Re-thinking Practice and Understanding the Athlete

Re-thinking Practice and Understanding the Athlete

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes." -John Wooden

"Never mistake activity for achievement." -John Wooden

Baseball is a traditional game. Built upon time passed traditions passed on by older generations to newer generations. But like anything in life, innovation happens. In today's baseball world where video programs and sabermetrics have jumped into the game, the game is changing at an ever rapid pace. One of those things that has been changing is practice. But the question is, is how much needs to be changed, and what needs to stay? The answer is rather vague really, and the answer is it depends. Only the team knows what is best for the team. Not one person knows it all, it is through honest communication that we find our answers. 

But the question with practice is, if the team is putting in the hard work and the repetitions necessary to become successful, and then in the game, they flip the switch and shell up there is a problem. This would be the time to re-think practice and also have an honest conversation with the team. Now how your team goes about this, is up to the team. But here are some questions that need to be answered if things aren't going so well.

Is The Team Going Through The Motions?

The eyes can see this one. Not hustling down the line, going half-speed in the effort department, and the body language screams disinterested. This can be seen by the coach and the team. But here is my next question, is the team going through the motions because of the actions of the coach? Many times we as coaches put the blame on our athletes for going through the motions. But sometimes, our players go through the motions because of their coach. Some times it is the coach's actions and sometimes it is a practice that is not challenging the player that can cause athletes to go through the motions. Always be questioning, how can practice be better?

How Are Things Being Measured?

Another thing that can be questioned is how are we measuring our athlete's performance? There are many ways to measure performance, but it is important to always keep tabs on how the athlete was at the beginning of the current season, see how they are at midpoint, and then have a final measurement to see how they can improve for next year. The biggest thing that I have never understood is not keeping notes on the performance of an athlete. How can we truly know how they are doing without putting in the extra effort to keep notes on them. Why would we guess? Especially when we can measure accurately through technology.

Make Athletes Comfortable In the Uncomfortable

Many young athletes today do not know how to compete. In the world of private lessons and instructions, many young athletes have good mechanics but they cannot cope with failure. A lot of this can be put on mechanics only instruction, and not focusing on an approach to things and understanding the mental game. And to understand that just because they failed, it won't destroy them. In fact as coaches, we want our players to be their own best coach. The only way they become that is by failure. Failure is the best teacher that we as humans can have. Many times we give our best effort and our best effort just isn't enough. For the all time greats, they understand that they must improve and that they will get better because they will find a way to out work and to improve from their competition.

Our athletes cannot fall into the trap of frustration in a game that is frustrating. They must think that this game is a game of opportunity, rather than failure. By doing this we must understand when to push the gas and when to pump the brakes. This phrase simply means, we must understand when to push our athletes harder to improve, and when to make things easier on them with practice. This is a hard task, but just like our athletes we must use trial and error to understand what works and what doesn't. And we must ask them about their decisions, because they are the ones competing every day, and the dugout doesn't give us the best position to understand what they saw.

Understanding the Needs of the Team and the Individual

This is a supreme balancing act with practice. Most times we will take the side of the team and focus on what the team needs most. If your issue isn't the issue that the team is having, then there are two ways to work on this. Early practice and staying after practice. Either way, you are covering all of your bases as an athlete and improving holistically. Communication is key through this process. Communication is what we as humans need. It is the only way to understand. Through communication we make sure what we need to do and understand how to get there.

In conclusion, re-thinking practice is a daunting task, but is necessary to get better. Instruction mixed with competition can provide improvement much quicker than not making things uncomfortable on the athlete. How can we expect our athletes to compete, when they do not practice how to compete? We must give each day our best shot and we must always be looking on improving not only ourselves, but our individuals, and our team.