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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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To Play or Not to Play...In the Fall

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / August 24, 2018

Over the past 10-plus years, the landscape of amateur baseball has changed dramatically. Seemingly gone are the days of kids playing in their local youth leagues for 15-20 games in the spring before enjoying a few weeks of All-Stars as the four-month season ended at some point early in the summer when we would actually enjoy July and August in the pool or at the beach before getting ready to go back to school in September.

Fast forward to present-day, where opportunities to play the game are endless. Local recreational leagues have given way to organizations and facilities who develop players and teams to participate in infinite tournaments and showcases for all 12 months of the year. There have never been more opportunities for kids of all ages to play baseball as there are today.

Spend one day lurking on social media reading the many interactions between baseball professionals, baseball parents, and baseball “wannabe experts,” and you’ll quickly see a vast array of opinions on who should be playing when and where and how much. Everyone seems to have their own individual narrative and agenda from which their approach is formed, but often lost in the discussion is one very important piece of the equation: the players, themselves.

The decision whether or not to play in the fall is truly a simple one to make; if you want to play, play. If you don’t, then don’t. And from there, just like most everything in life, there are pros and cons to both sides of the decision, and we can dissect each accordingly.

TO PLAY

Whether it be a youth leaguer just learning how to play, a Minor Leaguer trying to move up the organizational ladder, or a Big Leaguer working to stay there, the more experience a player can get on the field, the more they will know how to play the game, and in turn, the better they will become in doing so. The game’s tiny details that separate the good from the great become second nature to many after originally seeming like a foreign language at the early stages of their careers.

The brain is baseball’s sixth tool, and experience trains that tool in the same manner that time in the batting cage builds the swing. Things like having a mental approach and plan as a hitter, reading swings and sequencing pitches for the guys on the mound, understanding where to be defensively when the ball is not hit your way, or figuring out when an appropriate time to steal a base are all parts of the game that are developed over the course of many innings on the field.

The argument to play should stem from 1) a desire to play because you truly want to, and 2) the value of games, at-bats, and innings in aiding your overall development as a player.

NOT TO PLAY

Players absolutely, one-hundred percent, must get away from the game for a significant period of time, no matter how much they love it. The Tommy John epidemic is plaguing players who are far too young to be having surgery, which is concrete evidence of kids playing too much. Simply out of a necessity to stay healthy, players need to put their bats and gloves away for at least a couple of months every year. When even those who are best conditioned to play for the longest period of time (Major Leaguers) don’t touch a ball for months following their seasons, there is simply no justification for kids in high school and below not to do the same.

Time away from the game also helps keep the love for the game growing. When we are around something every single day without a break, we either take it for granted or get burnt out by it. Getting away rekindles that fire so that when we do get back on the diamond, our passion and energy to play and coach is right there with us.

And lastly, the individual side of the game has its time and place to be made a priority. When exactly that is can be different for each player, but to spend more time in the cage to hone one’s swing, or additional hours in the bullpen to develop a new pitch, there is nothing wrong with taking a couple months out for yourself if you feel there is a greater potential benefit in the long run for your career. Additionally, with the advancement of baseball-specific training in the weight room, players have some very specific options available to them to help make significant physical gains that will help them become stronger, faster, and more explosive athletes when they get back on the field.

The argument against playing should stem from 1) a lack of desire to play, 2) making overall health a priority, having been playing the game plenty in the months prior, or 3) placing an emphasis on one’s individual development with regard to baseball’s specific skills or general strength and conditioning.

At the end of the day, it is the player’s career, and theirs alone. But amateur players aren’t the only ones who are offered this decision; professionals, following a 140-game Minor League season, are often afforded the chance to play in the fall or winter by their respective Major League clubs, because they feel like it is an opportunity to get those players better prepared for the Big Leagues, sooner. Many wrestle with that decision as well, but the same exact premise holds true for both parties. While anyone would be foolish not to seek insight from those who have been there and done that, the final decision as to whether or not to play in the fall (or spring, or summer, or winter), should always fall on the shoulders of the individual who is putting the spikes on, and no one else.

