Tentative Baserunners

[Coach JV]

One of my core coaching philosophies is aggressive base running as
we are primarily a 'small ball team' I coach that the game is won with
flawless defense and base running. The better the runner executes,
the more pressure is put on the defense, thus the better the scoring
chances. Finally, the girls are very disciplined
at the plate and rarely swing at pitches out of the zone, therefore, we draw
walks when the pitcher is off and are able to do the above. (team is 14U travel)

I have a couple of girls who are high OBP players but for some reason are
consistently hesitant to slide, take aggressive leads, and try for the extra base when
the situation presents itself. They claim they are not afraid of being called out,
are not afraid to slide, are not afraid of collision. How can I help them be more like the
majority (who btw have become very good baserunners). They all are good kids, and
decent all-around players, for some reason they aren't grasping the basic philosophy.
When the majority of games are 1-2 run differentials, this is paramount.

 

[druer]

It may be that they aren't afraid to slide, but they may be afraid to dive back to a base should they need to come back. You can't be aggressive on base unless you are comfortable getting dirty going back to the previous base. While they may claim they aren't afraid of being called out, my guess would be that in their past they got yelled out by coaches when they tried to be aggressive and made outs. You may need to consciously start encouraging them to be aggressive in practice and then be sure to maintain the right attitude if/when they make mistakes and are out. It may take time to get them comfortable risking "the game" with their own thought process since so many are encouraged from t-ball on to only do what the coach says to do.

Self promotion I know but I have a video series out that teaches girls how to slide and dive safely in case you feel that may be the problem. Mark is selling them via Winning The Short Game - Softball Slapping - Bunting - Baserunning - Sliding

 

[D.G. OutLaws 16u]

Make baserunning a part of each and every practice. IMO when the girls know they are expected to run the tendancy to be tenative will disappear.