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establishing a league culture - aligning rewards with goals when developing champions for life

3/9/2023

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Well, here we are once again at the end of many youth baseball regular seasons when teams are having end-of-the-season parties where trophies are handed out and leagues are holding Jamborees and choosing “All-Star” teams.  I think this is the time of year when youth baseball leagues can easily get caught up in rewarding the few at the expense of the many.  I think it is also a time when the actions of the coaches and league officials can be contradictory to the double-goal coaching philosophies to which they claimed to aspire during the season.

I am not per se against rewarding achievement, but what exactly is the perception of the entire team, players and families of the achievement that is being rewarded?

For example, I attended an end-of-the-season baseball league Jamboree recently where this contradiction was very apparent.  The event was for 6-7 year-old T-Ball/Coach Pitch players some of whom had no previous baseball experience and some of whom had two years’ experience.  In other words, the ability gap was wide.

The Jamboree was divided into five different “competitions” - speed in running the bases, long toss, accuracy toss, a hitting for distance competition and a shuttle run.  The league preached all-year that this was strictly a player development and team-building league the primary goal of which was for the players and their families to have fun.

During the event, there was no instruction given at any station regarding the process that would lead a player to do his best at each competition.  During the season, coaches were not prepared by pre-season coaching clinics how to instruct the players on the process of the fundamentals of baseball i.e., throwing, fielding, hitting and base running.  The coaches simply told the players how to play the game and gave them praise for trying their best to do the fundamentals.  The coaches also preached good sportsmanship and being good teammates by always supporting one another in good times and through adversity.

These are admirable goals, but when it came time to rewarding players for their “accomplishments”, the event that the league set up only rewarded those with more experience and natural ability.  The awards were given to the top three competitors in each competition.

This was absolutely inconsistent with the alleged mission of that division of the league.  If the league wanted to establish a culture of learning, they should have had each competitor do each event twice – the first time without instruction and the second time after instruction.  The “awards” could then be given to the players who improved the most.  Better yet, in the spirit of establishing a team-first culture, awards should have been given to the team whose members collectively improved the most.  Or if time was a consideration, instruction could have been given to the team members prior to each event and an award could have been given to the team whose average score was the best.

Sadly, the league also missed a golden opportunity to actually reward something significant because the team that was clearly the least talented and least experienced was by far the most supportive of one another whether their teammates were performing well or not.  They were constantly cheering and encouraging their teammates without any prompting from their coaches.  No mention or recognition of any kind was given to them during the “awards ceremony” at the end of the Jamboree.

What message was sent to these players and their families by the way this event was organized?  Did they accomplish their goal of teaching and rewarding player development?  Or did they send a clear message contrary to their growth mindset mission by rewarding only those individuals who were already the most talented at the expense of everyone else who participated with a teachable spirit to learn and be supportive of their teammates?
I think that this league’s failure to align its purported culture with its rewards is the norm not the exception in all sports.  This must change if we are to teach life lessons within the game for beyond the game, i.e., to develop Champions for Life. 
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take a more holistic approach when deciding whether to level up a player

2/8/2023

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An unfortunate practice has been going on for far too long in sports.  I am referring to the almost reflexive response of parents placing their athlete in a level above the normal age group simply because the child seems to have some above average talent for the sport and so far has been enjoying competing in it.

The most common reason for leveling up a player is the assumption that playing against older players will result in more improvement for a child in the long run.  Well, just like so many other issues in sports and in life, this issue needs to be given much more careful thought before such a hugely consequential decision is made. 

Many parents erroneously believe that if the decision to level up is a bad one, they will just put the player back in the age-group level the following year.  This highlights what should be the most important consideration – what does the player want?  The decision to level up the player may be such a disaster the player may lose their love for the sport and may not want to play it at a competitive level or at all next year.  At this time, the player’s highest priority may be to simply have fun with their friends from school and they are not ready for the next level because of the intensity and commitment that will accompany it.

If the change will necessitate more travel and practice commitment, this may greatly impact other areas in the player’s life such as the priority of being a good student.  Players are student- athletes and the student comes first.  The travel and other commitments may also put financial and practical burdens on family dynamics which can have very real consequences for other children in the family and put a serious strain on a marriage.

