Holding players accountable

[sluggers]

I'd love to hear how others motivate players to improve at some of their most ingrained bad habits.

(1) The most important thing is to demand perfection NO MATTER HOW THE PLAY ENDED. You have to instruct and demand that the girls perform correctly on every play. If a girl does something wrong but no harm resulted, you still have to correct her.

(2) If a player fails to perform as instructed, you have to take her out. Don't wait until the end of game. Do it as soon as possible, and tell her clearly why. Have her sit out the remainder of the game. Give her a chance to fix the problem in the next game. If she doesn't do it in the next game, replace her again.

To clarify: When I say, "fail to perform as instructed", I'm talking about a player who makes the same mistake over and over. Any kid is going to throw the ball away once in a while or miss an easy ground ball. However, on every ground ball the kid should be in proper fielding position and should approach the ball correctly. The outfielders may miss a ball on an overthrow, but they should be in proper position to make the catch.

The problems with most coaches:

(1) They don't know how the girls are supposed to play the positions.
(2) They ignore mistakes on the field until it costs them an out or a run and then over-react.
(3) When a player fails to correctly field the position, they ignore it.

It must be drilled into their heads that OF is NOT a punishment.

I agree with Sparky, but a coach can go farther. You can create an "esprit de corp" in the outfielders if you take the time. Applaud their abilities and challenge them. Make them feel special to play the outfield. Play your OFs shallow and challenge the kids to make the tough plays. Let them use their speed instead of "playing it safe".

As for the game, teach them early that every PITCH is a play.

RichK is making a great point. The challenge of softball/baseball is to stay mentally engaged on each pitch. One way a coach helps the kids stay mentally engaged is to make sure all nine of them move every time the ball is hit.

But, you rarely see coaches asking LF after a routine single to RF, "Were you asleep on that single to RF? Where were you supposed to be? Why didn't you move?"

 

[Sparky Guy]

(2) If a player fails to perform as instructed, you have to take her out. Don't wait until the end of game. Do it as soon as possible, and tell her clearly why. Have her sit out the remainder of the game. Give her a chance to fix the problem in the next game. If she doesn't do it again, replace her again.

Had a girl playing RF go completely brain dead on a play once. The throw from an infielder sailed over the head of the 2nd baseman covering 1st on a bunt. The right fielder was standing there watching the play like a spectator. She did not realize she needed to move until the ball was beyond her down the line. By the time the play was over the batter was standing on 3rd. I immediately asked for time and replaced the girl. When I got her in the dugout I quietly asked her in a very neutral voice what happened and she said she "forgot" to backup. I asked her if she'd forget again and she shook her head no. That was it. No yelling across the field. No berating the player. Just a simple conversation.

After the game the dad comes up to me and tells me a parent from the other team who was sitting next to him told him "He would never allow a coach to do that to his daughter." My dad told the other parent is was his DD and he would have done the same thing. The girl started the next game and she never missed a backup for the remainder of the season.

 

[KevinC]

Use bench time or losing a starting position in response to repeated mistakes.

Instead of running laps as punishment make them keep working on a drill that focuses on the problem area until everyone gets it 100% right. This uses a combination of peer pressure and competition to inspire them to get it right.

Make sure your instruction tells them what TO do instead of what NOT TO do.

If you're not sure they understood your instruction ask them to repeat what you just said.

Design your drills to simulate game situations. If your catcher is hesitating on throw downs have her practice those throws after receiving a pitch and with a baserunner. When doing fielding drills insist that that the fielders not directly involved in the play move to their backup position just like you expect them to do in a game.

Reward the players that hustle instead of punishing the ones that don't. The players that hustle get to be team captains or have a hustle award that gets passed around week to week. If you inspire a culture of hustle peer pressure will take care of any problems.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Instead of running laps as punishment make them keep working on a drill that focuses on the problem area until everyone gets it 100% right. This uses a combination of peer pressure and competition to inspire them to get it right.

I was never able to understand the "LAP" mentality. I don't punish my players for missing a ball if they are giving me an honest to goodness 100% effort. Anything else is dealt with by working on correcting the mistake with drills or whatever the need calls for. The only thing I use running for is screwing around, not paying attention, to talking when I'm trying to explain something to the team.

 

[starsnuffer]

I was never able to understand the "LAP" mentality. I don't punish my players for missing a ball if they are giving me an honest to goodness 100% effort. Anything else is dealt with by working on correcting the mistake with drills or whatever the need calls for. The only thing I use running for is screwing around, not paying attention, to talking when I'm trying to explain something to the team.

Running is healthy. It's good to build failure scenarios into your practice, and plan for a set amount of time to be spent running. Kids LISTEN better when they're catching their breath, and they have incentive to perform better the next time. Practices need to be set up in such a way where the team will fail and have to recover. . . because that is what happens in games.

-W

 

[Drew in MA]

Thank you to everyone who responded. There are lots of great suggestions I can use in here to get better. Thank you!

 

[TheRogue]

Repetition....and positively enforce when it is done right!!! Everyone likes to be noticed when they do something right, especially social animals like pre-teen girls. I'm sorry, I have a daughter, and have been involved in coaching girls for quite a while, and I completely disagree that the age or gender doesn't matter.

Action/punishment, Action/reward.

There's nothing more frustrating to me than a coach who harps and harps on someone who consistently does something wrong, and then is completely silent when that same person does it right. I was around a coach like that for a long time, and it's one of the big reasons I moved on.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

Michael N, We make the kids run on and off the field, and yes, the ones who don't have it usually leave. My point is that real hustle, the kind that makes a kid stand out, comes from something inside.

Totally agree with this. Motivation is internal. As coaches, all we can do is provide the stimulus to modify/change/correct a behavior. Ultimately it is the player that will decide whether to react positively or negatively to the stimulus.