this Blog with you because I wanted to tell you that you all have the answers you want in life. You all have the answers to what you think you need in life. I say this because I know of this now. I needed this contrast in my life to prove to myself that I could trust the process, trust the path, and simply walk down it. I didn't need a drug, a sport psychologist, a shrink, nobody. All I needed was to learn how to trust myself, love myself, listen to myself and have confidence in myself. In no way am I saying that people don't need assistance or that assistance is not a good thing. Not true, assistance is an amazing thing along the path of life, but it is not supposed to be a dependency.
When I truly decided I was going to get over this "Yips" thing, I finally made the decision that I didn't care what others thought about me. I didn't care that I may have looked funny or people were laughing at me or whatever else was going on behind my back. I even remember one day about a year or so ago, having a conversation with a well known man on this topic. You know how sometimes you feel like you have nothing left to give a subject you are trying to fix. You have been working for years and years and it just isn't helping. So you have given up on yourself and you go to anyone in the industry you think can help. You read articles, go to classes, workshops, seek guru's on the subject. Anything to shake the situation you are currently in. Well I did all that. I went to the guy people were all paying money to to help them on the subject. Do you know what he said to me??? He told me that if it is as bad as I am describing it and I was not able to pay the thousands of dollars it would have cost to go through his program, then I should simply quit. He told me there is nobody who can get better from the position I was in and it would be best to just quit trying.
That is why I wrote the last Blog and am writing this one. There is no impossible, there is just you thinking it is impossible and that is all. I am living proof!! This doesn't mean I am the best BP thrower in the world or that I still don't have thoughts of "OH SHIT" go through my head about the subject. But I found my path, I trusted the process. Each one of you can do the same thing, no matter what the task. The trick is though, you have to do the work.
Now I know I just said you have to do the work and that everyone who just read this Blog said "Yes, hard work is the answer. Determination, motivation, grit, sacrifice" That is not the work I am speaking of. The work I am speaking of is not physical at all. The work I am speaking of is inside yourself, it is emotional work, it is evolving work, it is growing work, it is wanting to be all of who you can be type work. There are all sorts of things out there in this world to "fix" you or "help" you or "solve" you. But the problem I have with most of these things is that they leave you reaching outside of yourself. Again, they give you a drug or an antidote or whatever it is they are offering. But there is one thing they are all missing, they never teach us how to be us. How to be all of who we are. How to trust our intuition. How to trust our emotional guidance. How to build our foundation and knowledge from the inside out. That is why I wrote this Blog. I wanted people to understand that this life is an inside job, not an outside job. All you have to do is have some patience and trust the process, learn the process. And nobody can tell you ultimately how that is for you. That is your job. Nobody truly knows how you feel or where you are on certain subjects, you are the only one who truly knows. That is why we need to start looking at things from the inside out. Stop fishing for the quick fixes and learn yourself. Sure, it may take a bit but it may not. And once you truly figured out your own process to make things work for you, it never changes. You will have that forever no matter what you do in your life. To me, that makes it worth the "work".
Ok, no more soap box for now. Hope all is well in your pitching world and I am sure we will talk soon. Keep pitching!!!
I wanted to share this Blog with you because I wanted to tell you that you all have the answers you want in life. You all have the answers to what you think you need in life. I say this because I know of this now. I needed this contrast in my life to prove to myself that I could trust the process, trust the path, and simply walk down it. I didn't need a drug, a sport psychologist, a shrink, nobody. All I needed was to learn how to trust myself, love myself, listen to myself and have confidence in myself. In no way am I saying that people don't need assistance or that assistance is not a good thing. Not true, assistance is an amazing thing along the path of life, but it is not supposed to be a dependency.
When I truly decided I was going to get over this "Yips" thing, I finally made the decision that I didn't care what others thought about me. I didn't care that I may have looked funny or people were laughing at me or whatever else was going on behind my back. I even remember one day about a year or so ago, having a conversation with a well known man on this topic. You know how sometimes you feel like you have nothing left to give a subject you are trying to fix. You have been working for years and years and it just isn't helping. So you have given up on yourself and you go to anyone in the industry you think can help. You read articles, go to classes, workshops, seek guru's on the subject. Anything to shake the situation you are currently in. Well I did all that. I went to the guy people were all paying money to to help them on the subject. Do you know what he said to me??? He told me that if it is as bad as I am describing it and I was not able to pay the thousands of dollars it would have cost to go through his program, then I should simply quit. He told me there is nobody who can get better from the position I was in and it would be best to just quit trying.
That is why I wrote the last Blog and am writing this one. There is no impossible, there is just you thinking it is impossible and that is all. I am living proof!! This doesn't mean I am the best BP thrower in the world or that I still don't have thoughts of "OH SHIT" go through my head about the subject. But I found my path, I trusted the process. Each one of you can do the same thing, no matter what the task. The trick is though, you have to do the work.
Now I know I just said you have to do the work and that everyone who just read this Blog said "Yes, hard work is the answer. Determination, motivation, grit, sacrifice" That is not the work I am speaking of. The work I am speaking of is not physical at all. The work I am speaking of is inside yourself, it is emotional work, it is evolving work, it is growing work, it is wanting to be all of who you can be type work. There are all sorts of things out there in this world to "fix" you or "help" you or "solve" you. But the problem I have with most of these things is that they leave you reaching outside of yourself. Again, they give you a drug or an antidote or whatever it is they are offering. But there is one thing they are all missing, they never teach us how to be us. How to be all of who we are. How to trust our intuition. How to trust our emotional guidance. How to build our foundation and knowledge from the inside out. That is why I wrote this Blog. I wanted people to understand that this life is an inside job, not an outside job. All you have to do is have some patience and trust the process, learn the process. And nobody can tell you ultimately how that is for you. That is your job. Nobody truly knows how you feel or where you are on certain subjects, you are the only one who truly knows. That is why we need to start looking at things from the inside out. Stop fishing for the quick fixes and learn yourself. Sure, it may take a bit but it may not. And once you truly figured out your own process to make things work for you, it never changes. You will have that forever no matter what you do in your life. To me, that makes it worth the "work".
Ok, no more soap box for now. Hope all is well in your pitching world and I am sure we will talk soon. Keep pitching!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
How I Conquered The Impossible
Who knows who Steve Sax is??? Who knows who Chuck Knoblauch is??? Or, how about Rick Ankiel??? (the pitchers version) What do you all remember them most for? Most people reading this blog would say their issues with throwing at one point or another in their career.
One of the most infamous and mind boggling topics in sports these days is getting "the Yips" when it comes to throwing a baseball. Most are terrified of this subject, especially if you are currently playing the game, because nobody really understands the how or why of it all. So for the first time ever, I am going to let the world (or at least the people reading this blog) in on a little secret. I had "the Yips"!! Yup, little 'ol me. It actually happens more then most know about. There are professional coaches all over the globe who can't throw a baseball. Professionals who at one time could put the ball wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. And now, all they can do is cringe at the sight of a baseball, especially when somebody asks them to play catch or better yet, throw Batting Practice.
That is really the issue at hand for most professional coaches, batting practice. Most people out there would laugh at this but it is true. When certain coaches are asked to throw BP in their organizations, the emotion of "OH SHIT" quickly runs through their veins. It is quite a frightful feeling that I am well aware of. Your stomach crawls, your heart drops and you start sweating on the spot. Your heart beat rises and there is nothing you can do to run or hide from it. "The Yips" it's called. Not really sure who came up with that name but the person should be rich by now.
So this is how it goes. When I was towards the end of my playing career I was going from workout to workout trying to get picked up by independent baseball teams. My whole life was fixed around gaining velocity. I couldn't throw the fastball like I wanted to and was utterly obsessed by it. Night and day I searched for a pitching coach or a baseball god who could show me the way. I wanted velocity!! I knew that if I could just throw a faster fastball I could be that big league pitcher that little kids are in awe of. The more obsessed I got, the closer to disaster I was getting. As I went to these workouts I started a make believe world in my head. I thought up every scenario in the book to the point that I believed people were making fun of me because of my velocity. Here I was, I pitched in college, I pitched professionally but still was slowly creeping towards self destruction. I remember at one workout I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The ball wouldn't even cross home plate. I was everywhere and felt no reason of why it was happening, but boy was I scared. Little by little towards the end of my career it got worse and worse. I wanted to continue playing but by this point it wasn't worth the stress I was putting on myself. All that I wanted was a couple more miles per hour on my Fastball and what it turned into was a complete panic. I really didn't know how bad it was until I got my first professional coaching job.
It was with the Montreal Expos. I was 25 years old and ready to roll. This was my first experience inside a true, Major League Organization. I was so excited and ready to conquer the world but I forgot one thing. I didn't believe in myself in some ways. There were things I could do as a coach and I felt very confident and aware of my ability. But when it came to some on the field stuff I felt I was inferior. That is where BP came in to the picture. The time I spent towards the end of my career, making up a story in my head that I wasn't good enough or people were making fun of me because I didn't throw hard. All those stories were right where I left them when it was time to throw BP. I felt judged and quite inadequate when really there were no facts whatsoever to support my made up story.
So there I was in the middle of the action and really no understanding of how I got there or better yet, how the heck I was going to get out of it. This was the first time in my life where I knew I was in trouble and didn't realize what the solution was. Stuck in a problem I saw no way out of. Fast forward to January of 2011 and I was finally ready to move on from this nightmare of a situation. That's right, 2011. It had been about 8 years or so that I hung on to this made up belief, that I wasn't good enough and people were laughing at me and that I don't belong because I have trouble with BP. It took years of seesawing back and forth until I finally was fed up with it all. For most of the viewers out there I am sure you are wondering why it took so long for me to finally get fed up. I can't really answer that, it is different for everyone. But for me, I just couldn't handle the fear of throwing BP in front of the team I worked with and having everyone know how bad it really was. I did that over and over and I really let it tear me up inside. Until I finally started understanding perspective and also growing up on the inside. Until I realized this issue had nothing to do with anything else but how I thought about myself. The thoughts I practiced were debilitating, so I just started to work on creating different thoughts.
