.jpg)
Hello, everyone and welcome back to the Huddle where today we are talking about body language and it’s importance in sports.
Reading body language is one of the best tools that some one could have in their bag of tricks so let’s break down why.
Body language is a good indicator of what is going on between the ears of an athlete. You can tell when they are stress and overthinking or when they are confident and feeling good while playing.
The best example of body language in recent memory is Paelyn Etzler at the Little League World Series. Her calm demenor and reaction to adversity was something every young athlete should observe.
She stayed even keeled the entire tournament no matter what situation the team was in she just stayed steady and consistent. You see during games especially when the competition is high emotions can go all out of wack so being able to control them is a big factor in being sucessful in sports.
A couple of times during the championship game Columbus was in jeopardy of losing their 2-0 lead they got in the 1st inning. They had runners in scoring positions but Etzler never blinked and just stayed focused on the next pitch and her body language showed that.
It also helped put the team in the field behind her at ease, they saw how calm and cool she was and they played with that same level headedness. We all know the outcome and this is why reading body language is awesome becasue why Etzler seemed calm cool and collected as they game went on you can see a little bit of anxiety creeping in.
She started breathing a little bit heavier as the raw emotion started to bubble inside of her but maintained her strong exterior. The only time she broke was when the umpire called the final out of the game and tears poured from her face.
I say all of this to kind of tip of some of the fans about the benefits of reading body language because at the end of the day these are all kids we are watching and they are doing their best. They are going to be hard on themselves and it’s good for us to recognize when they are not feeling like themselves and pick up on the body language queues to get them back on track.
Thank you all for reading the Huddle it truly means the world to me.
