The Little League Coach

Citrus Park Victorious!

A team from Citrus Park Little League in Tampa, Florida just defeated a team from Mobile, Alabama to advance to the Little League World Series . The league has only five majors teams in it to pick from. What did they have that Mobile didn’t have? Pitching! Pitching! Pitching!

Mobile was averaging 1 home run every 5.5 at bats during the regionals! The total home runs tonight? -0-. Neither Little League had EVER sent a team to the World Series.

Pitching Rules Have Changed the Dynamic

I have written about this before, the new pitching rules have completely changed the dynamic of the Little League World Series. Pitch count limits and mandatory rests mean that every team will need to rely on their 4th, 5th, and 6th pitchers. Gone are the days of pitching 2 pitchers until their arms fall off. Gone are the days of 15 strike out games.

Want to get your league to the World Series? Start working pitchers now!

Weekly Practice Schedule

When should you be working pitchers? During the regular season w/ a minimum schedule of:

-Every Practice at least 3 pitchers from each team should be working
-At least once a week every team should hold special pitcher/catcher practices
-Pitchers should have individual coaches that work with them once a week as well

These are minimums! Of course, you should watch their arms as well!

When game are on you should stick to this schedule for a pitcher and work it into the schedule above:

Day 1-Game Day Pitching Ice Arm immediately
Day 2-Day off after game day
Day 3-Soft throwing next day ending w/ long toss
Day 4-Pitch again, or hard throwing if not pitching

This is a good 4 day rotation, but remember, alway adjust depending on whether you pitched a game or simply practiced.

Watch the arms!

Sore arms are normal. The key is determining whether it is just normal muscle soreness or joint/tendonitus soreness.

My Limited Knowledge

The Washington Redskins trainer used to visit us each year at my prior league. He would point out that the reason arms are sore after throwing is that tiny tendons in the muscle are being broken when you throw and that creates soreness. The best way to cure this is run after every practice. This delivers oxygen to the muscle and speeds the healing process. Also, icing immediately to stop the micro swelling is very important.

If the soreness is in the muscle meat part of the arm that is normally not an issue. It needs a little rest and it will be fine. ANY soreness in the elbow or shoulder should be IMMEDIATELY looked at. If you take the point of your finger and apply a little pressure to the joint of the elbow you should get a flinch from the player. BAD SIGN! Stop immediately and see a doctor! If you raise the arm and apply a little pressure on the shoulder or have the player resist your pressure after he makes a fist similar to boxing, and you get a flinch, BAD SIGN! Stop immediately and see a doctor!

The main thing to take away from this year’s world series is Develop Your Pitchers!

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I had a pitching lesson last night with an eight year old girl that has good core talent. We have been working together off and on for a few months now. In fact, her minor’s team wasn’t really doing anything for her so she often practiced with our majors team. Anyway, last night we were dodging lightning bolts so I decided to show her a few basic drills.

I have to admit, I thought this practice was pretty boring. We started in the dugout w/ a simple flip drill, then once it stopped raining, we moved to a basic one knee drill. That is pretty much all we did.

Her response? She told her dad that was the funnest practice she ever had???? Amazing!

Don’t ever forget the effect you have having on the children you coach. They are sponges, they absorb everything you say good and bad. How about we all try and be a good influence?

What is the greatest thing a kid ever said about you?

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• Live video of being hit by lightning

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I am Honored

I am honored to announce that today a parent requested that I provide individual training for their child. I will be teaching her pitching and helping to develop her delivery, release, and general growth as a pitcher . She has a good core to start from and she is a hard worker. I am honored that they feel I can help her develop.

Soliciting More Clients

This is a natural extension of this blog and I would consider accepting additional clients. If you wish to discuss individual training and work out a schedule to do so, please contact me at rick@thelittleleaguecoach.com and we will hash out the details.

I look forward to working with you!

How many of you feel a personal coach is an effective way to advance your career?

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Most leagues in the world announced their all-star teams yesterday. While they could have practiced on Sunday I suppose, most, like us, probably held their first practice today.

Most, like us, probably feel they have a pretty good competitive team, but feel they have a lot of work to do.

