Parents || Page 6 || Baseball Dudes LLC

Entitlement

Jun

2015-04-23 09.22.08 With success, you may see it. With talent and ability, you may see it. With a job title, you may see it. With age, you may see it. With a certain last name, you may see it and with experience, you may see it.

In the end, it comes down to ego. You can see it at all different ages. Parents, our goal should be to raise young people who understand what this means and make it a point to not let this happen.

Teach them to give by nature and to not expect. Be ok with being treated as an equal no matter if they are the best player on their team, the coaches kid or if they have been playing longer than their teammates.

Acting as if you deserve to be treated differently reveals a selfish mentality. This attitude can rip teams, families and relationships apart. Yes, your experience may be deserving of a different treatment, but carrying yourself in a manner that you are on a higher level than those around you will lead to a reputation of there being one person that matters most to you…YOU.

Most would care to not have this type of reputation, but if you find yourself thinking that you deserve this or you deserve that, then yes, you have a “Sense of Entitlement”.

Be Selfless, think of others first, stop wanting and start giving. Stop thinking about what you don’t have and start thinking about what you do have.

Chris Gissell

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

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Categories : Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Dudes Blog, Parents

Emotions and Body Language

May

2014-06-12 15.28.26 True competitors are often very emotional. They have the tendency to get very excited when great things happen and get very frustrated when things go against them. This is the nature of a competitor.

You watch any game in person or on TV, there is a good chance you will see both sides of this. I was brought up to never do something that will let your opponents know that they are getting the better of you or do anything that would rub your success in their face. These traits, I believe, are a huge reason why I feel I was able to play for as long as I did with very average stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a learning curve. I had plenty of games, early in my career, where I let my emotions get the best of me, but I did get a grip on it. Through trail and error, it got to the point where I had coaches who would ask if I was happy with my performance or if I was disappointed. Of course I was happy when I did my part and the team won, that was my job, and of course I was disappointed when the team lost, but I would never let my emotions waiver. This is what I learned about myself and what would allow me to stay in the right place, mentally, to go out and perform outing after outing. Never get too high and never get too low. Stay even keel through success AND failure.

When you do see a player who has poor body language, you are seeing a player who is most likely one of the mentally weaker ones on the field. If they can’t control their appearance, in my experience, they will have a hard time controlling their emotions when they are on the mound or in the box in a big situation.

The player who is great at controlling their body language, in success and failure, is the player who is mentally stronger and will win the battle of longevity in the end.

Here are some examples of poor body language to look out for…
-Throwing their hands up in the air, or throwing their head back, after they think the umpire missed a call.
-Yelling at their teammates, while on the field, when they make a mistake.
-Striking out and slamming their bat, or helmet, on the ground.
-Yelling out curse words when they get to the dugout.

This goes for us coaches too. Remember, we are our Dudes role models. How we handle success, and adversity, is an example to them. We are telling them how we think it’s okay to act. With that in mind, keep yourself in check at all times.

Poor body language is a direct reflect of ones mental toughness. Learn how to control your emotions boys!

Chris Gissell

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Categories : Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Hitting, Parents, Pitching

Leading By Example

Apr

2015-03-19 16.58.16 Being around this game from the Little League level to the Big League level, one thing that is consistent from level to level is the human factor.

Let’s talk about the strike zone. Don’t pay attention to what the rule book says as all umpires have their own version. Some are bigger up and down than they are side to side while others are bigger side to side than they are up and down. If you have never been behind the dish, then you really don’t know how difficult it is to be consistent back there. This is part of the human factor. Just as the players have a tough time repeating their swing pitch after pitch and the pitchers have a tough time executing pitch after pitch, the umpire behind the plate can battle calling the same strike zone pitch after pitch.

We ALL need to recognize this, chill out and let the game play out as it will. One thing that I learned over the years is that it all evens out. For all the pitches that we believe the umpire missed, if we sit back and think about it, how many times has a pitcher thrown a pitch off the plate, side to side or down or up, that should have been called a ball but was called a strike??

