By Henk Glimmerveen
Noblesse oblige. To become a world champion is one thing, but to stay world champion another. Players, technical staff and board of the Netherlands federation (KNBSB) have chosen for a longer stay at the top. A both ambitious and revolutionary training program has to strengthen Dutch baseball to a higher degree. Hoofdklasse season is still awaiting Opening Day, but preparations are already in full swing.
On PSV home ground in Eindhoven, Martijn Nijhoff, talents coach for KNBSB, has gathered the best baseball players under 15 years of age from Southern Netherlands. All boys usually play and practice with their own club in their own village or city, but thanks to a smart scouting system they were selected to join one of the five baseball academies in the Netherlands. The most talented players from southern provinces Limburg, Brabant and Zeeland have been reunited on Tuesday, March 20, for a next session by high tech company Sensomotoric Instruments (SMI), developer of so-called eye-trackers, which in the past were applied in medical science, but now find their way in sports. Subject company has its roots in California, USA, but headquarters are in a small town near German capital Berlin. Dr Arnd Rose of SMI is leading the research and assisted by Limburg optometrist Luc Uijen and by Martijn Nijhoff of national baseball federation.
At the beginning of the session the players receive a special kind of eye glasses, being connected with a computer, which precisely registers all movements of the player’s eyes. Purpose is to find out what the player looks at, exactly when the pitcher throws the ball towards his strike zone. In quite some cases, the player at bat did not look to the pitcher on the mound with his broad variety of launches towards the batter. This is what federation coaches already had assumed before, but now they get a confirmation in this domain. “Hitting a ball should no longer be a matter of good luck” , Martijn Nijhoff says firmly. He and Dr Rose believe to have found the solution. The special glasses teach the batter to concentrate fully on the pitcher and most especially on his throwing arm. The position of the pitcher’s arm tells him a lot about what is going to happen in a split second. First of all the speed of the missile and secondly what kind of flight on its way to the catcher’s glove: a fast ball or a curve or any other special effect from the pitcher’s arsenal. “The position of the hand also explains much”, Dr Rose adds to the instruction. According to Nijhoff, players have to reform what they learn in this session into their own game routine by repeated practicing in future. “Routine is a must and routine is an automatism without any prior thinking!”
There is no intention at all as to use these special glasses in real practice, let alone in official games. The players simply have to adept another attitude when at bat in the box. They need to entirely focus on the pitcher and on the ball coming up in a flash to them. Everybody in the staff is convinced that batting performances and batting averages will improve.
No peanuts, this research for the talented youngsters of Netherlands baseball in PSV ball park. Martijn Nijhoff: “It is a fast game. Everything happens in fractions of a second. It takes only 200 milliseconds to react on a pitch. The time one needs for a wink. During this time your brains have to handle collected information details about speed and effect and if necessary you’ll have to modify your body attitude in the box and so on. No time for real reasoning anymore. Everything depends on routine that moment. So, learn to concentrate in practice before you come on deck.
Does it work with youngsters under 15? Nick Peels gives a surprising answer: “It seems as if I still have those glasses on. I am so much concentrated on that ball that it looks bigger than usual!”
Optometrist Luc Uijen has to smile about that: “It might very well be possible. It is his perception!”
Does it make hitting more interesting, not to say easier? Peels: “Absolutely sure!”
Luc Uijen has all confidence in the new practice equipment from SMI. Last year he instructed Major League catchers in USA with this material. Uijen: “Mind you, that was on highest baseball level possible. Still everything turned out to be improvable!”