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As a coach of any team, you might find yourself needing to boost morale. Perhaps your team has all the best players psychologically or the best stats in the league for performance, but somehow things still don't seem to be clicking. For General Manager of the independent baseball team the El Paso Diablos, Matt LaBranche, finding the right balance of brawns and brains is imperative to team success. "Once you have recruited a talented player on the field, you have to look at their intellectual makeup," he says. "Certain players have talent but may not have it upstairs and you may not want to get involved with those folks." Because LaBranche's job boils down to picking able and athletic players who will hopefully get picked up by a major league team, he needs to select the best of the best. To help him find those hidden gem players, he uses the Sports Performance Indicator assessment test from sportsDrive. Instead of seeing how fast an athlete can run or how many homeruns he can hit, the test measures 16 mental dimensions of an athlete to determine where he or she needs to improve their skills and/or train of thought in the game. LaBranche says that the test will let athletes know if they have what it takes to make it and will weed out those that don't. "Most people that are in professional sports have the physical attributes. Someone who takes the test will learn what they need to improve on from the psychological side of things," he said. LaBranche admires players like David Eckstein, shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays, because he "doesn't have physical tools necessarily-he's not 6'3"-but he got to the big leagues by playing game the right way and his psychological makeup" LaBranche plans to use the assessment test on players during spring training as his staff begins with 35 players and needs to cut down to 22. He says that by utilizing the indicator he and his staff will know who they want to take a chance on for the upcoming season. "When the major league organizations contact us about recruiting a player, we can tell them [so-and-so] scored high on the [SPI] in addition to their physical capabilities," he said. "Coaches should consider using [the test] because of how it measures drive, work ethic, and how quick you can react to certain situations." As the GM, LaBranche receives a list of players from major league organizations and it is up to him and his staff to target players for their independent club. He said it's important to not only look at the athlete's physical skills (which can be improved on simply by upping a repetition or practicing longer) but it's important to know their mental makeup as well. "You can have all the God-given talent in the world, but if you lack something psychological, you will have a rough time," he said. "sportsDrive will help athletes to find out their weaknesses and how to improve upon them. Some are obvious on the field, but some may not be realized until they take the test. The test will help players identify the problem and then make it easier to find a solution." |
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Coach Bill Kramer
Texas' El Paso Diablos-GM Matt LaBranche
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