For more resources, check out these links:

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan Sportsmanship Player Resources The Mental Game Benefits of Playing Multiple Sports

Darren Fenster is a contributor to the USA Baseball Sport Development Blog, and is currently the Manager of the Boston Red Sox Double-A affiliate Portland Sea Dogs. A former player in the Kansas City Royals minor league system, Fenster joined the Red Sox organization in 2012 after filling various roles on the Rutgers University Baseball staff, where he was a two-time All-American for the Scarlet Knights. Fenster is also Founder and CEO of Coaching Your Kids, LLC, and can be found on Twitter @CoachYourKids.

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches #Players #Parents

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gonetrainingcenter · 3 years

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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Clutch Starts in the Cage

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / July 6, 2018

Spend a long enough time in the game, and you’ll see that some players just have a knack for getting the big hit, or making the big play, or executing the big pitch in the big moment. Sometimes, it’s the superstar player like Madison Bumgarner who put the Giants on his back in 2014 to win World Series MVP or David Ortiz who did the same for the entire city of Boston a year prior. But other times, it’s the less-heralded guy who seemingly comes out of nowhere to carry his team to a title, like David Freese and David Eckstein both did for the Cardinals in 2011 and 2006, respectively.

Many have tried to figure out what makes some guys perform under pressure, as others wilt in the spotlight. The numbers crunchers who analyze every move of every player insist that the idea of clutch doesn’t even exist, simply because it cannot be measured, as it’s not a black and white thing like most statistics in the game are. Rest assured, despite the fact that we cannot see it, clutch is a very real thing, coming from within each individual athlete.

Last winter, in a Twitter survey of 563 baseball and coaching-minded followers of @CoachYourKids, we asked the simple question, “Can you teach clutch?” Was it a simple yes? Was it a distinct no? Or was it not that simple at all? The results were interesting:

15% YES 50% NO 35% IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE

Given a decent sample size, even with half of the responders believing that clutch was something that cannot be taught, there was a big enough discrepancy which made the question a thought-provoking one to explore even deeper.

In order to answer the question, it’s necessary to define the term.

So what exactly is clutch?

It can be argued, in simple terms, that clutch is the ability to get a job done under pressure.

Now pressure is a relative term, different to each individual as to when and where it hits. Pressure isn’t just a game on the line situation in the 9th inning. For some, pressure may be getting a bunt down in the early innings. For others, it may be getting three outs in a blowout game in a pitcher’s first-ever varsity appearance. But regardless of those circumstances that create the added stress, that pressure requires a calm to be in the best position to overcome it. And it’s that calm which enables the focus and competitiveness required to get that job done.

For something that cannot be seen, how can we get an idea of exactly what clutch looks like?

Clutch looks like David Ortiz.

———

Having just completed his 20th and final Major League season, David Ortiz not only retired as one of the best hitters of an entire generation but arguably the game’s most clutch hitter of all-time. Consider this: on top of a regular-season resume that is Hall of Fame worthy, in 85 career post-season games, Big Papi was a .289 hitter, with 17 home runs, 61 runs batted in, and 51 runs scored, while reaching base at a .404 clip. To get a sense of how truly impressive those numbers are, just double them to get a general idea of what they would look like over the course of a full 162-game season.

So on the game’s biggest stage, when its greatest stakes are on the line, and pressure is at its peak, David Ortiz found a way to consistently perform at an MVP level. This begs the question of how. How did he do it? How did the same guy, year in and year out come through in the clutch time and time again?

In the spring of 2013, I was privileged to get a glimpse that perhaps could help answer that question. While managing the Gulf Coast League Red Sox at the time, part of my responsibility was not only to organize the days for the minor league players who did not break camp with a full season affiliate, but also to make sure rehabbing players got their baseball work in so we can get them back out and healthy. One of those rehabbing players that spring was David Ortiz.

Coming off of an Achilles tendon injury he suffered late in 2012, that following April, Ortiz gave me the surreal opportunity to watch him tune his craft from a vantage point very few have the privilege of seeing: behind an L-Screen, flipping him soft toss and throwing him BP. To witness the way that he worked made it easy for me to understand how he turned himself into the incredible all-around hitter that he was. To watch the manner by which he went about his business made it easy for me to see how he would retire as one of the game’s best clutch performers of all time.

