| Softball College Recruiting
Jun 9, 2009
The softball recruiting process can be daunting with letters to coaches, trips to clinics, making your skills video, and playing in showcase tournaments all while keeping up with your studies. The process usually starts your sophomore year with identifying your academic area of study and potential colleges. The spring of your junior year and fall of your senior year you are trying to get maximum exposure to your interested college coaches. Finally coming to an agreement with a coach on your short list to play softball on his team the following year. Below are six articles that can help manage the successful college recruiting experience. |
| Developing the Art of Bunting
May 20, 2009
If you want to want to be a complete hitter then you need to master the art of bunting. Based on game situations and a team’s need to manufacture runs, every player can be called upon to bunt. Although many players struggle with laying down a good bunt, with a little practice and proper technique, everyone can learn to bunt the ball to move base runners. Effort during practice and desire to learn are all that it takes to be a good bunter. |
| Creating Your Batting Line Up
May 12, 2009
A common question I receive from youth coaches is how to put together a batting order. After responding privately a few times, I think this is a big enough discussion for a post. About five or six years ago, I personally spent a lot of energy in putting together my batting lineups, changing them every game or two to "optimize our team’s run scoring potential." I remember being frustrated because every time I changed the order for a game I would have the wrong type of batter up in a key situation and if I had left the lineup like the last game I would be in a better situation. Eventually, I settled on a batting order where I group players by results and then make small changes every four or five games. |
| Coach's Guide To Managing the Coach-Parent Relationship
Apr 21, 2009
Bar none, the most emotionally draining element of coaching a youth sports team is interacting with the parents. Having coached youth teams for over twenty seasons and been an officer in multiple youth organizations, I can personally attest to the fact that parent-coach interaction is important to the team's success. The mismanagement of the parent-coach relationship by the coach, more then anything else, leads to their demise. By establishing expectations early in the season, having a conflict resolution mechanism, and managing the disagreement discussion, a coach can reduce the emotional impact to themselves and maintain their team's positive attitude. |
| Baseball College Recruiting
Apr 9, 2009
Whether you are a player, parent, or coach, the process to continue playing baseball after high school getting yourself through the college recruiting process can be daunting. The majority of the work needs to occur during the spring of your junior year and fall of your senior year in high school, but up front planning during your sophomore year of identifying potential colleges and desired major can help get the college recruiting process off to a good start. Below are six articles that can help lay the groundwork for a successful college recruiting experience. |
| 10 Benefits and Tips to Using a Pitching Machine for Batting Practice
Mar 26, 2009
Using pitching machines for batting practice sometimes get a bad rap because they are used to throw the ball down the middle of the plate or they cannot throw at game speed. While this may be true, it is not the pitching machines fault - it is just a tool. In this post I recommend ten benefits and tips to more effectively use a pitching machine during your batting practice. |
| Building Your Core for Increased Bat Speed
Mar 18, 2009
Your core is the part of your body that connects your legs and feet to your arms and hands. In proper hitting mechanics, the bat speed generation phase occurs when you body moves from the loaded position through the swing and bat-ball contact. This requires that the power from the initial forward movement started by legs to transfer through the core and hip rotation to the hands on the bat. Not only does the batter want an efficient power transfer through the core, but also wants the core to add additional power to increase the bat swing speed. So, what type of core training is needed to increase your bat speed? |
| Reasons for Playing in Wood Bat Tournaments
Mar 11, 2009
Wood bat tournaments and leagues are gaining in popularity both at the youth as well as the adult level. There are many reasons for the resurgence so let me give you seven of them. |
| Baseball and Softball Bat Performance
Mar 3, 2009
What is the performance of a baseball bat or softball bat and how is it measured? Bat performance standards are set and regulated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), Little League, USSSA, and Amateur Softball Association (ASA) in the United States and many countries around the world. Bat performance measurements for non-wooden bats are used to bring the game back into balance between offense and defense and to maintain the sport's safety due to high batted-ball speed as new metal bat technology evolves. The study of bat performance gets interesting when you realize that their is not a common test or testing methodology between all these organizations, such that batted-ball speed (BBS), bat performance factor (BPF), bat exit speed ratio (BESR), and bat-ball coefficient-of-restitution (BBCOR) are different measurements trying to accomplish the same goal. |
| Bat Rule Changes for 2009 Season
Feb 26, 2009
Considering purchasing a new bat for the 2009 season? The 2008 off-season brought about many new bat rules, but surprisingly, Little League and USSSA did not adjust their bat performance factor (BPF) requirement down to 1.0. Here is a summary of the changes: |
| Increasing Your Throwing Velocity with Weighted Softballs
Feb 20, 2009
Softball players want to develop their throwing arm strength need to consider using weighted softballs as a training aid. Underloading and overloading training techniques have been shown in several scientific studies to increase your throwing velocity by 4 to 6 mph when used consistently during a 10 week training period. Weighted balls, when used correctly, can develop a player's arm without incurring either short term or long term damage and, in fact, it has worked better than the traditional "long toss" method previously used. Here is how I worked this technique into softball practices. |
| Basketball Drill: Baseline Shooting Drill
Feb 17, 2009
This is a shooting drill, like the rebounding box-out drill, where the players are trained to follow their shot for the rebound. When a player shoots it is common for the shot to either go too far and hit the back of the rim or come up short and hit the front of the rim. When the shot is too short, the rebound comes back in the direction of the shooter. If the shooter follows their shot, they can be in position to recover the rebound. The baseline shooting drill re-enforces the "follow your shot" behavior. |
| Express Shape-Up Workout: Get Game Fit in 21 Days
Feb 6, 2009
So you took the off the winter season and now need to get back into game shape quickly. Marc Dagenais, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), used his experience coaching Olympic and college athletes to put together 21-Day Express Shape-Up Workout eBook. |
| Throwing Weighted Baseballs to Increase Throwing Velocity
Feb 4, 2009
Many baseball players, especially pitchers and catchers, who want to develop their throwing arm strength will consider using weighted baseballs as a training aid. Conversely, as a parent or coach, you want to make sure that the health of your player's arm is not jeopardized and damaged. Youth coaches can use weighted baseball to develop every player on the teams arm without incurring either short term or long term damage and, in fact, it has worked better than the traditional "long toss" method previously used. Here is what I did and how this technique is worked it into practice. |
| Basketball Drill: V-cut Shooting Drill
Feb 2, 2009
Against man and zone defenses, a very common offensive move without the basketball is a V-cut that is used to either setup the man defender for a screen or to turn the zone defender's head. Several years ago, I was coaching a 5th grade basketball team and we were struggling with having our shooters come off screens and quickly shoot the jump shot before the defense would recover. We developed this basketball shooting drill to teach the players to come out of a V-cut ready to receive a pass in a coiled (or triple threat) position and quickly elevate, instead of receiving the pass, then coil, and finally elevate. The latter was too many movements that took too long and allowed the defense to recover before the shot was taken. |