The other day I was watching a major league baseball game and I heard a couple of comments that are perfect examples of the limited mindset that is pervasive in baseball today. During the game the commentators (both of which are former major league players) were talking about an upcoming rookie in the organization. The rookie had just hit a homerun and they began to discuss the rookie’s “natural power”. One of the commentators said, “There are two things you can’t teach. You can’t teach power and you can’t teach talent.”
If you have been reading some of my other blogs you know that I couldn’t disagree with this statement more. First of all, you can teach both talent and power! Sure, there is a lot that has to go into the development of that power and talent but I have seen it done too many times to ever buy into this limited thinking. I have seen a 130 pound athlete go from a singles hitter into a hitter who has the capability of hitting the ball over 400 feet. I have see a player who is 5 feet tall and weighs 100 pounds completely change as a hitter and is now capable of driving the ball as well as any hitter I work with. I have seen a pitcher who used to max out at 86 mph develop into a pitcher who would throw consistently in the 90's. I have seen my own abilities completely change to where I am now able to do the things that people thought I wasn’t “born” to do. All of this experience has taught me that you can be as good as you want to be. I have learned that if you are willing to take the necessary steps you can make yourself into any level of player that you desire to be.
Don’t buy into the idea of limitation. Don’t allow the limitations of others prevent you from becoming the athlete you want to become. People buy into this idea because it’s easy. It’s easy to say you’re limited then it is to admit you didn’t play as well as you could have. It’s easy to say that you “did the best with what you were given” then it is to look yourself in the mirror and say that you could have been better. Don’t allow this to happen to you. Take responsibility for your level of play. If you desire to get better don’t allow anyone or anything get in your way. Learn as much as you can. Do research on your own. Find out what it is the best players in the game are doing and apply that to your game. If you really want to reach extraordinary levels of performance you can. You can be as good as you can envision yourself being. Be open to change, master your mechanics and master your mind. The level of performance you desire to reach is within your grasp. You are limited by nothing!