With never actually having seen Ortiz go through his daily hitting routine, for some reason I had an expectation of a guy who would just swing as hard as he could, pulling just about everything, as we’d seen for two decades now. My expectation was that of an impressive display of cage bomb after cage bomb. My expectation was a show in BP.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Big Papi’s work in the cage and on the field held three distinct traits:

1) He always worked with a purpose…a specific plan. 2) He mentally put himself into game situations. 3) He made his work competitive.

WORKING WITH A PURPOSE

David’s workday started in the cage doing front toss- a drill where a protective screen is set up about 15-20 feet from home plate, and the ball is tossed underhand on a line. This is his warm-up of sorts, but not one to get loose, rather one to perfect his swing to the feel that he needs it to be. Out of approximately 60 swings, no joke, I’d bet that 40 of the balls hit either went the entire length of the cage or off the screen, and another 15 or so that went to the back half of the net. No more than five were mishit as weak ground balls to the right or left side. The most impressive thing? Not a single batted ball went off the top of the cage. With every single swing that he took, his focus, in his words, was on two main things: balance, and a short and direct path to the pitch where he stayed inside the baseball.

Imagine having a plan for everything that you do. Imagine taking a purpose behind every minute of every practice. Imagine that not a single rep is wasted over the course of a day…a week…a season…or even a CAREER. It is impossible NOT to get better. The back of David Ortiz’ baseball card is the byproduct of his incredibly focused and purposeful work.

WORKING WITHIN THE GAME

Baseball is a game in which its best players are able to adapt to the various situations that come up over the course of a season. Offensively, those might include moving runners to third from second, executing the hit and run, getting bunts down, hitting with two strikes or driving in a runner from third with the infield in or the infield back, not to mention to countless others.

Ortiz’s on-field BP routine consisted of far more situation-specific hitting than it did mindless swings. He’d take rounds to practice the hit and run (even though he probably hadn’t been asked to do it in years), advancing runners, and later driving them in. He’d work on a distinct approach to hit with two strikes, as well as when in an advantage count in his favor. He’d even practice hitting the ball back up the middle or the other way, in addition to solely looking to pull the ball.

Every possible situation, every possible approach, every possible thing that would come up in a game, he’d work on in practice. Not only was his work while hitting on the field done with the same purpose as in the cage, but now he’s prepping for the game by putting himself in the game. Just like with anything in life, in baseball, the more you do something, the more comfortable and confident you become in doing it. And it’s that comfort and confidence that helps breed the calm needed to overcome pressure.

WORKING TO COMPETE

Throughout the course of his work, David managed to add a competitive element to finish his days. He didn’t do this because he was bored with his daily hitting routine; he did this because he absolutely loves to compete. One day, we ended his time in the cage with a simple hard hit game. He would get one point for every pitch hit hard to the back half of the cage, and I would earn one out for every ball that wasn’t. The game ended when I recorded the tenth out…some TWENTY-THREE rockets later.

For Ortiz, the next day brought the next game at the end of the day. This one, I was not prepared nor equipped for.

“I need you to be Mariano,” he said.

Dumbfounded, I reluctantly agreed to throw the ball in the six-inch slot on and off the inside corner of the plate where Mariano Rivera became the greatest closer in the history of baseball, and somehow was able to do so without beaning the would-be World Series MVP. Immediately I noticed that he had a different look to his face, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was until it hit me a few minutes later. In a batting cage in Ft. Myers, Florida, against a no-name minor league manager, with no one watching, David Ortiz was mentally putting himself in the 9th inning of a game against the Yankees facing Mariano Rivera, competing in what was likely a game-on-the-line situation.

Over the course of his 20-year career, Ortiz faced Rivera just 31 times. But how many hundreds of times… thousands of times, perhaps, have they faced off in Big Papi’s mind? Without question, the comfort created by mentally hitting against Rivera during batting practice helped Ortiz become a .310 hitter against a sure-fire Hall of Fame pitcher whose career batting average against was a minuscule .177.

