Youth-Athlete-Softball

Softball Strength Training

SportNut — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:18:39 -0700

Fastpitch players have different training requirements based on the position they play or player type. Fastpitch athletes execute short explosive movements followed by time at rest, but each position has different amounts of rest time. Softball pitchers and catchers operate at a different frequency than either infielders or outfielders. This rest interval difference needs to be taken into consideration during their strength and conditioning program. Many athletes now have specifically tailored fitness programs. Taking this into consideration, let us look at how a fitness program can be developed for three different groups.

The Power Hitters:
The power hitters are players whose greatest asset is their ability to generate bat speed through the strike zone. These players can hit home runs and for a high average. Power players defensively typically play the catcher or corner infielder positions. For this group, the fitness program emphasizes the lower body and trunk development as well as including strenuous upper body exercises. Conditioning sessions put added emphasis on incorporating medicine ball plyometrics for trunk torque and power development and improving speed-endurance for under 40 yard conditioning.

The Speed Players:
The speed player's role is defined by their ability to quickly accelerate and maintain a high terminal running velocity. Offensively this group includes your slappers, single hitters and base stealers. These players typically are middle infielders and outfielders. Even though speed player's training emphasizes speed and agility, they can also be some of the strongest players on the team. Speed player's typical strengthening routine concentrates on full body exercises like lunges and squats, with less of an emphasis on upper body strength. Agility can be enhanced through cone drills, ladder drills, and short shuttles. Finally, the speed endurance targets acceleration and running distances of less than 40 yards through form running and resistance sprints.

The Pitchers:
The pitcher is the most influential player that effects the game's outcome. They need to be explosive on every pitch, withstand long innings, and pitch multiple games per week. Their lower body and core must be exceptionally strong and powerful while maintaining wide range of motion and flexibility. Like speed players, pitchers strength training focuses are full body workouts with a slightly greater emphasis on lower body strength. Pitchers also need to do extra grip strengthening work and as hip flexors and adductors to improve lower body mobility.

Final Training Considerations:
Off-season and in-season strength and conditioning training sessions have dramatically different emphasis. In the off-season, a strong emphasis is placed on muscle building and injury prevention. Conversely, in-season training is for injury prevention and maintenance.

The majority of each groups training is essentially the same, the amount of sets and repetitions differ depending of the areas of emphasis. All groups include full body strength training, injury prevention exercises, and strength endurance training. Over the course of a week, the athletes have covered all the strength and conditioning development areas, but with varying amounts of time based on their emphasis.

If you want to get a strength and conditioning workout personalized to your specific position and needs, Marc Dagenais at Softball Performance has opened a Softball Performance Winners' Club that is dedicated to training youth softball athletes that want to excel. Marc has been coaching women's competitive fastpitch softball for 20 years at all levels of the game including the college and the international levels in addition to be a certified strength and conditioning specialist. He's also well versed in the areas of sports psychology, sports nutrition and injury management. But what I find most impressive is that he offers a service to custom design a strength and conditioning program to meet your specific wants and needs.

Photo Credit: Teeny!

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Technorati Tags: strength training, fitness training, sport strength training, weight training

Softball Strength and Conditioning

SportNut — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:57:34 -0700

Nearly all softball related injuries are caused by collisions, improper sliding techniques and lack of conditioning. Unfortunately, due do practice time constraints, many fastpitch coaches do not incorporate strength and conditioning drills into their routine leaving conditioning and fitness drills as the responsibility of the player. But for the player who wants to be successful on the field, a off-season and in-season conditioning program can produce results within a few weeks.

The female softball player needs a program that is geared towards athletes and not bodybuilding. A peak performance athlete needs a workout that is tailored to their sport and requirements that will emphasis the muscle groups and exercises that most benefit them.

A successful fitness conditioning routine should incorporate aerobic activity and strength training. An aerobic workout increases the heart rate and blood circulation for an extended period of time that improves the body's efficiency to consume oxygen, conditions the heart, and tones the muscles throughout the body. Strength training leads to greater speed and power for short duration performance in high intensity activities such as swinging a bat, chasing down fly balls, or running the bases.

Just as important as aerobic and strength training is the rest time between workouts in order to enable the muscles to repair and grow. With careful planning, an athlete can do strength training 2 to 3 times per week intermixed with cardio and agility training to give their muscle groups 48 hours of rest while continuing to increase their overall athletic performance.

Marc Dagenais at Softball Performance has created a new web site that is dedicated to training youth softball athletes that want to excel. Marc has been coaching women's competitive fastpitch softball for 20 years at all levels of the game including the college and the international levels in addition to be a certified strength and conditioning specialist. He's also well versed in the areas of sports psychology, sports nutrition and injury management. But what I find most impressive is that he offers a service to custom design a strength and conditioning program to meet your specific wants and needs.

As a travel softball coach, I have used several of Marc's products over the years, including his dynamic warm-up and 21 day express workouts. I have found his products to be well written and, with a little thought, easily incorporated into softball practices.

To learn more about this athletic training program, click here.

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Technorati Tags: softball conditioning, softball catcher, conditioning drills, softball pitcher

How to Appeal a Play

SportNut — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:24:00 -0700

Have you ever been in the situation where the other team made a gaffe and you needed to appeal the play? How do you make the appeal? You have seen it done many times before by other coaches, but you have never done it. What are the baseball rules or softball rules for asking an umpire to review to the previous play? Here is how it is done.

Two Types of Appeal Plays
There are two categories of appeal plays: live ball appeals and dead ball appeals.

Live ball appeal play: A live ball appeal occurs during a live ball situation (ie., normal play on the field can still continue such that base runners can advance to the next base at their own risk). Examples of live ball appeals are when a defensive player who has possession of the ball either touches the base missed by the runner or tags the runner who committed the violation if that runner is still on the playing field.
Dead ball appeal play: A dead ball appeal occurs when play on the field is stopped (ie., umpire calls time out and the runners are free to leave their base, but must return to the original base before the ball is put back into play). Examples of dead ball situations are when the umpire calls time, the batter is hit by a pitch, a ball is illegally batted, the ball travels out of the field of play, a foul ball is not caught, a fair ball is lodged under a fence, or the ball is illegally touched by a runner (runner interference) or a spectator.

Although the list for dead ball situations is longer than live ball appeal opportunities, a coach making an appeal needs to be aware of whether the ball is dead or alive.

To make it more confusing, the rules governing the situations where dead ball appeals are applied vary from league to league based on age and level of play. In many youth and school leagues, a coach who wants to make a live ball appeal is allowed to call time out and make the appeal (dead ball). This allows coaches to turn any live ball appeal into a dead ball appeal.

Whereas in the tournament, college and professional leagues, live ball appeals can only happen during live play situations. If a coach tries to turn a live ball appeal into a dead ball appeal, the umpire will instruct the pitcher to put the ball back into play by stepping on the pitching rubber and then making the appeal.

How to Make a Dead Ball Appeal
Once the umpire had called time after the completion of play, a coach or any player may make a verbal appeal. If the ball goes out of play and is declared dead, a dead ball appeal can be made AFTER the runners have been given the opportunity to complete their base running responsibilities. An umpire must declare the ball dead before a dead ball appeal can be made. If a player or coach attempts to make a dead ball appeal during a live ball situation, that appeal will simply be ignored (notice the word "ignored"). The umpire will not acknowledge an "improper" dead ball appeal. The player or coach can still call "time" and make the appeal again prior to the next legal pitch.

Dead Ball Appeal Play Example Based on the NFHS Rule Book
This play involves two runners that does and does not require an appeal for both to be declared "out". Runner 1 (R1) is on third base, runner 2 (R2) is on second base, and there is one out. The batter (B1) hits a double into the outfield. R1 misses touching home base and turns around to wait for R2 to score. R2 touches home plate and is congratulated by R1 before heading to the team's dugout (R1 has still not touched home plate).

In this situation, R2 is immediately declared "out" by the home plate umpire and an opportunity is created for the defensive team to make a dead ball appeal. Since R1 is still a runner until he touches home base, R2 is ruled out for passing R1 without the need for an appeal. R1 will also be declared out if a proper appeal is made by the defensive team prior to the next pitch. If no appeal is made, R1 is not out and the run is allowed. If the opposing team tags R1 before the ball becomes dead, they will be out. If R1 made no obvious effort to go back and touch home plate prior to the defensive team asking for time to make a dead ball appeal, time will be granted and the appeal will be successful (R1 declared out).

How to Make a Live Ball Appeal
To properly execute a live ball appeal, either the offensive or defensive team may communicate to the umpire what they believe is an infraction of the rules. Such communication may be non-verbal, implicit, or assumed as long as the intent of the fielder is clear to the umpire. The most important point to remember about a live ball appeal occurs when play is "live". That is, base runners may attempt to advance at their own risk, and the defense may attempt to put the batter or base runners out. If the defensive team makes a play on the advancing runner, this constitutes a new play and any appeal on the previous play (before throwing to make a play on the advancing runner) is not allowed.

A live ball appeal can occur immediately after a dead ball, but before the defensive team makes the next pitch, play, or attempted play. An appeal itself does not count as an attempted play for the purposes of subsequent appeals. For example, R1 is on third base, R2 is on first base, and the batter hits a fly ball into the outfield that is caught. R1 fails to tag up properly from third before crossing home plate. In order to get R1 out, the outfield throws the ball to home. On the throw home, R2 properly tags at first base and runs to second base as the catcher throws the ball to second. R2 slides into second safe and request time to dust themselves off.

The defensive team can still appeal R1 leaving third base too early, but they must put the ball in play before they can make a live ball appeal. The pitcher must have the ball, be in contact with the pitching plate, and the umpire say "play ball." The pitcher can then step off the pitching plate, throw over to third base, and request the appeal.

Live Ball Appeal Play Example That Happened in the MLB
A famous live ball appeal occurred in 1998 during Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians. The Indians had a runner on first base and no outs when the batter laid down a bunt that was fielded in fair territory by the Yankee first baseman. The throw to first base hit the batter runner in the back and caromed 20 feet away. Instead of chasing the ball down, the Yankee first baseman argued with the umpire claiming runner interference. During the debate, the Indian's runner that started on first rounded all the bases and reach home plate to score the go-ahead run.

Depending on the umpire's initial call, this situation could be either a dead ball appeal by the offensive team or a live ball appeal by the defensive team. Since the umpire did NOT call runner interference, the ball remained live and the Yankees executed a live ball appeal that allowed the runner to score from first. (They should have chased the ball down and thrown it to the pitcher so that the Indian runner was forced to stop before appealing the play.) On the other hand, if the umpire had called runner interference, the ball would be "dead" and the Indians could have executed a dead ball appeal by requesting the umpire to confer with the rest of the umpire crew to determine if the base runner was within the base path when the ball struck them.

Some Leagues Make Appeals Easier
In many youth and school leagues, all appeals can occur as dead ball appeals. This helps a coach by allowing them to call time out before requesting any type of appeal. In order to determine if your league rule book allows for any appeal to be a dead ball appeal, you need to check the "appeals" section within the "runner is out" chapter of the rule book under the description that describes the "runner missing a base". What you are looking for is an appeal rules (USSSA) a phrase like "any live ball appeal can occur after the coach or player calls time out" (NFHS) or "live ball appeal" (ASA).

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Technorati Tags: appeal play, live ball appeal, dead ball appeal, baseball rules, softball rules

How to Tag Up on a Fly Ball

SportNut — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:44:00 -0700

I was recently involved in a game at a college showcase where it was late in the game with the go-ahead run on third base. The batter hit a fly ball to center field. The runner at third left before the fielder caught the ball and was called out on a base appeal play. The need to tag on a fly ball happens infrequently enough that most coaches do not routinely practice this situation and, therefore, many times players do not execute it correctly. Let me briefly describe when to consider tagging up on a fly ball, how to tag up on a fly ball, and then give a five minute tag on fly ball practice drill that you can regularly incorporate into your practice.

Situations when a runner should consider tagging up on a fly ball
With a runner on base and the batter hits a fly ball into the outfield, the runner needs to decide: do I go half way to the next base in case the outfielder drops the ball or do I tag up so that I can attempt to reach the next base on a caught ball. Here are the tag up guidelines:

Go back to the base to tag up when:
- Runner on second and ball hit to right, right center field, or very deep center field
- Runner on third and ball hit into the outfield
Go half way to the next base when:
- Runner on first always goes half way
- Runner on second and ball hit to left, left center field, or shallow center field

How to tag up on a fly ball
When a runner is in a tag up situation, they should quickly return to the base, turn their bodies so that their hips and chest are facing the next base, and then turn their heads over their shoulder so that their eyes can watch the ball. When the first defensive player touches the ball, then the runner can turn their head and run directly to the next base.

Common running errors

Runner does not return to the base on a fly ball: This is a common mistake with very young players but rarely happens with older players.
Runner does not have their hips and chest pointing to the next base: Many times the runner, once they return to the at pitch base, will turn their whole body toward the outfield as they try to find the fly ball. By completely turning their body, once the defensive player touches the ball, the runner must first pivot toward the next base and then start their running acceleration. The initial pivot adds time before they reach the new base. By pointing their chest and hips toward the next base and only turning their head, they lower the time required to reach the next base. Does a sprinter start sideways? A tagging base runner is acting like a sprinter whose finish line to the next base and should only turn their head so their eyes can see the defensive player touch the ball, not turn their whole bodies.
Runner leaves early or late: The rulebook states that "a catch is legal if the ball is finally held by any fielder, even though juggled, or held by another fielder before it touches the ground. Runners may leave their base the instant the first fielder touches the ball." Since the rule is written this way, the runner is looking (not anticipating) for the ball to touch any part of any defensive player or their glove. When they see the ball touch the defensive player, they turn their head and sprint to the next base.

Practice drill
In our practices, we regularly spend a few minutes working on base running. We line up the players at first base with a coach of the pitching rubber. The base runner takes the appropriate position, the coach pitches the ball, and the runner steals second base. With the runner at second, the coach makes the next pitch and they steal third base. With the runner at third, the coach pitches the ball in the dirt (wild pitch scenario) and the runner runs home. After the runner gets home, they go to the back of the player line at first base.

Second time through the base running drill, we change the drill a little to practice tagging up on a fly ball from second and third base. We put two coaches in right field and two coaches in left field. The runner at first base leaves on the pitch to home (just like before) to steal second base. Once on second base, the runner watches one coach in right field throw a fly ball to the other coach in right field and waits for the fielding coach to touch the ball. When the fielding coach touches the ball, they sprint to third simulating the second base tag up scenario. When at third, they watch the coaches in left field throw and touch the ball (third base tag up scenario).

To reinforce leaving when the defensive player touches the ball, many times the coach on the pitching rubber will ask the runner that just came home whether the left fielder caught the ball. The correct answer is: "I don't know." If the player knows the answer, they waited too long to see the catch.

Keeping the drill moving
In order to maximize the player's practice time, at the beginning of the season, we will have a player on each base simultaneously working on the skills. This gives us 3 players on the field practicing base running instead of one. Since our team has a couple of coaches, each coach can watch a base to make sure the player's timing is appropriate.

Toward the middle of the season, we add two extra bases at each location. One at regulation distance, one five feet behind, and then the other five feet beyond the second one. In this situation, we can have nine players practicing their base running simultaneously. In this case, coaches are looking for one player being out-of-sync with the other two players.

By modifying your base running to include tagging up on a fly ball practice will only take a few extra minutes and will enhance the fundamental base running skills of your players that just might get the extra run we need to win the close game.

Photo credit: sillydog

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Technorati Tags: tagging up practice, base running

Softball College Recruiting

SportNut — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:06:49 -0700

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.

Are You Paying Attention to the Little Things?
I talked about the reality of college softball, the recruitment process, the academic requirements, what coaches are looking for, and so on. I also spent time explaining to the young athletes that were present that besides refining their softball skills and having the best marks possible in school, they have to pay attention to the little things.

A parent's role in college recruiting...
Finding colleges, let alone ones where you can play a sport, is a daunting challenge for high school students. The sheer number of colleges is enough to make most 17 year olds a little jittery. To be successful in recruiting, the athlete has to drive the recruiting process forward. But there are lots of moments in the process when a parent's guidance and assistance are invaluable.

Tips for Maximizing Your College Recruiting Visit to Campus
One of the best recruiting things you’ll ever do is visit college campuses. Visits show you what colleges are really like. They take you way beyond glossy websites and brochures and show you all the bumps, scrapes, and hidden delights colleges have to offer.

Building Relationships is the Key to College Athletic Recruiting Success
College recruiting is not an event; it is often a lengthy process. And finding the perfect college match is hard work and often involves developing relationships with 50+ coaches. But most important, becoming proactive leads to college recruiting success. Sitting back and waiting for the perfect offer is a recipe for disaster. Get exposure, get it early, and make yourself stand out from the rest.

What can you do, as a high school coach, to help your athletes?
As coaches and mentors of young men and women you will be looked to for guidance with what some consider the most important decision of a young person’s life. Guiding a high school student athlete through the recruiting process and ultimately helping them find the perfect fit for their college experience can be a difficult process. With the recruiting process changing on a yearly basis it’s understandable that some coaches feel unsure as to when their athletes should get started with their search for a college. It’s important that your student athletes and families understand that not all doors remain open forever, rosters are filled, scholarships are given out, and opportunities can be missed, regardless of the talent level their son or daughter possess.

Looking for High School Ball Players!
I believe the more college programs know about you and the things you can do as a player, the more it will help you in the overall college recruiting process. Our goal is to help high school players gain exposure to a huge number of college programs. I believe this can be done by writing a detailed athletic profile on student athletes. <Woods Recruiting is currently offering a free college recruiting service. This is not a recommendation, since I haven't used it, but information about a potential option to pursue.>

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Technorati Tags: college recruiting, college softball

Developing the Art of Bunting

SportNut — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:54:45 -0700

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.

Types of Bunts:
There are two types of bunts. One is when the player sacrifice bunts to move a teammate into scoring position by sacrificing their chance to get on base to make sure that they put the ball in play so a teammate can move one base closer to scoring. The other time player’s bunt is to bunt for a hit. Bunting for a hit is more difficult and requires the element of surprise and a batter with very good running speed.

Sacrifice Bunting Technique:
When sacrifice bunting the batter holds the bat in the hitting zone and “catches” the ball with the bat to deaden the ball so that the opposing fielders have farther to run and can only make the play at first base.

The keys to successful bunting are:

Move into the front of the batter’s box to give yourself the best angles to bunt the ball fair.
From your normal bating stance, pivot your body toward the pitcher so that your chest faces the pitcher. Slightly shift your weight forward to enable your front leg to easily lower your body to get a low pitch.
Slide your top hand up the barrel of the bat while moving your bat across the plate and to the top of the hitting zone with the barrel of the bat slightly higher than the handle and the bat is in front of the plate. This makes it is easier for the bat to hit the ball into the ground. (In order to increase the bunter’s bat control, I have my players move their bottom hand up from the knob about 3 or 4 inches). By holding that bat at the top of the strike zone, the bunter will only move the bat downward and drive the ball into the ground. If the pitch is above the bat then it is a ball and the bunter should pull the bat back toward their body to take the pitch.
Bend your knees to adjust to the height of the pitch. Don't just move the bat head to meet the ball. The barrel of the bat should always be kept higher than the grip even when bunting a pitch lower in the strike zone. If the pitch is low, bend your knees so your whole body goes down to get the bunt.
Have the bat make contact with the ball in front of you and the plate. Like moving forward in the batter’s box, contacting the ball in front of your body also gives you more of the playing field to bunt the ball. Your bottom hand steers the bunt by moving the bat handle to direct the bat angle.
Watch the ball make contact with the bat in front of you and the plate. As the ball hits the bat, give with the ball just like when you catch the ball in your glove. You should experience the sensation of "catching" the ball with your bat and guiding it to its destination.

Want to Develop Good Bunters?
In a typical batting practice, every player gets two pitches to bunt and ten pitches to swing. It doesn't matter if they successfully bunt the ball twice or not. On the third pitch the batter is swinging away.

In order to develop good bunters, a coach must make bunting an important part of batting practice. Keep the 12 pitches, but require the player to successfully bunt a ball toward first and another toward third before they can start swinging. If they foul the ball off, miss the ball, pop it up, or bunt to the wrong location then make them do it again. After they have successfully completed the two bunts then let them swing away until they have gotten their twelve pitches.

