For sports fans, having an art sports piece in their house would be a matter of pride. They would proudly show off their art sports items and some might even display it on their mantle piece which would be the focal point in that room. Some of the sports fanatics go to an extent of preserving things like a worn jersey that belonged to a player that they had got at an auction or a bandanna they found in the stadium. Anything and everything that reminds them of a memorable moment is considered worthy of being shown off. After a point this becomes a topic of conversation and anyone who comes home is told the story of how the person got the jersey or piece of art.

Art sports pieces are always considered to be precious and preserved by the people who have it in their homes or offices. Sometimes they might pick up a fancy photo frame and put in a picture taken during a match or a catch that they managed to capture in their camera. Anything that happened during a memorable match will be remembered and pictures and posters are a way of remembering and cherishing those priceless moments. This term is at times used to talk about creative sports activities such as gymnastics and such. Off late, they have also been gaining a lot of importance and part of the Olympic sports events.

More than sports players, it’s the fans and family members who get all excited and love talking about the sport. The games played by the players will be described in detail and every action will be recorded. There are some players who apart from playing also endorse some products or services and appear in commercials. These players are almost worshipped by some and one would find their posters and pictures pasted all over the walls. There have been many movies where this has been depicted. In some cases, again it is because the person enjoys the sport that they pick up art sports pieces whereas in others it is merely as a way of showing off the person they look up to or worship.

If a famous player is associated with a charitable organization, they might give away their personal belongings through auctions to raise money for the organization. At such times, people who enjoy that sport or worship that player will bid for the product, purchase it just so they can have possession of a shirt worn by Tiger woods during his previous tournament. Or they are now the proud owners of a racket that Andre Agassi used in the French open. Art sports are all about collecting products or objects associated with a sports person or a personality that one admires the most. These art sports pieces will become decorative or pieces that get passed down from generations preserved for future members of the family. Such is the beauty of these items that are considered collectibles and are even insured against theft.

What is a mental approach and what is the right frame of mind? You often hear about the mental approach to the game. But some people don’t understand what this means. It simply means how you think about the game before actually playing the game. Let’s explore it.

Before you even reach the field there is a preparation that takes place. It all starts in practice and even on the drills you are doing before the game. You often hear ‘the right frame of mind’. Well, it applies to all aspects of baseball.

As far as practice, it simply means that you are going about your business with a purpose in mind and doing it efficiently. Let’s take an example. You are about to do tee work to help your swing. Do you just put the tee up and start hacking? Or do you work on the areas that you need to, like hitting the ball the other way off the tee with you visualizing the outside pitch? You need to have a purpose to what you are doing.

And when you practice, utilize the time to practice the right way. I would rather have 10 minutes of quality, purposeful practice than 20 minutes of practice with no idea of what you are trying to work on.

Same thing goes for batting practice. Are you in the right frame of mind? Are you just wailing away at the pitches. Or are you hitting with purpose and trying to accomplish things? Once again, give me 10 minutes of quality hitting with purpose and not 20 minutes of hooking the ball foul with no idea of what you are trying to do.

These are all small things that carry over into a game. It all begins at this stage of the game. Practice the right way with purpose and you will go into the game with the right frame of mind.

What about the right approach to the game? The mental approach to the game starts with preparation. This means doing your homework and knowing the opposition. What kind of pitcher is throwing today? Is it a sidearm lefthander or an over the top righthander that throws 95 mph? If it’s a sidearming lefthander, than maybe in batting practice I will visualize the sinking fastball on the outside corner and really work hard on shortening up and just trying to stroke the ball the other way. If it’s a hard throwing flame thrower than maybe my batting practice today will be on being short to the ball and trying to be a little quicker.Do you see what I mean?

Now you are having purpose the right frame of mind, or simply, the right mental approach to the game. By combining the right mental approach with the right drills and practice, you will be well on your way to vastly improving your game.

Bill Bathe- former major league baseball player who played in 1989 world series. Former instructors include Eddie Matthews, Harmon Killebrew, Billy Williams, and Dusty Baker to name a few. To visit his website and learn more just click on
pro baseball drills and baseball equipment to take you there. Also, inspirational stories on his journey to the big leagues.

Here are 3 easy golf tips that will immediately give you a better swing and improve your hitting! It did for me almost instantly once I got the feel of it.

I went from hitting maybe one fairway per round and not being able to hit my driver to hitting the vast majority of fairways off the tee while still enjoying the extra distance of using my driver. This is exciting stuff for a mid to high handicapper…so read on.

Golf Tip #1 - Be certain that you are taking the club back by turning your shoulders NOT picking up your hands.

By taking the club back in a “one piece” takeaway, which only means that your shoulders start the turn back and your arms, hands and thus club follow in one piece - by doing this you will automatically put the golf club on the proper swing plane. So long as you do not try to help the club do its job, you will be well down the path to a more solid swing and consistent hits with this tip alone.

Practice this in front of a mirror with or without a club, making sure that your head stays solidly in place and that your three body parts mentioned above go to at least parallel as one unit.

Golf Tip #2 - Don’t overswing and swing easy. They engineer the clubs to do the hitting - getting the ball off the ground and a certain distance no matter how hard you swing. As a matter of fact, the harder you swing the less the club can do what it is supposed to do and you will sacrifice both distance and accuracy.

Just make a full shoulder turn and a good wrist cock then return the club from where it came from! When I say swing easy I do not mean decelerate on the downswing. What I do mean is find a good tempo and naturally accelerate through the ball on your downswing with a complete follow through.

Golf Tip #3 - Relax and enjoy the game. Tension in your golf swing is your biggest enemy. One of the tips that I have recently read is that once you get over your shot and are ready to swing….SMILE!! Believe it or not it works…it is extremely hard to be tensed up and smile at the same time.

These 3 simple tips have taken 5 to 10 of those “dumb” giveaway strokes off my game and it will yours too! Just get the swing thought in your mind of takeaway with the shoulders for a full turn, easy swing back through the ball to let the club do the work and relax! You will be excited to start see those shots going longer and straighter very soon!

Happy golfing!