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By: Ed Cheff excerpt from Practice Perfect Baseball - American Baseball Coaches Association Practice - To perform repeatedly in order to acquire or enhance a skill and to execute skill performances in conjunction with game strategies. Work - Physical or mental effort to reach a specific condition through repeated effort. Ethic - A principle of right or good conduct or a body of such principles. A baseball coach needs to develop a team philosophy that will establish a positive work ethic in the practice environment. The initial process of doing this should focus on defining the body of knowledge to be taught as well as the appropriate methodology that will be used in the teaching process. Coaches can acquire a wealth of baseball knowledge in a number of ways, beginning with their own personal playing experiences. They can also gain knowledge by attending coaching clinics, studying the strategies of respected managers, observing and performing video analysis of skills and techniques being performed by elite players, and consulting the hundreds of articles and books written about the game. However, coaches should always remember that baseball is a rather simple game. Sparky Anderson, one of baseball's all-time most respected managers, said it best: "There ain't no genius ever managed in this game." Sparky's hall of fame second baseman foe Morgan summed up Anderson's influence on his Cincinnati Reds teams with this statement: "Sparky pointed us in the right direction to win." Defining the "right direction to win" in the practice environment is what this chapter is about. The emphasis is on defining a work ethic for practices that stresses the characteristics of the style of play expected from the players. All of the behavioral traits that a coach encourages his players to project in the practice environment cannot just be a wish list-rather, they must be a set of principles perceived by players as statements of fact. These are the absolutes of practice behavior put forth by a coach, and they should be communicated to players in an emphatic and passionate manner. As in any group endeavor, openness and clarity of communication are essential. In our program, the overall goal of our preparation is to ultimately raise the skill level of our players as expediently as possible while always striving to make sure that the team's competitive level is in line with the talent level. Teams earn the right to compete for a championship based on the legitimacy of their practices. "Vision without execution is hallucination." Earning Respect Much has been written and spoken about the importance of coaches gaining respect from their players. I have always believed that it's a major mistake for coaches to demand respect from their players as opposed to earning that respect. I want to emphasize the word earning when discussing the process of obtain-in the team's respect. Respect cannot be successfully demanded from a player just because of a coach's position of power. Too often resentment and resistance toward the coach become part of the team's chemistry. Even worse are coaches who in various ways ask for a player's respect and then put themselves in a compromising situation, the implications of which are obvious. Because the individual players on the team change from year to year, so does the challenge of ensuring that the entire coaching staff earns the respect of the players. The coaches must have a plan for earning respect, and all staff members must stick to that plan. As a coach, I've always been very adamant about defining principles relating to all facets of our program. These are the principles that we emphatically believe in and try to live by. All coaches on the staff must demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively with every player-regardless of position about all aspects of every offensive and defensive strategy employed in the program. All the coaches need to have a consistent and definitive understanding of our methodology for skill development at all positions. In other words, members of the staff always speak the same language. This is not to say that the staff should believe in cloning player skills the coaches should not have a closed mind to the variances that may be seen in the optimum performance of bio mechanical skills such as hitting, pitching, fielding, and so on. An open-minded staff has more options available to push the right kinetic button when teaching. Helping players adjust their execution of a skill should be subtle and based on a player's inability to execute. Often a very minor mechanical adjustment can serve as a placebo for a confidence issue. However, we believe in certain cognitive processes associated with pitching, hitting, throwing, and catching-and these processes are instituted without exception. This is also true for the expected levels of intensity and emotional control. All on-field communication from coaches to players will be in a baseball context, never a personal one. Criticism of a player's failure to perform or respond in a manner deemed acceptable may be pointed and forceful, but that criticism is never meant to be given or taken personally. When the coaching staff challenges players to maximize mental or physical effort, some players may display the "I did my best" mentality; this is especially common among players who are new to the program. Because developing players often do not have a good perspective of what their best really is, the players' perception of this is often inaccurate. Players must trust that the coach is the best judge of a player's potential level of play. A coach should never demand more than a player is capable of giving and should never accept less than the player's best. Coaches need to exhibit a sincere off-field care and concern for their players, and players need to understand that the player–coach relationship in the practice environment is not always the same as in other environments. This enables the coaches and players to come to a better understanding. Management through fear, humiliation, and intimidation has short-term results and provides no long-term behavioral changes in the way players approach the game. The coaching staff should consistently demonstrate the same practice ethic demanded from players. Hypocrisy can be a cancer in a baseball program, and no greater hypocrisy exists than coaches constantly challenging players to reach their full potential while failing to do so themselves. Players will recognize effort and commitment from their coaches in practices; therefore, the coaches should be sure to demonstrate these things every day. Motivating Players to Adopt a Team Work Ethic Once the team's style of play is defined, we need to ensure that all players conform their individual style of play to the prescribed team style of play. There is not much latitude for individual styles. The motivation to make this happen doesn't need to be very complex or something that requires a behavioral psychologist to figure out. Every player has an intrinsic desire and need to be respected by his peers. Extrinsically, every player knows that he has to earn the respect of his teammates if he is going to play. Because of immaturity and pampered backgrounds, some players have a tough time consistently committing to building a strong legacy. These players confuse words for actions. They have a difficult time understanding the difference between what they think they are and what their actions say they are. They avoid making critical judgments about themselves and are more apt to make excuses. In short, they establish a loser's legacy. They don't understand that critical judgments are necessary to identify problems-and that excuses simply disguise problems by transferring responsibility. For purposes of motivation, the concept of respect can be developed and sustained by convincing players that their baseball legacy will be the most important thing they will ever build in baseball. To date, one of the best things we've done at Lewis and Clark State is to establish a tradition of emphasizing that legacies are very important. Players are asked to write out their legacies before the season. My most frequent question to players is "How are you going to be remembered?" A player's legacy statement should reflect competency in the following areas: Displays Mental Toughness
Displays Physical Toughness
Understands the Game
Displays Emotional Stability.
