THE SABATHIAS BRING THE FUN BACK TO BASEBALL

2 days ago my son and I headed over to the batting cages. Recently, I noticed that his confidence had vanished. He wasn't motivated lately in the game I loved so much, and he did too for a while... and I wondered if he just wanted to quit. So I asked him: 

"You want to stop playing baseball or something?" 

"Sometimes. I feel burned out."

"You practice 2 days a week. That's hardly us pushing you. What else do you like to do?"

" - - - "

Now that "- - -" is frustration. That "---" was him loving the game of baseball, but not performing to his standards. In short, he puts way too much pressure on himself and he lost his mojo.  Fast forward... we went to the cages.  The problem was simple.  No confidence so we needed to start over.  He stood in the box and I broke him down.

"Now, you just need to listen to me. I'm not your dad now, let's say I'm your coach."  If I didn't say that, he'd be telling me to "Stop" and not listen and we'd get absolutely nowhere. He nodded.

Too many moving parts... kind of like Curtis Granderson.  We stopped the movement. He rested the bat on his shoulder in the box. As the cage wound up, he loaded up ever so slightly and no twirling of the bat in his wrists. Now his head was still too.  The ball came in and he swung and missed... he turned to me, already frustrated and said... "See! I saw it, but I'm too slow!"  

"Adjust... move back in the box, choke up and keep still. Don't think of it as a job... think of it as a game. You can't just jump into the 60 MPH cage. Start slow and work your way up."

I saw his eyes... "A Game!" He adjusted... because the next round of balls he fouled them all off. He was relaxed.  His face lit up.  Sure... he was fouling them, but as I told him, "This isn't about you crushing the ball... this is about confidence and getting your timing back. It's supposed to be fun."

The next found got better. He was fouling off and hitting a few in between the misses... but as the muscle memory started sinking in, he was gaining confidence. He turned to me and said "give me another round."  By the 10th round, we were finished, and he was hitting the ball consistently, be it fouls or hits, but the confidence was happening now.

Last night, we went back. Why? Because he didn't treat it like a job... he treated it like a game and it was fun.  He was back and hopefully to stay. "When I didn't try to crush it, I was hitting it!"

"Your old man was a kid once, you know... I know what I'm talking about." I whacked him on the helmet.

So why did I trick you into seeing a title about CC Sabathia and giving you a story about my son? Because it all connects.  MLB.com had a terrific feature about CC in California from January 25th and he was there for his PitCCh in Foundation.  In it, he and Amber helped guide kids and reminded them that baseball is a game, it's supposed to be fun... we need to enjoy it. I'm all in with that message.

 "More than 200 youths gathered at a baseball field Saturday morning to listen to Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and area coaches provide tips for executing the basics of fielding, hitting and pitching.

But the primary fundamental Sabathia wanted to emphasize was joy... 

' we try to put on these camps and clinics and let the kids know that baseball is a fun game to play. I grew up playing it, so I want to share it with them...We're out here playing music, the community is coming together -- it's just a great time,' he (CC) said....  

'You have some kids who may not be that interested in baseball, but being active and healthy is really what we're pushing,' Amber Sabathia said. The message to parents, she added, was 'keeping your kids active is really most important...I think the goal is to have every child go home tonight saying, 'I had fun.'"

I love these 2.  They're great people.  Not only that... it's important that in this PEDs infested sports  world recently, we need to remind these kids, your kids and mine, to just go out there and have fun.  It's not about hitting the ball harder than anyone, it's about the love of the game.  

If you love and respect the game... it will love and respect you... that's just a fact ladies and gentlemen.

Shout out to the Sabathias... 2 terrific role models!

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