If you are a baseball fan like I am, you know where the subject line of this blog post came from. The late Yankee great Yogi Berra was a man of odd speech and humor. He coined the phrase that “80% of the game is half mental”. It is true in baseball and also true in playing defensive back.
I was recently having a discussion with a young athlete in my direct messenger for Instagram and he was having trouble seeing the importance of watching videos to help learn how to play defensive back. This really struck home to me just how much this current generation feels that they can just physically drill themselves into defensive back greatness.
The rapid growth of the Internet and social media is likely to blame for this thought process. Much of Instagram’s popularity outside of it’s IG models comes from the fitness and training community. Account owners have developed massive followings by posting workouts and drills on their pages. From this, followers have come to believe that they can just duplicate the drills / exercises and success is right around the corner. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When it comes to playing defensive back, ignoring the mental aspect of the game will render all of the physical work useless. My most successful clients have made consistent use of the educational material that I post in my member’s area along with their physical training. Some live in my area and can make it to or schedule sessions with me for the physical training. They do so while also soaking up the knowledge provided about playing the position that I provide not only in sessions but online in my member’s area. Others who can not make it to sessions, grab the knowledge provided in the member’s area and apply it to the physical work they do where they live.
The strongest and fastest defensive back can be a liability if he does not know the intricate details of executing a movement or more so when to apply it. Football is still a game of scheming X’s and O’s to gain an advantage over your opponent. If you’ve learned nothing else from watching the New England Patriots win 6 Super Bowls, please learn that. In virtually all of their 6 wins, the Patriots were the less physically talented team.
By no means am I down playing drills or the physical work that is necessary to compete. What I am trying to drive home is that the most important component involved in becoming a master of the position is mental proficiency. The smartest players with physical talent are the ones that succeed the most. Knowledge is most definitely the key. It is the major reason why I created my member’s area. 30+ years of playing and coaching the game has driven home the point that without a well trained mind an entire body can not succeed. Go Lock down your day.
Chad Wilson is the owner of All Eyes DB Camp and author of "101 DB Tips". He played college football at the University of Miami and briefly in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks. Over his 15 year high school football coaching career, he tutored over a dozen Division I defensive backs and as a trainer has worked with NFL All Pros, first round draft picks, college football All Americans and Top 10 ranked high school football prospects.
