Scientific solutions for improving the athletic performance of baseball players will be the topic of discussion Monday as David Szymanski, Louisiana Tech kinesiology professor and former assistant baseball coach at Auburn University and Texas Lutheran University, speaks on campus.
Szymanski will present his research in his lecture titled “The Scientific Quest for Optimal Performance” on Monday, Oct. 9 in The Blocker Building. The lecture is open to all and will be from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Szymanski said he is always looking for the answer to enhance the performance of baseball athletes. As a father of two teenage boys, he said he wants to use his research to help athletes become successful in the game of baseball.
“While some of my research has proven ways to help optimize performance for baseball athletes, a lot of my research has done the opposite,” Szymanski said. “It has demonstrated that there are some products out there that people are selling don’t work effectively. With my research, I can confirm when these products are gimmicks and really help people by passing along this information.”
Reminiscing on his college days, Szymanski said he never imagined he would be an outstanding researcher or professor.
“I was a college baseball player back in the 80’s and never made it to professional baseball”, Szymanski said. “As an undergrad, I wasn’t really excited about research and stats, but man, I can’t tell you how excited I get at the end of research study.”
Kinesiology professor Michael Greenwood invited Szymanski to speak at Texas A&M. Greenwood said the information that Szymanski will provide will allow students to see how important it is to investigate the methods and trainings that trainers use to try and improve performance.
“Frederick Douglas said in one of his poems: ‘It’s easier to build strong children that it is to repair broken men,’” Greenwood said. “Basically what that means is if we teach children the proper techniques from the beginning, whether it’s in the classroom or in baseball, we don’t have to start over with the correct way.”
Associate head of the kinesiology department Steve Riechman said using research in baseball can help eliminate some common coaching and training myths.
“We always talk about how the old school coaches who do things back in the day and we cite that all the time in science and disapprove what some of these coaches think is best,” Reichman said. “By using research to prove this, we are able to help coaches stay above the curve on how to really achieve optimal performance for their athletes.”