Need some experienced suggestions

Hey Coachjo. I have had a couple over the years that made it through the screening out or weeding out process that showed that type of mentality over the years. I just cut them. The ones that love the game and really want to play and compete want to play and compete with players who believe just like they do.

I never want the season to end. The players don't either. It sounds like you have some guys that really don't love the game. If you have 9 that do get rid of the rest and everyone will have a good time. If you don't have 9 then get through this season and make sure the next time you pick a team you have at least 9 that feel the same way you do. If you don't then find another place to coach. JMHO

CoachJo,
You are in a tough situation. One thing that I would encourage you to do is to try to express the passion and fun in the game. Kids of all ages like challenges. At some practices play a game that encourages good skills. Play an intersquad running the bases backwards. See how many diving plays can be made in an intersquad and the team with the most runs and diving plays wins. When they love to practice because of the challenge, then hopefully they carry it over to the challenge of the game. As many competitive situations you can challenge them with will make things more enjoyable for you and them.

quote:

Originally posted by hsballcoach:
CoachJo,
You are in a tough situation. One thing that I would encourage you to do is to try to express the passion and fun in the game. Kids of all ages like challenges. At some practices play a game that encourages good skills. Play an intersquad running the bases backwards. See how many diving plays can be made in an intersquad and the team with the most runs and diving plays wins. When they love to practice because of the challenge, then hopefully they carry it over to the challenge of the game. As many competitive situations you can challenge them with will make things more enjoyable for you and them.

With all due respect coach and I truly do not mean any disrespect at all here but I don't see this as a solution to the problem. To me doing all this stuff is like a band aid to a bigger problem. Coach Jo has it tough because he's coaching middle school aged kids - they are full of energy and have the attention span as big as the head of a stick pin. He's got the age group that still doesn't realize they lack the passion or skill for the game. I admire him for coaching that age group because I know I couldn't.

If you do these things and they work then more power to you. I know the teams I've coached if we did something like that they would think it was a goof off day and not getting anything out of it. In fact most of them would probably get ticked at me for doing something like that instead of a traditional practice. But that attitude comes from years of putting a high level of emphasis in practice and what's important to cover.

I'm of the thinking that Coach May talks about above but in all reality I'm not sure if you could do that with a middle school setting and come up with 9 players. He is right though that if you surround yourself with guys that love the game - no matter their talent or ability - the season will run more smooth. You will see guys who will get better in spite of themselves because they want to be out there.

I like what you said about creating challenge / competition in practice but I'm philosophically opposed to the keeping score for diving plays and running the bases backwards. But if this is what you do and it works then that's great.

Coach Jo I realize I haven't help you any but I do wish you the best of luck and admire you for coaching that age group.

Coach2709,

I think you have me confused with someone else. Sad to say, these are high school kids.

I might have overreacted. We won 3/4 this week against less than average competition.

I have challenged them more in practice and no one has walked away. Stepped up the conditioning and tried to see who could "make the great play" on defense. They seem to have caught on somewhat.

We could play intersquad every day and they'd have a blast, but how much work do you get done?

My bad coach - I saw where you posted they were 13 - 14 years old and just assumed it was middle school. So is this a JV or frosh team? Still there isn't much of a difference in maturity in a frosh and middle schooler.

I'm glad that you are having success but you ask a valid question about how to get work done. You just do it. You break into drill sessions by position and work on skills. If they don't like that or get bored then what Coach May said rings true - find guys that want to be there.

I'm going to give you some advice that I got off here a few years ago. I wish I could remember who said this so I could give them proper credit because it's great advice. Basically I asked in a thread "what is fun". And the reason I asked it is because I had a group of parents that no matter how bad we played they would start piping off "you got to have fun - no matter what have fun out there". It drove me up the wall because they took this lackadasical attitude and weren't serious because it had to be fun. I'm thinking it was very similar to what you are going through right now.

Someone got on here and said they teach "mature fun" and "immature fun". Both are necessary and nothing wrong with either one but there is a time and place for each. Mature fun is getting onto the field and enjoying just playing the game. They have fun getting better by challenging themselves during drills and practice. Immature fun is the loosey goosey stuff that goes on where they are just kids. Only thing this doens't happen during practice. They want to grab rear end around in the locker room, after practice - wherever - is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with the learning / working part of practice.

This helps to instill a sense of maturity and develop it. If after they understand this and still lose focus, get bored or whatever then they aren't players and you need to get rid of them. Find some guys who want to get better.

Hope this helps a lot better than my previous post and I apologize for misreading you.

14-13 being our record.

Sorry for the miscommunication and thanks alot for the advice!

Coach 2709,
I appreciate the comments and do not take offense. My philosophy is a simple one, hustle, hard work, and intensity. I focus on these with our team daily. That said, it is a game that we teach and if we forget that and do not let it be fun, we do ourselves and our players a disservice. My biggest pet peave is to see players standing around in a practice situation. Our practices are highly organized down to the minute. We are intense and refuse to waste time. Kids standing around get bored and cause problems. The games I mentioned are played with intensity and with a purpose, but also to remind ourselves to have fun and play with passion. The reverse base game is a game we played a few times in college. I have only played it a couple of times with my team. These fun but intense games and practices have lead us to a 30-6 record over the past season and a quarter while rebuilding a team and are a culmination of things I learned over 14 years of coaching. They may not work for everyone, but they do for us.

hsballcoach - that is a great record and I congratulate you on establishing a great program. Obviously different things work for different people and this seems to work for you and nothing wrong with that if your kids end up doing what you want according to the philosophy you establish.

Totally agree with you on the standing around and organizing practice being key components to success and maintaining focus. When I see youth leagues practice and it's one kid hitting and 12 shagging with a coach trying to hit a kids bat drives me up the wall. That is why we got to do things with intensity in practice to overcome that atmosphere.

Also, as you can see from my posts talking to coach jo I obviously have problems in reading comprehension. I'm obviously not the smartest cookie in the tool shed LOL