Life is about competing. Those who can, will be successful, and those who can’t, probably won’t. Baseball is no different. There is a stream of talented players who enter the professional ranks every year, but one of the main things that separates one from the next is their ability to compete to win. Countless players find themselves out of the game very quickly not because they weren’t good enough, but rather because the pressure got the best of them.

———

I don’t doubt for a second that the things I witnessed David Ortiz do over the course of those few days in Fort Myers back in the spring of 2013 were the first time of him doing so��nor were they the last. Rather, his practice routine was exactly what enabled him to develop into the hitter that most were sad to see walk away from the game this past October.

What David Ortiz taught me in those few days of working together was the value of having a plan behind everything that we do. It showed me how we can, in fact, practice ad nauseam those things we will encounter in the game, even when we aren’t in the game. And by practicing those parts of the game over and over and over again, we can build a comfort and a confidence that will produce the calm needed to become clutch and get the job done when the pressure is on.

So…can we teach clutch?

It still is not that simple, but we can assuredly put our players in pressure-filled situations, specifically in practice, that will force their fight or flight skills to develop. We can force them to focus, with specific plans for their work. We can put them in a game-like environment, with an endless list of things that will come up when the lights are on. We can create competition, by playing for something… playing for anything. All of the things needed to become the guy we want with the game on the line, we can provide by the settings we create.

We can guide them onto the road to clutch, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be up to them to actually take it.

For more resources, check out these links:

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan Hitting Resources Coaching the Basics of Hitting Offensive Development

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches #Hitting

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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Making Baseball Fun Again Shouldn’t Come at the Expense of Sportsmanship

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / July 27, 2018

On any given weekend in the fall, we can turn on just about any college or professional football game and see how low our society has tumbled when it comes to sportsmanship. We watch choreographed dances and scripted celebrations after meaningless tackles and touchdowns, often from players on teams who are getting absolutely blown out. We watch post-game interviews not of players praising their teammates, but of players praising themselves while trashing their opponents.

Sportsmanship is something that is quickly falling by the wayside, and it’s entirely our own doing. Our society is fascinated with its lack thereof, as evidenced by every social media click of every sound bite that goes against the grain. Today’s crowd loves a good soap opera. Controversy, not courtesy, brings in the audiences.

In last year’s World Baseball Classic, we saw more passion from participating nations in the event than we had ever seen before, showing that it is possible to actually play the game with pure emotion. The energy displayed was as big of a story as the incredible games themselves, because we rarely see players act in this manner over the course of a 162-game season. In last month’s College World Series, we witnessed a very similar, raw and real emotion that comes with the pride of collectively playing for a National Championship for one’s school. Both instances were refreshing to see, watching grown and growing men play with the exact same excitement as youth players who don’t know any different.

But at times, that emotion took the form of those selfish antics we see far too much of every fall, taking the stage over the game itself. We witnessed a player bat flip, showboat and literally walk out of the batter’s box, only to be held to a single when that ball went off the wall and not over it. We also watched another player decide to celebrate his single in the first inning of a game when an alert catcher noticed him not paying attention and redirected the throw from home over to first base to catch the batter-runner off the base for the inexcusable out.

Both of those instances potentially cost teams a chance to win. And that’s where we need to draw the line and understand the difference between true passion from the heart and that which comes from a self-centered place. Baseball has always been fun and doesn’t need artificial emotion to bring enjoyment to those who play it.

Many critics say that baseball is no longer appealing to next generation. We are losing players because of the game’s apparent lack of fun and, more recently, lack of action. Many argue that allowing bat flips and strike-out stare downs (the game’s equivalent to the aforementioned football shenanigans) will make the sport fun again.

Making baseball fun again? That is OUR responsibility as coaches. Scott Bradley, a former Major Leaguer and the current Head Baseball Coach at Princeton, once said that the true sign of a successful youth league coach is not measured by wins and losses, or even by how much better the players got over the course of the season. Rather, the mark of a great youth coach is seen in the number of players on his team that simply sign up to play again the next year.

