Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson reveals his secrets to success
Aug 31, 2011, 3:35 AM | Updated: 3:42 am
On Tuesday at 3:45 p.m., Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson sat in front of the media like he does every day before batting practice, but this day was different. This day Gibson decided to reveal some of his secrets to his team’s success.
Gibson not only emphasized the importance of fundamentals in the game but also the mental side of the sport.
“I think one of the things that’s been big is that when they make mistakes through their aggressiveness you don’t demean them for that,” he said. “You don’t really want to temper the aggressiveness or the enthusiasm to play all-out. I encourage them to expand their comfort zones.
“They’re gonna make mistakes, we deal with that. They have to understand that we’re in it together. It’s not us against them. We have a common cause as a group. They have comfort in that.”
This much insight into Gibson’s mind is rare. He’s told us all season it’s about building confidence and reassuring his players, young and old, that they have room to grow and room to make mistakes.
There’s no doubt Gibson is a huge part of the team’s success but is it as important as “snakes.” Yeah, you read it right… “snakes”…that was something else Gibson told us about on Tuesday.
“Like I say, we are very loose until they play the snake music. And somebody in the dugout will say “snakes” and then we are ready from that point on. It’s ready, we’re ready, it’s very fast. Your energy inside, your internal clock, your lather. And then the first pitch of the game. We’ve come out good. So you guys remember that…’SNAKES.'”
Whatever works I guess.