I worked on BP for two months before the 2011 Spring Training opening day. I threw well all the way up to that point but still had not been in front of professional ballplayers and professional coaches who knew about all the trouble I was having. It takes a lot to shut out all those people watching and wondering what is going to come out of that arm when you start throwing the ball. Some are supportive, some don't care at all, and of course some want to see you fail. But again, that has nothing to do with me. No matter how anyone felt about me, that didn't and doesn't matter, it all had to do with how I felt about me. So when I got to Spring Training it was time to get in there and prove to myself I could finally get past all this bullshit I put in my head. For the first couple weeks I threw quite well but man was it tough to keep my focus and get prepared to throw each day. I was so nervous each time I threw and had to concentrate so hard on keeping my focus and thoughts in a healthy place that it was almost not even worth the throwing.
Then it happened....the breakthrough. I was having a couple difficult days of throwing and looked pretty bad during BP. One time I actually had to step outside the cage because it was that bad. But in the past I would let that defeat me and I would go back in my cave for weeks at a time and sometimes months before even trying to throw again. But this time something felt different. I didn't care about what it felt like or looked like, I just cared that I wanted to feel better and that was more important than anything. So the next day I got back in the cage and started throwing. The start of BP was pretty brutal again and I was a bit worried at first. This time though, I started to loosen up. I started to tell the hitters coming into the cage that they better put their hard hat on because I am not leaving this cage. I started to make a joke of it and have fun with it each time I threw the ball and it missed the target by a mile. But as I loosened up more and more and took away the serious tone to BP that I was putting towards it, things started to get easier and easier. The next thing I knew I was throwing strike after strike and really started having some fun. I was talking smack to the guys and just living it up. The rest of spring training and extended spring training I was fine and threw every day. When my short season started in Tennessee I even threw all 3 groups some days. The big bosses would come in and it would rattle me some but I wouldn't let it take me over. I knew who I was and how I could accomplish what I wanted to accomplish and it all came together.
Now this is not to say I still don't have thoughts of fear or get nervous at times. And this is not to say I won't have any more bad days. But what it does mean is that I know the process to get back to where I want to be. I will never be lost any more. I got back on the road I wanted to travel and now am familiar with that feeling. Once you can get to the feeling place of where you need to be to accomplish something, the rest is easy. You just follow the road and enjoy!!!
More to come on this topic soon......
One of the most infamous and mind boggling topics in sports these days is getting "the Yips" when it comes to throwing a baseball. Most are terrified of this subject, especially if you are currently playing the game, because nobody really understands the how or why of it all. So for the first time ever, I am going to let the world (or at least the people reading this blog) in on a little secret. I had "the Yips"!! Yup, little 'ol me. It actually happens more then most know about. There are professional coaches all over the globe who can't throw a baseball. Professionals who at one time could put the ball wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. And now, all they can do is cringe at the sight of a baseball, especially when somebody asks them to play catch or better yet, throw Batting Practice.
That is really the issue at hand for most professional coaches, batting practice. Most people out there would laugh at this but it is true. When certain coaches are asked to throw BP in their organizations, the emotion of "OH SHIT" quickly runs through their veins. It is quite a frightful feeling that I am well aware of. Your stomach crawls, your heart drops and you start sweating on the spot. Your heart beat rises and there is nothing you can do to run or hide from it. "The Yips" it's called. Not really sure who came up with that name but the person should be rich by now.
So this is how it goes. When I was towards the end of my playing career I was going from workout to workout trying to get picked up by independent baseball teams. My whole life was fixed around gaining velocity. I couldn't throw the fastball like I wanted to and was utterly obsessed by it. Night and day I searched for a pitching coach or a baseball god who could show me the way. I wanted velocity!! I knew that if I could just throw a faster fastball I could be that big league pitcher that little kids are in awe of. The more obsessed I got, the closer to disaster I was getting. As I went to these workouts I started a make believe world in my head. I thought up every scenario in the book to the point that I believed people were making fun of me because of my velocity. Here I was, I pitched in college, I pitched professionally but still was slowly creeping towards self destruction. I remember at one workout I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The ball wouldn't even cross home plate. I was everywhere and felt no reason of why it was happening, but boy was I scared. Little by little towards the end of my career it got worse and worse. I wanted to continue playing but by this point it wasn't worth the stress I was putting on myself. All that I wanted was a couple more miles per hour on my Fastball and what it turned into was a complete panic. I really didn't know how bad it was until I got my first professional coaching job.
It was with the Montreal Expos. I was 25 years old and ready to roll. This was my first experience inside a true, Major League Organization. I was so excited and ready to conquer the world but I forgot one thing. I didn't believe in myself in some ways. There were things I could do as a coach and I felt very confident and aware of my ability. But when it came to some on the field stuff I felt I was inferior. That is where BP came in to the picture. The time I spent towards the end of my career, making up a story in my head that I wasn't good enough or people were making fun of me because I didn't throw hard. All those stories were right where I left them when it was time to throw BP. I felt judged and quite inadequate when really there were no facts whatsoever to support my made up story.
So there I was in the middle of the action and really no understanding of how I got there or better yet, how the heck I was going to get out of it. This was the first time in my life where I knew I was in trouble and didn't realize what the solution was. Stuck in a problem I saw no way out of. Fast forward to January of 2011 and I was finally ready to move on from this nightmare of a situation. That's right, 2011. It had been about 8 years or so that I hung on to this made up belief, that I wasn't good enough and people were laughing at me and that I don't belong because I have trouble with BP. It took years of seesawing back and forth until I finally was fed up with it all. For most of the viewers out there I am sure you are wondering why it took so long for me to finally get fed up. I can't really answer that, it is different for everyone. But for me, I just couldn't handle the fear of throwing BP in front of the team I worked with and having everyone know how bad it really was. I did that over and over and I really let it tear me up inside. Until I finally started understanding perspective and also growing up on the inside. Until I realized this issue had nothing to do with anything else but how I thought about myself. The thoughts I practiced were debilitating, so I just started to work on creating different thoughts.
I worked on BP for two months before the 2011 Spring Training opening day. I threw well all the way up to that point but still had not been in front of professional ballplayers and professional coaches who knew about all the trouble I was having. It takes a lot to shut out all those people watching and wondering what is going to come out of that arm when you start throwing the ball. Some are supportive, some don't care at all, and of course some want to see you fail. But again, that has nothing to do with me. No matter how anyone felt about me, that didn't and doesn't matter, it all had to do with how I felt about me. So when I got to Spring Training it was time to get in there and prove to myself I could finally get past all this bullshit I put in my head. For the first couple weeks I threw quite well but man was it tough to keep my focus and get prepared to throw each day. I was so nervous each time I threw and had to concentrate so hard on keeping my focus and thoughts in a healthy place that it was almost not even worth the throwing.
Then it happened....the breakthrough. I was having a couple difficult days of throwing and looked pretty bad during BP. One time I actually had to step outside the cage because it was that bad. But in the past I would let that defeat me and I would go back in my cave for weeks at a time and sometimes months before even trying to throw again. But this time something felt different. I didn't care about what it felt like or looked like, I just cared that I wanted to feel better and that was more important than anything. So the next day I got back in the cage and started throwing. The start of BP was pretty brutal again and I was a bit worried at first. This time though, I started to loosen up. I started to tell the hitters coming into the cage that they better put their hard hat on because I am not leaving this cage. I started to make a joke of it and have fun with it each time I threw the ball and it missed the target by a mile. But as I loosened up more and more and took away the serious tone to BP that I was putting towards it, things started to get easier and easier. The next thing I knew I was throwing strike after strike and really started having some fun. I was talking smack to the guys and just living it up. The rest of spring training and extended spring training I was fine and threw every day. When my short season started in Tennessee I even threw all 3 groups some days. The big bosses would come in and it would rattle me some but I wouldn't let it take me over. I knew who I was and how I could accomplish what I wanted to accomplish and it all came together.
Now this is not to say I still don't have thoughts of fear or get nervous at times. And this is not to say I won't have any more bad days. But what it does mean is that I know the process to get back to where I want to be. I will never be lost any more. I got back on the road I wanted to travel and now am familiar with that feeling. Once you can get to the feeling place of where you need to be to accomplish something, the rest is easy. You just follow the road and enjoy!!!
More to come on this topic soon......
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Perspective is Power!
Everything in life is perspective. The way you choose to perceive experiences in your life is how you get what you want out of your life experiences. If each experience is just perceived as a way to move forward with more clarity, then each day should become richer, more lively, and better.
The easiest example of this is the current player you are watching in the World Series, right now, Albert Pujols. Sure, I could really mention any of the current players on either roster because they all come equipped with stories of how they made it to the 2011 World Series. But when people mention Albert Pujols, you listen. His presence is obvious and powerful and how he got there was through an amazing perspective. I partly say this because I have listened to him talk in the past several years I have been with the Cardinals Organization. I also say this because look at his life, look at his manifestations, look at how he creates, listen to how he talks, look at how he carries himself, listen to the words he speaks, listen to the clarity of his voice. It is oozing from every pore in his body. And once again it happened the other night. What happened you asked, well, perspective happened.
Albert Pujols was just another hitter in the first two games of the World Series, actually he wasn't even average at that time, when you look at the numbers. I believe he started 0 for 8. If he carried that 0 for 8 into game 3 he would have probably finished that game 0 for 12. Especially after the way the media was tearing him up for the defensive mishap he had in the ninth inning of game 2. But again, listen to how he talks. The media interviewed him the next day and asked him about the defensive play. Their perspective was that he let the team down, could have had an easy out at third base if he would have caught the relay throw. Then the media was giving it to him a little more about the 0 for 8 start.
