For many of my years coaching youth baseball, I have heard many other coaches talk about the importance for young ball players to play in a lot of games especially tournaments. The theory I suppose has to do with not only seeing higher levels of competition outside of league play but also getting more game situational experience. This year I took that advice with my 14u team. Now I am beginning to question that advice. We began practing in January and games began in April. We averaged 3-4 practices a week prior to games. In the beginning the boys looked good. Gradually though, about half way through the season. They began falling apart. Plays that they routinely made at the beginning became error after error. This is at about the same time that our practices began to dwindle because of the league and tournament schedule. Could it be that through this schedule they actually played less baseball? For plays to become routine it requires repetition. That repitition comes in practices. Should I have balanced our schedule better to still allow for the practices? Where do we draw the line between game experience and repitition? Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice?
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