Playing with older players does not always result in a player’s improvement.  Playing with the usual age group may allow the player to develop personal skills, e.g., leadership, and may increase self-esteem from good results in every game that would not happen at another level.  A player must also be physically, mentally and emotionally ready for tougher competition.  Many players who have some of the physical skills to play at a higher level are in no way ready mentally and emotionally for it.  The lectures from the parents about a growth mindset when things go poorly do not help.  The players typically just become very frustrated and are disciplinary problems for the team, the family and at school. 

From a purely sport perspective, the most important factor, in my opinion, is the quality of the coaching.  The other level, team or league may have older players, but that does not always come with better coaching.  Do not confuse winning with good coaching.  Do not confuse high batting averages or low ERA’s with good skills.  All of those things are dependent on how high the standards are, the level of the competition and how hard the players have to work.

In most states, there are many choices for a youth player to participate.  In baseball, for example, these options include Little League, Junior Baseball, Cal Ripken, Babe Ruth and, of course, Club Ball.  These choices, in most instances, greatly dilute the quality of the players and the play.  Parents assume that these “higher level” teams are elite, and yet, many teams win tournament trophies every weekend and the players have high batting averages simply as a result of competing against marginal competition.  A $300.00 aluminum bat and mediocre pitching can disguise a lot of mechanical flaws.

Many times parents have been seduced by talking to their friends about the “fun” of Travel Ball and winning fancy medals and trophies by playing tournaments all around the state or country.  First and foremost, Travel/Club Ball programs are businesses who want money for their teams, clinics and camps.  And “fun” for whom? Are the parents providing for, or living through, their child? 

I have seen many Club Ball coaches who played college and professional baseball who knew how to play the game well, but did not know how to teach it, and what they did teach, mechanically, was just wrong. A better option for the player personally, and for the family, may be to keep the player at their usual age group and, if the player is ready for a higher level of training, to hire a qualified personal trainer for athleticism and sport skill training 3-4 times per week for 2-3 months in the off season and once per week during the season.  

Leveling up may be appropriate if: 1) the player’s skills are truly exceptional; 2) the student-athlete is ready physically, mentally and emotionally; 3) if the quality of the coaching, players and competition are high; 4) if the family dynamics will not be negatively impacted.  The issue, however, has many layers all of which should be carefully considered and discussed before the decision is made. 
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be careful not to overuse technology in coaching

12/19/2022

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From the time most children can walk and talk today, they have a technological device of some type in their hands.  By the time they finish elementary school, children can code, decode, transmit and transcend on those devices into places many adults do not even understand.  In the near future, athletes’ Digital Twins will help to predict and prevent injury to them.  Therefore, most athletes and players get excited about using and learning about how technology can help them perform better. 

In sports, effective use of statistics, analytics and metrics are viewed by coaches, trainers and business organizations as essential to peak development and achievement.  Most assuredly, technology has it place, but the tolerance for and acceptance of it will vary depending on the time, place and manner of its application.

Team members are three-part development projects – person, athlete and player.  Experienced coaches must recognize that while they do not always need technology to develop the athlete or player, as a result of players being raised with technology, they probably need technology to connect with the person.  Visual technology may even be the best modality to help an athlete learn. 

But, at times, are coaches and trainers over-reliant on technology to the point where technology actually impedes progress and performance?

First, in my opinion, a coach should be more concerned with mastering the teaching of what they know before adding to what they know, e.g., technology.

Second, let’s begin with the common issue of a pitcher not having his best stuff or command on a given day.  In practice and training, the player and coaches would dive into the metrics and analyze video and data to try several remedies for the issues.  On the mound, during a game, that is not possible so what is the pitcher to do?  Have the pitchers been trained to think for themselves?  Have the pitchers been trained to feel when their grip needs adjustment or to feel when their body is not in sync and what to do about it when technology is not available?  How much time was spent on the lost “art of pitching”?  Is there any doubt Greg Maddux would be as effective in today’s game as he was in his day?  Sadly, most young pitchers could not tell you why.  Can the pitchers emotionally cope with adversity when things do not go as planned when the technology is not there to rescue them?

At the most basic level, many young players do not know how to use their upper bodies in sync with their lower bodies even while walking because they are always holding a device.  This fact underscores the necessity for athletic development not just player development.

