Corbin Burnes Uses The Off-Season to His Advantage
What are you doing today to advance your ball game? Do you feel the lock down is causing your game to be put on hold?
Even though you are experiencing time away from baseball due to the coronavirus, you have a golden opportunity to evaluate your game.
If you play baseball or softball year-round, you may feel you have little time to truly evaluate your game, create a clear vision for the future and identify a specific plan to raise your game to the next level.
You should identify both your strengths and weaknesses, so you can evaluate your game with some degree of objectively.
To effectively evaluate your game, ask yourself the following questions:
- What are my strengths on the field?
- What parts of my physical game need improvement?
- What are my mental strengths that help me play my best ball?
- What mental aspects of my game is holding me back?
When you assess your strengths objectively, you can build confidence and advance your game.
When you can identify your weaknesses and create an improvement plan, you will sustain a level of motivation to follow your plan even when you experience bumps in the road.
Even though baseball and softball seasons are paused for now as a result of the coronavirus, you can treat this period of time like it was the off-season or a time to improve your game with little distraction.
Case in point, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes considered his off-season as an opportunity to prepare and improve for the next season.
In his rookie year, Corbin Burnes was 7-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 38 innings of work but took a step backwards in his sophomore season, 1-5 with an 8.81 ERA in 4.9 innings.
Though his season was not productive, it was not a total loss. Burnes learned lessons from his seasons that he plans to apply in the 2020 season.
BURNES: “For me, it was [a matter of] when things go bad, how do you find that reset button. Whether it’s after a pitch, after an inning, whatever it may be, to get back on track. That’s something I worked on hard this offseason, you know, the mental game, what aspects I was lacking in, what I was strong in. So, that kind of shaped my offseason program.”
You can apply the same practice as Burnes to evaluate your game during your break from playing competitive games. You have a great opportunity right in front of you.
Take advantage of your increased time with minimal distractions to assess your game and create a goal-getting plan of attack to improve your game for the near future.
Hit the Reset Button and Evaluate your Game
What can you do to hit the reset button? Do you have some area of your game you’ve wanted to improve, but didn’t have time?
Design a chart with three columns. In column 1, write down your mental, physical and technical strengths. Explain how these strengths help your game.
In column 2, identify areas that need improvement. Include how these improved areas will advance your game, such as hitting, fielding, base running, flexibility etc.
In column 3, create a three-step plan to improve each area needing an upgrade. What is the goal? What is the plan? How will you go after the plan each day with intensity?
We help ball players with the mental game plan. Contact us when you are ready to hit the reset button with your mental game!
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Manage Frustration in Ball Players
- How to Keep the Game Simple After a Layoff
- Use Your Mind to Perform Better in Games
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