What can you do to enhance your skills during this lengthy down-time? Go outdoors and do stuff. Remember, athletic competition is basically built around things we do naturally.

Growing up on a farm with no fancy toys, as soon as two or three kids got together, we found ways to entertain ourselves. It usually involved running, jumping, and throwing things. Most sports are built around these ideas.

Nobody had to teach us how to move correctly. If you did not use your core, you could not throw a bale of hay up and onto the wagon. If your core was out of position, you could not skip a rock across a pond. If you teased a bull in the pasture, you needed good footwork and the ability to leap up and across the fence quickly.

So, what can you do to enhance your game during this time without sports? One of our Instructors from Texas sent us photos of one of her students, and her brother, working the core without even thinking about it.

They love to fish. The more bait they catch, the more they can fish. The cast-net is crucial to catching bait. Believe me, if you try to throw this net using just your arms, the only thing you will catch is yourself…looking silly. If you do not use the core correctly, starting with footwork and working upward through the torso, the net will not open and even the baitfish will make fun of you

Get outdoors. Cast a surf rod. Jump a stream. Throw a frisbee. Bounce a tennis ball off anything to increase your reaction time. You may also discover something that too many kids miss in this culture of over-organized sports…a sense of play, and playing for the fun of playing.

Getting away from the game could allow you to return better than ever, and you will not even notice that it is happening.