They are fundamental in nature, but we’ve gotten so far away from the fundamentals.
“Athletes, the 3 most important things you can do this summer are:
Eat.
Train.
Have fun.
Grinding yourself to a pulp, burning monumental amounts of calories, while getting weaker and mentally bit is the fastest way to decrease performance and increase injury risk.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
You see it every year.
Baseball players (and this goes for all sports) who have been playing baseball since, well, since really forever ago, but really “in-season” since January.
We get to Late June/Early July, after 6 months of daily tying their identities to an activity and they are literally spent. Physically and mentally.
We have to bring in the left fielder to pitch in the ‘HypeBeast Mega Elite Classic’ (that no scouts are at) to throw because, “we’ve ran out of arms”, imagine that. Jimmy, a nonpitcher, trots up to the mound, shells out some 61 mph fastballs just to get to the end of the consolation game.
Thank goodness, we scraped by this ‘do or die’ tournament. Coach’s truck payment is due Tuesd…. I mean, because of uhh development, yeah, development!
I understand I alone can’t shift the narrative, so it is important for me to react to reality.
And the best advice I can give kids who are in the soup this summer (really year-round) is this:
1. Eat.
2. Train.
3. Have Fun.
1. Eat – Athletes have no idea how many calories they are actually burning during the summer with ultra-high temps, sweating their butts off and many hours of activity. You’re not always going to feel hungry, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need calories. You must eat. A lot. A cliff bar and string cheese isn’t going to do it for you. In the summers, I used to eat 3,000 calories a day… before noon.. and then I would really start to get hungry in the afternoons and evenings. EAT.
2. Train – “We don’t have time.” Yes you do. You just have to manage your time wisely. The objective of training during the season, isn’t to further drain resources from your cup that is being rapidly pillaged by over-prescription of sport, it’s to keep you strong and held together to mitigate the adverse effects of what you’re doing too much of. Train.
3. Have fun – They won’t tell you this. But you are a kid. You’re allowed to have fun. Hang with your friends, go to the pool, eat pizza, sleep over with your buddies. It will let off some of the (unnecessary) pressure and increase your performance.
