Arm Injury Prevention

Exercises to avoid arm injury courtesy of baseball nebraska:

http://baseballnebraska.com/atc_arm_exercises.htm

He's made unselfish kind of a cool thing

The following is an excerpt from an article by Pat Forde from ESPN.com on Tim Tebow that the quality of his character:

We can vigorously debate Tebow's place in college football history as a player. What's not up for debate is his unparalleled ability to provoke the deepest of feelings in fans of the sport.

He said afterward that he wants the fans to remember him for "how much I cared." The fact is, fans have never cared so much about a player before.

"I've never seen anything like it," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "… He's made unselfish kind of a cool thing."

None of us has seen anything like it. What makes Tebow unique in the 140-year history of this game is not just his unquenchable spirit. It's his generosity of spirit.

The numbers and awards are all impressive and voluminous, but they're not what have made the quarterback a historic figure in Florida and beyond. That's due to the winning attributes, the leadership qualities, the endless acts of charity performed off the field, the ability to graciously lead a heavily scrutinized life.

You just don't find all those things in a single college-aged package.

Tebow long ago entered another dimension of stardom, as his impact went viral. He is the most polarizing college athlete ever, by a wide margin, engendering the deepest of feelings across the culture.

Read the entire article: http://bit.ly/6Xnn0y

Passion!

"What carries people to the top? What makes them take risks, go the extra mile, and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals? It isn't talent. It's passion. Passion is more important than a plan. Passion creates fire. It provides fuel. I have yet to meet a passionate person who lacked energy. As long as the passion is there, it doesn't matter if they fail. It doesn't matter how many times they fall down. It doesn't matter if others are against them or if people say they cannot succeed. They keep going and make the most of whatever talent they possess. They are talent-plus people and do not stop until they succeed."

From "Talent Is Never Enough" by John Maxwell

Self Confidence

From John Maxwell's book, Talent is not Enough:

The first and greatest obstacle to success for most people is their belief in themsevles. Once people figure out where their sweet spot is (the area where they are most gifted), what often hinders them isn't lack of talent. It's lack of trust in themselves, which is a self-imposed limitation. lack of belief can act as a ceiling on talent. However, when people believe in themselves, they unleash power in themselves and resources around them that almost immediately take them to a higher level. Your potential is a picture of what you can become. Belief helps you see the picture and reach for it.

The secret ingredient to winning more

The following comes from the Zig Ziglar newsletter and is written by James Smith, this was originally posted on hoopthoughts.blogspot.com :

It’s the one thing every one of us is familiar with, the one thing we’re able to accomplish, and even the one thing we have done our whole life. Yet, when it comes to winning, many of us lose so much because of this one key ingredient.

Amazingly, you’re doing it right now, but are you doing it to win?

If you study winners, over-achievers, the movers, the shakers, the top percentage in any class - regardless of gender, race, age, or religion, you will find a constant thread that’s so common it’s almost scary. And here’s where the really scary part comes in. The ones who are not part of the over-achievers group are actually partaking in this common thread even more, yet they’re not reaping the benefits. Now that’s insulting, unfair, and downright cruel. But it’s all by choice, our choice!

The ingredient I’m speaking of is Managed Pain. Huh? Yes, let me explain. We’ve all heard “No Pain, No Gain,” but it’s interesting to note when you study the core differences between winning and losing you will not discover a lack of talent, knowledge, brilliance, hard work, or raw skill. What you will find is those who consistently win have learned how to manage the pain they face on the way.

I’m referring to pain as anything that’s not pleasurable, such as; inconvenience, change, effort, sweat, boredom, confusion, loneliness, fear, etc. Winners realize pain for the proper purpose is productive. You see, all of us will go through a lot of pain in life. Winners spend more of their time going through pain that aligns with their goals, their vision, or their purpose. Amazingly, those who aren’t winning are also dealing with pain and to make it really bad, the pain they’re in is often not for a proper purpose!

Why is this? Lots of reasons: not knowing our purpose, not having written goals or visions, afraid, no system in place, or we simply give up on our inner capabilities. Regardless of why, those who miss out on the winning certainly don’t miss out on the pain. What a letdown. If we’re going to go through pain anyway, shouldn’t it be planned, managed, and on purpose as much as possible?I spent many years running from pain. To put it simply, I’m a pleasure junky. But the more I ran from pain, the more pain I went through because there’s pain on all roads, even the detours. I’ve finally learned that pain is a major part of winning. It’s the pain from losing that makes the pleasure from winning so wonderful.

Think about this: thirst is what makes water so valuable. Being cold is the only way we can ever appreciate and enjoy being warm, or vice versa.

Did you know when you grasp the idea that pain is part of the process you can instantly win more out of life than you’ve ever imagined? Your new perception will tell you recessions, layoffs, or other unforeseen adversities are part of the process. Instead of getting a bad attitude and immediately running from it you will stop, analyze the situation, check it against your goals or visions for life, and if it lines up you will go through the pain instead of take a detour!

TEAMWORK

“Team Sports are really difficult things. Sometimes your team wins because of you, sometimes in spite of you, and sometimes its like you are not even there. That’s the reality of the team game. Then at one point in my career something wonderful happened I don’t know why or how but I came to understand what “team” meant. It meant that although I didn’t get a hit or make a great defensive play, I could impact the team in an incredible and consistent way. I learned I could impact my team by caring first and foremost about the team’s success and not my own. I don’t mean by rooting for us like a typical fan, fans are fickle. I mean care, really care about the team…about “us”. I became less selfish, less lazy, less sensitive to negative comments. When I gave up me, I became more. I became a captain, a leader, a better person and I came to understand that life is a team game…and you know what?…I’ve found most people aren’t team players. They don’t realize that life is the only game in town. Someone should tell them. It has made all the difference in the world to me. “

Don Mattingly/All Star first baseman/NY Yankee Captain

Wanting to get better

Five years ago, Tim Lincecum was on his way to earning Freshman of the Year honors at the University of Washington.

Today, he's getting ready for his second season since winning the Cy Young Award in November of last year. Nicknamed "The Freak," the 5-foot-11, 174-pound Lincecum isn't resting on his laurels.

"I always want to get better," said Lincecum, who had a league-high 265 strikeouts last season for the Giants. "I come into this year, I'm not just sitting on my ass hoping everything's going to be all right because of last year. I've got to come out here and work and become better. That's what it takes to be a good major-league baseball player."

Committed or interested?

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses.”

-John Maxwell

WINNING

“We just want to win. That’s the bottom line. I think a lot of times people may become content with one championship or a little bit of success, but we don’t really reflect on what we’ve done in the past. We focus on the present.” – Derek Jeter