Technology gives output data which is heavily biased by the data input into it.  Bad mechanics = bad output data. A coach needs to know how to change the player’s training program to refine and retool the process from which the outcome data is derived.  The change required may not be accomplished by a sport skill drill, but rather by improving the athlete’s body and athleticism.  Even the sport drill change may be as basic as changing a grip or posture.  The first step is to take the bat, ball and glove out of the player’s hands – visually and sometimes literally -  a coach must be able to do a ground up analysis of posture, balance, footwork, angles (in body and in movement) rhythm and timing.

Next, there is the critical mental component to athletic and team performance.  This impacts a player’s ability to handle adversity during competition and the ability of a team to develop strong chemistry.

N.Y. Times Best-Selling Author and acclaimed research professor, Brené Brown, states in her book, Dare to Lead, “When they complete our Daring Leadership program as a part of their onboarding, almost every millennial who works with us has told me some version of, I never learned about emotions or how to talk so openly about failure, and I have never seen it modeled. When you’re used to using technology for everything, these hard face-to-face conversations are awkward and so intense.”

This research points to the unfortunate fact that an overuse and reliance on technology has caused many youth today to be socially inept.  They need to be educated about communication etiquette, verbal and non-verbal, how to read social and personal cues well and how to be better listeners.  Many are slow to understand group dynamics.  Many are also emotionally fragile, e.g., they are over-dependent on predictability and do not adjust well to change.  The extremes of video games and internet videos cause many youth to become numb to normal human emotion.

As a result, coaches must recognize that randomization is essential in all parts and types of training, including training in all types of weather.  Second, coaches must let players play.  Coaches should not rescue them by pulling them from a game immediately after they make a mistake and they should let them work through their mistakes to develop a proper Growth Mindset.  Otherwise, the players will always operate out of fear and be tentative – more importantly, they will not develop trust in themselves and will have low self-esteem.  Coaches should observe how the players work through their mistakes and then should calmly and respectfully mentor them about how to respond to adversity.

Most importantly, coaches must remember we coach people not sports.  It is the quality of the person not the player that is the most significant outcome.  Coaches and trainers must proactively program life skill education and development into every practice and training session.

Prioritize mentoring the person first and carefully and strategically use technology when developing the athlete and player.  When coaches use this process, they will mentor champions, Champions for Life.

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safety in sports includes mental health care

10/21/2022

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Medical professionals agree that about 20% of high school athletes and 30% of college athletes have or will have a serious anxiety or diagnosable mental health disorder that causes some degree of impairment in their sport performance and, more importantly, in their daily life.  This is true at every level, high school, college and professional, and for whatever gender the athlete identifies with.  We also know from the courageous testimony of athletes in every sport such as Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Michael Phelps and Kenley Jansen, the problem only becomes more prevalent and acute for elite athletes. 

The reasons for the universality of the mental health crisis are easy to understand.  The stressors and triggers for athletes include time demands, overtraining, injuries, pressure leading up to the game and performance in the game, over-emphasis on winning, interpersonal relationships with coaches and teammates, issues with social relationships generally, self-image, self-esteem, intensive parenting and other issues at home.  These factors can lead to loss of sleep, poor appetite and self-destructive coping behaviors such as using tobacco, drugs, alcohol, stimulants and PEDs, sexual promiscuity, eating and obsessive compulsive disorders and suicidal ideation.  
 
With this issue more than any other coaches must remember the basic coaching tenet of, “we coach people, not sports.”  Coaches must know and recognize the signs and symptoms of the person’s struggles and must take active measures to help the self-care of all of their athletes without crossing the line of diagnosing the specific issues or attempting any resolution of the problems.  In short, with regard to specific athletes, a coach’s job is to recognize and refer, not to solve.

Mental health issues have become so prevalent today and the consequences so serious that coaches at the high school level and above should be required to obtain a certification for understanding mental health issues similar to those currently required for First Aid/CPR, concussions and heat stroke.  The necessity of coaches being proactive is illustrated by the fact that while as many as 1 in 3 college athletes suffer from a mental health issue, only 10% of them will seek help on their own.  A high school athlete is still struggling with basic issues of self-identity so they may be even less likely to reach out to parents or medical professionals for help. 

The NFHS has an excellent workshop on this subject and it or its equivalent should be a requirement for all high school and college coaches. 

