John’s Philosophy on Baseball
I developed my
philosophy from over 20+ years of both playing and coaching baseball in Little
League, Pony, high school UIL and college baseball at the University of Texas, in
addition to two men’s softball leagues. Basically, the philosophy is very
simple. If the children aren’t learning,
being successful and enjoying the game of baseball, we are failing miserably.
Goals: In addition to fun, organized league baseball is intended to be a
place or game where young players learn how to: 1. play baseball and understand
the rules, 2. work together with others in a “team” capacity. 3. display good sportsmanship no matter what
the scoreboard looks like at the end of the game. 4. realize that the players
in the opposite dugout are our friends, not “the enemy.” 5. perform skills needed in baseball in such
a way that will ensure years of activity minimizing injury. 6. allow young players to learn all of the
above in an atmosphere of friendly competition.
Involvement: Children have the most fun in an activity if mom
and/or dad actively participate in an
encouraging way with them. The more involved you are in the activity of
your children in this manner, the more fun they will have which lends itself to
the success of the child to meet the afore mentioned goals. They will learn faster, perform better, be
happier, and we will all have a great time this year if we can work together in
this endeavor. Remember, if it isn’t fun
for the child, we have failed and wasted our registration fees.
Leadership: The
coaches and I have taken it upon ourselves to lead and teach the children the
game of baseball. We plan to use
handouts to help you, and your player understand exactly what the point and
purpose of our direction. We will ask
your children to look and listen to the coaches during practice and games.
No offence, but we will be in the thick of things with your player during play. Please reinforce your child’s attempts to play the game with positive feedback after the play has ended. Unruly and/or un-cooperative parents or coaches will be asked to leave the field in either practices or games.
Similarly, where encouragement is acceptable, players will not be allowed to "correct" each other, especially, in a manner that is degrading to each other. Making fun of or criticizing other players will most definitely result in "pine time" and/or ejection from the practice or game.
Good, available Coaches are the key
to our success. Coaches are required to be firm, but kind in all dealings with parents and players.
Because of their critical involvement, coaches are asked to: The Team Mom is a very important member
of our leadership team. She will assist the coaches in communication with parents. Responsibilities
of the Team Mom include, but may not be limited to: Schedules Commitments: I
have four children, so I understand commitments that you have with other
children. This translates like this:
Baseball is a game, and as such is not more important than family, church
and/or school events. I only ask that
you call me to let me know when your player will not make the game so I can
plan the lineup accordingly. Games and Snacks: As soon as the schedule is available, I will post the
games on our calendar web page located at http://baseball.awesome-computing.com/calendar/default.asp. Additionally, because our league, due to
facilities limitations, cannot provide “after game drinks” for our players and
coaches, we take turns bringing a small snack and a drink to distribute at the
conclusion of each game. Unfortunately,
you never know how to plan for this, except to say that the snack and drinks
are available for players and coaches only.
The Snack schedule is listed on the calendar web page listed above, in
addition to the snack schedule page located at http://baseball.awesome-computing.com/calendar/snackschedule.asp.
Practices: We will hold regular practices on one or two nights a
week, normally once on the North East Metropolitan fields and once at Operational Defensive Positions: Players develop at different
rates depending on amount of time spent in and around the game of
baseball. Baseball is a difficult game
to learn. Each position takes much teaching to learn properly, then much
practice to facilitate success. At levels above Tee-ball, simply rotating
all players through all positions is not fair to the players, because they are
expected to learn and effectively play each of 9, or sometimes 10
positions. It is equally wrong to
“pigeon-hole” a player and never allow him how to play any more than one
position on the field. Both of these practices are disrespectful of the
game and individual player.
Therefore, to maximize the opportunity for success for each player, and
to maintain an appropriate level of safety, we will assign each player a
primary and secondary position. Every player with a primary position in
the outfield also has a
secondary position in the infield. This way, he will learn “how to play”
at least one infield and one outfield position.
We will audition all the players for every position and assign them
according to my best judgment as to what is best for the team. Practices: Practices
are divided up into two parts. Team
Practice is where we focus on specific team related field “plays” and have a
batting practice station. A Position
Clinic, where we teach specific skills for each position on the field, then
perform drills to put this knowledge to use. This gives your player the
opportunity to play the position with confidence. All players are invited
to attend any clinic in order to learn how to play a specific position. Fielding: Through team practices and clinics, we will
be “teaching” the players the primary and subsequent responsibilities of each
position on the field, as well as how that position contributes to the success
of the team. We will follow teaching
with drills and games to emphasize those responsibilities. It is our intention that each player has the
opportunity to learn any position on the field.
To that end, and depending on the level of play and the ability of each
player, we will practice them in the positions before putting them in a game
situation. During games, each player
will have a roughly equal time to play as the others. No one player will always be “on the bench”
or “in right field”. This does nothing but prevent players from
developing baseball skill. Every player
should be able to play outfield and at least one infield position. Batting: In practices, we will be “teaching” the
players proper position in relation to home plate, stance and swing
mechanics. Like fielding positions, we
will follow teaching with drills and games.
At levels above Tee-ball, we will change the batting order as the season
progresses according to its effectiveness for the team. This means that we must work hard to develop
good batting skills in our weaker batters, in order to allow more “at bats” in
each game We will not hold the typical
batting practice where coaches field all players, then pitch to each of the
team members. This is ineffective and
inefficient use of our time together. Teaching: We intend to “teach” the players how to play
this game. We have provided links on the
web site to the official rules by the current governing body and our local
rules. If there is a question, local
rules always trump official rules, both on our fields and when we are playing
“away”. We will teach the players the
rules in the process of this game, and we encourage our parents to read through
them as well, as they have changed somewhat since you and I played this
game. We will provide handout sheets
with our verbal commands for the players, along with pictures to help them
visualize what we are telling them. This
will also help you to understand what your player is being taught. Using the same language that we use will
help your player along. We also realize
that many parents provide professional training and lessons for their players. We have both taken and taught professionally,
so our goals are the same, to make your player as successful as possible. Please encourage your player to listen to
instruction from all leaders and take what they can to improve their game. Communication: YOU ARE A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THIS TEAM
!! Without you, this team has no players. I will create an E-mail distribution list by
which I and the Team Mom(s) can send you information regarding the team,
practices, games and special information.
I also have a distribution list for the coaches. I don’t want your player to misunderstand
discussions between us. I want them to
know that you are as much a part of this Team as they are. In order to present a united front to your
player about baseball issues, when you have a problem with me or someone else,
please contact me when you are not in earshot of your player. I prefer a phone call for heated issues,
because you cannot “hear” tone of voice in the written word. Minor issues can be worked out via
Email. I have included a link on the
team web site that you may use. If you
send an email directly from your email program, please address it to both
addresses: john.davis*awesome-computing.com
and john.davis*nike.com. &NBSp;If you use these links,
be sure to replace the "*" with the "@" before you click to send. The link on the web site includes both. Additional Items: Team Banner: We can order a team banner to hang with the
players names and jersey numbers. This
item costs approximately $10 per player.
This is an optional item and will be considered if we have 100%
participation. Individual Trophies: We can order individual
trophies to be given to the players at the conclusion of the season with the
year, player’s name, jersey number and the team name. This item costs approximately $10 per player. This is an optional item and will be
considered if we have 100% participation.