When does intellect defeat instinct? Or, conversely, when does instinct win out?
When you play senior baseball (or, if you remain physically active and competitive into your 60s), these questions come to mind. The reason they do is because so many players injure themselves trying to do things their bodies command them not to do.
Your instincts tell you to run hard to first base. You do. You pull a groin muscle.
A ball is hit to you in the outfield. You run and dive. You separate your shoulder. Done for the season.
These things happen in senior baseball. Repeatedly. Bodies over the age of 55 don’t want to steam into second base and perform a pop-up slide. Your body wants to jog to second base (or lumber, or trot, pick your verb). But not sprint.
In our league, over and over we see and hear of players getting injured as their instincts defeat their intellect. Your mind tells you to slow down. Instead, if you hit a slow roller to third base, you take off out of the batters box, presuming you can leg out an infield single. Instead, you tear your hamstring.
There’s a friend of mine playing in one of these senior baseball leagues and he is currently out of commission with a groin pull. He tried to run too hard, more than his body could handle. When we recently discussed this, he said something to the effect, “I KNOW I shouldn’t have done that, but I just couldn’t stop myself.” He couldn’t overrule instinct with his mind. The innate desire to get to first base took over.
Last season in our 55+ team, we got three new players to join us, all of them under the age of 60. Young bucks for the league. By the end of the season, all three were injured and unable to play. One tore his rotator cuff. Another pulled a groin muscle. And the third just generically messed up his arm so he couldn’t throw any more.
When players join our team, they get positive reinforcement to NOT overdo it. DON’T sprint as fast as you can to first base. BE CAREFUL if you choose to dive for a ball. Slide into bases AT YOUR OWN RISK.
The emphasis is on: “YOU COULD HURT YOURSELF!” The implication is you must analyze the situation, use your intellect, and not take risks that punish your body.
As the three players from our team last year demonstrated though, it is much easier to SAY you’re going to slow down and be smart about your body than it is to actually play that way.
You have to wonder if this goes back to neanderthal days when your senses had to be active and alarmed at all times to respond to predator threats. You had to go zero to a hundred at any time. Similar to baseball, where you are sedentary and suddenly you’re expected to explode to full speed.
With age, you can’t physically do that anymore. Something has to give, and it’s usually a muscle, limb, tendon, ligament or bone.
There are no answers to the instinct vs. intellect discussion. You can only work to engage your brain to still your body and hope the message gets through. Sometimes it does, but that’s when you get thrown out stealing second.
When you play senior baseball (or, if you remain physically active and competitive into your 60s), these questions come to mind. The reason they do is because so many players injure themselves trying to do things their bodies command them not to do.
Your instincts tell you to run hard to first base. You do. You pull a groin muscle.
A ball is hit to you in the outfield. You run and dive. You separate your shoulder. Done for the season.
These things happen in senior baseball. Repeatedly. Bodies over the age of 55 don’t want to steam into second base and perform a pop-up slide. Your body wants to jog to second base (or lumber, or trot, pick your verb). But not sprint.
In our league, over and over we see and hear of players getting injured as their instincts defeat their intellect. Your mind tells you to slow down. Instead, if you hit a slow roller to third base, you take off out of the batters box, presuming you can leg out an infield single. Instead, you tear your hamstring.
There’s a friend of mine playing in one of these senior baseball leagues and he is currently out of commission with a groin pull. He tried to run too hard, more than his body could handle. When we recently discussed this, he said something to the effect, “I KNOW I shouldn’t have done that, but I just couldn’t stop myself.” He couldn’t overrule instinct with his mind. The innate desire to get to first base took over.
Last season in our 55+ team, we got three new players to join us, all of them under the age of 60. Young bucks for the league. By the end of the season, all three were injured and unable to play. One tore his rotator cuff. Another pulled a groin muscle. And the third just generically messed up his arm so he couldn’t throw any more.
When players join our team, they get positive reinforcement to NOT overdo it. DON’T sprint as fast as you can to first base. BE CAREFUL if you choose to dive for a ball. Slide into bases AT YOUR OWN RISK.
The emphasis is on: “YOU COULD HURT YOURSELF!” The implication is you must analyze the situation, use your intellect, and not take risks that punish your body.
As the three players from our team last year demonstrated though, it is much easier to SAY you’re going to slow down and be smart about your body than it is to actually play that way.
You have to wonder if this goes back to neanderthal days when your senses had to be active and alarmed at all times to respond to predator threats. You had to go zero to a hundred at any time. Similar to baseball, where you are sedentary and suddenly you’re expected to explode to full speed.
With age, you can’t physically do that anymore. Something has to give, and it’s usually a muscle, limb, tendon, ligament or bone.
There are no answers to the instinct vs. intellect discussion. You can only work to engage your brain to still your body and hope the message gets through. Sometimes it does, but that’s when you get thrown out stealing second.