These are a few of my favorite things
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on April 24, 2012
- When an 8 yr old looks you in the eye and listens…Really listens.
- When a senior in high school who has already committed to college continues to “get his work in”
- When a “yellow light” hitter finally turns “green”
- 2-0 changeups
- When one of my blogs actually helps…And mom or dad tells me
- When I watch the Little League World Series and I see a “GW” in the stands
- When one of the boys in our classes thanks me
- Random texts from “my players” telling me how they did
- When a 12 year old boy comes to GoWags just to lift weights….because that’s what HE needs
- A 9 yr old with awareness
- Watching mental toughness happen right in front of your eyes
- Good body language after a bad call
- Good body language after a teammates error
- Tournament trophies
- A baserunner who doesn’t rely on the third base coach
- The thought of other coaches drawing a GoWags team in the first round
- New GoWags teams (Go Marauders!)
Please add to the list with some of your favorite things about GoWags.
Full Reps!
Bret Wagner
Does your son need a pitching coach?
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps, Talent Code on April 17, 2012
Is your son a perfectionist?
Is your son risk averse?
Would your son prefer to blend in rather than be in the spotlight?
If you answered NO to the above questions, your son is uniquely gifted to be a pitcher. With the right mechanics he has the perfect mindset to “deal”.
If you answered YES to the above questions, chances are your son may need a pitching coach. I’m talking about a pitching coach who has been there and done that. You can google “balance point”, “direction”, “finish”, “follow through”, “extension”, “pitching on-line”, “throwing across your body” until your blue in the face. It won’t help. With your boy, learning how to pitch as more to do with overcoming his perfectionist tendencies than anything else. A pitching coach who can relate and assure him that what he’s feeling is completely normal helps. It helps a lot. Take it from a true perfectionist. I know. Some of my favorite (and best) pitching coaches were more psychologist than coach.
Here comes the self promotion 
I’m available for pitching sessions every Monday and Wednesday nights.
Bret Wagner
Full Reps!
Play Ball!
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on April 14, 2012
Lots of our teams in action today! Good luck boys. Parents…keep us updated via this thread!
Full Reps!!!!
A Message from “Go”
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on April 12, 2012
Kyle and I often get asked, “Why the name GoWags?”
Most understand the “Wags” piece. It’s the “Go” that throws them off. “Go” is Dr. Bob Gorinski. He is a Dr. of Physical Therapy at Cardin and Miller. Here’s a link to Bob’s information.
Simple text doesn’t do Bob justice. He’s the real McCoy folks. As smart as he is strong.
Bob invented the 5 minute bike sprint on our Schwinn Airdyne. Anyone who has ever attempted it knows how evil the test is. It literally brings you to tears. Bob is officially the only person who has ever broken the 400 average watts mark on the 5 minute bike sprint. FYI…my record is 396! Chris Heisey’s record is 392! Bob recorded a 458!
He can squat 450 lbs for 20 reps!
Bottom line…Bob knows how to get stronger and produce more force.
He wrote a great blog today, titled “The fastest way to get in shape”. I highly recommend taking the time to read this blog and many others. Really good stuff.
Full Reps! (Bob coined this phrase too!)
Bret Wagner
Cross Promotion
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on April 10, 2012
Baseball and Ice Cream. A real slice of Americana.
It just so happens that I own GoWags and Bruster’s Ice Cream. For the most part, I’ve kept the businesses separate. There’s not much opportunity for cross promotion with GoWags and Bruster’s. Until now!
If you’re a parent or coach and want to treat your son or daughter’s team to Bruster’s, take advantage of our special GoWags $1.00 menu link. This link exists exclusively on our GoWags home page and will take you directly to our $1.00 menu pre-order page.
Pre-order your teams treats in the 5 or 6th innings and we’ll have your order waiting on you when you get to the store. How cool is that? Did I mention everything is a $1.00?
Here’s the link to the pre-order page.
http://www.brustersfavoriteflavor.com/Teams
Remember to bookmark it.
But, if you forget. You can always find it on our GoWags homepage.
Full Reps!
