Consistency and Correa

        Carlos Correa is part of a group of young shortstops that is going to be fun to watch for quite a while.  ESPN had a great article about he and Xander Bogaerts the other day, and they talked with Red Sox third base coach about Correa.  Butterfield had the opportunity to coach Correa in the Futures Game a couple of years back and had the quote below to say about him.

        Repeating performance is the difference between a pretty good and really good player.  If you read the blog often at all, you've seen me use the quote, "Consistent behavior gets consistent results," from Harvey Dorfman often.  There's a reason for the quote's use.  It's true.  If you combine two parts hydrogen with one part oxygen, you get water.  A major difference between the creation of water and performance is the lack of other variables in the process.  There is no opposing team trying to intrude with other elements while hydrogen and oxygen mix.  In baseball you can technically have the same behaviors and not be successful every time.  Consistency gives you the best chance of being successful though.  Understanding your influence on performance is critical to developing the perspective necessary for an approach.  Butterfield's quote bares something important to keep in mind in understanding who he is talking about- Major League Baseball players.  It's hard for them to be consistent, and they are the best in the world!  The words serve as a good reminder to all of us working with athletes at a younger level.  There's plenty of reasons why they are rarely consistent.  Rather than dwell on those reasons, however, I think we can help them.  Understanding what makes them successful is one way.  If you don't know what makes you good, you're trying to make water without a chemical equation.  Consistent players are able to explain clearly and simply their approach to an at-bat or pitching.  Can you do that?  If so, you're ahead of many in the game.  If not, you need to be able to.  A second way to help players is to make sure they understand the purpose of what they are doing.  Empty swings, for example, don't help create consistency.  Purposeful ones do.  Understanding what makes you successful and the purpose of different drills and movements won't guarantee the results you are looking for, but they will increase your chances.

It's a Function of Making Pitches

         Chris Young is one of the more interesting players in baseball.  For starters, he is 6' 10".  Young played both baseball and basketball at Princeton.  Both an incredible athlete and regarded as one of the brighter minds in the game, Young has had a really good, long career despite a fastball that rarely hits 90 on the gun.  In an era where we are all amazed by guys lighting up the radar gun, Young's style is as interesting as he is.  While his stuff may impact his thoughts below, Young's words have meaning regardless of what you bring to the mound.

        The specific part of Young's quote that I'd like to focus on is, "It's a function of making good pitches."  Young says he doesn't try to strike guys out.  While that may be the case, there are guys who do.  They do so by making good pitches.  One philosophy I've heard a good bit is trying to get a groundball in the first three pitches.  How do you accomplish that?  By making good pitches.  Do you sense a theme here?  When you're on the mound, your job is to make quality pitches.  Everything else, as Young suggests, is a byproduct.  Getting out of jams, having a good first inning, keeping your team in the game, winning, etc. are all results made possible by making good pitches.  It's a great reminder as high school teams get geared up for playoff runs.  Making that playoff run as deep as possible will happen for the teams who are able to make good pitches like they have all year long.

Learn What Nolan Arenado Has Learned

        Nolan Arenado is pretty good at this baseball thing.  In his age-24 season, he was an All Star, a Silver Slugger winner, and led the NL in both home runs and RBI.  As good a hitter as he is, he's known probably even more for his phenomenal glove work at third base.  He has already won three Gold Gloves and makes freakish plays on a seemingly nightly basis.  Young kids all over the country are undoubtedly pretending to be him making plays at third.  Nolan Arenado has a lesson for those kids. "Don't do it.  Be yourself instead."

        Arenado's quote stands out because understanding who you are and being comfortable with that person is, in my opinion, one of the most crucial attributes in being a successful athlete.  Where this is tough as a young player is you are working to figure out who you are, and it can change by the season.  You're maturing, both physically and mentally, at such a high rate that you have to constantly reassess.  You may go from a singles and doubles guy to a someone with serious juice within a year's time.  In a sense, it seems like you've become someone else.  In reality, you're still you.  You're just a newer, hopefully better version.  If you're lucky enough to play the game for a long time, you'll go through the opposite process.  Your body will slow down along with your fastball, and you'll reinvent yourself again.    Again, you're still you though.  Figuring that out, and carving your own path to being a successful player can be tough.  It's something I never truly got in my experience as a player.  Hopefully you won't say the same when your playing days are done.  Maybe young kids all over the world will pretend they are you making barehand pickups on a field instead.

