Posted by: Doug () on Tue Mar 18 10:33:10 2003

Change begins in the mind of the athlete. It is the neuromuscular patterns that must become engrained into the athletes physical activity. A change happens the instant think of the change that needs to occur. In athletics, in order for the change to become instinctive, the activity must be practiced over time. In situations, the activity will at times be absent, because of the repetition of the previous action.
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> It can take time to break a swing habit.
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> Changing the number one player in the world's swing is not something a "guru" trying to make a name for themselves tries to do. It is what an athlete does who wants to continue to be the best. If there is better more efficient way to do something that allows the athlete to stay the best in the world for an extended period of time, the athlete will do it. If Jack or Mike or anyone else were the best instructors in the world, and someone came along with a proven better way to teach, I would think they would change, too. I would hope that every coach out there who thinks they are the best at what they do never stops learning and exploring every avenue available to make their teaching better. Because believe it or not, we can all still learn something if we keep an open mind. Its when we think we have 30 years of experience doing something one way and resist further education, that our athletes suffer.
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> By the way, Tiger Woods was the NUMBER ONE player in the world when he completely overhauled his swing. Tiger did this because he wanted to stay on top and his conditioning level improved so much, that he had to change his swings because it was ".... like swinging with a new body." (tiger woods-Golf Digest)
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> Doug, if Barry had two clones who sandwiched him in the line up, what do you do as an oposing pitcher. What it there were five Barry clones in the same line up, do you walk them all? This just hypothetical, so don't get testy, just answer. My point, is that athletes need to take more interest in always trying to be the best they can be...they shouldn't be held back by coaches who can't help them make changes, so instead, they say, "You are already, the best...Don't change a thing." When in essence, that's the guy that is the hardest to change. Anybody can take an obviously bad hitter and make them somewhat better, but how do you refine the best hitter? You have to have more data.
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> I have analyzed top draft prospects and many times come to the conclusion, this kid is making the most of (if he gets there) bad mechanics. how long can he play in the majors with a swing like that. But the coaches around the athlete claim the kid is the second coming of Ted Williams. The kid will have to make obvious changes to me or will not make it to the big league show because of weaknesses in the swing. That doesn't mean he can't beat the odds, its just that the odds are greater. Remember there are millions of athletes in youth ball hoping for thousands of college spots or hundreds of pro spots.
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> Bottom line: A player should always strive to make imrpovements, no matter how good they (or anyone else) thinks they are...especially if they are the best in the world.

Zig, I agree that a player should always strive to become better. My question to you if I were to have interest in your ability to teach would be this: 1. Who have you taught and where are they at. 2.Give me their phone numbers and I will call them to verify that you have helped them. The hypothetical means very little, as there is only one Barry Bonds. Who are the top prospects that you have analyzed? What do you teach? What I am saying is that there are quite a few people out there that have cameras and computers and equipment to analyze with but it is of little value unless the person using it knows what and how to teach. A million dollars worth of equipment won't help fix a swing unless the person using it knows what to look for.