New commercial on Comcast

The White Sox Academy put out some new commercials that are airing in the Chicagoland area. This one features me. . . check it out!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j1PwTNKQ8c

Double Duty Classic Tryout in St. Louis in April

The Double Duty classic is a all star game comprised of some of the best high school minority players accross the country in celebration of the old Negro League All Star Game. The Negro League All Star Game was always held in Chicago at Comiskey Park. The Double Duty Classic, named after Negro League legend, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, was created in 2008 by White Sox National Crosschecker Nathan Durst. In 2008 I helped administrate the game, last year I coached and ran the workout day for the college coaches the day before the game, and this year too, I will coach the game.

The game truly replicates the feel of the old Negro League All Star game. At U.S. Cellular Field, the White Sox staff (Led by Dan Puente and Christine O'Reilly) goes all out to integrate the Negro Leagues with modern day baseball. The players wear the old flannel Negro League uniforms, minority leaders like Jesse Jackson are on hand, former Negro League all stars are in attendance, Major League Hall of Famer Frank Robinson has been in attendance. Major League Baseball personell, ESPN, and scouts from colleges and pro teams all are at the game. Entertainment is provided by local city high school bands and most inner city little leagues and schools come to the game.

On April 8 and 9 I will run the Double Duty Tryout for Missouri in St. Louis. It will be my third year doing so and some of our best talent has come out of this area. I'm looking forward to finding the next era of "stars" to play at U.S. Cel!

See below for a great video piece on the game:

http://www.312media.com/doubledutyclassic

First lesson in youth lessons

March 1 rolls around and the face of my lessons changes significantly. As high school tryouts begin, the youth players begin rolling in. Although lesson progressions change little due to age (because its the same swing) my emphasis does change a bit. You see, most youth players (and many high schoolers even) lack proprioception and kinesthetic sense. What this means in terms of a lesson, is that I can see his swing is out of synch, he's laying the bat off, or his front side is blocking off back side. But this means little to a player who has never been taught how to separate body parts. Beginning players often lack coordination, balance and the body awareness to put together a complex move like the swing or the pitching delivery. This is because they have only thought of the swing as one "move" when in reality its a series of moves, flowing into each other in a kinetic chain that makes up a larger, continuous movement.

So, I often tell these players, in their first few lessons, that I'm going to teach them less about their swing and more about how they are going to use their bodies. The reason behind this is that I can't teach them the complex motor skills without them having enough kinesthetic sense to "feel" how the movement works. If you can't feel the difference between "right" and "wrong" then the players will always struggle to "get" the movement or ever be consistent in his mechanics. You have to train the brain and the body before you teach the task. This I learned over time, (about 1,500 hours in a cage a year certainly helps) and my lessons have been so much more effective in a shorter time, than they were when I first started doing this many years ago.