Chris Archer Facing Adversity

        Chris Archer is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but his results have been really bad to start the season.  Archer is 0-4 with a 7.32 ERA.  Opposing players are hitting .345 against him (sorry QUAB enthusiasts), and he's allowing over two baserunners an inning.  In other words, Archer is facing some adversity.  If you play baseball for any extended period of time, you'll face adversity too.  I love to see how players and teams respond to these situations.  Will they freak out, panic, and allow things to snowball?  Will they act like nothing is wrong at the sake of Albert Einstein's definition of insanity?  Will they work to improve?  Will they move on?  What will they do?  Sometimes we like quotes that measure our value as human beings based on these reactions.  I've been guilty of them myself.  "Who we are in adversity is who we really are."  Who are we in all the other times then?  I'm pretty sure we're still ourselves.  So far SABR hasn't accepted these quotes as valuable metrics.  That being said, our reaction to adversity does impact what happens next.  Let's look at what Archer said.

1. "nobody said this game was going to be easy."  This is something that easily translates to different areas of life.  It's okay for things to be difficult!  Some of our greatest moments of satisfaction in life stem from situations that were difficult to begin with.

2. "going to continue to work hard, get better every single day.."  Our work ethic is something we have great influence over.  Archer, if I had to guess, won't just work hard though.  He will work purposefully on something to help him improve.  There's no magic number of swings, groundballs, or pitches here.

3. "I really trust and believe that I'll get past this."  Archer is a confident guy.  Something that is okay to realize is your belief in yourself may waver at times.  That doesn't make you soft or mentally weak.  It makes you human.  That being said, our self-belief has a major influence on our performance over time.  Do you think you are good?

If I were a gambler, I'd bet Chris Archer will turn things around.  Regardless, his words and, more importantly, his actions behind his words give him as good a chance as anyone (not to mention his filthy stuff!).

Donaldson Quote From Scout

The quote in the graphic came from an article written about Josh Donaldson and his underdog approach.  The praise from an NL scout is about as high as it gets from an effort and focus perspective.  It also hints at Donaldson's ability to maximize his talents.

So why doesn't every player "never take one off?"  Why doesn't every player maximize his talents?  Well, for one it is incredibly difficult.  The discipline Donaldson has to be locked in every at bat takes, among other things, a tremendous amount of preparation and a developed ability to focus on each pitch.  Just venturing a guess, but I don't think Donaldson's college coach or high school coach would say Donaldson's ability to lock in every at-bat was always equal to what it is today.  It's no doubt something he has worked on just like you should be if you're a young player.  The ability to separate one at-bat or one pitch from the next can be the difference between an okay and really good game, a pretty good and great season, and an average to above average player.  Challenge yourself to figure out what has helped you and hurt you in the past from locking in every single time.  Then, work on it.  You won't turn into Donaldson overnight, but the great news is he didn't either.

Being Great is a Continuous Path

        If you like finality, greatness probably isn't for you.  There is no foreseeable finish line because the path doesn't have a neat and tidy ending.  Greatness's path is riddled with peaks and valleys.  There are times when you feel like you're on a steep incline burning the legs of your efforts.  This is like when you're making those mechanical adjustments to your swing and they just won't seem to click in competition no matter how many swings you take.  On the flip side, there are the times where all is coming easily like cruising downhill on your bike as a kid (or your hoverboard today).  It's the ten game winning streak your team goes on where you just continue to find ways to win.  The book Legacy by James Kerr tells the story of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team through a series of themes all connected both New Zealand culture and the team.  My Highlights section may as well be the entire book because there is so much I love about the story and concepts.  One quote, among the many others, really stood out to me.  The words were from a section discussing the cyclical process of culture.  Here is the quote:  "The key, of course, is when we're on top of our game, to change the game; to exit relationships, recruit new talent, alter tactics, reassess strategy."

