Since the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, many teams are trying to figure out how they can duplicate the success that Chicago has had. Headlines across the nation allude to this. It is especially true of small market teams.
The typical response is to copy what the league or national champion does. If you closely examine present practices, especially in the baseball world, this is the main pathway taken to improve the team.
The answer to the success of the Chicago Cubs is very simple: they had the best players, especially when it came to hitting and pitching. In order to duplicate their success teams are now scrambling to get enough money to buy talent so that they will have the talent necessary in the next few years.
This is the major focus of these teams especially the general managers to whom the task is usually delegated. However, is this the most effective focus? Is it the best way to get a winning team; a team that is capable of winning in the post-season?
Sadly it is not. But it appears that coaches and GM’s only know this avenue. It appears to be based on the myth that great players are born, not made or developed. Thus they must rely on recruiting and buying the talent that is needed in order to have a great team. By playing them they will improve their talent.
Getting good players this way may be possible if, and only if, the GM guesses correctly and selects enough talented players so that at least one of them will develop into a top player. I wouldn’t want to take odds based on myth.
The most effective method without exception,is to develop the talent that is selected or is presently on the team. This means taking the talent that is present and improving it so that the player becomes a much more successful hitter or pitcher, runner, fielder or overall player.
This can be done; it is being done in many sports , especially individual sports. For some reason team sports such as football, baseball and basketball still rely on hoping that the players they select will work out. They prefer to rely on a guessing game (which if you seriously consider this practice you’ll see that it is based more on hope) rather than objective criteria that can lead to player improvement.
The bottom line, you must have staff members who are capable of analyzing the player’s technique and knowing how to improve it and enhance it. In addition, they should know enough about technique so that they can create and apply specialized strength exercises that duplicate exactly what happens in execution of the sports skill. This is the only proven method that will always make better players.
Without these two factors being taken into consideration, the success of the team boils down to guessing and hoping and wishing that the players they select will become great one day. This is certainly not a scientific or well proven method for improving player performance.
For more information see Build a Better Athlete.