During the typical lengthy baseball season, one of the biggest mental game challenges a coach faces is to successfully instill a long-term motivation and vision in his athletes during practice time.  Most high school baseball players spend February through August working on baseball drills, strength training, and of course playing in games.  So the question is how to create a sense of urgency and long-term focus during the hours and hours of baseball drills throughout the baseball season?

This is where preseason goal setting comes into play.  I will suggest be careful how the word “goal” is used.  The initial reaction of athletes tends to be less than excited.  And for good reason as many goal plotting session are boring and meaningless.  The term, "road map" on the other hand demonstrates direction and focus.  Whether it be in high school or college, it is much more likely that athletes will undergo baseball drills, workouts, and training with a positive attitude if their road map is continually being revisited.  Without a clear and defined road map, practice time is more likely to be wasted and will most certainly be tougher to help players stay motivated throughout the duration of the season.

I'm sure there is little dispute thus far that a road map creation process is vital to the success to any athlete.  The key is to make a road map come to life and become a living part of an athlete’s season.

Look at it this way.  If the goal for most players is to get to the Big Leagues, there are some serious economic rewards that come with that achievement.  A talented and successful Major League baseball player makes over one million dollars on an annual basis.  If we broke that number down over a career of practicing on baseball drills, that's about 20 thousand dollars each and every practice!  If athlete deposits the money in his mental bank account only if he has worked hard during his practice, he will begin to fall into the pattern of working hard.  The mind is an amazing thing and once it’s harnessed for positive work, a player will then be allowed to achieve maximum potential.