January 11, 2009
Yesterday I went and helped out for an hour or so at a catching camp put on by my friend Tim Cousins. Tim and I spent a couple years together in Kansas City where he was the bullpen coach/catcher. He went from there to manage a minor league team for the Florida Marlins and now he’s their roving catching instructor. Tim’s really passionate about the position and does a nice job teaching kids. He is one of the few guys who really pays attention to receiving and I love to bounce ideas off of him. It was my first time being around a camp specifically for catchers and it got me to thinking… I think I’d better partner up with my Dad and put together something similar. I know we could do a great job and provide a solid bang for the buck and at the end of three days, we’d be unleashing 20 -30 better catchers back into baseball. Another fun project to look forward to….I’ll keep you posted on the developements.
The one thing that really struck me at Tim’s camp was how important it is to be simple and efficient with all of your movements behind the plate. In my opinion, athletes must adapt to a quicker game to advance levels and progress as a player. The game keeps getting faster and faster the higher you go. To be able to do that, I believe it important to just go from point A to point B to get a job done. If you’re ineffecient with your actions the game will eventually catch up with you and eat you up and spit you out, irregardless of your athleticism. When I was at the camp, the kids were working on receiving the ball from a short distance from a machine throwing pretty hard. I would estimate that it simulated a 90MPH pitch from the regular 60′6″ distance. Anyway, for the most part, the kids were getting eaten up. Not because they were incapable or poor athletes, but because they almost all had too much hand movement before actually receiving the ball. Instead of going from point A to B, they were going from point A to B to C to get the job done and that extra microsecond was leaving them behind the action. They were comprimised and perpetually playing catch up. Specifically, instead of just giving a target preset in the postion they should receive the ball (thus eliminating steps) they gave the target in one positon, had a timing/tension breaking mechanism, then went to catch the ball. I’m sure at whatever level they were currently playing they were able to have success using this process. However, when the machine simulated the speed of a higher level, their inefficient actions exposed them and didn’t allow them consistent success.
As a player or coach, I would recommend that no matter what you’re doing on the field, view it through the lens of simplicity. Are the movements as efficient as possible? If not, figure out a way to make them so. This will allow you to get the most out of your God given talent and let you have more fun. The best of luck.
“The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.” ~ Bruce Lee
January 8, 2009
So its been pretty slim pickins in the sports pages for me lately. I did come across this article about WNBA star Candace Parker being pregnant and for some reason it struck me as kind of funny. Before anyone gets mad, I want to clarify that In no way am I making fun of her or women’s sports. I just thought the situation was funny and the headline “Sparks standout Parker is pregnant” caught me off guard as I glanced at the sports section. It’s not everyday you see the word pregnant in a sports section headline. You just never would expect the headline “Derek Jeter pregnant, Steinbrenner furious”. It was almost like she did something wrong….like “Vick caught in dog fighting ring”. I don’t have a clue about the WNBA, but it turns out Ms. Parker was the rookie of the year, MVP, and won an Olympic gold last season. Basically it sounds like she’s the poster child for the league. And now she’s out cause she got knocked up. The owner of the team and her teammates and the league can’t be too thrilled about this turn of events…but I guess that’s part of female athletics. I wonder if the owners have pregnancy insurance. It just never crossed my mind. Oh well, Mommy first, athlete second. And here I thought big money ruled the world. Refreshing.
And now on to Manny. I’m really curious as to what’s going to happen. Is he really gonna have to eat the stale offer the Dodgers made him two months ago? Don’t you hate it when someone tries to shove $45 million down your throat? $22 mil and change a year for a couple seasons. Did Boras’ plan finally backfire? Is there really no sucker team going to come out of the woodwork and save the day for Manny and Scott? Can the owners be that smart to recognize that a day over two years is too much? This is high drama, kind of like a daytime soap opera and I like it. Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode.
January 6, 2009
Wow, what a weekend. For me, the ABCA convention was a very similar experience to the winter meeting deal in Vegas except a little less intense. I made a ton of connections, saw a ton of people whom I haven’t seen in years, and sold quite a few books in the process. The catching presentation went off well and I’m pretty sure the audience got something out of it, or at least a different perspective on how to teach the position. Very nerve wracking speaking in front of so many people though. It’s much easier to play in front of them.
Having never been to one of these conventions before, I was impressed by how many people are interested in baseball and are willing to take the time to travel from as far as Europe to increase their knowledge of the game. It made me feel like baseball was in good hands. There are a lot of coaches out there who really care and want to teach the right way.
Another impression that I got from the convention was the way a coach looked. Man, you can tell a baseball coach from a mile away. You could easily pick one out of a line up even on the off chance they’re not wearing a matching sweat suit with their school’s insignia on it and turf shoes and a baseball hat. The older ones remind me of old western cowboys. Matter of fact, thats what they are. They’re the modern day equivalent of an old western cowboy. They both have the chew, the sun beaten face and neck, the walk, and the no nonsense attitude. Get it done. They both sound the same when they walk except the cowboy had on spurs and the coach wears spikes. And they both have their trademark hats. Hey I like that visual analogy…I’m kind of pleased with myself.
Anyway, it was a great weekend and it just confirmed my belief that there are a lot of folks out there who are hungry for some quality catching information. A big thanks to my booth partner Dan Keller at Lifeletics (www.lifeletics.com) for all the help and company, my son Noah for working so hard, and my wife Hill for the lunch and company and teaching me how to work the credit card machine. And oh yeah, my Dad for coming and supporting me and driving all of the traffic our way. I’ll leave you with a photo of Noah manning our booth. Scary, it almost looks like we knew what we were doing.