I ask EVERY all-star coach out there to remember that millions of teams began practicing today, but only 1 will end their season with a win. Make sure to make All-Stars a positive experience for everyone involved.

What tricks do you use to make sure everyone enjoys their all-star experience?

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For the two of you out there that haven’t heard, Tiger Woods, with a hobbled knee just out of surgery, obviously in pain, down to his last putt on the final hole to force a playoff tomorrow drained it! The putt itself was good, but his tee shot was in the trap, his second in the rough, and his third 20′ from the hole. This was a microcosm of his entire week.

One of the commentators said that Tiger’s father once told him "nobody will ever be tougher mentally than you are". That is true. In my heyday of country club golf I was the MVP of our "B" competitive team. I was 7-0-1 in matches including the championship. I used to stand over a 10′ putt and say to myself, "this is a putt champions make". This is how I mentally prepared. I also found myself down 5 holes after nine and my partner and I came back and that was our one draw! That same season I shot my all-time low of 75. That was the most mentally prepared I have ever been in my life. It was all about FOCUS!

Ask any of my girls and they will tell you what I repeat over and over and over FOCUS!. When you lose it things fall apart, when you have it, spectacular plays happen.

What can we learn from Tiger? Don’t forget the mental game. It is more important than the physical. As you progress everyone has skills. What makes a difference is the mental attitudes. We are heading into all-stars and I tell my girls, all the teams have skills, the winners have focus, mental awareness, and heart. That’s what makes a champion. Everyone has skills, champions have focus and extreme mental capacities.

What do you do to focus?

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Great thing happened in our clinic today. We had an end of practice drill where we had to bunt off of a very fast pitching machine . If the batter put the ball in play fair, they got back in line, if it went foul or they missed, they had to run the bases. Only to third, next time I think I will have them slide into third when they get there, left that out this time.

Anyway, apparently the threat of running was not enough to focus them on bunting properly, because they missed quite a few and had to run a lot. I stated they had to get five in a row before we stopped. Once it was apparent this wasn’t going to happen, our coach said he was changing the rules, if they got a bunt down, they were allowed to go to the dugout and pack up their gear.

10 out of 13 got their bunt down. The motivation of practice being over made them focus! Focus was the key, concentration was the key. This was a great learning experience for them and very enlightening for me as well! A fantabulous teaching opportunity, and I know they got the message as well.

Every pitch , focus, concentration, every pitch.

What is the best teaching opportunity you have ever had on or off the field ?

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As we practiced for our tournament of champions tonight our team had that swagger back. A parent in the stands remarked, "they look good tonight, they are playing with a lot of confidence ". How crucial is that in our sport? Essential! It doesn’t guarantee victory, but it assures a chance at it. If you lack confidence in softball , you might as well stay home, you are done.

We practice twice tomorrow. I wonder if they can maintain this passion? I think they will, they are really starting to gel. A third of the team is sleeping over one of the girls houses, this is great. They all showed up tonight after a long game last night with smiles on their faces, smiles go a long way! Hopefully we will do the same.

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Inclusive

Little League is inclusive. You don’t have to try out to get into the league , only to balance the talent among the teams. Anyone that signs up gets to play! That said, back in the olden days when I was playing, there were no minimum play rules. In fact, there were no reentry rules! Once you were out, you were out.

I also started playing as a 9 Year Old. There was no minors program, there were no developmental or t-ball programs either. The fact is that playing time in Little League has increased astronomically.

Earn Your Position

That said, this isn’t "feel good league", it is Little League. You have to earn your position on your team in the Major ’s. This is NOT a bad thing! This is a great life lesson . How many times have you thought Jimmy was going to be the shortstop but Johnny beat him out. Then Johnny worked real hard and won the spot back. What was the result? Two great shortstops!

Regulation IV (i) in the Little League rulebook requires that "every player on a team roster will participate in each game for a minimum of six (6) defensive outs and bat at least one (1) time."

In minors this year for the first time consecutive batting orders are mandatory. Many leagues already did this, but now it is the rule. The minimum play times in regulation IV still apply, but free substitution is now permitted on defense. Our league made a local rule that no player in minors may sit for more than three consecutive outs thereby guaranteeing that a kid in minors will play every other inning at a minimum.

