Coming back to coach at the 16U level is an interesting experience.
I realize more than ever than kids today want results now.
If it doesn’t work right away, it’s no good!
Why is that?
They are used to getting everything right away.
They live in a world with…
– Instant chat
– Instant texting
– Instant 24/7 news
– Instant download
– Instant pain relief
– Etc.
Even most of the advertising today for various products promises quick, if not almost instant results.
Bottom line – young athletes are conditioned to instant results.
Today’s society is losing track that success takes work, effort and time.
There is a quote that says:
“The only place where success comes before work, it’s in the dictionary!”
And that’s true.
More specifically… LEARNING TAKES TIME!
Learning a new skill or changing a bad habit doesn’t happen over night. IT TAKES TIME!
And you need to work at it too.
Here’s in a a nutshell how learning works:
At first, when you learn a new way of doing something, your performance doesn’t improve, it goes down!
Why? Because you are not used to this new way yet and you are thinking about it.
As a lot of coaches say: “It’s not in your muscle memory yet!”
After a while, this new way will become more natural and it’s only at this point that you will get better.
You’ve got to be patient. If you fix your swing mechanics, it will not pay off right away. It will be off in a couple of weeks or even months.
Again, remember this: LEARNING TAKES TIME! And effort. And work.
When you learn something new, of course, it will not work right away and it is very likely to be worse than it was until you master the new technique!!!