Cares About Teammates
Some players inaccurately analyze what they project about themselves to their teammates. For many years, we have used a sociogram to provide feedback to players on the type of teammate they are perceived to be by their teammates. To develop the team sociogram, we ask each player to evaluate qualities of his teammates in five areas: empathy for teammates, social maturity, baseball talent, work ethic, and mental toughness. Players use a scale of 1 to 5-5 means exceptional, 4 above average, 3 average, 2 poor, and 1 unacceptable. All evaluations in each category are totaled and divided by the number of players doing the sociogram to determine an average ranking for the player. We are also interested in how objective small groups of players are in evaluating close friends as well as individual-to-individual rankings. We administer the sociogram at the beginning of the season and again at mid-season. At mid-season, we always find a notable increase in the average scores for the majority of our players; the sociogram seems to serve as a wake-up call for players, especially those who are new to the program. Once a player understands how to earn the trust and respect of his teammates, his self-image grows more positive, and his confidence level rises significantly. It's easy to believe in yourself when your teammates believe in you. Using Drills and Scrimmages That Include Game Pressure Our objective is to ensure that our players are prepared to compete against outstanding teams. Our players must be prepared to react to all the elements of baseball that these teams bring. In big games, we will need to compete against teams that have outstanding speed, power, and execution on offense; therefore, for practices, we design all defensive drills to be effectively realistic and competitive. Competitive teams also offer the challenge of effective pitching staffs that feature a variety of types of pitchers. To prepare for this, we make sure our hitting drills (proficiency and power drills) are always conducted in a highly competitive manner. We need to consistently "win the practice" by outperforming in practice any team we might play during the season. We all realize that pressure can negatively affect skill performance and cause sound offensive and defensive strategy to break down. Therefore, the goal is to develop players who have been exposed in practice to specific game situations that include the pressure to perform. Then, when the players are faced with challenging situations in big games, they can say, "I've been here before many times." Fearing failure and playing not to lose are trademarks of teams that do not simulate game pressure in practice. A coach cannot hand out confidence to players. The players must earn confidence through practice. Implementing Drills That Fit the Program Philosophy Determining a starting point for skill development depends on several factors: player expertise, facilities, available staff, and, of course, time. Once these factors have been determined, I subscribe to the concept of simulating the actual skill as opposed to overfractionalizing the bio-mechanics of hitting, pitching, fielding, throwing, and catching. Breaking skills down into components that are too small can result in mundane, time-killing exercises that fail to truly challenge and measure players' physical toughness, mental toughness, baseball intellect, and emotional stability. Drills should be specifically defined and conducted so that they challenge each player's kinesthetic self-awareness. This will help players analyze and adapt their skills. Skill analysis by the player and coach through DVD replay is critical to visual learning. Players should accept the responsibility of assisting in their own development by self-teaching themselves the physical skills and mental focus of the game. Players who devote time to teaching younger players to play the game become better players themselves because they have to think through all the physical and mental components of the game. Those who can teach others have a far greater capacity to teach themselves. Players should also perform realistic self- evaluations in regard to their skill progression and intellectual growth. This can create productive mind-sets in players so that they don't depend entirely on a coach's analysis. Defining Practice Absolutes A vast spectrum of philosophical approaches may be used to define and measure player effort within the practice environment. Coaches must prioritize elements of the game that they believe are critical to their team's style of play. The coach should then demand that the team fully incorporate those elements in practice. We clearly communicate to players the absolutes of practice protocol that are expected to be followed at all times during every practice. These absolutes certainly do not encompass all modes of practice behavior; rather, they speak to the specific elements that we believe are integral to raising the team's competitive level and defining its style of play. All position players are timed periodically in all situational base-running (i.e., home to first, home to second with headfirst slide, and so on). The first- base coach (during scrimmages) or a coach on the field (during drills) records times and compares them to the player's best time. For example, if a player's best time for a run to first on a turn is 4.5 seconds, the player should always run a 4.5 on a turn when a ball he hits leaves the infield. Along with the defensive aspects, offensive execution can be emphasized during a full-team, on-field batting practice. Defensively, our goal is for infielders to make a play on every playable ball hit in batting practice, always simulating a potential double play up the middle or home to first. When there is more than one defender at a position, the players alternate repetitions. Infield tempo is always aggressive and quick but never rushed. Whether turning a double play or just getting an out at first base, the goal is to complete the play in 3.9 seconds or less from the time of contact. On double plays, shortstops are expected to get the ball to first base in 1.1 to 1.25 seconds after the first touch on the pivot. The second baseman's time should be 1.25 to 1.35 seconds. In all drills, scrimmages, and games, infielders are challenged to do the following:
