Mirror Drills for Improving Visualization and Pitching Mechanics

Mechanics are very crucial in baseball. The mechanics involved in playing baseball can be simply compared to the choreography of a dancer. Baseball players have to refine their mechanics on a regular basis for optimal performance.

This applies in every aspect of baseball such as hitting mechanics, pitching mechanics, mental mechanics, and fielding mechanics. Since it is hardly possible to get at the peak of almost perfect mechanics, what you can do is continuing to immerse yourself in trying to get better every day.

Mirror Drills for Improving Visualization and Pitching Mechanics
Mirror Drills for Improving Visualization and Pitching Mechanics

 

Mirror Drills – What are they?   

Mirror drills used by pitchers are a type of drills used to improve pitching mechanics and the ability to assess game situations mentally. For the purposes of this exercise, you could just get a decent custom mirror from suppliers like Majestic Glass. Pitchers can be taught how they can do practices on mirror drills so as to have a visual perception of how they would be like when they find themselves in a situation full of pressure.

Most pitchers have ever been in such situations for uncountable times. Pitchers can also be taught how to visualize themselves in scenarios of full count, bottom of ninth, two outs, bases loaded, game seven and world series while facing a hitter.

This practice gets players into a playing zone mentally even though they are not there physically. Players, who hope to become stars in future, be it in school or MLB can use such visualization techniques.

 

Mirror Drills for Younger Guys

There are many young players, even those as old as 12, who have difficulties in understanding how to do pitching routines. Many younger players may not even know how to take signs from catchers or coming set in a uniform manner.

Their coaches may not be pointing out such issues. A good coach should spend 10 to 20 minutes going over how players take signs, come set and how to get in set positions. Such a drill is especially important to coach the younger players.

In the drill, the kids should start with positioning themselves while facing a mirror and do it like they are pitching into a mirror. First, the kids should be in a stretch position as if they are taking a sign. Secondly, they’re coming to set, an action of taking a sign and moving to a set position.

Finally, they’re in a set position such that they know how their hands, shoulders and feet placement are aligned. Most young players do not know how to maintain “come set” at different pitches. They tend to show inconsistency and this is mostly due to lack of confidence.

 

Using a Mirror to Practice Wind-up

Once you are in a set position, you will need going through the wind-up and lifting up your knee with balance.

A good coach should teach their pitchers how to wind-up with consistency as they lift their knee up to hip height or more, followed by setting down their foot. Once you master this, you can drive towards a mirror and land with a controlled and balanced position.

It is very crucial for pitchers to know where they land their foot and where the body is when landing. The importance of realizing this is to improve their timing.

Once your coach teaches you this, the next coaching session will tell whether you have improved or not. You can get used to it by doing mirror drills for some few times and staying focused.

Once you familiarize yourself with mirror drills, you can master your mechanics with simple repetition. Once done, you can visualize how to look back at hitters as they walk back to a dugout after striking them out.

 

Tips to improve your footwork and speed

As a football player, to effectively play, it requires strength, endurance, catching, throwing and, of course, speed.

There’s obviously a lot of running involved in football, after all, there are moments when a player is going to throw the ball really far, what do you do there?

Run of course. Run as fast as possible to be able to reach and catch the ball.

Improve your football game with custom football jerseys

But to reach that kind of speed, you’ll need to specifically train on your footwork, so, here are some tips on which you can improve your speed and run faster than Forrest Gump:

  • Have a balanced exercise routine. It’s important to have a specific exercise routine so you can focus on your footwork. You should focus on exercises that help you work on speed training drills, dynamic explosive strength and maximum effort gym work. For this, you have to do it every week, but you must also constantly change the exercises, sets and reps as your body can adapt quite fast. After you feel that your body has adapted to the amount of sets of the exercise, increase the reps so that you continue to challenge your body and continue like that onwards.
  • Work your lower-body muscles. If you want to get faster, the most vital muscles that you have to work on are the glutes, lower back, obliques, hamstrings and abs. If you constantly exercise those muscles, you will increase your strength, which will also help you increase your speed when running.
  • Arm action. Obviously, you run with your feet and legs, but many people ignore the importance of the arms when sprinting. If you move your arms fast, so will your legs. Technically however, when running, the shoulders should be what you move while your hands and elbows are in a locked position. The arms should move in a semicircular way while bringing the hands from cheek to cheek to the rear of the hip.
  • Proper technique. Make sure you sprint correctly in order to be more efficient at it, and an excellent way to do it, is to learn the proper technique. Things such as drills, warm-up exercises and scrimmages and everything else that you do, you should always do them correctly and learn the actual technique in doing so.
  • Train fast. High-speed drills, that’s the way to go here. Obviously, if you want to get faster, then do some speed training, which includes explosive drills and short sprints. Running miles isn’t exactly speed training, focus on doing acceleration drills, weight lifting and short sprints.
  • Do jump training. Doing plyometrics, or jump training, is also important as it trains your muscles to “fire” rapidly. Another thing it helps your body to do is to absorb elastic energy and release it. Overall, jumping can enhance your speed.
  • Focus on all levels of speed. For this, you need a complete speed training program, which includes exercises focused on agility, coordination, speed, reaction and strength. You must train all of these aspects regularly, for that, you can do short sprints, weight lifting, as well as balance and reaction drills.

