JL Baseball - Hold that rope!

JL Academy Baseball

The game of baseball is an individual sport played on a team.  The analogy is simple.  Our team hangs at the end of a rope dangling off of a high cliff.  When it is your turn to hold the rope our very lives are in your hands.  Who do you know that is going to let that rope burn their hand and not let go?  How many teammates are going to withstand the burning pain and watch the blood drip from their hands for you? If you can name two people, that's not good enough, because those two people might not be around. The next time your team is together, look around and ask yourself, "Who can I trust to hold the rope? Who is going to let their hands bleed for me?" When you can look at every your teammates and know they all will hope the rope, you are certain to win a lot of ball games.  Attitude, focus, personal commitment, and unbelievable effort are required on your part every time you hold that rope.

We are here, to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves.  We join together and believe in one another and we push each other to achieve heights that can only be reached when we all hold that rope.  A quiet confidence comes from knowing that while we may be from all walks of life and we might face tough competitors along the way; collectively, we will rely on tremendous hustle, grit, and sound fundamentals to meet our challenges. We are hard workers through and through.

Don’t worry about the things you can’t control, it’s a waste of our time.  The only things you can control when stepping out on that diamond are effort, and attitude.  You give 100% of both and I guarantee you will see results.  Resist the temptation to buy into any media hype.  It will only serve to distract and move us further from our goal.  Keep your eyes on the ball sharpen your focus.  Grasp the importance of now and win this pitch.  Good…now go do it again.  Then when the last pitch finally is won, and the championship game is over, we will have our outcome.  But know this, a single game or a single tournament does not define a champion.  A true champion emerges in the weight room, a determined energy, sweaty and short of breath, mentally driving his body beyond fatigue, beyond pain, beyond reason to the point of exhaustion.  How far an athlete will push the limit when no one is watching – that’s the essence of a champion. Athletes who fail to become winners are those who fear the commitment.