Coaching Champions for Life
  • Home
  • Coach Adam
  • CCFL
    • Developing Championship People
    • Developing Championship Athletes
    • Preparing to Develop Championship Players
    • Developing Championship Players
    • Developing Championship Mental Conditioning
    • Developing Championship Teams
    • Developing Championship Leaders and Team Chemistry
    • Let Champions Play
    • Coaching Championship Games
    • Developing Career and College-Bound Champions
  • New Book!
  • Hot Stove
  • Resources
  • Why Order CCFL?
  • CCFL Testimonials
  • Contact Me

take a turn

1/29/2022

0 Comments

 
The recent passing of Hall of Fame coach, Ed Cheff, reminded me of some great advice he gave me many years ago.  Coach Cheff said that one of the most neglected aspects of coaching is that coaches do not practice baseball  skills themselves often enough.  He observed that while coaches hit buckets and buckets of ground balls and fly balls to their players and throw hours and hours of BP, most are not very good at these skills.

The word “coach” is a verb, an action word.  Good coaches know, “Telling is not teaching.”  Particularly to this generation who are mostly visual and kinesthetic learners, if you are to be successful teaching it, you must be able to demonstrate it.  One of the many keys to Coach Cheff’s success was the number of fielding and throwing reps his players received every day.   The difference was that Coach Cheff not only required that he and his assistant coaches throw and hit thousands of balls, he required them to be thrown and hit perfectly – varying the placement, spin, velocity, depth, etc. on every rep.

How many youth coaches do you see that can do this?  How many youth batting practice pitchers do you see that throw various pitches in various zones consistently for strikes?  Is it any wonder that hitters chase the high fastball with two strikes in games when that is what they see most in batting practice?
​
If I have one regret in my own coaching career, it is that I did not change places with my players more often in practice – that I did not play a position more often, not just in drills, but in the end of practice scrimmages and game simulations. 

Not long ago, at the end of a training session of one of my high school players, I said, “Seth, how would you like to give me an early Christmas present?”  He said, “Sure Coach, anything, you name it.”  “How would you like to hit an old centerfielder some fly balls?”

And for the next half hour, as he hit me ball after ball, while Seth received some very valuable self- toss batting practice, I was transported back to my youth when I could not wait to get home from school, have my snack, and ride my bike back to the school yard to play baseball with my friends. Most importantly, we both could not stop smiling.  I had not experienced such spontaneous joy in my coaching in a long, long time.  Seth could see it; I could feel it.

I have a saying that, “A day in coaching without you seeing your players smile and them seeing you do the same, is a day wasted in coaching.”  So in honor of Coach Cheff, do yourself and your players a huge favor.  Tomorrow, and from now on, stand in and take a turn.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    March 2020

    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. 
    ​
    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.


    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.