Coaching Champions for Life
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new book! teacher, role model, mentor: Lessons learned from a lifetime in coaching

7/14/2024

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MY NEW BOOK IS AVAIALBLE ON AMAZON IN HARDBACK, PAPERBACK AND EBOOK VERSIONS!  Here is what is being said about it by baseball authorities throughout the country:

“Adam Sarancik has the unique ability to see sports both from the ‘inside out’, as a coach, and from the ‘outside in’ as an accomplished writer. His combination of firsthand experience, astute observation skills and the ability to take complex subjects and simplify them, help his work stand out as pertinent, applicable, and easy to read. His contributions for Inside Pitch magazine are among the most popular with our readers. Just reading through his table of contents will make you want to get out on the field and get to work. As he outlined in his book, A Ground Ball to Shortstop, coaches do indeed “see the world differently.” The level of detail that Adam provides in his topics can provide even the most novice baseball parent who’s just been handed a clipboard a real opportunity to shorten the learning curve. Adam’s passion for mentoring young athletes is evident in these writings and his words will benefit coaches at any level. So whether you’re ready to kick back and relax with some easy reading on our favorite pastime, are a clean slate ready and willing to learn more baseball, or someone who’s just interested in learning how to be or to coach a ‘Champion for Life,’ this book is for you!”
Adam Revelette, Editor, Inside Pitch Magazine, American Baseball Coaches Association

“This book is packed with vital insights offering a compelling and compassionate exploration into holistic coaching grounded in the integrity and purpose necessary for the success of coaches, players, parents, and leagues alike.”  Brooke Johnson, Coaches Insider.com

 “Adam’s notes and lessons learned from a lifetime of coaching are essential guidance for any coach who aspires to lead young athletes in a positive manner in baseball and as ambassadors for their communities.”  
 Cole Thomas, Fast Performance Baseball

“This book is an invaluable resource for coaches at any level. With over four decades of experience, Coach Sarancik provides a not only a comprehensive guide to developing athletes and players, but as he says, Champions for Life. His holistic approach emphasizes mentoring the whole person while seeing players as individuals and athletes first before focusing on their sport-specific skills. Coach Sarancik's insights on building relationships, player buy-in, teaching life lessons through sports, and creating positive team cultures are essential tools for all coaches. From practice planning to player communication, this book covers all aspects of quality coaching. Coaches who apply the principles found in this book will not only produce better players on the field but, more importantly, will help mold young people of strong character primed for success beyond just athletics." Coach Bo, 80/20 Baseball

“This book is a compelling and insightful read that delves deep into the essence of coaching beyond the playing field. The book transcends the conventional boundaries of baseball, offering a wealth of wisdom applicable to all aspects of life.  It is a must-read for anyone involved in coaching, teaching, or leadership and offers invaluable lessons that extend far beyond the realm of sports. Whether you are a seasoned coach or just starting out, this book will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression and inspire you to be the best that you can be.”
Jimmy Filingeri, Clearing the Bases Podcast, USA Baseball Scout

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hard work and a hard conversation

6/30/2024

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"Face Toward the Problems - Nothing worthwhile comes easy."

Baseball is a wonderful sport to teach life lessons within the game for beyond the game.  The first step in this endeavor is to connect with, validate, and support the players as people to earn their trust so they will be willing to adopt the coach’s philosophy and to learn from them.

Today, before coaches can empathize with their players as people, they must recognize that the players have been raised with some difficult challenges that may be far different than those faced by the coaches when they were children.  Traumatic events in the world (e.g. the pandemic, wars, etc.) and in society (e.g., mass shootings, the disintegration of the family unit, etc.) have caused many parents to overcorrect by wanting to snow plow life for their children to be sure there are as few bumps in their road as possible.

These parents tell their children they are “special” and that they can “have anything they want in life”.  In school, too often, low standards, weak competition, and parent “advocacy” to teachers and administrators delude their children into believing they are honors students. In sports, they level up their children through politics and bullying.

The truth is the children are loved, but are not special or entitled just by existing.  The children have abilities and talents which, if developed and utilized properly, make them capable of achievement.

These misguided parenting strategies cause children to grow up with very low self-esteem.  Youth learn very quickly when they enter the working world that they are not special and they do not get rewarded or promoted just for showing up.  Their parents can no longer advocate for them; they must self-advocate.  As a result, their self-image becomes shattered.  Many youth today seek to cope with the stress caused by all of these things through quick, temporary means such as tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. Youth suicide and death by accidental overdose are at an all-time high.