Train like that, and you’ll become a fast football player. But remember, know your limits, don’t over train either as you’ll just damage your body. You still need to train hard, must wear football uniforms but also give your body chance to recover.

College football stars of 2016 #3: Mike Weber

mike-weber-ohio-state

What a great start Mike Weber has made to his college football career. 351 yards in just three games is an impressive return for the Ohio State running back. So far Weber has shown himself to be an excellent between custom football jersey, the-tackles runner, but it’s surely only a matter of time before Weber makes some serious match-winning plays.

Weber will also benefit from playing alongside the excellent J.T.Barrett . They are sure to wreak some havoc for the rest of the season.

When Weber was named the starting running back he wasn’t actually the first to know. The assistant coach actually called his parents first! If Weber continues on this road, there are sure to be many more proud moments in this young man’s career.

mike-weber-ohio-state

College football stars of 2016 #2: SoSo Jamabo

soso jamabo

SoSo Jamabo To Make Big Step Up In 2016

SoSo Jamabo has already attracted a lot of attention through custom football jerseys and across college football, and is sure to grow even more this term. The former Piano West man teamed up with Josh Rosen to give UCLA the best signee combo of running back / quarterback last season, with Jamabo averaging 6.1 yards per carry as a freshman.

Jamabo is a fine all-rounder too. He possesses really good hands and has a real slippery style that makes it difficult for defenses to lay a hand on him. He rushed for a total of 461 yards last season, scoring four touchdowns along the way.

With Paul Perkins departing to the New York Giants, this is the time for Jamabo to really step up and make the grade, and he seems to have everything in the locker to suggest that he will be up to it when the time comes.

soso jamabo UCLA

College football stars of 2016 #1: Tony Brooks James

college football tony brooks james

Tony Brooks-James is one of the hottest prospects in college football as well as being a highly distinguished in football uniforms and athlete and . A fast running back is nothing unusual but this guy is seriously fast, having run the 100m in 10.5 seconds.

Originally hailing from Gainesville in Florida, Brooks-James pitched up at Oregon and is about to begin his third season for the Ducks. The staff at Oregon are tipping him for very big things this season.

Many have been impressed with the fact that Brooks-James chose to join Oregon at a time when they had a lot of quality running backs. He’s impressed as a cutback runner, cornerback and he’s been touted as a potential star in the defensive secondary too.

This man’s some all-rounder, that’s for sure.

college football uniforms tony brooks james

Youth Football Safety: How To Play The Position 2016

Youth football safety

The safeties are basically the last line of defense. There was a time when most of their work was simply stopping runners, but the modern game sees the safety placing more emphasis on reading/intercepting the quarterback’s passes, in the same way a cornerback would.

There are two safety positions on the football field; the “strong safety” and the “free safety”. The strong safety is on the “strong side” of the offense, normally lining up to cover the opposition tight end. He plays closer to the line than the free safety and is first and foremost responsible for stopping the opposition running the ball. He also needs to watch out for a fullback or running back looking to receive passes in the backfield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL9pCj7iKUg

The free safety needs to be faster than the strong safety in order to be able to react to whichever play the offense calls. If there is a passing play then the free safety must get as close as possible to the receiver when they get the ball. They’re in a constant game of cat and mouse with the quarterback, who will do his best to deceive the safety. The quarterback may look in a different direction to where he intends to throw, or he may fake a throw in order to throw the free safety off the scent. If the quarterback steps out of the pocket, it’s up to the free safety to cover it too.

There’s a big incentive on safeties to deliver massive hits and put opposing players out of the game. Because of their position in the field they often have a fair amount of yards to run before making the hit, so the offenses need to brace themselves when they see a safety hurtling towards them.

Deliver those knockout hits with our fully customizable football uniforms.

Youth Football Cornerback: How To Play The Position 2016

Youth football cornerback

Both cornerbacks have to be fast; lightening fast in fact. They’re the kind of player who you won’t really see for a lot of the game but then suddenly they’ll come up with a massive game-changing play. It is is their job to intercept or at least interfere with a quarterback’s pass before it is caught by the wide receiver. Because the majority of quarterback’s passes are not intercepted, being a cornerback is a bit of a fishing exercise.

