CLIPS, PICS, SITES and Practice Discussion

[CGG]

Thats AWESOME!!!!...

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MiniCarter

[cartersball]

Thats AWESOME!!!!...

That's not my son, but it is one of the kids I coached. My son looks similar though.
Here is the pic.

[Mark Brooks]

This is a great example of A-ROD keeping his hands inside the ball.

[Jake Patterson]

I've had a few requests for this. I am uncertain who the original contributor was.

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[HOOAH]

Here's a glove board http://glove-works.getwebs.org/board/index.html

[Jake Patterson]

Baseball scholarship site:

http://www.collegescholarships.org/s...s/baseball.htm

[joboo]

I have been a lurker here for a long time and your knowledge that you contribute is outstanding. All the different views really keep me interested. As most know a good percentage of us come here seeking advice on coaching the youth and mentoring to our son or daughter as a parent. I have read for days here and still is not even a drop in the bucket to what could be learned from the experience that posts on this board. I have noticed numerous posts lately on practice plans for young coaches.
With that I think this board would do great for all the experienced coaches here to make a sticky with practice plans and drills with what they know works with the youth. I know there will be numerous variations but I think that is good for the community and coaches because as with life there is not just one path to get to the desired destination. Thank you in advance if you decide to or not I will keep lurking my son is 10 so we are really just getting started in this journey.

[Jake Patterson]

JoBoo
there are only two moderators here... myself and Cannonball. We have both posted information on practice schedules.

[Cannonball]

joboo,

I am getting ready for my upcoming season. I just reworked my practice checklist but have not completed it as of right now. When I get it done, I'll post the entire thing. Wow, I have so much to do and time is running out. The excitement is obvious and my wife has commented several times about I'm the old me again. In fact, she said that next week we should plan on going out for that one last time before the season gets going since when it does, while we will still go out to eat, I'll be off in my own world.

There are several coaches here that have a lot to offer as well. You guys can chime in as well.

[JF/NEOH]

Nice thread, I came to this forum thinking I was the guy with all the answers, soon I realized I was the guy with all the questions. Truly, part of the fun in life is the process and this site provides me an opportunity to broaden that process.

CB, I look forward to seeing your plan. I didn't know you guys had them available on this site....my mistake.

[Cannonball]

I'll start with this. The title of this is "Basic Fundamentals Checklist" The intent of this list is to have something to look at to plan practices during the pre season. Hitting is not included but is covered. I apologize that the format won't copy like it does in word.

I. Throwing:
a. Playing catch with a purpose.
b. Step and Throw
c. Dead leg throw
d. Switch your feet throw
i. Look runner - Throw to first
ii. Look runner – fake throw to first – throw to 3rd
e. Crow hop – OF
f. Spin moves – OF but include infield
g. Throws on the run
h. Teach backward chaining for OF
i. Pivot throws
i. 2b to SS
ii. Ss to 2b
iii. 1b to SS
iv. 3B to 2B
v. Catcher to infield
1. Include foot work for bunts
2. Include throws from backstop
II. Fielding:
a. MAJOR EMPHASIS THIS YEAR – ANGLES!
i. Drop step work
ii. Foot work to plant and throw
b. Short hops
c. Backhands
d. Soft hands drills
e. Fly Ball
i. Infield work on angles
ii. Infield work on communication
iii. Infield work on sun
iv. Repeat all for OF
f. Catcher must be individual off of Catcher’s checklist.
g. Tags
i. Snap Tag
ii. How to position player for catch and tag
iii. Tags for contact w/runner
iv. Rundown throws and tags
h. Relays and Positioning
i. Diving Drills
j. Cutoffs
III. Base-running:
a. Leadoffs from First
b. Diving back in
c. Proper shuffles and reads
d. Reads off the bat – all bases
e. Reading Coach
f. Sprinting through the bag
g. All slides
h. Tag up plays
i. Read ball in dirt all bases w/emphasis at 3rd base


Again, I'll add more later.

[Cannonball]

I thought I'd throw this in as well. This is cut out of a larger work that simply would not make sense to most of you since it involves drill cues special to my program. BTW, I want to assert again that I don't claim to be an expert. So, if you read this stuff and think it is stupid, great. Don't do it.

Drills are designed to create muscle memory so that when in competition, you do not have to think about the swing, fielding play, execution. Drills are based on fundamental principles and are often “break down” portions of hitting, fielding or pitching actions.