Technology brings children tons of information, but not necessarily facts or truth.  The information may come very quickly, but it is merely consumed with very little independent thought or creativity.  Youth become impulsively dependent on instant gratification.  They seek solutions for their problems from devices, not people because they have never learned that the truly important things in life such as love, joy, marketable skills, self-confidence, real friendship and an appreciation of the beauty and joy of life itself are obtained through a long, arduous process and journey.
 
In sports, many coaches and leagues enable these same behaviors by doing such things as: micromanaging every step and thought of their players during games, participation trophies, speaking to parents before the player when disputes arise, not admitting that high batting averages are the result of using aluminum bats and facing mediocre pitching, and that wins are the result of weak competition, over-using technology at the expense of teaching personal communication and mindfulness skills, and allowing teams with losing records to make the playoffs.  In short, they prioritize winning, numbers, and short-term gains rather than growth for a lifetime by achieving results and character through persistent hard work.

As teachers, coaches must reward the process and not just results and prioritize life skills more than sport skills.  They must not rescue players from tough situations and protect them from failure by quickly pulling them from a game when things go bad or by being afraid to change a player’s mechanics for fear of disrupting what they have always been comfortable with.

As role models, coaches must demonstrate that the “get better every day” mantra begins with them and that they can stay in the “this pitch, this moment” state of mind at all times too.
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As mentors, coaches must have the hard conversation that while the personal challenges described above are not the fault of the players, they are realities which must be retrained to achieve success in life and maybe to even survive.    

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what every parent should know about select teams

6/1/2024

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Many parents get very angry and confrontational when their child is not chosen to be on a Select or an “All-Star” Team.  Our country’s obsession with sports and the professionalization of sports has deluded coaches, parents, and players into believing such things have a much greater meaning and significance than they actually do.

Prior to trying out for a Select Team, a parent should explain to their child that an important lesson to be learned from youth sports is, many times, life is not fair. And neither is the decision of whom to include on a Select Team.  At best, such decisions are one group’s opinion of a player’s value to a team at one point in time and the player may objectively need to work harder to get better.

However, at worst, such selections can be very politically motivated.  The choices can be heavily influenced by which players have parents who are coaches or Board members for the league and their close friends. 

Children hear how excited their parents and their parents’ friends are when they talk about the “fun” of traveling to different cities and states to play in tournaments.  The truth may be that fun for the parents may not be fun for the child.  A child may intensely feel the stress of the practical and financial impacts of the extra time and travel requirements placed on their family.  The intense actions and reactions of the parents to the outcome of the games may even cause the child to feel their parents’ love for them or their self-worth is tied to getting a medal or trophy and the child’s relative contributions to “winning” those things. 

From a purely sports perspective, the child may be deluded into thinking that being selected to these teams is an indication they are an elite player.  The truth is good is never good enough and a player’s ability can never be accurately judged based on a comparison to a small sample size such as the players in one league.  In some sports, the quality of players has been significantly diluted by the number of options players now have for leagues and teams to join.  It may take comparison to regional and national select players to gauge a player’s true ability at that time.

I remember sitting with five college coaches watching two select high school baseball teams play.  The parents probably thought their children were elite players because they had paid thousands of dollars every year to participate in the Club Ball circuit.  And yet, after the game was done, all of the coaches unanimously agreed that of the 22 players who played in the game, only two had the tangibles and intangibles to play college baseball.

The best athletes have the most potential to become the best players.  From a very early age, players must participate in a variety of activities that use their upper and lower bodies simultaneously and that challenge their minds as well as their bodies.  Eventually, to be elite, players must compete in programs where the standards are very high, the competition is very tough, and they are consistently challenged to work very hard to improve even if they are currently better than anyone else they know or watch. 

All youth practices and pre-game routines should have an athleticism training component that is developed and mandated by the league with assistance from nationally certified strength, conditioning and movement optimization trainers in that sport.  The program must be diligently monitored and progressed every year to be sure every player is developing as an athlete not just a player. 

The judgement of whether a player is currently elite must be made by knowledgeable and experienced coaches at the next level who have no affiliation to the player’s family, team, or league and no business self-interest compromising their objectivity.

