The game unfolds in slow motion

I only played basketball in HS and yes, I  remember having that feeling of slow motion.  

I've never talked  about it with my son, who's now in pro ball, and I think I'll try and ask him about it whenever I find the opportunity.  Too late now as he's gone for Spring Training. 

My son has explained the same feeling to me when he's at bat. It's almost like the ball is coming toward him in slow motion. He has a phenomenal feel for the strike zone and can almost always tell a ball from a strike. Very rarely strikes out and usually leads his team in walks. As pitchers have gotten faster and he's seeing more of the off speed and movement pitches, he's lost a little bit of that edge, but not all of it. He still has an uncanny ability to pick out the balls versus the strikes mainly because of the slow motion effect. He's only ever talked about having that feeling while batting though.

Last fall, he faced the #1 prospect in the state during a Fall Ball game. The kid is graded a 10 by PG and was clocked at 94 last year. I don't think he was throwing 94 in fall ball though. I think he was around 88 or so. My son walked on 5 pitches and ended up scoring. He said the ball wasn't travelling as fast you would think and he was able to pick it up fairly easily. The pitcher spent a bunch of time worrying about my kid on base and threw the ball away in several pick off attempts. He eventually struck out the side after my son scored.

The only thing I remember moving in slow motion from my high school softball days is me.  

RJM posted:

 Has anyone else felt this effect when they played sports?

I remember having that distinct feeling any time I hit a HR in church league softball (which was not all that often).  (And Yeah, I know the ball is already going slow..._).  It felt like the pitch really slowed down and I was able to eye the ball in.  I could actually feel the ball contact the bat and I could then just drive the ball.

When the game slows down like this you're in the zone.  Being able to do this at a fairly consistent rate means you're pretty dang good.  This comes from intense concentration developed from many reps.  The mechanical part of your brain is taking over from the analytical part which slows down your reactions.  I would get in the zone in football and baseball quite a bit in high school.  Not so much in college.  Each level you go up so does the skill which means the difficulty goes up as well.  You can get back in the zone once you move up but you have to work for it.  

I guess in the same vein but a different twist is when I was catching I swear I would not watch pitches come in but end up catching them and framing them.  Never saw the break on a curve ball but there I was catching / framing it.  One thing I was always known for was how good of a receiver I was but I really never remembered "seeing" the ball all the way in.  I believe that's a form of being in the zone.

This is an interesting topic.  I played three sports in high school & two in college...& coached youth football and baseball for eight years up until this year. 

I noticed in my playing days and also as an overweight coach that some athletes have the ability to relax and make a play, catch pass, make a tackle, hit etc. in a game situation under pressure...what I call the moment of truth...and some athletes panic and can't process in these situations. 

They can get it done in practice but it never really translates to game situations.

Anyone else notice this?

Question, how to teach? We have studied for 33 years. Japan, Korea, Australia, China and USA

players. Great subject. 

Bob

Www.goodwill Series.org

I always got that feeling in football both when a pass was thrown and when returning a punt. When the ball went in the air it was like everyone and the ball were in slow motion but I was at full speed. At 35 I played in an alumni game and hadn't even played flag football in 10 years. Fist pass I was thrown was like everything was full speed and I was in slow motion haha. Man that was a weird feeling. 

My son says he gets it sometimes when pitching but he describes it different. He says everything feels like slow motion even him. He says he feels like he holds on to the ball half way to the plate and just places the ball where he wants it. He's says he knows he's going to have a good game when he feels like he's throwing slow until the ball is about 10 feet from home, then it kicks in full speed. I never felt that but it sounds cool. 

Consultant posted:

Question, how to teach? We have studied for 33 years. Japan, Korea, Australia, China and USA

players. Great subject. 

Bob

Www.goodwill Series.org

I'm not sure it can be taught. It may be reps, instincts and confidence. My son only played football in 7th and 8th grade. He excelled. But he never felt it in football. He played baseball, basketball and soccer from the beginning and never stopped playing. He was hanging out at his sister's practices in these sports starting at age two.

I can remember this feeling in high school ball. Not all the time, mind you, but there were stretches of time when it seemed like a pitch just stopped in midair and I was able to put something extra on the swing like I was hitting off a tee. I still think about this to this day and have tried to explain it to my son. I can't. It was like finding an hidden extra gear on your stick shift GTO.

My son in a game last week hit his first homer of the season, I asked what the pitch was. He said "Dad I felt like I had a lot of time and just waited for the pitch to get to me".