How to Run a Great Baseball Practice

How to Run a Great Baseball Practice
By Guest Author Jack Perconte

Of course, the number one key to running a great baseball practice is organization. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden was famous for mapping out every detail of his practices, with every second of practice accounted for. This may be a little extreme for coaches of youth baseball but the point is that coaches who are organized will get the most out of their practice time. Baseball coaches should map out their preseason practices to be sure they cover every important aspect of baseball for the age of the player. As the season progresses, coaches can gear their practice time to cover the areas most needed, based on their team weaknesses. Following are some points that coaches should consider to run a great baseball practice:

1. Get in the habit of starting practice on time - parents who bring their child late will get the message early in the season that a late player will be missing out on some instruction.

2. Do not neglect warm-up time. This time is a very important time for coaches to teach the fundamentals.

3. Get help from assistant coaches and interested parents but be sure to inform them of the correct fundamentals that they should be watching for and teaching.

4. Keep players busy - players should not be standing around very often. Small group stations are recommended when coaches have help and game action drills or play is recommended when help from assistants is not available.

5. Keep stations relatively short so boredom does not set in and try to cover as many aspects of the game as time allows each practice.

6. Mix up the pattern of each practice - for example, if you work on hitting first one practice, work on defense first the next.

7. Safety is paramount at all times so don't forget helmets, etc... Use of softer balls for younger aged players can really help teaching all phases of the game.

8. Kids love competition and contests - the use of those when players begin to get bored, or tired, can spur enthusiasm. Using contests as incentive to work hard early in practice, with the idea of competition (games) later in practice when players work hard, can be a good idea.

9. When having contests, be sure to handicap them some so each player, or group of players, have a chance at winning. Make sure and let players know that a handicap system is in place for fairness.

10. Reward hard working "practice players" and not just star game players. Rewards for best defensive, offensive and hustle player(s) of each practice will spur good effort in practice.

11. Try to give the same amount of attention to each player. Players who feel slighted will be affected and other players will generally notice the slight of another player also.

12. Give homework. Inform players and their parents of the things you would like them to work on before returning the next time.

13. Long drawn out talks are never recommended. Bringing in a guest speaker or coach can be memorable for players.

Finally, coaches who remain positive, informative and hopeful will have the best chance of developing good players, as well as fun loving baseball players.

Former major league baseball player, Jack Perconte gives baseball hitting tips and batting practice advice for ballplayers of all ages. His baseball playing lessons, books and advice can be found at http://www.baseballhittinglessons.com/baseball Jack is the author of two books, The Making of a Hitter and Raising an Athlete - his positive parenting advice and books can be found at http://positiveparentinginsports.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Perconte

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Nation's Winningest High School Baseball Coach Reveals Secrets to Baseball Success

Nation's Winningest High School Baseball Coach Reveals Secrets to Baseball Success
By Rick Cabral

Coach "Guy" Anderson, head coach of the Cordova High School baseball team (suburb of Sacramento, Calif.), calls himself "old school." In 40-plus years he has coached the varsity team to 840 victories, the most wins of any high school coach currently in the nation. Anderson believes his "old school" methods have played a role in the development of the young men who won those games for Cordova High on the ball field.

One of those players is Jerry Manuel, manager of the New York Mets, who was a first round pick in 1972. Another is Geoff Jenkins, who won a World Series ring with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. Each can attest to Anderson's winning ways. In all, 24 of Anderson's players have been drafted by major league teams, and many more have gone on to play at the college level.

As with most established coaches, Anderson has developed a routine of conditioning and practicing that leads to team victories. His players begin each practice with a series of stretching exercises, then running. When they conclude their running the team participates in a Cordova High tradition of each player running to the center field fence and touching the 360 foot sign.

But it takes more than conditioning and tradition to field a winning club these days. It starts with players who have what Anderson terms "God-given ability," and he admits to seeing fewer players with that kind of skill these days. For instance, this year just 12 students made the Cordova High varsity. In the glory years of the 1980s and '90s, when Anderson's teams won three Sac-San Joaquin Section baseball titles, he often carried up to 22 players on his squad and turned away many more. Today, an intra-squad game is out of the question.

Anderson says one reason for the lack of talented players is that fewer kids play catch with fathers, an outgrowth of single-parent families. Moreover, there are a greater number of distractions-from mobile phone video games to club sports such as rugby and lacrosse, that didn't exist in California in prior decades. Consequently, when they come out for the team now, Anderson says, some players have to be taught even the most fundamental baseball skills.

But if mostly average players is what a coach ends up with, then the kind of program Anderson has developed over the years is crucial to success.

Following warm ups, the team then begins regular throwing. The players begin by taking a knee and throwing a short distance. Once they're limber, they begin throwing in earnest, eventually extending out their throws to 110 feet, and then shortening the throws. Next, they do a tossing drill Coach Anderson calls "quick fire," that requires hand-eye coordination and quick foot movements. Then the players go to their individual defensive positions.

