At First Glance

image: freep.com

My wife and I just had a baby. Hold the applause, it's our fourth which usually reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's take on having 4 kids (hilarity ensues). While in the hospital I finished the book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. The official title of the book is Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The book was a fascinating read! So much information on micro-expressions and our ability to read a scenario in a split second. People call it intuition or discernment, but there's a science behind those words to prove what everyone feels. There was even a TV show that my wife and I loved until it was cancelled. 

I thought about our athletes that we train and how they can use that in their games to help give a competitive advantage. Almost everyone has a tell. Poker players are the best at keeping their emotions in check and not giving away too much from their face, demeanor, voice, etc. Those that have devoted their lives to the study of micro-expressions can tell instantly what someone is thinking or if someone is lying. What a huge competitive advantage not only in life, but in sports in general. Imagine being in a Taekwondo match and being able to know what kind of move your competitor is going to do based on tells he's giving you. Pitchers spend years trying to throw from the same arm angle with the same body movement so they don't give away the type of pitch they're throwing. 

Here are a couple of examples. I love me some Torii Hunter (though the guy does need to update his website). The guy can flat out play. Not only is he a baller, but he gets the business side of it too. He has this amazing ability to watch film of a pitcher and pinpoint what kind of pitch is being thrown based on something he saw. Often times he'll tell his fellow teammates about what to look for and they're either in awe or confused at what he's looking at. One of the coaches I work with said he was scouting a kid and noticed that he blew a bubble every time he was getting ready to throw a fastball (ikr?). Base runners have the same type of tell, you typically can't see their faces because you're too far away, but their body shift, movement, reaction after watching the third base coach, etc. gives it away. Remember when Dave Roberts stole 2nd base during the Red Sox comeback in 2004? Everyone in the stadium knew he was running so that may be too obvious on an example, but people give away their actions before they do it all the time. Why would base running or laying down a bunt be any different?

I've always said that my loyalty is to whatever will help give my athletes an advantage during competition (legal advantage that is). It's something my athletes should know about and I don't think is being utilized enough during competition. So for my athletes that read this, yes we are going to be adding this to our training. You're welcome.