The first couple of times you put this rule into your batting practice, you might have players get their twelve pitches before completing two successful bunts. But if your consistent and have an assistant coach pull aside kids who need a little extra work, it won't be long before your players understand the importance on executing a successful bunt and have developed good bunting form and skills.

Photo Credit: Paul-W

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Technorati Tags: baseball bunting, how to bunt

Coach's Guide To Managing the Coach-Parent Relationship

SportNut — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:39:36 -0700

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.

Common Reasons For Coach-Parent Conflict
There are a multitude of reasons why a parent has a disagreement with a coach, but the most common are: playtime, skill development, coaching style, and competitive level of play. By far, playtime is the number one complaint as every parent wants to see their child play as much as possible. The second most common complaint is coaching style. Some coaches are intensely competitive while others are easy going and laid back. No matter how you manage the playtime and develop your coaching style, there will be at least one parent on your team that has an issue. It is inevitable.

The good first step to minimize these conflicts is to invest in yourself as a coach and develop the seven steps to successful coaching and learn how to coach self-confidence into your players. More than anything else, parents want the child to play their best with a lot of confidence in who they are and their ability. This is not saying that a parent needs to have their child be the best player on the team, just that they want the son or daughter to be playing at their best possible level.

Step 1: Establish the Team's Ground Rules
Set the player and parent expectations up front before the first practice, if possible, and definitely before the first game. Tell both the players and parents how playtime will be determined and how much emphasis will be placed on winning games. Let them know what is the expected player behavior and attitude in practice, on the bus to and from the game, and what pre and post game dress attire is required. Describe your goals for the team, your coaching style, and how your style will help the team attain the goals.

I cannot over emphasize this point: set expectation early and often. At the start of a season, parents and players have pre-conceived expectations. If you, as the coach, do not articulate what the expectations should be, the parents will use their uninformed expectations as the standard by which you are measure. These expectations are not aligned with yours, guaranteed.

Even when you set player and parent expectations up front, there inevitably will be times when conflict arises and it is important to have a conflict resolution policy in place.

Step 2: Establish the Ground Rules for Conflict Resolution
The open door policy and player managed are most common conflict resolution methods. The open door policy is where a coach makes themselves available for discussion with the player and parent. If you choose to implement this policy, tell the parents how and when they should approach you. I would recommend that you exclude the time immediately before and after a game as your mind, focus, and attitude will not be able to objectively deal with the disagreement and concern at hand. Another good policy is to have the parent request a time that you will be available. You probably already know what the concern will be but making the parent request a time in the future will give you an opportunity to gather your thoughts and, possible, seek input from the other coaches. The open door policy can be a effective method to keep the negative parent talk and discourse to a minimum by addressing any issues and concerns that arise in a timely fashion.

At the other end of conflict resolution is the player managed policy. This policy is favored by middle and high school and competitive tournament coaches where they state that parents should not talk to the coach about an issue, it is the player's responsibility to voice their grievance. Coaches use this method to keep the minor issues underground.

A third alternative is to use a combination of the policies above. For this method, the coach requests that the player approach them first to voice their concern before a parent approaches them. Coaches that successfully use this policy not only listen to the player's concern to understand the underlying issue, but also use the discussion with the player to determine what is the best communication method to reach the player. For example, is the player motivated by the coach getting in their face or by the coach explaining what they want and then showing them. Finally, when a parent approaches them after the player discussion, the coach must realize that the family considers this a major issue that needs to be resolved.

Step 3: Managing the Grievance Discussion
Managing the grievance discussion is very important. It is important to have the player involved, listening, and providing examples so that the true facts can be brought to the table instead of misrepresentations and innuendos. During this discussion, it is important for you to listen and understand the "real" issue, which may not be spoken. Be sure to share your side of the story with supporting date and, if required, agree to a corrective action plan by you, the player, or the parent.

Summary
Every coach, no matter how effective their communication style and desire to coach a team in a positive manner, will have player and parent conflicts. It just happens and it will probably happen every season you coach. If you are prepared for it, the whole process will go much smoother and any disagreements can be worked through in an effective manner. To keep any misunderstandings down to a minimum, set the expectations early in the season, let both the player and parent know how and when they can approach you to voice their concern, and then listen to them and agree to a resolution path. In the long run, calm heads and open communication will lead to a successful season for all involved.

Photo Credit: Paul-W

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Technorati Tags: coach parent relationship, parent conflict, conflict resolution, coaching development

10 Benefits and Tips to Using a Pitching Machine for Batting Practice

SportNut — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:14:53 -0700

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.

Develop Hitting Mechanics
To develop skilled batters, a coach needs to use the proper tool from his toolbox to develop his player's skill. Developing the proper fundamental hitting mechanics is best done with a tee drills or soft toss drills with a high number of swing repetitions regularly during practice to develop batter muscle memory. Once the hitting mechanics are solid then a coach can introduce the mental selective hitting approach and fine tuning with a pitching machine.

10 Benefits and Tips to Using a Pitching Machine

Develop hitting mechanics at game speed: Facing game speed pitching, many batters with good soft toss hitting mechanics will revert back to poor mechanics. This is particularly true when a fixing a flaw in their swing or a large increase in pitching velocity. At game speed, the batter does not have time to think through their swing mechanics. It is all reliant on muscle memory and confidence. By providing your players a chance to practice batting at game speed, they can develop game speed hitting mechanics and confidence.
Developing the batter's timing: Pitching machines are very useful in developing a batter's timing. Pitching machines can be set to consistently throw pitches around a specific velocity. If you expect the pitcher in the next game to throw 50mph then set the pitching machine to throw at 50mph +/- 5 mph. From my coaching experience, I have found that setting the machine at 10 to 20% above the expected pitching velocity to work the best. When players are batting in a game situation, especially their first at-bat, they are typically a little tense which slows down their reaction time. Adjusting the machine's pitching velocity in practice can compensate for the slight uneasiness batter have during their first plate appearance.
Practice hitting mechanics based on pitch location: Good pitchers will hit their locations, particularly the low outside and/or inside corners. Set the pitching machine to throw to the low outside corner for 20 pitches. After a couple of days of hitting pitches thrown low and outside, the batters will get pretty good hitting that pitch to the opposite field.
Practice hitting mechanics based on type of pitch: As pitchers mature from about 12 years through 18 years, they start to develop more than just a fastball and change-up and are able to throw them consistently for strikes in specific locations. Batters in this age need to learn how to hit the more advanced pitches. If you have a two-wheel pitching machine then have the pitching machine throw 20 pitches of a specific type of pitch. The next day, pick another type of pitch and work on that.
Practice focusing on the release point: The release point is where the location that the pitcher lets go of the ball. When a batter steps into the box they should be generally looking at the chest of the pitcher. As the pitcher's arm goes behind their back, the batter's eyes should move to intently focus on the location where the pitcher will release the ball. Pitching machines naturally train batters to do this because batter focuses on when the ball is leaving the machine. To simulate right handed pitchers, set the pitching machine on the right side of the rubber. For left handed pitchers, set the machine on the left side of the rubber.
Target reaction time, not pitching distance: The reaction time is the time from when the pitching machine releases the ball till when it crosses the plate. If the pitching machine cannot throw fast enough or a windy day is making the pitches inconsistent, move the pitching machine closer to the batter and adjust the speed. Batter timing is based on the reaction time from the pitcher's release till the ball crosses the plate. To calculate the desired pitch speed from the actual pitching machine speed, you can use this formula:
desired speed = machine speed + machine speed * (mound distance - machine distance) / machine distance
React to the ball instead of the pitcher's motion: A good pitcher will hide the ball for most of the wind up and/or have a deceptive motion to throw the batter's timing off. With the batter watching the the pitching machine release point, you are training the hitters to block out the pitcher's motion, focus on the release point, and react to the pitched ball.
More quality pitches per minute: A good coach can pitch about 50% strikes from distance at game speed for a handful of batters or about 80% strikes at a slower speed from a shorter distance to a dozen batters. A pitching machine should throw over 95% strikes at game speed to all batters. The more strikes thrown during batting practice, the more swings a batter can get in a shorter period of time. If the machine is not throwing 95% strikes then you might need to replace the wheels or move the machine closer to the plate.
Make the pitch change location: Well used dimple pitching machine balls grip the pitching machine's wheel differently than brand new dimple balls that can change the pitch location by as much as six inches to one foot. Mixing balls makes the pitch location less predictable that requires batters to adjust to the pitch location and timing.
Supplement with live batting practice: A great way to keep your pitcher's fresh during a long break between games or just to change up practice a little is to have your pitchers throw live batting practice. It keeps both the pitchers and batters fresh. A coach just needs to plan to use multiple pitchers and allocate more time for batting practice because the number of good and bad pitches thrown.

Pitching machines are very good at throwing a fastball down the middle, but they can also be use to practice hitting specific types of pitches or pitch location. They teach the batters to react to the ball and focus on the release point plus a whole lot more.

Tryout some of these tips in your next practice and leave me a comment. Alternatively, if you believe I missed a way to use a pitching machine to improve batting practice, drop me a note below.

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Technorati Tags: pitching machine, batting practice, hitting mechanics

Building Your Core for Increased Bat Speed

SportNut — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:17:00 -0700

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?

Traditional Core Training
If you Google core training or core exercises, you will find lots of information pertaining to "Six Pac Abs" and developing a "ripped abdominal." The problem is that washboard stomach muscles will not increase your bat speed. These programs develop muscle bulk, not rotational power. Their exercises and training work on building the slow twitch muscle endurance through maximum weight lifting. A baseball swing is a short duration forceful muscle contraction that utilizes the fast twitch muscle groups. Getting ripped is great for the beach, but it is not going to help increase your bat velocity through the strike zone.

Sport Specific Core Training
To develop an explosive powerful swing, an athlete needs to train using quick and powerful rotational exercises. In the post, Increasing Your Bat Speed, I provided one example of overload and underload sport specific resistance training.

Another example is the rotational medicine ball throw. To do this, you will need a 3kg to 5kg[1] medicine ball and a concrete wall. An athlete should line up with their shoulder line pointing to the wall, just like a batter facing a pitcher. Start as a right handed batter with the medicine ball on their right hip about 5 to 7 feet from the wall. The athlete quickly and powerfully rotates their core and throws the medicine ball against the wall and catches the ball when it returns. Reloads and quickly rotates and throws the ball again. They should do the rotate, throw, and catch 10 times. Take a short one minute break. Turn around to be a left handed batter, placing the ball on their left hip, rotate and throw 10 times. Take a short one minute break. Turn to be a right handed batter for 10 throws. Take another short one minute break and become a left handed batter for 10 throws.

It is important to do this exercise from both the right and left side to keep your muscle development in balance. When one side of your body is developed more than the other, it can lead to injuries and loss of your range of motion.

Additional Recommended Resources
Below are two very good resources and free newsletters that I have found and subscribe to for player development, additional training exercises, and sport specific drills.

	Baseball	Softball

Trainer	Dan Huff Dan is a NSCA certified strength and conditioning specialist, the author of three baseball specific strength and conditioning manuals, and is currently the strength and conditioning coach for NCAA Division 1 athletic department.	Marc Dagenais Marc is a certified coach, has coached at the university level, and worked with the Canadian Women's Softball National Team. He currently an elite amateur softball coach and provides training to amateur and professional athletes.
Free Newsletter	Dan's free newsletter provides easy to implement, sometimes challenging to do, baseball specific exercises.	Marc's free newsletter provides core training exercises and softball drills and tip.
Website	Baseball Strength	Softball Performance

Summary
Developing your core strength increases your bat speed by developing explosive rotational power and increases the efficiency of the transfer of force from the initial forward movement in your legs, through the abdominal section, and into the hands. The medicine ball drill, done three to four times per week for a couple of weeks, will provide noticeably more "pop" in your swing within a month.

Try this drill out for a couple of weeks and leave a comment below letting me know how your new found bat speed in working for you in your game.

Photo Credit: Roger Smith

[1] The proper medicine ball weight needs to be evaluated based on the athlete's current age and core strength. A key requirement is that the athlete is able to quickly and explosively rotate while maintaining proper rotation mechanics when throwing the medicine ball against the ball. As a general guideline, athlete's under the age of 14 years should use a 3kg to 4kg ball, athlete between 14 to 18 years use a 4kg to 5kg ball, and college athlete's can use 5kg and above. If in doubt about which weight to use, choose the lighter weight to enable the explosive rotation. Too heavy of a weight will slow the rotation down and develop slower core muscle memory.

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Technorati Tags: bat speed, hitting mechanics, core training, baseball, softball

Baseball and Softball Bat Performance

SportNut — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:47:52 -0800

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.

NCAA and NFHS Bat Performance Measurements
In 1999, the NCAA developed a bat performance regulation based on the BESR of the reference 34" long wood bat with an assumed pitched ball speed of 70 mph and a bat swing speed of 66 mph. It was quickly realized that BESR, which measures bat-bat collision efficiency, also needed the accompany bat swing speed measurement, called the moment-of-inertia (or MOI), to estimate the ball speed coming off a bat. The targeted maximum batted-ball speed using the reference bat is 97 mph. Please note that this is not the maximum batted-ball speed possible, but a target, since both wood and aluminum bats can produce higher speeds if the pitcher is throwing faster or the swing is faster than the reference measurement. This target is set as a reference point so that wood and aluminum bats will produce the same ball speed under the same conditions within a few mph. A fact that has be validated in several field studies.

In 2000, the NCAA and NFHS decided to establish the maximum collision efficiency (BESR), maximum barrel size, and bat drop[1] (for the same batter, a heavier bat has a slower swing speed) to keep the estimated batted-ball speed of an aluminum bat around the same speed of the reference wood bat. To be NCAA and NFHS certified, the bat must have a BESR of 0.728 or less, maximum barrel diameter of 2 5/8" and cannot have a drop greater than -3.

In the fall of 2008, the NCAA announced that they will change their bat performance measurement to use BBCOR, which is the ratio of bat-ball speed before and after the collision and measures the elasticity of the bat-ball collision. The date for mandatory BBCOR certification for bats is the 2011 season and there will be no grandfather clause for bats certified under BESR. This change will not affect the current testing methodology but will eliminate the small discrepancy between bat lengths and more directly align the measurement of bat performance with the ball's exit speed. In order to achieve certification, the BBCOR will need to be 0.50 or less with a maximum length-to-weight difference (drop) of -3 and a bat diameter less than 2 5/8 inches.

Note: I have not seen it yet, but I would expect the NFHS to follow this mandate for high school baseball.

ASA Bat Performance Measurements
Also in 2000, the ASA established a bat performance regulation by directly measuring the batted-ball speed (BBS) of a slow pitch metal bat called the "ball-in, ball-out" measurement. The ASA reference measurement is based on a ball being pitched at 10 mph and a bat swing speed of 60 mph hitting the bat at the maximum batted-ball speed performance point, called center-of-percussion (COP). From this, the ASA determined that the maximum ball speed of a hit ball should be 85 mph or lower for the bat to become certified.

In 2004, after a field study conducted at the National Tournament in Montgomery, AL, the ASA adjusted their reference metric to more closely resemble the pitched ball and bat swinging speed of the game. While maintaining their current measurement method, the ball pitched speed was increased to 25 mph and the bat swinging speed was increased to 85 mph. Additionally, the field study showed that the maximum batted-ball speed performance point (formerly labeled COP) actually varied from bat model to bat model and bat maker to bat maker. This required that the bat being certified initially undergo testing to determine the maximum performance location first and then the pitched ball is to be targeted at that location. Based on these updated assumptions, the ASA determine that for a bat to be certified the maximum batted-ball speed should be 98 mph or less. Even though the numerical value of BBS with the 2004 standard is higher than the 2000 standard, it is actually a much stricter standard.

In 2008, the ASA updated their testing procedure to account for the fact that composite bats reach their peak performance after they are broken in by hundreds of bat-ball collisions and the composite fibers and resins loosen up to provide a larger trampoline effect. Starting with the 2009 composite bat models, the ASA will simulate up to 1000 swings before a composite bat will be tested against the ASA 2004 certification tests. Composite bat models certified under the old testing procedure will be grandfathered and can be used until they are no longer safe for use. This testing procedure change will not affect 2009 metal bats since their performance decreases with use.

USSSA and Little League Bat Performance Measurements
During the early 1990s, Little League reached an agreement with bat manufactures to limit the performance on non-wood bats to the expected performance level of the best wood bats at that time. They created a metric called the bat performance factor (BPF) which must be less than 1.15 in order for a bat to be certified for Little League play. The BPF metric is equal to the ratio of the "bounciness" of a baseball off a bat (called bat-ball coefficient of restitution or BBCOR) to a baseball off a hard wall (called bat-wall coefficient of restitution or BWCOR). The BPF metric does not include any assumptions pertaining to bat speed so it is more effective at testing shorter youth bats since the effective bat speed can vary by bat length and the location of the bats center of mass (ie., end loaded or handle loaded). The USSSA uses the same bat performance metric but allows for a slightly higher BPF = 1.20 or less.

For the 2009 season, Little League has made two changes: 1) all bat must have a BPF label printed on them, and 2) all "big barrel" used in junior league (age 13 years and older) can have a maximum barrel diameter of 2 3/4". Most bat manufactures have been complying with these rules for years so little change is expected.

Summary
Over the past 10 years, the governing bodies of baseball and softball have been regulating the performance of non-wood bats (usually made of aluminum) to perform statistically the same, in terms of how fast the ball exits the bat, as the best wood bats. The organizations have chosen the best wood bats to encourage and allow the use of wood bats within their organization's teams. Although their testing methodology and batted-ball performance metric may differ, they all include some type of measurement of how "springy" a bat-ball collision is based on a preset bat-ball speed collision. Their two-fold object is to maintain the defense and offense balance and the safety of the game players.

Here is a recap of the current testing methodology.

Regulate Batted-Ball Speed Directly: ASA is based on slow-pitch reference point of a pitch traveling at 25 mph and the bat swing speed of 85 mph after determining the maximum performance location on the bat barrel. For a ball to be certified, the BBS must be 98 mph or less. Due to the testing methodology of measuring the "ball-in, ball-out" speed with a stationary bat, the "whip action" from the flexible bat handle bats, the testing of shorter youth style bats, and the higher pitching velocity normal in the fastpitch variant of softball can produce results that are either higher or lower by a few mph.

Regulate Batted-Ball Speed Indirectly: NCAA and NFHS BESR, maximum barrel size of 2 5/8" and drop standard of minus 3 limit the collision efficiency and bat swing speed. They will certify a -3 bat that has a BESR equal to or less than 0.728. For the 2011 season, the BESR certification will no longer be allowed and the new BBCOR certification will be required.

Regulate the Collision Efficiency Indirectly: USSSA softball and Little League regulate the BPF, which is a metric of the efficiency that a bat can make the ball bounce versus a ball bouncing off a wall. Due to the testing methodology of "ball-in, bat-out" with a stationary bat used by Little League, the measured results have greater variability than the "ball-in, ball-out" testing methodology used by ASA. This is due to the low bat elasticity and the ball-bat collision producing up and down vibrations that dissipate energy.

Over the past ten years, organizations have changed their bat performance metric and assumed bat-ball collision speeds to more realistically represent game situations. It can be anticipated that during the next ten years more changes will occur as organization continue to work to maintain the offense-defense balance and the safety of the game.

Photo Credit: Billie / PartsnPieces

Notes:

[1] Bat drop is the difference between the bat length and the bat weight. For example, a bat with a minus 3 drop (-3) could be 33" long and weigh 31 oz.

Resources:

Professor Alan M. Nathan - Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Physics of Baseball

Professor Daniel A. Russell - Department of Applied Physics, Kettering University - Physics and Acoustics of Baseball and Softball Bats

Baseball Research Center - the bat and ball testing facility at University of Massachusetts/Lowell that certifies NCAA baseball bats for the NCAA

Sports Sciences Laboratory - the bat and ball testing facility at Washington State University that certifies softball bats for the Amateur Softball Association (ASA)

ASTM International - organization that standardizes bat performance testing

The Evolution of the Baseball Bat by former MLB pitcher Bernie Mussill

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Technorati Tags: baseball bat, softball bat, bat performance, besr, bbs, bpf, bbcor

Bat Rule Changes for 2009 Season

SportNut — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:09:48 -0800

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:

Little League:

All bats certified for LL must have a label stating BPF = 1.15 or less. This is only a bat labeling change. The testing procedure and certification level remain unchanged. In fact, many bat manufactures have been putting this label on the bat for a few years.
Junior League bats maximum diameter is now 2 5/8" (instead of 2 3/4"). This rule change aligns Jr. League with all the other non-wooden bat rules. Wood bat still are allowed to have 2 3/4" inch diameters.

