DREAMS

Great Post, after reading this I looked at a saying I have posted on my desk (it was given w/a baseball figurine) and I hope it applies:

THINK BIG

We all have within our reach, the potential to do great things. The difference between the possible and the impossible is sometimes merely perception and attitude.

It's the ability to look beyond ourselves, beyond our strength and have a faith to believe in the unbelievable.

Limitations are the product of the world....possibilities, the product of faith. We can expect nothing more than that which we believe possible,

think BIG.

There's a excellent book on just this subject I picked up last year called "The Mental Edge: Maximize Your Sports Potential With the Mind/Body Connection" by Ken Baum.

The book covers a broad range of the mental aspects of sports performance ... one thing it says is don't allow yourself to be limited or defined by the perceptions or expectations of others. Set your own expectations ... high.

I liked this book enough that I created a little powerpoint 'summary' of some of the highlights, which I then printed out for my son to use as reminders throughout the season. This was just my humble and personal interpretation of the book contents ... You can download the powerpoint from this link:

The Mental Edge Summary

pbonesteele,

This is why I get so much enjoyment from this site - the willingness of members to share. I to have read books similar in nature but I will print your excellent summary for my son.

Thanks!

oldbat-never-

Love your post! I'm going to print it out and give to each member of my family!

pbonesteele-

Beautiful summary. I will have to check out the book!

Thank you both.

pbonesteele.

You have a PM!!

Thanks ClevelandDad,

The other thing I realized from this book ... and that I reinforce frequently with my son ... is that many of these concepts apply to so many other areas of our lives. These 'lessons' are much more than an approach to baseball training and performance, but to view them as a framework for how we live our lives in setting worthy and challenging goals, striving for success, and learning from failure. Most importantly, I really embrace the view that the ultimate goal is our constant growth and improvement as positive, passionate, motivated, and socially compassionate individuals that see striving for success as a life-long journey and the growth of our human potential as the real goal ... i.e., striving for success at a lofty goal is really the 'means' by which we achieve the ultimate 'result' of constantly growing and improving ourselves.

One key concept is to learn not to fear failure, but to embrace it as a natural component of striving for anything worthwhile. We all talk about seeing the difference between a batter that is afraid of striking out before the first pitch is thrown, and the batter that isn't afraid of any outcome but is simply focused on getting a job done. Same thing in life ... some of the most successful people around fail all the time, yet one of the main reasons they are successful is because they aren't afraid to fail. They have most importantly made the conceptual 'leap' that success and failure aren't tied to their self-image or self-worth, but are simply components of striving to do something worthwhile.

Yet there are so many people in our world that artificially place limits in their lives ... their careers, the richness and depth of relationships with others, the richness of their experiences, and their achievements ... because they are emotionally or mentally paralyzed by fear, they are afraid to embrace and learn from failure.

Oriales42 ... back at ya.

I was looking for a new baseball book for my son to read and I found a book called High Heat, it is Fiction. While sitting in the car waiting for something (I am sure baseball related)I picked it up and started reading it. It shares a year in a the life of a HS baseball pitcher and his dreams, his successes, his failures and how they all intertwine in the world of baseball.

The story is about a Seattle High School Sophomore Pitcher. During the course of the book
he suffers from a family crisis and then a crisis on the ballfield involving another team's batter (I can't give it away). Any way it is a very good read and what I like about it was that the author has done books on sports psychology and this has a lot of that in there without the psychobabble.

Things I enjoyed in the book are how the boy handles these crisis, how they affect his pitching (and they do), how he gets you into the pitchers head during a game, during his time on and off the mound. I even had to laugh because I had just told my son about how he needs to use his lower body more and wouldn't you know it the next chapter I read in the book the pitcher was dealing with the same thought.... way too similar.

Anyway it maybe too young of a read for the Upper Classman, but I have to admit it as a 40something mom I really enjoyed it....

Hope you like it and hope your son's enjoy the read and the lesson's as subtle as they are.