Baseball players embrace mindfulness lessons
More than a thousand years ago, Sun Tzu observed that “Wars are moral contests that are won in the temples before they’re ever fought.”
The Chinese theorist would have been surprised to see his concept applied to baseball. But it became the slogan of the Cornwall varsity, which was undefeated this year.
Translated into sports lingo, the Sun Tzu statement can be interpreted as “preparation is important for success.” Coach Tom Fanning’s teams have always been busy before the start of the season. They spend winter evenings in the school gym, in nearby batting cages or in a conditioning program at Anytime Fitness. But a year ago, something new was added to their routine.
Sue Cooney, a former Cornwall director of guidance, led mindfulness sessions. As the players stretched out on the gym floor, she spoke to them about meditation and about visualizing results. She told them not to expect perfection, because baseball is an imperfect game, where batters make outs more often than they get on base.
Coach Fanning included these lessons in his messages from the third-base coaching box. Instead of the traditional hand signals, he shouted a series of numbers. Using this code, he might tell the batter to lay down a bunt or take a deep breath.
The players did not enter the season with big reputations, but the chemistry on the team was exceptional. There were team events that led to bonding. On Memorial Day, for example, the team hiked the Trail of the Fallen near West Point. When the players and coaches reached the top, each of them read a brief biography of a soldier who had died in combat. Then the reader left a rock in that person’s memory.
The Dragons concluded their season on June 12 by defeating Minisink for the section title. It was their 21st victory without a loss. And many of those wins came against larger schools. Cornwall was ranked first among Class A teams in the state. Because of COVID, there was no state tournament this year. But none of the Cornwall players complained about its absence.
Almost half of the Cornwall wins were close games that could have gone either way. Coach Fanning recognized this.
“You have to be lucky,” he admitted. “That’s why we keep bringing Guy around. He keeps everything light.”
Mr. Fanning was referring to Coach Guy Maisonet, who retired last year, but returned from Florida to spend the last two weeks with the team.