ASA:

ASA (Amateur Softball Association) changed their testing procedures so that composite bats are broken in to an equivalent of 1000 bat-ball collisions before certification testing. Bats certified under the 2008 and prior certification process can be used until they are considered no longer safe for use. Metal bat certification remains unchanged.

NCAA (and probably NFHS):

NCAA announced that starting in the 2011 season, all bats must have a BBCOR (bat-ball coefficient-of-restitution) = 0.5 or less. No exceptions. This is an interesting change since the current bat speed exit ratio's (BESR) consists of two major influencing components: BBCOR and MOI (moment of inertia). BBCOR measures the "springiness" of the bat and MOI is how fast you can swing the bat and is dependent on the bat weight and the location of the bat's center of mass. This change removes the player's strength assumption from the equation.
NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) has followed the NCAA in the past for bat certification. I have not seen an announcement saying they will change to BBCOR certification, but I think it is a pretty good bet they will. [Update 7/13/09: The NFHS Baseball Rules Committee meeting made two bat specification adjustments during the annual meeting. The two changes are to use the BBCOR certification, like NCAA, and that bats must be labeled with a rectangular certification mark. These rule changes are effective January 1, 2012 (the 2012 high school season).]
Question of the Day:
Does Little League's bat performance factor (BPF) = 1.15 mean that metal or composite bats can have a higher batted-ball speed (i.e., "hotter") than wood bats?

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Technorati Tags: baseball bat, softball bat, bat equipment

Increasing Your Throwing Velocity with Weighted Softballs

SportNut — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:20:07 -0800

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.

Overload and Underload Explosiveness Training
Overload and underload training, also called explosive resistance game training, is to develop maximal strength and then convert those gains into explosive power and increased game speed. This is accomplished through using sport specific movements with the muscles under heavier and/or lighter loads. Previous examples of explosiveness training are provided in Increasing Your Bat Speed and Throwing Weighted Baseball to Increase Throwing Velocity.

Whether it is weight training or strength and conditioning, a player's strength and endurance cannot be increased unless the muscles are stressed beyond their normal workload. A player can increase the workload by increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of the exercise program.

Specifically for softball, the heavy ball and light ball develop throwing velocity in two different ways. The overweight ball develops arm strength while the underweight ball develops arm speed. To effectively and safely increase throwing velocity, intensity is increase by using +/- 20% regulation ball weight, duration is increased gradually by increasing the number of throws and the distance, and the frequency is increased by the number of days of throwing workouts.

Is Using Underweight and Overweight Softballs Safe
In the last few years, several baseball studies have concluded that not only is throwing underweight and overweight balls safe, but that when used correctly they do actually increase a players throwing velocity. One example study published in the April 2000 issue of American Journal of Sports Medicine[1] had this to say:

The purpose of this review is to determine how throwing overweight and underweight baseballs affects baseball throwing velocity and accuracy. Two studies examined how a warm-up with overweight baseballs affected throwing velocity and accuracy of 5oz regulation baseballs. ... Data from these training studies strongly support the practice of training with overweight and underweight baseballs to increase throwing velocity of regulation baseballs. Since no injuries were reported throughout the training studies, throwing overweight and underweight baseballs may not be more stressful to the throwing arm compared to throwing regulation baseballs.

This study and others below lead me to develop a warm-up routine that used both underweight and overweight softballs as part of the team's regular warm-up. The recommended ideal weight for explosiveness conditioning and performance enhancement is to use underload and overload softballs that are +/- 20% the weight of a regulation softball. Regulation softball weights 6.8 oz. This restricts the weighted softball's from 5 oz to 8 oz, which being conservative when dealing with a player's health is well within most parents and coaches comfort level.

Warm-Up Softball Drill
After the players have initially warmed up their throwing arms at the beginning of practice, they move into the weighted ball drill. The players line up on the third baseline with their partners in the base path between first and second (60 feet apart) and do the following with good throwing mechanics and a crow hop, if necessary.

Ten throws with the heavy softball (8oz) at 75% of maximum effort
Ten throws with the light softball (5oz) at 100% maximum effort
Ten throws with a regulation softball (6.8oz)
Repeat steps 1 to 3 three more times (total of 4 repetitions)
After completing the 4 repetitions, take a quick break or a light jog to give the players a moment to refresh their throwing arm.

After a three practices, instead of increasing the ball weight, the team would increase the number of throws per ball from 10 to 20 to 30. After the team reaches 30 throws, then we would increase the distance the players throw from 60 feet to 75 feet and then to about 90 feet (a little more than the distance from home to second). With each increase in distance, we would restart back at 10 throws per stage. If you practice two or three times per week, the players throwing velocity will be noticeable faster after one month (or about 10 practices). At these distances, players can maintain good throwing mechanics and still receive the velocity benefits.

For off-season training, the intensity of this drill can be increased since the players will not also be throwing during regular infield and outfield practice. For off-season training the number of throws can be increased in increments of 10 up to 50 heavy ball, regulation ball, and light ball throws.

Summary
Underweight and overweight softballs are typically not sold at the standard retail sporting outlets but can be purchased from Amazon (weighted softballs search).

By using underweight and overweight softballs in the manner this post described, the players are able to increase there throwing velocity. Safety is a key concern of any parent and coach. By keeping the variation of the ball weight within +/- 20% of a regulation softball and gradually building up frequency and duration, athletes can be closely monitor for proper throwing form and development.

Photo Credit: StuSeeger

Sources:
[1] Effects of Throwing Overweight and Underweight Baseballs on Throwing Velocity and Accuracy, American Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 29, Number 4, April 2000 , pp. 259-272(14) by Escamilla, Fleisig, Barrentine, Andrews, Speer

[2] Effects of Under- and Overweighted Implement Training on Pitching Velocity, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 8, No. 4, November 1994, pp. 247–250 by DeRenne, Hetzler, Ho

[3] Effects of General, Special, and Specific Resistance Training on Throwing Velocity in Baseball, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 15, No. 1, 2001, pp. 148–156 by DeRenne, Ho, Murphy

[4] Power Baseball by Dr. Coop DeRenne and Dr. Tom House, 1993

[5] The Winning Pitcher by Dr. Tom House, 1988

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Technorati Tags: softball, explosive training, softball drills, preseason training, softball conditioning

Express Shape-Up Workout: Get Game Fit in 21 Days

SportNut — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:57:47 -0800

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.

Editorial Review
Marc's most popular program is the 21-Day Express Shape-Up Workout program. He created this program for athletes that want to quickly get back into shape for tryouts and the spring season. From his coaching experience with both men and women's team, he developed a program that improves you athleticism, throwing distance, running speed, and hitting power.

Marc's program develops the muscles to throw harder, swing the bat faster and harder, explode out of the batter's box or off the base, improves game stamina, and reaction time.

Although the shape-up workout program genre is softball, this program works equally well for baseball players. From a muscle and athletic development, the same exercise and workout routines improve baseball players just as well. In fact, many of the exercises and drills Marc used with his baseball and men's teams.

This brand new, cutting-edge, express workout program was designed with the following things in mind: you don't have much time, you want something super effective, you want results fast, and you want something simple and easy to follow. - Marc Dagenais

Click here to learn more about the 21-Day Express Shape-Up Workout eBook.

About Marc Dagenais
Although Marc was an accomplished baseball player in his youth, in 1989 at age 13 he decided to coach his younger sister's softball team. During his teens, he took all the coaching courses available, became a skilled coach, and experienced tremendous success winning many tournaments and championships in addition to receiving numerous "Coach of the Year" awards. At 19 years old, he also became the youngest softball coach in Canada to receive a full level III coaching certification.

In early 1999, Marc became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and moved to Vancouver, BC, to become an assistant softball coach at Simon Fraser University (SFU). During his three years at SFU (2000-2002), they never finished lower than 3rd at the NAIA National Championship in addition to playing several top D-1 schools like Arizona (facing Jennie Finch), Arizona State, Washington, Nebraska, Oregon and Long Beach.

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Technorati Tags: express workout, express fitness, 30 minute workout

Tryouts Peak Performance Kit

SportNut — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:21:12 -0800

Nervous about your upcoming tryout? Worried about making a good first impression with the coaching staff? How much is it worth to have someone show you how to prepare to make a strong impression at your next softball tryouts by preparing properly and to leave a strong impression on the coaching staff and show them what you're made off to triple your chances of being selected! Former collegiate and Olympic softball coach Marc Dagenais has put together the Tryouts Peak Performance Kit to show you what the coaches are looking for and how to make a good and lasting impression.

Marc has an in-depth knowledge of how tryouts works and what coaches are looking for when selecting athletes. He has personally run, helped run and assisted to numerous tryouts in my life at all levels of the game from 12U all the way to the college and the Olympic levels. I've also interviewed many coaches on how they run tryouts and what they are looking for to help me even better understand the whole thing.

Armed with that knowledge and my desire to help as many softball players as possible deliver strong performance at their tryouts, I've decided to create the Tryouts Peak Performance Kit.

Marc will share with you his keys to mental toughness, techniques to handle pressure and manage your stress quickly and easily, and how to boost your confidence because you will know what to expect and what coaches are looking for.

Marc Dagenais has prepared a free introductory audio message for you at Tryouts Peak Performance Kit.

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Technorati Tags: softball, softball tryouts, fastpitch tryouts, tryout

Mental Game - What is the Visualization Process

SportNut — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:45:19 -0800

I have written several posts on guided imagery and visualization because of the potential impact it can have on your game. In a world where sports performance and success is measured in seconds, athlete's need to be playing at their peak performance level with their maximum self-confidence. Player hesitation or re-thinking through a situation can cost the team a game. Practicing visualization gives an athlete the mental muscle memory for flawless execution with speed and confidence by maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of your training.

In the previous post we first covered why visualization is important, second was how to visualize, and third when to practice and operationalize visualization. In the previous post on operationalizing visualization, I mentioned three distinct times when you can use visualization: 1) during a practice to increase the fidelity of the mental image, 2) in daily quiet moments where an athlete creates additional mental images to improve their performance, and 3) during game situations to bring subconscious mental images into the conscious brain to refocus an athlete during intense game moments. This is the final post in this mini-series and will revisit the second point above (creating new mental images during daily quiet moments) where the 10 step mental rehearsal process can be used to create vivid images.

Visualization is ...
Visualization, sometimes called mental rehearsal or guided imagery, refers to specific techniques used to help individuals mentally rehearse a desired event. It involves using all of the senses to create a vivid high fidelity imagined experience that is just as real as if it actually happened. By using all your senses, you create a very real experience of having the desired outcome in which your mind cannot distinguish between whether it physically happened or was created with the mind. With mental rehearsal, your mind and body become trained to actually perform the imagined skill.

Winning Sports Performance
You've heard about the powerful mental techniques used secretly by world-class athletes, but most people have only vague ideas about how to unleash the power of their mind to achieve high levels of peak performance and success. more...

Scientific research has shown that physical and psychological reactions in certain situations can be improved with visualization. Repeated imagery practice can build both experience and confidence in an athlete's ability to perform skills under pressure in a wide variety of situations. Visualization is effective because the brain patterns during mental rehearsal of an action are the same as those when preparing for the action before the motor skill is selected. The most effective techniques result in a very vivid sport experience in which the athlete has complete control over a successful performance and a belief in oneself.

What is the process
Those who wish to improve their skill can employ a number of simple practice techniques. Here is a 10 step guideline to use during your 15 to 30 minute daily quiet time.

Sit in a quiet and comfortable place that is free from interruptions.
In this quite place, pick an action that you want to experience. For basketball, it could be free throw shooting, 3-point shooting, anticipating a pass and jumping in the passing lane for the steal, ... For baseball or softball, it could be hitting with two strikes, hitting a curve ball, fielding a routing ground ball in the 5 / 6 hole, pitching a perfect low outside fastball, ... The action is whatever you want to practice today.
Close your eyes and relax your body and mind. Take several minutes of long, slow breaths. Breathe slowing in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. As you breathe in, fee the air fill your lungs. As you exhale, see the challenges of the day being blown away from your body.
Create a vivid and convincing image. This image can be one you have previously experienced or one you simply desire to achieve. Use as many of the five senses as possible to feel, see, hear, smell, and taste the event. Start early in the action sequence and carry it all the way through till past the completion and you feel the exhilaration of success.
If you become distracted or find yourself thinking about something else, simply acknowledge it, write it down, and then let it go. The distraction will still be there when your done with your 30 minutes and since you wrote it down, you will not need to worry about trying to remember what it was. It is on the paper next to you.
If you lose the image focus on your breathing. The breathing technique can help bring your body and mind into a relaxed state. Many people describe the breathing process as centering. It centers and focuses the mind on what needs to be accomplished.
Maintain a positive attitude. Every thought is positive. Every action is perfectly executed with proper fundamentals. Every result generates a positive outcome.
Take note of as much detail in the scene as possible. What are you wearing, who is there, what are you hearing, how do you feel? Leverage and engage all five of your senses. You know you have complete mental engagement when your muscles twitch and your nose is capturing the smells.
If your imagery session is not going the way you want it to, simply open your eyes and start over with your breathing.
Always end an imagery session with a positive image sequence. One last time of perfect execution that generates the successful result.

Mentally rehearse today's activity multiple times during your quiet moment. Everyday pick a new action for excellence practice. After you become proficient at visualization, then you can pick two rehearsal activities and spend the first 10 to 15 minutes on one, restart your breathing exercises, and then spend 10 to 15 minutes on the next.

Summary
Visualization is effective at improving your execution efficiency because in certain states of consciousness the brain cannot discern between a vividly imagined event and a real event. During visualization, the information enters the sensory system and is processed by the brain and stored for later retrieval.

Visualization induces a calming effect in the face of anxiety inducing competition. It builds both experience and confidence in an athlete’s ability to perform under pressure and increases the athlete’s sense of complete control over their successful performance. It provides three benefits.

Enhances Confidence: Research in positive psychology shows that simply thinking about an event makes it more likely to happen. When you think about an event, you start to construct mental scenarios of how it can occur and how it might happen. The outcome of this effort is greater confidence and personal improvement.
Is a Form of Practice: Practice is the most important reason visualization enhances success. Like any kind of practice, regular visualization makes you more skilled and successful when it comes to actually engaging in the desired behavior.
Boosts Motivation: Visualization is motivating because you can see how success is possible and makes personal development more effective. As your future dreams seem more likely and start to be more real, you become more motivated to initiate and sustain action that will lead to success. Visualization engages your thoughts, emotions, and senses and generates authentic excitement for personal growth.

Visualization should always be a part of your preparation. When things are going bad, some players' routines break down, which is giving in and losing confidence. It is allowing an important ingredient for confidence to slip away. Just "seeing" oneself being successful can and does help.

A great advantage of mental imagery is that it can be used away from the competitive environment. Your mind becomes the practice arena and is always accessible. When done correctly, you can experience a perfect practice with no mistakes and in perfect form because you are in complete control. As a competitive athlete, you need to reactivate your imagination and start visualizing yourself as the truly successful athlete that you are.

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Technorati Tags: mental game, visualization, sports psychology, imagery

Mental Game - When To Practice (Operationalize) Visualization

SportNut — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:43:10 -0800

The skill of visualization is probably taught in every sport psychology book or course. Yet it is a skill that most athletes do not continue to use because they have not learned to operationalize this skill in their performance. In earlier posts, I discussed why visualization was important to increase an athlete's peak performance and how visualization works. In this next post, I will expand on when a player can use visualization to reinforce a new skill being learned, improve the execution of an existing skill, and opportunities to refocus and reinforce existing mental images during a game.

In the 1988 memorable Olympic moment, defending Olympic champion Greg Louganis while performing a reverse two-and-a-half somersault pike hit his head on the springboard that opened a deep cut on his scalp. He still had to complete one more preliminary dive that day in order to reach the championship round and defend his Olympic gold medal title. He had thirty-five minutes to get temporary sutures in his head and prepare himself for the next dive.
Louganis completed one of the more remarkable recoveries in sport and Olympic history when he completed his next preliminary dive with his highest marks in the preliminary rounds. He successfully conquered his fear brought on by the disaster of hitting his head on the springboard and the next day he won the gold medal.
One of the tools Louganis credits for his ability to overcome the springboard incident is his ability to visualize his performance and create a belief that he can perform his dives at the highest level every time he steps onto the springboard. His visualization skill allowed him to forget the disaster of the previous dive and focus on his ability to execute the next dive that he trained for.
Breaking the Surface by Greg Louganis
Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story

During a Practice Session - Learning a New Skill
Practice sessions are the time used by coaches to develop new skills. Peak performance athletes do not just focus on the physically aspects of the skill, but also the mental aspects. Unfortunately, even in this enlightened age of successful coaches, far to many coaches only concern themselves with teaching physical attributes of a skill and forget about the mental requirements of perfect practice and self-confidence. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the player to fill in the mental side. The player is responsible for using mental imagery to reinforce their skill development and increase the number of practice repetitions.

Many players "just go through the physical motions" when they practice without the necessary concentration to create the vivid images for quick recall. This approach to practice increases the propensity toward wrong movements that, when unattended to and uncorrected, is left in the body's program and is likely to be become a habit. Errors cannot be corrected on the playing field or in the mind unless a player is willing to exert the mental energy essential for concentration. Visualization requires concentration. You cannot just go through the motions. If you do, you lose whatever image was created. Far to often, athletes will not expend the effort necessary to make visualization work. It's not easy, but the player whose goal is to reach his physical potential does not look for the easy way, he looks for the most effective way.

During practice, an athlete can physically act out the new skill. When they are "on stage," they need to concentrate their energy and focus on physically creating a proper image in their mind. When they are "off stage," such as when they are standing in line waiting for their turn or taking a water break, an athlete can rehearse both the physical and mental actions. Athletes knows what is expected from them when they are on stage, since they have been doing this from a very early age; so let me give a simple example of off stage rehearsal.

At an early age, all basketball players learned to shoot lay ups with their off hand (left handed lay ups on the left side of the basket for right handed players or right handed layups on the right side of the basket for left handed players). You are on stage at the front of the line and dribble the ball toward the basket, taking a good 45-degree angle toward the hoop. As you approach the basket at full speed, you take your last dribble and bring the ball up to head level to keep the ball high, jump off the inside foot extending your hand toward the top corner of the square on the backboard, and release the ball at the apex of your jump. As you pass under the basket, your last view of the ball is from underneath as it is on a trajectory toward hitting the square. After securing your landing and taking another step to slow yourself down, you turn around and watch the ball drop out of the bottom of the net. What do you not see: the free throw line version of the ball hitting the square, coming off the backboard, going through the rim without touching the rim, and it dropping out the bottom of the net because you are under the hoop as a participant, not a spectating player or coach.

When you return to the back of the rebounding line, you have gone off stage and this is where the mental and physical rehearsal can begin. Close your eyes and picture yourself running full speed toward the basket. Feel the muscles flexing in your legs and the ball being dribbled with your fingertips as you approach the basket. As you reach the basket, physically jump off your inside foot and extend your arm. Mentally picture this occurring with perfect form and full arm extension toward the square on backboard. See the ball in flight toward the corner of the square on the backboard, feel yourself landing under complete control and decelerating. Mentally, turn your head around to see the ball dropping through the bottom on the net.

Do this exercise one more time before it is your turn to rebound and pass the ball to the outlet. After getting in the back of the shooting line, run through this exercise twice more.

What have you just accomplished? Five perfect off hand lay ups. One physically perfect and four physically / mentally perfect lay ups. How many have your other teammates done? One. Who is going to learn faster and who is going to develop the correct mechanics quicker? What is worse, your teammates were probably watching the other eight or nine players do it wrong, so they are reinforcing the mental image of incorrect fundamental lay ups.

Coaches use practice time to teach players new skills, it is up to the player to fully concentrate to develop these skills quickly, create perfect mental images, and then to improve upon them. Players can use the quiet moments in their days to continue the mental practice.