The part I have a hard time with is seeing/watching players, young and old, complain, throw their hands in the air, yell at the umpires and act as if they are constantly being screwed. Where do you think they learned how to act like this?? Think about it parents and coaches…Who do they look up to? We, parents and coaches, are their closest role models. What type of example are we setting when we act like this?

Missed calls are a part of the game. Deal with it, stop complaining, act professional and use this as an opportunity to learn how to handle some adversity because if they can’t handle it in a game, how will they handle it in real life??

Chris Gissell

baseballdudes.com

Categories : Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Parents

TRUTH

Mar

2015-02-28 13.27.37-1
TRUTH…The chances of an amateur player becoming a Major Leaguer (Just because a player is drafted, it does not mean they are a Major Leaguer) are so slim. I’ve heard all sorts of odds but have no idea what is exact. Personally, I have seen some of the most talented players in the world fall victim to the quality of competition, the amount of players in professional baseball as talented as they are along with all of the politics that come with all youth and professional sports. As parents, we need to keep this all in perspective while supporting our Dudes in any way we can. Motivate them to be the best they can be while at the same time, not overdoing it when it comes to pushing them and/or providing them with opportunities.

Use this game to teach them about life. How to deal with other people. What dedication is. What it means to have a strong work ethic and how that will affect them, for better or worse, later in life. How to handle themselves properly in moments of adversity and the proper way to handle success (Be Humble!)

The number of years they will get to play this game will be so small compared to the number of years they live but the number of life lessons they can learn in those years is why this game is so great. If they have a great day, be proud of them and help keep them grounded and when they have a bad day, help them learn from it as they need to be able to accept the failures in baseball, and in life, if they want to grow.

Chris Gissell

baseballdudes.com

Categories : Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Dudes Blog, Parents

Baseball Lessons=Life Lessons

Dec

2014-11-26 18.47.12-1 If you play this game long enough, you will most definitely experience failure over and over and over. I was blessed to play this game for a long time, briefly make it as far as you can, and experience some amazing highs and the lowest of lows. From MVP awards to not making it out of the first inning while giving up 6 runs and only getting one out!

The lessons this game has taught me have molded me into the adult I am today. Along the way, people were put in my life that taught me valuable lessons. From coaches who were amazing teachers to coaches who had no business being in the position they were in. They taught me how I wanted to act and how I most certainly didn’t want to act.

I will always remember how tough this game is to play…Remember how hard it is to hit a baseball, how hard it is to throw the ball to a specific location, how hard it is to field a ground ball on a bumpy surface, how hard it is catch a fly ball on a windy/sunny day and how hard it is to be consistent at all of it.

With that said, as long as a player is giving me their best attitude and their best effort, I will never get upset with them over their ability and game play. If it was as easy as many think and/or act like it is, there would be a lot more MLB teams than just 30.

Bottom line…Be positive, be motivating, be inspiring and be supportive of your Dude when it comes to playing this game. So many lessons to be learned and the more they will get to experience the longer they play.

Chris Gissell

baseballdudes.com

Categories : Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Parents

BE SMART

Nov

2014-11-16 22.31.04 BE SMART…Our PDP students will not pick up a baseball from October thru December. Somewhere along the line, the idea of throwing a baseball year round came about as a way to get ahead. Well…It’s Not! The arm needs a break. Time to heal up and give a player some time to play another sport, focus on the mental side of the game, focus on overall strength or just be a kid. I strongly recommend taking at least 2.5 months off of throwing, and 3 would be great!

We use the months of November and December to focus on our Mental Toughness & Leadership Skills through class room work and also meet to focus on arm care routines, the fundamentals of our swings, the fundamentals of the different positions and some speed and agility when we can.

Parents…Take care of your Dudes arm. Please educate yourself on this and have a plan for the off seasons. If you want suggestions on this, please feel free to send us a message or email us and we will help in any way we can.