Most importantly, a child must have a balance in their life beyond sports so they are confident they have skills, talents and life experiences that will mean their happiness and success in life will be determined by what happens off the field or court, not on it.  A small group may not think that you are currently an All-Star player, but the world will know that you are an All-Star person. 
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you are what you eat

5/1/2024

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One of the most dramatic and consequential shifts in my lifetime in the personal habits of people, including many athletes, is the casual way in which they approach nutrition.  In my generation, we have always said if you want your Ferrari to go far and go fast against elite competition, you better pay close attention to what you put in the fuel tank. 

And yet, just yesterday, I listened to a very well-known professional baseball pitcher say on a podcast that one key to recovery after you pitch is to eat a lot of calories.  True, but then he inexplicably added, “It doesn’t matter what type of calories; just eat a lot of them.” 

Wait, what?

This statement was startling to me because it was made by a professional athlete who markets himself as one who young people should listen to when it comes to all of the ways it takes to become successful.  It was also incongruent with almost every elite athlete I have ever heard talk about the thing they wish they would have become more knowledgeable about and taken more seriously when they were younger – nutrition.

In 2023, the National Institute for Health reported, “Nutrition serves as the cornerstone of an athlete’s life, exerting a profound impact on their performance and overall well-being. To unlock their full potential, athletes must adhere to a well-balanced diet tailored to their specific nutritional needs. This approach not only enables them to achieve optimal performance levels but also facilitates efficient recovery and reduces the risk of injuries.”

The report added, “In addition to maintaining a balanced diet, many athletes also embrace the use of nutritional supplements to complement their dietary intake and support their training goals. These supplements cover a wide range of options, addressing nutrient deficiencies, enhancing recovery, promoting muscle synthesis, boosting energy levels, and optimizing performance in their respective sports or activities.”   When consuming supplements, athletes must be careful that the supplements do not become an expedient substitute for eating whole fresh foods, and where possible, the supplements are NSF certified.  For example, eating protein bars to add protein and drinking energy drinks to boost energy are not good supplement choices for athletes.
 
 According to a National Survey of Children’s Health by the CDC in January 2024, 1 in 5 children and adolescents are obese.  In 2023, the Caring Medical Florida group reported that, “It appears the tendency to consume junk food may be more common among young athletes. The results of 7 out of 19 studies in Current Sports Medicine Reports showed sports participation was associated with the increased consumption of fast food, sugar-laden drinks and calories.”

These reports are consistent with the trend I have experienced watching young athletes   consume food before or after practice and games.  Just yesterday, I heard a coach say to his U14 Girls softball team, “Don’t worry, between the Opening Day Ceremonies in the morning and our game at noon we will provide donuts for you to eat.” 

I think coaches have a responsibility to their players to educate them about the life-long benefits of consuming healthy food and drink.  Generally, they should emphasize that eating should be about pursuing good health and not a particular weight.  Specifically, I think at all times people in general, and particularly athletes, should ask themselves these questions: 1) What nutritional purposes are being served by the food and drink I am consuming? 2) Am I getting the food and drink from the best possible sources? 3) Why am I consuming it in this quantity? and 4) Why am I consuming it now?  Athletes who want to become elite should journal their eating habits daily.  They should eat snacks to make up for the deficiencies, e.g., fruits and vegetables that they did not get in their main meals.

Parents could help their young athletes by always having healthy snacks and drink in the car, as well as, preparing healthy “grab and go food” at the beginning of each week such as pasta salads made with whole wheat pasta, vegetables, fruits such as pineapple or mandarin oranges, and a complete protein source such as chicken.  In place of fast food, I think an easy option for outstanding nutrition for practice and game days are fruit and/or vegetable smoothies.

We owe it as role models and mentors to our youth to get back to respecting our bodies and renew our commitment to “You are what you eat.”
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I cannot become something unless we are something - team chemistry building ideas

4/1/2024

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“Good teams become great ones when its members trust each other enough to surrender the ’me’ for the ‘we’.  Coaches do not establish the team culture, players do.”
 