In the Quiet Moments of the Day - Improving Performance

“I used a lot of visualization in terms of who I would be guarding and who would be guarding me. When I was walking down the street for, say, lunch, I’d imagine those individuals in front of me. I’d imagine going around them." - Isaiah Thomas

Just like physical practice, research shows that you can improve your mental skills by being more conscious and attentive to them, and by employing them in one's daily routines. Athletes practice their physical skills daily and elite athletes mentally practice daily. Allow yourself 15 to 30 minutes every day or every other day for visualizing your goal. Set aside time in your daily routine to rest and remove yourself from everything else going on. Find a quiet, uninterrupted area to perform your visualization techniques. Remember, the more you focus on your goals, the sooner you will achieve them.

Within your daily routine, establish a spot that is private and quiet where you will not be disturbed by others and you are not likely to be distracted. It is often suggested that first thing in the morning or just before you go to sleep in the evening are two of the easiest times to routinize your mental practice. It does not have to be either of these two times, but find a time that occurs regularly within your day. Baseball Hall of Famer, Duke Snider, used to arrive at the ballpark an hour early and lay down on the physical therapy table for his mental practice. He would review his opponent's pitchers and "imagine" what types of pitches were probably going to be thrown to him during that days game. He would see himself hitting those pitches and running them out. When is your quiet time?

Be certain you bring yourself to this setting in a relaxed condition: your mind, body, and spirit. If you are not that when you arrive there, spend some time calming yourself before attempting to begin your visualization. Whenever conflicting or intrusive thoughts interfere with the activity, stop visualizing. Deal with the interfering thoughts, rather than trying to block them out. Having done so successfully, begin again the visualization process. If the interference continues after a number of restarts, end the session, and try to resolve the matter of those thoughts by the next scheduled time for visualization.

Let me provide a personal example. As a sophomore in high school, I practiced with the varsity basketball squad. Because of the speed of the game, I was rushing my shots and had a horrendous shooting percentage from the floor. The coach recommended that I use visualization techniques to rehearse receiving a pass from a teammate, taking a 10 to 15 foot shot with perfect form, and swishing the shot. My quiet time was just before I went to sleep. I would go to my room, turn off the light, sit on my bed, and mentally rehearse shooting jump shots for 15 minutes every night. After about one week, I started feeling more comfortable shooting the ball during practice. It took another week or so before my shooting percentage started to noticeable improve and teammates started mentioning this fact to me. That whole season in the evening before I fell asleep, I spent 15 minutes mentally rehearsing shooting the basketball and other game situations. The familiarity and confidence I developed in those 15 minute sessions had a lot to do with my success at earning a starting spot on the varsity basketball team that year.

The personal experience from this season made me realize the value of visualization on my game. In addition, players can get the benefit from the calming effects and confidence that mental imagery can provide by using these techniques on game day.

Quick Check During a Game - Maintain and Refocus
Unlike during practice or your quiet time, a game situation is not conducive to developing or improving a skill with visualization techniques. During a game too much is happening and your attention needs to be focused on the activities required on the field of play or intently watching the game from the bench so you can quickly get into the game flow when the coach tells you it is your time. But what you can do is steal a few seconds during a game break to mentally rehearse some expected game scenarios. Your objective at this time is to recall the correct mental images from your subconscious for quick retrieval when needed during the game.

In the post, Why Use Visualization and Imagery I gave an example of a ball player who had a poor at-bat rehearsing and preparing for his next time to the plate. You can find time to do this in between innings, in the on-deck circle, or while another batter is batting. This is a quick mental rehearsal check up for 10 to 30 seconds. This is not enough time to develop a new skill by creating new mental images, but it is enough time to refocus your mind and recall the images from your subconscious for quicker recall the next time your in that situation.

Similarly, during a basketball game, use the time outs and bench breaks to mentally rehearse your foul shots, receiving a pass from a teammate for a jump shot, or picturing the opponent telegraphing a pass and you jump into the passing lane for the steal. In basketball, every player gets a few minutes on the bench that they can use to refocus and recall proper images (even the superstars at the professional level get a few seconds on the bench every game). Two additional times where you can practice mental imagery in a game situation is at the beginning of half-time before the coach arrives in the locker room or after the team comes back out onto the court before the start of the second half. I personally found that at the start of halftime, I would quickly get into the locker room, close my eyes, and do deep breathing exercises to calm myself down. I found this helped me pay attention to the coach at halftime and physically provide my body with a recharging break. When I would return to the court for warm-ups before the second half, I would then mentally rehearse any adjustments that the coach made at halftime, physically take one free throw and one jump shot, and mentally take a dozen or so shots in my mind. Most players return to the floor and talk about almost anything but the game, I did not want to be a part of that, so I would mentally start playing the second half in my mind to prepare for the events to come.

The challenge with the using visualization techniques during a game is the amount time a player has to reach the proper state of recall and the quantity of external distractions that can interfere with this process. In order to be truly successful, a player needs to already be a proficient visualizer. Unfortunately, this is probably the most common use of mental imagery by athletes and they have not laid the ground work during practice and their quiet time, so when they cannot quickly recall vivid images they generalize and say "visualization does not work for me." This is like jumping into multiplication without laying the fundamental groundwork of addition. Guided imagery take practice.

Summary
Elite athletes can using mental imagery to increase their peak performance in three ways: 1) during practice to increase focus and complement and reinforce they perfect physical image when learning a new skill, 2) during a set aside 15 to 30 minute quiet time to reinforce existing mental images or create new mental images that will improve your skill set, 3) during quick game breaks to bring the proper images into the conscious brain and refocus on the immediate task at hand.

In the next post, I will revisit the visualization process.

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Technorati Tags: mental game, visualization practice, sports psychology, peak performance

The Way of the Champion

SportNut — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:33:02 -0800

The best athletes can have slumps, underachieve, and fail if they focus on the wrong success factors. During these times of poor performance they are unable to let go of setbacks, errors, and mental mistakes that can be compounded by lack of self-confidence, fear of failure, unrealistic expectations. As an athlete, leaving the mental side of performance to chance make you more susceptible to performance problems. As a coach, a working knowledge of mental and sports psychology skills will help you develop athletes with more self-confidence, motivation, and experience peak performance. Finally, as a parent, the principals of sport psychology, can help you encourage your child to reach their peak performance and develop mental toughness that enhances their self-esteem to achieve greatness, not only in their sport, but also in the bigger picture of life.

In this incredible five-part DVD series, The Way of the Champion author Jerry Lynch shares a complete guide for athletes, coaches, and parents to help them help their athletes learn and develop the habits of champions. Lynch's credo is that of developing "A Champion's Soul with a Winner's Heart," and shares concepts and hands-on activities that will afford a coach the blueprint for how to implement and maintain a team culture for accountability and commitment for attaining the highest potential. The first disc, "Having the Right Stuff" is the cornerstone of the series that provides the base from which all of the other presentations are built upon.

Having The Right Stuff
Are you looking for a way that helps you structure team meetings more effectively? Would you like to help your athletes to become mentally stronger? Do you want to learn how to inspire your athletes to play their very best? Having the Right Stuff will help you address these desires and enable you to help your athletes develop the skills and processes of champions.

Sport Psychologist Jerry Lynch suggests that you and your team not think about "becoming" champions but rather that you decide to "be" a champion first, by beginning right now to follow and practice the habits and lifestyle of champions. Champions work, play and compete with heart. The good news for athletes is that playing and competing with heart is something that can be taught. In Lynch's Way of the Champion Series, he will show you how to teach your athletes to incorporate the traits and habits of champions. The end result will enable your athletes to have the "the stuff of champions." Lynch also presents ten ways to get the most out of your athletes by being open, fair, serving, a listener and humble. Lynch's teaching begins with the circle as a symbol of team unity that allows for open communication. He will help you to identify inspiration in the lives of your athletes and how this inspiration can be used to enhance their athletic competition.

Developing Self-Awareness
Are you and your athletes tired of having regrets? Do you wish your athletes had a better sense of their capabilities? Would you like the athletes to know what they like least about themselves competitively and, more importantly, how to change those things? Developing Self-Awareness will help you help your athletes to become more self-aware to maximize their potential while getting the team on the same page and creating a stronger environment of trust and respect.

In many respects, knowing yourself as a person and athlete is more important than knowing your opponent. In developing self-awareness the athletes look at themselves to maximize his or her potential. Jerry demonstrates group activities that are designed to have the team take an introspective look at themselves, their behavior and habits. By evaluating an athletes behavioral traits, productive and counterproductive habits can be identified that are keeping a player from being the champion that is bottled up inside. Lynch has a unique ability to get on the same page with the athletes in the group activities and will help you to do the same.

Developing Strategic Positioning
Are you interested in having your team believe that their game is won before the competition even begins? Does your team get off to a slow start and find themselves in the uncomfortable position of playing catch-up? Does your team have a difficult time taking criticism and learning from mistakes? Developing Strategic Positioning address these issues by understanding that competition is a process. The first activity is sending a message to the opponent. When the team shows up to compete the opponent critically evaluates you and what is often seen will determine the outcome. By effectively and efficiently sending a strong message to your opponent about your intent develops your strategic position. The next activity is about checking in on your recently past performance where champions critically evaluate the positive aspects of their performance and what opportunities there are for improvement that can lead to more success. The final activity is raising the bar of intensity during practices by seeing that the only things keeping them from dynamic positive change is themselves.

Developing Competitive Advantage
Are you frustrated with your team's lack of belief in themselves? Do they fail to develop or create the crucial edge they need in order to dominate? Do your athletes seem to lack heart or mental toughness when they compete? Developing Competitive Advantage highlights that your opponent's greatest advantage is your team's lack of belief in their ability to do their best and provides strategies to help you and your athletes create the crucial edge over the opponent. Learning to understand the important message of self-doubt, confidently face each competitive game, and demonstrating heart are essential every time an athlete puts their feet on the playing field. Lynch discusses the characteristics of tough teams and teaches athletes how to create mental toughness from those characteristics. To cement these mentally, Lynch instructs athletes to use mental tools of meditation, visualization, and affirmation. Developing a competitive edge is about what we have to do to bring your best to the game. Through mental training, athletes can execute at their highest level with the competitive edge needed for success.

Developing Team Unity and Leadership
Is your team lacking in leadership or the athletes fail to unite for a common purpose? Does selfishness interfere with getting the job done? Developing Team Unity and Leadership shows that all great championship teams have a oneness of unity and purpose. Dr. Lynch will help your team to develop strategies for sound leadership throughout the ranks and provides several activities that can easily be implemented to create harmony and unity throughout the team. Every single athlete achieves more with a strong sense of team and by focusing on behaviors that need to be eliminated to enhance team unity, together as a unit the team can achieve their common goals and purposes.

Summary

Knowing how to get the most out of your athletes, to instill, inspire and motivate them to greatness, especially during "crunch time" and to avoid all the mental traps of choking, slumps, and blocks. Get your athletes to experience peak performance. Help your children develop self-confidence to win, not only in sport, but also in all of life, by learning and implementing the sports psychology and peak performance strategies of Dr. Jerry Lynch. Get your copy of The Way of the Champion by Jerry Lynch before your team or athlete goes into their next competitive setting unprepared.

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Technorati Tags: sport psychology, jerry lynch, way of the champion, self-confidence, fear of failure, unrealistic expectations, habits of champions

Mental Game - How To Visualize

SportNut — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:51:01 -0800

Many athletes routinely use mental visualization techniques as part of their elite sport training. There are stories and examples of how such techniques provide not only a competitive edge, but also a renewed mental awareness and sense of well-being. In an earlier post, I discussed why visualization was important to increase an athlete's peak performance. In this post, I will discuss how to visualize for peak performance.

Preamble
Visualization has also been called guided imagery, mental rehearsal, self-hypnosis, mediation, and a variety of other sport psychology terms, but the basic techniques and concepts are the same. Visualization is the process of creating a mental image of what you want to happen or feel. An athlete can use this technique to intend an outcome of a training session. By imagining a scene, complete with images of a previous best performance or a future desired outcome, the athlete simply steps into that experience. While visualizing these scenarios, the athlete should imagine the details using as many sensory events as possible.

As mentioned in earlier in why you should visualize, the brain is a image storing device. The process of guided imagery implants a sequence of images in your mind of successful performances that are quickly recalled by your subconscious mind during the actual physical performance. The more involved your five senses are in the creation of the images, the more real your subconscious mind believes them to be. The more real the experience the quicker the recall and the greater the effect will have on your physical performance and the bigger the benefit to your self-confidence.

Research is finding that both physical and psychological reactions in certain situations can be improved with visualization. Repeated use of imagery can build both experience and confidence in an athlete's ability to perform desired skills under pressure. The most effective visualization techniques result in a very vivid sport experience in which the athlete has complete control over a successful outcome.

Key Concepts of Visualization
With mental rehearsal, the goal is to train the mind and body to actually perform the desired skill. These scenarios should include as many senses as possible. They can be visual (images and pictures), kinesthetic (how the body feels), or auditory (the sound of the event). Using the mind, an athlete can call up these images over and over, enhancing the skill development through repetition. It is similar and complementary to physical practice and maximizes the efficiency and effectiveness of your training. In a world of elite sports success is measured in fractions of a seconds and athletes should use every possible training technique at hand. Visualization has been shown to gain that competitive margin.

Winning Athletic Performance with Mind Power
Visualization is a form of mental training that is being used extensively by Olympic athletes, medical doctors, business leaders, educators, and others to improve life. Visualization can be used to improve virtually any area of your life, because ... more

One of the reasons players choose not to use guided imagery is that they think they are no good at it. Some athletes seem to think that they need to hallucinate visual pictures, which no one does and is not effective. Other players recall the pictures in a general shape that pass quickly through the mind. They do not see the events in full detail. Neither hallucinations nor broad-brush images are effective. Luckily, most people are much better at visualization than they believe themselves to be.

Have you ever imagined something so vividly you thought it really happened? Well, the more real the experience the more effective the performance will be. To have it be that real, a player has to visualize as a participant, not as a spectator. When visualizing this way (subjective visualization), you are performing. Your emotions are included in the experience.

Visualize performing in some pressure situations. Feel the approach and contact the tension level. Hear any sounds associated with the performance (not the crowd noise). See the events from the participators eyes as they will be seen during the actual performance. Don't rush it; make the timing true to life.

Athletes must perceive the desired image sequence vividly to see themselves doing what they want to do in a successful way. Through that image, they have told their bodies what to do and how to respond. The outcome is to have prepared and programmed mind and body that can perform a specific way within a predefined situation.

Visualization programs the nervous system, muscles, and fibers of the body. The clearer the image, the greater the effect it has on the body. Imagination can trigger nerve and muscle response. When you were young, do you recall your heart beating in joyous anticipation of an event such as Christmas or birthday? Your heart, breath, nerves, and muscles all got the message from the internal picture you had drawn and sent to your nervous system. You have visualized without even trying.

Example of Visualization
The most effective visualization will result for those who do try to create specific and detailed images. You should understand by now that your mind can give guidance to your muscles. For an athlete, appropriate guidance greatly increases the chances for successful performance. It is not easy to start, but the player whose goal is to reach their physical potential does not look for the easy way. They do look for the most effective way. Let me provide a non-sport specific example (next two post will cover the when and what of guided imagery using sport specific examples).

Let's look for that way through visualization. Let's imagine that three different fruits are resting on the table in front of us. From the left to right, the fruit is a sunburst orange, a cardinal red apple, and a deep green pear. Left to right: orange, red, green. Now with your right hand, pick up the sunburst orange that is on the left and place it back on the table so that it is now at the right. Visualize the new order: red, green, orange. Now pick up the sunburst orange and look at it closely. Look closely at the orange to see the dimples in the peel. Rub your fingers over the skin. Can you feel the depressions? Put your thumbnail into the outer layer and slide it down the peel so that you cut a line in the peel. Peel back the hard outer shell of the orange peel to see the soft fiber that surrounds the citrus sweet orange. Put the orange near your nose so you can you smell the aroma. Can you picture the waves of aroma approaching your face providing the citrus sweet smell?

Creating detailed imagery can be difficult when you are reading so let's try it again with the apple, but this time you walk through the situation. Put the orange back down on the table, close your eyes, and pick up the cardinal red apple and try to visualize it. How does it feel? How does it taste?

Explanation
In the preceding example, you used a number of memory senses. You "saw" the fruits on the table; you "sensed" their colors; you "verbalized" (used self talk) the colors as you "saw" them, thereby identifying them; you used "muscle memory" to pick up the orange and then the apple; and you felt their outer skin. And then you "know the movement" of your hand as it moved the orange from the left to the right and placed it back on the table.

Visualization is more than just the use of mental pictures. We suggested earlier that the athlete feel and hear as they mentally rehearse. In doing so, they use a variety of thought forms which merge and then provide an internal simulation of the performance. If the scene you are perceiving has a high level of personal meaning for you, then you will tend to imprint it more intensively and later you will be able to recall many more of the features of the situation.

Summary
Everyone visualizes regularly, but most do not realize it. When you think about someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard and your body shakes and coils, you used mental visualization. The key is to understand the potential benefits of guided imagery and then to discipline your mind to effectively use the visualization techniques to improve your performance on the field.

In the next post, I will use sport specific examples that show when you can use visualization effectively to maximize your peak performance.

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Technorati Tags: mental game, visualization, sports psychology, imagery, peak performance

Mental Game - Why Use Visualization and Imagery

SportNut — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:56:38 -0800

Many peak performance athletes use techniques like visualization, imagery, and self-hypnotism to improve their game performance. These techniques refer to the ability to recall information in physical forms and images, instead of words. Since the brain thinks in pictures, an athlete can utilize the mind's image processing capability to create positive and desired activities by imagining an events actions and engaging all five senses. In this way, an athlete can increase the amount of time their mind and body are "on the field" without incurring the additional stress of physically practicing. Over the next couple of weeks, I plan on writing a series of posts that discuss: why athlete's are increasingly using visualization, how they do it, what they do, and finally, when. Let's start with the why.

Why Visualize
In the field of sports psychology, visualization, guided imagery, mental rehearsal, meditation, and self-hypnosis use different techniques to accomplish positive mental reprogramming, but the underlying principals and concepts are the same. The fundamental concept is the process of creating a mental image with the intention to make a specific action happen and prepare the athlete to feel comfortable in the situation. Throughout the next couple of posts I am going to lump them together and use them interchangeably as techniques to improve an athletes performance through mental, as oppose to physical, practicing.

Visualization is creating a mental picture of something so that it can make a future event become clearer and provide the athlete with confidence to succeed. Seeing yourself already achieving your goal makes your brain believe that attaining that goal is possible. Focusing consistently on any given goal will enable you to manifest it far sooner than if you did not focus on it at all. Mental focus and preparation can bring the goal closer to you.

Visualization works because your brain stores images of your past experiences with instantaneous recall. An individual can "write" a new image into their memory that is indistinguishable to the brain whether it actually happened or is a desired behavior. Then when you are in a similar situation, the "implanted" image is recalled reinforcing the desired behavior.

Your Brain Thinks in Pictures
The brain thinks in pictures. The human eye captures an incredible amount of information with just one glance and relays it all to the brain that then translates that information into a form we 'see'. It would be more accurate to say we see with our brains than with our eyes. In a previous post, titled watch your thoughts, I described using mental pictures are used to improve your memory recall. In another post, titled confidence, I described how self-doubt could be cause by the fear of the unknown. By picturing yourself in a stressful situation, your mind removes the fear of the unknown and failure by recalling a successful similar event, and enables an athlete to approach the situation with confidence.

Let us try an experiment here to emphasize the point of mental pictures. I want you to remember the last time you say a cow standing behind a wooden fence grazing in a pasture. Is the cow's head up looking at you or down getting another bite of grass? Is the air still or a gentle breeze blowing? Take a quick pause and close your eyes. Do you see it?

Here is another example. Remember the last time you saw a ink pen on a table. What color was it? Red, blue, gold, ...? Is the point facing toward or away from you? Can you reach out an pick it up? Take a quick pause and close your eyes again. Got an image, right?

Okay, here is what is so interesting about the questions above. I asked "remember the last time ..." The correct answer is: you saw the words on this page. Yep, I can absolutely guarantee the last time you "saw a cow standing behind a wooden fence grazing in a pasture" or " saw a ink pen on a table" is in the words written in preceding paragraphs, but yet when you were asked to recall it from memory, your mind went to an image stored in your brain, not the words on this page.

Your brain is a big image storing device with a very quick recall. The key to influencing an athlete's performance is to use this image recall capability to drive your desired behaviors.

