Run a lap !

[CoachPete]

J Pull them to one side if they missed a throw have a coach Throw fifty balls to them. Miss a Grounder, roll Fifty Grounders at them, Are we building track stars or ball players ?.

I agree 50 grounders would be more beneficial, but RUN A LAP is quicker. I use it pretty sparingly and only for the whole team after a particularly bad defensive performance. Last Saturday after we made a few bad errors but eeked out a victory over a so-so team, I told them there was running to be done, and after they gave me some angry looks, I told them I was going to do the running because I made some pretty poor decisions coaching third base. They enjoyed it greatly as I ran to the fence and back.

 

[ktm rider]

I remember playing legion ball many moons ago, we had to run a lap, as a team, for every pleayer that looked at the third strike the game before. Heck, I remember the coach making a few players run a lap DURING THE GAME ! when he got really upset...

 

[Huskerdu]

I'm not a run a lap type coach, I am an "ok, everyone on the line, lead, bounce, go!" This past week, my girls gave up in a pool game squandered a 7 run lead, so I ran bases with them because this is my team...

 

[Carsonsig]

I give them...I call them "Lippy Laps" get lippy, take a lap. Taking laps as a form of refocusing and keeping players in line is as old as the game itself and does no harm. It helps get those one or two girls to stop disrupting practice when their inability to focus causes a whole team to run a lap.

LIPPY LAPS!!! I was doing soft toss warm ups with DD tuesday. I got half way into an adjustment, and she says "I KNOW DAD GAWD!!! JUST TOSS!" I said oh, you know what I was gonna say, tell me when you get back from your lap. she was PISSED. I told her I didnt care if SHE thought she knew what I was going to say, I expect her to receive it with a smile, thank me for my insight and do her best. NOTHING MORE.... It is gonna take a lot of laps with this one.

 

[CoogansBluff]

... I expect her to receive it with a smile, thank me for my insight and do her best.

If you coach her to smile and say thank you, how will you know how she really feels?

 

[Easton33]

If you coach her to smile and say thank you, how will you know how she really feels?

Feelings have nothing to do with proper form. Take the instruction and apply it, feelings shouldn't be involved and when you open the door for that conversation during a training session, say goodbye to learning/teaching anything.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Feelings have nothing to do with proper form. Take the instruction and apply it, feelings shouldn't be involved and when you open the door for that conversation during a training session, say goodbye to learning/teaching anything.

Not sure how I feel about that ...

I don't believe that feelings are the secret to the high-level swing. But to say they shouldn't be involved at all, not sure I'd agree with that. Someone's emotional state is important in anything that they do.

BUt my question wasn't about whether a coach should open the door for a conversation about feelings. It was about whether a coach should instruct a student to act in a way that is inconsistent with her real feelings (ie, to smile, even if frustrated). As a coach, I'd want to know if my player was annoyed, frustrated, whatever. That info is valuable, IMO.

 

[Carsonsig]

I was being a bit sarchastic... At this point with DD I would take silence and a nod! ~

 

[Little Angels Softball]

I give them...I call them "Lippy Laps" get lippy, take a lap. Taking laps as a form of refocusing and keeping players in line is as old as the game itself and does no harm. It helps get those one or two girls to stop disrupting practice when their inability to focus causes a whole team to run a lap.

I only use laps for the same things .... lack of attentiveness, "lippy-ness" and especially for someone being disruptive or having their own conversation about something unrelated while I'm addressing the team.

However, I put a different twist on the "take a lap" theme. If a girl is being disruptive, not paying attention or giving me some lip, I have the entire team take a lap .... except the offending girl(s). She has to stand next to me and watch her teammates run. Girls don't like this at all, and the peer pressure from the running girls to "get with the program" is almost palpable. The unwanted behavior usually ceases immediately.

Try it sometime.

 

[Red504]

I agree with above post. I never use laps for errors. I use them for bad attitude, disrupting instruction or horseplay. It usually takes one lap to get them back on track.