Tips From The Coach

TIPS FROM THE COACH

I am often asked what is the single most important thing a coach should do? Tell your players they are GOOD, a LOT!

Think about it, baseball is a game of failure. Fail ONLY 2 out of three times at the plate for your career and you will end up in the Hall Of Fame. But you failed 2 of 3 times. It is how you deal with the failures not the successes that determines how successfully you play. They must believe that they can hit anyone, make every play, win every game, and be champions. There can be no doubt, no fear. You as the coach must positively reinforce their value.

When practicing, practice having success. In BP, don't blow it by them Don't slip in a change up. Give them pitches they can hit. When hitting infield, don't scald rocket shots at them. Hit them a 'can of corn'. Make sure they have the opportunity to make the play 90% of the time.

When you correct their mistakes, let them know in no uncertain terms what they did wrong and how you expect the play to be executed and then spend an equal amount of time pointing out that when they execute the play properly how valuable to the team they will be and how much success they can expect.

Happy, confident players win games. Browbeaten, players that don't give a hoot, LOSE, no matter how talented.

My summer teams were often not the most talented but when it got down to the playoffs, we would point out that they had two choices; win and get to still keep having fun playing baseball or lose and spend the rest of the summer doing ALL those nasty little chores that Dad has saved up. You would be amazed how often more talented teams than we would roll over just so they could 'get to the beach', just so they could escape the coaches incessant hammering of them. We even had times when the catcher would tell us what pitches were coming! We might get beat but we never lost!

Yours In Baseball
Bruce Lambin
THE COACH