June 22, 2020 - This week’s letter is the last of three that you may say to yourself “I already knew that,” and you probably did already “know that.” But, next week, with Issue #Four, I will begin to ease you into places where few coaches and certainly no young baseball or softball player has ever gone. If your desire for “learning” the game is as powerful as your desire for “playing” the game, you will never want the issues to stop.
Issue #Three: A Recipe for Failure
Ingredients:
Talent: one part
Desire: one part
Potential: one part
Determination: one part
Opportunity: one part
Talent: one part
Desire: one part
Potential: one part
Determination: one part
Opportunity: one part
Mix well --- allow it to set --- then watch as it all falls apart!
Why?
Two ingredients are missing, the emulsifiers, the bonding agents, the glues that hold everything together, the two things that make it all work, make it complete --- What are they?
Discipline and Patience
“Discipline?---you cry out. “What does discipline have to do with hitting? And, isn’t patience the same thing as discipline?”
Let me explain. You can have unequaled talent, deep-rooted desire, worlds of potential, dogged determination, and unlimited opportunities. But, if you lack discipline and patience in your baseball/softball life, you will fail in becoming an accomplished hitter.
If you cannot develop the discipline required to “lay off” the pitches in your eyes, the balls at your ankles, the balls breaking six inches outside the strike zone, if you cannot develop the discipline to use your strengths against the pitcher’s weaknesses, if you cannot develop the discipline to “track the ball” on every pitch, if you cannot develop the discipline to order your top hand to “explode” through every swing, you will lose all hope of ever reaching your goals in the batter’s box.
And, no, “patience” is not the same as “discipline.” Patience is having a sense of calmness in your attempt to become a hitter. You must learn to let the ball “come to you,” not “rushing forward” to where your body is off-balance and your swing is weakened. Unfortunately, unlike the other attributes listed above, patience is a virtue that cannot be taught. Patience can be defined, explained, and encouraged, but not taught.
Patience must be acquired---normally through maturity and every-day life experiences.
In time, you may become a decent hitter, an above-average hitter. But, without discipline and patience as constant companions, you will never enjoy lasting success in the batter’s box.
What you have just read is undeniable fact!
Don’t miss Issue # Four --- “Never Try too Hard"
Thank you.
Brad Taylor
(281) 216-1048