With regard to general team health care, here are some principles I recommend coaches follow:
  1. Never assume mental stability from athletic ability.
  2. Consequences of practice competitions should be positive for the winning person or team rather than negative for the losing person or team.
  3. Give praise publicly and criticism privately.
  4. Always make criticism about the behavior never about the person.
  5. Never breach a player or team confidence.  What is said between you and them stays between you and them.
  6. Make sure your positive comments outweigh your negative comments 99 to 1.
  7. Give your negative comments at an emotionally neutral time, e.g., not immediately after a game.
  8. Keep the consequences for inappropriate behavior reasonable and consistent with the infraction and the needs of the person.
  9. Have a witness to every serious conversation and document in writing the action, reaction, conversation and professional referral in your file and the school’s file.
  10. When things do not go well, look first in the mirror with honest intent.​
A ritual I highly recommend that has helped build the self-esteem of everyone involved on our teams is called the Heartfelt Handshake. It is based on the fact that if two people each take one of their hands and press them together firmly for ten seconds or more and then very slowly pull them apart, they will still feel like their hands are together. 

At the end of each practice and game, instead of a handshake or cheer, have the team divide into pairs.  Have each person in the pair take one of their hands and press them together firmly and have them hold them together until each person has said something positive from their heart to the other person.  The comments can be about how the person performed that day in practice or just something inspirational about the way that person acts outside of the sport. Time will only allow for one pairing each day, but be sure you change the pairings every day and that coaches are paired with players, as well as, other coaches. 

After each person has said something to the other from their heart, have the two people slowly pull their hands apart. Then each person takes their hand and makes a fist with it symbolizing that they will hold on to what the other person said. Lastly, the person puts their fist over their heart symbolizing that they will put what was said into their heart to nurture themself and to be used to help others. 

Try it. It’s powerful!

Coaches should know the members of their team well enough as people to distinguish between normal growth mindset issues and more serious mental health issues.   Many coaches at every level have learned that the ‘win’ for their willingness to do so was saving a person’s life not just a game.
​
Peace and be well to you and your team.
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coaching champions for life

7/6/2022

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If you want to teach your athletes how to be Champions for Life you must teach them that Champions:

Raise the bar and seek to get better every day.

Are not afraid to compete with anyone at any time.

Know that strong bodies are built through proper nutrition, recovery, and perfectly-performed athletic and sport-specific exercises.

Strive  to  be extraordinary  not ordinary  in  their  preparation  and  their execution.

Practice fundamentals before flash.

Believe that teams must become families and teammates must become brothers and sisters.

Take accountability for the growth and development of their teammates because teams are only as strong as their weakest link.

Are aware of the needs of others in their home, community, and around the world regardless of what is going on in their own lives.

Know that integrity and empathy are worth far more than any trophy. Feed their faith by daily prayer and service to others.

Give thanks to Him every day no matter what cross they are asked to carry.

Know that God’s plan involves me, but is not about me.

Persevere through positive thinking because adversity is an opportunity for growth and to be an inspiration to others.

Know that there is only one score that counts…His.
​
Go and teach them well, in His name....
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An athlete's code of competition

7/6/2022

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  1. Athletes  must  always  respect  themselves,  their  teammates,  their competitors, the officials, and honor the game.
  2. Athletes must believe that confidence comes from within and not from others or external factors; that’s why it’s called self-confidence!
  3. Athletes must understand that under pressure they will perform to the level of their training not their talent.
  4. Athletes should maintain a “growth mindset” – always striving to improve and to consider mistakes as a normal and a necessary part of development.
  5. Athletes can build confidence with repetition and drills, but they must believe they can carry these skills to competition.
  6. Athletes need to take charge of their confidence before competition and must trust their skills when they go from practice to competition.
  7. Athletes must interpret pregame jitters as normal signs of adrenaline which will help not harm their performance.
  8. Athletes must focus on the process of playing the game not the outcomes.
  9. Athletes must trust their training and do what the situation requires in competition so they do not tighten up and play safe when they feel pressure to succeed.
  10. Athletes must have a “mistake ritual” so they do not hold on to mistakes during competition.
  11. Athletes must understand that just because they lose does not make them losers. Effort, improvement, and the journey matter much more than the outcome; it’s how they react to winning or losing that determines whether they are a Champion for Life.
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a coach's prayer

7/5/2022

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O Lord, thank you for entrusting these athletes to my care and please help me to remember:
 
As a Coach, I am a teacher and a role model in both what I say and what I do.
 