            A. On-the-Field Games
                    1. "Great Play Friday" – pairs or small groups team-up to  create their own version of a pre-                                             determined great play, e.g., slow roller, double-play, pop-up, etc.
                    2. Hi-Jinx Skits, Creative Handshakes, see, e.g.,  hilarious college baseball rain delay routines
                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6KxHMRnv5g 
​                      Clemson v. Davidson Rain Delay Antics – Part 1
                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UZgVogYevM
                       Clemson v. Davidson Rain Delay Antics – Part 2
                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAo7_iEDyfQ
                       Colorado Football Coach Impersonations - YouTube
                    3. Whiffle Ball Game
                    4. Over-the-Line Tournament
                    5. Lite Flight Ball HR Derby
                    6. Lite Flight Ball Switch Hit, Oppo Hand Game
                   7. Minefield – pair players up, one blindfolded or walking backward and orange discs or cones are                              scattered in a defined area.  The “blindfolded” player has to move from one end of the “minefield” to                        he other avoiding the objects using only the verbal commands of his partner.  You can have multiple                        teams do it at the same time so the blindfolded player has to block out the distraction of the voices                            of  the other teams.
                    8. Towel (pairs) or Blanket (teams of 4 or more) Volleyball
                    9. Water Balloon Dodgeball (throws below waist)
                    10. Slip n’ Slide
 
           B. Outings - General
                    1. Inspirational Movies – e.g., When the Game Stands Tall
                        (2014); The 5th Quarter (2010), Soul of the Game (1996)
                    2. Arcades
                    3. Go to local College or Minor League Games/Practices
                    4. Team Meal/BBQ – players choose menu and help cook meal
                    5. Attend cheerleading, band, and drill team competitions - if you want them to attaend your games,                             you need to attend their competitions
     
          C. Outings – Competitive
                    1. Paint Ball
                    2. Canoe or Kayak Boat Races
 
           D. Service with no expectation of a monetary return
                    1.“Miracle” or “Challenger” Leagues – play your sport with children with disabilities
                    2. Children’s Hospitals
                    3. Community Work Projects
                    4. Gather Used BB Gear for Disadvantaged Youth – ABCA
                    “Turn Two for Youth”, GRIP Int’l
                    5. Volunteer to Read to Elementary School Students
                    6. Host a “Parents Night Out” with players as babysitters
                    7. Canned Food Drives
                    8. Raise Awareness Campaigns
                    9. Clean up a city park or a local youth league’s baseball
                        field
                   10. Help to promote and work at a school event
 
            E. General
                    1. Read and discuss as a team the book, Chop Wood, Carry
                    Water by Joshua Medcalf
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The Mantra of Get Better Every Day Applies First to Coaching

3/1/2024

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After 40+ years in coaching, certain things are automatic for me.  One of those things is, from the moment a practice, training session, game or season is done, I immediately begin replaying it minute-by-minute in my mind.  My entire focus is on whether I was better today than yesterday and how can I get better tomorrow.  I know that if I am better tomorrow, our team will be better tomorrow.

This self-analysis occurs regardless of whether I thought the practice or training session went well or whether we won the game or the championship.  I assume, and I have learned, we can always be better. 

We must be better because our competition will be better.  I must be better because my obligation as a teacher, role model, and mentor is to develop my players to be the best people, athletes, and players they can be regardless of the competition.

One of the axioms coaches stress to their players is to learn and dedicate themselves to the process.  Good results are obtained from a consistent and strict adherence to the process.  The same is true for good coaching.  When I begin my self-reflection on how I can be better as a coach, I start with my coaching methodology.

Even if all of my goals for my team as people, athletes, and players were achieved, my mindset is, my standards and goals need to be raised.  When doing this, I intensely scrutinize the details of my teaching and development process. 
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I have learned that I will typically be pleased with the results of my coaching if, on a daily basis, I ask myself the following questions to guide my process for the next day:
  1. Did I make our team better people?
  2. Did I use what I taught them about becoming better people when I trained them to be better athletes?
  3. Did I use what I taught them about becoming better people and better athletes when I developed them to be better players?
  4. Did the players receive 20 + repetitions of their position fundamentals with game-like speed and intensity in a game-like situation?
  5. Did the players compete at every phase of the practice with significant outcome consequences?
  6. Did I teach every player using the appropriate learning modality, auditory, visual or kinesthetic?
  7. Did I train reaction as often as action?
  8. Did I train the mental side of the game as well as the physical?
  9. Did everyone attempt to "practice perfectly" at every phase of the practice while accepting failure as a necessary part of the improvement process?
  10. Was everyone committed to and held accountable for the TEAM getting better today?
  11. Did the execution of the practice plan in its flow and progression match its design?
  12. Was there a consistent high energy from beginning to end?
  13. Did our coaching staff push our players out of their comfort zone to be mentally and physically tougher?
  14. Did the practice end with a scrimmage or game simulation where the players demonstrated what they learned during practice without any comment or input from the coaches?
  15. Did someone new step up to demonstrate leadership skills?
  16. Could we have defeated our toughest competition today?
  17. Did we inspire others who observed us to be better in their own lives?
  18. Did I see our players and assistant coaches smile and laugh? Did they see me do the same?
  19. Were our players and coaches comfortable enough to share something from their heart during team meetings?
  20. Do the other teams in our youth program or league teach the same fundamentals and have the same mission, goals, systems, and methodology as our team?
  21. Was I better as a teacher, role model and mentor today than yesterday?
  22. Did everyone act excited to come back tomorrow?
 
