BBScout and Moc- I guess my kids are "fake", because we sprint on and off the field each 1/2 inning. I am proud of my players setting the tone of the game, and they are required to get on and off the field hard. I agree that there are many "posers" in baseball who act a certain way to get attention...but I assure you that this is not why we sprint in our program. We do it to dictate to other teams the speed of play...and it works. Our kids have learned to embrace this as genuine hustle and take pride in it.
BigHit15- Same thing happened to me (regarding what to call the coach). He cursed me out for being a "hick" (which is true) and said it was either "Skip" or his 1st name.
I laughed when I read your post - I was always taught to have the utmost respect for coaches, too, and I still had it for this guy...just addressed him differently from that moment on!
I laughed when I read your post - I was always taught to have the utmost respect for coaches, too, and I still had it for this guy...just addressed him differently from that moment on!
bbscout
Your post reminded me of an outfielder that played with my older son's college team last year. He actually ran to and from the duggout faster then he did for a fly ball. Too funny!
Your post reminded me of an outfielder that played with my older son's college team last year. He actually ran to and from the duggout faster then he did for a fly ball. Too funny!
Sosa runs out to right field like his hair is on fire. What a hot dog.
With the young guys we're trying to make hustling a habit so we do try to get them to sprint onto the field and at least jog off the field. We're not going to bench a player because he jogs out to his position but we might bench the player who walks out to his position if there isn't a good reason for it.
Our goal with the 13 and 14yo is to do what we can to prepare them for HS and learning how to hustle and how to do your share while picking up balls, etc. is part of it.
I want the guy who will run hard on every grounder and every pop up until he is called out. I could care less about the guy who sprints to first on a walk when the catcher has already thrown the ball back to the pitcher.
I want the guy who will get dirty on a ball he's got a shot at, not the one who'll dive after a ball he knows he can't reach.
When we play USSSA tournaments running onto the field is almost as important as being ready when your at bats end because of how quickly they try to get the innings turned around.
When my son went to the camp at UCSB I'm not sure if there were any legitimate D1 players among the HS kids but the one player who did impress me was a kid from Archbishop Mitty who dove after balls during BP - and each time made the play and who very quietly did his part and a bit more when it came to picking up balls and moving equipment around. I never had the impression that he was diving to impress anyone. It just looked like that was the way he played the game.
Our goal with the 13 and 14yo is to do what we can to prepare them for HS and learning how to hustle and how to do your share while picking up balls, etc. is part of it.
I want the guy who will run hard on every grounder and every pop up until he is called out. I could care less about the guy who sprints to first on a walk when the catcher has already thrown the ball back to the pitcher.
I want the guy who will get dirty on a ball he's got a shot at, not the one who'll dive after a ball he knows he can't reach.
When we play USSSA tournaments running onto the field is almost as important as being ready when your at bats end because of how quickly they try to get the innings turned around.
When my son went to the camp at UCSB I'm not sure if there were any legitimate D1 players among the HS kids but the one player who did impress me was a kid from Archbishop Mitty who dove after balls during BP - and each time made the play and who very quietly did his part and a bit more when it came to picking up balls and moving equipment around. I never had the impression that he was diving to impress anyone. It just looked like that was the way he played the game.
Coach Knight......please send me a schedule (whenever it is available) for the spring so I can come and watch your team play!!!
quote:
Originally posted by Coach Knight:
BBScout and Moc- I guess my kids are "fake", because we sprint on and off the field each 1/2 inning. I am proud of my players setting the tone of the game, and they are required to get on and off the field hard. I agree that there are many "posers" in baseball who act a certain way to get attention...but I assure you that this is not why we sprint in our program. We do it to dictate to other teams the speed of play...and it works. Our kids have learned to embrace this as genuine hustle and take pride in it.
Coach, It is about one player, not a team that has been told to do something by their coach. It is about one guy, "running mach 1", not a group of players running on and off the field. I know what hustle is, and I also know what fake hustle is, and it has nothing to do with the coach in most cases.
Coach Knight, Please re-read my post, I think you'll agree that we're in agreement 
What I can't handle are the players that do it for "show". One player on my son's team
only ran at full speed when he knew the coaches were watching-games or practice.
This same player was a catcher and would set up 1 to 2 feet back of where the normal catching position would be so that he could "block" more balls in the dirt and show what
a great defensive catcher he was. All he had to do was move up a foot and a half and catch
the balls 6" off the ground. Caused a lot of curves to be called balls. Ironically, we had
a former major league (well known) player as asst coach who never caught on.
I'm a firm believer in hustling all the time-except when going back to the dugout after
a strikeout. Kind of looks like you were happy to accomplish getting a "K".
What I can't handle are the players that do it for "show". One player on my son's team
only ran at full speed when he knew the coaches were watching-games or practice.
This same player was a catcher and would set up 1 to 2 feet back of where the normal catching position would be so that he could "block" more balls in the dirt and show what
a great defensive catcher he was. All he had to do was move up a foot and a half and catch
the balls 6" off the ground. Caused a lot of curves to be called balls. Ironically, we had
a former major league (well known) player as asst coach who never caught on.
I'm a firm believer in hustling all the time-except when going back to the dugout after
a strikeout. Kind of looks like you were happy to accomplish getting a "K".
bbscout & Moc1- I apologize. Re-read your posts, and we are in agreement here...sorry that I missed that part of it - I don't usually post without reading carefully....but I guess even an old dog can learn a thing or two! Again - I'm sorry.
grateful- I'll send it soon. Thanks for the interest.