Finding Your Bryn Smith

I have loved sports for about as long as I can remember. It started with with tennis because my dad was a tennis player but as soon as I saw American football on TV, I was hooked. I got into basketball, boxing, anything on Wide World of Sports or CBS Sports Saturday but when it came to baseball, I hit a wall. I really wanted to like it but didn't really understand the rules and thought the whole thing was a little on the boring side. My tennis dad was long gone and he wasn't a baseball fan anyway (I don't think) so there was no one to really introduce me to the game. 

By the time I was in 5th grade, I finally decided to try out Little League. All the other kids were doing it and I figured it could help me fit in. I foolishly assumed that I would be good at it because I was all right at other sports at other sports I played, but I did not take to baseball very naturally. To make it worse, I decided I really wanted to be a pitcher because the pitcher got the most action but as such, I exposed my suckiness even more. I really had no idea how to pitch and just like my foray into Muay Thai would be 10 years later, no one really showed me anything. I just figured I should wind up and throw the ball as hard as I can at the strike zone so that was what I did. Except I couldn't get the ball anywhere near the strike zone. So when I had an opportunity to pitch, I just walked everybody and hit a few kids and got yanked out of the game quickly.

I was moved to the outfield right away but did not want to give up on my initial "dream" of becoming a pitcher. I went to Target and bought something called a pitch back. It was basically a metal frame with a net in the middle and a square taped off to represent the strike zone. That way I could practice my pitches at home and ball would just bounce off the net right back to me. Even after a couple weeks of doing this, I still had terrible aim. I was lucky to hit the pitch back itself, let alone the strike zone.

I was too lazy to go to the library and get a book, too embarrassed to ask anyone how to actually throw a baseball and the internet had not been invented yet so I decided to turn to my old friend, the TV. I started watching MLB games to see if I could figure anything out. It did help me understand the game a little more but nothing really about pitching. The announcers talked about different kind of pitches like curve balls, sinkers, sliders, etc. but not about the actual mechanics.

One day though, the Dodgers were playing the Montreal Expos and I saw this dude pitch for the Expos named Bryn Smith. He pitched a little bit differently than the other people I had seen. He threw slow instead of fast. Later I would realize there were other pitchers like that but he was the first one I noticed. Not every pitch was slow but many of them would be. He could locate the pitch around the strike zone pretty well and when threw something faster, guys would sometimes swing at it even if it was way outside.

A light bulb went on in my head! What if I tried to pitch slow? Would my aim be any better? I went back outside to the pitch back and sure enough, my aim was indeed a lot better. And you might be sitting there thinking, "Duh!" but you have to remember that I was about 11 years old at the time and not very smart. I did start taking notes on baseball pitchers though, trying to come up with a strategy so I could not only land my slow ball in the strike zone but figure out a way to trick the batters so they don't just hit it over the fence every time. 

I practiced and practiced and one day, convinced the coach to let me pitch again. I honestly don't remember if we won or lost the game but I was so much better!! Only walked a couple, think I hit only one kid but I also struck dudes out, got 'em to ground out, pop out and don't think I gave up any runs. Maybe some of that is selective memory but I know it was way better and the other kids weren't laughing at me any more and best of all, I got to pitch some more for the rest of the season. I actually got a little better at everything (hitting, fielding, etc.). Of course the main part of this was just getting experience but the confidence I got from pitching better helped too.

I guess now that I think about it, this story could be about why you should generally take things slowly and thoughtfully first instead of trying to go really fast and hard right away but actually, it is about Bryn Smith the pitcher. Or at least what he represented to me. I was trying this new sport that I didn't really understand and wasn't very good at but when I saw him, I connected with something and thought maybe I could do this. I know nothing about the guy, personally, nor did I become a baseball fan, it was just seeing him throw the ball differently, got me to see things in a new way.

Why am I telling you this? Because you can do the same thing with boxing! I know not everybody loves the sport like I do and while I can pretty much guarantee if you are reading this, you are a better boxer than I was a Little League player at first, but maybe you sometimes feel awkward or like you aren't able to box as fast are as powerfully as someone else. First of all, don't be discouraged by this but the point I have very, very slowly been getting to is that YOU should find YOUR Bryn Smith! 

Maybe there is a boxer out there that you might connect with on some level. Maybe it is a style that suits your personality. Like if you are a big, lumbering guy who might have trouble pulling off the speed and footwork of Hector Camacho, look at a fighter like Zhang Zhilei to model yourself after. Or maybe it has nothing to do with style, you just like them for some reason. Maybe you have something in common. Or anything, any connection you find. 

So how do you find this fighter you connect with? At the risk of belaboring the obvious, I will say the good, 'ol internet is your answer. Search for current champions or "most exciting boxer" or "best boxer right now" or maybe get more specific for something that relates to you personally. I was really proud of one of our members, who is left-handed, because she searched for great southpaw boxers when she joined. More people should do that stuff! Read up on some of these people and watch their YouTube clips. Doesn't matter if you are a big fan of boxing the sport but if it is something you are doing for your own health and fitness, you never know what you might find. As I mentioned earlier, I was not a fan of baseball nor did I even become a fan of Bryn Smith but I still found something about his game inspirational and was able to play better because of it.