Your Subconscious Mind Drives Your Behavior
When something is embedded into your mind in clear detail, it becomes part of your reality. A mental image becomes clearer when more of your five senses are involved and activated. I will describe this in more detail in the how to visualize post.

In the remembering experiment above, the images that were recalled were stored somewhere in your long-term memory. Your subconscious memory knew where those images were stored and when your active memory (or conscious memory) requested the images, they were quickly recalled.

Interestingly, your subconscious mind does not know the difference between something that is real and something that was vividly imagined. Whatever picture (or goal) you consistently think about will drive your actions to create that exact picture. When you continually see yourself in possession of your goal, your subconscious mind will move you into actions that align with the mental image you hold.

For example, after a poor at-bat, the player reviews what he did and what he wants to do next time he comes to the plate. The player then "sees" himself making that adjustment in his mind's eye. He is storing the proper image (or better yet, overwriting the poor image in his mind with the positive image). If the player is practiced at visualization and has enough time to mentally review the image with the proper technique before their next at-bat, then the subconscious memory can recall the proper technique. This is how a player can quickly make adjustments from at-bat to at-bat and not continue to make the same mistake throughout a game. Clearly, the batter does not have time to visit the batting cage for tee practice. To make the adjustment, it must be practiced in the mind.

Summary
Visualizing is one of the most important techniques you will ever learn and one that is utilized by high performance athletes. When mental and physical practices are used together and the physical practice is done with the proper mechanics, the combined practices reinforce each other. They implant in your brain more self-consistent images that utilize more combined sensory input to create high definition images that are quickly and easily recalled.

A great advantage of visualization is that it can be used away from the competitive environment. In a way, your mind becomes the practice arena and it is always accessible. When done correctly, you can experience a perfect practice with no mistakes, mishandled balls, and in perfect form.

This leads to the question: how do I learn to visualize? This will be the topic of the next post.

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Technorati Tags: mental game, visualization, sports psychology, imagery

Internet TV For Hard To Find Sporting Events

SportNut — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:26:00 -0800

Isn't it frustrating with the major TV channels decide not to broadcast a game that you are interested in watching and you know your favorite team is playing but it is not being broadcasted on any channels from your cable provider. This was my experience last spring during the NCAA regional and super regional rounds leading up to the College World Series. I started looking into satellite TV, but the equipment and installation cost plus the $25+ per month subscription fee was making me think twice. I then started experimenting with Internet TV.

Internet TV
Many website already offer highlight clips and short segments of their broadcast, but I was looking for broadcast feeds of complete games. I found a couple of websites and open source program that had live TV feeds, but they did not offer the programming that I wanted. I finally settled for purchasing ISoftwareTV for about $35 because it offers ESPN, CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX national programming along with many US major city affiliate channels. It currently offers over 3,000 channels in 37 languages, which is up from 2,500+ channels last spring.

Last summer during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, I was able to watch non-prime time(1) programming and US and non-US targeted television that met my interest. The Games of the XXIX Olympiad consisted of over 300 events with multiple qualifying and championship games. There was no way the "official" Olympic network was going to be able to offer me the programming I wanted. I fired up ISoftwareTV and got to watch many of "my" events that were not broadcast on the major US networks. Some Internet events were broadcast "live" while others were delayed a few hours. One example, I watch the Japan softball team motor down their opponents on the Japan channel broadcast in Japanese so I knew going into the championship game, Team USA would have to play flawless softball if they wanted the gold medal.

This past weekend, the Old Spice Classic basketball tournament championship game from Orlando, Florida was being broadcast on ESPN2. Gonzaga (#10) was playing Tennesse (#12). It was going to be a good game I did not want to miss. Unfortunately, I was not able to be near a TV, but I still saw the game broadcast over the Internet on the ESPN channel.

Time and time again, I have found that my purchase of the ISoftwareTV program has given me access to more of the sports programming that I want to watch.

Expectations
While Internet TV is still an emerging technology and business, I have found on multiple occasions that it provides me with the programming I want to watch but cannot get in my area because the viewership is not large enough for the local TV network to justify the expense of carrying the program. But since it is emerging technology, realistic expectations need to be set for the user experience.

First, even though ISoftwareTV has over 3000 channels, it still might not carry the programming you want to watch. Over the past few months, I have been disappointed on a couple occasions because I could not find the sporting event I was looking for on either the US or non-US based channels. Fortunately, I have found the desired event enough times that I typically check channels and when it is available, put me feet up and enjoy the competition.

Second, this is Internet based video transmission. This means a broadband connection is required (ie., ADSL or cable). Even with my 1+Mbps ADSL connection, I will still experience a few pauses during the playback. It is the Internet. Also, since it is the Internet, the video feeds are not proprietary to the software program. They are available for free, but you have to find them. I choose what I believe to be the most efficient route and paid a small one-time fee for someone else to continuously monitor for new channels and bring them to my PC.

Finally, the ISoftwareTV check out takes you to a credit card clearing house, ClickBank based in Boise, Idaho, that has the US government required privacy, security, and DMCA policies in place. ISoftwareTV do not process the payment at their site. I have purchased several digital products through ClickBank without any problems and, if you choose to purchase this product, I believe ClickBank wants you will have the same positive experience.

Summary
Want to watch games that are not broadcasted by your local TV stations? Internet TV is a good alternative. Initially, I google'd to find Internet TV, but found the experience laborious and frustrating. Finally, I found ISoftwareTV and paid a small one-time fee to get someone else to do the tedious searching for the TV feeds. The program offers a clean and easy to navigate user-interface so I can spend just a couple of minutes looking for the game I want to watch.

(1) Olympic prime time events were block by the network until after they were shown between 8pm and midnight.

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Technorati Tags: isoftwaretv, internet tv, watching sporting events

Dynamic Warm-Up for Softball System

SportNut — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:05:23 -0800

Marc Dagenais just released a new DVD for Dynamic Warm-Up for Softball System. Discover how to simultaneously increase speed, power, agility, and flexibility. Prepare for superior performances and prevent injuries all in just a couple of minutes while warming-up. By using the same dynamic warm-up exercises that Olympic softball athletes use to prepare themselves to dominate on the softball field and achieve extraordinary performances.

Editorial Review
Traditional (aka "old school") warm-ups with static stretching are ineffective to prevent injuries and also decrease performance. They need to be ditched and replaced with something that actually prevents injuries and increases performance - dynamic warm-ups. Dynamic warm-ups through dynamic stretches, mobility exercises, and various activation drills prevent injuries and increase performance by fully warming-up your body, loosening up all your muscles, and turning on your nervous system so that you can be super alert, totally primed and ready to quickly fire all your explosive fast-twitch muscle fibers to generate speed and power.

Yet, most dynamic warm-up routines being performed in softball focus almost exclusively on the lower body with very little trunk or upper body in them. Aren't the trunk and the upper body important in our sport? The big problem is that the dynamic warm-ups are not softball-specific!

Most dynamic warm-ups being taught out there by trainers were developed for sports with a heavy emphasis on running and the lower body (track, football, soccer, basketball, and so on). So just about every dynamic warm-up protocol does a really good job of warming up the lower body but totally forgets the trunk and the upper body. This is a problem for a softball player as we rely extensively on the trunk and the upper body to throw, catch, and hit. Athletes definitely need to warm-up the upper body as well and most dynamic warm-ups fail to properly do so.

Dynamic warm-ups can be the secret weapon for your team as it makes the players game-ready to come out of the gate strong because of superior pre-game preparation.

Marc has developed a high-performance, softball-specific dynamic warm-up protocol that is highly effective at preventing injuries and preparing the body to perform at a superior level!

Customer Review
As a coach, I've always struggled with what kind of proper warm up the kids should do. This Dynamic Warm-Up for Softball System has really been a hit with the kids on my team. They actually enjoy it and you can see them getting better and better at it. Absolutely no pulls or strains since implementing it.

It's been 6 weeks and the results are tremendous. Functionally, they move a lot better and yet it doesn't take that long to accomplish. There is enough variety that it does not get stale for the girls either. However, the best thing is that the team has also been playing very well since we started using this warm-up!

Rob Sciortino, Ft. Worth, TX

Dynamic Warm-Up for Softball System

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Dynamic Stretching for Improved Performance

SportNut — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:21:59 -0800

Many athletes warm up either through static stretching or just starting to play. Warming up by going straight into practice or a game is just a great way to get injured. The traditional static warm-up stretches relax the muscles and cool down the core body temperature. Energize the muscles and improve your range of motion with dynamic stretching during the warm-up process that will begin your body's transition from being at rest to a highly activated neuromuscular state and prepare you for peak performance.

Dynamic Exercise for Warm-Ups
Strength and conditioning coaches are engaged in a constant search for the best ways to improve sport performance. The debate typically is centered around which techniques will boost sport specific speed, power and strength, but it often overlooks the importance of a comprehensive warm-up and the role it plays in optimizing performance during the workout, practice, or the game.

For years the accepted warm-up norm has been to perform a light warm-up followed by static stretching. In fact, almost anywhere in the world you will see athletes starting their practice sessions with a light run and some light stretching. So ingrained is this type of routine that it tends to go unquestioned.

Instead of using a static stretch, the traditional reach and hold stretch, an athlete should use a dynamic warm-up to activate and prime the muscles for the workout. A recent study concluded:

"Because convincing scientific evidence supporting the injury-reducing and performance enhancing potential of static stretching is presently lacking, it may be desirable for children to perform dynamic exercise during the warm up period and static during the cool down period, ... The data revealed that vertical jump and the shuttle run performance declined significantly following static stretching as compared to the dynamic warm-up and DYJ [dynamic warm-up plus 3 drop jumps from fifteen centimeters]. In addition the long jump performance was significantly reduced following the SS [static stretching] as compared to DYJ." (1)

An active or dynamic warm-up is a superior way to prepare for physical activity. This type of warm-up has been used by track and field athletes for years, but has not been widely practiced within the traditional other sports of basketball, softball, and baseball. A comprehensive dynamic warm-up does not take any more time than the traditional stretching method, but is more focused, effective and productive. The entire dynamic warm-up can be done in as little as five minutes or as long as twenty minutes, depending on the goals, age, and fitness level of the group.

Advantages of a Dynamic Warm-Up
Elevates the body's core temperature: Active warm-up involves continuous movement that increases the warmth in your body and muscles. Unlike static stretching that drops the core temperature by 2-3° after sitting and stretching for 10-15 minutes, active stretching exercises raises the body temperature and usually causes the athletes to break out into a light sweat.

Increases flexibility and coordination: It enhances coordination and motor ability by activating the nervous system, which is especially beneficial for younger athletes who are still learning their bodies. A general cardiovascular warm-up lasting five to ten minutes raises the body’s core temperature enough to enhance the elasticity of muscles, tendons, ligaments and overall joint structures.

Prepares the mind for the practice ahead: An engaging warm-up prepares the mind for the practice ahead. Proper mental preparation is vital to maximizing an athlete's success. Unlike static stretching exercises that lead to socialization and daydreaming, a dynamic warm-up forces athletes to focus and concentrate on the task at hand. It is vital to make sure your initial cardiovascular warm-up is serious and not the social fifteen.

Criteria to Consider when Planning Active Stretching Exercises
As with any drill, it is important to start out slowly until an athlete has mastered the movement with perfect technique. The goal of any warm-up before practice is to prepare for maximum performance, decrease the risk of injury, and extend the range of a muscle groups flexibility. There are few criteria to consider when planning the warm-up portion of your practice.

Include all the muscle groups: Movements should include all the major muscle groups that are going to be used during the practice.

Cover the full range of movement: The dynamic warm-up can increase your mobility if you do all the exercises to the end ranges of motion. Movements should work the muscles through a complete range of motion, not just 75 to 80 percent.

Increase the heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature: The routine should increase the heart rate, body temperature, and breathing rate gradually to a comfortable level. To do this, you'll have to move quickly from one exercise to the next, which means you want to know exactly what to do before you get started.

Drills for Active Stretching Exercises
High knees: With basic running form, bring the knees up higher than your waistline. Keep your feet moving as fast as possible while your ankles, knees, hips and shoulders face forwards. Since this is a warm-up, quick feet does not mean quick forward movement, it is not a run. This warm-up has more vertical foot movement than horizontal foot movement.

Butt kicks: Similar to high knees except you keep your thighs perpendicular to the ground while kicking your heels up towards your backside. Again, move your feet quickly while keeping the ankles, knees, hips and shoulders in alignment. Quick feet, not quick forward movement.

Frankenstein walk: Reach both hands forward at shoulder height and while keeping your leg straight, kick it up in front of you as high as you can, trying to touch the fingertips of the opposite arm then repeat with the other leg. Walk forward about 30 feet. This is an excellent way to increase hamstring flexibility.

Lunges: Step forward with your left leg into a lunge position with your ankles, knees, hips and shoulders facing forward, and torso upright. Try to place your left elbow on the ground as close to your left heel as possible. Then lunge forward with your right leg and try to touch your right elbow to the ground near your right heel. Do this for about 30 feet.

Summary
If you have not had any exposure to dynamic warm-up and stretching in the past think about crossing over from passive stretching to a muscle activating pre-game / pre-practice training exercises. The great part about this stretching method is that it can be as challenging as you want it to be and uses many different training methods such as: foot quickness, plyometrics, balance drills, speed development techniques, and lateral movement development. Create a new purpose for warm-up that prepares you for the practice or game by activating the muscle groups by using similar actions to those you will use during the event ahead.

When designing the day’s dynamic warm-up for the athletes include exercises that address all the major muscle groups (hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, Achilles, and hip flexors) on a fairly equal basis. Vary the routine daily to keep the athletes interested and make sure they do not become complacent.

(1) Faigenbaum, A, Bellucci, M, Bernieri, A, Bakker, B, Hoorens, K. (2005). Acute Effects of Different Warm-Up Protocols on Fitness Performance in Children. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19 (2): 376-381.

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Technorati Tags: exercises, stretching, flexibility, dynamic stretching

On Any Given Day - Lesson from Michael Jordan

SportNut — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:06:13 -0800

On any given day, any team or anyone can win the game. This is what makes competitive sports so much fun. You never know when a player or team outmatched in every aspect of the game pulls off the victory by stunning their opponent. Take a lesson from Michael Jordan.

Back in 2003, a rumor was circulating that a mutual fund executive beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one during the legend's high-end "Flight School" camp in Las Vegas. Last February, Chris Ballard described what was on the tape for Sport Illustrated FanNation.

Clearly, John Rogers Jr. is no match for MJ, even though this is after Jordan's second retirement from the NBA. But this is another reminder that 1-in-1,000 or 1-in-10,000 underdogs can win any given game on any given day. Always be prepared for the battle to come and never give a team a second (or in this case third) chance to stay in the game.

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Technorati Tags: michael jordan, motivational, humor

SPARQ Training - Final Thoughts

SportNut — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:56:11 -0700

This is the fourth and final post on the SPARQ rating and training system. The previous post answer the questions: what is SPARQ training, why an athlete should care about the rating system , and what it tests? In this post, I will insights into the commitment required for the training to be successful and a few results of athletes that have gone through the program.

Commitment required
SPARQ training requires a serious commitment of time by both the parents and player. The SPARQ training I have witnessed consists of three dimensions: 1) general speed, agility, and quickness, 2) sport specific power (or core) training, and 3) a constant dose of general athleticism training. Out of season athletes are recommended to attend three times per week while in-season athletes go one to two times a week. During your initial evaluation phase, your specific trainer will ask what school sports you play and when the in-season starts. To prevent over training and unnecessary physical stress, the training regiment is adjusted during the season to focus on flexibility and maintenance. Many multi-sport athletes will have their training regiment regularly adjusted to work on specific training for the next season.

While results become noticeable within a two to three months, most athletes wanting to dramatic improve their performance will need at least nine to twelve months of intense training. Our local training center has a wall of fame, where they display newspaper clippings and college acceptance announcements of former and current trainees. Surprisingly, these athletes cover a very broad range of sports that not only include the traditional SPARQ sports of baseball, basketball, and football, but also a gymnast, a swimmer, a field hockey player, and a ice hockey player. The shortest time of training for the wall of fame members was three and a half years. Three and a half years! That is a commitment and the results speak for themselves.

Results that I have personally observed
I became aware of the SPARQ training and rating system about two years ago. In that time, I have seen some young athletes increase their athletic performance while others have obtained minimal benefit. Based on my observation, the difference in the outcome boils down to the young athlete's (not the parents) personal commitment and desire to increase their athleticism, typically based on catalyst event. Here are a couple of examples.

A middle school softball player was tired of sitting the bench and occasionally playing right field. She started SPARQ training shortly after middle school graduation. The next spring she was the starting utility infielder for the high school team. She would fill in one of two positions on the right side of the infield vacated by the game's pitcher. The fall of her sophomore year, she was invited to an elite infield for the eight best high school infield players in the area and in the spring became the permanent varsity shortstop. Her total investment time in her athletic ability is 27 months and she is still attending two to three times per week. The catalyst, wanting more from high school softball than picking splinters from her backside.

A high school baseball player was the slowest athlete on the team. The catalyst was the coach describing the word "slow" as this individual. Nine months later during pre-season training, the coach saw him again and was ecstatic at his newfound speed and moved him into the top of the lineup. He is still attending two to three times per week with a new goal to play Division-1 baseball when he graduates.

A graduating middle school basketball player was given the opportunity to play AAU spring basketball with the high school junior varsity coach. The catalyst, the junior varsity coach telling the player that white boys cannot jump and you are too slow. You will probably play freshman next year. By the start of the next season, this player, when compared to the junior varsity squad, was in the top tier for vertical jump, competitive with the fastest players on the team, and quick enough to move from power forward to shooting guard. He made the high school junior varsity team as the sixth man his freshman year. The length of his investment in general and basketball specific athleticism, seven months and still training two to three times per week with the goal to make the varsity squad his sophomore year.

While the above examples provide proof points for the positive aspects of SPARQ training, not every athlete I have observed has had a successful outcome. There are two types of athlete's that I have observed that receive minimal benefit: the athlete already with above average athleticism without college aspirations and the casual athlete. This has leads me to believe the key to a successful outcome is a defining event or experience that shows and drives the individual through the training. A motivator to obtain a challenging goal.

Wrapping it up
The genesis of SPARQ started in 1999 with Rudy Chapa's vision to create a system to improve the overall athleticism of high school athletes. Over the past nine years, the SPARQ system has expanded into seven sport specific rating and training system that is starting to be used by professional scouts and college recruiters to measure and grade potential recruits. For an young athlete interested in attending a Division-1 and is willing and committed to entering an intense training program that can increase their chances of being noticed and recruited by a college program, then the SPARQ training system needs to be seriously considered.

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SPARQ Rating - What Does It Test?

SportNut — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:38:13 -0700

SPARQ (an acronym for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness) tests an athlete's overall athleticism. The follow up training is to help athletes improve in all of those areas through dynamic training.

SPARQ video with Adrian Petersen that demonstrates SPARQ training

SPARQ Testing
The SPARQ test is slightly tailored to each of the specific sports they test while still maintaining the goal of overall athleticism. Currently, SPARQ tests are available for general athleticism, baseball, fastpitch softball, men and women basketball, men and women soccer, football, and hockey (currently under development). The testing elements are: speed, lower body power (vertical jump), agility, core strength (power ball toss), and endurance (YIRT).

Speed: The speed component is measured at 20, 30 or 40 yards. A short burst of linear speed is a differentiator in every sport. This test measures linear acceleration, which is the ability to transition from a standing start to top speed. To measure sprinting acceleration, an athlete runs down a track and a trainer records his/her time.

Vertical Jump: Although most tests contain a vertical jump, unless it is a basketball specific test, the measurement is not about how high you jump, it is about acceleration. SPARQ combines your vertical jump height with an accurate measurement of your weight to reveal lower-body peak power. Peak power is directly connected to acceleration and speed allowing you to burn past your competition. To measure the vertical jump, an athlete must bend down into a balanced crouch with their arms behind them to help propel them upwards and then they swiftly jump out into the air.

Agility Shuttle: The agility shuttle measures the ability of an athlete to maintain body control through multiple rapid changes of direction at high speeds, your side-to-side quickness and agility. To measure the agility shuttle, an athlete must run 5 yards, touch a marker, proceed to run 10 yards in the opposite direction and touch a second marker, and finally, switch direction and run another 5 yards back to the starting point.

