Baseball Exercise for Learning to Focus on External Cues
|Stage of Activity||Learn to Train, Train to Train, Train to Compete|
|Number of People|| |
|How it Works|| |
Phase 1 — The performer has a tennis ball and stands in front of a group; he or she is instructed to throw the ball to the person with one hand in the air. This person has been designated by the coach or the members of the group, but the performer does not know who he or she is. On the coach’s command, all group members but one throw both hands in the air. The performer must throw the ball to the individual with only one hand in the air.
Phase 2 — Repeat the exercise — this time one person puts both hands in the air but with thumbs tucked in. All other group members also have both arms in the air, their hands are open and facing the performer, and they sway their arms slowly backward, forward, and side to side. The person instructed to keep thumbs tucked into the hands also sways his or her arms slowly. The performer is instructed to throw the ball to the odd person out, but no cue is given about the nature of the difference.
Can be used in the following environments: field, court, gym.