http://www.uruke.org Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:03:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 http://www.uruke.org/baseball-training-%e2%80%93-technology-enhances-equipment.html http://www.uruke.org/baseball-training-%e2%80%93-technology-enhances-equipment.html#comments Sun, 27 Mar 2011 07:48:40 +0000 hanun http://www.nailaintan.co.cc/baseball-training-%e2%80%93-technology-enhances-equipment.html

 

Baseball Training – Technology Enhances Equipment

Baseball training has made tremendous strides in recent years due to the technological advances of baseball softball training equipment. As an adjunct to coaching and mentoring, softball baseball training equipment can produce amazing results for hitters and pitchers through repetition and feedback. The Batters Edge™ and the VLM Pitchtracker are the most advanced hitting and pitching products available on the market today.

Baseball Training – Repetition Keys Performance

Muscle memory and skills training are the two major ingredients in successful performance outcomes. We perform functions daily that have been engrained through repetition. For example, piano players utilize skills training and muscle memory acquired through repetitive actions in order to achieve high performance levels. In much the same way, baseball hitting drills and softball hitting drills can effect superb results based on muscle memory and skills training.

Baseball Training – Good Practice Habits Buoy Outcome

As youngsters we are taught by our parents and coaches the basic techniques of baseball training. Parents often engage in hitting drills in baseball with their youngsters, or they may participate in softball hitting drills. In softball/baseball training, repetition keys muscle memory, which is the memory used by the muscle sets involved in a particular activity. In the same way that we adopt a particular penmanship through muscle memory, hitters can develop good technique through repetitive skills training.

Baseball Training – Technology Advances Muscle Memory

Through technological advancement, players of all ages can develop the muscle memory and skills training necessary to excel. Historically, Mom may have been able to provide some softball batting training for her daughter, while Dad worked on softball stride training at the plate. Mentors, however, can assist just so much.

Today, there are baseball training equipment supports that will facilitate softball/baseball training. A-Game Technology has recently developed two baseball training supports that are revolutionizing the way the game is taught.

Baseball Training – The Batter’s Edge™

The Batter’s Edge™ is a revolutionary baseball training product designed to reinforce the proper balance and hip rotation needed to perfect the swing. The Batter’s Edge™ is a platform that embraces the body’s muscle memory to enable hitters to maintain a balanced swing.

Through repetitions, the balanced swing becomes second nature to hitters and, as a result of the augmentation of their muscle memory; the adjustment to live pitching in a game is seamless. The Batter’s Edge™ is a baseball training device that is suitable for players age 8 years and up.

The product is ideal for use in dirt, grass, or artificial surfaces. It can be used in hitting drills in softball and baseball off a tee, from a pitching machine, or in soft toss.



Baseball Training – VLM Pitchtracker

A-Game Technology has brought the art and science of pitching into the 21st Century with the VLM Pitchtracker. Now, pitchers are able to refine their skills through the marriage of modern technology with the development of muscle memory and proper skills training.

Through this cutting edge development designed to enhance pitcher training, pitchers can perfect their release points in order to achieve incredible results. This device tracks the movement, velocity and location of a pitch and it presents the results for coaches, parents, mentors and players for review in a user-friendly visual format.

Pitchers are able to perfect their mechanics and see immediate and remarkable improvements in their ability to throw a pitch where it’s meant to go. Coaches can use the VLM Pitchtracker to analyze multiple pitching factors and to chart progress over a period of time.

Both the Batter’s Edge and the VLM Pitchtracker are available at www.agametechnology.com , and further information on both these amazing baseball training aids can be obtained at the website.







]]> http://www.uruke.org/baseball-training-%e2%80%93-technology-enhances-equipment.html/feed 0 http://www.uruke.org/spiritual-life-skill-coaching-foundations-create-the-life-you-desire-build-balanced-relationships.html http://www.uruke.org/spiritual-life-skill-coaching-foundations-create-the-life-you-desire-build-balanced-relationships.html#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:38:01 +0000 admin http://www.nailaintan.co.cc/spiritual-life-skill-coaching-foundations-create-the-life-you-desire-build-balanced-relationships.html

I have been pondering on the questions and concerns that many clients ask me in my life skill coaching work. Spirit guided me toward sharing information about Foundations. At one point I created a diagram that depicting the different levels in relationships. By using the analogy of the foundation of a building or a house as a comparison to the spiritual aspect of relationships, we know that without a foundation the house has nothing to stand on. Without a Spiritual foundation a relationship has nothing to stand on.

