The Brain is a Body Part Too

Training the brain is as important as any other body part or skill, but it can really be challenging to train.

Discover the 4 keys to improving your players mental game – their Brain Training.

One of the things that makes coaching so challenging is that there are so many different things our players need to do well, and it’s our responsibility to help make that happen – or at least put our players in a position to make that happen.

Training the brain is one of those things, and it’s much more difficult than helping your players with their fielding, pitching or hitting skills. And it’s even more difficult than improving our player’s physical skills like speed, quickness and agility.

We can group these “things” that our players need to do well – let’s call them skills – into 3 main categories:

1. Technical Training:
   • Hitting
   • Pitching
   • Fielding
   • Throwing
   • Baserunning and sliding
   • Bunting
2. Physical Training
   • Strength and Power
   • Speed and Agility
   • Balance and Flexibility
   • Injury Prevention
   • Cardio and Endurance
   • Good Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle
3. Brain Training

A look at this list shows that 2 of the 3 are physical things; the Technical and Physical Training items. But it’s the 3rd element – the Brain Training that we’re going to focus on.

Brain Training involves:

1. Vision Fitness
   1. What It is – Reaction Speed, Pitch Tracking, Pitch Selection
   2. Ways to improve it – Zip Ball”  fielding, catching and hitting
2. Brain Fitness
   1. What It Is – Mental Processing Speed, Decision-Making, etc
   2. Ways to Improve It – Adding competition to drills from fielding to pitching to hitting many of which are outlined in Team Drills Manual.
3. Sports Psychology
   1. What It Is – Mental Toughness, Concentration, Focus, etc.
   2. Ways to Improve It – Great Exercises in our book: A Coaches Guide to Creating Team Chemistry Tips on Coaching the Female Athlete
4. Sports Intelligence
   1. What It Is – Anticipation, Understanding the Game, Decision Making, Strategic & Tactical decisions
   2. Ways to Improve It – Team Drills Manual

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