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As the ice melts and the ground thaws, the flowers begin to bloom. Springtime jumpstarts many beautiful things in this world. Back in high school, it meant the start of baseball season for me. The smell of freshly mowed grass, sunflower seeds, bubble gum... the whole nine yards. Baseball was my go-to sport for so many years. Being left-handed, throwing and batting, I was always told I was at an advantage. I felt that way for a while, until high school that was. Kids starting throwing harder, pitchers go creative, and hitting became a struggle.

Looking back, I realize how much batting in baseball has to do with Hick's Law.  Hick's Law states that choice reaction time increases by nearly constant amount every time the number of S-R alternatives doubles. In elementary and middle school, kids only threw fastballs. This means there's only one S-R alternative, leading to the smallest possible reaction time. In high school, the best pitchers often have at least four solid pitches. Increasing the number of alternatives also increased my reaction time, which can be partially attributed to my hitting struggles.

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My baseball career was drawn out through my junior year of high school. For my senior year, I decided to take on a new, challenging sport: track & field. Running was never my forte, and I was above the average high school male in terms of size and strength, so I decided to take on the shot put. I quickly figured out in the first few days that shot put was not at all a test of brute strength. Technique plays a major role in throwing sixteen pound metal ball, surprisingly. Over the course of the season, my distances improved dramatically. I believe my improving performance had to do with my mental game.

The whole "mental game" can be described and controlled via the field of attention. Attention can be focused along two dimensions (width and direction) and four quadrants (broad, narrow, internal, external). What helped me was my ability to block out the broad/external quadrant when throwing. Whether it was blocking out the background noises or the weather, I was in my own head when it was go time. The broad/internal and the narrow/internal quadrants, which can be described as deciding which technique to use and where/when to throw, were already predetermined. This left the final quadrant, narrow/external, which is where I executed the throw. Quadrants aside, my ability to block the involuntary focus of the crowd and weather gave me the edge I needed to excel in track & field.

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With all the sports and activities I participated in, my first true love has always been football. The shear violence and grittiness in the sport has always pulled me closer to it. In high school, football was far and away my sport of choice. My junior year I received all-conference honors at the middle linebacker position. My size was nowhere close to pristine, but my quickness and savviness helped me excel in the sport. In my senior year, I repeated the conference honors and also received defensive MVP of the team.

As a look back at my experience in football, it's amazing how much my role at middle linebacker correlates with the Fitts and Posner three stage model of motor learning. The three stages are the following: cognitive, associate, and autonomous. The cognitive stage relies heavily on cognitive/verbal processes. The associative stage is where motor patterns are established. Finally, the autonomous stage is where attention demands of the skill are significantly reduced. My ability to watch film and call out the strong side early on in my high school career represents the cognitive stage here. Next, as my practice and film watching continued, I was able start making reads which allowed me to take a good first step. This represents the associative stage. Lastly, the autonomous stage can be seen in my senior year film. Reads and a good first step became almost automatic which allowed me to play freely and let loose tackling wise. Going through Fitts and Posner three stage model of motor learning allowed me to perform at a higher level on the football field in high school.

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Whether it during one of the sports seasons or in-between, lifting weights in high school was an ongoing activity. Some sports were more demanding than others in terms of lifting. For both baseball and track & field, the coaches didn't prefer lifting weights as a training method. Luckily, my strong upbringing in football lead to me believing that lifting weights was an important aspect of success in sport. This led to me lifting weights and working out on my own in the mornings before school during the spring. Personally, I took interest in not only the traditional lifts, but also the unconventional.

Analyzing my weight lifting in high school, I realize how much bimanual coordination was involved in some of the movement did. Early on in my high school career, I found love in the kettlebell. They're definitely unconventional, and were rarely used in sport seasons. Lifting on my own, I was able to work both symmetric and asymmetric bimanual coordination with the kettlebell. Symmetric bimanual coordination is when both limbs do the same thing at the same time. Overhead kettlebell presses, standard curls, and front raises are just a few lifts that exhibit the symmetric movements. Asymmetric bimanual coordination both limbs move at the same time but do different movements. Sometimes I would do single arm overhead presses while holding a front raise with the opposite arm. I also would do farmer carries with one arm holding the kettlebell overhead and the other arm holding another kettlebell at my side. While the symmetric movements were beneficial, perfecting lifts that tested my asymmetric bimanual coordination took my strength and overall body control to the next level.

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Although football was my true love in high school, wrestling was a very close second for me. My hometown is known for two things: cheese curds and wrestling. I started wrestling in kindergarten, following the path laid out by my older brother. Through elementary school and middle school I continued to wrestle, but by my 7th grade year I lost my love for the sport. I ended up not going out my 8th grade year, and at that moment I never thought I'd wrestle ever again. As my body grew through high school, my thoughts changed and I decided to go back out for wrestling my junior year. My senior year, I locked down a spot all season at 195 lbs. Through a brutal, grind of a season, our team walked away Division 2 Team State Champions that year.

As I reflect back on my wrestling career, I realize how much transfer of learning is involved with the sport. Transfer of learning is the gain or loss in proficiency of one skill as a result of practice on some other skill. For me, I believe the positive transfer of playing football and lifting weights for a few years leading up to my senior year greatly affected my performance. Practice football, especially being a bit undersized for middle linebacker, there's no room for a lack of confidence or toughness. Lifting weights allowed me to fill out over the course of my high school career. Building both strength and confidence, as well as muscular endurance were just a few of the benefits of lifting weights. In wrestling, the sport is nearly as mental as it is physical. The confidence I gained from playing football and lifting weights allowed me to concur the mental game going into my senior year of wrestling. Physically, the transfer of learning with the physicality required for football, as well as the brute strength gained from weight lifting allowed me to contest in one of the most physically demanding sports. The transfer of learning, from numerous physical and mental aspects in my life, played a huge role in my success in high school wrestling.