The Importance of Knowing Your 'Why'

When athletes step into our facility, the first thing we wonder is why. Did your school or club coach send you here to improve your swing? Did your parents bring you here because your growth plateaued? Do you have aspirations to make a higher level team at school or travel ball? Maybe you want to further your career by playing in college or in the Big Leagues. Whatever the reason, knowing your 'why' will allow us to best help you achieve your goals.

Your ‘why’ is the reason YOU play baseball. Knowing your 'why' is extremely important for you as an athlete to recognize; it is what grounds you when training challenges you to your maximum capacity. It is what comes to mind when you question why it is you're so dedicated to the sport. Your 'why' is more than just a goal: it is what keeps you going regardless of where you are in your playing career.

Your 'why' might change over time. Perhaps it started as wanting to play on a team with all of your friends. Then it might switch to chasing the feeling of making the game-saving play to keep your team's season alive. This evolution is completely normal as your 'why' adapts with you as you grow as an athlete and person. The issue, however, comes when your 'why' is lost, or worse, nonexistent.

Without a ‘why,’ what are you training for? To reach a goal, perhaps. But what happens when you accomplish that goal? Or when the goal doesn’t mean as much to you as the work you're putting into it? Having an overarching reason to keep you grounded helps to guide your training type, frequency, and intensity. Without it, your training might be misdirected, leading you to fall far off track of your short term and long term goals.

This circles back to a previous topic about training with intent in every session.

So if you don’t already have a ‘why,’ we encourage you to reflect on the reason you continue to play. Remember this isn't just a short term goal, but rather, a deeper pursuit that keeps you hungry for more.