Now for Albert's perspective. His response to the botched relay throw was simple. He lost focus for a second, the ball cut on him and he wasn't able to make the play. His response to the 0 for 8 start was just as simple. Albert said he was making great swings and hitting the ball hard it was just not falling for him. You see, this game of baseball is goofy. Timing is everything. It just so happened that Albert had a defensive mishap at a key time in the season. But does that make the decade and more that he has played and won gold gloves defensively just disappear? Not at all, in fact, that is why Albert can have the perspective that he has. He is trained that way. He knows who he is, the results don't control his mind, he does. The same goes for the hitting side of things. Albert is one of the best hitters who has ever played the game of baseball. He knows there are going to be times that he will go 0 for whatever, but he also knows how to view the game. His perspective is with each current AB. The result can't matter because nobody gets on base or gets a hit with every AB. If Albert got fixated on each AB the game would be a roller coaster and there is no way he would have ever been Albert Pujols. Instead, Albert takes the perspective of putting a good approach or process to each AB. If the result comes then great, if not, he goes back to the process and clears his mind. So he was able to take all that information from the first two games and then made sure his perspective was in the right place, then he went to work. The result.....3 homeruns and a 5 for 6 night!!
Perspective is a beautiful thing. It can always work for you and work in your favor, all you have to do is practice. Practice making perspective your best friend. Practice your points of view in life and in baseball and things will start to roll your way more and more. Don't be so impatient with all this. Take your time, take a step back, take a look at your life and how things are going for you. Learn about how you look at things more and more. Stop blaming the guy next to you. Who cares, just keep practicing and little by little things will come around, I promise!!!
Ok, all for now...enjoy your week and keep it moving!!
The easiest example of this is the current player you are watching in the World Series, right now, Albert Pujols. Sure, I could really mention any of the current players on either roster because they all come equipped with stories of how they made it to the 2011 World Series. But when people mention Albert Pujols, you listen. His presence is obvious and powerful and how he got there was through an amazing perspective. I partly say this because I have listened to him talk in the past several years I have been with the Cardinals Organization. I also say this because look at his life, look at his manifestations, look at how he creates, listen to how he talks, look at how he carries himself, listen to the words he speaks, listen to the clarity of his voice. It is oozing from every pore in his body. And once again it happened the other night. What happened you asked, well, perspective happened.
Albert Pujols was just another hitter in the first two games of the World Series, actually he wasn't even average at that time, when you look at the numbers. I believe he started 0 for 8. If he carried that 0 for 8 into game 3 he would have probably finished that game 0 for 12. Especially after the way the media was tearing him up for the defensive mishap he had in the ninth inning of game 2. But again, listen to how he talks. The media interviewed him the next day and asked him about the defensive play. Their perspective was that he let the team down, could have had an easy out at third base if he would have caught the relay throw. Then the media was giving it to him a little more about the 0 for 8 start.
Now for Albert's perspective. His response to the botched relay throw was simple. He lost focus for a second, the ball cut on him and he wasn't able to make the play. His response to the 0 for 8 start was just as simple. Albert said he was making great swings and hitting the ball hard it was just not falling for him. You see, this game of baseball is goofy. Timing is everything. It just so happened that Albert had a defensive mishap at a key time in the season. But does that make the decade and more that he has played and won gold gloves defensively just disappear? Not at all, in fact, that is why Albert can have the perspective that he has. He is trained that way. He knows who he is, the results don't control his mind, he does. The same goes for the hitting side of things. Albert is one of the best hitters who has ever played the game of baseball. He knows there are going to be times that he will go 0 for whatever, but he also knows how to view the game. His perspective is with each current AB. The result can't matter because nobody gets on base or gets a hit with every AB. If Albert got fixated on each AB the game would be a roller coaster and there is no way he would have ever been Albert Pujols. Instead, Albert takes the perspective of putting a good approach or process to each AB. If the result comes then great, if not, he goes back to the process and clears his mind. So he was able to take all that information from the first two games and then made sure his perspective was in the right place, then he went to work. The result.....3 homeruns and a 5 for 6 night!!
Perspective is a beautiful thing. It can always work for you and work in your favor, all you have to do is practice. Practice making perspective your best friend. Practice your points of view in life and in baseball and things will start to roll your way more and more. Don't be so impatient with all this. Take your time, take a step back, take a look at your life and how things are going for you. Learn about how you look at things more and more. Stop blaming the guy next to you. Who cares, just keep practicing and little by little things will come around, I promise!!!
Ok, all for now...enjoy your week and keep it moving!!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Getting Back Into the Swing of Things
Hello Passion for Pitching Family,
Back in beautiful San Diego I am!! Just got back from another amazing season and am now ready to move on to other things during this off season.
During a baseball season you learn not only so much about the game and how to perform but also about yourself and what you must get better at. Each year I get more clear of a picture on what it takes to become a professional and better yet, what it takes to stick as a professional. I feel as though the more clear that picture gets, the more clear my message becomes and therefore the guys on my staff also benefit from it. There were so many pitchers on the staff this year that got better, that showed themselves how to get better and how to compete. I am very proud of this years staff and the work we did together. We deserved to be back-to-back champions!!! Wouldn't replace them with any others for the world!!!
So what's next? Well, I would like to get more Blogs going and would love to get more emails from you about what things you would like discussed or would like my opinion on. I also am going to be working on a series of manuals. Not sure how many I will be getting done before next season but the topics will be arm care, grip strength for pitchers, general strength for all ages and maybe one or two more if the ideas come along. I just feel as though I want to share the knowledge I have gotten about arm care and general strength from all the years I have been around the game and actually training myself. I feel that people forgot how to train the basics and have gotten so far out there that they forgotten simple things such as a pull-up or push-up. Everybody these days are looking for the next best thing when they have had all the info they have needed the whole time. So I am going to see if I can simplify some things and get them out to the pitchers seeking this type of info.
As far as the grip srtrength goes, I am going to be working on developing a grip strength program because I want to see for myself whether it will assist in velocity gain or not. I figure the best way to find out is to pick some clients and go to work. Then I will take the info and put it into a manual so everyone can test it out for themselves. I am super excited about it!!!!
That is about it for now....just wanted to say hello and let you know what I have in store for the coming months. Oh, before I forget, I have been selected to speak at the National Baseball Expo in late January in San Diego, so if you are in the area come on by and enjoy the festivities.
Bye for now!!! Happy pitching!!!
Back in beautiful San Diego I am!! Just got back from another amazing season and am now ready to move on to other things during this off season.
During a baseball season you learn not only so much about the game and how to perform but also about yourself and what you must get better at. Each year I get more clear of a picture on what it takes to become a professional and better yet, what it takes to stick as a professional. I feel as though the more clear that picture gets, the more clear my message becomes and therefore the guys on my staff also benefit from it. There were so many pitchers on the staff this year that got better, that showed themselves how to get better and how to compete. I am very proud of this years staff and the work we did together. We deserved to be back-to-back champions!!! Wouldn't replace them with any others for the world!!!
So what's next? Well, I would like to get more Blogs going and would love to get more emails from you about what things you would like discussed or would like my opinion on. I also am going to be working on a series of manuals. Not sure how many I will be getting done before next season but the topics will be arm care, grip strength for pitchers, general strength for all ages and maybe one or two more if the ideas come along. I just feel as though I want to share the knowledge I have gotten about arm care and general strength from all the years I have been around the game and actually training myself. I feel that people forgot how to train the basics and have gotten so far out there that they forgotten simple things such as a pull-up or push-up. Everybody these days are looking for the next best thing when they have had all the info they have needed the whole time. So I am going to see if I can simplify some things and get them out to the pitchers seeking this type of info.
As far as the grip srtrength goes, I am going to be working on developing a grip strength program because I want to see for myself whether it will assist in velocity gain or not. I figure the best way to find out is to pick some clients and go to work. Then I will take the info and put it into a manual so everyone can test it out for themselves. I am super excited about it!!!!
That is about it for now....just wanted to say hello and let you know what I have in store for the coming months. Oh, before I forget, I have been selected to speak at the National Baseball Expo in late January in San Diego, so if you are in the area come on by and enjoy the festivities.
Bye for now!!! Happy pitching!!!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Pitch Selection vs. Pitch Execution
A lot of people out there love to talk about pitch selection and what to throw where and when. All that is great but for most people in the baseball world that is nearly impossible. Do you realize how tough it really is to command all of your pitches in and out of the strike zone? Most professionals can't do that on a regular basis. Yes, I just said that and I will say it again. Most professionals do not truly command all there pitches. I am talking about all the kids in this world in the Minor Leagues trying to become big leaguers. I am not even mentioning all the kids in college and high school attempting to take a crack at their dream. So why is it that there is so much emphasis on the proper pitch selection during a game?
I definitely do not take myself out of this equation. I still have days where I get lost in the process that pitch selection rules. But the more I am in this game of baseball and I watch these young pitchers work through a game, I see that execution rules and at least for now, pitch selection takes a back seat.
Lets look at this in a couple different ways. First, from the younger players perspective, let's say high school and younger. How well do they truly command all their pitches in a game or even in a bullpen? How well do they truly throw the pitch like it is supposed to be thrown? With the proper spin and velocity to the fastball, change-up, curveball, slider, splitter and whatever else you could think to throw? Not that often would be my answer. Because if they did, they would all be number one picks!! So, if this is true, if we know that most kids who are younger have, not only a tough time making the pitch do what it needs to do, but then also have a tough time locating the pitch, how can we talk to them about pitch selection? Our entire focus should be solely on developing the proper movement and feel to all their pitches and nothing else. Results will take care of themselves if the focus is put on the subject in the proper way.
Now, if we look at the second vantage point, let's say college and higher, it is time to believe in what you throw and execute those pitches in a game. If you did the proper work as a youngster, develop the proper movement, spin, feel, deception, arm action to your pitches then now it is time to go execute them. And if you are able to execute pitches when you throw them then the hitter is going to have problems whether you selected the proper pitch or not.
Through years of study and research, a man by the name of Perry Husband developed a program called Effective Velocity. It is a study on what the hitter truly sees out of the hand of the pitcher and all the intricacies of what needs to happen or not happen for the hitter to be on-time and develop hard contact consistently. If you have time to look this guy up and his program you should immediately. Part of the study talks about what the batter sees out of the pitchers hand and that if we, as pitchers, can do a few things well we will be able to throw the hitter off his timing. None of the few things he talks about is pitch selection, they all have to do with spin, direction and speed. The selection of the pitch comes after all that. Now I am not going to go into this in depth, you are going to have to look up Perry Husband and buy his books for all that....but you get my drift.