If you can answer yes to each of these questions every day, you are executing championship practices and training sessions. More importantly, you are training Champions for Life.
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recruiting, nil and student-athlete priorities

2/3/2024

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One significant reason Hall of Fame college coaches such as Nick Saban, Jay Wright, Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski retired prematurely is NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) has changed the landscape of college sports.  College coaches have always had to recruit elite talent from around the country if they wanted to contend for conference and national titles.  Now, it is a requirement that they recruit boosters (called “Booster Collectives”) to pay top money for top recruits and to pay their own players to keep them from entering the transfer portal in search of more NIL money.

This situation has not only created an additional burden on coaches, but has added an additional layer of temptation for athletes to prioritize sport over academics.  Even though few college athletes will play their sport at a professional level, some are blindly prioritizing their NIL money over everything.  Athletic careers can be over in a second for a variety of reasons.  Yet, few athletes ask themselves, “If my playing days were over or if I were not an athlete, would this college be the best fit for me given my other career goals.” The answer to this question needs to take precedence before any consideration of taking NIL money.

Instead of choosing a college that is best for their potential career, many athletes go to showcases first to see what colleges want them to play their sport. The showcase-first process is flawed because not all colleges offer the same quality of education and not all careers can be studied at every college.  If a major is not offered, a student cannot study it.  Not all academic departments between colleges or, even within a college, are of the same quality with regard to their professors, facilities, internship and job placement opportunities, etc.  College may not even be necessary for the best career choice for a particular athlete.

A student’s goal should be to graduate college with a degree that affords them many high-quality choices to pursue a life-long career the person is passionate about. The college degree alone only certifies that the student completed the school’s curriculum for a particular major. The curriculum and the work experience afforded by the school’s placement department, or lack thereof, may not be respected by graduate schools or the working world. And the degree certainly does not certify the student will be happy in the career choices that the degree can offer them.

Approximately, 40% of college students today drop out and 46% of the students who graduate work in a career that does not require the degree they received.  33% work in a career that does not require a degree at all!  With the exception of very few top athletes, the average NIL deal pays an athlete only a fraction of their annual tuition and expenses.  Therefore, unless an athlete plays a sport that gives them a scholarship that pays for the entire tuition, NIL only partially finances the debt the student-athlete will incur to earn a degree they will never use or do not need.

An athlete cannot be assured the coaches and their teammates will be the same year-to-year because the NIL factors are causing coaches to leave the profession and teammates to transfer to other programs.  If athletes prioritized career path and academics over sports, they could tell a coach who is recruiting them that they will stay with the program regardless of NIL money or playing time because their enrollment at the college was based first on the ability of the college to afford them the best education to pursue their career outside of the sport.  This may be a scale-tipping factor on whether that athlete receives a scholarship over another one who is prioritizing NIL money and the sport.

Elite athletes deserve to be compensated for their talent.  There is nothing inherently wrong with NIL money.  Athletes just need to be careful that when they are considering it, they do not prioritize short-term money over their long-term career goals and happiness.  In most cases, the short-term NIL money may just be an enticement that in the long-term will get them nothing more than a purely symbolic piece of paper.  
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please do not line up

1/1/2024

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During a sport practice, when I see a line of players with a coach rolling, bouncing or hitting a ball to the first player in line with the other players watching, I see the first sign the coaches have flaws in their practice design. 

The design of a practice should include the following goals; coaching the person, athlete and player; have a series of progressive drills teaching fundamentals to be demonstrated in an end of the practice game simulation or scrimmage; and have a flow and energy so that, as much as possible, the entire team is constantly moving; is performing game-like repetitions; is competing, and being held accountable, yet supported, by their teammates and coaches in their successes and their failures. 

Being successful at accomplishing these goals requires a careful consideration of many factors including the personalities and the spectrum of abilities in athleticism and sport skills of each of the team members, as well as, the weather, facilities, equipment, help, and time available for the practice. 