As a teacher, my players may remember very little of what I say or do, but they will definitely remember how I made them feel.
 
As a role model, the most impactful thing I will do is show my players how to handle adversity.
 
As a team, it is not important what I know, it is only important what my players have learned.
 
As players, what they have learned only becomes significant when they can teach what they have learned to others in their life because life is not about the individual; life is about service to others in service to you.
 
If my players are to teach others well in service to you, I must coach the athlete not just the player and the whole person not just the athlete.
 

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why should coaches coach?

6/23/2022

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Coaches at high levels at prestigious programs need to win to keep their jobs.  Winning consistently makes recruiting easier, keeps the fan base energized, the administration and boosters happy, and the financial bottom line healthy.  But when the awards for the championships and the successful careers have been given, has the coach been a good coach? 

There is an old saying, “Don’t confuse winning with good coaching.”  Games are sometimes won because of good coaching and sometimes in spite of mediocre coaching.  Games can be won as a result of elite player and team development, but more often games, particularly championship games, are lost by poor player development and team preparation. 

When a game is done, I have always asked myself two questions: 1) Could we have defeated our best competition today, e.g., the #1 ranked team in the league, state or country?  2) Did we go about our business in preparation, hustle, effort, perseverance and sportsmanship and inspire those who watched us, e.g., the other team, the umpires, and the fans of both teams, to be better in their lives?  If so, we ‘won’, if not, we did not.

Good coaches recognize that to develop the best teams and players, they must first train the team members to be great athletes.  And before they can train their team members to be great athletes, they must connect with, understand, validate and mentor the team members as persons. Better People = Better Athletes = Better Players/Teammates. 

The best coaches proactively design their daily practice and training plans to teach life lessons within the game for beyond the game.  They do not simply let the game’s adversity imply those lessons.  They use quotes, acronyms, role plays and guest speakers to teach the team how what they are learning and experiencing relate to their lives as sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, students, employees and community and business leaders.

The mentorship of the person, at every level, youth, high school, college and professional is the foundation for everything!  Why is this so? 

First, if a coach stays in coaching long enough and has gone about coaching the right way, the communications of appreciation from their players in the future will not be about the wins and the championships; they will be about how the coach made the player a better person. 
 
Second, even if a coach is not lucky enough to be given the opportunity to coach for many years or at a high level, the impact the coach can make on one team or even one player can inspire those players to help and inspire countless other people throughout their lives. The ripple effect is exponential and immeasurable, but is directly correlated to the quality of the mentorship they received.  “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

Third, when a coach stands in final judgment by Him who matters most, the trophies for wins and championships will be irrelevant.  So will the number of great and famous baseball players the coached developed.  He will only score and count as a win the number of people a coach helped in their own lives who were poor, homeless, hungry, oppressed, sick, etc., i.e., His people, and how many of the coach’s players the coach taught and inspired to do the same.  It is not enough to Him to develop great players and teams; a coach must mentor players who use their gifts not for personal gain, but to serve others.

If I had one recommendation for coaches for a lesson that provides the foundation for the mentorship of every player it would be the concept of passion.  When a person is truly passionate about something, they will be motivated to use their gifts to be the best they can be to further that passion.  The message is that if a coach or player is not passionate about baseball, then move on to find something in life they are passionate about and use what they have learned from the attention to detail it takes to be great at our beautiful game to be the best they can be in their work and life to benefit others particularly those in need and the less fortunate.

When coaches do these things, they will be and will coach champions, Champions for Life.
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Do Not Confuse Bad swing Path with Bad Timing

6/22/2022

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It is certainly true that the best swing mechanics in the world are not of much value if contact cannot be made because of bad timing.  However, this axiom has become a crutch for many coaches due to an inability or unwillingness to examine more closely the true cause of no or poor contact - a bad swing path. To be fair, $300.00 aluminum bats and mediocre competition disguise a lot of bad swing mechanics so some coaches may just be satisfied with fortunate results despite the long-term need for improvement in many areas of their hitters.

Hitters who hit for a high batting average against elite pitching get the barrel of the bat on plane early so it passes through the hitting zone for as long as possible allowing them to make solid contact no matter if their swing is a little early, perfectly on time or a little late with the pitch.  And yet, if you objectively examine frame-by-frame video of a swing that to some was not on time, you will frequently see a swing that was never on plane with the pitch.

