They will see it all over your face

Quick … which of these two photos shows a genuine smile and which is an example of that fake smile just given for the camera?  

As you could tell almost immediately, the genuine smile is the face on the right. 

Which photo below shows a face that is afraid?

I’m sure you picked the one on the right pretty quickly also.

Which animal would you be more likely to approach and try to pet?  

If you are smart, it better be the one on the left.

If animals could pitch, which of the two would a coach rather have on the mound pitching for his team? 

After millions of years of evolution, human beings are hard-wired to be very good at reading facial expressions whether they are of the genuine kind or the fake ones.  That’s why even a little kid can tell you which animal above is probably safer to pet. Little kids can also tell the difference between a sad face and one that is afraid.

I was talking to a group of young (7th/8th grade) pitchers at a camp and during some down time, I spoke to them about the importance of body language and what they are presenting when they take the mound.  Do they look like the golden retriever above who wouldn’t hurt a fly or do they look more like the wolf that wouldn’t hesitate to attack if he felt like it?  Do they look afraid?  Sad?  When coaches look out at their pitcher, they want to see the wolf.

Which face do you present when you take the field?  Is it poised, confident, and competitive like the wolf?  Do you present that the whole game or do your emotions change from batter to batter and vary through sad, afraid, and mad?  Hopefully it is the first but either way, thanks to evolution, coaches and scouts will spot each one a mile away.