I am struggling getting my team motivated for the first game of the double header. We play all DH's all season, and for some reason it always takes them about 4 innings into the 1st game to get into "game mode." The rest of the first game and right from the beginning of the 2nd game they are focused and play well. We always have pre-game BP and do well during that, so looking for any suggestions of something I can switch up in our routine or any reasons you can think of.
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Try taking out a few of the everyday starters and letting the subs start a cpl games....maybe that will motivate them to prepare for inning number 1
I would do exactly what lefthookdad just said. Sit the ones who are the ring leaders of this lackadaisical attitude and you will be amazed how fast they start to get motivated.
Our problem last year was in the 2nd game of the double header - especially when there was more than 10 minutes between games.
We tried everything from motivational speeches to keeping them occupied between games to no avail. I don't mean to hijack your topic, but what advice do other coaches have to help avoid this scenario again this year?
Thank you
I'm with Lefty and Coach. There's no place like the bench to solve motivation issues. Especially if one of the subs takes a starting position.
Have them listen to Steve Springer between games.
Run "run and", steals, motion offense. In pre game hit the fungo into the gaps. This will involve double cut offs.
Bob
Guessing it's HS not travel. Unfortunately w HS u will see diff levels of passion for the game. If it's a small program it may be more difficult to bench players-which is what should happen. I know some local schools that can barely field a team so there are not a lot on bench to put in. How many r truly having trouble w motivation? My guess a few kids who just don't care, they r there because they "like" baseball and it's fun/social not because they Love playing. Many HS r unmotivated in classroom too.
On a travel team, u can weed out the slackers next season. Summer teams usu have kids who really love the game and hope to play in college. It's too expensive, time consuming to just play and not care. Do the unmotivated ones play Summer ball? If so wonder if they have the same problem, or if they play diff for that coach.
@playball - You are correct in assuming this is a HS team. We are a small school as well on a military base in Japan. The turnover is always high from season to season and you are also correct that not everyone that gets on the team REALLY wants to play all the time.
That being said, we sent 2 players to college last year and this year have at least 1 more that will likely play at that level - it's some of the rest that are the problem. It is not an ideal situation but we have really tightened up our practice schedule and are pulling the players to the side one-on-one to give them a better idea of what we expect from them. Hopefully this will help whether we just want them to be dugout cheerleaders or team leaders.
I appreciate the feedback, thank you
