Lessons from a Youth Baseball Coach: Lesson #3 Practices are for Teaching Mechanics – Games are for Having Fun

Hitting a baseball is considered by many as the most difficult skill in sports. It’s brutal because even the most successful baseball player, fails most of the time. That’s why it is important to let the kids play and allow the game be fun. During games, there might be opportunities to teach the mental aspects of the game. Mechanics, though, should be taught and corrected at practice (unless, of course, there are safety concerns). We’ll cover pre-game, soft-toss, and cage work, which should be considered an extension of practice, in future lessons. When game time rolls around, let the players concentrate on what they have learned and try to put them in a position to succeed. Praise them on attitude, hustle, “keeping their head in the game”, and determination. Don’t dwell on the mistakes. Help the players get past the mistakes; help the players have a “short memory”. Most mistakes in baseball are obvious to the players and the fans. As a coach, make a mental note of the mistakes and work on the solutions in practice. Every player knows when they have made an error or struck-out. Pitchers don’t need to be told to throw strikes. Every pitcher wants to throw strikes; that’s what they are trying to do on every pitch.

Baseball relies heavily on something called muscle memory. The more mechanics are practiced, the more they become second nature. They become part of the player’s muscle memory. Baseball players use repetition to hone their mechanics. Things happen so fast in baseball, a player will revert back to whatever mechanics are set in their muscle memory. That is why it is important to save mechanics for practice and fun for the games. The absolutely worst time to be coaching mechanics is when a player is up to bat during a game. At that point, muscle memory is going to take over. If a coach or a parent tries to correct mechanics, it only distracts the player and ruins their concentration. I have had to control many a parent that tried to change mechanics while their son or daughter was at the plate during a game. I only try to communicate positive expressions while a player is at the plate. My favorite expression is “it only takes one”. It means that out of a possibility of six, or more, pitches, it only takes one pitch to make contact and get a hit.

Players punish themselves plenty after making a mistake at the plate or on the field. It is the coach’s job to keep a positive attitude. It is a coach’s job to let them know that mistakes happen in baseball and all players have to have a short memory. Coaches need to understand that baseball is very much a game of momentum. Good hitting and good fielding are contagious; mistakes are also contagious. The more a player dwells on past mistakes, the more they will be affected on future plays. It is essential to let the players play and have fun; if players play not to make a mistake, then mistakes will happen and the fun will disappear.

Upcoming lessons will include planning, choosing the right glove and bat, fielding, base running, philosophy, and a myriad of baseball subjects. Baseball Armory sponsors Baseball Armory – “The Baseball Blog”. Baseball Armory is an online store that contains quality Akadema baseball and softball gear. Akadema produces high quality baseball and softball equipment, including infield and outfield gloves, catcher’s mitts, metal and wood bats, cleats, turf shoes, batting gloves, sunglasses, apparel, equipment bags, glove care products, and miscellaneous baseball and softball accessories.