Practicing and training are not the same. The next level up from training is equipping. Equipping goes beyond training. Following are the three levels you must climb to get to where you need to be in your baseball development journey.
Level 1 — Practicing
Practice is the preparation for performance. There are three S’s that must be present in order to effectively practice.
Systematic — What’s all involved?
Sequential — What’s the order of execution?
Simple — Can it be done with ease?
Practice is important because it represents 75 percent of your development as a hitter:
- 75% — practicing on your own
- 20% — practicing with your coach
- 5% — performance in your games
Good practice requires you to have five good A’s:
- Attitude
- Awareness
- Aptitude
- Adjustments
- Athleticism
Level 2 — Training
Training is when what you’re doing in practice gets specific:
Systematic — What’s all involved?
Sequential — What’s the order of execution?
Simple — Can it be done with ease?
Specific — Can I use this weapon in my game?
In games, hitters must specifically be able to adjust to varying pitch types, locations and speeds.
Soldiers can’t proper train to fight a war in the deserts of Afghanistan by training in the paradise of Hawaii. As a hitter, you can’t prepare to hit varying pitch sequences in a game when your coach is giving you underhand soft toss pitches right down the middle of the plate.
Level 3 — Equipping
Equipping is getting things down while under stress.
- Talent is what you do well.
- Habits are what you do well repeatedly without thought.
- Skills is what you do well repeatedly without thought while under stress.
- Being equipped is to be skilled and skills pay the bills.
Your talent allows you to swing a bat with quickness, while you must have a skill to control the bat well enough to drive the change-up into the gap.
Soldiers practice shooting at a gun range. They train with props and test dummies on a practice site. They become equipped when being trained. With their lives on the line, they are forced into thinking critically and swiftly.
You want to be a collegiate and/or professional baseball player? How is your coach equipping you?
Remember: Intelligence tops being smart.
For more information, visit www.diamonddirectors.com today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.
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C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an area scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 12 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and track record of success that can work for you.
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