Infielders must not show any fear of the ball. They must exhibit the mental toughness necessary to perform zero-tolerance fielding actions, causing a positive carryover toward mastering all other aspects of infield play. Outfielders must always show enthusiasm for making diving catches. They must show no fear of the fence, execute proper routes, and simulate proper footwork and throwing mechanics. An outfielder must also throw to the appropriate base with simulated runners at first and second in a one-out situation. Catchers catch all bullpen pitches and warm-up pitches during scrimmages from a receiving posture that helps them best receive, block, and throw in a simulated first-and-third defensive situation. Without fail, catchers must block every wild pitch during every bullpen workout. They must simulate proper footwork, ball-glove exchange, and arm action on 30 to 50 percent of bullpen pitches. To maintain the desired tempo of scrimmages, everything is timed. Players have 25 seconds to assume their defensive positions after the final out of an inning. Between innings, a well-trained fungo hitter follows a specific routine for hitting specific double-play ground balls for 2 minutes. Each infielder has time to field 3 ground balls and start 3 double plays, for a total of 12 double plays every half inning. Outfielders go to center field for a 2-minute fly-ball drill. The fungo hitter follows a specific routine for the types of fly balls that the outfielders work on. The outfielders should make three tough catches and execute three fundamentally solid throws between innings. There is nothing casual about the work performed between innings-the mood is game like, and the effort is always all out. The maximum for scrimmages is a heightened level of competition that meets or exceeds game level. Developing Mental Toughness Mental toughness is a key component in a player's makeup-one that leads the player to have a solid work ethic in practice and game settings. Mental toughness is a popular term for coaches to use when discussing an athlete's ability to compete. Ron Polk offers that mental toughness is an athlete's ability to withstand prosperity as well as despair each time his skill is tested pitch by pitch and game by game. Gary Ward believes that in a mentally tough player, the desire to succeed is greater than the fear of failure. Jerry Kendall emphasizes the player's ability to respond well in high-pressure situations as an indicator of mental toughness. Bobo Brayton looks for an aggressive and positive response with an "all day, every day" attitude. For all four of these esteemed coaches, the definition of mental toughness requires the player to consistently display positive reactions to negative situations. Adversity can come at an athlete from any direction and can produce a variety of implications. It can test his emotional stability, his ability to function within his baseball intellect, and his physical tolerance. Adversity does not build character; it merely evokes a choice of responses, positive or negative. Our challenge as coaches is to make sure that players make appropriate choices when faced with adversity. Continually heightening the degree of difficulty in practices and holding players responsible for lack of positive response are critical for the players' development. High-pressure, game like drills and scrimmages with consequences for failure will expose players to adversity. Coaches and players must recognize that emotional response, baseball intellectual function, and physical tolerance have to be examined separately when building or measuring mental toughness. A player might be able to use his baseball knowledge to conceptualize an acceptable response to an adverse game situation, but the player could deviate from this response because of weak emotional stability. Finally, players must understand that baseball, like life, is not always fair. Those who dwell on the fact that they've experienced some bad breaks will never find success. Establishing a Program Identity The coach must instill in players the idea that they have the opportunity to demonstrate characteristics of a playing style that is respected in the game. Effort is respected. Humility is respected. Teammates who care about and believe in one another are respected. Emotional stability is respected. Mental toughness is respected. Earning respect is what playing baseball should be all about. About the Contributor...
Ed Cheff, head coach at Lewis-Clark State College, has built one of the most impressive collegiate athletic teams at any level in the nation. From 1982 to 1992, the Warriors played in 11 consecutive national championship games and won 8, a feat unequaled by a collegiate team at any level in any sport. The Warriors have won 16 national titles since the early 1980s. Coach Cheff's overall record going into the 2008 season was a remarkable 1,617 wins and 410 losses. Beyond on-the-field performance, Coach Cheff's Warrior baseball team is recognized in the community for its involvement in local events, fund-raisers, and volunteer programs. Coach Cheff has been NAIA Coach of the Year eight times and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1994 and the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2009, Cheff won the ABCA's Lefty Gomez Award for his lifetime contributions to amateur baseball. In 1994, Coach Cheff was the hitting and third-base coach for Team USA. |
Establishing a Practice Work Ethic