Anderson says he got the idea for these types of drills from "Bud" Wilkinson, who led University of Oklahoma football teams to national championships in 1950, 1955 and 1956, and amassed a 47-game win streak, an NCAA Division 1 record that stands today. Wilkinson was known as an ultra-organized coach, who broke down practices in 10-minute concentrated segments; not a minute wasted and purpose driven. Adopting that concept has garnered Anderson election to the prestigious National High School Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and Easton Sports voted him "Master Coach" in 2003.

Asked what one thing he would do different in his coaching career, Anderson offers that he would show more "compassion" while still adhering to his standards. He also advises young coaches to develop a written agreement, spelling out the coach's rules or expectations and requiring both players and their parents to sign off.

This type of attention to detail, and love of the game, helps to build a winning program. It doesn't hurt to have the consistency of a head coach with 40+ consecutive years, either.

"(Baseball) is a special game to me," Anderson says proudly. And Guy Anderson will surely go down as a "special" coach.

Rick Cabral is a Sacramento baseball historian. To listen to his interview with Cordova High School Coach "Guy" Anderson visit http://BaseballSacramento.com and navigate to Teams > High School.

To learn more about Cordova High baseball, visit http://cordovalancerbaseball.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Cabral

The Major League Swing and 3 Reasons You Should Be Using it

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Article: The Major League Baseball Swing and 3 Reasons You Should Be Using it
By Rob Bucher

The Major League swing should be the swing you copy and use with your approach to hitting. Let's forget all about rotational hitting mechanics and linear mechanics for just a minute.

If your a coach or a player and you are not either teaching or using the swing all the best hitters in baseball are using, you're making a mistake...

...And limiting your potential.

Here's three reasons why your should ingrain the swing mechanics of the pros.


A strong position at contact is one of the most important characteristics you should add to your swing. The best hitters in the game keep their hands inside the baseball and usually close to their body. When your arms become extended they become weak. Keeping them close to the body as you swing through the hitting zone will ensure you have a strong contact position.
Major League hitters all turn into the ball or if you want to call it, rotate into the ball. They maximize the bodies full potential by using the lower body to pull the upper body into the contact zone. Make sure you are not staying back and swinging with your arms first.
The best hitters in the game are not trying to hit the top half of the ball to promote backspin. Their goal is to make contact squarely with the ball. The match the barrel of the bat on the plane of the pitch. This allows them to hit the ball with more power.

If you want to become a better hitter than all you have to is start copying the swings the best players in the game.

They all transfer their weight from the back leg to the front leg and rotate over a clean axis. This axis starts at the stride foot and works it's way up the body to the top of the head.

Ready to have explosive power at the plate? Click here - Proper Hitting Mechanics. Because your current mechanics are zapping your power at the plate.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rob_Bucher

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Mental Baseball Instruction - Becoming a Mentally Tough Baseball Player

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By Nate Barnett

The assumption here is that you have either found the title of this article amusing to some extent, or you are looking for information on how to become more mentally tough as an athlete. Maybe both, which would be a bonus for you. Now, a little group participation... I want you to stop reading for a minute after you read the following question. Don't read past until you have an answer.

The Question: What did you do differently this season (compared to last) to prepare yourself for a successful experience in baseball?

If your answer is nothing, many athletes have since passed you and have consequently helped improve their chances of getting to the next level, whatever that may be for them. However, if you have added something else to your game, then the opposite is true.

In order to become a mentally strong athlete, players must develop two types of skills.

A. Physical skills: those that help you throw, run, pitch, hit, and field more effectively.

B. Mental skills: those that help you in dealing with failure, build confidence, get you in "the zone", keep you out of slumps, etc.

The problem is that there is consistently more importance placed on physical development over mental. There are a few reasons physical skills are taught far more than mental skills.

1. Physical skills are more easily taught through the ease of information access in videos, books, and private baseball instruction.

2. The fixation on massive home runs and big power numbers fuel athletes' desire to improve and learn the skill of hitting a baseball 400ft like the guys in the Bigs.

3. The results can often be noticed by everyone right away. Therefore, there is more of an immediate feeling of improvement with physical skill work through baseball drills, etc.

The mental side of baseball is taught far less for a multitude of reasons. Some include:

1. There are simply fewer resources available on the topic of sports psychology and mental training.

2. Many sports psychology and mental training information is written in a complex fashion making it difficult for a reader to comprehend the information.

3. Practice time is limited for many teams. Therefore, fewer coaches can afford to carve out the time to work on the mental game (assuming they know how to teach it).

So how do you begin to work on the mental game? You're doing it now. Read, listen, and search for pieces of information on the topic. Post-game interviews from professional athletes are a good source. Countless players like Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken have devoted time to writing some of their thoughts on the subject. Buy their books or find them at a library.

Why should you develop you mental baseball skills? The answer to this question is lengthy and is a topic for another article at another time. But the simple answer is that you will be noticed by more college and professional scouts because they look for indicators of a strong mental game. And secondly, it will help to cut out slumps that linger and take away from consistent performance.

Nate Barnett is owner of BMI Baseball designed to improve the mental game of baseball in athletes. Learn how to help your game by improving your baseball psychology.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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