"Success Story"

great story, very  inspirational !!!!

The journey can be so brutal. What an inspiring story!

PT;

How can a player prepare for this journey in Professional or College baseball?

During my Post Graduate term at MSU, we studied Non-Verbal Communication and during a "tornado" warning we were direct to a basement. With the time, I manage to locate a MSU Player. A future MLB pitcher.

It was very "in depth" interview about his high school years and family.

Bob

Bob, I think the preparation is different for each player and we are no experts. Our kid is not there yet but some elements that have gotten him this far are:

Learning how to fail (as a parent that means you have to step back and let it happen)

Not letting your highs get too high or your lows too low (my husband modeled this)

Encouraging work ethic (this doesn’t mean posting your 6am work outs online. But it does mean your kid has to be willing to put in hours in the gym, one the mound, in the cages. Particularly when no one is watching. We facilitated but we’re very rarely the drivers of this—I think it is infinitely better/more sustainable if it is self-motivation)

Capitalizing on/maximizing God-given gifts (see work ethic)

For hitters…knowing your swing well enough to know what and what not to change so that when coaches ask you to modify you can have intelligent discourse about it, being able to shut out outside noise (son is essentially off of social media)

Having “North Star” people in your life that you can go to for advice or to just be yourself

Don’t try to be something or someone you aren’t (everyone’s path is unique

Become a student of the game

Never forget this is a game that you are blessed to be able to continue playing so enjoy as much as you can for as long as you can

PT

great words of wisdom

Bob

@PTWood posted:

Bob, I think the preparation is different for each player and we are no experts. Our kid is not there yet but some elements that have gotten him this far are:

Learning how to fail (as a parent that means you have to step back and let it happen)

Not letting your highs get too high or your lows too low (my husband modeled this)

Encouraging work ethic (this doesn’t mean posting your 6am work outs online. But it does mean your kid has to be willing to put in hours in the gym, one the mound, in the cages. Particularly when no one is watching. We facilitated but we’re very rarely the drivers of this—I think it is infinitely better/more sustainable if it is self-motivation)

Capitalizing on/maximizing God-given gifts (see work ethic)

For hitters…knowing your swing well enough to know what and what not to change so that when coaches ask you to modify you can have intelligent discourse about it, being able to shut out outside noise (son is essentially off of social media)

Having “North Star” people in your life that you can go to for advice or to just be yourself

Don’t try to be something or someone you aren’t (everyone’s path is unique

Become a student of the game

Never forget this is a game that you are blessed to be able to continue playing so enjoy as much as you can for as long as you can

This is a great post, I would only add the following:

Failure is part of becoming your best self in all things. I like the snow skiing analogy: How good at skiing would you be if you never fell? The goal is to avoid catastrophic failure, don't ski off a cliff but pushing your limits within reason is the only way to reach your max potential.

Work to make criticism and failure positive fuel and internal motivation (take away its power to detract) - it's easy to profit from positive feedback and success; how they use/deal with the difficulties will make the difference.