When I see a line of players, the coaches have failed to consider, plan for, and multi-task into the practice design enough of these factors.

Last week, I watched the first in a series of 1-hour throwing and fielding softball clinics for U-13 girls on a cold night in an unheated hitting barn with a turf floor and barely adequate lighting.  Twelve girls and their mostly able-bodied parents (some of whom have extensive coaching experience) attended the clinic which was being conducted by two coaches.  Unfortunately, the coaching methodology used during this clinic was one I have seen in all youth sports, for all ages, and by the majority of coaches in my 40+ years of coaching.

The clinic consisted of 5 minutes of dynamic movement, followed by 15 minutes of “catch play”, 30 minutes of drills, and a 10-minute game.  The “coaching” during the clinic consisted mostly of one coach telling the girls what they should do before each part of the clinic and one coach occasionally stepping in to “correct” a perceived flaw in execution by one of the girls while the parents watched. 

If the goal of the clinic was to have the girls get hundreds of reps at throwing and fielding a softball, the clinic was a resounding success.  If the goal was to have the girls be better people, athletes and players who improved their throwing and fielding, it was, at best, a complete waste of time, and, at worst, it caused the girls to go backward in their development by reinforcing bad habits.

I will take each part of the clinic and describe some of what could have been done to vastly improve the coaching methodology.  First, a short meeting should have been held at the beginning to describe the goals of the clinic and to get to know the expectations and general backgrounds of the players and their parents.  It should also have included a lesson from the game of softball to increase the sports IQ of the players and a life lesson, such as one about attitude and work ethic that related to the forthcoming lesson plan.

Second, each exercise in the dynamic movement routine should have been demonstrated correctly by one coach while the girls watched and then the girls should have followed the coach doing the exercise while the coach did it again with them.  While one coach was demonstrating, the other coach should have been assessing the athletic abilities of each player and also helping them to improve by demonstrating what could be done better once the first coach was done.  Each exercise should have been done 2-3 times so that everyone improved.  It is better to do five exercises and have improvement on each of them than to do 10 and have no improvement.

The exercise choice should include the movements that will be required in the sport skill drills. In other words, if the fielding drills are going to require hip hinges, short choppy “chatter” steps, foot replacement, e.g., right, left pick-up, right, left target, and specific techniques moving in all directions, then the dynamic movement routine should include these things too. 

Players should never just “play catch”.  They should have a progression of drills to learn to receive properly and to throw accurately with an intent to do them perfectly for the type of throws they will be required to do later in the clinic, and ultimately, in a game. 
  
At all times, coaches should coach.  Parents should not coach, but they can roll, toss and bounce balls, chase errant throws, and feed balls into a machine.

The line drills that were done in this clinic, as in most clinics and team practice sessions, consisted of two lines of players with no differentiation in abilities, with a coach rolling or bouncing a ball to the first player in line.  The player would attempt to field the ball and throw it back to the coach.  If the coach saw a flaw, the coach would simply tell the player what to do next time.  For youth sports, telling is not teaching.  Therefore, in almost every instance, the next time was not much better.  At the end of the clinic, if the player said she had fun, it was because she was with her friends and no one “criticized” her.  She never experienced the fun of improvement and playing well.

This drill could have been improved in many ways.  First, one of the parents with coaching experience should have rolled or bounced the ball so the clinic coaches could have done the drill with the players.  Next, discs should have been set up for the players to learn the footwork to approach and field the ball with the players following the coach to mirror them in what to do. After the first time, when a ball was rolled to a player, a series of 3-5 in a row should have been rolled to her to practice approaching and fielding it, before she threw it.  This series of repetitions will help them internalize what needs to be done much better than having them do just one at a time.

Have as many stations as coaches, equipment, and space will allow.  If you have more than 2 or three players at a station, you have a line, and prior to practice, you need to recruit more help, gather more equipment, and if possible, find a bigger space.  The players waiting should not just watch; they should be practicing what they will need to do when it is their turn, e.g., prep step, chatter steps, right, left pick-up, right, left target.

Initially, put players together that are at the same ability or have similar things to improve.  Coaches must be able to progress all players in the ability spectrum.  I say initially, because the players will feel more comfortable competing against and being held accountable by players of their own ability, but eventually all players must be comfortable and skilled supporting and holding accountable all of their teammates. 

