"My philosophy, and I put it out there when the team was put together, is that team practice is for working on game situations and not teaching fundamentals"
As a private hitting coach, I love idea lol. But, with that said I would say that "FUNDAMENTALS" are the corner stone of proper player development and there is no substitute for it. If you say that progress is slow, then perhaps your team should work more on the fundamentals. If lil' Sally can't field a ground ball and throw it first base w/no runners on, or Annie can't lay down a sacrifice bunt, then practicing only "game situations" is a moot issue. Now maybe some parents can't afford private lessons or maybe their work schedule is just to difficult to make it work. I make it a point every practice to work on fundamentals and I've worked it into my team warm ups and are very time specific. Some days more than others. I then follow up with a day for "situational scenarios". If you have good assistant coaches, delegate drills to help manage how the time is used, and that way you can utilize good practice time management, and you'll get more production out of your team in faster time. Having good, solid fundamentals will build a more confident player, capable of becoming an exceptional player, because she will created the ability to do so. You can't build a house with out a foundation first, same goes for any athlete. Best of luck of Coach!!
As a private hitting coach, I love idea lol. But, with that said I would say that "FUNDAMENTALS" are the corner stone of proper player development and there is no substitute for it. If you say that progress is slow, then perhaps your team should work more on the fundamentals. If lil' Sally can't field a ground ball and throw it first base w/no runners on, or Annie can't lay down a sacrifice bunt, then practicing only "game situations" is a moot issue. Now maybe some parents can't afford private lessons or maybe their work schedule is just to difficult to make it work. I make it a point every practice to work on fundamentals and I've worked it into my team warm ups and are very time specific. Some days more than others. I then follow up with a day for "situational scenarios". If you have good assistant coaches, delegate drills to help manage how the time is used, and that way you can utilize good practice time management, and you'll get more production out of your team in faster time. Having good, solid fundamentals will build a more confident player, capable of becoming an exceptional player, because she will created the ability to do so. You can't build a house with out a foundation first, same goes for any athlete. Best of luck of Coach!!