        I love it, and I think it's something coaches, teams, and organizations who want to create long-term, sustainable success do.  They don't allow things to get stale.  Think about Nick Saban.  He has been ridiculously successful over a long period of time at multiple places.  Coach Saban is someone who is constantly on the cutting edge of what is next and how the University of Alabama can best help its student-athletes.  It's impossible to ignore the obvious advantages the school has over many others, but they're in place largely because of Saban's continual stressing of improvement.  Major League Baseball organizations are always on the lookout for the next great thing that could provide a competitive advantage.  You may have seen the recent article about the Toronto Blue Jays and the holistic, individualized approach they are taking with their players.  They just had their best season in quite some time last year, but they're looking for ways to do things even better.  They've altered and reassessed.  From the perspective of the individual athlete, great ones are constantly making improvements to their games.  Steph Curry, the basketball darling of the  NBA right now, made comments midyear about ways he could improve his game.  He was already playing at a historic level!

        So how can you go about moving forward consistently on this path to greatness?  Reflect, reflect, reflect.  If reflection seems like a common theme in my writing, there's a reason for that feeling.  Reflection's a great way to create a plan for improvement.  You have to know who you are currently as a team or organization in order to know how you can improve.  What are you already doing well?  What aren't you doing well?  What can you do moving forward to do things better?  Great ones reflect, and they do so rationally and specifically.  They have enough trust among themselves to be able to think critically about the job being done.  In my opinion, this is a difference between short-lived and long-term success.  It's easy to find places for improvement when things are bad.  When you've just won a championship, however, it's hard to think of ways to improve.  That's because if you're only about winning championships then there is no way to do things better.  If you're about continuous improvement, you're able to move forward without the expense of enjoying the wins and championships.  I wonder when I see some of the legends of coaching making comments about the frustration of coaching today's athletes.  Is it really that different from the adjustments to new generations they've been making for years?  Or is  it, rather, that the coach who has been doing things for so long is finding it more difficult to continue to evolve and improve?  Something to think about and maybe expand upon at a later time.  In the meantime, I'd encourage you to enjoy the path to greatness if it's greatness you seek.  The "When" section on the Invitation to Greatness reads "Now-?" so you may as well enjoy the ride along the way.

Lessons in Sport Psychology for Educators

        Part of my love for sport psychology is rooted in its easy applications to everyday life.  Some of my favorite feedback I get about the blog is in a random Facebook message from a friend I haven't spoken with in some time or a comment from a respected colleague.  With that, I often think about how sport psyc relates to different fields.  Some of you know I do not work in sport psyc full time yet.  I am actually in my eighth year teaching high school social studies in South Carolina.  The eight years have been filled with ups and downs, but I really enjoy the great possibility involved in teaching high school students.  They're at a point in life where they are figuring out who they are, and the lifelong learner in me really relishes that.  Sport psychology has helped me to improve my role as a teacher far more than anything else I've done since entering a classroom.  Because of that, I thought I'd change things up for this blog post.  By far the most popularly viewed piece thus far has been the Lessons for Incoming Freshmen.  Well, here are my Lessons in Sport Psyc for Educators Today.  They're lessons I've learned along the way.  My hope is they help you in whatever it is you do.

1. Be You:  Entering your classroom for the first time is similar to the feeling you get as you coach for the first time as well.  You enter with preconceived ideas about how a teacher should and shouldn't be.  Some of the ideas stem from your college courses, and others come from your own experiences.  You want to be like some of the teachers you had and dread the idea of ever being like the ones you didn't.  Rather than either, just be yourself.  You'll find out what you think is the best way of doing things.  That way will be a product of experiences, research, conversations, and hopefully what your students tell you through their time in your class.  Your way of doing things will likely change here and there and continue to evolve.  Authenticity, in my opinion, trumps any silly book about how to behave on the first day of school (You were wrong, Harry).  Be yourself.  If we aren't ourselves, after all, how can we then tell our students they should be?  Be you.

