Coach Friskey's Corner.... Spend the Winter Months Wisely and Reap the Benefits
November, December and January can be the most important time of your baseball season. We're not talking about winter ball, we're talking about the hard work that needs to be done in the winter in order to maximize your success for the upcoming season. The weight room, agility drills, long toss, batting practice and speed training for everyone should be a part of your daily routine. I'm not suggesting taking time from your spiritual life, family life, or scholastic life. But I am suggesting cutting back on the telephone,computer and television and other social events to invest at least 30 minutes a day to work on your game. Thomas Edison (a very smart individual) made this statement: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work".
Here are 10 helpful hints to get the most from your game by investing in a little hard work.
1. Plan ahead and set aside at least 30 minutes each day to work on your game. Don't plan a three hour workout, you really DON'T have that much time.
2. Enlist a friend to work out with you to help you stay on your regiment of workouts. This workout partner can help you in throwing and other drills and each of you can hold each other accountable for making sure you work out each day.
3. Alternate days (in most cases) to work out on skills one day and strength and conditioning the next day. Even younger players can do pushups, situps, and other core and leg work as well as work with stretch bands, do agility drills, run sprints and poles and swing a heavy bat.
4. Skills days should include long toss, t-work, soft toss and if possible batting practice. Also if possible include such things as ground balls, fly balls and any other baseball drills that you know to do.
5. Find someplace indoors to do some of your workouts so you don't miss days because of inclement weather. This can be a gym, indoor baseball facility or even a garage or basement. Setting up a sock net or even a heavy quilt hanging over a garage door rail can be used for t-work and soft toss and throwing. You should swing a heavy bat (preferably wood) at least 100 QUALITY swings each day.
6. Don't work on skills for the sake of work. Great care should be taken in doing the drill exactly right to create good muscle memory. Practice does not make perfect...Perfect practice makes perfect.
7. Towel drills for pitchers can be done in close quarters. This is done by getting an old towel or an old pair old tube socks tied together and work on your pitching mechanics while making a target on the floor with the towel or socks. This can be done everyday since the socks or towels create very little resistance and don't fatigue your arm as will a baseball. You and your partner should evaluate each other's mechanics and you should work to help each other do it the correct way.
8. Even though core and leg work is the least fun exercise, a strong mid-section and legs are very very important for the complete baseball player. Make sure you do mid-section and leg work each day you're in the weight room or your working on strength and speed.
9. RUN, RUN, RUN. Sprints, poles and agility speed drills should be done each workout day you're doing strength and speed training.
10. Make your weakness your strength and you'll be a complete baseball player. If you're a good hitter work more on defense. If you're a good defensive ball player work more on your hitting.
If you're having a problem with some phase of your game consult a coach or baseball instructor. Don't just keep practicing it wrong and building muscle memory for a skill done wrong.
If you're only working on your game when there is a formal team practice or other structured organized event, you're missing the point and missing the boat that's sailing to the next level of baseball. REAL players workout when no one is looking. We all get 24 hours each day. It's up to each player what they do with those hours. If you want to get to the next level - use just one hour or part of one hour to get your game to be as good as it can be. Not only will you be a better player but you'll be a better person for your effort.
Baseball Is...
Baseball is grass, chalk, and dirt displayed the same yet differently
In every park that has ever heard the words play ball.
Baseball is a passion that bonds and divides all those who know it.
Baseball is a pair of hands stained with newsprint,
A set of eyes squinting to read a boxscore,
A brow creased in an attempt to recreate a three-hour game
From an inch square block of type.
Baseball is the hat I wear to mow the lawn.
Baseball is a simple game of catch
and the never-ending search for the perfect knuckleball.
Baseball is Willie vs Mickey, Gibson vs Koufax, and Buddy Biancalana vs the odds.
Baseball links Kansan and Missourian, American and Japanese,
But most of all father and son.
Baseball is the scent of spring,
The unmistakable sound of a double down the line,
And the face of a 10-year-old emerging from a pile of bodies
With a worthless yet priceless foul ball.
Baseball is a language of very simple words that tell unbelievably magic tales.
Baseball is three brothers in the same uniform on the same team for one brief summer
Captured forever in a black and white photo on a table by the couch.
Baseball is a glove on a shelf, oiled and tightly wrapped,
Slumbering through the stark winter months.
Baseball is a breast pocket bulging with a transistor radio.
Baseball is the reason there are transistor radios.
Baseball is a voice in a box describing men you've never met,
In a place you've never been,
Doing things you'll never have the chance to do.
Baseball is a dream that you never really give up on.
Baseball is precious.
Baseball is timeless.
Baseball is forever.