Without a Spiritual Foundation our lives have nothing to stand on.There is nothing to hold us together when we don’t build from the inside out. We just float around like a boat that is lost in the ocean. Everything that is built on the physical plane has some kind of a base to build from. A car has to have an engine to run. The frame could be great to look at, but without the motor there is no way that the car is going to move. That works the same way on every aspect of the material plane.

What makes us think that we can live our lives and not make Spirituality our first priority? Nothing works from the outside in. Everything is based on building from the inside out. Sometimes in life skill coaching I ask clients’ what their Spiritual base is, when it is apparent they are struggling with life issues that need deeper attention. In order to support them I ask that question to be able to direct them to the right resources that best resonate with what they are focused on. Many clients are practicing Christians, many are Christian by birth, but are not currently studying anything in their faith. Other client’s are interested in Spiritual and Metaphysical tools, but have no idea which would best fit their needs.

One thing that I must mention is that tools are just that, they do not give us a base to stand on. Foundations are created with tools, but the tools are not the Source of the Power. The power of an engine or the foundation of a house is built on a tried and true method that have specifications and guidelines. When people tell me that Tarot cards, Astrology, Numerology, Psychic Readings, is what they building their foundation on, I have to correct them. Those are tools that can amplify and fine tunes a structure that is strong and solid. They are not the foundation……In life skill coaching I teach that the only foundation we can live by is one that is based on God’s word, the principles of God’s truth and any writing or teaching that is based on those principles.

Tools are our helpers. Music and Nature are magnificent support systems for our healing and alignment with Source. All other tools can be a roadmap to help us to design a firmer foundation. An analogy could be that we have bodies. They are the foundation for our physical selves. They are what we move around with on the Earth Plane. We have many tools to take advantage of regarding our bodies’ health and adornment, but our bodies are the foundation. We have freedom of choice as to how we want to make that body look, but the base of the body, shape and structure are designed by a Power greater than our own.

That is the same with our Foundation. We must keep our focus on the designer of that Power that is within us. Our lives and direction are dependent on that force. The Law of Attraction can only work when we know who we truly are. What we are made of, and where we come from. In our life skill coaching work we can take that small child within us to God. That child needs a rock solid foundation. If we didn’t get that from our parent’s we will need to reframe our thinking and programming until there is no doubt left in our hearts that God and I are One. That is our foundation……forever and ever…..and ever.

]]> http://www.uruke.org/spiritual-life-skill-coaching-foundations-create-the-life-you-desire-build-balanced-relationships.html/feed 0 http://www.uruke.org/spending-training-dollars-wisely-management-leadership-training.html http://www.uruke.org/spending-training-dollars-wisely-management-leadership-training.html#comments Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:55:04 +0000 admin http://www.nailaintan.co.cc/spending-training-dollars-wisely-management-leadership-training.html

Why You Should Throw Your Training Dollars Out the Window!

In the course of my travels, I meet interesting business people from around the world who want to build great companies. They say that people are their most important asset. They say they will stop at nothing to improve the performance of their people. They say they are ‘committed.’ Then they ask if we can help them create ‘real change’ in a two-day leadership training program, see also http://www.ihhp.com/training.htm. And I tell them to go fly a kite … well, not exactly.   (I guess we wouldn’t have much of a business if I did that too many times!) 

The point is that two days are simply not enough. Athletes get this—they understand that to change a golf swing, a volleyball serve, or a quarterback’s throwing mechanics, it requires more than a few days of focus. Pilots also get this—flight simulators were created for a specific reason; to put these skilled technicians in challenging situations so many times that their reflex reactions become skilled and second nature.

What athletes and pilots understand is that training without an ‘after-action review’ or ‘back brief’ is useless. At IHHP, http://www.ihhp.com/,  we call it ruthless accountability – something that holds you accountable to the change you are attempting to make.

This concept is the same when managing a team or leading an organization: no follow-up after training equals no  sustained learning. Three critical steps are required to achieve any significant change in behavior and performance in sport or business:

focus over time repetition, and ruthless accountability.

