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what matters in life - everything that matters is not a thing nor is it made of matter

2/22/2022

“It does not matter what you do; it matters why you do it. It does not matter what you achieve; it matters who you become and who you choose to help while you are achieving it.”

Ask your players to research:

The five wealthiest people in the country;
The last five MLB National League MVP’s;
The last five winners of a Grammy for Best Song;
The last five Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry;
The last five Pulitzer Prize winners for non-fiction;
The last five winners of an Academy Award for Best Director.

Then ask them to name:

Five teachers who impacted your education and/or your life;
Five people who have helped you through difficult times;
Five people who taught you something significant;
Five people who made you feel appreciated and special;
Five people who you enjoy spending time with;
Five people who have character you admire and aspire to emulate.

Then remind them:

The people you listed in Section I above, matter to a few people; those you listed in Section II, matter to Him. The lessons we learn from our sport are ultimately not for our game, but for our life. The goal is to become like the people in section II not section I.

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honoring the ROOTS of the game - how to challenge a call made by an UMPIRE

2/22/2022

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Honoring the ROOTS of the Game – How to Challenge a Call by an Official

One of the favorite mantras of coaches to their players is, “Be present, be positive.” And coaches above all else are role models in everything they say and do. Many coaches do a great job of modeling the “be present, be positive” mantra in practice, but do not do a great job of it during games, particularly when the coach thinks an official has made a bad call.

In baseball, I frequently hear coaches and parents say that arguing with an umpire is “just an accepted part of the game” – a “tradition” if you will. And yet, what gets modeled by coaches for their players during these “traditional arguments” is usually not what we want our players to do when they face adversity. Many times, at best, they are an embarrassing distraction from “staying present, staying positive.” At worst, they result in the coach being removed from the game and even the premises.

So, in baseball, how does a coach achieve the double goal of honoring the ROOTS (Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, and Self) of the game and getting the umpire to reconsider his or her call? Is it ever possible to do so or should a coach always just move on even if the call was an obvious violation of an objective rule of the game?

Yes, it is possible, but there is definitely a process to do it correctly.

1) Choose your battles. Rarely will you get an important call reversed if you have been constantly “chipping” at an umpire during the game by, for example, questioning “balls and strikes” every inning. Also, you can question a rule book violation during an inning, but it is best to discuss subjective things between innings such as an umpire’s positioning or timing to make calls. For example, bring fresh baseballs to an umpire between innings and say, “Are calls for plays at home plate made third base extended or first base extended?” to make the point you thought the umpire was in the wrong position during a recent close call at home plate. This will have a much more significant positive impact than calling out your displeasure during the heat of the moment so everyone in the ballpark can hear it and making the umpire the object of public scorn.

2) Make big deals about objective rule violations. Make little or no deal about subjective things. Simply adjust to and overcome them.

3) Control your fans. There are well-established guidelines for how to keep the parents and fans of your players positive and respectful. Use them! Umpires hold coaches accountable for their fans. You have almost no chance of getting a call reversed if you have unruly and disrespectful fans.

4) Know your rule book. Be sure what you are about to advocate is correct per the rule book. In fact, if you are disputing something in the rule book, have the rule book hi-lited so you can refer to it and show it to the umpire quickly. Some leagues even have a time limit by which any dispute must be resolved so the game can proceed with only a minor interruption. Even if no such time limit rule exists, umpires typically do not like to be the center of a protracted confrontation. They know such things only result in inciting the crowd to be more unruly and will make their job even more difficult.

5) Be proactive. If your team has a particular play or move that you know is legal, but you think the umpires do not see often, e.g., a pick-off move, or if you know your opponent frequently does something illegal that umpires frequently miss, e.g., a batter swinging and stepping in front of a catcher to protect a runner stealing a base, discuss it with the umpires in a private meeting before the game so they will be on the lookout for it during the game.

6) Let the play stop and call time out. Do not be a further distraction to the umpires by calling out to them during the play. This will only increase the odds of more bad calls because of the distraction or because the umpires will be upset with your loss of composure during play.

7) In the minds of the umpires, the field belongs to them. Stay off of it until you ask permission by word or gesture to approach them. In fact, do not hesitate to discuss “the approach, no approach” process before the game during your meeting with the umpires.

8) Know which umpire has jurisdiction over the call so you ask permission to approach the correct umpire. Umpires hate it when you attempt to ask the wrong umpire to correct a call. For example, calls between home plate and first or third base are typically the jurisdiction of the home plate umpire even if the play occurred closer to the base umpire. When in doubt, ask to approach the home plate umpire first and let that umpire tell you whose call it was. However, do not hesitate to ask an umpire to ask for help on calls you think another umpire could have had a better view of, e.g., swing/no swing, catch/no catch, runner obstruction, etc. It is an excellent idea to improve your ability to understand all aspects of being an umpire to attend umpire clinics where they are taught the mechanics of their craft. Trust me; it will make you a better coach!

9) Be calm and be respectful. And just like discipline of a player, always make it about the play and not about the person. Remember, there would be no game if there were no umpires. If you want them to show up in the future and if you ever want a chance at calls going your team’s way in the future, be respectful and appreciative of how difficult their job is. If you need more empathy for their job, volunteer to umpire ten games at any level and you will come away with a new profound respect for the job they do.

