Motivating A Flat Team @ Game Time

I coach a LL Minor's team (basically 10U) for this season. For the most part the team is rather emotionless, no excitement and no "despair". We had a game the other night where I could tell they were psyched out before the game even started. I was hearing murmors off to the side during warm-ups and BP about the size of the girls on the other team and how fast their pitcher throws...

I did what I thought I could to gather the team and motivate and get them past being psyched out, but it did no good.... I had girls forgetting everything that we work on and doing things they don't normally do at the plate to avoid this pitcher or end their at-bat early... That carried on to the field as well...

I could tell in their eyes, they had checked-out for the night. I was sitting at that decision point of continuing to coach and teach (and maybe yell a little bit sometimes), or let it go for the night and let them play and figure it out. I felt like all of the coaching and talking was falling on deaf ears, but at the same time isn't that my role - to continue to coach/teach? IDK it was frustrating to see them play so far below their normal level, let alone their full potential.

How do you motivate the girls to at least play that night with emotion and pride? Especially at this age (mostly 8's - 10's)... I had it hit me in the face after the first game this season when I asked my DD what they said about the previous night's game at school; her response "IDK, we didn't talk about it". I can't imagine as a guy when I was in school, not having talked about the previous night's game with my friends that played with me and/or against me. Are girls that different? Are they just "my" girls that are that different?

Anyway, any insight some of you may have at building that internal motivation and how you might have moved a team beyond being psyched out or just plain flat for any particular game...

Thanks

At 10U a payoff might work, anyone that gets a hit gets an X.

Rewards might work.

At that age I would do prize (water ice is pretty cheap and popular, and normally available at the concessions, and if they know you are buying several at a time, at least home concession stand might cut you a break).

I would say any ball in play gets a prize if they are really struggling at plate. If doing OK, maybe for any ball hit in the grass.

Or any two players involved in an out in the field (ie 4-3 putout) (I would gladly buy 36 water ices if it meant all 18 of our outs (we play 6 innings) were by putouts in the field (cause this also means pitchers are not walking anybody). Or for Cs if they have no past balls.

Or for baserunners who listen to directions to keep going (so hard sometimes to get them in mode of taking two on a hit, ie hit to right side of infield, going from 2B to HP).

Also game like might be a good opportunity to play them out of positions they normally do (other than P), might get pleasant surprises, and player who plays mostly OF who is seeing lots of IF time will certainly be giving it her all.

all that being said, good luck, girls are tough, DW and I had to play amatuer sports psychologist last night, DD was pitching, doing OK, couple of walks, one K, then two routine (ie not that hard, very playable) grounders near 3B, player runs to cover 3 instead of fielding the ball for easy force out at 3B. then next batter happens again (2nd time was in between SS and 3B, but both ran to cover bases rather than field ball. she held it together the rest of the inning, but came off in tears. Reassured her she was doing fine, if they are hitting them it is fine, would rather them be smacking ball all over than walking. pitched two more shutout innings after that. still frustrated as she got three BB and one HBP for the game, other teams pitcher's were pretty horrible. HBP pitch was on 3-0, bases loaded so on ball 4 I was going to pitch to her (we do not walk in runs), I could see her anticipating that already when pitch hit her oh so softly (was a lob). never seen a LL player that angry over being awarded 1B. had to really make certain she knew that she did best she could with the pitching she was facing (I think maybe she had two strikes on her in 4 appearances at the plate). Girls are tough, I will say it again.

maybe talk about it at next practice if you can sneak one in before next game. talk to them about having goals for each game and season having nothing to do with winning or losing (ie individually for a game, no errors, good at bats, which do not necessarily mean a hit, could just be not striking out looking, no swings at wild pitches, etc.), sometimes they get so caught up in W/L, might help to refocus on smaller building blocks of success (and rewards might help them focus on this).

We are both terrible coachs.

bmakj - I kept the discussions away from W/L's for the most part; I talked about pride and playing the game and that the other team had to play too, they weren't pre-destined to win or anything... I don't think it would have mattered what I said.