They do block and tackle but because they’re more about pace, they don’t tend to tackle very hard. So this is why they’ll do their damnedest to get a hold of the ball. Catching it is another matter entirely though. It is so often the case that a cornerback reads the pass, gets into position and then drops the ball. This is of course a better play than letting the opposition catch the ball, but it can be frustrating to miss out on a turnover in this way.

There are a few different standard methods of cornerback coverage. “Help over the top” is where they team up with a safety in order to try and put a receiver out of the game. This is often reserved for the very best receivers.

“Bump and run” is where the cornerback aims to disrupt the timing of the opposition runner. They react as soon as the play starts and do what they can to block the wide receiver at the line of scrimmage. If they get in their way for just a short time, there’s a high chance that even if the receiver breaks free of the line and goes downfield, they will be too late to receive the pass from the quarterback.

“Man coverage” is where the cornerback sticks to the opposing receiver like glue and does what he can to force the receiver towards the touchline so they are more likely to go out of bounds if they receive the ball.

“Zone coverage” is where the cornerback covers an area of the pitch and only tracks a man if he is in that area, as opposed to following that man around everywhere on their route. This type of coverage can be good for interceptions, because the cornerback is spending more time watching the quarterback, so has a better chance of reading their pass.

Go to uniformstore and zone in on our customizable football uniform sets!

Youth Football Linebacker: How To Play The Position 2016

Youth football linebacker

Linebackers are big characters in the team, both in a physical and a personal sense. They’re certainly not shy, and given the job they do, this isn’t surprising. There are three linebackers in formation at any one time: a middle linebacker, strong-side linebacker and weak-side linebacker

A middle linebacker is basically the ‘quarterback’ of the defense; dictating to the other defensive players where they should be and what they should do. The middle linebacker is also keeping an eye out for a running play, and if one comes it is up to him to stop the opposing running back running between tackles.

If there is a pass, the middle linebacker will do all he can to disrupt the pass in mid air, and then will try and hit the back as hard as possible if the back receives the ball. These guys throw everything on the line in pursuit of big hits – they’re probably the hardest players on the pitch.

The strong-side linebacker is fighting with the opposition tight end on most plays in order to try and stop the running back getting upfield on the strong side. Also they need to watch out to see if the tight end receives the ball. In this event they need to be ready with the biggest possible hit.

The weak-side linebacker is normally a bit more athletic than the other two. This is so he can counter the cut-back running backs who manage to get over to the weak side. Beyond this, the weak-side linebacker needs to watch the long throw and ideally disrupt it before it is received. Failing that they need to pounce immediately to prevent the offense making any more gains after the catch.

Be a beast of a linebacker in our beast football uniforms.

Youth Football Defensive Tackle: How To Play The Position 2016

Youth football defensive pigeons

In a running play, defensive tackles are responsible for preventing the running back going upfield. For a passing play they must push the guards and the centers back as far as possible. This is to enable the quarterback to step into the ‘pocket’, a space cleared by the guards and the center that affords the quarterback time to pick his pass.

A tackle’s job is all about gaps. Each tackle has to understand how many gaps he has to cover before each play. It may just be the one gap, i.e. making sure the running back doesn’t get upfield. Sometimes he may have to execute a two-gap defense, so that may involve pushing a lineman backwards into the running back’s lane to make sure he can’t come through.

One-gap schemes normally have smaller and more athletic tackles, while two-gap schemes generally need a bigger frame. Tactically it’s important to consider the quality of the linebackers here because a one-gap scheme will leave three other gaps that need protecting.

Although athleticism from a defensive tackle is one way of stopping the run, doing completely the opposite may actually be better for stopping the run too. So if you fill the defensive line with strength and toughness rather than athleticism, it might create a crowded centerfield which could enable your linebackers to have a better chance of making a big play and stopping the runner.

Own that line of scrimmage with this durable youth football uniform.

Youth Football Tight End: How To Play The Position 2016

The tight end is a real jack of all trades so more often than not it is shared among more than one player. First and foremost they have to block, but they can also be used as an alternative to a receiver.

When blocking, the tight end is there to protect the quarterback from ambush from an opposition safety or linebacker. If the quarterback is in trouble then the tight end has to be quick on his feet, not only to block but also to release himself from the block in order to give the quarterback an option.

If the play is a running play, the tight end is a fundamental part of the bulldozer that is there to clear a path for the running back, but in order to be available for the throwing plays he needs to be quick too. How many quick bulldozers have you ever seen? Not many, and that’s why the position is shared quite extensively.

If you were to pick out a ‘regular’ tight end you could fairly say that they’re normally tall, but mobile, all-round athletes. And they’re tough cookies too. Stopping the fearsome aggression of a linebacker is no mean feat!

Customize your tight-end custom football jerseys at uniformstore.