Things I learned this off season....

Every off season I seem to go through a lot, whether it be good or bad-for better or worse. I’ve gotten better each off season with knowing my body and what I need to do to keep myself in the best shape, knowing how to keep my swing in tact, and how to save the most money for the upcoming summer. But I always learn something new with each off season, sometimes about myself and sometimes about others. These are the three main things that I learned this off season.

1. I have a passion for helping kids get the most out of their talents.
Up until this off season I’ve worked random jobs, ranging from working in the athletic department at Mizzou to waiting tables at Rancho Grande. I’ve given baseball lessons sparingly, but never took it as seriously as I would’ve liked to. Luckily I was able to go back to my roots for “work” with the opening of All Star Sports Center (which also happened to be about a half of a mile from my house). As the year turned over the amount of lessons that I were giving per week slowly increased, and with each lesson I gave I could see the confidence in the kids eyes as they began to understand more and more about hitting. When I think about teaching hitting, I found that there numerous ways to get across one point. For example, telling one kid to keep their hands inside the baseball might make sense to one kid but to another you might have to find a different way to say it. That’s where the challenges came in for me. Obviously there aren’t two kids that think alike and likewise there aren’t two kids with the same swing. So to me, being a good hitting coach/teacher is all about being able to relay the right knowledge to your players in a way that makes sense on a personal level. For me I work with boys and girls that range in age from 8-18, so you can imagine how different the kids are. I feel like I have been given the gift to play baseball through my abilities and my opportunities and if I didn’t relay my knowledge on to kids who had the passion that I have then I almost feel as if I would be cheating the game!
I also realized that there isn’t a greater reward for me than watching a kid think about something I say, put it to use, and finally “get it”. Whenever that happens I swear I can see the light bulb pop up right above their head. I’ve always thought that hitting is one of the most frustrating things to do in sports so whenever I can make hitting fun and give that kid more confidence then I feel as if I’ve done my job! Any kid who has the passion for the game and the “want to” to get better will always be a winner in my book and will always be the most fun and rewarding to work with.

2. At the end of the day the relationships that you create/maintain are what make you a more complete person.
This past week has been extremely tough for me. Over the past 6 months I have been fortunate enough to meet numerous amounts of people that I can honestly say have greatly influence my life, I was also able to become as close as ever with my family while maintaining my prior relationships. Each off season it becomes harder and harder to leave for spring training because I feel that each time I’m leaving more and more behind. There’s not much that feels better than someone taking an interest in your life, it just makes you feel special.
I got so close with some of the kids that I gave lessons to and helped Lee and Bill at All Star Sports Center that I honestly felt bad whenever I left. I almost felt as if we had put in so much hard work for so long and then right when their seasons are about to begin I leave them high and dry! I can only hope that they all understand.
For those of you that didn’t know, I do still live at home in the off seasons (and yes I am 25). There’s no punch line to this one, it’s the truth. Anyways, I’m fortunate enough to have parents that don’t try and get me out of the house every other day. In fact I’d like to think that they actually enjoy my company, and we’ll leave that one at that. I also enjoyed the company I kept with my brother, watching him grow up and turn into a man is priceless. Now that my sister’s gone away to college the time that I get to spend with her is limited so I’ve learned to cherish the time that we do get to spend together.
When it comes to relationships you can trace all of your sorrows back to the wrong people and all of your joys back to the right people. Keep in mind that the company that you hold tells a lot about you and your character.

3. I’ve learned that I’m still not sure what it means to be a “grown up”.
My dad asked me a couple weeks ago when I was going to grow up and without hesitation I answered with a definite “Never!” That wasn’t quite what my dad wanted to hear so he lectured me for awhile, most of it went in one ear and out the other but a few things stuck with me. But it really got me wondering…what does growing up actually consist of? When I think of someone being a grown up I think of someone who has a lot of responsibilities, someone who takes life too seriously, has to pay a lot of bills, and someone who frequently runs out of time. Hmmmm….Is that what it means? So that I night I don’t think I went to sleep until about 3:00 because I had so many thoughts rolling around in my head and here’s what I finally settled on: I really have no idea what it means! I’d love to give some clever words of wisdom about growing up but until my knowledge bank gets more invested in it then I’m basically clueless.

Once again I feel like I’ve had a very productive off season as I go into this spring training feeling as prepared as I ever have been. It only makes sense that I learn more and more with each off season…I guess if I keep progressing and learning I’m assuming that I’ll eventually be a grown up…eh I don’t know!