2. Student behavior has to be handled rationally:  DON'T TAKE BEHAVIORS PERSONALLY!  Sometimes you and a student won't get along.  That is okay.  Every once in a while, it may be some sort of issue with you.  The overwhelming majority of the time there is some other kind of reason for a student to behave poorly.  I can't tell you how exactly to handle discipline, and I don't think I should.  Again, I think everyone finds what works best for them.  I would caution you from making discipline personal.  Focus on the behaviors themselves instead of the kid.  I've made a great effort to do that more and more and find students handle it much better overall when they are in trouble.  There are few grudges held and more students actually able to get in trouble and still have a productive day in the class.  Rational.

3. Don't assume:  This is one I still have difficulty with.  As people we all make assumptions about what we see and hear.  The really tough part about this one, for me, is my assumptions as a teacher are often right.  I've joked around with people that I feel like teaching high school has equipped me to interrogate suspects.  Most students are very easy to read.  What I have found though is that even being right is hardly worth it.  Even when I have been able to press a kid for an answer I am left with kind of an empty feeling like, "Okay..now what?"  Now, I am okay sometimes with knowing something without having to follow up on it.  In other words, I'm okay with not knowing everything as long as I don't feel like I am being taken advantage of.  I try not to assume.

4. Control what you can control:  This is old reliable in the sport psyc world.  It's a simple mantra but one not followed enough by teachers.  So much time is spent worrying about things ranging from perception, to administration, to what your neighbor is or isn't doing.  In other words, time is spent worrying about things we have no control of.  I've certainly had my struggles throughout the years with this, but I have improved in concerning myself with whats important: The Classes and Students I Teach.  My job is to teach and help those I encounter have a great experience at our school and beyond.  That's what I try to do to the best of my ability.

5. Don't give in to irrational thinking (HSL):  There is something I like to call High School Logic.  The way it works is an isolated event somehow becomes much more than that whether people were even there for the event or not.  For example:  Teacher A shows a film in class.  Student A is in the class and watches the film.  Student A then goes to another class and says, "All we do in Teacher A's class is watch movies."  Students B-Z and Teacher B for some reason accept this as fact and spread the information as such.  There we have High School Logic.  I can't tell you how many times, both good and bad, I've had teachers tell me something about what I do in the classroom.  Although it's nice to hear good things, it's odd when coming from someone who's never seen me teach.  High School Logic.

6. Judge less.  Observe more:  This is another one I really struggled with my first few years of teaching.  "That kid did this.  He/she is a bad kid."  "They aren't quiet when I am talking.  They are bad kids."  Who are we to label kids as good or bad?  The analogy I have used before is, "Labeling high school kids as bad kids is like calling a half cooked pizza gross.  They aren't finished products yet."  So many times, however, we label them in the classroom and on the field.  Whether consciously or not, it affects how we treat them.  It's hardly fair of us.  We are all humans who have undoubtedly made mistakes in our lives.  I'm not saying not to address issues.  Far from it.  What I'm saying is to address those issues directly without judging a kid as a result of choices they've made.  They aren't done...that's why they are there.

7. Choose Positivity:  High School can be a tough environment to be positive.  Just because it's easy doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't do it.  I'm not even going to tell you to stay out of the Teacher's Lounge.  You can if you want, but you can be positive in there as well.  Some say it comes down to making a choice.  I'd say it comes down to a never ending series of choices.  You don't always make the right ones, but choosing positivity as often as you can is the way to go.  School doesn't have to be a place where we wish away the days.  It shouldn't be.  You can be Positive and even enjoy it most of the time if you want.  Choose Positivity.

8. Consistency wins: Consistent behavior gets consistent results.  There are different ways of doing your thing in the classroom, but being You means doing so daily.  Every year the beginning of the school year brings great promise.  People are excited after a summer away.  I like to see what happens to that excitement as the school year progresses.  How long before the countdowns to vacations start?  All too early in my opinion.  The schools are kind of like a little kid eating a bunch of sugar, going wild for a short period of time, and then crashing into a sugar coma.  Rather than going all out for a couple of incredibly short time periods, how about a little bit of candy more often?  Consistency wins.

