When are they supposed to improve?

So many players of all sports spend the entire year playing their sport. This is most obvious in baseball, soccer, tennis and basketball. My question to players, coaches and parents is this; When exactly are they supposed to get stronger?

Lets take baseball as a prime example. Almost half of all youth baseball players are on a travel team and the rest are on multiple clubs through out the entire year. As parents and coaches we place a lot of stress on them to constantly get better. But sometimes the stress to get better is placed upon players to the point of injury. Functional strength and power training will help prevent injury.

The video below is of Tiger's pitcher Justin Verlander doing a medicine ball throw, an exercise that we do as part of our power development cycle here at Pair & Marotta Sports Performance.



It is this type of training when done in-season that helps to keep athletes performing injury free all season long. Not to mention hitting home runs, throwing strikes and lighting up the basepaths.

To get involved with the programs at Pair & Marotta Sports Performance, give me a call at 661-912-9991 or email me aaron@pairmarotta.com

Empty - Reset - Clean

What a great weekend!! The Jaeger "Thrive on Throwing" Clinic was great!! We had an awesome turnout (45 baseball and softball players) and once we got going, it just seemed like everybody was excited to get going with the bands and start throwing!!

One thing I heard over and over from parents and coaches was that the initial talk from Alan Jaeger was worth its weight in gold. What he had to say about staying "in the present" and staying focused was indeed something that every youth player needs to hear. Not just because it will help him or her on the field, but because it will help you in life.

There is no way you can give quality effort if you are not focused on what you are doing. When you are in the batting cages you cannot be focusing on the big truck that just drove by, or the horrible a la carte pizza you had for lunch. You need to be in the present and focusing on seeing the ball.

The same goes when you strength train for baseball. You must stay focused. When you are going through the warm up, here at Pair & Marotta Sports Performance or pre-game on the field, you must focus. There is a purpose to the warm up and if you are not focusing on what your body is telling you, you will be missing out on a HUGE part of the training session. By focusing on form and technique of movement, you will teach your body to go where you want it to rather than you being dragged around by gravity and the other physics of baseball.

My final point today just repeat's what Alan talked about at Saturday's clinic: choose 3 key words to help you reset your focus. My words are

1. Empty
2. Reset
3. Clean
   

Those are the words I use to get re-focused. Whether I'm in the batting cages just having fun, or if I am lifting and trying to get stronger and build muscle. These are my words. Yours may be different. But they need to work for you.

I'll have pictures of the Jaeger Clinic up next week as I am heading out to Phoenix for the rest of the week. One quick note: Don't forget about the Player's Edge New Year's Mini-Camp. Some big names are going to be there and it's going to be a great 3 days of learning.