What if Your Kid Isn’t Playing Enough?

What if you think your kid is not playing enough but is playing the league minimums? The board of directors has no choice but to hear your concerns, graciously console you, and then inform you that the manager is within their rights to manage the team as they see fit. As long as Jimmy is playing the minimum, there is nothing the board can or will do.

Now what to do? Some would be tempted to "take their ball and go home" and this reaction is understandable. But what are we teaching our kids if we allow them or even encourage them to do that? Wouldn’t it be better to take Jimmy to the field and work him out? Make it impossible for the coach to keep him out of the game? How about encouraging him to support his teammates? Stepping up as a moral leader?

There are so many valuable lessons to be learned in Little League. One of the most valuable is that you don’t always get your way, or what you want. You do what is best for the team and respect your manager’s decisions. Likely you are young or inexperienced if you are playing league minimums. Your time will come. Look up to the others, try to emulate them, try to make yourself better, and do everything in your power to improve.

Or you can take your ball and go home, another life lesson?

There is a kid waiting in minors that would consider it an honor to play 6 outs and bat once in the Majors.

How do you keep kids motivated that only play minimums?

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Quick Play Drill

I found this pretty cool "quick play" drill at the Ohio Fastpitch Connection. They have a ton of drills on there, but most of them are not my style, too slow. I prefer drills that keep all the kids active and moving and simulate game situations. The "quick play" drill almost does this, so we modified it slightly. Follow is what we did.

Original Was Slow

The original quickplay drill had 2 lines of players w/ 5 balls lined up, grab one, throw to first, grab the 2nd, throw to first, etc. This is a great drill in and of itself, and if you only had 3 or 4 players max working on it, that would be fine. We have 12 to keep busy though and I hate to see kids standing around!

The Fix

To counter this we modified the drill. I added a catcher to the mix. Then had the 3B throw to 1B and 1B throw to the C. The problem with this was it slowed down the "quick play" portion of the 3B. So we added a "suicide" effect to it to help w/ conditioning also! Likewise, we set up a bunt station just outside of 3B. We had the kids leave their bats and hats at the bunt station and carry their gloves with them. (Of course we had a pitcher/catcher combination working at all times!)

It worked great! One of the best practices we had!

Here is the rotation:

1. Coach places the 5 balls in a line from 3B to home plate
2. 3B runs to the first ball and throws to 1B
3. 1B throws home and catcher simulates a tag
4. 3B backpedals (very important skill) to the 3B position and then charges back up to the 2nd ball. (This gives the 1B time to throw to the C)
5. This is repeated until all 5 balls are thrown to 1B and C
6. After the 5th ball, the 1B runs to 2nd and slides, then gets in line at the bunting station.
7. The C runs through 1B and gets in line there.
8. The 3B moves to the C line
9. The bunter goes and gets in line at 3B. (now that I think about it probably would have been better if we had our bunt station behind 3B, but we will update that next time)

Having at least one extra player at each station gives the players a chance to catch their breath and get all of their things in order for when it is there turn to perform.The coach has plenty of time to place the balls while the girls are moving up, but he has to be quick. Keeping this thing moving is the key to its success and increases the "fun factor" for the kids. They are moving and conditioning and don’t even know it!

Don’t be afraid to take things you know and modify them slightly. The kids love the variety and it keeps them focused at practices. This is very important as it is easy to lose them and then everyone is wasting their time. Do you have any cool drills that you modified to make them more exciting? Let’s hear about them!

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We all know that walks are never a good thing , but in Little League they are particularly bad. This was never more true than in the 19-9 trouncing our team major softball team received tonight. We walked 16 batters and 14 of them scored. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how we lost.

The team we played was very good, and I am not saying we would have won even had we not walked their girls so often. But a team doesn’t give itself a chance if it doesn’t throw strikes. At least throwing strikes you give your defense a chance, walking pretty much eliminates that opportunity.

The bright side of this equation is that we can only improve. We have worked our pitchers very hard and will continue to do so all year. They will only get better. Our defense and our offense is sound, hopefully our pitchers will be just good enough to get us by.

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