Pitching Drills - Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!

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Pitching Drills - Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!

By Nate Barnett

Being a pitcher and pitching instructor for the last 25 years I have come to realize a couple of things that help athletes progress quickly. Some athletes have all of the talent in the world, but they lack the desire and intensity it takes to succeed. Many pitchers who lack the natural ability to throw the ball tend to have the desire to win and they do whatever it takes to succeed. They are the ones who tend to make it. They go out and find the talent! Well, if you want a winning team or you want to play for a winning team at a higher level; you need to have both a desire to win, an amazing work ethic and great skill set.

I recently read a book by professional figure skater Scott Hamilton. In that book he talked about work ethic and his desire to be the best figure skater in the world. He also discussed how important it was for him to do perfect his skating drills. One in particular was the challenging figure eight drill. This drill was particularly difficult for Scott and many other figure skaters. You see the blade of the skates carve through the ice. The blades are not very wide but they leave a tiny trail where you have previously skated. Once Scott would do a backward figure eight on the ice, he had to skate backwards again, on one leg, and go directly over the same figure eight again without veering off that same path. I hope you can imagine how difficult that drill is after that brief explanation.

Even after Scott Hamilton felt he had perfected the backward figure eight drill, he still did it for two hours a day. Yes, two hours a day. Perfection is what he was after and he would accept nothing less than that. He contributed his figure skating success to his constant focus on that specific figure eight drill he did time and time again.

Are you doing your pitching drills? What specific baseball drills are you focused on right now that are going to take you to the next level? Do you know what baseball drills are going to make you better in the first place? Do you think you just have to play a lot of games to get better or do you think that implementing some baseball specific drills will help you?

I will tell you right now that you better have a plan to succeed if you plan on playing at the professional level. No matter how old you are right now, you better know what baseball drills you need to do to take you there. You need to set aside at least an hour a day to work on your drills. Proper pitching mechanics or hitting mechanics don't just happen. Professional pitchers just don't suddenly have a 90 mile an hour fastball one day. Manny Ramirez didn't just pick up a bat and have great hitting mechanics and amazing bat speed. Practice, practice and more practice. Repeating the right movements (hitting and pitching drills) over and over again is what makes you a better player.

Nate Barnett is co-owner of The Pitching Academy.

After finishing a professional career in the Seattle Mariners Organization, Nate pursued his coaching and motivational training career. You can find The Pitching Academy's videos, blog, and more articles when you visit the website.

The Pitching Academy's pitching mechanics DVD.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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