As I’m watching snow outside, I know its January and January always gets my energy level up as I know BASEBALL IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
We have tryouts here in February so it’ll be on us in no time.
I always picture the first practice and what I’ll do.
I just read a great book called “Calculus Baseball” that talks about how coaches that don’t run multiple stations are teaching “Algebra’ and coaches with a ton of active stations are teaching “Calculus”. So true.
Its amazing when I see how little repetition goes on at practices. Players need ground ball after ground ball after ground ball with live runners to really get the hang of it.
As for the coaches reading this and thinking about who to pick in the tryouts for their league. Obviously you draft pitchers in the first two rounds, you just have to. Try to get the kind that throw strikes over the kids who just throw and don’t know where the ball is going.
Then draft yourself at least a couple of players who can play catcher and then the rest of the draft focus on attitude. Get players who have a track record of being a energy giver and not an energy taker. If you are drafting in the 10-12 year old range, their personalities are already fairly well in place. If they are gloomy and drain energy, move on to the next player on the board. If they bring energy take them.
Get yourself some arms, some energy givers and I bet you’ll do great. Hitting is all about practice, which is just easier to do if you have a lot of energy givers. Fielding is even more about practice.
Good luck.
