Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
- Dale Carnegie
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With the recent stretch of warm weather, I can’t help but get excited about the upcoming baseball season. The weather has also taken me down a trip through memory lane; where I recall the fond memories of my playing days. Baseball was fun! I can’t say that all of the practices were fun, but the games definitely were. I can remember some practices where it was quite cold; where nobody wanted to be there, including the coach, I would suspect. I remember seeing my breath, stinging hands from the bat, muddy fields, wet gear, and wanting to be somewhere warm. But, practice is practice; it is in practice where we hone our skills. It is the practices that prepare us for games. Repetition is the key for being prepared for game time situations. It is through repetition that we come to master a skill and gain confidence. There’s an old Russian Proverb that says, “Repetition if the mother of all learning.” I certainly can remember fielding ground ball, after ground ball, after ground ball to get me prepared for game time situations.
I can remember playing shortstop and third base in my youth. I moved to the outfield in high school and college. I can tell you that it is a lonely feeling running to the fence with your back to bases because you misjudged a fly ball or a grounder in the outfield. In the infield, if you misjudge a grounder, you always have your outfield to back you up. To me, catching a fly ball is easier than fielding a grounder. Sure, on occasion, you have to deal with the sun in your eyes and the wind doing funny things to the ball, but it is nothing compared to the bad hops that you might encounter when trying to field a ground ball.
It was during “pee wees” that I came to understand what, “Charge the ball,” and “Don’t let the ball play you meant. It meant you have to be proactive. You can’t stand on your heels waiting for the ball to come to you; you must go get it. If you wait for the ball to come to you, you risk the chance of the ball taking a bad hop. The purpose of charging the ball is two fold; to end up with a shorter throw to a base, and more importantly, to minimize the chance of the ball taking a bad hop. By charging the ball, the fielder is in control of the play, not the ball! The fielder can determine which hop they’ll play the ball and get themselves in the right position to make the throw.
When it comes to fielding a ground ball, the game of life is no different than the game of baseball. When fielding a ground ball in baseball, you’ll have plays with routine hops, easy hops or difficult hops. In the game of life, you’ll encounter situations, or using the baseball analogy, “plays”, that are easy, ordinary or difficult to manage. How can we make sure that we manage the plays in our lives the right way?
First, don’t settle for complacency. Complacency can be the gateway to failure. Since a complacent person is not proactive, he/she will likely miss out on new opportunities. A complacent person is like the fielder who stands on his/her heels waiting for the ball to come to them. Remember, the easy and routine plays can be deceiving. Ground balls that appear to be easy and routine can end up with a bad hop at the end. Be proactive!
Second, continue to be a student. Make learning a lifelong process. The more you learn the more knowledge you’ll acquire to assist you with the difficult plays in life. Continue to hone your skills. Repetition leads to mastery. Mastery leads to self-confidence. Self confidence helps to build self-esteem. Those with high self-esteem are best suited to make difficult plays and will like themselves regardless of the result.
Next, listen to your coaches. What constitutes a coach? They are your mentors. They are the people in your life that you respect and they are the one’s that have your best interest at heart. Take heed of the counsel of other. Pay careful attention to how your mentors live their lives. Why not learn from those who have not only played the game, but also understand it, and better yet, can teach it.
Lastly, if you happen to make a mistake, or in baseball terms, “commit an error,” get over it! We are all human. And, as humans, we all make mistakes. Mistakes are actually the precursor to success. If you commit an “error,” your attitude towards the error can affect the way you’ll continue to play. Dwelling on a mistake, blocks the learning phase of the mistake to success process. True learning and growth takes place, when you determine what went wrong, you accept responsibility, and take action to correct the mistake.
When it comes to fielding the ground balls in life, remember what my “pee wee” coach said to me, “Dillon, charge the ball! You’ll never be an all-star if you let the ball play you.”
Play Ball!
It’s your life: live it, love it & celebrate it!
MJD
I can remember playing shortstop and third base in my youth. I moved to the outfield in high school and college. I can tell you that it is a lonely feeling running to the fence with your back to bases because you misjudged a fly ball or a grounder in the outfield. In the infield, if you misjudge a grounder, you always have your outfield to back you up. To me, catching a fly ball is easier than fielding a grounder. Sure, on occasion, you have to deal with the sun in your eyes and the wind doing funny things to the ball, but it is nothing compared to the bad hops that you might encounter when trying to field a ground ball.
It was during “pee wees” that I came to understand what, “Charge the ball,” and “Don’t let the ball play you meant. It meant you have to be proactive. You can’t stand on your heels waiting for the ball to come to you; you must go get it. If you wait for the ball to come to you, you risk the chance of the ball taking a bad hop. The purpose of charging the ball is two fold; to end up with a shorter throw to a base, and more importantly, to minimize the chance of the ball taking a bad hop. By charging the ball, the fielder is in control of the play, not the ball! The fielder can determine which hop they’ll play the ball and get themselves in the right position to make the throw.
When it comes to fielding a ground ball, the game of life is no different than the game of baseball. When fielding a ground ball in baseball, you’ll have plays with routine hops, easy hops or difficult hops. In the game of life, you’ll encounter situations, or using the baseball analogy, “plays”, that are easy, ordinary or difficult to manage. How can we make sure that we manage the plays in our lives the right way?
First, don’t settle for complacency. Complacency can be the gateway to failure. Since a complacent person is not proactive, he/she will likely miss out on new opportunities. A complacent person is like the fielder who stands on his/her heels waiting for the ball to come to them. Remember, the easy and routine plays can be deceiving. Ground balls that appear to be easy and routine can end up with a bad hop at the end. Be proactive!
Second, continue to be a student. Make learning a lifelong process. The more you learn the more knowledge you’ll acquire to assist you with the difficult plays in life. Continue to hone your skills. Repetition leads to mastery. Mastery leads to self-confidence. Self confidence helps to build self-esteem. Those with high self-esteem are best suited to make difficult plays and will like themselves regardless of the result.
Next, listen to your coaches. What constitutes a coach? They are your mentors. They are the people in your life that you respect and they are the one’s that have your best interest at heart. Take heed of the counsel of other. Pay careful attention to how your mentors live their lives. Why not learn from those who have not only played the game, but also understand it, and better yet, can teach it.
Lastly, if you happen to make a mistake, or in baseball terms, “commit an error,” get over it! We are all human. And, as humans, we all make mistakes. Mistakes are actually the precursor to success. If you commit an “error,” your attitude towards the error can affect the way you’ll continue to play. Dwelling on a mistake, blocks the learning phase of the mistake to success process. True learning and growth takes place, when you determine what went wrong, you accept responsibility, and take action to correct the mistake.
When it comes to fielding the ground balls in life, remember what my “pee wee” coach said to me, “Dillon, charge the ball! You’ll never be an all-star if you let the ball play you.”
Play Ball!
It’s your life: live it, love it & celebrate it!
MJD
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