|
Pitching
a Baseball is Nothing More than Tossing a Pebble
into a Pond
The thing I love
about teaching baseball players, and particularly
pitchers, is that I am always learning and being
reminded of lessons I've taught in the past, but
have not used in a while.
Last night was not
only Super Tuesday in politics, but it was Super
Tuesday for me and one of our students.
I was working with
one of our students, Willy. He's a great young
pitcher and great kid. He is a hard throwing
right-hander, with a hammer for a curveball.
Willy was throwing
really well…I mean exceptionally well. He was
locating his fastball, his curve was sharp, the
change up was sinking….and he was doing it
effortlessly. One of those days you wish you could
put in a bottle and save it forever.
He was pitching with
a big smile on his face.
I asked him what he
was feeling. He said it was the strangest thing. He
was physically tired, but his arm felt great. He
said everything was easy. Like he wasn't trying very
hard. But I'll tell you, he had some pop on his
fastball like I had never seen from him before. And
it looked like he wasn't working very hard.
His experience
reminded me about a story I read recently about a
saying the Martial Arts folks have about generating
more power in their punches. The theory is called
Mind Like Water. In our field and court sports, we
call it being in the zone.
It's a condition of
performing and being where your mind and body are
working together and the mind is clear of any things
that will distract you. No anxiety, no tension, no
self-induced pressure.
The perfect readiness
image the Martial Arts athletes use is a pebble
being thrown into a still pond. The water responds
appropriately to the force of the pebble. No more,
no less. Then the water returns to calm.
The power of the
karate punch comes from speed, not muscle. The focus
is on the last second pop at the end of the punch,
not the entire arm swing. It's the whip at the end.
The same holds true
with swinging a baseball bat or throwing a baseball.
I believe we focus too much on the throwing hand and
not the punch at the very end. Many baseball
pitchers want to feel their body working hard to
believe they are throwing hard. Same goes for
control. If you let your body flow the way it was
meant to, control just happens.
I believe that's what
Willy was experiencing last night. His body was
relaxed. He let it flow and some great things came
out. He didn't put too much pressure to perform on
himself, he was relaxed and great things happened.
How do you achieve
this Mind Like Water state? That's the hard part.
You need to practice it. Practice throwing with a
clear mind. No distractions, no worries about
mechanics, no worries about winning a spot on the
team, no worries about the "my way or the highway"
coach. Clear the mind first, then the body will
react appropriately. The best way I believe to clear
your mind is to write all your worries and concerns
down on a piece of paper. Clear the mind first.
Write down your
worries about making the team. Your concerns about
making the coach happy….your worry about asking that
cute blonde girl from math class out….your
frustration that you have procrastinated with your
homework…..not taking the trash out at home like you
promised your parents. Get all of this out of your
mind….you are cluttering your hard drive and it's
not relaxed. And I mean write everything down that
you are concerned about, or have deadlines, or
whatever.
Why write it down?
Well, your mind is working overtime trying to
remember this stuff…that's why you have
worries…you're worried you might forget something.
Your worried about how to get it done. What might
happen if I fail? Write everything down and you know
where those concerns are….and you know what, I bet
your mind will be able to come up with solutions to
your problems when you get all that junk out of your
mind…not to mention better performance on the mound
or batters box.
Once you've got all
the junk out of your mind, focus on the task at
hand. See yourself throwing a precision strike. See
yourself hitting a line drive into the right-center
gap, and then let your body do it without forcing it
to do it.
I would love to hear
about some of your successes with being in the
zone….or mind like water while you were pitching or
hitting.
Hope your pre-season
training is going well!
Train like a champion
today!
|
