We’ve turned softball into a year-round sport, but taking breaks hold tremendous power!
Too much softball isn’t good for you, learn 5 ways that breaks make you better!
It seems like we’ve all become obsessed with every single aspect of softball. It seems like the more, the better is the current belief from more playing, to more practicing, more lessons, more showcases, to more camps.
Then there’s summer ball, fall ball, school ball, back to summer ball – it’s a never-ending cycle of more, more, more softball. But at what cost? Well, there’s a huge cost to pay in terms of your player’s passion for the game, health, and ability to actually have a life as a kid.
So, as the summer winds down and we get ready to go back to school, let’s all shut down softball for a while and take a break. Don’t worry – you won’t forget how to play. But, If you’re a little skeptical that a break might put you behind, consider the following benefits that taking a break will give you:
- Restore Your Energy – You’ve given all you have all summer, and it was a super-hot summer. That takes a toll on your energy, so take a break of at least a couple weeks and let your energy build itself back up.
- Restore Your Love of the Game – While you might love softball, after a long season of playing every-single-weekend, your love is dwindling. By stepping away from softball for a couple weeks you allow yourself to not only enjoy some of the things you put off, but when you start back up, you’ll realize what it was about softball that you loved so much.
- Prevent Decision-Fatigue – Research has shown that people make better decisions when they are fully rested. This goes for coaches as well as players.Decision fatigue can lead to simplistic decision-making and procrastination, so give yourself a season-ending break and help be your best self physically and mentally!
- Heal – Your body needs a break. Let it rest, recover and heal. At the very least you have some aches and pains, so give yourself at least a couple weeks to rest and recover.
- Improve Learning – Scientific American magazine has discovered that downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to achieve our highest levels of performance. Sounds good enough to me!
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Thanks Cindy! The professional athletes I have come into contact with lament both the lack of multiple sport athletes playing softball and also the lack of breaks for mental and physical recovery. Rest is a good thing.
Rest is undervalued in most sports.
One of the things I brought with me into softball from my running background is the periodization of training cycles, which includes rest and active rest.
Have to empty the bucket to fill it up again.
You’re absolutely right Blaine! Great input!