9. You're not going to be perfect, and that is okay:  In the classroom, as in sports and life in general, it's impossible to be perfect.  When teachers are just getting started especially, I think the tendency is to think everything has to go perfectly.  My lesson plans have to be airtight, and I have to make every single decision my college professors told me to make.  There are various reasons why this is not ideal.  An environment where you are afraid to make mistakes limits your growth so much.  Many teachers will tell you some of their best lessons have come from trying something different and failing.  You're able to see what went wrong and how it could go better next time.  It's also okay to tell your students you were wrong as well.  I think they appreciate the honest and authenticity that comes with the admittance.  They realize you're human too which is a good thing.  How can we expect them to take risks and try different things for the sake of becoming a better students if we don't do the same as a teacher?

10. Focus on a process, and the results will take care of themselves:  Statistics.  Education loves them.  Percentages of passing test scores, my GPA, visits with checklists to create more statistics based on five minutes of a certain number of teachers' classes.  While I'm not saying some of these statistics aren't important, I think we spend all too much time worrying about them at the expense of what matters or makes them happen.  The process is what makes the results happens.  As teachers, what can we do on a daily basis to help our students have the best experience possible?  I can actually remember being told multiple times about how some group would be coming to observe and how important it would be that the blinds were all on the same level.  How asinine is that?  Eyewash is the term we'd use in sports.  "Great teaching" has nothing to do with superficial environmental factors.  I cringe when I hear sophomores obsess about their GPA's and focus so much on what their grade is.  Build skills, learn content, and work hard.  Come up with your process as a student.  Learn what works for you when you study.  Understand how to adjust based on the inevitable differences in styles your teachers will have.  Learb your process.  LEARN.

11. Being a "good" student isn't a fixed trait:  Growth mindset is a concept that is "growing" more and more in popularity in sports and in the classroom.  If you haven't heard of it, the basic concept is that many of our traits previously thought of as fixed are actually be developed over time.  Among those is intelligence.  Rather than "just being smart" or "not good at math," you work over time to improve.  I've seen this work negatively with all sorts of levels of students.  Students who have had a bad educational experience can allow one tough year in math to ruin it for them for the next four.  It's sad to see.  Likewise, we are guilty of saying things like, "Wow.  You're so smart," when a student does well on a test.  Well, are they then dumb when they do poorly?  That is the message we are accidentally sending when we attribute performance to concepts like smart/dumb rather than preparation and effort.  It actually cheapens the rewarding experience for the kid.  There is a plethora of information out there, but at it's core Growth is why we are teaching in my opinion.  If we don't believe that students can improve and that we can help them, what is the point of it all?  Help them Grow.

Those are just a few of the lessons I've learned in sport psychology that I think transfer really well to the classroom.  This list could easily be 25 or more.  Hopefully you found something in the lessons that will help you improve the educational experience for your students and yourself.  Do you have others you'd like to share?  I'd love to hear from you.  Questions about how sport psychology could help your students?  I'd love to answer them.  If we are all looking for better ways to do things and applying what we learn, school can be a great place to be.  Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great rest of your school year.

"What's Next?" at the Expense of "What's Now"

        If you're like millions around the country, much of your last couple of weekends has been spent experiencing March Madness.  There have been some great games.  Many have come down to the wire and have ended with clutch game-winners.  One game that did not go that way at all was the big upset of Michigan State by MTSU.  MTSU won convincingly, but my greatest takeaway came from well beyond the box score.  It came from Tom Izzo's press conference and a "ridiculous question."  "Tom, how do you take a loss like this and turn it into something to motivate the guys moving forward next year?"  Izzo's response was priceless.  First, he let the reporter know very respectfully how ridiculous the question was.  He then gave a lesson I think we all could use.  Izzo talked about how a major problem in sports today is it's always, "What's next?"  What I love about the problem is it is very, very fixable.

