How to help your son become a better baseball player

Would you agree with this statement?

A baseball player’s development is never finished.

If you agree with this statement, continue reading. If you don’t, just go here.

When it comes to trying to understand what sets a successfull baseball player apart from players that are simply mediocre, or players that never truly reach their potential, you will find that every successful baseball player had been able to make the mental, emotional, and physical adjustments required to compete and succeed at the next level.
The players that fail to do so are eventually weeded out.

So is being a baseball player simply “the survival of the fittest?”

No, not at all.

Baseball is the survival of the “most positivly influenced”.

Let me explain.

During the process of a baseball player’s development, especially at the early stages, a player is developing certain habits and traits that will eventually influence their athletic abilities as well as emotional and mental habits. What’s important to realize is that these capabilities and habits are being learned through their environment and for the younger players, they are being learned from adults.

Are you a baseball parent? Great! Here is where you come in.

During the early stages of a baseball player’s development, they are either consciously or unconsciously observing the words and behaviors being demonstrated by their parents and coaches and are associateing it with being an “adult”.

So what does this mean?

It means, as a parent, you are 100X more influential in your son’s ability to be a better hitter, fielder, or pitcher than you could of possibly ever imagined.

It means that you can play the BIGGEST role in your baseball player/child’s carrer, providing them with the skills to overcome any challenges that baseball has to offer.

How so?

Imagine being in line at the grocery store with your family, and all you can think about is how long the wait is. You’re in disbelief about how long you have been waiting and it’s showing. You’re anxious, frustrated, and beyond irritated. Sounds familiar? As you are voicing your complaint, you don’t realize that your son is observing this lack of poise and before he even realizes it, he is adopting your behavior as his own assuming that this kind of behavior is acceptable.

I guess you could say, that this kind of behavior isn’t a big deal considering you’re just in a grocery store trying to buy your milk and eggs. But guess what? This lack of poise won’t cut it on the field.

The ability to be patient is what allows hitters to lay off of pitches in the dirt.

The ability to stay calm is what allows pitchers to continue to compete aggressivly despite any sort of adversity.

The ability to focus solely on what you “can” control(eg:Your breathing, emotional response, internal chatter) and off of things you “can’t”(eg:the wait of the line, bad drivers, weather, or bad umpires) is what separates the players that play more from the players that don’t

As a parent, as you show a lack of poise in the face of things you can not control , you are showing exactly how “not” to be a better baseball player.

You are your child’s full time baseball coach and trainer.

The second you are willing to leverage this role as an opportunity to help him develop while off the field, the quicker you will see results off it.

Choose to be the leader in your baseball family and you will find that this alone creates talent.