C.J. Stewart – Page 27

Tracing the path to what ‘MLK Day’ means to me—and my career

January 18, 2023 by C.J. Stewart

When I was around 15 or 16, I met Patrick Miller. I still cannot remember how we met because the reason we connected was because of baseball. He was white and lived in Cobb County; I was black living in Bankhead.

I remember he had a house with cars in the garage. He had fruit on the table to grab and go, and a dog. All of this was new to me. I considered it to be a white way of living.

Fast-forward many years later, I am 46, married to my beautiful wife, Kelli, and we have two beautiful daughters, Mackenzi and Mackenna. We lived in Cobb. We always have fruit to grab and go, and our dog, Bose, lives in the house with us.

That experience with Patrick helped shape my future.

This past Monday, Jan. 16, we celebrated another “MLK Day” in America. Although legislation for a federal holiday was introduced in Congress as early as 1968, there was sufficient opposition, on racial and political grounds, to block its passage. In 1983, legislation making the third Monday in January a federal holiday finally was passed, and the first observance nationwide was in 1986. (Britannica.com)

“MLK Day” was a day on, not a day off experience for me. I was able to serve families in the Dallas, Texas community with the Players Alliance.

I am grateful for all that Martin Luther King, Jr., did for mankind. I am also grateful to Hosea Williams for being one of the first to introduce legislation for the “MLK Day.”

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

Doing the good you do

January 11, 2023 by C.J. Stewart

Martin Luther King Day for 2023 will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 16. Like me, he was born and raised in Atlanta, and educated in Atlanta Public Schools.

Did you know that Jackie Robinson was also born in Georgia? He played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement. According to Wikipedia, the Civil Rights Movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the US to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination and disenfranchisement throughout the United States.

As a child, I often was told that in order to be successful in life, I would have to excel at academia like Martin Luther King. When I was taught about the life of Jackie Robinson, I learned you can excel in academics and athletics.

Baseball is a powerful tool—one that can teach social emotional learning capacities such as:

Contribution
Goal orientation
Positive identity
Self-confidence
Self-efficacy
Self-management
Social capital
Social connections
Social skills

With another Major League Baseball season right around the corner, it is important to understand that baseball doesn’t just build character; it exposes it.

Being an elite baseball player can come along with fame and fortune, so be sure to use that fame and fortune to do good in the world. Success is based on what you get and significance is what you give.

Remember, skills pay the bills.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

Becoming one with wisdom

January 4, 2023 by C.J. Stewart

N – Never
E – Enough
W – Wisdom

It’s a New Year, which means there will be new challenges and opportunities for 2023 for you.

What do you hope for in the new year?
What do you pray about?
What do you dream about?

If it’s God’s will, you will accomplish everything on your list. It may also be His will for you to grow mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually by way of adversity.

Let me give you something new that you can add to your list. It is something you can never get enough of. It will guide you on and off the field. It will be your saving grace when your on field baseball career is over.

Wisdom. You can never have enough wisdom.

Knowledge is the result of gaining information plus experience. And experience plus good judgement is wisdom.

You can find a good coach to give you information. Taking what you learn and applying it on the field in games is experience. But one of the things that separates elite players from the rest is their ability to make good judgments.

Elite players and elite people make commitments and discipline themselves to get things to die because they have to and not because they always want to.

Intentional practice reps
Intentional practice time
Rest and recovery
Diet
Studying pitchers (pitch types, speeds, locations, delivery, etc.)
Strength training (mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual)

These are six things that wise hitters make a habit of.

Are you wise?

Remember, skills pay the bills.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

Building the foundation for your success

December 7, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

“Drop by drop is the water pot filled.” — Buddha

Did you know that it takes 3,000 reps to build a habit? As we have outlined as one of the foundations for the Diamond Directors’ model, there are seven parts to the swing, which include:

Stance/Load
Timing
Tempo
Tracking
Approach
Contact
Extension/Finish

Seven parts of the swing times 3,000 reps is 21,000 reps.

To build a good habit is a day by day commitment to excellence, which requires you to give yourself mercy and grace.

A bad habit I am trying to break is my use of profanity. Breaking bad habits can be hard. So I decided to create a new habit of being patient and pausing before I speak in my moments of stress, which make me want to curse.

What bad habit do you have in baseball (and life) that you need to break?

Day by day I get better with my tongue. And then there are days of stress I feel that I’m starting all over again.

I am indeed a work I progress and so are you. In the end, we owe it to ourselves to become the best versions of ourselves.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

Why I do what I do

November 22, 2022 by C.J. Stewart

James A. Lovell once said, “Be thankful for problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability might have your job.”

Problems don’t just happen. People cause problems and problems are solved by people.

Baseball is the vehicle I use most often to coach people through their problems. Being a coach is a calling for me. It is life-giving and heart fulfilling.

I am so thankful there are hundreds of boys and girls, and men and women I have been able to directly impact. And there are thousands I have been able to reach through my book, weekly blogs and YouTube videos.

I’ve been coaching professionally since 1998 and I have definitely made a mark on the game.

Living on purpose is not something that I take for granted. Being convicted got me to the point I became aware of my calling to coach.

When my baseball career as a player was over, I struggled to figure out what to do next because being an athlete was who I was. The four questions I asked myself and mediated on that set me on the path of positive identity and fulfillment were:

1. What do you worry about?
2. What do you dream about?
3. What do you cry about?
4. What brings you joy?

Transformed people transform people. I am a transformational coach and I give honor and glory to God for allowing me to be a coach.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

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