Over the past year or so I have had a lot of coaches tell me that their kids love to scrimmage, but they only have 12 players. Typically they have the assistant coaches fill in and they are usually dad’s who are one divot in right field away from tearing their knee to shreads. There…
This week I have decided to change gears a little and share with you one of my favorite “coach controlled” games we play at our camps and practices. It’s called Backwards Baseball and it is a version of a game that I learned from Jeff Rodin when I worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Players love…
I received an email yesterday from a District Little League President and she inquired if I had any suggestions for naturally healing tendinitis. As I was writing her back it got me thinking that others may be wondering the same thing so I thought I would share my response to her with you. I am…
Back when I was in Little League my coach pretty much told me this when it came to throwing- “Ya see this white round thing with red stripes on it? Throw it as hard as you can!” As much as I appreciate his coaching and the “grip it & rip it” philosophy, we both know…
There was a very interesting article this week on ESPN.com that may date the origins of baseball to an English lawyer back in March 1755. I am still recovering from spending a week in the hospital with my wife & infant son so a link to the article is below. Enjoy and leave a comment…
Back on June 16th of this year we discussed how important core muscle strength is in athletics. Sixty percent of your power comes from this area and in the past it was ignored by many people. Now workouts have changed quite a bit and many trainers make the core the focal point of their workouts.…
It sounds easy enough. Runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs and a fly ball is hit in the outfield. Runner tags, takes off and he slides into home safely. Perfect, right? Now we all know it doesn’t always work out like this so lets start from the beginning. It doesn’t matter if you…
One thing we have been focusing on a lot lately when we train athletes is how are they using their arms when they run. Over the past 2 years I have seen a lot of crazy running forms and for those of you who say you can’t teach speed…well you’re wrong. It is true that…
It’s a tough job being a catcher. You are the captain of the defense because you can see the whole field and you are in charge of the pitching staff. In essence you are an additional coach added to the staff. There are a lot of things we can cover when you are running the…
When you are involved in an exercise plan it’s important to make sure that you are working both sides of your body equally. The front (anterior) and back (posterior) need the same amount of work in order to keep yourself balanced and reduce the chance of injury. This week let’s look at an example of…