Power Ball Toss: The power ball toss measures your ability to generate explosive power from your core that transfers through to the arms and legs. This test is used to determine how powerful an athlete is by isolating the core by requiring them to load and explode. In the kneeling power ball toss, an athlete must kneel with both knees on a flat surface while raising a 3 kilogram medicine ball over their head. They must proceed to thrust outward, landing in a push-up position.

Baseball and fastpitch softball use a variation of the power ball toss, called the rotational power ball toss, which measure rotational core strength. This test measures core rotational strength and total body power used in batting and throwing. The test involves throwing a 3 kilogram medicine ball using a rotational motion. The ball is held in both hands at waist height and the upper body rotated or coiled to draw the ball back. Then in one motion, the upper body rotates and flings the ball slightly upward. Three attempts are allowed with the maximum distance recorded.

Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test (YIRT): The Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test mimics the endurance required for the start-stop-recover-start action that is common to nearly every sport. Athletes in top condition can out-compete and out-last their competition. They are still running at top speeds while their opponents are sucking wind and calling time because of their ability to recover efficiently in between the bursts of high-intensity energy output. This shuttle will have you running, stopping, recovering and running some more, and will reveal who has the recovery ability that allows them to be as effective in the last minutes of the game. To measure the YIRT, a recording is played, giving instruction, and the athlete must proceed to run 20 yards at the sound of a beep. If the athlete crosses the finish line before a second beep is heard, he/she waits for a third beep, in which they must run back to the starting line before the fourth beep sounds. If the athlete does not reach the start line before the fourth beep, a warning is given. The process repeats itself until the athlete has been given two warnings, with the beeps getting closer together as the exercise progresses. The total distance run is what is measured.

Max Touch: This is a basketball specific test that measures the synergy of the physical gifts of height and wingspan with the athletic skills of explosive leg power and coordinated jumping mechanics. To measure max touch, an athlete stands 15 feet away from a Vertec jump measuring device. The athlete is given a significant amount of freedom in choosing how to jump: with one or two feet and any number of steps before the jump. As the athlete approaches the Vertec, they jump and touch the Vertec fingers that record the height of the jump.

Demonstrations of these test can be found for men's basketball, baseball, women's basketball, fastpitch, and general athletic assessment by clicking the links.

SPARQ Rating
After completing the SPARQ testing, your scores can be entered into the SPARQ calculator. After entering the sport that you were tested for, your gender, and test results, you are presented with your SPARQ results and can compare against other athletes by your graduation year and other factors. For those athletes serious about attending a Division-1 school, the 2008 score to be considered is around 80 for both men and women.

I have not studied the SPARQ ratings system over the years, but as athletes specifically train to perform these test they will probably slowly increase. The next post will discuss why it is important that inspiring college bound athletes take this test seriously and who is using it in their evaluations.

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SPARQ Training - Why Should You Care?

SportNut — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:58:55 -0700

In modern day sports, we keep track of every stat, no matter how small. But until the SPARQ training and rating system was created in 2004, there was never a way to measure a main component in a competitive athlete's success ... their pure athletic ability. The goal of the SPARQ system is to boil down a player's athleticism into one number that represents the player’s overall athletic skill—pinpointing what areas he or she is good at, and which areas they need to improve.

Nike SPARQ commercial ... Lindsay Harding's better

It is about your athleticism
Using science and innovation, SPARQ promotes new methods of testing, training and performance enhancement. The good news is that you don't have to be born with speed - it's been scientifically proven that every athlete can train in specific ways to improve overall speed. And every player's game will benefit from being faster, stronger and more explosive.

The SPARQ rating system is a "simple proprietary formula" that combines results of individual tests of speed, power, agility, reaction, and quickness into a single number representing an athlete's overall athleticism. Compare your SPARQ rating to see where you stand and how you compare to your peers and elite athletes in your age group from the standpoint of athletic ability. Then you can identify your strengths and improvement areas and develop a specific training program to raise your athleticism. Finally, it is up to you, the individual player, to commit to the training, retesting, retraining, ... regiment to reap any type of benefit.

It is about injury prevention
In middle school and high school, sport specific athletic training can play a huge role in injury prevention. At this age, many inspiring athletes have undisciplined athleticism and youth flexibility. Structured athletic training can make a big difference in terms of preventing injuries by making the youth players more aware of their athletic strengths and weaknesses. General and sport specific athletic training can increase flexibility and strengthen muscles and tendons to be less prone injury.

College coaches and professional scouts care
College and professional scouts have always recruited athletic players. It has only been just recently that these professional recruiters are able to evaluate potential recruits on a consistent scale across multiple players as oppose to their personal feel.

“Baseball needs a different type of athleticism—it’s a dexterity type sport that has to be fused with quickness of feet, and it’s done in short spurts,” said John Castleberry, the East Coast Scouting Supervisor for the Philadelphia Phillies. “Every level from Little League on up, the higher you go, the speed of the game increases. And as the speed of the game increases, the good athletes adapt to the speed of the game—you have to be a good athlete. Whether that’s hitting a baseball, throwing a baseball or running, you have to have some kind of athletic ability. Different types of athletic skills are used.”

Castleberry was interested enough in SPARQ to begin having all players at the East Coast Showcase, a gathering of some of the best high school baseball prospects east of the Mississippi held in early August, get their SPARQ ratings for scouts to consider as they start their plans for the MLB draft.

SPARQ is making inroads in many other showcase events:

Baseball: Area Code Games, Top Prospects Camp, World Wood Bat Championships, Perfect Game National Showcase, Kansas Baseball Fall Showcase Invitational
Soccer: U.S. Soccer Federation Spring Showcase, Better SPARQ Showcase, National Soccer Training Camp
Softball: Surf City Fall and Summer Showcase, Pennsbury NFCA Camp, Huntington Beach Showcase, Rising Stars Showcase, National Fastpitch Coaches Association sponsored events
Football: Taft Union High School Football Showcase, Vista Del Lago High School Football Showcase, Union High School Football Showcase
Basketball: Ohio Varsity Sports Summer Showcase, Nike L.A. Summer Showcase, AAU Super Showcase, Mullen's 120 Elite Camp

A list of currently scheduled events for all six targeted sports can be found at SPARQ training events.

Coaches and scouts are starting to use the SPARQ rating score more as a disqualifier or minimum standard as oppose to an absolute measure. Like the SAT college entrance exam, potential recruits need to obtain a minimum score to get further consideration. In 2008, the minimum score is currently considered to be around 80 for both men and women.

Why should you care?
The answer to this question boils down to the individual player's athletic goals. SPARQ rating and training can be used by high school athlete's to identify their strengths and improvement areas in their overall athletic development. If you wish to pursue athletics beyond the high school level, then realize that many Division-1 schools will use this metric as a minimum standard for your acceptance into their program. This is not an absolute metric and many other elements of the game will be considered like competitive spirit, sport specific skill, and inter-personal team behaviors. Chances are, if you are interested in attending any Division-1 college in the next couple of years, you will be tested and the results evaluated.

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SPARQ Training - What Is It?

SportNut — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:51:30 -0700

Nike is making a push in the athletic training equipment business with the 2008 winter launch of their SPARQ training equipment line. The initial product launch featured San Diego Charger running back Ladainian Tomlinson hosting a press conference about "his better." If you watched any sporting event during the March to June 2008 timeframe, you will recognize the commercial. But all this hype begs the questions: what is SPARQ training, why should you care, and what does it test? Let's dig in and see if we can find some answers.

Nike SPARQ commercial ... My better is better than your better

Background of SPARQ
The SPARQ name is an acronym made from: Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness. All the basic competitive physical athletic elements required to for successful athlete. It was conceived to be a dynamic performance training regiment designed to make young athletes better on game day. From 2006 to 2008, more than 44,000 athletes from 2,000 teams across 38 states were SPARQ tested [1].

The SPARQ training and testing solution was started in 2004 by Rudy Chapa to create a standardized test for athleticism.

Rudy Chapa
Rudy had a successful school career as a runner. While in high school, Rudy Chapa won the Cross-country Indiana championship two years in a row: 1974 and 1975. In 1976, Chapa first gained fame as one of the U.S.A.'s greatest high school distance runners, setting the still-standing national high school 10,000 meter record, and later that year set the Indiana state mile record.

After high school graduation, he ran for the University of Oregon track and cross country teams and earned All American status six times as a member of Oregon's 1977 national champion cross country team. In 1978, he won the NCAA championship in 5,000 meters. The next year he broke the American Record (AR) in the 3,000 meters. In 1999 he was inducted into the University of Oregon athletics Hall of Fame and in 2001 was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1999, Chapa left his global director of sports marketing at Nike, Inc. in order to pursue his own entrepreneurial vision, which manifests itself today as SPARQ.

SPARQ
SPARQ program contains two elements: testing (or a rating system) and training. The SPARQ rating system is a sport-specific assessment of athleticism. SPARQ has test protocols for six sports – football, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer, baseball, fastpitch, boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball, as well as a test for general athleticism. The tests are designed to test the skills and athleticism demanded by each sport.

The rating system was created to sell training equipment and methods to help improve athleticism focused on the high school athlete. Nike sells a complete line of SPARQ training equipment, apparel, and footwear [2]. Nike's equipment currently consists of: the agility web, resistant parachutes, power bands, resistant vest, portable hurdles, and speed latter.

Why should I care?
With commercialism surrounding SPARQ, why should you care about it? The reason is that professional scouts and college coaches are increasingly using the SPARQ rating as another indicator of a prospect's overall potential. At college showcases, SPARQ testing is becoming commonplace and a low rating may disqualify you from playing for the school of your choice.

Based on this foundation of understanding SPARQ's origin, I will expand in the next post about the importance of a high SPARQ score.

[1] Nike SPARQ Training Ignites a Revolution

[2] Nike SPARQ Training products

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Courage for Life

SportNut — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:29:21 -0700

A 2008 high school graduate and his high school baseball coach set up a charitable foundation (Courage for Life) to provide life encouraging sporting experiences for high school athletes. Why? This is the story of John Challis.

On June 23, 2006, John Challis, a high school junior, was told he had a liver cancer in the form of tumor in his chest the size of a football. Although he could have withdrawn from his daily routine, John decided that his motto would be "Courage + Believe = Life". The video below present John's inspirational story that has touched many youths and adults in the Northeast United States.

John Challis: Courage + Believe= Life

At age 13, John decided to stop playing baseball because he was afraid of being hit by the pitch. That is, until the spring of 2008 when he decided it was time to face his fears again.

John attends Freedom High School near Pittsburgh, PA. All winter, he worked in the cages with the baseball team. He wanted to confront his fear of the ball and get his first varsity hit.

On April 14th, Freedom is playing Aliquippa. Freedom's baseball team needs to win the game to go to the playoffs. In the third inning, John steps into the batter's box for the first time since he was 13. Here's a video that describes his at bat.

I Felt Like Superman

John wasn't afraid of the ball anymore. Yet again, he showed that an individual can conquer their fear. Six days later, he had another at-bat in a game at PNC Park. Although John did not get a hit, he had accomplished his goal for the season ... to get his first varsity baseball hit.

Freedom's baseball team made the playoffs this year. In the game against New Brighton, Freedom is down 7-1 in the seventh inning. With three outs until elimination, his team rallies around John's "never quit" attitude to score 4 runs. Bases are loaded and a batter lines out for the final out of the game and the final out of John's high school baseball career.

Now that John has graduated from high school, Steve Wentzel and John are busy raising donations and meeting professional athlete's to embody the mission of their foundation: Courage for Life. This is a great story about how a young athlete is dealing with life changing events and having a positive impact on those around them.

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Mental Game - Confidence

SportNut — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:43:49 -0700

Any driven young athlete has a powerful purpose to be an outstanding player whether it is for peer recognition or for personal satisfaction. They set goals and dedicate themselves to working hard to attain those goals. They drive forward and take responsibility for developing their skills and attitudes. Behind that drive lays the most influential attitude for their success: confidence.

Fear Inhibits Confidence
The lack of confidence is the biggest influencer to failure. No one sets failure as a goal, but failure is a statistical probability in competitive sports and a player needs to face the possibility. Young athletes cannot be afraid to fail. Confidence is not gained by being timid and fearful. As anxious about their tasks as they may be, a player must find the courage to face failure and perform with strength and aggressiveness.

The greatest obstacle on the road to confidence is fear. Fear of embarrassment, fear of humiliation, fear of a parent's wrath, or fear of not making a team. Basically, fear of failure and the unknown.

The first step to overcoming fear is admitting your fears instead of denying and suppressing them. That is, admitting and conquering. Fears come from uncertainty. No one can make us feel as if we are failures without our own consent. Confident people never consent. They approach risky and challenging situation without the possibility of being a failure. Failing at a task does not make the person a failure. Failing at a task just sets a marker in time that can be overcome with hard work and dedication. To keep their perspective, they remember past successes, skills they have developed that turned initial shortcomings into strengths, and realize they will do it again in the future.

Fear is a monstrous liar. It tells us that situations are more threatening and harder to handle than they truly are. It tells us we are not capable of dealing successfully with these unknown situations. It suggest to us that there are terrible, unnamed consequences for failing to handle these situations. Fear breaks down our confidence, brainwashes us, and makes us play a losing mental game.

Confidence Requires Risk-Taking
The development of confidence requires risk-taking - to move into uncharted waters. It comes through gradual accomplishments. Each success encourages us to persevere as we struggle with the next step. That is why the specific goals a player focuses on each day are so important and why those goals must be measurable and achievable. Their confidence will grow with these daily, identifiable successes and their total performance will improve.

It is a simple formula, but not commonly implemented and achieved because players tend to jump to the ends while disregarding the means to those ends. Peak performance is an end while goal setting and dedication to skill development are the means. The start of confidence building has nothing to do with whether we are right or wrong or whether we win or lose. Most important is what we think and perceive about ourselves. How we perceive ourselves matters more than how other peoples opinions of us or what they see us doing. This is where confidence is found ... It is inside each of us. Nobody can give it to us and nobody can take it away.

Bottling Up Fear and Throwing It Away
Self-awareness comes first. In specific situations, we can pay attention to the signals and be aware of what is happening to us. If we do not like what is happening, it is our responsibility to stop what we have been doing and look fear in the face. Step back from the situation, take a long deep breath, let the air out slowly, and change our self-talk and thoughts so that it focuses on what we want to do in this situation. Do not allow yourself to be controlled by fear and uncertainty. Step away from the situation, put the environment into perspective, and get your composure back in order. Take deep breaths and change your self-talk to what you want to accomplish. Get singularly focused on the immediate task and tell yourself how you will succeed. Do not just cope with the situation, but conquer it.

Each time we confront fear we gain courage. Perform a reality check by reviewing the situation and examine it in a clear and thoughtful way. Take the responsibility away from your emotions and give it to your rational self to provide a sensible perspective. Inevitably, whatever difficulty exists in the situation is reduced to its actual and conquerable size. We are left to confront the situation with all our natural and acquired resources working for us. We can play the game the way we know how to with our talent, determination, and understanding of what needs to be done and how to get it done.

To put the situation in perspective, ask the question: What really is the worst thing that can happen? Think of what consequences are actually probable. By examining fear, rather than pretending it does not exist, we gain courage and reduce the threat immediately. Through self-talk that starts in our minds, we hear true possibilities, rather than the worst ones being imagined. We carefully look at the truly possible futures and the "terrible" consequences and discover it is not so catastrophic. They might be unpleasant, but they will not destroy you. Finally, we are able to see what is within our control and what is not. After examining the situation, we can focus on the elements that are within our control and leverage our past experiences to increase the probability for a favorable outcome. The successes we achieved in our past are more real than the failures we fear in our future.

Confidence in Ourselves Precedes Action
We may not be confident in our ability in a particular situation but we can always be confident in ourselves as a person. In that confidence is the freedom to do what we wish, see how capable we are to make the attempt, and attack the situation.

Our emotions interfere with our belief in ourselves when we are faced by challenges we do not think we are up to. So we have to recognize the emotions that are inhibiting our bodies' easy movement and control them by winning the mind game. We can then evaluate our behavior and performance, make a few adjustments, and try again. We make some progress, feel better, and slowly gain confidence.

Confidence actually precedes true success, whether the activity is familiar or unfamiliar. Confidence comes from the manner in which we have prepared for the activity. This confidence is built one step at a time, coming in steps as each task-specific goal is achieved. These achievements are the building blocks for confidence. What should be in your head is a positive outlook and a good feeling for the competitive experience ahead of you. Any expressions we make to that effect will help us.

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Mental Game - Attitudes

SportNut — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:33:28 -0700

Each person is unique based on our inherited biology and acquired experiences. They give each player different perceptions from others involved with the same game in the same situation. Although the players share a common purpose to win, the intensity with which it is felt varies between the individuals. Different genes and different experiences yield different player attitudes in the same situation. Our attitude is our state of mind as we approach and experience our lives.

Turning Attitudes Positive
A player's attitude is always within their capability and responsibility to control. Their attitude influences their appearance to others, the words they speak, the way they mentally and physically feel, and the actions they take. Because of the extent to which it influences them, they must control it to their advantage to maximize their performance.

It's important to understand that an attitude is not really an emotion. There are similarities, but attitudes are built primarily by thoughts, whereas emotions are built by feelings. Thoughts give direction and control; emotions provide arousal and energy. Emotions and feelings are what they are. Attitude and thoughts must be channeled for positive performance results. Any attitude leading to actions that keep the player from achieving a peak performance is a bad one. Bad attitudes must be changed.

An attitude can change or be changed. We are never stuck with an attitude we do not want. But we must control the change, so that it is a change for the better. And if we have a good attitude in a good situation, we must know in advance that our attitude will have to battle whatever bad situations we meet or we and our attitude will be taken prisoner.

Optimistic Attitude
There is an illustration where two people are asked to describe the situation about a glass filled to the mid-point with water. The optimist says it is half full while the pessimist says it is half empty. The optimist's approach is what can be done with what they have versus the pessimist's approach focuses on what has been lost and the prospect of losing the rest. Player's need to develop an optimistic attitude about what they can do with the time left in the game or the rest of the season. The past is the past and cannot be changed, but the future is still unwritten and their attitude will effect what happens next. You have heard the expression that competitive athletes need to develop a "short-term memory" to forget about the mistake that just happened. It is the optimistic player's attitude that that can enable this as they turn their attention toward what can be done during the rest of the game.

A sensible optimist is inspired by an authentic positive attitude, which gives him vitality and hope when others lose their spirit and quit. The foolish optimist cheerfully ignores a bad situation, pretending it is that bad and tolerating it. Choosing not to deal with a bad situation is an attitude that is not genuinely positive. In fact, it is our attitude that keeps us from reaching our peak performance and must be changed.

Changing Your Attitude
What does it take to change your attitude? Here are 10 steps to playing with a positive controlled attitude:

Honestly evaluate your existing attitude
Understand why those attitudes were developed
Recognize the importance of changing their attitude
Be open to the prospect of change
Be enthusiastic about your daily sport and non-sport activities
Have fun at what you are doing and express a sense of humor
Have interest in others needs and difficulties by understanding their point of view
Be a good listener
Focus on the team and your individual goals
Keep yourself from criticizing others by first judging yourself

This series is titled the "mental game" because it about changing your mental approach to yourself, your sport, and your teammates. Until you change the way you think and your attitudes by programming your mind to focus on what is about to happen next in a positive controlled fashion, you will not reach your potential. Just the desire to improve your attitude is a sign that positive results will follow. Once you see the results, you will want more.

A winning attitudes lead to that most important distinguishing quality: self-confidence. Winning attitudes are not inherited they are acquired. Every outstanding athlete has had it. Confidence is a state of mind, not an emotion or feeling. This topic will be discussed more in the next post.

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Mental Game - Watch Your Thoughts

SportNut — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:35:01 -0700

The post on dedication described the disciplining of muscle memory but there is another organ that needs to be disciplined, your brain. Mental messages dictate the physical action and are key ingredient in determining your performance level. A player cannot underestimate the impact of positive and negative thoughts because your physical performance is the outcome of your thought.

All About the Image
If you review studies on eidetic (or photographic) memory or study techniques to enhance memory retention, then you will discover a common thread: your brain is an image storage device. These images can be either seen with your eyes or imaginarily created by your thoughts. A common method to memorize ordered lists is to make a story picture out of the list. For example, if you have to remember the ordered list box, rat, fish, and dog then you could create a story image to remember them. The DOG ate a FISH after a RAT scrambled out of a BOX. In the left side of the picture is a BOX with an oversize RAT halfway out of the box and to the right is a FISH with oversized eyes watching the rat run and a DOG's mouth open to eat the fish.

