THE TRUTH ABOUT YEAR-ROUND BASEBALL How to Develop Skills and Avoid Burnout
One of the most common missteps parents make is believing that the key to their child’s successful development is making them play as many games as they can during every season of every year. But I always tell parents to think about it this way:
There’s a significant difference between practice and
performance in the world of baseball. Practice paves way for development through large amounts of deliberate and purposeful training, while performance is the execution of a skill set in a very specific setting. When it comes to playing baseball year-round, it’s important to understand why these differences are important and how they can affect young players.
View a game as a quiz or a test. School wouldn’t be very productive if students just took tests every day with minimal lessons in between, would it? Taking tests doesn’t make you a better student — learning what you can and practicing for those tests does. The same goes for baseball training versus playing in games. Training is much more effective for becoming skillful than playing in games. While I highly encourage young baseball players to train in a variety of ways throughout the year, they shouldn’t be forced to play in competitive games during the entire year. Not only is it not the most effective way for them to improve, but it also runs the risk of burning them out on the sport. So change it up and even let them explore other sports and train their bodies in a variety of ways. You’ll be surprised how useful it can be to their baseball skills in the long run.
It’s certainly possible to play baseball year-round and still develop both physically and
mentally. It’s also possible to keep training fresh in order to avoid the burnout that can come with repeated practices. But when it comes to playing games year-round, I often caution parents against thinking “more is better.”
UPCOMING RANCH EVENTS ADVANCED COLLEGE BOOT CAMP: April 17–19
THIS MONTH IN BASEBALL HISTORY Hank Aaron’s Hailed Homer
Babe Ruth retired in 1935 sitting on a mind-boggling 714 home runs. It seemed like an unbreakable record. For decades, no one came close. But that started to change in the 1970s. On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron finally did the unthinkable. Aaron finished his 1973 season playing for the Atlanta Braves with a career 713 homers, leaving everyone to wait on the edge of their seats through winter until the new season in the spring of 1974.
ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMPS: June 5–7 July 17–19 June 19–21 Aug. 7–9 July 3–5 Sept. 5–7
SUMMER PROGRAM: Session 1 begins June 1 Session 2 begins June 29 Session 3 begins Aug. 3
For more information, go to TexasBaseballRanch.com/events.
On Opening Day, Aaron hit number 714. And when the Braves returned to Atlanta for their home opener against the Dodgers, he didn’t make fans wait much longer. In the fourth inning, Aaron blasted a shot to left field, where it cleared the fence for home run number 715. He broke Babe Ruth’s 39-year record, and the celebration that ensued was well deserved by players and fans alike.
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