Let that sink in for a minute…

The very best youth league coaches out there - the ones who get their kids to sign up again, year after year after year - are the ones who are able to make that time on the field fun for them. That fun isn’t measured in bat flipping or dancing after a strikeout, but rather in giving players reasons to be enthusiastic about learning the game and offering reasons to enjoy learning, practicing, and playing the game.

That premise doesn’t only apply to youth league coaches, it can relate to every coach at every level of the game. Much has been said about the physical and mental grind that the professional baseball season is on players, and that is entirely true. Even for professionals, we have to find ways to get our players excited about coming to the ballpark every day. That may mean creating some kind of competition amongst the team, or a drill they haven’t done since summer baseball camp as a kid. It may be as simple as showing the progress a player has made from one month to the next, anything to get them to see the value in all the time they are putting in.

Sportsmanship is all about respect; respect for the game, respect for the opponent. In fact, respect is one of the core standards that I hold my professional players to on a daily basis. Respect has nothing to do with talent, and everything to do with attitude. The game can and should be fun again, but let’s do it with some creativity to engage our players, and without sacrificing the sportsmanship that will stay with them long after they stop playing.

For more resources, check out these links:

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan Sportsmanship

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches #Inclusion

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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Recruiting Character, Not Characters

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / July 20, 2018

Following his team’s punching their ticket to Super Bowl XLVII, in a nationally televised post-game tirade in January of 2014, Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks showed the world the very worst in sportsmanship. So bad, in fact, that in the two weeks leading up to the NFL’s final game, there was as much chatter about Sherman and his antics as there was about the game itself, taking the spotlight off of the team and placing it on a single player.

“I’m the best,” he shouted into the cameras, with Erin Andrews by his side, shocked by what she was witnessing.

“Don’t you ever talk about me,” he warned, as the rest of his team was celebrating an NFC title.

“Try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree.”

On February 2nd, 2014, Richard Sherman made his first-ever appearance in the Super Bowl - a team’s pinnacle in football - and yet, just moments following the game’s conclusion all he could talk about was how great he was, and how “sorry” Michael Crabtree of the Oakland Raiders was.

Think of some of the most respected athletes of our time, like Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, and Michael Jordan. Three guys whose careers have represented the best of the best. A huge reason behind their reverence in the sporting world is due to the fact that they all have won humbly and graciously with superior talent, and would have never acted remotely close to what we saw from Sherman.

In what should have been a time to celebrate the team, Richard Sherman taught us how bad it looks to celebrate the “me.” Judging by the mass coverage to his outburst received at the time, he also taught us that character still counts…

——————

From April 2006 to December 2011, prior to joining the Red Sox, I had the pleasure of working on the coaching staff at my alma mater, Rutgers University, under ABCA Hall-of-Famer Fred Hill, the man who is pretty much solely responsible for my joining the coaching fraternity. During that time I was a part of the inner-workings of a college baseball program, learning, understanding, and later, shaping my beliefs as to how and why players would become a part of the team.

Coach Hill had a saying that you could only have one jerk in your program at a time, and if he’s a jerk, he had better be extremely good. What he was talking about was not the kid’s athletic ability, but rather his character and who he was as a person. When one bad seed is surrounded by 34 quality guys, he would have no other choice but to get in line with the high moral standard of Rutgers University Baseball. More than one jerk and there is the potential for cancer to spread throughout the clubhouse like wildfire, which we had a couple examples of as well.

When we went out to recruit a potential student-athlete, not only did he need to be good enough athletically on the field, he needed to fit in with the character of those who make us who we are off the diamond. With limited scholarship money, our decisions as to who we were going to offer often came down to that player’s personality than how far he can hit a baseball. We had instances where we’ve brought kids on because we loved WHO they were as people, and we had times where we backed off others because we knew they weren’t what we were all about.