A more advanced memorization technique is to link a series of images together to create a short story. Let us create a grocery shopping list of random items: milk, charcoal, apples, and scotch tape. The first image is you pouring milk from an oversized carton into a bag of charcoal. The second image is you picking apples from a tree and placing them in a jumbo bag of charcoal. The link element between these two images is the bag of charcoal. The third image is a Guinness Book of Records sized apple being held from the tree with a two-foot wide strip of scotch tape. The link element between the second and third image is the apple.

What was that box list? What is your shopping list?

The key point to remember is that your mind is a image storage device. In sports, your thoughts is the creator of images that get stored .

Impact of Thoughts
As creatures of habit, our physical performance is influenced by behavioral repetition to develop muscle memory. The same is true of our thoughts. Repetition of thoughts develops mental imagery memory. A thought has been learned and used so often in similar situations that it becomes automatic and drops from our conscious awareness. We do not even recognize we are employing it and have developed a programmed behavior. Positive programming enhances our performance while negative programming retards our performance.

It is common for a player to think to himself, "I do not want to boot this ground ball" or "I do not want to miss the last second shot." The imagery portion on these phrases are "boot this ground ball" and "miss the shot." The words "do not" produce no functional imagery. The body tends to do what it hears most clearly; the mind tells the body what it sees most clearly. So, thinking about what you do not want to happen greatly increases the chance it will happen.

An example of the "do not" being remove from the imagery is for you not to think about school for the next two minutes. Naturally, you are probably already thinking about school. But I wrote, do not think .... This is the power of imagery in our thought process. The do not portion of the phrase does not produce a functional image, but the word school does.

Self Doubt and Hoping
Negative thoughts can develop self doubt in any performer, at any level, in any occupation. Self doubt is the path into the depths of disappointment, frustration, anger, and depression. A player with self-doubt loses their positive, realistic attitude and loses control of their game. Negativism and defeatism are in control and all that does is increase the positive control of the opposing players and team.

"I hope" is another phrase to be avoided. Hoping you will do something means you do not believe you can. By hoping you will not do something, you most likely will do the very act you do not want to do. Bad hopes are not truly directed toward success, but rather at a hope not to fail.

Most players do not even realize how often their thoughts create negative images. Let me give a real life example. A young lady is a gifted athlete who normally played shortstop but joined a new team that already had a proven shortstop so she needed to find a new position. Her choice was to compete with another player for the second base position. In a game, she fielded a ground ball about 10 feet from first base, turned toward first and threw the ball into the ground. Why? She could obviously make a good throw but while she took her time to throw to first, self doubt crept into mind. After the third out of the inning she came off the field mumbling, "don't throw the ball away." She threw her glove down and slouched on the bench and said, "I can't believe I threw the ball away. I am trying to win second base. I shouldn't have thrown the ball away." Did you catch her second mistake? What image did she create in her mind three times? Yep, the image is her throwing the ball away. The words "don't", "can't", and "shouldn't" do not have functional imagery associated with them, but "throwing the ball away" sure does. Later in the game another ball was hit to her at second base, self doubt crept in again, and she lollypoped the ball to first. The next game she was in right field.

Confident Goal Oriented Thoughts
Players need to develop confident goal oriented thoughts that start with "I will, I can, I going to ..." In the previous softball example, what should the player have done? Instead of thinking and vocalizing the negate thought, she could be saying, "I will throw the ball through the first basemen's heart" to create a positive image in her mind. Or better yet, created a sequence of images of her cleanly fielding the ball, turning toward first, and throwing the ball through her teammate's heart.

Script success by visualizing yourself performing the way you want with confidence, energy, and full focus. As your going to sleep at night, picture yourself performing a series of positive steps that lead to the desired outcome. For example, you want to improve your 3-point shooting percentage under pressure defense. Create a series of images where you receive a pass from a teammate just outside the 3-point line, turn and face the basket, and with perfect shooting form release the shot that goes through the basket hitting only the bottom of the net.

Summary
The mind should always be in the game, playing along, positively reinforcing the developed muscle memory. But, we reiterate, the quality of the mind games will affect the quality of the body's game. Thinking that you must do this during the moment it is to be done indicates an anxiety that will surely harm your performance. The anxiety is based on the fear of failing. Instead, discipline your mind by creating positive imaginary that enhances your physical performance.

The thought of trying hard and not succeeding is intimidating. The best players have had fears of inadequacy, but the best players ignore them, determined to overcome them and gain control of their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. When they do that, they exemplify a winner's approach.

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Touch Them All

SportNut — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:01:00 -0700

On Saturday April 26, 2008 in the Div 2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball finals between Western Oregon and Central Washington, Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace demonstrate an incredible act of sportsmanship after Sara Tucholsky hit a home run and is injured rounding first base. What did Mallory and Liz do? They carried the opponents outfielder around the bases, making sure Sara touched them all, for what eventually turned out to be the winning run. Although Central Washington lost the game 4-2, Mallory and Liz act of kindness demonstrated sportsmanship that will be used as an example by parents and coaches for years to come.

Here is a video with the story:

A few days later Sara, Mallory, and Liz were interviewed where they explained what they were thinking as the events unfolded:

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Technorati Tags: coaching, players, parents, motivational, priorities

Developing Player Confidence Through Constructive Coaching

SportNut — Sat, 17 May 2008 09:13:00 -0700

It is much easier to build you athlete's confidence when they are performing well, but unfortunately it is not easy to obtain successful results in sports. As the coach, it is unrealistic for your players to expect you to be positive 7/24/365. There are going to be times when you need to correct them after they make a mistake or are upset with them because of a lack of effort. Many athletes admit that their coaches need to be hard on them at times to get their attention, which raises the question: How do you correct your athletes without them getting down on themselves? This is the real trick of coaching - knowing how to preserve your athletes' confidence when you need to correct them.

Top 10 list for maintaining confidence while challenging athletes

Set high expectations and make it a "we" achievement
The best thing you can say to your athletes when they made a mistake is "I know your better than that." This simple phrase reinforces the belief that you have confidence in their ability and that you know they are capable of performing at much higher level than what they are currently showing. The key here is how you say it. If it is said in a sarcastic tone, it will lose its effectiveness. You have to be enthusiastic and say it in a way that will be perceived as a positive challenge by your athletes. Turn the challenge into a "we" achievement that lets the athlete know that together you will tackle the problem. Making it a "we" project shows your athletes that you are willing to partner with them to help them improve.
Realize mistakes are not intentional
The vast majority of mistakes athletes make are not intentional. Athletes want to play well, not only for themselves, but also for their coaches and teammates. The mistakes they make are not because they want to make them, but more often because they have not sufficiently mastered the skill or are overwhelmed by the pressure of the moment. Realizing your players mistakes are not intentional can be challenging at times, but the best course of action initially is to support them and encourage them to correct it. If you act to quickly to criticize or demean your athletes, they will likely lose confidence, play tentatively, become defensive, and eventually resent your criticism. None of these actions help the team reach the goal of playing as a championship caliber organization.
Allow athletes to play through mistakes
Although it is not always possible, a great way to demonstrate your confidence in an athlete is to allow them to play through their mistakes. Give them a chance to correct themselves within the game situation rather than pulling them out and immediately offering your feedback. Allowing athletes to self correct and learn from mistakes provides them with an opportunity to develop resiliency. If you pull your athletes every time they make a mistake, they will play tentatively out of fear of making a mistake. The quickest way to create a fear of failure in athletes is to punish them when they fail. Pulling an athlete immediately after a mistake is viewed as punishment. They will be more worried about making mistake and getting pulled than they are focused on making the plays. They will be thinking negative thoughts (ie., do not throw the ball away) instead of focusing on their positive capability (ie., I can make this throw) which only lead to more mistakes.
Do not tolerate excuse making
In order for an athlete to take responsibility for their success, they must also take responsibility for the shortcomings and own the corrective action. Taking responsibility for their success develop a player's confidence and builds self-esteem. Taking responsibility for their mistakes demonstrates a high level of maturity and, after correction, boosts a player's confidence. By encouraging players to accept responsibility, you are encouraging them to take ownership of their failures and success. The successes they own develops a deep foundational confidence level in their ability that they will need when the inevitable series of short falls comes along.
Keep it factual and focused on the solution
Like the players, many times coaches can get caught up in the emotions of the moment. In these types of moments, the feedback is emotionally charged and can lead to statements the coaches wish they never said. Instead of focusing on the problem, help athletes focus on the solution. When an athlete is struggling, focus them on the physical or mental adjustments they need to make to be successful. By saying "Make an adjustment," you are taking the player's focus away from the mistake and on to the correction they plan to make.
Criticize the behavior, not the person
When giving criticism, make sure the target of it is the athlete's behavior and not the actual athlete themselves. Criticizing the behavior allows a person to keep their confidence intact because their behavior can be changed and corrected. However, if you criticize them as a person, they cannot help but take it personally.
Surround the constructive feedback with positive reinforcements
What happens when a player's coach always find fault in what they are doing before mentioning anything good? The player become defensive right away and tunes the coach out. Your athletes will respond the same way to you if you always begin your feedback with something they are doing wrong. By sandwiching the constructive feedback between positive statements, the player's defensives stay down and they are more objective in listening to the feedback. This approach requires you to begin your interaction with something positive, instruct the athlete on what needs to be corrected, then finish the interaction with another positive statement.
Keep the feedback private
Ever heard the phrase "Praise in public, criticize in private." When praising athletes in front of their peers, it does a lot to build their confidence. Conversely, when you criticize athletes in public, you embarrass them in front of their peers, which raise their defensive mechanism. When you criticize an athlete in front of his teammates on a regular basis, you will destroy that athlete's pride. This is the one thing you will be relying on when the going gets tough. No one likes to be singled out and berated in front of others, but this concept gets lost on some coaches when they communicate with athletes.
Reinforce past successes and player strengths
In addition to your praise, athletes can build their own confidence by focusing on their strengths and past achievements. However, most athletes forget about these things when they are struggling and instead focus on the opposite: their current weaknesses and short term failures. Thus, one of the best things you can do is to remind them of how successful they are and provide concrete examples of this success. Refocus your athletes on their strengths. Remind them of past games or practices where they were successful because if they have done it once before, they can do it again.
Never give up
When it comes to your players, you must adopt a never give up mind set. The last thing you would ever want them to do is to give up. If they ever sense you have given up on them, they will either give up on themselves or lose all respect for you and give up on you as a coach. A major factor in a player's confidence level comes from their belief that the coach has confidence in their athletic ability.

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Technorati Tags: credible coaches, self confidence, champion, players, coaching

Life Lessons in a Mayonnaise Jar

SportNut — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:54:00 -0700

This story about golf balls in a jar highlights the fact that there are very few life priorities, but a lot of activities that can distract you from those things that are important things.

Special thanks to Caroline Middlebrook for passing this story along. If you know who the original author is then please send me an email so I can give them the proper credit.

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Philosophy of Life by Unknown

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions--things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff.”

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

By Unknown

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What are the activities keeping you from spending time on your top priorities? What are your top priorities and have you put them on a list? I find writing down goals and priorities helps crystallize their value.

My list of activities that are requesting the priority of my time: day job, family, president of a youth athletic association, commissioner of a youth sports league, coach, webmaster for multiple youth sports websites, .... My golf balls are: day job, family, and taking time for myself. The rest of the list are pebbles. Everything else is just sand.

What is your list?

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Hitting Mechanics - 400 Swings Per Hour

SportNut — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:42:00 -0700

I recently posted the details about hitting fundamentals (stance, loading, bat speed generation, swing, follow through) and the feedback was pretty consistent. "Great description, but where are the drills to perfect the swing!" Truth be told, the dills we do can be found all over the web. The secret sauce is not in some special new drill, but in organizing the hitting practice to maximize the fundamentally correct swings to develop proper muscle memory.

Before I put together the 60 minutes of drills, let me provide two caveats:

Perfect practice makes perfect play - if the players are not swinging with correct fundamentals all they are doing is reinforcing bad muscle memory. Bad muscle memory means there will be "holes" in the swing, which translates into offensive outs and player frustration. Perfect practice creates good muscle memory that means more hard hit balls.
Each drill has an objective that focuses on strength building, bat speed generation, pitch location, timing, and hitting the middle of the ball.

There is nothing sacred about the drills below; the key is that the team is divided into groups of two players each working on different drills simultaneously.

What we do is set up six different hitting stations around the field and divide the team into six groups (try to keep only two players per group). In order to get 400 swings in 60 minutes, the players need to average 67 swings per station. Using six stations for one hour allocates 10 minutes per station; well not exactly, it usually takes about 1 minute to transfer between stations, so let's call it 9 minutes of work with 1 minute for moving to the next station. I hear it now: "What a minute (pun intended), there is no way you can swing at 70 balls off a pitching machine in 9 minutes." You are correct. The pitching machine station can only provide about 40 swings in the allotted time. So this leaves us with 360 swings for 5 stations, therefore, you must average 72 perfect swings per station per player.

Here are some example stations:

Overload / Underload practice swings: 5 sets of 10 overload and 10 underload = 100 swings focused on bat speed. Practice swings without a ball develops a good fundamental swing with good balance. This post describes the principals of overloading and underloading to increase the bat speed.
Pitch location tee work: 2 sets of 10 inside, 10 middle, and 10 outside = 60 swings focused on hitting location and driving the ball to all fields. Working off a tee adds the element of hitting the ball without ball movement so the batter can focus on another element, in this case driving the ball to all fields. By removing the ball movement a batter can develop good balance and contact point location to be able to hit to all fields.
Semicircle soft toss: coach soft tosses 10 balls from the front, 10 from the side, 10 from behind, 10 from the side, and 10 from the front = 50 swings focused on hitting the center of the ball. Coach soft toss adds the element of a slow moving ball with the batter focusing on hitting line drives. In order to hit a line drive, the bat must travel parallel to the ground through the hitting zone and meet the center of the ball at the contact point.
One handed tee work: 3 sets of 10 front hand only and 10 back hand only = 60 swings focused on hand movement through the hitting zone. The front hand guides the bat through the hitting zone while the back hand provides the power to the swing. This drill isolates the hand movement through the hitting zone.
Wiffle ball short toss: 3 sets of 10 inside, 10 middle, and 10 outside = 90 swings focused on putting the whole swing together but with the ball moving at a slower speed than during the game. Wiffle ball short toss simulates a pitch being thrown in game and since the coach is a short distance in front of the batter, he can locate the pitch at different positions within the strike zone to provide additional batting practice for hitting to all fields.
Batting practice off a machine: 40 swings focused on timing the swing. By mixing up machine balls from different manufactures, the ball movement and speed are slightly varied that can simulate different pitcher's ball movement. It is very difficult to teach hitting mechanics off a machine, but can be very effective with batter timing.

There is nothing special about this set of stations other than you can get a lot of swings very quickly and isolate the individual hitting mechanics. We will use different station drills throughout the season to provide variety and work on specific skills, especially if we know that the pitcher in the upcoming game has good control or exceptional speed. If we know we will face a left-handed pitcher, we might have a left-handed coach or player pitch live instead of using the pitching machine. If the next game we will face a fast pitcher, we might double up on the pitching machine and turn the speed up a little.

What I want to encourage is that you, as a coach, think about how to maximize the number of swings per practice by sub-dividing the players into smaller groups and use multiple hitting stations. Think about the stations in categories: strength building, bat speed generation, pitch location practice, timing practice, and seeing the ball clearer. What drills do you know that fall into these broad categories? Okay, switch them in for variety.

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Technorati Tags: hitting mechanics, batting, baseball, softball

It Is Only One Possession

SportNut — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:18:00 -0700

For the past two weeks the NCAA men's and women's basketball teams have been competing in their conference playoffs. If you love basketball like I do then you have probably watched a few games. This season seems to have a lot of parity between the top ranked teams in the conferences and many games are being decided by a couple points. With so many close games, I am finding myself talking to my kids and players about the importance of each possession and how a misplay in an early quarter is just as devastating as one in the fourth quarter. I keep bringing up a poem written by Jeff Smith while he was a Coach at Dayton that highlights the value of each possession.

---

One Possession by Jeff Smith

It was only one possession! Why must my coach scream?
My poor defense permitted the basket, but what can one hoop mean?
As the pass comes my direction, and I fumble it in the stands,
The coach's voice rings loud and clear, "Catch with your eyes and hands!"

C'mon coach, it's a single possession, our team will be okay,
It's just the first two minutes, my gosh, we've got all day.
At the 2nd quarter mark, I remember, that the center is strong and stout,
A put back for two, quite simply due, to my failure to turn and block out.
But it was only one possession, I didn't commit a crime,
My team is ahead and I'm playing well, and there's still plenty of time!
As the halftime buzzer is sounding, and I watch the ball bank in,
I know I will hear from my loving coach, of my questionable effort to defend.

But, it was only one possession. Coach - don't have a heart attack!
We are down by one, but we are having fun, and I know we'll get the lead back!
The second half mirrors the first, but it's early; It's not a big deal
That my failure to use a pass fake results in an unlikely steal.
But quickly I sink a jumper, I'm greeted by high fives and slaps,
But the next possession I give up a lay-up, while suffering a mental lapse.
But it's only one possession, C'mon coach, chill out,
It's crazy to you see you disgusted, as you slap the assistant and shout.

"Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes. Single possessions are the key.
So treat them like gold and do as you're told. And, play with intensity."
I step to the line for one and one, but I'm having a concentration lapse.
The ball soars through the air - Good Lord, it's a brick! And I'm afraid the support will collapse.
In post game I sit at my locker, pondering what more I could do
I realize the value of each possession, what a shame we lost by two!

By Jeff Smith, Former Assistant Coach at Dayton

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Technorati Tags: basketball, coaching, players, one possession, motivational

Coaching Confidence Into Your Players

SportNut — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:39:00 -0800

Player confidence at all levels of play, from youth recreational to the professional athlete, is fragile. Handle with care! The challenge with building confidence is that it is such a fragile construct. An athlete might be confident one minute and then a play or two later have their confidence shattered. It is not uncommon for an athlete's confidence to fluctuate throughout the course of a season. Every player goes through a slump and needs to rebuild their self belief.

Competitive sports is more about failure than success. On average, soccer and hockey players miss 90% of their shot attempts. Baseball and softball's best hitters are out 65 to 70% of the time. Basketball player miss half of their shot attempts. Quarterbacks do not complete 40% of their pass attempts. All of this natural failure tends to erode an athlete's confidence. How a player deals with the built-in failure of the game eventually determines how successful they will be.

The key is not eliminating all doubts and fear, but having the player muster up enough confidence to perform despite the doubts and distractions.

Coach's confidence becomes player confidence

Youth athlete's especially look to their coach for confidence. Ideally, athletes should be able to create confidence on their own by focusing on their personal strengths, past successes, and hard work. In reality, a significant number base their confidence largely on how much confidence they perceive their coach has in them. This is especially true for female athletes since they are relationship network based more than their male counterparts.

A young softball player had a batting average over 0.400 in the previous spring season, but when it came to trying out to make the fall season's team, the new coach was not sure he wanted her on the team. It was only through the pleading of the previous year's coach that the player got an extended tryout. Eventually, the new coach begrudgingly took her onto the team for the fall season. In the first game, this young player hit two triples and a single. During the two practices the next week the coach criticized her fielding and worked to "fix" her swing. During the next weekend's game, the player hit the ball hard but got out in all three at-bats. In the following week's practices, the criticism and swing fixing continued. In the batting line-up for the next weekend's game, the player was dropped to the bottom of the order and was moved into a substitute outfielder role. The player responded by striking out in two of her three at-bats that game. The rest of the fall season was downhill from there.

Between the fall season and next spring season, the player switched organizations and coaches. The new coach recognized the player's potential and took steps to rebuild her confidence. During the next spring, the player's batting average was back over 0.400 and she became a key fielding contributor to the team's tournament play success.

What was the difference between the fall and spring season: the perception of the coach's confidence in the player's ability.

Steps to building player confidence

As a coach, you play a prominent role in both the development and maintenance of your athlete's confidence. As a coach, you can proactively build confidence until it becomes solid and stable and then monitor and repair it during the inevitable storms. Here are a few steps to building, maintaining, and repairing player confidence.