The drill needs to accurately simulate the game.  A player should not field the ball, turn, and throw it back to the person rolling the ball to them.  In a softball and baseball game, 95% of the balls, after being fielded, are not thrown straight ahead.  Even at this clinic, where there were, regrettably, two lines, a line on the right could have been set up where the fielder was 20’ from the person rolling the ball to them and a line on the left could have been 15’ to the left of the first line and 40’ back of the person rolling the ball to them.  The players in the first line could have thrown to a player to the left who was working on footwork and receiving mechanics at second base.  The players in the second line could throw to a player diagonally in the corner of the space who would be working on footwork and receiving mechanics at first base.

If the skill level does not allow receiving the balls at a base, the players can throw to a target, such as a ball on a tee.  But please, extend the stem of the tee or put the tee on a bucket so the tee is at the height of a typical player’s chest for that age group.  Tees on the ground condition low throws.  Even the tee on the bucket may need to be extended to maximum height or put on two buckets if the distance of the throw in the clinic is shorter than the distance required on the field in a game.

The game at the end of practice should also simulate an event in a real game and should require the players to demonstrate the skills they have learned during the clinic/practice.  To evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching, it is essential that the coaches be silent during the game and they should simply observe what the players have learned.  When doing this, they should not just watch the results of the throw or catch, but from the ground up, they should note the kinetic chain of movement as the player performed the skill.  This will let the coaches know what they need to work on next time athletically with each player before moving on to the sport skill drills.

At all times, coaches should role model, teach, and require players to enthusiastically complement one another and hold each other accountable by encouraging each other to do the process better regardless of the result.  When holding a teammate accountable, players must be taught how to do it with non-verbal cues.  No one likes to be called out publicly verbally.
 
Each phase of the practice, including the dynamic movement routine, should end with a competition with a significant reward for winning.  Sometimes “winning” could be the player who improved the most or followed the process the best, not the player who had the best result.  This is how players learn to control what they can control, being comfortable being uncomfortable, and that failure is a necessary part of improvement. All phases of practice should train reaction, as well as, action.

Every practice should end with the players stating what they have learned as people, athletes, and players.  Coaches should then correlate these things to life lessons beyond the game such as how to overcome adversity at home, at school, and later in life.

When coaches do these things, they will not only develop better players, they will mentor Champions for Life.

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A Coach’s Eye and the Teaching Process

12/2/2023

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With one out and a runner on first base, a batter hits a 3-hop ground ball to shortstop.  The shortstop fields the ball, throws to second base to get the lead runner and then the second baseman relays the throw to 1B.  The runner is safe at first base.  From the official scorer’s perspective, an error was not made, but from a coach’s eye, the possibilities are many.

A coach’s first step is an analysis of the preparation, anticipation, reaction and action of each player in the chain.  Specifically, were the players in the proper positions per the scouting report for the hitter, pitcher, pitch and game situation?  Did the fielders expect the ball to be hit to them and, based on the type and location of the pitch and the hitter’s swing, did the fielders anticipate how and where it would be hit?  Did the players execute their prep steps properly so their bodies and feet were in a good position to react to the ball?  And finally, did the players move quickly and efficiently to get to the ball and the bag and did they use proper mechanics fielding, transferring, throwing and receiving it?

When analyzing body movement, a coach must be able to do a ground up analysis of a player’s posture, balance, footwork, angles (both in body and while moving) rhythm and timing without regard to the ball and glove.  A coach must visually extract the ball and glove from his mind and see just the player’s biomechanics at work.  The solutions to these issues may be ones of physiology and athleticism that need to be solved in the gym and not by sport skill drills.  These remedies need to be reinforced by a disciplined adherence to pre-game movement prep and dynamic movement routines. 

When addressing issues with player mechanics in fielding, transferring , throwing and receiving the ball, my experience is average coaches spend too much time teaching players how to play the game and not enough time how to properly execute the skills of the game.  And when those coaches attempt to teach the skills of the game, they rely too often on auditory cues and do not use the proper scaffolding process for optimum development and results under game-like pressure.

Here is the process for teaching mechanics regardless of the sport:
 
  • Stationary “Dry Mechanics”, e.g., no glove, bat or ball – simply working on posture, balance, footwork and angles (proper position of body parts, e.g., feet, legs, hands, etc.);
 
  • “Dry Mechanics” with movement – e.g., no glove, bat or ball, but working on same things as #1 above with movement, from easy to game-like intensity;
 
  • Stationary mechanics with an implement, e.g., glove, ball, and/or bat;
 
  • Mechanics with an implement with easy, comfortable movement;
 
  • Mechanics with an implement at game speed and intensity and randomization in both reaction and action;
 
  • Mechanics with an implement at game speed, intensity and competition with significant outcome consequences – getting accustomed to handling pressure – learning to control what you can control and to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
 
For example,  when learning how to properly field a ground ball, the process is:
 
  • Stationary “Dry Mechanics” – teach the player the correct body posture and hand/glove position when fielding a ground ball.
 
