Training Technique Is Questioned by Parents

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It was still considered appropriate to withhold water as a form of punishment by the coaches.

Or in basic training in 100 degree heat making sure you took your two salt tablets to retain water during PT. No wonder I have high blood pressure!

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TR,

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Let me lay this on you and you tell what you think

Good insight. Good Story. And...

...I'll take that new catcher on my team in a heartbeat.

Give me a player with passion, and work ethic and I'll see that he gets to his genetic potential. Give me players that live the team concept and I will see that the team reaches it's potential.

I am decidedly old school when it comes to team and personal values. Nothing better than seeing success created by little more than blood sweat and tears and buying into a team dream. I believe that we agree on that.

And I see those values slipping badly in the last 30 years. I would bet that we agree on that as well.

"44's Lament"....Players are changing...society is changing....30 years ago I could easily find those players - or they would find me - who had a passion to excel and really ENJOYED finding out just how good they could get and really enjoying the process of competing and developing.

Now more often I find four kinds of players.
- Those who want to be entertained - not developed.
- Those who see no value in, or respect for the game, or development they simply have to win, at all costs and by any means, without respect or hard work.
- Those who are after statistics only
- Those who have what I call self esteem gone wild where they feel they don't have to work hard because they have already been told that they are exceptional. "Why should I work or change when I am already really, really good"

I am constantly learing, or relearning. Two things my own boys have brought home to me in the last couple months...
- At every level you're starting over. At the next level you likley have nothing, yet. As a result at every level the competition increases, but at every level many of the more talented quit trying so hard and rest on laurels. As a result opportunities are presented for those few who are not the most talented but are passionate and are willing to earn it. In fact I would say that this is true more now than ever.
- Preached work ethic and attitude to mine. They may not excel, they may not play pro ball, but in the end they will have the respect of the coaches and they will be good teammates and they will reach their genetic potential whatever that might be. They will walk away better human beings and they will walk away knowing. That is all I can ask. That's all they can ask.

TR, based upon your story I would guess that my last paragraph pretty well describes you.

Sorry for the rambling, got carried away...

44

Observer44,

I’ve always enjoyed reading your viewpoints. After reading your posts in this thread, my respect has grown even higher.

Because you get involved in lots of the more humorous type threads and really never brag about yourself, I think people didn’t understand your level of expertise. Obviously, you are successful at what you do because I don’t ever remember you looking for any business here.

Only thing you’ve said that I kind of disagree with is “getting to genetic potential”.

Just nit picking here, but I don’t think anyone ever reaches their genetic potential. Because it is an unknown (IMO). Guess I’m a big believer that every person has room to get even better. If you disagree I would enjoy more discussion about the topic. It’s one of my faves!

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Originally posted by CADad:
My experience is that developing skills is more effective than trying to force players to develop guts. The better you are the braver you are.

I've seen coaches hitting balls that are too hot for kids too handle and then yelling at them. I was one of those coaches. I eventually learned that hitting grounders at a speed the kids could handle and then gradually moving the difficulty up so their skills improved was far more effective. A bit more work for the coach but far more effective. Eventually they learned that they could handle even the hardest hit balls and that they missed so seldom that having one bounce off their chest once in a blue moon just wasn't a big deal.

As far as having to feel the pain that just isn't so. My son spent about a month fielding balls in a rigid back brace after injuring his back. He went from a kid who usually got in front of the ball to a kid who always got in front of the ball because he knew it wouldn't hurt. After the brace came off he just kept on getting in front of them.

It wasn't too bright in today's environment, but I don't feel it was a big deal to use hard balls at the lowest speed setting. I do believe that using tennis balls is just as effective. The important thing is to get them in the habit of turning in the right direction.

If one of my son's coaches was to run a drill like that I'd expect the coach to demonstrate the skill and to take as many hits as any of the players.

When I was a 13yo or 14yo pitcher throwing balls in the dirt at a camp the catcher who was a college player wasn't blocking them. His coach came up and told him to do it right. When the player protested it was just some kid throwing the coach who wasn't even wearing a shirt took the glove and then when I threw a pitch in the dirt he blocked it with his bare chest. The player blocked everything after that. That was a good coach, Sal Taormina.

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Sal Toreamina...great player, watched him at Seals Stadium...SF Seals, 1956

Great post on proper approach to coaching young ball players.

Actually when training young ball players 8y/o to 19y/o all technique drills are run at 50% speed. drills are stopped with any error of technique, no matter how minute.

Ground balls are hand rolled because the goal of the drill is the proper process of scoop, bring-in, exchange, rotation(foot-work), alignment (front-to-back), Cobra (coil), explosion (release of throw)...and all done in one fluid continuous motion.

That's the kind of teaching that is necessary, and none of it has anything to do with pain, bruising, or showing how macho you are.

Reaction time to avoid being hit is done with technique progression, starting with bringing the finger just short of the eye to train the eye from blinking, the progression is slow to medium speed then fast....blinking is why a player gets hit.

Blinking is a natural reaction to an object coming at you. The progression is then moved to standing about 4 feet away from the player with whiffle balls and the progression is slow and progrssively moving the speed faster. The technique is to teach the player to move the head or torso by as small a movement is necessary to avoid the 3-inch round ball.

The other function of the drill is teach angles of deflection with arm, hips, or thighs...and in doing so showing them how to calculate the movement of the whiffle ball...it moves much easier than a tennis ball.

But you will find that once they understand how to keep their eyes open the avoidance becomes almost a natural result.

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PGStaff,

Sorry for the late response, went to see Sean O'Sullivan (Angels '05 round 3 Pick) against Cuesta College in the CA state JC Playoffs...a load of fun!

Thank you for the post. I'm truly honored. That means a great deal coming from such a respected source...you. As far as the humor postings go...Blame the WoodMan, JT, and more - Intelligent, fun, creative, they make "fun" fun.

Now the bad news...This will motivate me to continue posting. Will start a thread on genetic potential with some views, could be a can of worms but...

Will look forward to your response.

Again Thanks!

44

44:

Thanks for the recognition...I think I should tone it down a bit ...instead of earning PG's respect I've been scaring him...as evidenced by this post of his in the PGStaff-Genetic Potential? thread....

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GW4S,

I meant that for AParent, I know there's no way to scare you.

In fact, you might be able to help in reaching full potential because you scare the living hell out of me.

PG...in one regard, that being scaring the living hell out of you, I may indeed be near my genetic potential!

I'm doing you a big favor actually...who really needs any living hell in them?...can't imagine that it serves any useful purpose other than perhaps to warm the heart on those dreadfully cold winter nights in Cedar Rapids! But a jug of that ADM ethanol may suffice instead!

Hard to figure what is exactly right and wrong these days - I coached a team of 9-10 a bunch of years ago - this was the league when they first started pitching themselves. My method for showiong them that the ball didn't hurt that much?? I climbed in the box to allegedly show them how to bunt - first 3-4 piches I leaned in and took each of them off the noggin - some REAL wide-eyed kids!!! I figured nobody would sue me for that - my wife already knew I was nuts!!

PS - YES I did have a helmet on - I'm nuts, not stupid [even though I was a hockey player!]

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Windmill,

Atta boy! That's using your head! (sorry the set up was far to good to ignore...)

44

windmill:

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Originally posted by windmill:
Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most!

If you still feel a need to find that lost mind of yours you may still be able to find it in that batter's box...it likely got knocked loose and fell out!