10) Finally, and this is the terminal mistake almost all coaches make, when it comes time to talk to the umpire, do not start by disputing the call! Simply calmly ask the umpire, “What did you see?” You will be shocked at how many calls you will get overturned by having the umpire first commit to seeing something that was inconsistent with the rule for the call. In my career, I have heard umpires say such unbelievable things as, “I saw it hit the foul line or the foul pole and that is why I called the ball foul.” Once I asked an umpire what he saw on a ball hit slowly down the third base line that he called foul and he said, “I saw the ball go completely into foul territory so I called it foul.” I asked, “Where was the ball when the third baseman touched it?” He replied, “It was in fair territory.” When I explained to him that the rule was the ball is fair if a defensive player touches it in fair territory he said, “Oh, I thought it was like soccer that when the ball goes completely out of bounds, it is foul even if it comes back into play.”

Finally, let me remind everyone of the old saying that umpires almost always make fewer errors in doing what they do than you do and your team does during a game. If you and your team make fewer errors than the umpires, you will almost always win the game. Coach and play better than the umpires. Do not let the game be so close that a call by them will decide it. If it does, remember, who you are as a coach and who your team is as a team is not determined by wins or losses, they are determined by how you react to them.

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when is making a change to a pitcher's delivery appropriate?

2/10/2022

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Effective pitching is essential to winning championships. Throwing a baseball from an elevated mound across a 17” plate with velocity and command is one of the most difficult things to do in sports. The strike zone is theoretically an objectively defined space, but in reality, it is a very subjective target in the eyes of umpires game-to-game and sometimes inning-to-inning. Many hitters today are so strong that they do not need to make anywhere close to 100% contact with a pitch to hit a home run. For these reasons, among many others, pitchers need help to improve and succeed. But is it always appropriate to give them that help even when they need it and your team needs it?

The temptation to offer advice to pitchers is almost unavoidable. For many coaches, they must win and must win now. There is more information in books, videos, and online in many forms than ever before. The advances in technology have given coaches and players the ability to micro-analyze every movement of every body part from every possible angle.

So my first bit of advice is very simple. Be prepared to give good advice before giving it. Do your homework by receiving education and training from credible resources. Know when and how to use and not use technology. However, do not be dissuaded from giving advice to them even though you are not yet well-versed in using technology and data analytics. There remains many other ways to improve your pitchers, physically and mentally, until you are comfortable using those methods.

I approach almost all issues in coaching from a person-athlete-player perspective. This issue is no different. The right time to make a change to help a pitcher is when you have established a relationship with the person so they are willing to listen to you and trust what you have to say. They must have a teachable spirit - they must be open to making a change and to working hard to effectuate it. The must have a growth mindset, i.e., an understanding that while growth is possible, not all improvement is in a straight line and that failure is a natural and essential part of growth.

Most knowledgeable coaches now agree that there are many different styles and deliveries that can be successful in pitching. I think the step most often overlooked in determining whether a pitcher needs to make a mechanical change is an assessment of the pitcher’s athleticism. Does the pitcher’s delivery look fluid and easy with their lower and upper body sequentially in sync? If so, and if he can throw strikes, I would be very hesitant to make a mechanical change. If not, the solutions to the issues are probably best addressed off the mound to improve the athlete’s mobility, flexibility, stability and their ability to apply and effectuate force efficiently and quickly.

It is only after establishing the foundation of earning the trust of the person and properly assessing and training the athlete can you consider making a change to the player-pitcher. When considering whether to make a change to the pitcher, one of the most important issues is time. What time of year would you make the change and how much time does the pitcher have to accomplish it? As with any athlete, confidence is paramount. A very young pitcher may be best left alone so they can just continue success and gain more confidence in their ability. An older pitcher may need changes, but making significant ones during the season could not only lead to bad results, but to an injury too. It might be best to work on the mental and emotional aspects of pitching during that time and just have the pitcher continue “pitching to his strengths”.

When evaluating a pitcher’s stuff, I think one important tool that coaches often overlook is standing in against the pitcher. Good coaches know that a pitcher’s motion and delivery needs to be analyzed, by the naked eye or by technology, from every possible angle, but how many actually stand in to see what a hitter sees in real time? Hitters say it all the time, “90 mph on the gun looks like 95 mph out of his hand.” Be sure you and your best hitters stand in from both sides of the plate before making a mechanical change to a pitcher.

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Author

Adam Sarancik is the owner of Elevate Sports Academy which mentors student-athletes in physical conditioning, nutrition, career and college counseling, and sport skills. He has spent most of his adult life coaching youth ages 8-22 in baseball, soccer, and basketball. He is a favorite speaker at and director of coaches' and players' clinics.

In baseball, Adam’s teams have consistently won championships at every youth league and high school level. In administration, he has served as league founder, board member and coaches’ and players’ clinic director many times in his 40+ year coaching career.

Adam is a frequently published contributor to the ABCA publication Inside Pitch, Collegiate Baseball News, and the Coaches Insider, Coach Deck and Sports Engine websites. He is also a favorite guest on national podcasts for coaching sports.

Adam is known for his comprehensive and innovative practice plans and for consistently developing championship teams and players who excel at the next level.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University, his J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and his Masters of Arts in Teaching from Western Oregon University.

what matters in life - everything that matters is not a thing nor is it made of matter

honoring the ROOTS of the game - how to challenge a call made by an UMPIRE

when is making a change to a pitcher's delivery appropriate?

Archives - new posts are added on or about the 1st of the month

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