Awareness Game #3

My past two posts have been about two games that players and coaches can play during games to improve field awareness.  Today is Part 3 of a three part series and involves another game that players can play in their minds while watching a game.  I guess it could be called the announcer game.

Being a radio announcer is tougher than TV because the listener does not have eyes on the field as they would while watching TV.  Therefore, the radio announcer has to be much more descriptive as to what is taking place on the field.  He also has to look around so that he has more to offer to the listener.  Here is an example of something that might come out of the mouth of such a radio announcer …

“The count is 2-1, a good running count.  The pitcher takes a long look at the sign and the runner takes a bigger than normal lead at first base.  He sure looks like he’ll run.  The middle infielders are at double play depth and the third baseman is playing towards the line a little bit to prevent extra bases.  Two outs in the inning and the home team is looking for a big hit here.  All three outfielders are playing deep to take away the extra base as well so if a base hit is the result here, the runner should easily go first to third.  The pitcher comes set.  He looks at first base.  He delivers the pitch …”

As you can see, a radio guy is going to be aware of a lot on the field and tell it to the listener.  This is where Game #3 comes into play.

Awareness Game #3

This game has a player who is on the bench or maybe even out in the field playing “radio announcer” in his head.  Like the dialogue above, it forces him to look around in order to talk about more stuff in his head.  While watching a game on TV, the kid can even turn the sound off and announce the game himself either out loud or in his head.  

However they are done, all three awareness games force players to see more of what is going on around them.  Doing so can only improve their awareness and hopefully keep them from being surprised by what the other team tries to do.

Tomorrow’s post:  Awareness pays off for one MLB player