Bret Wagner
Golf…Honor or Ignorance
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Uncategorized on April 10, 2012
Professional golfer, and founder of the Masters, Bobby Jones once called a 2 stroke penalty on himself that cost him the U.S. Open. Although all of the gallery (fans) and marshals who were in attendance agreed that they hadn’t seen any penalty, Jones insisted on his own ruling and assessed himself a 2 stroke penalty.
Today there is a sportsmanship award that is given by the USGA each year that is appropriately named the Bob Jones Award.
What if Bobby Jones played baseball? Would he still be as honorable? Or would he suspend his own honor in lieu of……AN UMPIRE?
We’ll never know. But something tells me honor in golf would become a thing of the past if the sport had officials. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying it is what it is.
Full Reps!
Baseball Fans…Are we smarter? Or are we bored?
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on April 6, 2012
I went to the bookstore the other day with my son. He asked, “Where are the baseball books?”
After looking for a while, we found all of the sports books tucked away in the back corner. Then, I noticed something. Baseball has its own section. Of all the sports, Baseball has a book section dedicated to itself. This certainly isn’t reflective of our countries preference for baseball. The NFL is king and college football is second. Baseball, one can argue, is a distant third.
But not here. Not in a bookstore. Baseball is king.
Do baseball fans read more? Are their more baseball personalities to write about? Controversy sells. Maybe with the whole steroid thing, authors have taken advantage of that hot topic. I don’t know. I’m searching for answers here. Why baseball?
Feel free to weigh in.
Bret Wagner
Baseball is king in the bookstore
The Mind….A terrible thing to use
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps, Talent Code on April 2, 2012
One of my favorite things about going to travel baseball tournaments is listening to youth baseball coaches. Every single one of them is well-intentioned. However, well-intentioned doesn’t always mean helpful. Let me explain.
Let’s talk 8, 9, 10, 11 yr old baseball players.
If a pitcher is throwing 55 mph from 45 feet away, the batter has .558 seconds to react. Almost a half second to decide if it’s a “hittable” pitch and put a good swing on it.
Now, let me introduce you to 3 types of reaction times.
1. Simple Reaction Times – Think whack-a-mole. See and react.
2. Recognition Reaction Times – Think whack-a-mole, but you can only hit the RED moles.
3. Choice Reaction Times – Hold two mallets. Hit the RED with your RIGHT hand. Hit the BLUE with your LEFT.
With that in mind, here are some comments I heard this weekend from other coaches.
- “Make it be a strike”
- “Leave it up there”
- “A walks as good as a hit”
- “Don’t help him out”
- “Cover the outside corner”
- “Don’t move your back foot”
- “That’s too high”
The list goes on and on. I don’t want to get to technical here, but Google Hicks’ Law. It states that when you add choice it slows your reaction time down by 58%!
Our goal as coaches is to get the boys on Recognition Reaction Times. Real simple. Can I crush it or not? No choices. And, if a boy thinks he can crush a ball at his chest, you just may have to live with it. Because chances are, he will!
For a real interesting study done by Clemson University on Reaction time click here.
Full Reps!
Bret Wagner
Love the fight more than the finish
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on March 28, 2012
I read an interesting blog today titled “Are Your Athletes Searching For Answers?”. Here’s the link to the blog.
It basically states that the #1 reason athletes under perform during competition is a lack of mental toughness.
Then I found another blog offering 5 tips to increase mental toughness.
My favorite is #5. The other 4 are great, but #5 is a real gem.
Love the fight more than the finish!
We need to cultivate the love of competing more than the love of winning. You gotta love the fight. You gotta love the fight. You gotta love the fight. Yeah, I think that may stick.
Full Reps!
Bret Wagner
Dr. Suess and Colossians 3:21
Posted by gowagsbaseball in Full Reps on March 23, 2012
I am acutely aware that businesses are not supposed to mix business and religion. I am also acutely aware of a famous Dr. Suess quote,
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Suess
As we head into our tournament season, I’d like to remind all of the dads out there of one Biblical principle that I needed reminding of Wednesday night and yesterday morning.
As an ultra competitive dad and coach, I am aware of that “fine line”. That “line” demands and expects effort. That “line” demands and expects focus and concentration. But that “line” should never sacrifice your child’s self worth and the altar of results.
Full Reps!
Bret Wagner
