Advantage Baseball

As a personal instructor the athlete receives much more feedback and personalized information. That quicker feedback and enhanced information should lead to an individualized routine the athlete can repeat outside of organized practice. This is where you’re going to see yourself progressing faster than everyone else.

I teach them how to self-correct. They learn how to get out of slumps. When a hitter is confident in his swing, success happens.

Developing relationships with your athlete and developing trust, that’s the first element of coaching and teaching.

Baseball is perhaps the most individualized of all the team sports. A hitter’s success will be based solely on his skill set. Same for pitching and fielding. A baseball athlete will unequivocally benefit from one-on-one instruction.

Growing up in Texas , where the summers are long and the winters are short, baseball was always something I looked forward to. It was a special time of the year because I loved everything about it. I’m in my early 40’s as I write this, but it’s amazing the memories that still flash across the screen of my mind when the baseball season rolls around each spring.

I can still remember my mom buying my first pair of baseball pants when I was six- years-old. I was the happiest kid in the world. Then, of course, my first bat, baseball glove and a ball cap! I was ready to take the field, just like my baseball heroes.

Being from Texas, I have to admit that i wasn’t a Rangers fan. I loved all players, from Nolan Ryan, to Bernie Williams, and Mike Piazza. These guys were clutch players in key moments and it was really fun to watch. They were winners and great role models, who seemed to be at their best when the challenges were at their greatest. .

But I really had a host of baseball heroes. I used to practice swinging the bat like I was Ken Griffey Jr. I loved Ricky Henderson, Reggie Jackson and Jimmy Rollins. The list of players who filled my summers goes on. Better yet, I loved emulating some of the best players in the world. I could see myself getting the big hit or making the game-saving catch, just like they did. Really, isn’t it cool that baseball is the one sport where you can copy a swing, or the way someone throws, or even the way an umpire calls strike three, and it’s fun doing it?

And, there is also the joy of playing the game itself. I remember fondly the exhilarating feeling of making a diving play, turning two and hitting a knocker the opposite way to drive in the tying run. I also remember important early ball field lessons learned about how individual performance can be integrated with the concept of team.

Baseball has been something very special to me. It has helped mold me into the man I am today. It instilled friendship and teamwork into my life at a very young age. One of the only reasons why I wanted to keep playing every year was because it was flat out fun.

I really enjoy seeing that in other young athletes.