So, if you are a young pitcher working towards your dream, make sure and put all your energy and emphasis on producing quality pitches first!! Pitch selection will come with time and experience and plenty of repetition, but for right now EXECUTION RULES!!!!
Have a great week everyone!!!!
I definitely do not take myself out of this equation. I still have days where I get lost in the process that pitch selection rules. But the more I am in this game of baseball and I watch these young pitchers work through a game, I see that execution rules and at least for now, pitch selection takes a back seat.
Lets look at this in a couple different ways. First, from the younger players perspective, let's say high school and younger. How well do they truly command all their pitches in a game or even in a bullpen? How well do they truly throw the pitch like it is supposed to be thrown? With the proper spin and velocity to the fastball, change-up, curveball, slider, splitter and whatever else you could think to throw? Not that often would be my answer. Because if they did, they would all be number one picks!! So, if this is true, if we know that most kids who are younger have, not only a tough time making the pitch do what it needs to do, but then also have a tough time locating the pitch, how can we talk to them about pitch selection? Our entire focus should be solely on developing the proper movement and feel to all their pitches and nothing else. Results will take care of themselves if the focus is put on the subject in the proper way.
Now, if we look at the second vantage point, let's say college and higher, it is time to believe in what you throw and execute those pitches in a game. If you did the proper work as a youngster, develop the proper movement, spin, feel, deception, arm action to your pitches then now it is time to go execute them. And if you are able to execute pitches when you throw them then the hitter is going to have problems whether you selected the proper pitch or not.
Through years of study and research, a man by the name of Perry Husband developed a program called Effective Velocity. It is a study on what the hitter truly sees out of the hand of the pitcher and all the intricacies of what needs to happen or not happen for the hitter to be on-time and develop hard contact consistently. If you have time to look this guy up and his program you should immediately. Part of the study talks about what the batter sees out of the pitchers hand and that if we, as pitchers, can do a few things well we will be able to throw the hitter off his timing. None of the few things he talks about is pitch selection, they all have to do with spin, direction and speed. The selection of the pitch comes after all that. Now I am not going to go into this in depth, you are going to have to look up Perry Husband and buy his books for all that....but you get my drift.
So, if you are a young pitcher working towards your dream, make sure and put all your energy and emphasis on producing quality pitches first!! Pitch selection will come with time and experience and plenty of repetition, but for right now EXECUTION RULES!!!!
Have a great week everyone!!!!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Top Two On My List
It is June 10th and I am three days away from completing my fourth extended spring training with the St Louis Cardinals!!! This has been the best extended spring by far and it only seems to be getting better and better. It is like each year I ask for more stuff whether it be better living arrangements, better players (lol), better relationships with coaches and players, and every year that is exactly what happens. I am super excited about the young group of pitchers I get to work with in Johnson City, TN this year. We may only have one or two kids coming with me that are 21 years of age, the rest are 20 and 19. So we may have our days where we get our asses handed to us but these guys compete and they aren't afraid so I am ready to sit back and watch!!!
That brings me to the subject of this new blog. The more I am around the game the more I realize what it takes for someone to make it in this game, besides the obvious answers such as talent and ability. More and more I realize how you must believe in yourself and also how damn competitive you must be. That's why I called this blog, "Top Two On My List".
I was speaking with some of the pitchers today and I was giving them a goodbye speech and all of my precious words of wisdom!!! LOL! I shared with them what I thought were the two most important things a player needed to have to make it to the big leagues. After listing belief/confidence and the desire to compete everything else just falls under that umbrella for me. Mechanics, knowledge of the game, preparation, focus, etc....it all falls under the belief you have in yourself and the desire to compete. All things will come to you in this game if you practice those two things first.
The reason why I wrote this blog though was to really talk about competition and competing. There is soooooooooo much that goes on during a season for these young athletes that the competitive nature is really what makes you or breaks you. Just think of this, you get up every morning at about 5:30am. You go to the field, eat breakfast and then start early work about 7:30 until 8am. Then you come back inside, take a breather and head back out to the field for an 8:30 meeting before you start the day. From about 8:35am to 10:30am you go through a routine of stretch, condition, throwing, fundamentals, and BP. Then you head back inside for some food. By about 11:35am you head back out to the field for a Noon game that lasts until 3pm on most days. Don't forget this is Florida so it is humid and hot all day, everyday!! Picture this day and then repeat it from March until the middle of June. That is exactly what the kids down here do, the kids who are not able to make a full season club and leave right after a month of spring training.
Be honest, do you think you could handle that??? It is not an easy thing to do at all. That is why if you don't have the desire to compete you will never make it in this game. The story of guys going from college to the big leagues in less then a year is far and few between. It may have only happened a handful of times in the history of the game. Most guys spend year after year in the minor leagues just hoping for a chance. Now, I am not trying to make excuses for anyone here I am just pointing out to you out there in computer land that if you really want this dream you better be one competitive son of a gun or this game will eat you up and spit you out. There are a lot of good players out there in minor league baseball that come to play each and every day. Those are the guys who make it, the guys who love to compete and can inspire themselves to perform each day. The guys who don't depend on anyone else to tell them they need to be ready to play or wake up before it is too late.
I take my hat off to these young kids down here because they are doing things I really don't know if I would have been able to handle when I was their age. It takes some real desire to hang in there and keep battling like these guys do, back on field 75 where nobody comes to watch. So if this is something that calls you, then great!! But make sure you start to practice that competitive drive right now. Don't let anything get in your way, compete, compete, compete!!!
Ok, all for now....wish us luck this year and every now and again check in on the Johnson City Cardinals up in the Appalachian League!!!
That brings me to the subject of this new blog. The more I am around the game the more I realize what it takes for someone to make it in this game, besides the obvious answers such as talent and ability. More and more I realize how you must believe in yourself and also how damn competitive you must be. That's why I called this blog, "Top Two On My List".
I was speaking with some of the pitchers today and I was giving them a goodbye speech and all of my precious words of wisdom!!! LOL! I shared with them what I thought were the two most important things a player needed to have to make it to the big leagues. After listing belief/confidence and the desire to compete everything else just falls under that umbrella for me. Mechanics, knowledge of the game, preparation, focus, etc....it all falls under the belief you have in yourself and the desire to compete. All things will come to you in this game if you practice those two things first.
The reason why I wrote this blog though was to really talk about competition and competing. There is soooooooooo much that goes on during a season for these young athletes that the competitive nature is really what makes you or breaks you. Just think of this, you get up every morning at about 5:30am. You go to the field, eat breakfast and then start early work about 7:30 until 8am. Then you come back inside, take a breather and head back out to the field for an 8:30 meeting before you start the day. From about 8:35am to 10:30am you go through a routine of stretch, condition, throwing, fundamentals, and BP. Then you head back inside for some food. By about 11:35am you head back out to the field for a Noon game that lasts until 3pm on most days. Don't forget this is Florida so it is humid and hot all day, everyday!! Picture this day and then repeat it from March until the middle of June. That is exactly what the kids down here do, the kids who are not able to make a full season club and leave right after a month of spring training.
Be honest, do you think you could handle that??? It is not an easy thing to do at all. That is why if you don't have the desire to compete you will never make it in this game. The story of guys going from college to the big leagues in less then a year is far and few between. It may have only happened a handful of times in the history of the game. Most guys spend year after year in the minor leagues just hoping for a chance. Now, I am not trying to make excuses for anyone here I am just pointing out to you out there in computer land that if you really want this dream you better be one competitive son of a gun or this game will eat you up and spit you out. There are a lot of good players out there in minor league baseball that come to play each and every day. Those are the guys who make it, the guys who love to compete and can inspire themselves to perform each day. The guys who don't depend on anyone else to tell them they need to be ready to play or wake up before it is too late.
I take my hat off to these young kids down here because they are doing things I really don't know if I would have been able to handle when I was their age. It takes some real desire to hang in there and keep battling like these guys do, back on field 75 where nobody comes to watch. So if this is something that calls you, then great!! But make sure you start to practice that competitive drive right now. Don't let anything get in your way, compete, compete, compete!!!
Ok, all for now....wish us luck this year and every now and again check in on the Johnson City Cardinals up in the Appalachian League!!!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Special Guests
Spring Training has unfolded very well this season. Just when I have been writing blogs on consistency we have had the perfect guests to come in and reiterate the thoughts I have been writing down. This month we have had Tony LaRussa, Albert Pujols, Bob Knight and Mike Matheny come and talk to all the young minor league players. The best part of it was that not one of them talked about mechanics or talent or ability or anything that relates to physical capabilities. The focus to all their talks was mental toughness. Being able to understand that to be good in the game of baseball and to achieve the highest level of success you must be mentally tough.
For this blog I thought it would be nice to share with all of you what the main points of each of their talks were. Some more serious then others but all equally pleasing and beneficial.
Mike Matheny was first. He spoke to us at the beginning of Spring Training because he is not around as much as everyone else. Matheny works with the big leagues and minor leagues as a catching instructor. Matheny played for a few major league teams and won a couple gold gloves while he was there. I got to meet Mike Matheny last year when he came to work with the catchers in Johnson City. He has a wealth of knowledge and a big time character guy to back it up. Matheny spoke about the other things in baseball that are more in a persons control. Such as being a good teammate. His message was that to be able to be a guy around the clubhouse who sets a good example, who works hard and does his job quietly, who picks up guys when they are not going so well, who doesn't take their performance out on someone else or blame someone else when he is struggling, that that is what truly matters. His point was that if you are able to do these types of things then the successes will come based on your attitude alone. Your job is to come in and be a professional and truly understand what that means and to embrace it for all it is. Learning to be a professional takes care of all the other stuff.