  • “Dry Mechanics” with movement – teach the player how to move to get to the throwing side of the ball and to move to, field and go through the ball when fielding it. Cone/Disc Drills for visual cues are excellent here.
 
  • Stationary mechanics with ball – same as the previous steps with the ball being rolled to the player and fielded with a bare hand or training glove (kinesthetic cue) while player is stationary.
 
  • Mechanics with easy comfortable movement – same as previous steps with the ball being rolled to the player and fielded with a bare hand or a training glove.
 
  • Mechanics with game speed and game intensity – same as previous steps except player is wearing a regular glove and ground balls are hit at game speed while base runners are running or player is being timed by a stop watch.
 
  • Mechanics with game speed, intensity and competition with significant outcome consequences – skills are demonstrated in a game simulation drill or scrimmage with the correct process being rewarded with such things as an extra at bat when they are taking batting practice. 
 
The same general, but separate process is used for teaching receiving, transferring and throwing a ball.
 
During the off season or during pre-season, coaches must be careful not to rush through this process.  Time must be taken to master each phase before moving on to the next one.  How long a coach stays at one phase depends on the skill level, experience, focus and discipline of the player being coached.  During the season, skill development time is limited so coaches must have an acute sense which step to begin with for each player, but the remaining steps must be completed daily so the skills will have the best chance of being transferred to the game.
 
Most importantly, telling is not teaching; the process must be respected.
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the mental side of the game

11/15/2023

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What a player does with their mind, both on and off of the field, is at least as important, if not more, than what they do with their body.  There are several great books discussing the mental side of the game, but I thought I would discuss a few principles here not discussed in those books that my players have found most helpful throughout my coaching career.     
 
Within a sport and during the game, a player’s challenge is to clearly and intently focus their mind on the game without letting the game take over their mind.  They must have the ability to calmly and instinctively recognize what needs to be done to execute the task at hand.  The key is to be able to realize what needs to be done and doing it without having it enter their mind what would happen if they did not.

But what allows some players to be able to do this while others cannot?  Why can some players flush the past and stay in the moment while others let the time between opportunities during the game, and the time between games, consume them with frustration and doubt?  What allows some players to have a Growth Mindset to accept failure as a necessary part of progress and development while others are defeated by it?

The first thing I emphasize to my players is you cannot become on the field or court what you are not in life.  If you pay attention to the details and the process to achieve success in school and in your personal life, you will have the best chance to do so in your sport.  If you master life skills such as organization, time management and goal setting, and have an unwavering positive attitude and perseverance outside of your sport, you will have an easier time applying those essential traits in your sport.

Second, I think a player must know that no matter the outcome, they are loved and supported by their family, friends, coaches, and teammates.  It is also extremely important that youth realize very early in their lives that while they may not have been able to choose their family, they will benefit immensely by choosing friends with high character and integrity.  These emotional components will provide a foundation for inner peace from which excellence in execution can be achieved.

Next, a player must believe their success and happiness in life is not governed by the outcome of a game.  The measure of them as a person and of their team is not whether they won the game or championship; it is determined by how they reacted to winning them.

A player must also believe their talents, skills, academic study, hobbies, and life experience will prepare them for rewarding opportunities outside of their sport.  In this regard, it is critical they choose a college first as if they were not an athlete.

During a game, a player does not perform to the level of their talent; they perform to the level of their training.  Again, these habits begin outside of their sport.  Good grades, for example, are not a true indication of a student’s achievement unless they were obtained from high standards, against elite competition, and through consistent hard work.  The same can be said for the benchmarks of success in the player’s sport.

A player’s teammates must be held accountable to meet these same standards of excellence so that during the game a player can trust their preparation too.  All parts and aspects of practice must include competitions so players can learn the critical lessons of learning to control what they can control and being comfortable being uncomfortable.

A player will know they are winning the mental side of the game when, regardless of whether they are playing well or not, they are excited to come back tomorrow to do it again.  In other words, they are playing the game for the same reason they played it originally – because it is fun. 
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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.

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