Words of the week.....
This week I am going to stick to one common theme that Mentality, Attitude, Focus, and Adjustments are the keys to becoming a better for focused athlete, not just baseball player. I feel that we as a society have tried to accomplish many of our personal and professional goals in such a quick amount of time that we lose sight of the process of learning along the way. If we are so focused on the outcome, and not so focused on the process, then the result will be poor and the goal may be attained but not to the level and or dept as if we would have taken our time and done it right. Mentality is something that I use to stay centered on my goals as a teacher, parent, and coach. I am going to keep a personal mentality statement in my head to manipulate my personality, attitude, and mood. The current most up to date mentality statement is that, "I am the most motivated/hard working individual; I am a creative upcoming individual that has a solution based mentality in the face of life." Attitude is linked and connected to mentality. If my personal mentality statement is changing then my personality and attitude will suffer or be inconsistent. The best baseball players are the ones that don't get too high and don't get too low in their mood or personalities on the baseball field. So make your players commit to a mentality statement and they will be more level in their behaviors. Focus relates to the vision or sight of the target and the abilty of an individual to stay centered on their personal or team goals. I am always setting new goals to attain and center my focal point on. Here are three of my most recent that help me with my focus:
Adjustments are going to come through the process of attaining my goals and knowing that they are not hard and fast rules. I can adjust my processes, products, and at times my vision so that I am being realistic in my vision. If I do not have the ability to get tot the video every day or I don't get all the drills accomplished then I know that I will need to adjust things so that I can feel that my goals are realistic. Here I have given some examples of big picture goals, mentality, and focal points. If I am leading a team I can create these for weekly practices, daily practice plans, or long term season goals. I do want my players to create something similar but I doesn't need to be as particular as mine. I think that placing these team individual goals on a chart for each player to read can make all people more accountable and it can help you as a coach realize some of the motivation or internal wants of your players. Article of the Week........ Szymanski, D. J. (2007). Resistance training to develop increased bat velocity. Natl Strength Cond Assoc Perform Train J, 6, 16-20. First, this article supplies information that relates bat velocity to the implementation of a full-body “general” resistance training program for high school or novice baseball players. Next, combined methods of resistance training may provide the greatest training effect. Finally, “specific” overweight and underweight bat swing training protocol will fully transition the program toward increased bat speeds. Advanced players should incorporate all three forms of resistance training into their program. If not using a combined method, the best approach to increase bat velocity seems to be “general” resistance training for high school plarers or “specific” (underweighted and over weighted bats) resistance training for more advanced (collegiate and professional) players. Based on previous research, do not use loads that are any more than 4 oz lighter or heavier that your game bat (i.e., 30 oz for a college player) when implementing “specific” resistance training. Specific” resistance loads progress gradually by 1 oz heavier and light- er every 3 weeks over a 12-week training cycle. One big point that the article makes that intrigued me was that although advanced players are getting stronger, their on-field (bat velocity) performance may not be any better than if they did not resistance train, since their bat swing mechanics are already advanced. Drills of Week...... Link- Front Toss Hitting Drills Closing Comments..... Good week coming up please have a great Thanksgiving, connect with friends and family, and commit to being a better person. Coach Brassfield
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I listened to Matt Kata this week on a podcast called the Diamond Dish and found it insightful in terms of hitting and how to teach it. The host is a former professional pitcher by the name Jonah Bayliss from the aitchingacademy.com. Matt Kata was very knowledgable about hitting and he himself has organized a method of teaching hitting that includes three check boxes.
Check Boxes 1. Be on Time 2. Storing Energy Properly 3. Hold Energy Until Contact In this interview I could really agree with Matt's perspectives that there are areas of hitting that you want hitters to be consciously aware of and areas that you don't want to be clouding a hitters mind while at bat or going through their mind during instruction. He calls them "teaches versus non-teaches." A "teach" is a directly instructed concept that will lead to the execution of the "non-teach." So for example, you would instruct a hitter about the action of being on time to hit the ball leading the result of staying closed as the batter hits the baseball. This as opposed to teaching the hitter to stay closed directly, then losing their the timing in the process and further complicating the process of hitting while staying closed. The "teach" is being on time and the "non-teach" is staying closed. Additionally Matt spoke about the difficulties that hitters face when it comes to thinking too much and having too many thoughts in their head about mechanics. In the interview Matt referenced a book written by Jason Selk called 10 Minute Toughness. Kata emphasized that within the concepts of this book an athlete struggles with juggling more than 3 thoughts in their head at one time. So his hitting system is based upon only 3 check boxes of hitting. This is something that I can strongly speak to as a hitter and coach. My players need to react not think, and part of this issue becomes me filling them with too much not needed information. Keeping it to 2-3 teaching points and focusing on them will keep them moving forward. Within the system that Matt Kata has created I have personally created 3 drills for these check boxes below. Any coach that is trying to address these skills should teach them using feel points and drills that emphasizes one of the components at a time. Check Boxes 1. Be on Time LINK 2. Storing Energy Properly LINK 3. Hold Energy Until Contact LINK Coach Brassfield |