ANNOUNCEMENT: Interview With One of College Baseball Elites!!!

Interview Chat with Louisville University Cardinal baseball player Phil Wunderlich. Phil is a standout player and the #1 hitter for the Cardinals. His outstanding play helped Louisville make it to the Super Regional of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championships.

Part II: Consistent High Levels of Performance: How It’s Done

As discussed in Part I: Consistent High Levels of Performance: How It’s Done, many athletes set long-term goals that encompass what they want to accomplish by the end of a season, in high school, college, and/or even beyond, but how many set daily training goals that they vehemently and relentlessly pursue? And how many, once they can consistently and easily accomplish those, challenge themselves further by increasing their expectation of how well these daily training goals are performed? Maybe even combining two or three skills into a group of skills relative to how they will be used when competing, thus, demonstrating a true commitment toward mastery and reaching one’s potential. From what I have gleaned through my experiences as an athlete, coach, teacher, and parent of two club/high school/collegiate athletes, there are not many athletes who have these types of expectations.

Part I: Consistent High Levels of Performance: How It’s Done

In my blog Four Attributes That Lead To Athletic Greatness I discussed, in detail, attributes that athletes need in order to achieve greatness. It was in that article I alluded to the idea of being able to achieve elevated levels of performance on a consistent basis as one way athletic greatness is demonstrated. I am certain that many athletes, no matter what level, can remember a time, or times, where they felt they had competed at peak levels. In the “zone” you might say. However, how many can remember doing it regularly or most of the time? How many can truly consider themselves one of those rare individuals their teammates count on to give their best and perform at their best, consistently? Easy to assume you can, much tougher to actually go out and do both.

Four Attributes That Lead To Athletic Greatness

Have you ever gone to a sporting event and noticed that the better players, the ones who stand out head and shoulders above the rest, all seem to have something in common with each other? That they, for some reason, tend to play harder, show more emotion, demonstrate a high level of skill, can consistently perform at an elevated level and seem to be the players, or player, that a team rallies around and looks to for their success. You know who I am speaking of, the ones that make a difference.

Part II: It’s All In Your Point of View – An athlete’s perspective can make all the difference

In part I of It’s All In Your Point of View, I detailed a discussion my friend Jim and I had on the way home from a tennis match recently. This discussion centered its focus on the differences between our perspectives on our collegiate sports experiences compared to many of today’s youths, and their parents’, perspective. My purpose was to help answer the question, Why are their perspectives so different? Below is a list of several intrinsic-type components that, in my mind, help an athlete develop a better more positive perspective and, in the end, bring more enjoyment and fulfillment back to them. At least if they stay much more focused in these areas as their reasoning behind why they play.

Part I: It’s All In Your Point of View – An athlete’s perspective can make all the difference

I was on my way home from a tennis match with a friend of mine (we both play for our club team here in Naperville Illinois), and we struck up a conversation regarding our own personal experiences and perspectives on college athletic participation. We were both college athletes, he was a ball player at SIU and I a gymnast at NIU. What I found most interesting about our conversation was that both of us had the same viewpoint on how we saw our collegiate athletic experience. Basically, neither of us could even imagine going through college without sports; that we truly enjoyed the experience, felt we gained a tremendous amount from it, and would most certainly do it all over again if given the opportunity. Two athletes, two different times, two different sports, but with the exact same perspective. Interesting, especially since I hear so much of the opposite from other parents who have kids playing sports at that level. This is in addition to the good number of athletes themselves who are currently involved (or were involved) in college athletics and who echo these same opposing sentiments. I, as did my friend Jim, find this to be a little sad and a little disconcerting to say the least.

The Olympics Are Upon Us: And what a “Games” it will be!!!!

Another four years has come and gone since the summer games of 2004 in Athens. My enthusiasm has certainly waned a little from what it was in my younger days, due in large part to the influx of professional athletes. (There was just something to be said for overcoming the adversity our amateur athletes faced in the old days.) However, there are several individuals/events/sports that have truly sparked my interest and motivation. I am looking forward to seeing how all the stories unfold. Here are my own picks for the games and why:

Excellence in Sports: Five Questions You, The Athlete, Should Ask Yourself

What is it that truly separates the average athlete from the good or the good athlete from the great? If you answered that question with the word “talent,” I would say that that is only a small part of the equation. Muhammad Ali once said, “Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” Yes, skill (or development thereof) does have some basis in talent; however, the real message in that quote goes way beyond sheer talent, and even the skills of a sport (which can be learned and improved on). The key is in that last sentence, “the will must be stronger than the skill.” The power in that quote is exemplified in those last eight words.