Watch as Coach Austin Wasserman talks about an infielder drill to work on shifting weight, footwork, and working on going to the backhand side. He also talks about outfield footwork and throwing drills to focus […]
Hula Hoop Slapping Drill with Jessica Bracamonte – Univ. of Toledo
Watch as Coach Jessica Bracamonte explains, and batters demonstrate the Hula Hoop Slapping Drill. The focus of the drill is on barrel path and direction. The batter should be in the middle of the hoop […]
Breathing Exercises
By: Dr. Colleen M. Hacker, Mallory E. Mann Originally Published in: Achieving Excellence Provided by: Human Kinetics Learning to breathe properly can either activate or calm and relax your body. You can use the […]
Infielder’s Ground Ball Progression with Josh Bloomer – Arizona State Univ.
Watch as Coach Josh Bloomer explains, and players demonstrate this infielder’s ground ball progression. This is a group drill, with all the infielders completing each drill before moving on to the next one. The focus […]
How to Avoid Coaching Burnout with Dr. Lee Dorpfeld – Univ. of South Florida
Watch as Dr. Lee Dorpfeld explains that burnout is unlikely to affect coaches who don’t care or who aren’t passionate about their work. However, most successful coaches who invest significant time and effort without maintaining […]
Popcorn Flyball Drill with Michele Biffle – Langham Creek High School (TX)
Watch as Coach Michele Biffle explains, and players demonstrate the Popcorn Drill for infielders. This is a partner drill that works on fielding and catching, focusing on covering every angle that can occur in a […]
Outfield to Infield with Jennifer McFalls – Univ. of Kansas
Watch as Coach Jennifer McFalls explains outfield situational play. She emphasizes the importance of communication between players during outfield-to-infield plays. She also discusses common mistakes, including throwing to the wrong base, making bad throws, and […]
Mental Toughness: A Skill That Can Be Developed with Dr. Colleen Hacker – Team USA / Pacific Lutheran Univ.
Watch as Dr. Colleen Hacker explains that mental toughness is a skill, and it can be developed. It is about how an individual responds to adversity, difficult situations, setbacks, and failure. Mental toughness is not […]
The Decisive Intangible for All College Athlete Recruits
Originally published in an Adam Sarancik Book Most college coaches have similar goals, philosophies, and priorities when recruiting athletes for their program. In short, they want people, athletes, and players who tangibly have sports skills […]
Understanding Swing Planes with Amber Freeman – Univ. of Arizona
Watch as Coach Amber Freeman discusses understanding uppercut and flat swing planes. Coach Freeman explains that uppercut swingers are better down in the zone while flat swingers are better up in the zone. Coach will […]
Hip Flexor Band Exercises with Garland Shirley – Clarke Univ.
Watch as Coach Garland Shirley explains, and players demonstrate band exercises for hip flexors and improving 1st step explosiveness. The players will demo material slides and banded leg lifts.
How Coaches Can Develop an OUTSTANDING Working Relationship With Your AD
By: Kevin M. Bryant, CMAA Many times, in my 35-year career in college and high school athletic administration I have heard coaches share their frustrations about their athletic director. While I would like to […]
The Hamburger Theory: Catcher Pitcher Communication with Kelly Inouye-Perez – UCLA
Watch as Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez explains that communication is key when catchers are dealing with pitchers. She gives a couple of examples of a catcher using negative language when speaking with a pitcher. Communication needs […]
Accept It or Correct It with Alan Stein, Jr.
