Tip of the Week

Friday Conditioning Tip

Why Other Baseball Conditioning is not everything

Major league player, John Kruk once said, "I'm not an athlete, I am a professional baseball player." That funny line may have had meaning at one time, but now, professional baseball players use baseball conditioning tools to become supremely, fine-tuned athletes. However, there is still some truth to what John Kruk says. Not all the baseball conditioning speed and strength work in the world makes a ball player.

Saturday Secrets to Great Baseball Coaching

Even the most successful baseball hitters have a great deal of failure. Handling that failure is the key. I try to give players something to help in the form of a quick mantra like RBI, when things do not go according to the hitting plans.

"Gang, we are not leaving here today before I answer three questions." One of the most difficult things for sports coaches is to get players to ask questions. The thing is there is no way players understand everything coaches teach but they act as though they do by never asking.

It is difficult to change and have the time to make major baseball fundamentals changes during the season. Now that the season has ended or the pace has slowed for most youth ballplayers, the time is best for making the muscle memory adjustments to improve and avoid this past year's deficiencies. Players are still in baseball shape so any extra swing, throw or field practice should not put players in danger of injury.

As the baseball season winds down, players have to make their season ending plans, which are crucial for next season's development. Players must decide a few important things for their baseball off-season. First, which months are they planning to take off from even touching a baseball or bat. Downtime is crucial and that break should be a minimum of 3 months for even the most dedicated of players. That break time allows players to come back with a determination that year round play cannot produce.