If I may...I'd like to mention three coaches in the area who probably had the greatest influence on me as a coach. We competed against each other, shared our philosophies on coaching and just generally got along because I knew we were all doing it for the love of the game.
Jim McCandless - his Severna Park Legion teams were unbelievably well coached. His first practice of each year was done with no bats, helmets or gloves. They would work on baserunning for 2-3 hours...and it showed year in and year out. A game manager with few equals (in my experience).
George Richardson - talk about a coach who knows the finer points and can communicate them to a new crop of players each and every year. Double-cuts, rundowns, delay steals, 1st/3rd offense or defense...his teams are prepared for any situation.
Randy Kail - I witnessed this man get more out of the players he coached then perhaps anybody I ever coached against. An evaluator of talent par excellent...and a fantastic game manager.
These guys all ran great practices...sometimes on off nights for 2 hours...other times for 30 minutes before or after a game. Sometimes in large groups, other times one-on-one.
But back to the original topic...I'm sure many showcase and tournament teams do a fine job of coaching the players...but nothing can be the same as night in and night out contact, bonding and repetition.