The Tigers are Tamed; The Royals are Kings

A coach of mine once told me that momentum is made up. He said all that really happens is we convince ourselves mentally that we are in a state of retreat, when in reality we are still every bit “in the game” as our opponents are. I 100% agree with him, but the Kansas City Royals may need some more convincing. After not being in the playoffs for 29 years, the Royals have gone 4-0 in their first four playoff games. In doing so, they have secured themselves a spot in the American League Championship Series and are now just eight wins away from bringing home a World Series Championship. […]

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Baseball Vision

In the game of baseball, things happen fast. The higher levels you play, the faster it gets. And at the top, with the big boys in the MLB, things happen almost so fast that you can’t even see it. With pitchers like Justin Verlander, Brian Wilson, and Aroldis Chapman throwing fastballs at up to 105.1 mph, you can quite literally blink and miss it. Couple a pitcher’s ability to blow fireballs past a hitter in .395 seconds with their ability to come back with a changeup that seems to mosey in at 80 mph and it’s clear to see that hitters have their work cut out for them. That’s why […]

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Conquering Change

Amy Purdy experienced what some people would call a disadvantage, but she does not use that word to describe her situation. A better word in her vocabulary would simply be a change. A change that forced her to use creativity to continue participating in the sport that she loved. This change not only impacted her life, but also inspired her to ease experiences of other athletes going through a similar transition. Amy loved to snowboard, but when she lost both of her legs below the knee at the age of 19 to a rare form of bacterial meningitis, she had difficulty even walking. She was lucky to survive, but her […]

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Increased Executive Functioning Skills Found in Elite Athletes

A recent study conducted on Elite Volleyball players found athletes had increased cognitive abilities compared to non-athletes. The findings revealed athletes had increased speed identifying things in their peripheral vision, enhanced memory recall, and were better able to ignore irrelevant information from distracting them from the task at hand. One particular finding showed a significant advantage women athletes had over non-athlete women at being able to detect changes in background scenes. This study sheds light that athletes may have a distinct benefit of being able to manipulate their cognitive abilities to either aid or deter their behavior based on what is advantageous in the moment. Identifying your skill set and applying how to take advantage of it as […]

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An Unlikely Bully

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times sheds light on the prevalence of coaches who bully their athletes. In fact, a UK study (highlighted in that article) found that up to 75% of the 6000 athletes they interviewed (that’s 4,500 people!) had suffered some sort of emotional harm via their coach at least once. 75% is a significant number, and regardless of whether you’re a parent, athlete, or spectator, it’s probably something you’ve seen before. It may be difficult to think of a coach as anything other than a mentor, but being a bully isn’t simply defined by age or playgrounds. A bully is anyone who has perceived power over […]

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To Be Heard or Not To Be Heard…

In a USA Today article, Stressors Trigger a Nation of Yellers, discussing the impact of yelling on both the yeller and the receiver highlights an important message within our athletic world: Yelling is not only ineffective, but it is often harmful. The article discusses why we are a nation of yellers, stemming most frequently from a response to stressors and feelings of impatience and a desire to be heard. However, the article points out the scary effects yelling can have on a teenager’s brain chemistry. Teenagers interpret yelling through their amygdala, a part of their brain used to produce emotional and physical reactions to stress, whereas adults are able to […]

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