-in regard to the game situation you gave, I do always teach them to play the ball first, then their coverage responsibilities. It doesn't always stick, but they hear it enough in practice and games, that 9 out of 10 times they will play ball first.

As for rewards, I'm mixed on that... I have offered them to my DD's (one is 16 now and played for years; now I'm coaching my 10yo) with mixed results. I want to learn how to build that "internal motivation" in the girls that doesn't require prizes or bribery. How do you build that goal-oriented desire to get better? How do you get to be that coach that players would run through a wall for? I've had them in my playing days, and I've seen them since, but I must not have "it"... what is "it"? Have any of you ever been successful pulling a team back from the brink in a game where they were just flat and not in to it? or psyched out for some reason?

" I talked about pride and playing the game and that the other team had to play too, they weren't pre-destined to win or anything... I don't think it would have mattered what I said."

I think at that age..you were probably doing all you can. And once they checked out emotionally you were probably done. Hard age to coach. Do a little experiment with your team. At random times during the game, just ask one of them what the score is. I was shocked when I was an AC that most of the time the girls did not know the score, and a lot did not even know if we were winning or losing.

This is going to sound sappy ..

I am my players biggest fan, really positive.

I have been negative if they did not do thier best, errors are fine.

my example was just to show how easy it is for girls to get down, individually or as a team.

I think at that age, those run through the wall players are very rare (I did have one last year though, and DD is I think headed that way), and it is internal. That kind of drive I do not think can be developed externally (at least long term), the kid either has it or they don't. I think you at this age you just need to try to find a way to keep them focused. that is why individual goals could really be helpful, as long as they are kept realistic (ie not a hit in this game, but good at bats, not making the out, but fielding ball cleanly and throwing to correct spot, not catching the pop fly, but getting under it, getting glove on it, covering and backing up right, etc.), this way even if 1B drops their throw, if SS fielded it clean, set up and made good through, they can feel they accomplished something (and hopefully not be mad at 1B for not making catch).

and do remain positive, when I correct I try (and even succeed at least half the time) to refer to it as a missed opportunity (ie we missed an opportunity to get off defense and into our at bat), and talk to them about how to make the play the next time. focus on what they did right or what to do better next time, not on what they did wrong.

also, try to take as many of the mistakes as you can on you and your fellow coaches. last night, my team has bases loaded, no outs, easy looping hit to 1B in the air (not high enough to call it popfly), clean catch, 1B (after a lot of yelling from other teams dugout) tags first, DP, all my runners went (other runners got back in time). me and my 1B coach had neglected to emphasize holding on any ball in air. when we gathered before taking field, told the girls that it was mine and other coaches fault, we did not remind them, and used it to teach them, must know how many outs, and on less than 2 you hold on any ball in the air. Probably will sink in way better than the hundreds of times we talked about it in practice while doing some baserunning practice.

cuervo1800 said:

I asked my DD what they said about the previous night's game at school; her response "IDK, we didn't talk about it".
Thanks

Click to expand...

Made me chuckle. This is soooooo normal. The game is long forgotten by the time to get to school with their friends the next day. At 14U it's only slightly better, but not much.
Only us a parents and coaches lament for days on the woulda, shoulda, coulda!

Most teams will have the melt down against superior competition. Only with experience, encouragement, and age will they learn to compete against unfavorable odds...and not all teams will ever actually reach that mentality . Last year we had a team that won against the weaker teams, were 50/50 against the teams at our level, but barely competed when the competition was superior. This was a strong 12U travel team, but as a unit they just didn't have the fire or the killer instinct in those games.

At 10U, they have lots of learning to do so keep staying positive and reward for effort, not results.

Self serving post ...

DD faced a P in 8U that threw the the ball 100 MPH. She struck us out in 9 pitches. She tried out for the national 10U team, she was good.

She pitched DD pitched, Teams job was to keep it close.

We won both times we faced her.