Earlier this week, the Major League Baseball Draft took place, and when all was said and done, 27 Cressey Sports Performance athletes had been selected. To that end, I thought it was a good time to type up this month’s Random Thoughts on Sports Performance Training installment, as the draft has been what’s on my mind. Point #1 is a lead-in to the points that follow.

1. I actually posted this on my Facebook page and was surprised at how many “likes” it got, so I’m sharing it here – especially since I think it’ll serve as a jumping off point with respect to culture.

The biggest compliment a client can pay to CSP is when a parent trusts us to train their son/daughter during the teenage years when they’re young and impressionable and need good role models to model positive behaviors.

The second biggest compliment a client can pay to us is when a professional athlete trusts us with his/her career.

The annual MLB Draft is the time of year when these two compliments coincide, and we get to see how point #1 can lead to point #2 as dreams come true. Congratulations to the 27 CSP athletes drafted over the past three days; thank you very much for having us along for the ride.

It’s always awesome to see guys we’ve trained through their high school years transition to professional athletes. These scenarios not only provide lessons on long-term athletic development, but also the importance of creating a culture at the facility that makes training fun over the long haul.

2. I recently finished up the audiobook, Unmarketing, by Scott Stratten.

One of the key messages Stratten drills home is that customers have to like you before they can get to know you, and they have to know you before they can trust you. Obviously, in the strength and conditioning field, our athletes/clients are our customers. This “like-know-trust” is an important message, because long-term athletic development – and certainly working with professional athletes (or those trying to become pro athletes) is all about trust. They need to trust that you’re giving them the appropriate programming and cues they need for success.

He goes on to discuss how many businesses put the carriage in front of the horse on this point. They don’t work to build a relationship with their customers before trying to monetize them. It’s like asking someone to marry you in the middle of the first date. I immediately thought about how our business model has impacted our training model.

When a new athlete comes to CSP, they’re individually assessed and we have a chance to spend anywhere from 20-60 minutes getting to know them. It’s not only a chance to review injury history and go through a movement evaluation, but also an opportunity to build rapport by learning about goals, training history, and common interests. It also gives us a chance to subtly demonstrate our expertise and relate a plan of attack for how we can help. In short, an initial evaluation is about learning about so much more than just whether an athlete has sufficient hip internal rotation!

Conversely, think about what happens when an athlete walks into a facility where every athlete does the same program on the dry erase board, and there isn’t an assessment to kick things off. In these scenarios, the trainers/coaches really haven’t done anything to get to know the athletes, and they certainly haven’t gotten these athletes to “like” them. The road to building trust has gotten started with a pretty messy detour – and it’ll take a long time to build things up.

3. We really go out of our way to create context for our athletes when we’re coaching. In other words, our coaching cues need to build on what an athlete already knows. A front squat is easier to learn when you’ve already done a goblet squat, and a rotational medicine ball shotput can build upon what an athlete knows from baseball hitting. However, I don’t think people ever recognize the importance of creating context for success – and I’m a big believer that it’s been a huge part of the results we’ve gotten.

Everyone knows that for years and years, the world dreamed of having someone run a sub-4-minute mile. Then, in 1954, Roger Bannister accomplished this great feat – and thereafter, it became very commonplace. Granted, the sports media somewhat unfairly sensationalized the “quest” for the 4-minute-mile, but the message is still very much the same: once you’ve seen someone accomplish something that appeared very daunting, you’re more likely to be able to accomplish it yourself. The 27 CSP guys drafted this year have watched over 50 guys get drafted in the three years ahead of them – and, just as importantly, they’ve had a chance to rub elbows with them during training. Success leaves clues – and clues help to create context for more success.

4. On the whole, at young ages (younger than 16), I think the notion of “Sports-Specific Training” is actually pretty silly. We can all agree that good movement is good movement, regardless of whether a young athlete plays soccer, football, lacrosse, or basketball. Overhead throwing athletes, though, are – at least in my opinion – a very important exception to the rule.

In all these other sports, we can adequately prepare for the most common injury mechanisms with well coached general training exercises in our strength and conditioning program. However, how many weight room exercises do you see that help an athlete build stability in this position?

If you have an athlete that goes through this kind of lay back – whether it’s with baseball/softball, swimming, tennis, or any other overhead sports – you need to train them to build stability in this position.

5. In all, there were 1,215 players drafted earlier this week over the 40 rounds. That’s astronomically higher than any other professional sport – and in no other sport do you more quickly go from being a big fish in small pond to being the small fish in a big pond. As of right now, only two of the 41 first round (plus supplemental round) picks in last year’s draft have made it to the big leagues. Conversely, if you’re a first rounder in the NFL or NBA, you’re in “the show” right away pretty close to 100% of the time.

In other words, there is a lot of time for things to go wrong for draft picks while in minor league baseball. Injury rates are at all-time highs, players may get into trouble, and others might just discover that they don’t have the talents necessary to compete at the highest level. Scouting baseball players is an imperfect “science” – and, sadly, 90% (or more) of these 1,215 players won’t “make it.”

For this reason (and many others), I heavily emphasize to our staff and athletes that our #1 job is actually to educate our minor league guys on how to be advocates for themselves and understand what is unique about how they move. If we can give them the best training and nutrition insights possible – and teach them how to practically apply them throughout a long season – they stand much better chance of making it to the big leagues. Strength and conditioning coaches may not be able to impact talent (at least not directly), but we can impact one’s ability to display it consistently. In fact, this is what the wall of our assessment room looks like:

6. I’ve talked in the past about how all our arm care programs work proximal to distal. In other words, we focus on core control, rib positioning, and thoracic spine mobility, then move to scapular control, then to the glenohumeral (ball and socket) joint, and then down to the elbow. It’s because there is somewhat of a “downstream” effect. Improving thoracic rotation can improve shoulder internal rotation. Getting an athlete out of a heavily extended core posture can get the latissimus dorsi to calm down, which takes stress off the elbow. Taking care of scapular control might even relieve nerve impingement that’s causing symptoms into the hand. The possibilities for this “downstream” effect are really endless.

Conversely, though, there isn’t an “upstream” effect. Nobody’s thoracic spine mobility improves if you do some soft tissue work and stretching to get some elbow extension and supination back. Improving rotator cuff strength won’t get rid of lower back pain.

This is why I think improving anterior core control in baseball players can be such an unbelievable game changer. We know that improving function in the sagittal plane is generally easier than improving it in the frontal or transverse planes, and the anterior core is really responsible for resisting lumbar extension.

Additionally, the core is the furthest “upstream” option to impacting function. So, if you’re a believer in the concept of minimum effective dose (and I am), your goal should be to work on the easiest, most impactful stuff first. Anterior core is that option in a baseball population.

In fact, it’s so important that I did an entire 47-minute presentation on the topic. If you haven’t checked out Understanding and Coaching the Anterior Core yet, I’d encourage you to do so.

Congratulations again to all this year’s MLB draft picks! Have a great weekend, everyone.