        "What's next?" Where this problem started could be traced to any number of sources.  Maybe it's the ESPN culture that spends 90% of its time making predictions and breaking stories that may or may not have actually happened and only about 10% on what has actually happened.  Maybe it's the results-oriented society we are programmed to be a part of since the time we were very little.  "You need to learn this so you can go to college and have a good job someday," says the teacher to her group of 4th graders as they pick their noses.  Parents of kids playing middle school baseball are worried about their kids getting college scholarships rather than doing what they can to make sure they actually still like baseball by the time they go to college.  "What's next?"  is often asked at the sacrifice of, "What's NOW?"  Rather than just complain, what can we do about it?  We can change, and here are a couple ways how.

1. Focus on development and enjoyment.  Help athletes build skills and knowledge that will allow their best chance of being successful both now and in the future.  The best coaches are able to straddle the line between the two.  Allowing athletes to do what will make them successful now while helping them continually improve so they can be successful in the future is something that can only be achieved if it is worked on daily.  Doing so while also allowing athletes to enjoy themselves is important.  Notice I don't mention a level of play here.  This can be done from the youngest age groups all the way through the professional ranks.

2. Take time to celebrate successes of the now.  Parents, don't be hesitant to tell your kids how proud you are of them and how much you enjoyed watching them play.  Coaches, enjoy the successes too.  Wait for the next day of practice to tell your team all of the ways you need to get better.  Sure, it's important, but not enough to take away the enjoyment of all of their hard work to make NOW's game happen.  You spend way too much time preparing for the actual competition to not enjoy it.  While it's important not to dwell on one performance, good or bad, at the sake of preparation for the next one, it's okay to enjoy it for a little while!

3.  Reflect on the "just now."  What went well?  What didn't?  If we don't ask ourselves these questions, we are wasting so much of what the Now has to offer.  Rational reflection about performance teaches us so much as athletes and coaches that will help with the "What's next?" I know this seems contradictory to #2, but I'm talking about reflection after the fact.  I listened to a podcast the other day with Dr. Bernie Holliday who works with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He discussed a "3-2-1" technique he uses with their guys.  The technique asks for three things that went well (with the processes that led to them), two that didn't (and processes), and one takeaway moving forward.  It allows for that rational reflection focused on what actually happened.

        Those are just a few ways to help focus on "What's NOW."  I know planning for the future is important.  Goals and long-term plans are largely about the future.  All I'm saying, or rather all that Coach Izzo is saying, is that we should take more time to appreciate what has already happened too.  If you're able to do so, a funny thing just may happen.  You may find yourself more prepared for "What's next?" along the way.

Here is the full MSU Press Conference.  There's plenty of great stuff, but the question I wrote about is at 3:17

More is Not Always Better

More is not always better. Sometimes more can be better, but can also lead to worse. Many followers of sport psychology are familiar with Ken Ravizza’s Stoplight Analogy. The basics are that your performance is like a car approaching a stoplight. When things are rolling along and going well, you’re a Green. As things start to go poorly, you may slip into a Yellow state. Finally, Red is for when you have completely lost it. There is more to the analogy and its connection to self-awareness, but that is a summary. In my experience, I have only seen it used with individuals. That being said, I do think teams can be viewed through the same analogy.

What we do when things start to go poorly says a lot about what will happen next. Do we stay calm and get back to what has made us successful? Do we start to panic and spiral out of control? At times, with both players and teams, a tendency to want to do too much leads to poor performance. Throw a perfect pitch. Make a big play. Have the best at-bat of the year. What does this make of all the other pitches you’ve thrown, plays you’ve made, or at-bats you’ve had? Were they not good enough?