Infield Fielding Position –

1. The standard fielding position is flexed at the knees to allow the glove to begin below the level of the ball.
2. The back is relatively straight. It is only angled to allow the arms to hang down with a slight bend in the elbow.
3. The body is tension free and moving forward as the pitcher delivers the ball to the plate.
4. The ball will be fielded in front of the nose. You should be able to draw a line from your nose to your glove hand wrist.
5. As the ball is caught for a right handed player, the left foot should be slightly moving out in front of the right foot to enable the step to be “smoother” for the throw to first.
6. Low crossover steps are essential for good fielding. Remember, a “jab step” often causes the fielder to miss the ball by arriving just late for the play.
7. Third and first basemen must practice more with their gloves on the ground as the pitcher delivers the ball. Shortstops and second basemen must practice more upright to enable them to cover more ground to the hole.
8. In situations where the fielder must “charge” the ball, the forward movement must be aggressive but not “stupid.” Time the hop, field the ball off of the glove hand side and make a throw that will not “run” on the first baseman.
9. Always be moving forward on any fielded ball. There is not a situation in baseball, in my opinion, that requires the fielder to be stationary when fielding a ball.
10. The best infield and outfields work on angles and drop steps to create the best angles!
11. One other analogy that should help is, “landing the plane.” Good players land the plane and are not like helicopters that drop abruptly.

The Glove –

1. Use the “soft hands” tools and the wood to develop good glove position.
2. The palm should be directed upward but not flat.
3. Think of shoveling the ball into the glove. “Bulldozer approach!”
4. On short hops, be aggressive. Attack the ball with the glove.
5. The glove is only one part of the alligator. Use your top hand to field the ball and hold the ball in the glove.
6. Condition and take care of your glove, it is the tool of your trade.

What to do when the pitcher pitches the ball –

1. Read the catcher’s signals, communicate with your teammates and adjust positioning to the type of pitch.
2. Relay the pitch “soft” or “hard” with the outfielders if you are the shortstop or second baseman and then adjust yourself.
3. If a runner is on first, the shortstop and the second baseman must communicate on who has the throw on a steal attempt. Also, they must communicate on who has the double play ball back to the pitcher.
4. The first baseman and third baseman must always communicate with the pitcher on who has the line in bunt situations.
5. Step forward with your glove hand foot as the ball is delivered.
6. You should be on the balls of your feet.
7. Expect for the ball to be hit to you. Therefore, you will never be surprised.
8. Draw an imaginary square in front of the plate as the ball is delivered.
9. Read the pitch!

Coach Butler’s Rating on Importance – Infield Fielding:

1. Footwork
2. Positioning
3. Read and React – alligator in front, backhand, glove side look the ball in.

[joboo]

Thank You! This is nice it would be great to have a sticky with lots of various practice plans for all age groups. I know Jake said they have been posted but I have yet to find them. I'm sure they are here just haven't searched the correct way.

[JJA]

joboo,

It may not be you. This search function on this board really doesn't function properly beyond one year. Thus, if Jake's practice plans were posted more than a 1 year ago, it's no surprise that they can't be found.

That's one of the reasons I want our moderators to put this and similar material into a sticky for newcomers to this board.

-JJA

[Jake Patterson]

From a more macro perspective I used the following as a guideline:

1. Physical Warm-ups
2. Throwing lead up and drills
3. Fielding lead ups and drills
4. Hitting
5. A new item (Class) and review
6. Game like situation
7. Finished with base running

[Jake Patterson]

This is from a book I wrote some time ago. It was intended to help youth coaches. There are probably things I would change today...

How to Coach Litt&#.doc

[chumpsicle]

joboo,

It may not be you. This search function on this board really doesn't function properly beyond one year. Thus, if Jake's practice plans were posted more than a 1 year ago, it's no surprise that they can't be found.

That's one of the reasons I want our moderators to put this and similar material into a sticky for newcomers to this board.

-JJA

I have thought about this exact same thing recently, it would be incredibly useful. I think I'd be up to the task of helping out, but my guess is that the seasoned vets here probably have in mind a list of 'hall of fame' threads.

Count me in if I can be of help.

[JJA]

I have thought about this exact same thing recently, it would be incredibly useful. I think I'd be up to the task of helping out, but my guess is that the seasoned vets here probably have in mind a list of 'hall of fame' threads.

Count me in if I can be of help.

