Dustin Pedroia’s Hand-eye Coordination
August 15, 2009 by Dennis Chighisola
Dustin Pedroia’s Hand-eye Coordination
By Dennis Chighisola
By now, everyone knows that I’m into keeping an eye on other sports. I’ll dig into anything that will help me coach our game better. At the same time, I’m a real baseball and football fan (in particular, a devout Red Sox and Patriots follower), and I usually get into the basketball playoffs if the local Celtics are involved.
So, this being a warm, lazy Saturday morning in August, I spent a little time reading on-line about my beloved Bosox before tackling a more serious todo list.
As you likely know, one article can lead to another, as did the write-up on the Sox’ thrilling win last night eventually bring me to an MLB Pro Blog by Steve Hyder.
Now, I also love ESPN’s Peter Gammons. So, when I noticed Hyder’s recent blog entry was about his interview with Gammons, I really got into it. And I really got into the part where Gammons expressed his admiration for Red Sox second baseman, Dustin Pedroia. As he said, “What makes Pedroia special is his hand-eye coordination. As a boy, he played a lot of tennis and pingpong. The other thing that sets him apart is his incredible will to win…”
Oops, back-up… He played a lot of tennis and ping pong as a boy? Hmmmmm… That’s something that deserves some discussion with my friends at CoachChic.com!
So, I hope you’re thinking along with me on this one…
Pedroia has great quickness from side to side, and I’m thinking he really does react in the way a tennis player would. You learn to be light on your feet in that sport, and you learn to be cat-like in pouncing towards any of four directions. (I’m reminded of two hockey players I recommended tennis to a few years back. One was a goalie and the other a forward, and they both lacked that lightness on their feet, or those cat-like reactions. Both players — or their parents — seemed not to heed my advice, though. And, since “what we refuse (ultimately) defines us,” both boys are now out of the game. Ya, I win some and I lose some. Darn.)
As an aside here… There’s a difference between speed and quickness, you know. I mean, speed usually refers to longer distances, while quickness has more to do with one’s reactions. So, while Pedroia doesn’t possess very good speed on the base paths, I think he’s extremely quick in small areas. (Someday I’m going to get into the way I see speed and quickness in hockey. But for now, I’ll suggest that true success in our game has more to do with how well a player deals with short sprints and in-close battles.)
Pedroia also has what I call “hands”. Yup, he gobbles-up just about every ball he can reach. Ping pong, huh? That’s what I’m guessing. And, if you’ve ever seen a high level match in that sport, you know there’s as much footwork and body control required as there is in tennis.
As yet another aside… When I was an older teen, handball was at the height of its popularity (on the courts where squash is now played). I played it often at the local YMCA. The beauty of handball — and how I see it as being such a great skill enhancer, is that the ball can be hit with either hand. Consequently, Todd Jacobson and I have our goalies play a lot of this against the boards at our weekly off-ice sessions.
Now, there’s one thing Gammons didn’t mention, probably because it has little to do with Pedroia’s hand-eye coordination. But, I’m guessing that the young second-sacker’s throwing arm was being strengthened every time he took a swipe with either a racquet or a paddle.
Okay, I have to get on to a lot of other stuff now. Still, I thought this insight into the little things that might go into an ultimate elite athlete was worth sharing with you (even if it is a warm, lazy Saturday morning in August — 
!)
PS:Â While I hope CoachChic.com will include every bit of hockey and athletic advice you’ll ever need, I really do encourage you to pay attention to what athletes from other sports are doing (or have done).
Oh, if you want to catch Hyder’s blog, it’s at:
http://shyderblog.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/06/youve-gotta-love-gammons.html?obref=obnetwork
Nice to hear that there is another handball player out there! I agree it is a particularly good sport and the fact that you don’t have a racquet in your hands forces you to be more accurate with your hits and you have to run a little farther as well. I think badminton deserves a mention as well as it is very quick game; in fact, the birdie goes faster than a tennis ball. What separates badminton and ping pong from tennis is that there is less time to think and more spontaneous reaction. This forces you to be more in ‘the zone’ and we all know how important that is.
I was a pretty good shortstop growing-up, and for a time it seemed I had a future in baseball. (To show how old I am, I was actually scouted by an MLB team that doesn’t exist any longer — LOL!) And I always felt the moves, footwork and reactions I gained from handball were really good for an infielder.
In recent years I’ve seen it as a great cross-trainer for goaltenders. It’s sort of a bummer, though, that the formal leagues are few and far between nowadays. Sure, kids could still find a wall to practice and play a bit. But, there’s nothing like really competing to drive a player to be even better.
About badminton and such… You know, you raise a point that should be made for the sake of other members. And I’m talking about the benefits that can be gained by playing different sports in different seasons. In a way, it’s almost like “periodization” (which is something I’ll have to cover sometime down the road). Badminton, for example, can probably only be played for a few months out the year in many locales. So, I’d be inclined to get as much as I could from that sport, and then switch to another at the end of the few months. And the human body responds well to that kind of change.