Even those coaches who correctly identify a poor swing path as the cause of poor contact tend to generalize and over-simplify their analysis to a trendy discussion of attack and launch angles.  Attack and launch angles are the result of the execution of the process of good or bad mechanics that precede them.  In other words, they are consequences not solutions.

Almost all faults and fixes in sports begin with a ground-up analysis of posture, balance, footwork, angles (in the body and while moving), rhythm and timing.  Notice what is first on the list and what is last.

If the object of a baseball swing is to get the “sweet spot” of the barrel of the bat on the ball, it does not take much imagination to understand that poor posture is going to make this extremely difficult for sharp, late-breaking pitches with high velo.  Great hitters begin with and maintain athletic posture throughout their swings.

I think the most over-looked cause of poor contact in baseball swings, at every level, are bad grips.  Almost all baseball players from the high school varsity level up through MLB correctly grip a bat in their fingers not the palms of their hands.  However, very few of them do two very important additional things – stack their hands and slightly extend the top index finger knuckle.  The farther the palms of the hands are separated when gripping the bat, the more difficult it will be to keep the barrel on plane particularly when the hitter is rotating with maximum force to catch up to high velocity.  When gripping a bat, the back of each hand should be at an angle to the wrist of each arm not in a straight line – Christian Yelich and Aaron Judge are two MLB players who grip a bat correctly. 
 
The slight extension of the top index finger (just as in golf) allows the barrel to maintain an optimum angle when hitting to the opposite field.  If the top hand and index finger are too tight, the barrel of the bat will be slightly raised causing the hitter’s swing to rollover instead of drive through a pitch on the outer third of the plate.

The next culprit causing poor contact is the position of the hands and arms at the start of the swing.  The hands on the bat must be inside (i.e., closer to the back shoulder) an imaginary line from the pitcher’s release point to the front elbow of the hitter otherwise the hands will be “cast” when the bat is swung or, at a minimum, getting them “inside the baseball” will be very difficult against high velocity.  The angle of the front arm should be a “V” not an “L” and not straight. 

To accomplish this, when establishing the position of the arms and hands, the elbow of the front arm stops underneath the hitter’s chin as he is looking straight ahead to the opposite batter’s box and the hands are raised so the top hand is even with and a baseball’s width outside the back shoulder.  This hands and arms position will keep the hitter’s swing “inside the baseball” on all pitches when the swing is executed properly.  The wrist of the top hand should be cocked and the bottom hand should not be raised so the bat is at a 45 degree angle.  The elbow of the back arm is raised to just below the height of the back shoulder and remains relaxed.


Next in the hitting sequence is the weight transfer.  As I mentioned above, the hitter must start in an athletic posture and it must be maintained throughout the swing.  The player must start in balance and must stride/ land in balance.  Any slight deviation from optimum balance and posture will make getting the barrel of the bat on plane more difficult as the quality of the pitching elevates.  

The next faulty pattern is players trying to time their stride to land as the pitch arrives instead of striding early enough to have time to track the velocity and spin axis of the pitch.  The late stride means the front foot does not get down solidly before the swing starts, the front foot spins, the front knee does not lock back to allow the hitter to swing into a strong front side, the barrel of the bat drops and another line drive is turned into a lazy fly ball or pop-up.

A coach must then examine the swing itself.  The first thing that must happen is the back shoulder must angle and the back knee must flex to match the plane of the baseball before the swing begins.  The lower the pitch the more the back shoulder must angle and the back knee must flex.  However, the angle of both is proportionate; too much angle of one and not enough in another or too much of both will cause the posture to collapse and the swing to loop.  Not enough of one or both will cause the swing to be too flat and the contact with the pitch, if any, to be “rolled over”. 

If the hands, arms and bat are located correctly at the start of the swing, the back shoulder is angled and the back knee are flexed properly according to the angle and spin axis of the pitch, when the hitter rotates his body the bat will be on plane.
 
The hips and torso must initiate and control the swing until the laces of the shoe of the back foot are facing the pitcher at which time the arms and hands are propelled through the baseball (assuming the grip is correct). Poor contact will also occur if the player is trying to create “launch angle” by lifting the ball instead of driving through the ball after getting the bat on plane with the pitch.  

Young players, in particular, do not use their hips and torso to swing the bat because they have not established enough core strength to do so.  Even coaches at higher levels miss this critical deficiency in their hitters because they fail to see and develop the athlete first before the player.  

