Theoretical Practice

coach james said:

I've done this a few times when the sky opens up in the middle of practice. We went into the dugout and simply discussed our positional responsibilities based on different scenarios...

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This is good in small doses. Most, not all people, have short attention spans. This not apply to just kids. But more 10 minutes of preaching more or less leaves then bored and not paying attention. If that is the rout be sure to keep the kids part of it by having them explain, answering and demonstrating not just listening.

I'm not sure if anyone touched on this but I like to do it after heavy conditioning. Zap all the energy out of them first and that knocks the silliness out of the girls. If you feel like you're losing their attention just remind them that they can always go back to conditioning if they don't want to listen. Don't kill them or anything but you get where I'm going with this

Basic fundamentals such as bunt coverage, and base/backup coverage needs to be taught. But I can't see spending any excessive amount of time in a lecture type atmosphere. In my opinion, you need to get the girls on the field and dry run the absolute basics. Then work them toward putting it into play in controlled environment. The next progression is put some baserunners in play at live speed.

The one thing that baffles me is there is SOOOO much judgement required in the game of baseball/softball and I SELDOM see teams working to improve on it. Just as an example, I'll give you a drill I do. For reference, I am speaking about a last year 12U team moving up to 14U with half the team still eligible for 12U. Runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs, tie game, late innings. Infield will call out "Check 3 go 1", just because that's what their prior coaches taught them. This is the Textbook classroom answer. From what I have seen, that just means, field the ball...look at third and throw to first. They obviously have the theory part down. It doesn't matter if the girl on 3rd is 5 feet off the base, or 15 feet off the base. They have no concept of judgement. That's a learned skill. In the offseason, I am encouraging them to try for the runner at third whenever they think they have a shot at it. The play to 1st is routine for them. We start this training with a coach running the bases that will make it blatantly evident whether or not to try for the runner at 3rd, or take the out. He'll either hang himself WAYYY off the base to encourage the play on the runner or stay tight to encourage the play at 1st. Once they are making the right decision, we up the Ante and put a player on 3rd and coach that runner the same we would as if it were a live game and she was on 3rd. Killing 2 birds with one stone here. Working on baserunning and defensive judgement.

I know I went way deep into the weeds on this example, but I guess I'm trying to point out that unless you're dealing with a team that has no concept of the basics of the game, you shouldn't spend too much time "In the Classroom". The classroom in my opinion is the Diamond....but you have to come up with ideas to CONVERT the diamond into a classroom.

From my experiences, the only valuable sit down chat discussions that are impactful are for esoteric rule discussions. And they are very effective. Rain delays are perfect for this. We discuss the dropped third, the infield fly, the batter's box and running lane, the baseline rules (avoiding tag by more than three feet), and the ball going out of play (either by an outfielder carrying it out after a catch or a wild pitch rolling thru the gate). As a coach, you have to know these rules cold and you have to be able to communicate it to your players clearly. They can visualize these plays and do not need a live situation to understand them. Checking third and going to one requires baserunners, timing, and real spacing on the field. Only repetitions will teach this. I take pride in knowing that my players can teach the finer points of the game to their parents and can react accordingly when the game situation calls for it.