People in our industry often ask what recruiting was like, and the challenges that come with the territory. Much like professional scouts explain when considering whether or not to draft a player, we can see what is on the outside, but have to dig deep to learn what is on the inside-those character and make-up traits that truly make or break a player. Players and parents would be shocked to learn of what coaches, recruiters, and scouts look for when evaluating a potential prospect. Still to this day, I cannot believe the following three stories of guys we were recruiting heavily, who thankfully crossed themselves off of our list.

Bring Your Mittens and Warm Milk

The first was a front-line pitching prospect with great stuff, and sure-fire professional potential. A big money scholarship candidate, in a sport where big money rarely exists. Over email, we had set up a meeting following one of our games when our staff would lay out our program, show him and his family around campus, and finish by making him an offer.

The game came and went, and he didn’t show.

The next day, I emailed telling him that I was sorry that he and his folks couldn’t make it, and that we were looking forward to having him on campus in the very near future.

His reply solidified his future WITHOUT us.

“Thanks for the note Coach Fenster. I actually did come to the game, but was so cold that I just had my dad take me home after a couple innings. I will try to make it up again soon.”

For those who aren’t familiar with Rutgers, it is the State University of New Jersey. Spring weather isn’t exactly Miami Beach. One of the things we prided ourselves on at Rutgers was our ability to come out of a cold-weather climate to compete at a very high level. We had a chip on our shoulder because of the cold. We were tough because of the cold. This pitcher would never have the privilege of experiencing how we did it.

Hustling is Conditional

The next story is about an offensive second baseman. While I hadn’t had the opportunity to see this kid play, he was the talk of the town, and a headline in the newspaper seemingly after every game. In print, this kid was putting up the type of numbers that we would have loved to have in the middle of our lineup. It was time for me to see the second-coming of Robinson Cano with my own two eyes.

In his first at-bat, he hit a swinging bunt down the third base line, and high-tailed it down the line and gave me an above average running time as he beat the throw for an infield single. I absolutely loved the grit and determination.

Out in the field that next half inning, he ranged far up the middle to make a challenging backhand play that showed me the type of range, footwork, and arm strength that very few have.

His second at-bat came with a runner on, and his team down a run. I am not sure if the ball has landed yet. Yeah, he might have pimped it a bit, but definitely showed plus power and was pumped when he crossed home plate. It looked like he had a passion to play the game, and I was getting ready to call Coach Hill to get his approval to offer this kid who we had heard so much about a scholarship. In the first three innings of the game, he exceeded my expectations.

Then came the second half of the game.

Back out on defense, the pitcher walked the leadoff hitter, and my guy began yelling to “throw strikes,” but not in an encouraging manner. Hmm… that wasn’t fun to see. Next batter hits a tailor-made double play ground ball to the shortstop who boots it, and my guy at second throws his arms up in disgust, completely showing up his teammate. Hmm…it looked like this kid had some warts under that uniform.

On to his third at-bat, with the game close. He skies a pop-up to the left side of the infield, and “ran” to first at a pace that was slower than most people’s walking speed. As he got back to the dugout, I couldn’t figure out if it was his helmet’s fault that he popped up…or his batting gloves fault…or the water cooler’s fault, because he threw or hit them all.

I had seen enough. Instead of staying after to offer this kid a scholarship, I left. Despite being the type of player we wanted (and needed), he clearly wasn’t the type of person we wanted. His character, or lack thereof, won out.

SHUT UP MOM!

When we recruited players, we recruited their parents as well. It was important to us for them to be involved in the process, so they were aware of everything we had to offer to help the kid make a decision. Contrary to what a high school junior tells you, they do not have all the answers, and we made sure the parents knew that.

Our recruiting visits were very informal, where our staff sat on chairs and couches around a coffee table, across from the player and his family. We wanted to just talk about the program and answer whatever questions they had about us. Sometimes the kid did all the talking, and often times, the parents joined in as well.

With this particular recruit, who was a middle infielder we invited in with the sole purpose of offering him a scholarship, the meeting started off on the wrong foot immediately as he walked through the door. His ragged jeans were draped low, literally with his backside hanging out of them, and his hat was on backwards.

While I was more uncomfortable seeing this kid’s underwear creeping out of his pants, Coach Hill was as old-school of a baseball coach as there ever was, and very few things got under his skin more than the backwards hat.