Yeah, I've been prodding Jake and Cannonball (the moderators here, two extremely experienced, knowledgeable and successful high school coaches) to start this. My personal goal would be for it to look a lot like Bill Burgess's classic thread here on Baseball Fever, in the History of the Game part of BBF:

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showth...-our-best-work

I argue that it wouldn't take long for people to appreciate it, much like Shoeless Joe's comments to Bill:

Fantastic job Bill, as usual. All this info compact, in one place, easy to find what we're looking for, one click and we're where we want to go.

Now, just replace "Bill" with "Jake and Cannonball", and now we're talking!! OK, sorry guys, this is my last plug on this topic, but it's obvious that a lot of people would love something like this here on the Coaching portion of BBF.

-JJA

[Cannonball]

JJA, I agree as well and will start a thread soon.

[Jake Patterson]

How about if we combine with Clips, Pics and Sites and call it something else??? The CPS site was set up as a coacing resourse and tehre are a bunch of good things there already??
Jake

[joboo]

That sounds great! I would appreciate it..

[Jake Patterson]

THIS POST CAME FROM URSA. IT WAS RECOMMENDED IT BE SAVED.. Ursa Great post
Jake

PS: I did change tenant...

WIP, welcome to the community. Pull up a chair, grab your favorite brew, and join the melee..... er, fun. Sounds like you're on the right track, and, I (as a father of a HS player) envy you the opportunity to start the journey now -- and the chance to do it better than all of us who waited too late to try to learn this stuff. Often we mistakenly thought that youth coaches would impart it to our sons and daughters better than we could. And, you start with the most excellent of questions -- how do I tell what is good from bad instruction? Leaving your kid's development as a player (and as the sort of kid that sports are supposed to help develop) blindly into the hands of some unknown Dad is almost always a mistake. Be a good consumer of what is put in front of you.

With that starter, I'll address one statement in the previous post with which I disagree, where Jake says, "Some here disagree with me on several basic tenants." This is absolutely untrue. The only thing on which I would disagree with Jake is his misuse of the word 'tenant' (which means 'renter'), for the word 'tenet', which is what he meant to say. In all other respects, Jake is our moderator, guru, voice of reason, and friend. When buffeted by conflicting opinions, wait for Jake to sort through the nonsense, and you'll likely not go wrong. He's also written a book that he won't let my promote for him, so you'll have to Google it. Bleahhh!

In general, trust your common sense -- and your post displays plenty. For throwing and fielding, the Hanson principle makes eminent sense -- does it look sorta like what major leaguers are doing? You probably can't go wrong with looking at some of the Cal Ripken books and videos; there's not much to criticize. It sounds like your kid will have plenty of opportunity to play infield, and getting Coach Stubbs' infielding DVD will be the soundest $35 investment you can make, as it's quick and comprehensive, but it's the only thing a kid needs from age 5 to age 14. You can find it here: http://collegebaseballcamps.com/deta...ilableKey=4762

Hitting is almost always the major point of contention and where you really need to let you common sense guide you, with a little help. Here, I've found it helps to have a lodestar against which to measure any advice or instruction -- and there's nothing less disputable than the laws of physics. Hitting is the act by which you use a double pendulum to take advantage of the laws of conservation of angular momentum. Anything that detracts from the application of those principles is to be questioned; that which takes advantage of those laws generally is a good thing. To really break it down to simple parts, you can emulate this 'avatar':


.... and NOT this one:



Similarly, anything that allows more body parts -- such as the hips and torso -- to contribute to the swing is likely on the right track, particularly for younger kids who need all the help they can give to their pencil-thin arms to even get the bat moving.

The general school of hitting that takes advantage of these principals is called "rotational"; the best description of it (and comparisons to the pretty-much-discredited 'linear' school) can be found at this page on Chris O'Leary's site: http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/...alHitting.html

Jack Mankin's Batspeed.com site is a good beginning point for sorting through some of the myths that old time coaches sometimes spout that should be disregarded. Some of his more advanced stuff is to be taken with a grain of salt.

That's not to say that there's not dispute about the best way to achieve rotational hitting success. But, at this stage, it doesn't make much difference to your son whether he's learning via Mike Epstein's DVD's, or Steve Englishbey's, or Yeager's. Just realize that most DVD's will be way over his head, but you should view them first and decide yourself where to start with your son.

As for pitching, there's likely not going to be much difference between pitching and just throwing for your son for a couple of years, so I wouldn't panic about him being asked to pitch. I presume he won't be pitching more than two or three innings and 50 pitches per game for awhile, so he should be okay. The problems usually start when kids get into 10u tournaments and the manager wants to pressure his 'stud' pitcher into throwing as many innings as possible to increase the chances of victory; that's where Mom and Dad get to step in.