Bob Knight was next. He came down about two weeks ago and had some amazing stories to tell about his time as the head coach of the 1984 summer olympics Gold Medal winning basketball team. Again he talked about more then just having the physical attributes to play the game of baseball. Knight spoke about how much he loved coaching guys who were mentally tough. He was always trying to find ways to challenge his athletes and get the best out of them. Bob shared a few amazing stories on his time with Michael Jordan during the summer of 1984. The way they would banter back and forth, it really seemed like there was something special there between himself and Jordan.
Then came Tony LaRussa. Tony has spoke to the camp each year that I have been with the Cardinals. Each year he speaks in detail about what he looks for in a player that he wants to play for him in the big leagues. Tony has a list of three things when referring to a player he wants on his team: you must be mentally tough, you must be a good teammate, and you must be a professional (on and off the field). LaRussa is not worried too much about all the physical things because he is aware that most of the kids here in this camp have those attributes already. But to play for a team and compete for a championship, that is a different thing. It takes a different type of player to win in the big leagues and that difference is much more mental then it is physical. I got to ask Tony a question while he was speaking to all of us. I asked him what the younger pitchers could do to make themselves better. To be able to learn about the game more. His answer was simple. Tony said, while you are on the bench or in the bullpen during the game, you must watch the game. Watch the game and see how the game shows you all you need to know. The experiences that happen during the game will show you the answers. That is so very true.
This brings me to the last speaker but of course not the least. Mr. Albert Pujols, La Maquina (the machine) Man, what a treat. Every year I am here I get to speak with and hear from the best hitter/player in the entire world. It is great to hear his story each year. But I don't care about his story of how he got to the bigs because it wasn't really that big of one. What I love the most about his talks are how much confidence he exudes when he speaks. There is no question in the world of why Pujols is Pujols when you get to hear him speak and watch him go about his work on a daily basis. The amount of focus, concentration, confidence, consistency that goes into his approach is why he is who he is. It radiates from him. Talk about habits of thought. I remember Albert answering a young man's question about being positive with himself. Albert said that for every time he says something negative to himself in his head, he counters that with five to ten positive things. He has trained himself into his success and there is no two ways about it. I also got to ask Pujols a couple questions. The first one was about how he deals with the failures of the game and how he is able to turn those failures into successes. People forget, even though he is the best player in the game, he still fails 7 out of 10 times when he walks to the plate. His answer to that was to focus on the bigger picture. Going 0 for 4 is not a bad thing if his approach at the plate was good and he hit the ball hard. Sometimes the results won't be there but that doesn't mean his approach or preparation was bad. He also said he does the best he can to turn the page and look forward to the next day if he happened to have a bad one. The second question I asked him was how he created the consistency in his results. Albert answered that with being able to keep his focus and concentration on a day to day basis. He has his off days just like everybody else, but he doesn't let that get in the way of his work. Being able to concentrate and focus his the reason why he is as successful as he is.
Well, that is the wrap up of my fourth spring training experience with the St Louis Cardinals. The next step for me is extended spring training. I get to work with guys who are rehabbing and then all the young pupps who are working on their process to make it to the big leagues. I love how each year brings me more clarity so that I can convey a clearer message each year to these young players. If I can get them to see the bigger picture, to disregard results and get lost in the work, then I have done my job. Until next time Passion for Pitching family!!!!! Hope all is well and you are pitching your butts off!!
For this blog I thought it would be nice to share with all of you what the main points of each of their talks were. Some more serious then others but all equally pleasing and beneficial.
Mike Matheny was first. He spoke to us at the beginning of Spring Training because he is not around as much as everyone else. Matheny works with the big leagues and minor leagues as a catching instructor. Matheny played for a few major league teams and won a couple gold gloves while he was there. I got to meet Mike Matheny last year when he came to work with the catchers in Johnson City. He has a wealth of knowledge and a big time character guy to back it up. Matheny spoke about the other things in baseball that are more in a persons control. Such as being a good teammate. His message was that to be able to be a guy around the clubhouse who sets a good example, who works hard and does his job quietly, who picks up guys when they are not going so well, who doesn't take their performance out on someone else or blame someone else when he is struggling, that that is what truly matters. His point was that if you are able to do these types of things then the successes will come based on your attitude alone. Your job is to come in and be a professional and truly understand what that means and to embrace it for all it is. Learning to be a professional takes care of all the other stuff.
Bob Knight was next. He came down about two weeks ago and had some amazing stories to tell about his time as the head coach of the 1984 summer olympics Gold Medal winning basketball team. Again he talked about more then just having the physical attributes to play the game of baseball. Knight spoke about how much he loved coaching guys who were mentally tough. He was always trying to find ways to challenge his athletes and get the best out of them. Bob shared a few amazing stories on his time with Michael Jordan during the summer of 1984. The way they would banter back and forth, it really seemed like there was something special there between himself and Jordan.
Then came Tony LaRussa. Tony has spoke to the camp each year that I have been with the Cardinals. Each year he speaks in detail about what he looks for in a player that he wants to play for him in the big leagues. Tony has a list of three things when referring to a player he wants on his team: you must be mentally tough, you must be a good teammate, and you must be a professional (on and off the field). LaRussa is not worried too much about all the physical things because he is aware that most of the kids here in this camp have those attributes already. But to play for a team and compete for a championship, that is a different thing. It takes a different type of player to win in the big leagues and that difference is much more mental then it is physical. I got to ask Tony a question while he was speaking to all of us. I asked him what the younger pitchers could do to make themselves better. To be able to learn about the game more. His answer was simple. Tony said, while you are on the bench or in the bullpen during the game, you must watch the game. Watch the game and see how the game shows you all you need to know. The experiences that happen during the game will show you the answers. That is so very true.
This brings me to the last speaker but of course not the least. Mr. Albert Pujols, La Maquina (the machine) Man, what a treat. Every year I am here I get to speak with and hear from the best hitter/player in the entire world. It is great to hear his story each year. But I don't care about his story of how he got to the bigs because it wasn't really that big of one. What I love the most about his talks are how much confidence he exudes when he speaks. There is no question in the world of why Pujols is Pujols when you get to hear him speak and watch him go about his work on a daily basis. The amount of focus, concentration, confidence, consistency that goes into his approach is why he is who he is. It radiates from him. Talk about habits of thought. I remember Albert answering a young man's question about being positive with himself. Albert said that for every time he says something negative to himself in his head, he counters that with five to ten positive things. He has trained himself into his success and there is no two ways about it. I also got to ask Pujols a couple questions. The first one was about how he deals with the failures of the game and how he is able to turn those failures into successes. People forget, even though he is the best player in the game, he still fails 7 out of 10 times when he walks to the plate. His answer to that was to focus on the bigger picture. Going 0 for 4 is not a bad thing if his approach at the plate was good and he hit the ball hard. Sometimes the results won't be there but that doesn't mean his approach or preparation was bad. He also said he does the best he can to turn the page and look forward to the next day if he happened to have a bad one. The second question I asked him was how he created the consistency in his results. Albert answered that with being able to keep his focus and concentration on a day to day basis. He has his off days just like everybody else, but he doesn't let that get in the way of his work. Being able to concentrate and focus his the reason why he is as successful as he is.
Well, that is the wrap up of my fourth spring training experience with the St Louis Cardinals. The next step for me is extended spring training. I get to work with guys who are rehabbing and then all the young pupps who are working on their process to make it to the big leagues. I love how each year brings me more clarity so that I can convey a clearer message each year to these young players. If I can get them to see the bigger picture, to disregard results and get lost in the work, then I have done my job. Until next time Passion for Pitching family!!!!! Hope all is well and you are pitching your butts off!!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Consistency-part 2 Habit of Thought
Ok, so last time I wrote about Consistency and just laid down the foundation for some future blogs on the topic. I touched a bit on how consistency is really just a thought away. I also touched on emotions and that is really where it all starts. So what I wanted to rap about this time is habit of thought and how to go about creating the habits of thought that are going to head you in the direction of what you want in your baseball career or life for that matter.
Your thoughts and emotions basically go hand and hand. They are like best buddies. Your thoughts don't want to go anywhere without their partner, Mr. emotion. This is how it all starts: you have a thought, during these thoughts that you have there will be an emotion that comes with it. If you can be aware enough of your emotions and what you feel like while these thoughts go in and out of your head, you will know where you are heading in your career and life. For example, Johnny is ten years old. He has trouble throwing strikes when he is on the mound. Parents are screaming at him to throw strikes, the coach is screaming at him to throw strikes and his teammates are doing the same. The next day Johnny is relaxing by himself and playing some video games. As he is playing the video games he remembers what happened in yesterdays baseball game. The thought comes through his head that he is not a very good pitcher. Immediately after thinking that thought he felt a weird feeling in his gut. It felt like failure, pain, maybe even guilt. Well, in that moment his emotions are letting him know that the thought he is currently thinking is not serving him. The thought he is thinking feels bad because it is not really true. Yes, Johnny had a bad outing the other day and couldn't throw strikes, but this doesn't make him a bad person or even a bad player, it just means he has some work to do to get better.
Ok, so what work does he have to do to get better? Well, right now I guarantee everyone who is reading this blog is saying he may need mechanical work or maybe he should get a pitching coach or maybe he doesn't practice enough during the week. Each of you would probably be very right in all of those answers except I want to play devils advocate here. The physical work is definitely a part of the process, but what should really come first? The emotional/mental process or the physical process? For most everyone, especially the kids, the process would always start with the physical work and then somewhere down the line the kid would be good enough or not to continue playing. But what happened if the kid started realizing that his habit of thoughts and the feelings that come with those thoughts are leading him closer or further away to the goals he wants to accomplish in life? Would he want to know this information? And wouldn't it be better to have this information sooner then later in their life's journey?
This brings us to the purpose of this blog, habit of thought. As soon as we wanted to or would be inspired to, we should start to take care of our habit of thought. We do that by being more aware of how we feel and then making statements or creating thoughts that assist us in feeling the way we want to feel. The Universe is a very powerful place, I think we could all agree on that even without getting to deep into this. But if we can believe, as I mentioned in the first "consistency" blog, that our thoughts create our success, then we need to address this as soon as we can. If you are a parent reading this blog you could do many things for your kids to create a positive and uplifting environment for them to succeed and get better. If you are an athlete reading this blog then you have the inside route to success and a long, healthy career that most would never know about. Now, this doesn't mean others will not have success if they don't know about this, they will, many do!! The point is that if we can learn about our thoughts and emotions and practice the mental/emotional game we want, then we can deliberately create a career we want instead of thinking we are at the mercy of politics.