Focus on the potential: Building confidence begins with seeing their potential by envisioning them as polished players even though they may be pretty rough. Do not get caught up with what they can do today but focus on what they can do tomorrow. Keep the interference of their today capabilities away from what they can be.
Plant the seeds of success: After you get a positive picture of what an athlete can become, it is time to start planting seeds by helping them see the same picture. For most players, it is not what they are that holds them back. It is what they think they are not. Planting seeds of success is a clear way of showing your athletes that you believe in them. It might take awhile, but the confidence you show in them is the catalyst that gets them believing in themselves.
Enable their belief: Coaches build confidence by selling athletes on their own unique abilities and talents. They set high expectations and get them to believe that they are capable of achieving those expectations by highlighting proof points along the way. This helps athletes get out of their own way and build confidence that overcomes their self-imposed doubts and fears.
Provide a simple specific actionable plan: Once you have set the expectations, take them through the daily and weekly steps necessary to obtain these expectations. Highlight the specific, yet simple, activities and achievements necessary for success by breaking down your vision of their potential into short and medium term actionable steps. Have the player's close their eyes and walk through these steps until they culminate into obtaining the vision.
Emphasize hard work deserves success: Athletes earn victory only through hard work. When you feel like you have outworked your opponents, you feel like you deserve success because you earned it more than they have. Hard work is not a sacrifice, it is something that is good for them and an investment in their potential. Every time they go the extra mile, they are earning an advantage over their competition.
Create early and often successes: Building confidence requires proof points of success. Confidence is most fragile in the early stages, so structure practices and schedules to build in early successes. Work toward success early and then let them succeed. Conversely, do not put them in a situation where they will fail miserably. Schedule scrimmages with easier teams at the beginning of the season and leave the power-house organizations for later when their confidence is high.
Reinforce the positive: Look for opportunities to praise early successes publicly. By accentuating the strengths, a solid foundation of confidence is built that can be leveraged in the future. Keep the constructive feedback private and infrequent. Spend more time inflating the people around you than deflating them. When players struggle with success, tell them you believe in them. Tell them to trust themselves, that they are better than they currently believe they are.

As a coach, what you say and do does more to create a player's confidence than any specific action by the player. If you can see the players' and team's potential, articulate a vision with actionable steps, create early success that can be reinforced, then your team will play with confidence and achieve many successes.

Are you willing to put in the up front work to articulate the vision of potential so that the team can attain success?

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Technorati Tags: credible coaches, self confidence, champion, players, coaching

Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches

SportNut — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:25:00 -0800

I have recently been re-reading a book on the Seven Secrets of Successfully Coaching by Jeff Janssen and Greg Dale. Jeff and Greg interviewed successful coaches and their players at the professional and collegiate level that lead to seven key tenants to building a long lasting organization that can compete in the top ranks year after year with different players.

It All Starts at the Top

"The purpose of this book is to provide you with the answers to intriguing and important leadership questions. ... the core of what successful coaching is all about - getting athletes and teams to consistently perform to their full potential. ... Your leadership is the key component in deciding whether your team will perform to its potential or fall short. ... Yet without your ability to attract, motivate, develop, discipline, produce, and keep good athletes, your team had little chance of being successful."

"... ultimately your success as a coach will not solely be judged on the quantity of wins you have, but also on the quality of the relationships you develop with your athletes."

Coercive Coaches vs Credible Coaches

Coercive coaches, with their command and control leadership style, force players to follow them out of fear. They make athletes fear them by punishing, embarrassing, and yelling at them when they make a mistake or break a rule. This overbearing and negative approach many times will work in the short term, but over the long run the players will not respect the coaches as legitimate leaders, will eventually become discouraged, and will stop developing their skills. It is not surprising that eventually the players come to resist and resent the dictatorial and manipulative coaching style.

On the other hand, credible coaches earn their athletes' respect by the way they nurture and develop them. They treat their athletes with dignity and respect and create an environment where they feel valued, appreciated, challenged, and competent. They build solid relationships with their athletes based on integrity, compassion, and trust. By focusing on making decision that are the best for the team, and not what is best for the coach short term, credible coaches earn the players respect, develop more confident athletes, and get higher player performance.

Based on interviews with over 15 of the nations top and most well respected coaches and the players that played for them, Jeff and Greg confirm that the credible coaching style leads to greater player respect, better trust within the team, and more winning seasons.

Seven Secrets of Credible Coaches are ...

Character based: Credible coaches seek to do the right thing by honoring players with high ethical standards and great integrity. They tell the truth and never manipulate or play mind games. They surround themselves with assistant coaches of solid character because they know that character is just as important as talented athletes in the long run.
Competence: Credible coaches have a thorough understanding of the strategies, rules, and fundamentals of the game. They know how to put together a game plan, learn to make appropriate mid game adjustments, and are seldom outcoached. A key characteristic is being inquisitive about innovating new tactics and improving the way things are done. They are students of the game and understand that admitting their limitations is actually a sign of strength, not weakness.
Committed: Credible coaches are highly committed people who create successful visions for their team and are more than willing to put in the time required to make the team successful. They are highly competitive people who truly enjoy competing and winning at the highest levels with a true passion for the sport that fuels an intense drive, enthusiasm, and passion. They survive the inevitable storms of adversity with energy and resiliency.
Caring: Credible coaches sincerely want the best for their athletes both on and off the field of play. They invest the time to get to know their players on a personal level by showing interest in their players' families, friends, school, and future goals. This caring does not stop at the end of the season or the player's eligibility, but extends through high school, college, and eventual career.
Confidence builders: Credible coaches continually build their athletes' confidence by planting seeds of success in their minds and convincing them they can and will be successful. They have the capability of convincing others that they can achieve almost anything they set their minds to. They are demanding and set high standards, yet patient enough to help players develop and improve.
Communicators: Credible coaches are open, honest, and direct when communicating with the players and team. They consistently remind and refocus the team on critical success factors and involve their athletes' by listening to their feedback and valuing their input. Due to their communicative abilities, many times they are aware of player's concerns and conflicts that enable them to proactively address situations before they become a major problem or distraction.
Consistent: Credible coaches develop a sound coaching philosophy that remains stable over time while flexible enough to adapt to changing times and situations. Whether the team is winning or losing, they bring a consistent and focused demeanor to practice and games. They tend to have very few team standards or rules that they consistently apply to all players. Finally, they tend to be highly organized people who take practice and game preparation seriously.

Assessment to where your coaching style is on the scale of coercive to credible coaching

Based on Jeff and Greg's description of credible coaching, I have come up with a few questions that I believe will help every coach determine where they are on the coercive to credible coaching style. Ask yourself the following three questions:

At what part of the season does the team peak? beginning, middle, or end
Would you play for yourself?
Do your players return year after year?

Based on your answers, your coaching style can be determined:

If your team peaks at the beginning of the season or very few players returned from the prior year, then it is time to look in the mirror to discover a coercive coach. In many many years of playing and coaching, I have never met anyone who will readily admit to being a coercive coach, even though they are the prototype of the definition. Would you play for yourself because, as the coach, you are focusing on the teams success? Probably not! It is time for some self evaluation and determine how committed you are to the team's success. Are your committed enough to change your fundamental coaching style?
If your team plays the best in the middle of the season, then you need to continue learning the game and build and develop credible coaching characteristics. By the middle of the season, most teams have scouted their opponents, know their style of play and the best defensive and offensive players. During the second half of the season, the successful coaches make in-game adjustments that enable their teams success.
Does your team play the best at the end of the season with many of the players returning season after season? If this is the case, then you have several of the characteristics of a credible coach. I say "several" because even after 20 years of coaching experience, the best coaches in the nation still readily admit to continually working to master these seven traits. Pick one secret for success this next season and set a goal to improve in this area.

This quick book review cannot do the topic of credible coaching justice. In Seven Secrets of Successfully Coaching, Jeff and Greg devote a chapter to each of the seven traits, with numerous stories from the successful coaches and their players they interviewed. If you are committed to becoming a credible coach that year after year competes at the highest level, then this is a book you will pick up and read multiple times throughout your career.

Best wishes and see you in the finals!

Coaching and Leadership books by Jeff Janssen:

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Technorati Tags: credible coaches, coaching

Hold the Rope

SportNut — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:39:00 -0800

As a youth tournament team coach, I get exposed to many one line pearls of wisdom and short articles. The article below titled "Hold the Rope" I believe articulates a good perspective of team work. Which player(s) on your team would be asked to hold the rope?

"Hold the Rope" by Yvette Gironard, Head Softball Coach at University of Southwest Louisiana

Every year a college team wins the NCAA title. Every year an ASA team wins Nationals. Every year the best high school team in each Division wins the state crown. All of these team have one thing in common, and contrary to popular belief, gifted, talented, athletes is not the answer. No matter how tough it became through their season, they did one thing ... they held the rope.

What is holding the rope? Imagine you are hanging off the side of a cliff with a drop of 20,000 feet. The only thing between you and a fall to death is a rope, with the person of your choice at the other end. Who do you know that has the guts to pull you to safety? Who will hold the rope?

If you can name two people that's not good enough because those two people might not be around. The next time your team is together, look around and ask yourself, who could I trust to hold the rope? The look at yourself and ask the same question - who would I hold the rope for? When you can look at every member on your team and say to yourself that they all would hold the rope, including yourself, you are destined to win a lot of ball games.

You don't have to be the best team on the field to win the game. I know, I have had two teams that were not the most talented but believed in the rope. Those were two Women's College World Series teams.

No matter what sport you play, in order to win, you have a commitment to your team. If you are supposed to run sprints at the end of practice, do it well. If you have to practice, do it, don't just go through the motions because you are then wasting everyone's time. Once you start letting up at practice or start missing your workouts, you've killed the team because you didn't hold the rope. When you need to take your own time to eat right, sleep well and/or rehab, do it so you can hold the rope when your team needs you. Remember this is a team sport, everyone must be hold the fibers.

Yvette Gironard, Head Coach
University of South Louisiana
Fast-Pitch Coach

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Technorati Tags: team work, motivational

Free Throws Win Close Games

SportNut — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:45:00 -0800

Last week, I have watched three close high school basketball games in the local area and in each one free throws determined the outcome. When it comes to the end of game, free throw shots, more often than not, determine the final outcome. But, shooting foul shots at the end of the game are different than shooting free throws in practice for two reasons: 1) the players are fatigued, and 2) they shoot them in pressure situations.

Let me first recount the game situations:

Game 1 - High School Varsity Boys: The visiting team calls a timeout with 36 seconds left in the game with the home team is leading by 5 points and in a double bonus situation (i.e., every visiting team foul is two shoots for the home team). After the timeout, the visitors quickly score. Home ahead by 3. The home team inbounds the ball against a full court press and is immediately fouled. Both free throws are missed. The visitors score and call timeout. Home up by 1 with 21 seconds. The home team inbounds the ball and is quickly fouled. Both free throws are missed and the visitors score another 2 point basket. Visitors up by 1 with 1.3 seconds left. The home team inbounds the ball and miss a 3 point shot at the buzzer. Visitors win by 1 since the home team went 0-4 from the foul line in the last 36 seconds.

Game 2 - High School Varsity Girls: The home team calls a timeout with 2:26 left in the game ahead by 4 points with both team in a bonus situation (i.e., every foul puts the player on the foul line to shoot 1 and 1 - you make the first free throw then you get a second attempt, if you miss the first free throw then the ball is live). The home team inbounds the balls, deliberately runs their offence, and passes the ball out of bounds. Visitor ball with 1:46 left on the clock. The visitor's bring the ball into front court, run the offense, and are fouled on a drive to the basket with 1:46 left in the game. The visitors miss the front end of the 1 and 1. In the next minute plus of the game, the visitors outscore the home team by two points - home by 2 with 1.8 seconds left and home has to inbound the ball under the visitors basket. The visiting team steals inbound pass and a visiting player is fouled in the act of shooting as time expires. Down by two points the visiting team must make two free throws to tie game. The shooter misses the first foul shot and the game is over. Home wins because the visitors shoot 0-3 from the foul line in the last 2 minutes.

Game 3 - Freshman Boys: At half-time the visiting team leads by 2 points. During the second half, the visiting team makes 9 out of 11 free throws and win the game by 12 points. In the second half the lead is expanded by 10 points with 9 of those points coming from the foul line.

How does a coach and player prepare themselves for end of the game foul shots?
After a conditioning exercise [1] and before the water break, I would pair players together to shoot 10 free throws each on the baskets around the gym. Out of the combined 20 free throws the player pair needed to make a pre-specified percentage (for 5th thru 8th grade it is 50%, for high school players it is 60%). The first player shoots 5 free throws, the second player shoots 5 free throws, then the first player shoots another 5 free throws, and finally the second player shoots the final 5 free throws. If the pair failed to make equal to or more than the specified percentage, then the pair get the opportunity to participate in another conditioning exercise and try the free throw drill again. It should be noted that I put a mercy limit of running the free throw drill 3 times. What I discovered is that without a mercy limit, the player's became discouraged and the drill became counter productive.

Why does this work?
Fatigue and pressure are the two elements that a coach wants to reproduce to replicate an end of game free throw situation.

Fatigue is a weariness or exhaustion from labor that causes a temporary loss of power to respond that is induced in a sensory receptor or motor end organ by continued stimulation. A good 5 to 10 minutes of heart rate elevation, constant muscle movement, and extended heavy breathing will create a 36 to 40 minute game worth of fatigue.
Pressure situation are created by elevating a player's stress level through mental tension resulting from factors that alter a player's equilibrium. Stress can be created through controlled peer pressure of letting a teammate down. This is the reason behind pairing the players together. If one player makes less than half of their free throws, they did not carry their portion of the burden. Young athlete's get stressed as they are concerned that they will not produce at the required level.

By creating a stressfully fatigued environment a coach can replicate the end of game foul shooting situation. Through the creation of this environment regularly during practice, the player's develop a inner confidence in themselves and their abilities that translates into end of the game situation .... and more team wins.

[1] I tried many different types of conditioning exercise but the one I found worked best before the free throw drill was football. The players enjoy the game and are motivated to work hard to win for bragging rights of being victorious. It also reinforces many types of passing and receiving drills, turning to face the basket (or up court), and screening and cutting drills. If the teams are evenly matched, a game to 5 points will provide about 10 minutes of player heart rate elevation and the players usually do not realize they are being conditioned or polishing their passing and defensive skills.

The basketball variant of North American football: The baselines under the basket are the end zones. If a player passes the ball to their teammate past the baseline that team receives one points. The defensive team works to intercept the pass or knock the ball away from the offense. Unlike regular football, a player cannot run with the ball (that would be traveling). The basketball can only move up the floor by one team member passing to another. Every player on the team must touch the ball before that team can score.

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Technorati Tags: basketball, free throws, coaching

Coaching Pre-Teens

SportNut — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:29:00 -0800

Let us be clear: coaching pre-teen youth sports is different than coaching teen recreational and teen competitive youth sports. The goal of coaching pre-teen sports team is about player development and having fun, the top priority is not about winning. Too many times I have seen coaches of pre-teen sports teams either play to win at all costs or coach the team around their child. When this happens some youth players sit out games, loose their interest, and never re-consider rejoining the sport at a later date.

Considerations for coaching pre-teens

Your biggest concerns when coaching kids at the lower levels (pre-teen) should be:

Make the experience fun
Success at the pre-teen level is gauged by how much fun the kids are having. If everyone is having fun, including yourself as the coach, then you are doing something right.
Teach the game
There are many of books on the basic skills of coaching, teaching skills, drills, etc. Take the time to read these and put a practice plan that develops the basic skills and rules of the game. While it helps to have played the sport yourself at some point in your life, it's not a prerequisite to being a good coach. Just like in the sport itself, coaching has certain fundamentals.

The year before the player's reach the middle school grade, ask the middle school coach to come to a game or, better yet, have the middle school coach run a practice or two for you. This provides the middle school coach with an opportunity to show the players what is expected from them the next year, teach the offensive and defensive schemes and drills, and best of all, associates a young player's name with a face.
Demand respect from the players and treat the players with respect
Kids sense a pushover, will take advantage of a weak leader, and walk all over you. Drills will be non-productive, no practices will be frustrating for both players and coach, and play during the games will be sloppy. The coach is the authority figure. You deserve the respect that this position entails. Keep the team rules simple. One of the rules should be: if a coach is talking then no one else is talking and all eyes are on you.

The key is to set the ground rules right at the start. Point out what you expect from your team and what they can expect from you. Just like you must follow through with your threats of punishment with your own kids when they push it too far, you must be gentle but firm with a team's players.

Conversely, the player's deserve the coach's respect. If the player's are putting forth 110% effort, independent of the results, then that is all the coach should ask for. A simple way to show player's respect is when talking to a young player is to not stand over them and talk down to them. Bend over so you are face level, maybe even kneel down, so they are even with you or a little above. It's amazing how this will prevent intimidation, and rivet his attention.

Keep in mind that your highest goal at this level is to instill a love for the game in your players so they will want to continue playing for years to come. Help them to succeed at the basics of the game, which can be measured by the team being better at the end of season than when they began, is more important than any number of wins.

To be an effective coach, you must:

Be prepared:
Like a good scout, a good coach is prepared. That means you come to practices with a specific plan as to what you will be working on that day, right down to the drills and stations. Run drills at multiple stations to that keep most of the kids actively involved. Idle players leads to fool around time. Have your practice plan written down with the most important areas of development to be done at the beginning of practice, but leave time for fun activities near the end.

Always have your equipment, plenty of practice balls, and first aid kit.

For game days, have your line-up and rotations figured out the night before and charted on paper. Have a few alternatives in case some kids don't show, or get hurt. There's nothing more annoying than watching a coach scramble madly to figure out who should be playing, who played all game yesterday, who sits, who replaces whom.
Communicate with parents:
The parents can make coaching a joy or a chore. Distribute a roster with phone numbers. Assign duties, such as concession duty, work days, etc. Let them know your game and practice schedules, enforce pick-up times (you are not a babysitter), and have them voice concerns to you, not behind your back.

Keep these simple concepts in mind this coming season, and you will do fine.

Good luck!

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Technorati Tags: pre-teen coaching

Summary of Learning Styles

SportNut — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:11:00 -0700

Learning Style: Introduction Auditory Visual Kinesthetic Sequential Summary

Recapping the coaching process

To maximize your coaching effectiveness and reach the different learning styles follow this process:

Tell the players what they are going to learn and the motivation for learning it – target audience: auditory and sequential learners
Have a coach or player demonstrate the activity and ask the players to break it down step by step – target audience: visual and sequential learners
Let the players perform the activity with constructive coaching fine tuning – target audience: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners
Recap the activity with why it is important and what are the steps in the process – target audience: all learning styles

Many times coaches implement steps 2 and 3 above, but skip step 1 and fail to follow up with step 4.

This four step process has produced positive effect for many outlier athletes. For example, one young athlete went from a bottom pick in a senior little league draft to a recognize first baseman after having a coach that consistently implemented this style of instruction.

During the draft for a fall baseball team, John (not his real name) was a bottom pick. John had played many years in the little league baseball organization and was widely regarded a "not an athlete, but loves the game" baseball player, so being the last pick was his standard place.

The fall baseball coach implemented this four step process to teach the team the fundamentals of baseball. John, being a sequential learner, needed a coach to explain the motivation and the mechanical steps to playing baseball. Since John was a big young man for his age but was not gifted with speed or a strong arm, first base seemed a logical choice assuming he could catch and stop errant throws. The coach explained the mechanics of first base and the motivation for stopping ground balls in the infield and from errant throws.

The results were amazing. In an early season game, John got his body in front of a ball that took a bad hop on the edge of the infield grass off his chest, collected himself, picked up the ball, and touched the first base to get the runner out and end the inning. Several head coaches in the audience took notice since this capability was perceived to be out of John’s reach. In the next inning, John left first base to put his body in front of an errant throw from third and hold the batter/runner on first base. Once again several coaches took notice. In the spring, for the first time, John was drafted in the middle rounds as a back up first baseman. Why did this happen? John’s fall coach recognized that John was a sequential learning that needed a motivation for an action and a step-by-step explanation of what was expected from him. Until this coach had John as a player, no coach had instructed him according to his dominant sequential learning style. When taught according to his learning style, John is an exceptional fast learner.

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