I knew this meeting might not be what we expected when it began by Coach Hill telling the kid to take off his hat, which he clearly didn’t like judging from his body language. As we went through our talking points, this kid couldn’t have been less interested in what we had to say, and his parents were doing all the talking.

At one point, after we asked about his goals, the kid gave us a very short answer. His mother interjected, trying to get her son to elaborate more about what he wanted to accomplish in the game, when the kid asserted:

“SHUT UP MOM, I AM TALKING!”

At that very moment, this recruit sealed his own fate and any possible future with Rutgers Baseball. We figured if this kid had no respect for the two people who have provided him with everything in his life over the past 17 years, there was no way he was ever going to respect our coaches, staff, or players.

——————

All three of these stories have a couple of common themes. First, they were all talented enough to play college baseball at a very high level, yet, because of their character (or lack thereof), they lost out on one potential opportunity to do so. In addition, NONE of their careers panned out in the manner that their ability should have enabled them to be successful. All three players bounced around between a number of different schools over the course of their college careers, where surely each coach realized a bit too late what we saw all early on.

The bottom line is this: Whether it be with a kid earning a college scholarship, making his high school junior varsity team, or getting drafted, one thing should ALWAYS hold true: character DOES count.

For more resources, check out these links:

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan Sportsmanship

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches #Recruiting

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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The Value of Reliability

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / July 13, 2018

From the moment a player signs his first professional contract, a process begins to develop that player into a Major Leaguer. Countless hours will be spent honing one’s craft. From swings in a cage, to ground balls on the field, to pitches in the bullpen, each and every day is an opportunity for players to get a little better. The process of player development in professional baseball takes a number of years, and even for the majority of those who have the privilege of getting paid to play our game, full development never comes to fruition.

As a coach, we all love players who have tools. Professional scouts and recruiters alike all drool over players who can run like Billy Hamilton, barrel the baseball like Miguel Cabrera, display the power of Giancarlo Stanton, throw with velocity like Aroldis Chapman, or show off a breaking ball like Chris Sale’s slider. The Mike Trouts of the world don’t grow on trees, so when we see a rare athlete who might have star potential, we cannot help but get excited about that player becoming a vital part of our club and its future success.

In an era of baseball that, on the surface, seems incredibly analytically-based and data-driven, there is a very simple answer to the question of when a player is truly ready to become a Big Leaguer. It has nothing to do with the numbers. It’s when they become reliable; when those tools turn into viable, usable skills; when we know we can pencil that player into the lineup and they will do what they are supposed to do in order to play their part in helping our club win games. Nothing more, nothing less.

When a rookie first gets called up to the Major Leagues, no one is expecting them to be a star from day one. There is a definite learning curve that takes place at the game’s highest level, but often times all a Major League staff needs to know is whether or not a player is going to be in a position to successfully execute on the field. Call-ups are never expected to be a club’s savior, but rather are expected to be a reliable piece to the team’s big-picture puzzle.

The same premise holds true for players at the collegiate and high school level.

There is a huge value to having a good idea of what to expect out of your players when you pencil them in your lineup. Reliability isn’t a light-tower power at 5:00 that mysteriously disappears at 7:00 when the lights go on. Nor is it a 95-MPH fastball that can never find its way near the strike zone or a 6.5 runner who can never find his way on base. Standout tools are worthless if they never show up in games, and while they offer massive potential for future success, they don’t breed the trust a coach is looking for.

So, what does reliability actually look like?

For hitters, reliability takes on the image of a consistent quality at-bat, where strike zone discipline is a staple of their every day in the batter’s box. Reliable hitters can handle the bat relative to the game, able to move runners over and drive runners in. They can cater their approach according to the game’s ever-changing variables like pitcher, count, situation, and score.

For pitchers, reliability looks like quality strikes, one after another – not just filling the zone with pitches over the heart of the plate, but rather consistently hitting spots that are tough to hit. Reliable pitchers challenge contact and work fast, always keeping their defense engaged to the game, knowing that the ball is likely coming their way. They can control the running game and field their position like the fifth infielder they are supposed to be. Above all else, a reliable pitcher finds a way to keep his team in the game whether that means keeping the opposing team off the board or holding them to eight runs.