The next step is pretty simple, be aware of how you feel. So after reading this blog sit for a second and try this exercise. Make a statement that makes you feel a fulfilling emotion inside your gut. A feeling like appreciation, love, joy, anything like that. It can be a statement about yourself, a friend, a family member, whatever creates that good feeling emotion. Now, on the flip side, think of something that makes you feel an emotion like anger or frustration. Do you see how your thoughts are creating emotions inside you? Which statement made you feel better? Which statement do you think would better serve you in your career or in your life? This is what habit of thought is all about. As we practice good feeling habits of thought that is what we get back in our life. The success/consistency can come immediately, it really doesn't take long. But, if you have been (for the lack of a better word) a negative thinker for a while, it just may take a little bit to tip the scales and see the consistency on a normal basis. Trust me, you will see a difference in your performance immediately, you just have to be patient to gain the consistency based on how good you are at practicing the thoughts you want to have in your life.
So get to work. Start being aware of how you are feeling and if you don't like it, then make a better statement to get you on track. More to come on this soon.....pitch well everyone!!!
Your thoughts and emotions basically go hand and hand. They are like best buddies. Your thoughts don't want to go anywhere without their partner, Mr. emotion. This is how it all starts: you have a thought, during these thoughts that you have there will be an emotion that comes with it. If you can be aware enough of your emotions and what you feel like while these thoughts go in and out of your head, you will know where you are heading in your career and life. For example, Johnny is ten years old. He has trouble throwing strikes when he is on the mound. Parents are screaming at him to throw strikes, the coach is screaming at him to throw strikes and his teammates are doing the same. The next day Johnny is relaxing by himself and playing some video games. As he is playing the video games he remembers what happened in yesterdays baseball game. The thought comes through his head that he is not a very good pitcher. Immediately after thinking that thought he felt a weird feeling in his gut. It felt like failure, pain, maybe even guilt. Well, in that moment his emotions are letting him know that the thought he is currently thinking is not serving him. The thought he is thinking feels bad because it is not really true. Yes, Johnny had a bad outing the other day and couldn't throw strikes, but this doesn't make him a bad person or even a bad player, it just means he has some work to do to get better.
Ok, so what work does he have to do to get better? Well, right now I guarantee everyone who is reading this blog is saying he may need mechanical work or maybe he should get a pitching coach or maybe he doesn't practice enough during the week. Each of you would probably be very right in all of those answers except I want to play devils advocate here. The physical work is definitely a part of the process, but what should really come first? The emotional/mental process or the physical process? For most everyone, especially the kids, the process would always start with the physical work and then somewhere down the line the kid would be good enough or not to continue playing. But what happened if the kid started realizing that his habit of thoughts and the feelings that come with those thoughts are leading him closer or further away to the goals he wants to accomplish in life? Would he want to know this information? And wouldn't it be better to have this information sooner then later in their life's journey?
This brings us to the purpose of this blog, habit of thought. As soon as we wanted to or would be inspired to, we should start to take care of our habit of thought. We do that by being more aware of how we feel and then making statements or creating thoughts that assist us in feeling the way we want to feel. The Universe is a very powerful place, I think we could all agree on that even without getting to deep into this. But if we can believe, as I mentioned in the first "consistency" blog, that our thoughts create our success, then we need to address this as soon as we can. If you are a parent reading this blog you could do many things for your kids to create a positive and uplifting environment for them to succeed and get better. If you are an athlete reading this blog then you have the inside route to success and a long, healthy career that most would never know about. Now, this doesn't mean others will not have success if they don't know about this, they will, many do!! The point is that if we can learn about our thoughts and emotions and practice the mental/emotional game we want, then we can deliberately create a career we want instead of thinking we are at the mercy of politics.
The next step is pretty simple, be aware of how you feel. So after reading this blog sit for a second and try this exercise. Make a statement that makes you feel a fulfilling emotion inside your gut. A feeling like appreciation, love, joy, anything like that. It can be a statement about yourself, a friend, a family member, whatever creates that good feeling emotion. Now, on the flip side, think of something that makes you feel an emotion like anger or frustration. Do you see how your thoughts are creating emotions inside you? Which statement made you feel better? Which statement do you think would better serve you in your career or in your life? This is what habit of thought is all about. As we practice good feeling habits of thought that is what we get back in our life. The success/consistency can come immediately, it really doesn't take long. But, if you have been (for the lack of a better word) a negative thinker for a while, it just may take a little bit to tip the scales and see the consistency on a normal basis. Trust me, you will see a difference in your performance immediately, you just have to be patient to gain the consistency based on how good you are at practicing the thoughts you want to have in your life.
So get to work. Start being aware of how you are feeling and if you don't like it, then make a better statement to get you on track. More to come on this soon.....pitch well everyone!!!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Consistency
I continue to get some great ideas for blog topics from friends and interested Passion for Pitching followers. This blog is going to continue with that theme and so I took this idea from my good friend Christine Meyer. She happens to be a tremendous life coach in the lovely state of Pennsylvania. We have great conversations on a regular basis and she is able to challenge my thought process over and over. The topic she wanted me to discuss was consistency. So this will be blog #2 in the series of blogs I am responding to from you guys out there. How can a pitcher become consistent?
Consistency is the key to pitching success, bar none. At any age, if you can produce consistent results on an outing to outing basis you will be a big league pitcher, no question. Seems easy, right?? Produce consistent results and POOF, there you are, in the big leagues. Ok, so if it seems so easy, why is it so tough? Why can't kids create consistency in their outings over and over and over?
I am going to try and make this as easy as possible, as clear as possible. But what I am going to need from you is a little trust, a little leeway. I want you to all understand that this process of success and consistency IS easy. It is only a thought away. Here is what I mean by that, the body is controlled by the brain. The visual information that we take in from a moment to moment process is taken in, received by the brain, translated by the brain and then carried out via commands from the brain. (more or less, this is not a perfect description, but you get my drift) If this is true (and it is) couldn't we add our thoughts to this as well? Couldn't we say that the thoughts we think are being computed by the brain and then carried out through our body? If you can get your head around this and start to believe it, then consistency is truly just a thought away. The more we are able to think thoughts that are success thinking thoughts, consistency thinking thoughts, then that is exactly what we will get.
Think of it this way. If our thoughts can construct our reality then the more I can train myself, the more I can make good thoughts a habit, then a consistent reality is what I will create on the mound. The more I realize that my current experience is being formed by the thoughts I am thinking from moment to moment then I will be more aware of my thoughts and the reality they are creating. I then can realize how important my NOW moment is. My NOW moment is all I have. It doesn't matter what type of failures I have had or inconsistencies I have had in the past because my thoughts RIGHT NOW are what is creating my experience now and in the future.
This is big time information if you can believe in it and really embrace it. Just think of the power you can have in your career, life, relationship, anything! So what do you need to do to get started? Well, I could make this into a long series of blogs and may do just that, but let me give you the first clue. Start being aware of how you feel on a daily basis. You don't need to get too crazy right now, just be more aware of how you feel day to day. This is where it all starts. Emotions are the key. If you can begin to understand what your emotions are telling you and then how to direct your thoughts to improve your emotions, then you will be well on your way to the consistent career you are looking for.
I am going to leave you with that...I swear we will continue this discussion very soon but I think this is a good start for us. So go back through and read this blog a few more times so you can truly understand the message. Then I will come back and get more specific and paint a clear picture on the topic of consistency. It may take a few blogs but it will be well worth the read. Until then hope all is well and hope everyone is pitching their butts off this Spring!
Consistency is the key to pitching success, bar none. At any age, if you can produce consistent results on an outing to outing basis you will be a big league pitcher, no question. Seems easy, right?? Produce consistent results and POOF, there you are, in the big leagues. Ok, so if it seems so easy, why is it so tough? Why can't kids create consistency in their outings over and over and over?
I am going to try and make this as easy as possible, as clear as possible. But what I am going to need from you is a little trust, a little leeway. I want you to all understand that this process of success and consistency IS easy. It is only a thought away. Here is what I mean by that, the body is controlled by the brain. The visual information that we take in from a moment to moment process is taken in, received by the brain, translated by the brain and then carried out via commands from the brain. (more or less, this is not a perfect description, but you get my drift) If this is true (and it is) couldn't we add our thoughts to this as well? Couldn't we say that the thoughts we think are being computed by the brain and then carried out through our body? If you can get your head around this and start to believe it, then consistency is truly just a thought away. The more we are able to think thoughts that are success thinking thoughts, consistency thinking thoughts, then that is exactly what we will get.
Think of it this way. If our thoughts can construct our reality then the more I can train myself, the more I can make good thoughts a habit, then a consistent reality is what I will create on the mound. The more I realize that my current experience is being formed by the thoughts I am thinking from moment to moment then I will be more aware of my thoughts and the reality they are creating. I then can realize how important my NOW moment is. My NOW moment is all I have. It doesn't matter what type of failures I have had or inconsistencies I have had in the past because my thoughts RIGHT NOW are what is creating my experience now and in the future.
This is big time information if you can believe in it and really embrace it. Just think of the power you can have in your career, life, relationship, anything! So what do you need to do to get started? Well, I could make this into a long series of blogs and may do just that, but let me give you the first clue. Start being aware of how you feel on a daily basis. You don't need to get too crazy right now, just be more aware of how you feel day to day. This is where it all starts. Emotions are the key. If you can begin to understand what your emotions are telling you and then how to direct your thoughts to improve your emotions, then you will be well on your way to the consistent career you are looking for.