It won’t work with two steps . . . and certainly not with just one (e.g. “Budgets are tight and we have only two days”).  If you miss any of these steps, you might as well throw your training budget out the window because it will be about as effective. Change that . . .  it will be more effective. Tossing your money out the window at least ensures that the following scenario (which occurs thousands of times a week in hundreds of companies all over the world) doesn’t actually happen: a group of people step into a room for a few days to improve their leadership. Most arrive truly dedicated to learning. They receive feedback from their direct reports and peers and manage themselves extraordinarily well to get the gift that this feedback represents. They are inspired to improve. Then they leave.

Take John for example. The next day back this well intentioned manager is hit with three times his normal amount of emails. His manager calls him in and tells him that they need to move faster on a key project because of a change in budgets. A direct report walks by and seems distant for some unknown reason.  Maybe he was the person who said I don’t spend enough time with him in my feedback, he thinks. And, of course there’s his daughter’s little league game tonight.  He absolutely will not miss one again – although it’s not looking too good after meeting with his manager.

By the following week, the intention to change is long forgotten. What remains is residue from the feedback received from his closest colleagues and a deep, aching feeling of, Who’s kidding who? I can’t really change.  This of course affects a person’s sense of ‘self-efficacy’- the idea that they can set a goal and meet it.

Then, next year, after another training session, see also http://www.ihhp.com/upcoming_programs.htm, the same scenario is played out.

The message to organizations interested in real change is this:  if you’re not going to spend your training dollars wisely, save them. Wait until next year, double your budget and do it right. The band-aid approach is giving learning a bad name and making people feel worse in the process; perhaps even affecting performance in the opposite direction intended. Let me be clear—it’s not just a question of just adding more dollars; it’s also a question of design. You need to ensure the design of the program you are investing in builds follow-up into the learning.

A recent study of 86,000 people published in Strategy and Business (Fall 2004) demonstrates how important follow-up is to any learning program. Eight major corporations from a wide range of industries (pharmaceutical/health care, financial services, aerospace/defense and media to name a few) assessed the ‘change in leadership effectiveness’ based on the amount of follow-up that a co-worker received from the training program. The results were astounding.

When the co-worker did ‘a little follow-up,’ the change in leadership effectiveness improved.   When the co-worker did “some follow-up,” the change in leadership effectiveness grew.   When the co-worker did ‘frequent follow-up,’ the change in leadership effectiveness became even more significant. And, finally, when the co-worker did a “consistent or periodic follow-up,” the change in leadership effectiveness was the most significant of all groups.

The results don’t lie. Following up after a program is absolutely critical if you want to see real change. Training that begins and ends with only an event (the ‘spray and pray technique’) breeds cynicism and sabotages future attempts at learning. Quite simply, not very many people are self directed enough to be able to stay focused and make good on change after a training program. I write from experience, having worked with Olympic champions and top leaders.

Even this lofty group gets ‘tranquilized by the trivial,’ finding it hard to stay focused on what matters most in the midst of the many small details that bombard them on a daily basis. With no follow-up built into a program, it is exceedingly difficult to make the initial investment of learning—the two days—work for you.

So how do you build follow-up into training programs?  You start by getting out of the ‘event mentality’ that pervades most organizations. Don’t spend all of your money on just one big event for the year. If you can’t increase your budget, work with a smaller number of individuals for at least six months beyond the event using coaching, follow-up training or advanced technologies such as e-learning.

If you really want to see learning beyond the event, perhaps the most significant thing you can do to improve leadership effectiveness is to get and keep your co-workers involved. (After all, no one likes to be asked for feedback and then be ignored.) Make it clear to participants that they will be asked to initiate a discussion with their colleagues, post-program, for the one thing they are trying to improve. Having participants use the power of colleagues in the ruthless accountability process is a strong argument for involving a coach. The study we mentioned earlier found that having an external or internal coach made a significant difference in helping participants drive follow-up by colleagues.

The bottom line is this:  don’t be too hard on yourself if you feel like you haven’t been able to make real change following a training program. Maybe you’ve been set up for failure. Maybe your organization just isn’t committed to real change; maybe it’s merely lip service. Or maybe they just don’t know. There is a science to change.  Consider it for your next training program. This will leave your windows free to function as conduits of scenic views and fresh air—a much better purpose, don’t you think?

Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry The Institute for Health and Human Potential

www.ihhp.com

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