Swinging through Challenges | Nathan Jose | TEDxYouth@Southlake
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrTeDhwbK6M Video ID: GrTeDhwbK6M ============================================================ Transcriber: Arpita Singh Reviewer: grime elephant There’s nothing more challenging than giving a speech, right? Well, as I’m about to give you strangers a speech, I would beg to differ. I believe that baseball is just as hard of a challenge. Hi, I'm Nathan Jose, and today I'm going to be talking about how I struggle with baseball, how I overcame this challenge, and how I saw my way through it Similar to life, the game of baseball presents itself with many challenges. I learned to face these challenges, and now I use these same techniques with life's challenges. The first step, is to assess your challenge When I got cut from my fall freshman team, it was a big blow to my confidence and enjoyment for baseball. At first, I didn’t understand why. I didn’t understand, as I’ve never been cut from any of the previous teams I’ve been on and I've been playing since I was five. Over the next few weeks, I was very ignorant and stubborn. I mean, of course I was. I just got cut from the sport that I love. But eventually I knew I needed to come to terms with what I was doing wrong, and set myself up the best I could for spring tryouts. Step two, is setting your goals. Since tryouts were coming up in a few months, I needed to be ready. Only problem was, I was lacking in three areas. First, being batting. When I go up to bat, I know the odds are against me. Even the best MLB players only average about point three hundred, which is hitting the ball one third at the time. So to improve on this, I went to my local batting facility and hit around 200 baseballs per day, because I knew that repetition and practice were the key to success. Next, I worked on my outfield. I did that by working on my footwork in order to catch fly balls consistently. I also included a more nutritious diet, and the strength and conditioning program in order to get myself stronger and have more energy for the next few months. Finally, I need to work on my pitching. I did that by increasing my long toss and concentrating on using my body in order to throw the ball faster. Goals can be hard to stick with, but I believe that if you set week to week, month to month goals, it will help you stay focused and more motivated to do the work. Step three is sticking with your plan, but making a few adjustments along the way. The saying goes that nothing great in life comes easy. Well, giving up and being lazy is easy. However, you must always remember why you're doing this. For me, it was my love of baseball and being a part of the team. Before I started the challenge of making my high school team, I was never used to putting in more than two hours of work and preparing, but because I set my goals, I was able to have good mental clarity and focus at the task at hand. I was also able to make sure I kept myself in check and continued down the path I was going in in order to make the team. I noticed as time went on, all aspects of my game were improving. Balls are being thrown faster, balls are being hit further, balls in the outfield being caught, and I was getting stronger and faster However, even with all this, I was still making sure I kept an open mind to look for more ways to improve because I knew, if I was being a mindless drone, my plan would fade and I would hit a plateau. Step four is all about execution. By this time, I had assessed my challenges, set my goals, and stuck with my plan and made a few adjustments along the way. Now it’s time to execute. So I show my coaches my willingness and dedication to be on the team; and I made the team. Now, obviously, this isn't the end goal, but this first step propelled me to swing my way through many more challenges. I hope you guys kept some of my tips, and remember: one, assess your challenges, two, set your goals, three, stick with your plan, and four, execute because without execution, all your hard work will be lost. Thank you.