Youth & Travel Baseball Blog, Updates, Coaching & Instruction

When a hitter is struggling in batting practice, I ask them to show me how it's going to look when they make contact. I then make sure they have the correct body, hand and bat positions. Once it is correct, I tell them to "picture that" before the next pitch. It is amazing how often they "smoke" the next pitch. Visualization works, along with refocusing ones mind on the end result, instead of pressing to hit balls better.

Many young baseball players feel like they can only succeed when everything is perfect. When they have fundamental swing problems or have less confidence, they defeat themselves before at-bats by thinking they will fail. That should not be the case. I prepare my baseball students with two thoughts that address that situation.

Coming this Summer - Jack's new book - another thing worth catching

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In need of a Friday laugh - Baseball Style - Watch this from my funniest home baseball videos https://youtu.be/GtlD6cEHIgw

Funniest Home Baseball Videos

rap time hitting video

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I never pitched in a baseball game after the age of fourteen. The good news is that I went out on a high note. If I would have known then, what I know now, my career may have been better.

Here are the youth baseball coaching tips I want my young baseball players to know. Of course, the sooner in their careers coaches teach these the better, so kids do not ruin their arm like I did.

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Yes, there will be tears. Following is an excerpt from my bookRaising an Athlete: How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sports. It is a fun read and helpful to parents. It has been out for seven years and still a consistent seller on Amazon. If you know of young athletes, pass the book info on to their parents - much appreciated.

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In this podcast of Something Worth catching, former major leaguer and long-time youth instructor, Jack Perconte, along with Sam Zagorac, another long-time youth coach and owner of the Diamond Edge Academy in Willowbrook IL. discuss many of the issues of youth baseball. Additionally, this podcast ends with a hilarious, true story from Jack's playing days with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Today's story at the end of this podcast has a great message for coaches of all levels and attests to the importanceof positive coaching. So many coaches become cynical andtake the joy out of the game for the players. This story is about one of those negative coaches. Fortunately, this coach receivedthe necessarywake-up call in time to put the fun back in the game for the players, as fun is the number one reason kids play sports.

In this podcast of Something Worth catching, former major leaguer and long-time youth instructor, Jack Perconte, along with Sam Zagorac, another long-time youth coach and owner of the Diamond Edge Academy in Willowbrook IL. discuss many of the issues of youth baseball. Additionally, this podcast ends with a hilarious, true story from Jack's playing days with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Today's story at the end of this podcast has a great message for coaches of all levels and attests to the importanceof positive coaching. So many coaches become cynical andtake the joy out of the game for the players. This story is about one of those negative coaches. Fortunately, this coach receivedthe necessarywake-up call in time to put the fun back in the game for the players, as fun is the number one reason kids play sports.

Historic World Series was that in many ways

Baseball Season Start Sets the Stage for the Year

The off-season break should have given players the mental and physical chance to clear the mind from last season and come back hungry for the next season. The best part of the baseball season start is that players have not put any bad baseball swings into their system for a while.

Times have changed - We need more of the winning sports parent