UPB Development Pyramid #2 (General Physical Development)

When an athlete reaches the General Physical Development portion of the pyramid they are beginning to learn about the aspects of their skill however they still don’t take ownership of the development of that skill. They may attend private lessons but once the lesson is over they don’t give what they learned a second thought. There is no extra work done on the part of the athlete and they usually have to start over from square one at every lesson.

You can find athletes at this level in every level of baseball but they are usually found from high school to the major leagues. Their mechanics are better than those at the “Natural Talent” level but they are still below average. Athletes here exhibit a good performance followed by a poor performance. They show flashes of what is possible but they have no real understanding for either their successes or their failures. They may know what they need to do in a particular skill such as “stay back” or “stay inside” but they won’t have an understanding as how to get themselves to execute what it is they need to do.

These athletes usually suffer from the ego mindset. They believe that they are they last performance. Many will lie and over exaggerate their abilities or their accomplishments to fit in or feel like they are the athlete they desire to be. Their self confidence is based on at bat to at bat or inning to inning which means they really don’t have any self confidence. If things go well they feel good if they don’t they feel terrible. They experience extreme highs and lows in both their performance and in their emotions and may be prone to outbursts of anger during games.

They are limited in their thinking and believe that if they hit .300 then this means they are a good player and that they don’t need to improve. As such they may have success for the majority of their lives but when they first begin to experience struggles they usually have nothing to go back to. They will make excuses and ultimately quit because they, “just weren’t good enough”.

In order to move to the next level on the pyramid these athletes need to begin to take ownership of their physical skills. They need to do the extra work on their own and begin to think about what it is they are being taught.