Playing in the Zone
Faster Reaction Time
The following bit got cut from the final version of my book, Instant Athlete Instant Zone. But I think it contains a valuable insight as the difference between winning and losing can sometimes be separated by only a one-hundredth of a second.
“What I learned today reminds me of an experiment we did in my college psychology class,” I said. “It was a standard reaction-time test. A light would go on and you had to move your hand about 12 inches and hit a button to turn the light off. There was stop watch connected to the circuit which measured how long the light stayed on.”
“I’m familiar with that test,” commented the Old Coach.
“The competitive male athletes insisted on going first,” I continued. “Each jock adopted a macho approach. They’d be on high alert—their arms like coiled springs, ready to pounce the instant they saw the light go on. And then they would slam the button. It was hugely competitive. Lots of trash talk. Once all the athletes were tested, the fastest guy pranced around with his fists thrust in the air like he’d just won the heavyweight boxing crown.”
The Old Coach chuckled at the description.
“Then it was time for everyone else in the class to take a turn,” I said. “The first girl to be tested was quite delicate. She was not athletic at all. In fact, she looked like she couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding. Anyway, she approached this experiment in a most disinterested way. She had no intense focus on the light bulb and no coiled readiness in her arm. Just the opposite. Her arm was completely limp and her gaze was neutral.”
The Old Coach smiled.
“What happened next blew everyone’s mind. As soon as the light went on, her hand flicked out there like a frog’s tongue snatching a mosquito from mid-air. When her time was announced, the next sound heard was a collective gasp. She, using a relaxed approach, had easily defeated all the macho athletes who had used the coiled spring approach.”
The Old Coach was nodding knowingly.
“I observed something else with the contrasting approaches,” I added. “A turn consisted of each person turning off the light about 50 times in a row. I noticed that those using the coiled spring approach got slower as their turns progressed. It seemed like their arms and minds had gotten tired from being on high alert. But the reaction times from the delicate girl remained consistently fast.”
“I would have predicted as much,” commented the Old Coach.
“I became so curious that after class I experimented using both methods,” I said. “When I started from the platform of relaxation, I was amazed at how much faster I was than with the macho approach.”
Posted at 10:34 PM in Games, Science, Sports | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: athletes, reaction time, sports, winning
Philip Humber's Perfect Game
I ran into Buddy Biancalana at a bar mitzvah this past weekend. We had a good chat. Buddy was starting shortstop for the 1985 World Series champion Kansas City Royals. He finished second in the voting for Series MVP to Bret Saberhagen. Buddy teaches professional athletes the unique methods which I describe in my book, Instant Athlete Instant Zone. He taught Hall of Famer George Brett and it dramatically elevated his golf game. I modeled my book’s Star Shortstop character after Buddy.
Buddy told me that two years ago he was contacted by Scott Sanderson, a former Chicago Cubs pitcher. Sanderson, now an agent, was concerned about one of this clients, Philip Humber, whose career as a professional was in shambles. Even though Humber was the third pick in the 2004 amateur draft, he pitched poorly each time he was called up to the majors.
Buddy taught Humber the approach in my book. It saved Humber’s career. He almost made the All Star team last year and just the other day became the 21st player in the history of Major League Baseball to pitch a perfect game.
Buddy then told me of the five or six major league clubs interested in this approach. One particularly famous baseball executive thinks it is the future for sports. Most, however, are cautious about upsetting the apple cart for all their coaches who have spent decades mastering and teaching the fine mechanics of a swing or a pitch.
The plot thickens.
Tags: 1985 World Series, athletics, Bret Saberhagen, Buddy Biancalana, Instant Athlete, Major League Baseball, perfect game, Philip Humber, Scot Sanderson, sports, Zone
Remembering Ballybunion
Tom Mullins, an Irish friend, visited yesterday. We spent the day reminiscing about my family's trip to Ireland several years back.
Tom and I laughed heartily remembering our trip to Ballybunion, a golf course that is always ranked among the top five in the world. It is truly one of golf's cathedrals, built in and around sand dunes on the west coast of Ireland. When you ask a member who the architect is, he says "God."
The first tee at Ballybunion has an ancient cemetery that's well off to the right of the tee box. On my first drive, one that I will never forget, nor will Tom ever let me, my ball flew sideways off the tee, rattled off several headstones, and joined the dead in that graveyard. Mortification doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.
Fortunately, we were playing in Ireland. If it were Scotland, where golf's rules were created and are strictly enforced, I'd have been penalized two strokes, maybe even more for violating the sanctity of the site. However, the Irish tend to be more liberal. They invented the mulligan after all. I was mercifully awarded one and allowed to start afresh. I then proceeded to par the first hole.
May my first ball rest in peace.
Tags: Ballybunion, golf, Ireland, top golf course in the world