Where I worry is when kids can't find the strike zone and they just aim with their elbows and snap the ball toward the plate, putting pressure on the elbow. If a kid is getting to that point, he should come out. I think the key thing to avoid pushing the ball is to make sure that the kid doesn't just push the ball is to make sure that he doesn't just pull the ball horizontally straight back out of his glove, but brings the ball down to his back hip and around. Also, he should finish his motion by pronating the arm (i.e., with the thumb pointed down) and sweeping toward his left hip (for a righty thrower), so he finishes with a bent arm and doesn't lock the elbow. And, like hitting, you want to get his body involved, so every throwing or pitching practice session should include focus on 'crow hop' footwork. But, there's no magic preventative against arm injuries, and you should listen to him when he complains about soreness.

The most important thing is to keep the dream alive. Be available when he wants to practice and keep it fun and positive; don't fret or push when he doesn't. Go to ballgames -- that's where he decides that there are people out there doing something that he'd like to do. Major league games are great -- those are the cathedrals. But they're expensive and may be tough to get to. Minor league games for kids that age are just as good -- they're cheaper, you can get closer to the field, you can sometimes talk to players, and now-days there's usually all sorts of goofy stuff going on between innings to keep kids involved. High school and college games are really great, particularly if you know one of the kids on the team; watching the interaction and banter on the bench can be as fun as the game and gives him role models that he'll want to develop into.

Make sure that you're having fun too. Kids can tell when you're not. If you're not having fun hanging out with your kid and his friends on a grassy field while they're playing the greatest game ever invented indicates that you're a very maladjusted person (especially when your alternative is to be either working or doing chores around the house).

[Jake Patterson]

This is from Webball 2007 from Steve Englishbey- If anyone from Steve's group or Webbal object to posting here please PM me. It was posted as a link in another thread but felt it worth saving.
Enjoy

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE
THE CENTRAL ISSUE OF INSTRUCTION

- Steve Englishbey, EnglishbeyHitting.com
It seems to me that the central issue is this: How does one go about creating optimum of near optimum performance in actual game conditions, and do this consistently? How does one go about practicing in ways that ways that would facilitate this? And what is it that one needs to take into game conditions that would facilitate retaining that which you have been practicing?

Within this central question are really two questions:

1. Are you in fact actually practicing in ways that would best help to facilitate the enhancement of performance in game conditions?
2. Assuming that this is indeed the case, why is this not "showing up" in the actual game conditions?


The first question really has to do with things having to do with understanding the actual biomechanics involved that allow for optimal or near optimal performance. Simply put, whatever inefficiencies that you have that will impede your ability to hit the best pitching that you might face at whatever level that you are playing at, will not really be revealed when you are in the cage hitting against batting practice pitching.

Thus, I would argue that if you are not practicing in ways that promote the kinds of mechanical efficiency that you will most likely need against the top pitching you will face at your level, you are not practicing in ways that will best facilitate optimal or near optimal performance in game conditions.

But, for this article, I want to leave out the issues surrounding this question, and instead focus on the second question - why are my good swings that I have in practice not showing up in games?

About eight years ago, I was working as a part-time select team coach, and there was a particular hitter that really hit well in practice, and he practiced a lot, and took lessons regularly, and was very serious about trying to become a better hitter.

But......none of this tended to translate into his game performance.

My advice to him? Did I give him a long explanation as to why his mechanics were breaking down in a game?

No. I said this: "When you go up to the plate I want you to think - seriously think - I DON'T GIVE A S*** ABOUT WHETHER I HIT WELL OR NOT."

This seemingly counter-intuitive "instruction" was given for a very simple reason: He had become OVERFOCUSED on what has been described by motor learning experts as "outcome orientation".

As opposed to having a "process orientation".

In batting practice, he was very much " process " oriented. Meaning he was all about trying to develop a " sense of feel " about what his mind and body were doing or not doing as he swung the bat in batting practice. The focus was on the kinds of feelings involved in creating good movement, and not so good movement. And the focus involved the kind of mental outlook, levels of arousal, concentration, etc involved in " feeling " this process by which he was thinking and acting as he swung the bat. (And I do mean to suggest that all of this kind of focus is of an explicit nature. No. Its both implicit and explicit, or conscious, and subconscious respectively.)

In batting practice then, the focus was on the process" by which he went about thinking thru the experience of "being in the moment", i.e. the thinking involved in having an exclusive and concentrated focus on the mind/body engagement involved in "feeling the process".