Just an opinion, but I’d say lack of effort is the exception when it comes to why performance suffers. Execution is the issue. More often than not trying hard enough, in fact, is trying too hard. Urgency creates misvalue of a moment. “I’ve got to get an at-bat here to prove to everyone I’m good.” “I’ve got to make a great play to pick up my teammate.” “This is the biggest pitch of the game.” Taking that pitch right down the middle, making an error on a play that wasn’t there to be made, and leaving one right over the heart of the plate come next. We’ve all seen it happen far too often! The thoughts then get more desperate, the muscles more tense, the breathing more shallow, and we are at Red before you know it. How about, “I’m going to attack something in the zone,” “I’m going to stay down on a ball hit to me,” and “I’m going to make a pitch right here,” instead? Rather than concern about picking up a teammate by making the next pitch, play, or at-bat worth double the value, just do what is there. THIS pitch. THIS play. THIS at-bat. Don’t be reactive to your environment. Be proactive with your performance. Execute rather than effort. Not more. Just now.

Having Control vs Being Controlled

        My first spring not coaching baseball has allowed for a different opportunity.  I've been able to just watch baseball.  There is something about seeing a game through the lens of an observer that allows opportunities you don't have when you are coaching.  Although I have been invested in some of the teams I've watched, it isn't the same as when you spend countless hours with a group on a daily basis.  I'm able to be a little more impartial in my observations.  This isn't necessarily better, just different.  Over the last three weeks or so I have been able to watch a couple of high school games and a couple of college games in person.  I've also watched some college baseball on TV and bits and pieces of a few spring training games.  Several things have stood out to me.  Today, I've chosen to write about what I see as the difference between having control and being controlled.

         I love to watch how a player moves around.  A player's actions can give hints about how they feel about a situation or themselves. As I've watched games, I've found myself drawn to how a player changes, or doesn't change, on a pitch by pitch basis.  A hitter, for example, falls behind in the count 0-2.  Many hitters go through a noticeable change in the pace of the at-bat.  It's like everything is in fast forward (being controlled).  The hitter has lost control of himself and the at-bat, and it ends poorly.  On the flip side, a couple of pitchers I have seen have really impressed me with their consistent approach to every pitch.  A pitcher is responsible for how the ball comes out of their hand.  The pitchers I'm talking about have let it fly each pitch and have appeared in control of themselves regardless of situational influences.  I felt at ease watching them throw.  They were effective in what they did and in the way they went about their business.  Neither pitched with a lot of visible emotion.  They didn't pump their fists a lot or glare at hitters.  Before you accuse me of a "Goose Gossage," I say that not to imply that you can't be successful  pitching with emotion but to make sure you understand you can be successful without it being visible.  Be YOU.  Be in control.

        Part of having control can be a routine of sorts for your performance.  Routines can be part of your preparation before a game and your reflection after, but in-game routines garner the most interest by far.  Watching college baseball (and it's even seeped down into some high school baseball) makes me nauseous when I watch hitter after hitter take a "deep" breath and stare at their bat before every single pitch.  There are a couple of reasons for my queasiness.  First, the idea that every hitter has to have the same routine is incorrect.  In fact, I'd say forcing them to do anything just contributes to more thinking and less control.  Second, many of these deep breaths are just big, shallow breaths that do more to hurt oxygen flow than they do good.  When I see them, I can't help but think of coming up gasping for air after being thrown under water for a long period of time.  That isn't how I'd like to breathe before I hit.  Why is it that you can watch a college game and upwards of 80% of hitters may bat stare while in the MLB innings I've watched over the last week only 5 out of 47 hitters (10%) did?  It's not because college players have greater access to a sport psychology professional of some kind.  Having control or being controlled?

        In watching Major League and amateur hitters I see a noticeable difference in an appearance of control.  Lots of high school and college hitters have routines, but many look like robots doing them.  They are visibly tight, with actions and pace dictated by environmental factors (1st Inning AB vs 7th Inning AB for example).  The Major League hitters had some sort of routine for the most part, but it looked very natural.  My worry is the forced nature routines are being taught at lower levels is being is counterproductive to one of the main purposes of a routine: Create comfort.  I'm not sure the reason why this is the case (I do have a theory I'm happy to talk about), but I do think it is a cause for concern.  I'm reminded of something Geoff Miller's says in reference to his purpose in Intangibles.  "I don't just want people to take a deep breath.  I want them to know why they need to take a deep breath, get to the heart of where the tension comes from, and figure out how to let it go.  I want them to 'get it.'"  This is how I feel as well.  It's not enough to just tell players they need a routine, take deep breaths, etc.  They need to "get it," or we risk it all just becoming more to think about (the opposite of what we want).

