HS players with no drive

4 girl's dad said:

I sent this to the coaches that I am currently coaching with. We are going to try it. There are 4 of us so I think we can really do a good infield, outfield and in and out of the dugout demo!

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I also want to know how this goes. I only had me, and to be honest, I was worn out.

Cannonball this is both brilliant and insane (hard to tell difference sometimes). This is going in my bag of tricks. Thanks!

Cannonball said:

One last thing, and this might seem absolutely crazy, have you personally demonstrated what you expect? I had a practice this year where I had the team stand out of play and I became the team both on the field and in the dugout. I had one player play catch with me where I warmed up and then threw to targets as this player was told to hold her glove up anywhere she wanted and I'd throw and hit it. I missed one time in ten throws. Then, I turned away from this player and told her to put a target up anywhere and let me know when she had it where she wanted. When she said she did, I turned and fired. I told the team that when they play catch, this is how you do it if you want to get better. Then, I played every position (Of was like one position) and demonstrated what was expected. I went to the dugout and did both the team coming while on transition to offense and then on offense and then, I also did the players on the bench. It looked crazy and believe me, the baseball teams on the field adjacent to us must have thought I was crazy as I was yelling at a pitcher and teammates who were not on the field. When done, I was soaking wet and kind of out of breath. I then asked them to match the intensity I demonstrated since that is exactly what I expect.

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CanOfCorn, I've been called crazy a lot but "brilliant?" Thanks a bunch. I can add that now. LOL

Anthony Vertuccio said:

How do you or can you motivate HS players who have no drive to get better or compete? You cant cut them or you would not have a team so that's not the solution.

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Boy and Girls are different, my experience is 2/3 with boys but the teen aspect has overlap. The key aspect is for their whole lives they have been an extension of their parents. Teens are trying to figure out who they are and what aspect of the people around them they want to incorporate.

You want to make them realize what they are projecting and convince them to take ownership. I usually start with the talk about rolls. As coach, I am there to guide them but it is a collaboration not a dictatorship. I make no plays on the field so how the team does is more a reflection on them than me. I can get a bunch of 10 year olds to run into a wall, teens are too smart for that so I say I am not going to treat them like 10.

While I haven’t done exactly what cannonball has done my demonstration is more about what ones actions tell others. If I am a player how do I want to be perceived by those watching (friends/family) or my teammates. I show them ready position vs. lazy position. Ask them “What looks right?” and “Who do you want to be?” If you look like you don’t care what does it say to everyone? Again it isn’t your team but theirs, because it is their moment in time.

Teens respond to positive reinforcement of projection, “You look like a player” vs “Why did you miss the ball?” Realize at this age the kids know who can play better than the adults do, they know who put in effort and hustles, they know when they make mistakes, they take their faults personally. None of it needs to be pointed out. Just need to let them know that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but all players are important as over a season each player will make a play to help the team.

Not to sound like a cheerleader but it is tough enough being a teen, we put too much pressure to succeed everywhere all the time. If you believe in them they will believe in themselves, they will feel good about themselves, will want to come to games/practice and motivation problems are solved. IME girls understand this quicker and buy in faster.

Good Luck



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. How do you or can you motivate HS players who have no drive to get better or compete?

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This is an excellent question! How do you make them care?

Good discussion. I'm living this with a U16 Boys team right now. This is the most introverted bunch I've ever worked with. It took a couple weeks before I even knew what a few of their voices sounded like. I try to incorporate signals and verbal calls into every action we do as a team so they get more comfortable. Every time they want/expect a ball they have to call for it. At least one other player must call out the intended throw location and point there EVERY time. They are starting to get more comfortable being vocal but it's a slow process.
When things are required, they don't have to decide whether to do it. When everyone is doing it, it isn't as awkward. This needs to be accompanied by an extremely positive atmosphere with praise for doing it correctly and encouragement when they don't.

obbay said:

This is an excellent question! How do you make them care?

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You can't make them care. All you can do is create an environment where they feel safe to take some risks and have an opportunity to feel incremental success. Some will grow into it and some won't but either way it is their experience to have.