You see, he has been asked to be an college assistant coach and he now is teaching the same disciplines he was asked to perform as a player and it turned something on in his brain that said..."Now I get it"...
The other day, he called and said, "I know now, what I should have known then and...I have set up a couple of Major League baseball try-outs...I am not done."
It is not that much of a stretch...He did start all through a D-I college and has the skills...just not the type of numbers he would have liked. Whether or not he achieves his dreams, it gave me this idea for an article.
If every player put himself in the shoes of a coach, or mentored a undergrad or prospect, would that help that player understand the game better and make the type of adjustments that are needed to succeed?
I think so. In business, we are asked to shadow and are given managerial duties and as we get better, we get more responsibility, more protegees to mentor and so on until we reach the top of the managerial heap.
In baseball, it's all about repetition...but if we take that repetition a bit farther, and allow that player to preach to others what he has been practicing, will that process sink into a players mind indelibly and become more of a natural ability rather than a rote exercise? I think so.
As a manager I have had many teaching experiences to my staff that have become learning experiences for me too. Sometimes, something just clicks.
If your player seems to be struggling mentally, (baseball is pretty much all mental...just ask A-Rod come play-off time) maybe he needs to take the role of teacher, and repeat what he has learned and practiced and teach to others in order for it to sink in to himself. Teaching someone else can also help increase self esteem, confidence, leadership and increase the ability to make the right decisions quicker. That's about 90% of baseball right there.
No comments:
Post a Comment