Chris Gissell

baseballdudes.com

Categories : Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Parents, Pitching

Learn From Each Other

Jul

Everyday, we (my pitchers and I) start our day with a meeting. We will go over the plan for the day, maybe fill them in on some information about future travel or something and then we get into discussing the events that occurred in the game the day before. This meeting usually takes between 10-20 minutes and I honestly feel that this is the part of the day where these future big leaguers grow the most.

We discuss the good, the bad and the ugly. I will most often call out the players and force them to participate. One, they need to learn to be comfortable speaking in front of others and two, the lessons we can learn from each others successes and downfalls can be great. If you were to sit in on our meetings, you would most likely hear the same things day after day, but that’s ok. If it takes one needing to hear something 100 times before they really start to understand it, then I’m going to say the same thing 100 times.

For these players to get to this level is a great success in their lives. They are the select few who have the god given talent and have worked hard enough to make it here. But often, it is a humbling experience once they start facing the competition in professional baseball. They can’t just sit back and throw the ball as hard as they can anymore because that guy in the batters box will turn around a belt high 95 mph fastball like you are throwing batting practice up there. You can’t throw an 0-2 breaking ball in the dirt every single time because these hitters are taught to look for those type of patterns.

Daily, we will discuss things like that. We also discuss others routines, and how it may be affecting their game in a good or bad way. We will discuss mistakes on the field that we all need to learn from for instance, I have a pitcher who developed a so called “Balk move” in college and he has used it successfully but got caught with it the other day and ended up balking in a run. The lesson here was that if you have one of these moves, don’t ever use it with a runner on third because you are risking giving them a free run.

From my end, having gone through what all these players are going through right now, is fun to watch. It would be very easy for me to get frustrated with them, but with my own personal experiences in this game, I understand how hard what they are doing really is. This game is very humbling. One day these kids heard their name called by a professional organization and they are on top of the world and the next day they are having missiles hit off them left and right. Only the mentally strong will survive and the more we can learn and take in, the mentally stronger we will get.

Be observant, go into it with a open mind and don’t get caught thinking that you have it figured out. Learn everyday.

Chris Gissell

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Categories : Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Parents

Teachable Moments

Apr

One of the biggest things I have learned since becoming a coach a few years ago is to NEVER let a “Teachable Moment” pass. If, and when, coaches do, they are doing that player a disservice and quite frankly, not living up to their name…”COACH”.

I got to watch my 10 year old son play last night which was a special moment. With all the traveling I do, I don’t get to watch him play much in person. He started the third inning on the mound. Here’s a summary of how it went…

He fell behind in the count often which made the hitters comfortable, so when he did put the ball over the plate, there were a few hard hit balls. Added a walk in there and unfortunately his defense had a tough inning too.

Here are the negatives we talked about after the game. First, we talked about hitter’s counts and what they are (whenever there are more balls than strikes). Second, when there were runners on base and the ball was hit to the outfield, he just stood on the mound. We talked about how he should always be moving to either cover an unoccupied base or backing one up incase of an overthrow.

Here are the positives we talked about. His mound presence was great. He didn’t hang his head or show emotion when things weren’t going his way (giving up hard hit balls or his defense making errors behind him). He covered home perfectly on a wild pitch, though the catcher didn’t throw him the ball and tried to tag the runner himself who ended up scoring (hope the catcher was talked to about that). He was able to self adjust a mechanical issue half way through the inning which helped him get his FB back in the strike zone. The thing I think he did best was that he didn’t give up. Even with nothing going his way, he kept competing. As a coach, that is all we can ask.

In every game, win or lose, there is always something to learn from it. As a coach, it is our job not to let a single “Teachable Moment” pass. These are the little things that can make or break a team/player. Help the players understand that we need to learn from the negatives and focus on the positives.

Chris Gissell

baseballdudes.com

Categories : Chris Gissell, Coaching, Parents, Pitching

Think Before You Speak

Feb

This applies to everyone, not just baseball players and coaches. We all have heard at some point that our words can hurt. Not only can our words hurt someone, they can affect how we are perceived by others. Our students who work through our “Life & Leadership” workbooks hear about this often. This also is a topic often spoken about in my own household.