I am going to leave you with that...I swear we will continue this discussion very soon but I think this is a good start for us. So go back through and read this blog a few more times so you can truly understand the message. Then I will come back and get more specific and paint a clear picture on the topic of consistency. It may take a few blogs but it will be well worth the read. Until then hope all is well and hope everyone is pitching their butts off this Spring!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
New Year...
It's that time again. Spring Training is in full swing and that means the minor league systems are getting revved up and ready to roll. I'm back down in Jupiter, FL and participating in my fourth spring training with the St Louis Cardinals. It is very exciting to see the pitchers you had in the previous years turning themselves into productive players and perhaps future big leaguers. The start of the spring and new year of baseball has inspired to my first blog of the season!!
For this blog I wanted to be very quick and to the point. I wanted to share with all of you, what I think it takes for a young athlete to evolve and hopefully mold themselves into successful professional pitchers. So what I am going to do is create a list of things I feel are important and fundamental to the process: (in no particular order)
1. Belief...you must have an amazing amount of belief in yourself and not necessarily need physical proof of that at all times. There are going to be plenty of times in your career where things will not go well. Your belief must grow and stay true throughout.
2. Desire...you have to have an amazing amount of desire to want to be better, to want to be a big leaguer and not care about what anyone else thinks, says or does.
3. Evaluation...you must be able to evaluate your level of play in an honest manner. This doesn't mean you have to beat yourself up and say your no good. But you must be able to be honest in the fact that if you need to get better at something, you can't be in denial about it or not be able to recognize that you need to be better. Then once you realize what you need to get better at, you must be able to know if the work you are doing is worth a damn. There are a lot of guys here in this camp thinking they did a whole lot of good in the off season but really nothing has changed.
4. Focus...you must be able to understand what focus is and what it can do for you. If you are not able to understand and use focus to your advantage it will be very tough to have any sort of a lasting career.
5. Preparation...you must know how to prepare yourself MENTALLY and physically for what you are about to do. If there is no preparation to your work it will be a waste of time. Know what you are going to do and why you are going to do it in all situations.
6. Perspective...you must understand the word perspective and how powerful it is for you. What you perceive will eventually become your reality. Do your best to eventually make everything come from a perspective, a point of view, that will be beneficial to you.
7. Contrast...understand that contrast is shaping your future. It is giving you clarity to show you what you need to be better at and how to go about it. If you can take the contrast and perceive it as a good thing, as "showing you the way", then you can use it to fuel your desire and help inspire you to bigger and better things.
8. Stubborn...you must be stubborn enough to be your own man. Not stubborn enough to where you never listen or you are not open to information that could be helpful, but if there are things that you have done over the years that have made you the player you are now, you must be able to stick to your guns no matter who is in front of you asking you to change or do something different. If your gut is telling you that you are on the right track, then you probably are and shouldn't be persuaded by people who have no clue about how you feel inside.
9. Fun...you must have fun!! This process must be perceived as fun. No matter how tough it may seem at times or how many hours you will put into training or no matter how bad it may hurt at times you must look at it as fun. All the different emotions you will feel and all the different experiences you will have, do your best to see the bigger picture. Nothing matters, it is just the game of life. Have fun, smile and don't take it so seriously.
Alright, that is it for today. I am sure there are many more items to add to the list, but this is a pretty good start for now. I was just thinking of where I was and how there are so many guys here working on their dream and thought I would offer some guidance before you get to the same place. There are just too many athletes here who will not make it and it won't be because they weren't talented enough. It will be because they don't have an awareness of some of the things on the list above. So much easier to see these things being a coach and being on the outside looking in, but it is so true.
See you down the line!!!!
For this blog I wanted to be very quick and to the point. I wanted to share with all of you, what I think it takes for a young athlete to evolve and hopefully mold themselves into successful professional pitchers. So what I am going to do is create a list of things I feel are important and fundamental to the process: (in no particular order)
1. Belief...you must have an amazing amount of belief in yourself and not necessarily need physical proof of that at all times. There are going to be plenty of times in your career where things will not go well. Your belief must grow and stay true throughout.
2. Desire...you have to have an amazing amount of desire to want to be better, to want to be a big leaguer and not care about what anyone else thinks, says or does.
3. Evaluation...you must be able to evaluate your level of play in an honest manner. This doesn't mean you have to beat yourself up and say your no good. But you must be able to be honest in the fact that if you need to get better at something, you can't be in denial about it or not be able to recognize that you need to be better. Then once you realize what you need to get better at, you must be able to know if the work you are doing is worth a damn. There are a lot of guys here in this camp thinking they did a whole lot of good in the off season but really nothing has changed.
4. Focus...you must be able to understand what focus is and what it can do for you. If you are not able to understand and use focus to your advantage it will be very tough to have any sort of a lasting career.
5. Preparation...you must know how to prepare yourself MENTALLY and physically for what you are about to do. If there is no preparation to your work it will be a waste of time. Know what you are going to do and why you are going to do it in all situations.
6. Perspective...you must understand the word perspective and how powerful it is for you. What you perceive will eventually become your reality. Do your best to eventually make everything come from a perspective, a point of view, that will be beneficial to you.
7. Contrast...understand that contrast is shaping your future. It is giving you clarity to show you what you need to be better at and how to go about it. If you can take the contrast and perceive it as a good thing, as "showing you the way", then you can use it to fuel your desire and help inspire you to bigger and better things.
8. Stubborn...you must be stubborn enough to be your own man. Not stubborn enough to where you never listen or you are not open to information that could be helpful, but if there are things that you have done over the years that have made you the player you are now, you must be able to stick to your guns no matter who is in front of you asking you to change or do something different. If your gut is telling you that you are on the right track, then you probably are and shouldn't be persuaded by people who have no clue about how you feel inside.
9. Fun...you must have fun!! This process must be perceived as fun. No matter how tough it may seem at times or how many hours you will put into training or no matter how bad it may hurt at times you must look at it as fun. All the different emotions you will feel and all the different experiences you will have, do your best to see the bigger picture. Nothing matters, it is just the game of life. Have fun, smile and don't take it so seriously.
Alright, that is it for today. I am sure there are many more items to add to the list, but this is a pretty good start for now. I was just thinking of where I was and how there are so many guys here working on their dream and thought I would offer some guidance before you get to the same place. There are just too many athletes here who will not make it and it won't be because they weren't talented enough. It will be because they don't have an awareness of some of the things on the list above. So much easier to see these things being a coach and being on the outside looking in, but it is so true.
See you down the line!!!!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Posture
Welcome Passion for Pitching Family. This is a momentous occasion. The first blog since requesting some ideas from the Passion for Pitching Family!!! I wanted to acknowledge and thank the first person who submitted a topic to be discussed on my blog. His name is Ryan Williams and he is the Head Baseball Coach at Peoria Notre Dame in Peoria, IL. So thank you Ryan and congrats on being the first!!! Ryan asked a question about posture and head position during the pitching delivery. I am going to do my best to answer in blog form of what posture really means in regards to pitching.
Before I start we need to all understand how I am attempting to explain posture in regards to the pitching motion or delivery. There are many different "styles" to pitching and if you watch a major league game you will be able to witness those different "styles" firsthand. But while I am explaining posture for the sake of this blog we are going to think about phase 1, a young pitcher who is first learning how to deliver a baseball from the mound across home plate. When I refer to specific positions of the body for the set-up and then delivery of the pitching motion, make sure you understand that this is what I would be suggesting to an athlete or coach learning about posture. Once the athlete has a good hold on the concept of posture and what it feels like to maintain their posture during the throwing motion, they can make it look any which way they choose. The "style" will be their own and the "technique" will be universal.
When we talk about posture in relation to the throwing or pitching motion we need to first think about locking in an initial position. Even though "locking in" may be too deliberate of a term, it is really true. I don't mean this in the way that you must be stiff and immobile in your movements but if you can maintain an initial position once you go into leg lift, it will assist you in maintaining your energy for the duration of the throw, as well as allowing your levers the freedom to set-up and move like they want to.
Let's start out by visualizing a right-handed pitcher in the stretch position. The first thing I want us to picture is a pitcher staring into the catchers mitt prior to leg lift. They should be taking a stance that allows for athletic movement. What this means is the pitcher should have some flex or bend in their knees and a slight lean or bend at the waistline (where the hip and spine create an angle). This is very similar to hitting. When a hitter sets their body up to see the pitch out of the pitchers hand, there is a specific angle they want to be setting up. It is a specific hip and spine angle that allows them to rotate powerfully. The same goes for pitching. If you can create a specific position to start that enables you to feel powerful and athletic and then maintain this position basically until foot plant, you will be in a great position to rotate and finish the throw.
Let me reiterate this here for everyone. I want everyone to really know how important the initial set-up/posture position is for pitching. Think of it this way, if you can start well, you should be able to finish well. Now I know many of you are reading this blog and saying, "Gee thanks for the breakthrough Doug, really helpful." But think about this for a second. If we set our body in motion properly to begin with, our bodies levers will do what they need to do to perform the task at hand. I am very serious about this. If any of you at home have ever watched a major league pitcher throw in slow motion you will know what I am talking about. The bodies levers (arms, legs, etc...) work very well if the body is positioned correctly from the start and then maintained through the movement. If the powerful and athletic position is locked in, then there are only a few ways the levers can actually move. The joints function in specific manners, such as external and internal rotation, they can only do so many things. So again, if positioned properly your body will work for you, not against you. The issues pitchers have all over the world aren't mechanics, it is the belief that their body won't do what it needs to do. They don't realize that the functions the joints, muscles and bones are making are very normal and natural if you get out of the way.
Ok, so off my soapbox and back to work. Once the initial position is set and the pitcher is ready for leg lift, now the pitcher just needs to perform a leg lift that will allow them to stay with the posture they have already set up. If the leg lift takes them off course it is because it is too violent or high and they just are not able to handle the movement. So just back off a bit until you can get the feel for a powerful leg kick while maintaining an athletic posture.
Now we can fast forward to foot plant. The pitcher should be able to maintain the initial hip and spine angle until landing into foot plant. There are always shades of gray when referring to angle and degrees of angle but you get my drift. When watching film of a pitcher from behind home plate you should be able to see a very similar position at the hip and spine from pre-leg lift, to leg lift, then into foot plant. If there is any drifting or movement out of that initial hip and spine angle you will be able to notice it and make the corrections.