In this situation "outcome" is part of the process of course, i.e. there is feedback as to where the balls are going, if he was "early or late", etc.

But, this was not the main or exclusive focus. The real focus was on body awareness and the kind of focus necessary to create this kind of "getting inside" the swing process.

PROCESS ORIENTATION ABSENT

In game conditions this process orientation was nearly completely absent. In games it suddenly became an kind of anxiety ridden outlook that could be distilled into "I need to perform now, I need to hit well, I've got to perform well." etc., etc., etc.

This kind of thinking - thinking about the future, thinking about the performance, thinking about the outcome - was not at all how he was thinking when he hit well in the cage.

And I have known quite a few athletes that tend to suffer from this kind of over focus on the outcome when game time comes.

As opposed to taking the mind /body focus that they have when practicing ---the kind of mind/body experience that allows and facilitates the optimum or near optimum levels of focus, arousal, and engagement physical and mental processes that best allow one to eliminate or better control all the many external factors and distractions that have little to do with the kinds of internal processes that are really driving the process of good performance in games.


FOCUS BECOMES A HINDRANCE

This kind of over-focus on outcome can take the "psycho-physical " characteristics of what motor learning specialist Richard Schmidt referred to in his book Motor Learning and Performance as "hyper-vigilance".

This is a kind of mental and physical condition wherein the athlete has gone beyond his optimal level of arousal. Simply put, an optimal level of arousal and focus "would be one that produces an 'attentional' focus narrow enough to exclude many irrelevant cues, yet broad enough to pick up the most relevant ones."

By focusing too exclusively on the outcome of performance - that which is external to the process of getting into the "here and now", the level of arousal and focus becomes a hindrance to performance. Which then leads to a kind of "freezing up" of the mind/body.

As Schmidt writes "They freeze because the decision-making ability of people in a hyper-vigilant state is severely limited do to an extreme perceptual narrowing and several other factors. Such a condition also degrades the physical control of movements, causing actions that are normally performed in a smooth and flowing manner under more relaxed circumstances to be stiff and halting."

My experience - both as one who has actually "been in the arena", as well as someone who works with a variety of hitters - is that aspects of the above, i.e. an over-focus on performance at game time can lead to subtle and not so subtle versions of this kind of "hyper-vigilance."


MITIGATING HYPER-VIGILANCE

How does one try to help mitigate against this kind of over aroused and "out of focus" kind of mental state at game time?

One of the things that I try to do as an instructor is to try to get young hitters to understand certain fundamental components of the swing, i.e. things which I think underlie all good swings. The goal is to find ways to practice these components in ways that leads to both a greater cognitive and kinesthetic awareness of what these components are and what they "feel like". This is a process that is largely an intrinsic and internal affair ,which over time begins to operate as a kind of "internalized coach" if you will. Over time and with this kind of practice and focus ,you are able to better understand what it is you are doing to create your best swings versus your less than optimal swings.

In developing an ability to take what you have been practicing into a game, you have to be able to take this "internalized coach" into a game setting. And you have to practice in ways that best facilitate this kind of mental and physical focus, emphasis ,and concentration. This is not something wherein you are "thinking too much" or overanalyzing the swing. To the contrary, it is much more "emotionally neutral" and is much more along the lines of coming to understand better the mental and physical factors that are involved in your "good swing".

And the trick is to ONLY think about those factors in game conditions. And to be able to know how to control your mental and physical state in game that keep you within these parameters.

Exactly what these components are ,and how one would go about working thru this may be beyond the scope of this article. But one quick example would be a player who I worked with "gave up" thinking about performance in the traditional sense, and instead concentrated on simply trying to swing the bat the in a game like he had been practicing and doing in batting practice. And "think about the process" in a very similar fashion. By thinking about the process involved in getting off a good swing his performance actually improved.

In terms of development and in terms of transfer from practice to actual performance - this kind of "giving up performance" can potentially be very beneficial to those who tend to be "5:30 hitters" instead of game-time hitters.

[Jake Patterson]

I keep getting asked for these drills. We used these as part of our throwing warm-ups. While there is more to safe throwing than this - I attribute these drills to many seasons of injury free arms. Once you go beyond these drill the pronation is almost unnoticeable.

Wrong Foot Pronation Drill -http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=-u-jhU_EYlc

High Tuck - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=1PIUh36L7sI

High Guard - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzTfh...eature=related

[Jake Patterson]

Here several fielding drills I used in our fielding lead ups... I should have filmed everything we used... but here's at least one we used.

Back Hand Drill - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCZBB...yer_detailpage