Tis The Season
At this time of year I always look back on how lucky I am to be where I am!!
I'm thankful for many things, but most of all during this time in our lives, I'm thankful for the health and happiness of my family and friends...I hope everyone reading this is healthy and happy as well.
As Christmas approaches I am still a little boy at heart... it's my favorite holiday and I love seeing the excitement on our children's faces every Christmas morning. I hope they will always believe in the spirit of Christmas!
With the above said you may be thinking how I'm going to tie this into baseball. The key word is BELIEVE!
There are so many training tools out there that claim to make a player better...sometimes that's all I see when I look at social media. How do you know if it'll work for your player?
I firmly believe the BEST TOOL out there to train is your MIND!!
Your mind will help you BELIEVE that you can do the job better than anyone else
When you toe the rubber you need to believe in yourself that you studied and put more work in than your opponent. You need to believe you can dominant even on days you know you don't have your best stuff.
When you step in the batter's box you know exactly what to do because you've trained your mind for certain situations and you believe you can come through for your team.
How does a player train their mind to believe in themselves? Everyone will have a different answer but I want to share mine.
1. Join a reputable travel ball program.
2. Practice hard, practice like it's a game situation, focus on the little things.
3. What do you do between each practice?
4. Have coaches who build up the ball player.
5. Never think you have anything mastered...because you don't.
6. Be a leader, be genuine, be transparent!!
Doing all these things will not only make you better, but hopefully your teammates better as well!!
The final piece of the puzzle for my player is personal and it was the belief/confidence my son received from home. It's something I needed to learn because I love to coach.
Some players want or need their Dad to coach them, that's cool. I've seen it work. I've also seen the political side of it..
I'm a good instructor, I have a ton of knowledge to give, but what I learned with the help of a great friend is that's not what my son needs from me. He doesn't need for me to coach him, he has great coaches...he just needs me to be there, and be his Dad.
That's what I've done over the past two years and I've seen him grow leaps and bounds. The belief/confidence he has when he toes the rubber intimidates me. He's an average hitter at best, but every at bat he goes into the box with so much confidence because he knows he has put the work in, and he believes in himself. It's actually great to watch. See I enjoy being a fan and I believe my son is better for it.
Happy Holidays from the Southpaw family and cheers to a great 2021!!