The video clips that come to mind for me on this topic are Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. If you can youtube or find some video of these two pitchers, watch them, but make sure the view is from home plate. You will notice that once they perform their leg lift, they lock in a posture and don't deviate from it until foot plant. The other thing you will notice is how their levers (scapula, arms, thoracic spine) move independently of their posture and it doesn't effect their posture. That is because their bodies understand how the separate parts of their body work to sequence the whole movement. The reason the younger pitchers can't stabilize their movement patterns is because they are not mobile in the areas of the body they need to be to make the corresponding movements. For example, what I just mentioned above about Clemens and Ryan. When you watch the film you will see the scapula, thoracic spine and then arms act as they are supposed to. That is because their body is aware of how to move. This can be taught if needed.
Once at foot plant it is time for the front side to stabilize so the back side can deliver the pitch and follow through. At this point in the delivery you will get very different looks from many different pitchers. It is all about the individuals arm slot from here on out. The posture created during rotation is to support the arm angle/slot that the pitcher throws from. Most of the time you will see pitchers clear their head so their arm can come through and be delivered. The cases where you see pitchers heads really start to pull of the target can be from many different reasons but I will cover a couple major ones now.
The first could be from poor initial momentum. If a pitcher starts their motion but doesn't gain the proper momentum/tempo/direction that they would like to produce a sufficient amount of velocity, they have to make that up somewhere. Most pitchers (definitely the younger and weaker pitchers) will try to pull their upper body through in one violent pull to try and create some velocity. This will definitely show up in film as someone who pulls their head off target too soon and ruins their posture.
The second could be from poor front-side arm stability. If a pitcher starts to rotate after foot plant but they are not aware of how their front arm is supposed to act, you will see a lot of east to west action with their shoulders. (chicken winging) You will see the front shoulder pull off target too soon and therefore the head needs to go with them.
The third example ties in with the second example. When a pitcher does not know how to properly use their front side, they do not know how to finish their throw with more north to south movement then east to west. What I am referring to here is understanding the movement of the upper body when going into release point and through to the finish. The upper body (more specifically in the thoracic spine area) must have some angle to its finish. The example I always use, which I got from a friend, is the ferris wheel. Picture your upper body as a ferris wheel. Or more specifically, picture your spine as the ferris wheel. So when you rotate your chest towards home plate and it is square to the plate and you are ready to release the baseball, their must be some ferris wheel to your movement. Your upper body or spine, needs to finish with some tilt, not east to west rotation. If the pitcher is not behind the baseball and working through the baseball into finish it will show up with the head pulling off the target too soon. It is kind of like the pitchers head is running away from the hand and we obviously don't want that.
In the end, if you can create a healthy and powerful starting posture prior to leg lift, then continue with that same posture into leg lift and then have that carry you all the way into foot plant, you will be 3/4 of the way there. The rest is rotation, pronation and a finish. Watch film of the best in the game from the home plate view. See what they do and how long they are able to maintain their posture into foot plant. Show your young athletes what they look like and what the best look like and start copying them. In no time at all you will see a huge difference in their perfomances!
That's all for now...if you have any questions feel free to email or call me on this topic. Lots of information in this one...LOL!! Good luck Passion for Pitching family and happy pitching to you!!! Stay tuned for the next requested topic....coming soon!!!
Before I start we need to all understand how I am attempting to explain posture in regards to the pitching motion or delivery. There are many different "styles" to pitching and if you watch a major league game you will be able to witness those different "styles" firsthand. But while I am explaining posture for the sake of this blog we are going to think about phase 1, a young pitcher who is first learning how to deliver a baseball from the mound across home plate. When I refer to specific positions of the body for the set-up and then delivery of the pitching motion, make sure you understand that this is what I would be suggesting to an athlete or coach learning about posture. Once the athlete has a good hold on the concept of posture and what it feels like to maintain their posture during the throwing motion, they can make it look any which way they choose. The "style" will be their own and the "technique" will be universal.
When we talk about posture in relation to the throwing or pitching motion we need to first think about locking in an initial position. Even though "locking in" may be too deliberate of a term, it is really true. I don't mean this in the way that you must be stiff and immobile in your movements but if you can maintain an initial position once you go into leg lift, it will assist you in maintaining your energy for the duration of the throw, as well as allowing your levers the freedom to set-up and move like they want to.
Let's start out by visualizing a right-handed pitcher in the stretch position. The first thing I want us to picture is a pitcher staring into the catchers mitt prior to leg lift. They should be taking a stance that allows for athletic movement. What this means is the pitcher should have some flex or bend in their knees and a slight lean or bend at the waistline (where the hip and spine create an angle). This is very similar to hitting. When a hitter sets their body up to see the pitch out of the pitchers hand, there is a specific angle they want to be setting up. It is a specific hip and spine angle that allows them to rotate powerfully. The same goes for pitching. If you can create a specific position to start that enables you to feel powerful and athletic and then maintain this position basically until foot plant, you will be in a great position to rotate and finish the throw.
Let me reiterate this here for everyone. I want everyone to really know how important the initial set-up/posture position is for pitching. Think of it this way, if you can start well, you should be able to finish well. Now I know many of you are reading this blog and saying, "Gee thanks for the breakthrough Doug, really helpful." But think about this for a second. If we set our body in motion properly to begin with, our bodies levers will do what they need to do to perform the task at hand. I am very serious about this. If any of you at home have ever watched a major league pitcher throw in slow motion you will know what I am talking about. The bodies levers (arms, legs, etc...) work very well if the body is positioned correctly from the start and then maintained through the movement. If the powerful and athletic position is locked in, then there are only a few ways the levers can actually move. The joints function in specific manners, such as external and internal rotation, they can only do so many things. So again, if positioned properly your body will work for you, not against you. The issues pitchers have all over the world aren't mechanics, it is the belief that their body won't do what it needs to do. They don't realize that the functions the joints, muscles and bones are making are very normal and natural if you get out of the way.
Ok, so off my soapbox and back to work. Once the initial position is set and the pitcher is ready for leg lift, now the pitcher just needs to perform a leg lift that will allow them to stay with the posture they have already set up. If the leg lift takes them off course it is because it is too violent or high and they just are not able to handle the movement. So just back off a bit until you can get the feel for a powerful leg kick while maintaining an athletic posture.
Now we can fast forward to foot plant. The pitcher should be able to maintain the initial hip and spine angle until landing into foot plant. There are always shades of gray when referring to angle and degrees of angle but you get my drift. When watching film of a pitcher from behind home plate you should be able to see a very similar position at the hip and spine from pre-leg lift, to leg lift, then into foot plant. If there is any drifting or movement out of that initial hip and spine angle you will be able to notice it and make the corrections.
The video clips that come to mind for me on this topic are Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. If you can youtube or find some video of these two pitchers, watch them, but make sure the view is from home plate. You will notice that once they perform their leg lift, they lock in a posture and don't deviate from it until foot plant. The other thing you will notice is how their levers (scapula, arms, thoracic spine) move independently of their posture and it doesn't effect their posture. That is because their bodies understand how the separate parts of their body work to sequence the whole movement. The reason the younger pitchers can't stabilize their movement patterns is because they are not mobile in the areas of the body they need to be to make the corresponding movements. For example, what I just mentioned above about Clemens and Ryan. When you watch the film you will see the scapula, thoracic spine and then arms act as they are supposed to. That is because their body is aware of how to move. This can be taught if needed.
Once at foot plant it is time for the front side to stabilize so the back side can deliver the pitch and follow through. At this point in the delivery you will get very different looks from many different pitchers. It is all about the individuals arm slot from here on out. The posture created during rotation is to support the arm angle/slot that the pitcher throws from. Most of the time you will see pitchers clear their head so their arm can come through and be delivered. The cases where you see pitchers heads really start to pull of the target can be from many different reasons but I will cover a couple major ones now.
The first could be from poor initial momentum. If a pitcher starts their motion but doesn't gain the proper momentum/tempo/direction that they would like to produce a sufficient amount of velocity, they have to make that up somewhere. Most pitchers (definitely the younger and weaker pitchers) will try to pull their upper body through in one violent pull to try and create some velocity. This will definitely show up in film as someone who pulls their head off target too soon and ruins their posture.
The second could be from poor front-side arm stability. If a pitcher starts to rotate after foot plant but they are not aware of how their front arm is supposed to act, you will see a lot of east to west action with their shoulders. (chicken winging) You will see the front shoulder pull off target too soon and therefore the head needs to go with them.
The third example ties in with the second example. When a pitcher does not know how to properly use their front side, they do not know how to finish their throw with more north to south movement then east to west. What I am referring to here is understanding the movement of the upper body when going into release point and through to the finish. The upper body (more specifically in the thoracic spine area) must have some angle to its finish. The example I always use, which I got from a friend, is the ferris wheel. Picture your upper body as a ferris wheel. Or more specifically, picture your spine as the ferris wheel. So when you rotate your chest towards home plate and it is square to the plate and you are ready to release the baseball, their must be some ferris wheel to your movement. Your upper body or spine, needs to finish with some tilt, not east to west rotation. If the pitcher is not behind the baseball and working through the baseball into finish it will show up with the head pulling off the target too soon. It is kind of like the pitchers head is running away from the hand and we obviously don't want that.
In the end, if you can create a healthy and powerful starting posture prior to leg lift, then continue with that same posture into leg lift and then have that carry you all the way into foot plant, you will be 3/4 of the way there. The rest is rotation, pronation and a finish. Watch film of the best in the game from the home plate view. See what they do and how long they are able to maintain their posture into foot plant. Show your young athletes what they look like and what the best look like and start copying them. In no time at all you will see a huge difference in their perfomances!
That's all for now...if you have any questions feel free to email or call me on this topic. Lots of information in this one...LOL!! Good luck Passion for Pitching family and happy pitching to you!!! Stay tuned for the next requested topic....coming soon!!!
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