Targets for Players

One of the keys to success, really a law of success, is having a clear target.

For me today that took the form of some overdue vision work.

What am I creating? What do I want to have happen with BaseballConfidence.com? What difference do I want to make? What do I want the business to look, feel, and smell like?

Over the next three days I'll share with you my "targets"
for what I want for players, then parents, then coaches.

For players, I provide the tools and coaching they need to fully develop, express, and enjoy their talent.

One patron saint of this is Scott Podsednick. He's done it all. Check out his quote at www.BaseballConfidence.com.

He DEVELOPED his talent (during I think 9 years in the minors), he EXPRESSES his talent ("I'm letting my talent pour out onto the field"), and he's ENJOYING his talent (Did you see his interviews during the playoffs and WS? Fun. And he's still having fun, grateful, and giving back
-- that's enjoyment).

Develop talent means growth. Expand capacity. Be able to do more. Be able to better produce desired results. It means approaching the levels their physical tools will allow.

Express talent means the capacities they have developed are fully expressed on the field. That is, their performance on the field is close to their potential on that day.

Tim Gallwey, author of the Inner Game of Tennis, from whom I take the terms Inner Game and Outer Game, says:

Performance = Potential - Interference

That is, you play as well as you can minus things that get in your way. Negative thoughts, fear, doubt, anger, distraction, and so on are all things that interfere with players' performance.

Here's a question I received where the player is experiencing considerable interference:

"How do I take my stuff from the bullpen to the mound? I am a pitcher in a Division I college. I am trying to solve what it is that I do differently when I face "live" hitters. In the bullpen I am told I have a plus curveball and my 90 mph fast ball is down and controlled. In games my pitches are not as accurate and I find it hard to figure out what I am doing differently."

He's not Performing near his Potential because of a lot of Interference.

In my experience the preponderance of interference is in players' thoughts and feelings. They perceive situations in ways and focus on things that limit their performance.

These make their performance be far short of their potential.

Mental training reduces interference.

Finally, I want players to enjoy their talents. I want it to be fun.

Most started playing the game because it was fun and they loved it. Most start to lose that sense of fun when thing get serious (nowadays around the age of 10).

Coaching as I do it is the art of re-connection; Re-connecting people with why they started doing something in the first place.

If you've taken my "5 Steps to Unstoppable Confidence" program at www.FreeBaseballConfidence.com, you know re-connecting is one of the five steps.

So I provide players with the tools and coaching to develop, express, and enjoy their talent. That's at the heart of the mission here at BaseballConfidence.com.

Tomorrow I'll show you my target for parents.

Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson

p.s. If this sound like something you'd like to be a part of, go to www.BaseballConfidence.com/Join.html