Alan Stein, Jr. explains that every single behavior that goes on in your program, on or off the field, is either something you accept or correct. He also explains how eliminating some behaviors, such as […]
6 Part Bunting Progression with Vicki Corn – Greenville Senior High School (SC)
Watch as Coach Vicki Corn explains, and players demonstrate this 6 part bunting progression that uses tennis balls simulating catching a raw egg on the end of the bat. The progression starts with a toss […]
Throwing: Long Toss with Megan Rembielak – MegRem Softball
Watch as Coach Megan Rembielak explains the long toss throw progression. This warmup consists of 10 reps of slow throwing formation that first starts with getting the separation between the lower and upper half of […]
9-Dot Challenge with James Leath – Mental Performance Coach
Watch as Mental Performance Coach James Leath presents a group of athletes with the 9-Dot Challenge. The challenge has 4 rules and the athletes have 5 minutes to work by themselves, then with a partner, […]
The Sports Nutrition Challenge Hiding in Plain Sight
By: Greta Jarvis, MS, MPH, Founder of: Center for Active Women It was around sophomore year of high school when my classmates, teammates, and friends started restricting their eating: the Flat Belly Diet, the Cabbage […]
Lessons Learned as a Head Coach with Lauren Ebstein – Tufts Univ.
Watch as Coach Lauren Ebstein discusses the lessons she has learned throughout her coaching career. She has a specific approach to how she does things, and she teaches her assistants both the how and the […]
Med Ball Press & Slam with Josie Henry & Reginald Lande – Case Western Reserve Univ.
Watch as Coach Josie Henry and Reginald Lande explain, and a player demonstrates the Med Ball Press and Slam Exercise. The press is for 3 sets of 5 and works on increasing muscle power and […]
Hazing/Bullying in Athletics
By: David T. Morris Originally Published in: Student-Athletes: Control Your Own Destiny Definition of Bullying: As defined by the organization, stopbullying.gov, “bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real […]
How to Help Athletes Prepare Mentally for an At-Bat with Larry Wooten – Wade Hampton High School (SC)
Watch as Coach Larry Wooten discusses how to help athletes to prepare mentally for an At-Bat. He explains in detail his checklist that prepares his players to hit. First, the player must be prepared in […]
Why Play the Short Game? with Karen Weekly – Univ. of Tennessee
Watch as Coach Karen Weekly explains that more games are lost than won as players make errors and mistakes by playing too fast. The short game puts pressure on a defense and causes them to […]
3-2-1 Trio Infield Drill with Leah Campbell – (Retired) Rockwall High School (TX)
Watch as Coach Leah Campbell explains and shows practice video of the 3-2-1 Trio Infield Drill. This drill involves the full infield defense, as 3 balls are hit consecutively to the same player. The 1st […]
Pitching: Water Bags & Balls with Paige Parker – Univ. of Utah
Watch as Coach Paige Parker explains and shows practice videos of her water bag and ball daily warm-up and weekly circuit. The daily warm-up includes ball shaking, single-leg extensions, and high knees, focusing on warming […]
90-45-Straight Up Extension Offensive Drill with Leah Campbell – (Retired) Rockwall High School (TX)
Watch as retired coach Leah Campbell explains and shows video of the 90-45-Straight Up Hitting Extension Drill. This is a tee drill with the batter standing 90 degrees from the plate, with the tee and […]
Practicing Empathy
By: Dan Gould and Cliff Mallett Originally Published in: Sport Coaches’ Handbook Provided by: Human Kinetics The coaching process has been increasingly recognized as a complex social and cognitive system. In this context, the quality […]
4 Double-Play Footwork Mechanics for 2nd Basemen with Colby Corn – Greenville Senior High School (SC)
Watch as Coach Colby Corn explains and demonstrates 4 footwork mechanic options on a double play that allow the 2nd baseman to create space to prevent contact with the baserunner. Coach Corn shows video of […]
Efficient Practice Planning for Full-Time Teachers with Lindsey Gage – Tom Bean High School (TX)
Watch as Coach Lindsey Gage discusses planning a practice schedule for when all involved coaches are working full time. Her system leads to efficient communication between coaches and allows assistant coaches to have input in […]
Coaches’ Legal Duties
By: Rainer Martens & Robin S. Vealey Originally Published in: Successful Coaching Provided by: Human Kinetics Over the past 50 years, through thousands of lawsuits, the U.S. courts have defined and continued to define your […]