        Those are just some of my thoughts from games I've watched.  I look forward to more as the spring progresses.  All the best to you as you continue throughout the spring.  I hope you do so with a free flowing control seen in the boxes of big league hitters.

They Are the Warriors

        Unless you've been living underneath a sports rock, you're aware of the Golden State Warriors and their pursuit of the old Bulls record of 72 wins in a season.  I'm not a diehard NBA fan, but I watch from time to time and am a fan of greatness in any field.  This Warriors team is great.  They have great players, a great coaching staff, and a great culture.  I've read numerous pieces about Steve Kerr and the influence of Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson on his philosophy.  Kerr has also gone to visit the Seahawks, and the Warriors have embraced the same care for the players' day to day experience.  In short, Kerr has been willing to learn and take pieces of ways of doing things he likes.  He's done so without succumbing to the trap of losing who he is himself.  That is HUGE for young coaches especially.  We all have been infatuated with the play of Steph Curry and the overcoming of his light high school recruitment, but Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and others have been crucial to the team's success as well.  The reasons for why they are great are far too many to list, but a couple things I've read and watched have stood out to me.  Here are my thoughts.

        1. Steph Curry is a superstar who gets paid a lot of money to play basketball but somehow plays like a kid on the playground.  I know it's easy to stereotype Curry as playing like a little kid because he looks so young, but he really does look appear to have a great time playing the game.  Regardless of the situation or the hype surrounding the game (outside expectations), he plays incredibly freely.  The way he pulled up for the 34 foot game-winner like it was a free throw in the opening minutes was a microcosm for his freedom of play.  This is refreshing to see in the era of sports we are in.  Every day my Twitter feed is blown up with tweets about how great players don't do this or great players don't do that.  One popular thought is that great players are mean and play angry because they hate the other teams so much.  While this can be true in some cases, it's not a necessity.  It's irrational to say that every great player has a certain demeanor.  In fact, if I had to choose I'll take the athlete not driven by his hatred for his opponent.  I'll take the one driven by a love for the game he/she is playing instead.  My money is on him/her being the more consistent player who keeps proper perspective with the sporting experience.  For me to claim to know everything that allows Curry to play so freely would be irresponsible so I won't even try.  All I know is I love watching it and would love to see that joy become the norm.

        2. There has been a lot of buzz as the season has progressed by the media (outside expectations) about how NBA legends from different eras feel about the Warriors.  It's kind of sad to see them talk about how the Warriors wouldn't beat this team or that team.  Oscar Robertson is the latest to say that Steph Curry wouldn't be that good when he played and that coaches today don't know how to plan defensively.  The Warriors don't seem to completely ignore it, but they treat the talk like an annoying fly in the room.  It's there and annoys them, but they don't allow it to affect how they play.  I thought Andrew Bogut, in addition to having some fun on Twitter by saying his 14U Australian team would beat the Warriors, summed it up well when he said, "Every generation says the next generation is softer and slower and not as smart and not as physical.  I hope I'm not one of those guys that does that."  I couldn't agree more and think the lesson  carries over to whatever level you are coaching or playing in.  Another "Whiny Coaching Twitter" theme is how players today are this or that.  They're "entitled."  They aren't "tough."  They don't work on their game outside of practice.  While I'm not saying any of the arguments are completely invalid, I've yet to see a problem solved via a Twitter feed.  If it's really a problem, do what you can to handle it instead of airing your grievances over social media.  It may make you feel a little better to know other coaches have the same issues, but it really just widens the divide between player and coach.  I go back to one of my favorite quotes from Rangers manager Jeff Banister.  "You can't coach today's players by yesterday's rules."  Today's athletes are different.  This comes with both positives and negatives.  What you choose to focus on is up to you.

        Those are just a couple of takeaways for the week of enjoying one of the greatest basketball teams we have ever seen.  What have you gotten from watching them?  I'd love to hear about it.