My boys were at the park one day with a couple buddies playing football when my younger one came to me saying one of the boys made a comment about his catching ability. The kid who said it is a very nice kid and my younger boy (8) is still pretty sensitive. When we talked about it later, I tried to get him to understand that the buddy wasn’t trying to be mean, he was just stating what he was seeing. I’m sure how the buddy worded his comment didn’t come across the way an adult would have said it, but that’s to be expected from a 10 year old. The point I was trying to get across was that whenever we are thinking about saying or doing something, we need have better control of ourselves and think about how our words or actions will affect the people around us and how it might make us appear to others. He needed to recognize that his buddy wasn’t being mean, but in the moment, he made the wrong choice in saying the words he did. He obviously didn’t think about how his words would affect my boy.

As an adult, it still amazes me when I come across other adults that still don’t have what I call a “Filter” in their head between their brain and their mouth. This is the place where an idea stops and for a second and your brain decides whether it’s a good idea or bad idea to do or say whatever it just came up with.

I am very fortunate to spend a lot of time around some of the best baseball minds in the world. Guys who had great MLB careers. Unfortunately, with that kind of success, you often find big egos and with that you come across people who love to her themselves speak and feel that everyone wants to hear what they have to say at all times.

The best and most influential people I have been around are the ones who only speak when spoken to and only voice their opinion when it will have an impact on what’s in front of them.

Early in my professional life, I was one of these people with no filter. I would just say or ask whatever came to mind. I look back now and realize how ignorant and immature I was making myself look. My “Filter” was non existent. Fortunately, I have learned from my mistakes and am excited to be able to teach my students from my own experiences. It can be a tough lesson to learn but the sooner in life we learn/teach this life lesson, the easier we can make things for our ourselves, and our Dudes, later in life.

ALWAYS, “Think Before You Speak”

Chris Gissell

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Categories : All Articles, Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Dudes Blog, Parents

I Play Clean

Sep

68981_160819980608472_3792825_n For those of you who may not have heard yet, we have partnered up with “I Play Clean”. Their mission is to educate and encourage high school students to make the right choice of playing clean – that is, training hard, eating well and playing with attitude, instead of resorting to illegal and dangerous steroids and performance enhancing products.

They are a Non-Profit organization and the partnership couldn’t be more perfect. This topic is something I feel very strongly about. I was raised in a house where when you had a goal, the way you would reach it would be through hard work and dedication. I take pride in knowing that everything I achieved in my playing days was a direct result of me working my butt off to get everything I could out of my talent.

I played in a generation where the use of performance enhancing drugs was at it’s peak. I sat in locker rooms knowing that the guy next to me was using steroids. It didn’t bother me. I truly believe that it didn’t because of the mindset I was brought up with. I learned through this game that, yes it is a team sport, but for my team to be great, it took each of my teammates to know what it took for them to be good as often as possible. I couldn’t control what they did or didn’t do. Once I realized this in my career, things got better for me. I found a routine that I did daily which helped me to be the best I could be for my team every day my name was called. The best in this game are better more often. To be better more often comes from a mindset and desire to be as consistent as you can be.

These guys I played with and against that used steroids are the type of people who are looking for the easy way. Yes, many of them reached the big leagues only because they used steroids but now these guys will have to live with remorse and hopefully regret knowing that the reason they had the success they did was because they were cheaters. Now I’m not stupid, I have spent my life around guys and have a good feel for how everyone of them has different mindsets, and realize that many will never feel these emotions. Many will sit at home in their huge house and never think twice about how they got it. That’s just the way it is.

The point of all this is, live a life of integrity and honesty. Be a strong enough person to make your own choices. If your buddies are doing something that you don’t think is right, be the bigger person and follow what your heart is telling you. You WILL feel better about yourself, and have more confidence, when you live a life by these standards.

Chris Gissell

baseballdudes.com

Categories : Baseball Life, Chris Gissell, Coaching, Dudes Blog, Parents