The perfect off-season plan for baseball: nothing.

Baseball season is winding down.  The leaves are falling.  The air is getting cooler.  As you sit on the hard, unforgiving metal bleachers, you wonder what comes next.  What is the right off-season plan for my baseball player?

You're going to find a lot of answers out there.  A lot of great opinions on how to do this.  If you happen to have spare, disposable income, I am sure you can do a series of winter clinics at your local, indoor training facility.

Well, I don't have that kind of disposable income, but even if I did, I think we should resist the urge and temptation of playing a sport year-round.

I don't need to tell you about the likelihood that your young athlete will be more likely or prone to certain injuries from overuse.  You already know that.  You may already know, as well, that the best solution is rest and time away from the game.  

I could take for days about why I think baseball is the best, most well-rounded sports out there.  It's a game for literally everyone; short, tall, small, large, and every single body type out there.  It's a game that requires speed, power, coordination, situational awareness, mental discipline, and a great deal of patience.  There is no game like it.  I still insist, as well, that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports.  There are too many things that make baseball the greatest sport.

But I fully believe in the power of not only playing other sports but also just resting.  It's for that reason we take winters pretty easy. 

• No baseball, no baseball, no baseball.  We don't throw, touch, or even look at a baseball between November and March.  From a physical standpoint, I want my kids doing something other than a throwing motion.  Give that arm, and shoulder, some time to rest and recover from the rigors of throwing a baseball for most of the year.  But more importantly, from a mental standpoint, to come back to baseball fresher than they left it.  By the end of a season, most coaches and kids are running into a wall; coach's words aren't holding as well and the players are tired of the routine and their own struggles with their game.  What a better chance, and opportunity, than winter to fully separate from the game.
• Try a new sport or play literally any other sport.  Winter basketball has become our new thing.  We could have played literally anything.  Indoor soccer.  Rollerblading.  Hockey.  Dance.  Whatever.  The point is to improve and foster overall athleticism.  
• Work a different part of the brain.  If you haven't sensed a theme yet, the goal of the off-season is to not do anything baseball related.  Michael Jordan famously said, at least a certain point in time, that he wouldn't touch a basketball during the off-season.  There's a reason for that.  Burnout is real.  Overuse injuries are real.  Bad habits get further reinforced.  Spend time away from the game in a way that involves no sports whatsoever -- painting, volunteering, reading.  Create a more well-rounded human to create a better ballplayer.
• Spend time with family.  The rigors of a baseball season take its toll on a family.  Weeknight practices, weeknight games, and weekend games.  Countless throwing and hitting sessions on the "off" nights in the backyard.  For anyone in your family that doesn't find baseball as great as you, the season takes a palpable toll on how the family is functioning (especially if you're re-arranging a sibling's schedule to fit around the other's baseball schedule).  All of that makes spending quality time even more important during the off-season.  Plan more movie dates, family hikes, and so forth.  Deepen that bond with your family.  Invest in other family members, too.  By the time baseball season rolls around, it may not feel as imbalanced.