Basic swing mechanics can also be the problem.  Specifically, the top arm and hand are not doing their job of keeping the bat on plane with the pitch.  Many hitters hit cage bombs all day off of a tee or soft toss with their front side and arm doing almost all of the work.  When they face elite velo in the game, they swing and miss not usually because they are late, but rather because the barrel of the bat drops just below the ball because they’re swinging the bat using almost all front side and arm and their top arm and hand are basically not involved at all.

In youth baseball, many players cannot keep the bat on plane simply because they are using a bat they cannot handle, i.e., it is too long (sometimes they just need to choke up more) or too heavy for them.

The final component of poor contact analysis, of course, is poor pitch recognition.  First, as discussed above, this is typically a late stride and weight transfer issue.  Second, hitters also cannot react to in a game what they have not recently and frequently seen in practice.  Batting practices should simulate game conditions – randomized arm slots, velo and spin axes are essential in all types of batting practices drills.

Bad timing can sabotage great swings, but before a coach jumps to the conclusion of bad timing, there are many other equally important factors to carefully consider, examine, and train.
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The First Step is to take the Bat, Glove and Ball Out of Their Hands

6/22/2022

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Coaches must see things no one else sees.  One of the best ways to learn to do this is to watch other coaches at work; not just in your sport, but in all sports.  Watch how the game is played not who plays the game.  Watch the process of what happens not the result of what happened.  Watch what happens “off the ball” not who has the ball.  Ask why the coach chose to have his team do that regardless of whether the result was good or bad for the score.  

Good coaches recognize that to develop the best teams and players, they must first train the team members to be great athletes.   But the coach must be able to look at the player and see the athlete.

Coaches always preach to their players to control the process and the execution and the result will take care of itself.  Equally true to the development and success of the baseball player is whether the coach can see the player do what they do without seeing the bat, ball or glove in their hand.  In other words, when watching the player do what they do, can the coach see the process and the execution of what the player does as if the player was not holding a bat, glove or ball?

A coach must be able to visually extract the bat, glove and ball when the player performs and evaluate how a player uses and moves their body.  Does the player use their feet quickly, yet efficiently?  Does the player load and apply force properly with their back foot and hip when throwing and hitting?  Does the player’s body move smoothly and in sync with the upper and lower body working together top and bottom and left and right?

One of the best ways for a coach and player to learn to do this is literally to take the bat, glove and ball out of the player’s hands.  The teaching process for all sports begins with dry mechanic work without any implements involved.  All learning, as well as, all faults and fixes, begin with a ground up analysis of posture, balance, footwork, angles (both in set up and in movement), rhythm and timing. 

Even after the process is learned, a great way to reinforce the process and the execution is to have the player do what they do by just moving their body, i.e., literally just going through the motions - throwing, pitching, fielding and throwing, and hitting.  It is a very instructive exercise to have a pitcher go through his pre-pitch mental process and then execute a pitch without actually throwing a ball.  Do this for an imaginary three batters before every bullpen session and you will be amazed at how a coach can see and how the pitcher can feel flaws in the process and execution of the delivery. 

Position players can benefit from the same exercise.  For example, have an infielder take their prep steps and then react at game speed to an instruction by a coach to charge, move left, right or angle back in either direction, and pretend to field and throw a ball to a base.  A coach will be amazed at how easy it will be to see things they never noticed before in the way the player moves and how they execute their mechanics. 

After the player gets comfortable doing it with their eyes open, have pitchers and position players do their routine with their eyes closed.  This is a fantastic kinesthetic progression.  Of course, coaches and players who are visual learners will also find frequent frame-by-frame video analysis very useful.

The same can be done for hitters.  I will frequently stop a hitter at front foot strike and ask them to freeze.  I will take the bat out of their hands and we will both look to see whether the player has maintained their posture and balance and whether their hands, arms, and bat are in the proper positions after their stride is complete.

Optimum player development requires coaches to see the athlete in their player by visually and, at times, literally taking the bat, glove and ball out of the player’s hands.
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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.  He has also developed several youth baseball leagues.  Adam is also a frequently published contributor to the ABCA publication Inside Pitch, Collegiate Baseball newspaper and is a Certified Impact Trainer for The Positive Coaching Alliance. 
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    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.

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