On the defensive side of the ball, reliability is making the routine play, routinely. Infielders and outfielders alike regularly throw the ball to the correct base and are always backing up some play, somewhere. Reliable defenders anticipate the game and make their decisions accordingly, whether that may be controlling damage when just a single out is needed or aggressively getting the lead runner out when a small window is open to do so. They have the innate ability to listen to the ball, without having to rely on anyone else to tell them what to do with it.

Reliability is truly one of the game’s most valuable skills; it is a combination of game skills with game sense. Reliable players aren’t always stars, but they always do what they are supposed to do on the field and are just as valuable as those stars who they help shine brighter by making them better.

For more resources, check out these links:

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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The Bright Lights of the Big Leagues: Your Dream or Your Kid’s Goal?

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / June 1, 2018

Twenty-four years ago, I graduated from Thompson Middle School in Middletown, New Jersey, and as was tradition back then (and may very well still be today) my classmates and I would sign one another’s yearbooks with a short note reflecting back on memories of the past three years, and added well wishes for the next few in high school and beyond. Skimming through the pages of mine, still to this day, I am amazed to read the number of entries wishing me luck as a professional baseball player, in addition to the many ticket requests for when I got to the Major Leagues. I had just finished the eighth grade. Little did I know at the time that my professional career would begin some seven years later, because at that point, the bright lights of the Big Leagues were just a dream to me.

A dream… like just about every single kid has when they don their first youth league uniform.

Looking back to that eighth grade yearbook, clearly as a 12- or 13-year-old kid, I was talking - and probably talking often enough for people to mention it as much as they did - about wanting to be a baseball player when I grew up. It’s very easy at an early age to pick any far-fetched, odds-against profession, and say, “I want to be this,” or “I want to be that when I get older,” but at one point or another, reality sets in for most and those dreams remain just that- dreams. For a very fortunate few, myself included, there comes a point and time when that dream becomes a realistic and attainable goal. Now while I am not sure of exactly when that was for me personally, what I do know is that it would have never happened without the support of my parents and coaches, as cautiously optimistic as they may have been.

To be honest, when sights are set so high to the point of turning a dream into a reality, there are going to be naysayers every step of the way. Being part naïve, part driven, and probably part stupid, negative talk from those who didn’t have my trust did nothing but motivate me even more. Truth be told, the only people who I actually would have listened to had they told me I couldn’t do it were the exact ones who never did. I cannot underestimate the importance of those close to you truly believing in you when setting your sights on something, whether it be in sports, or any other challenging facet of life.

I mentioned the cautiously optimistic support of those around me, because that’s exactly what it was. By no means did those who I trusted above all others give me blinding support, without any idea of how difficult accomplishing such a lofty goal would be. While their support was unwavering, it was more along the lines of, “OK… if you want to do this, then you have to work harder than everyone else, and figure out exactly how you plan on getting there,” rather than, “you’re the best and it’s just going to happen for you.” They made me well aware of the things I needed to do, and the challenges that were going to cross my path, and as long as I was willing to go about it the right way, then they were going to be behind me, because this was my dream… NOT theirs.

And therein lies one of the biggest differences I have seen between today and what I experienced some 15-20 years ago when going through the same process of working to advance in the game. So before moving on, I’d like to ask one simple question:

Are those bright lights of the Big Leagues your dreams, or your kid’s goal?

My name is Darren Fenster, and as a self-proclaimed baseball-lifer, I have lived a pretty cool life in the game, having worn a number of different hats over the course of my years on the diamond. From a playing career that garnered All-American honors as a shortstop for Rutgers University, in addition to twice being named a Minor League All-Star while coming up with the Kansas City Royals, to becoming Director of Baseball Operations, Assistant Coach, and Recruiting Coordinator at my alma mater before returning to professional baseball as a hitting coach in A-ball, to my current position as Minor League manager with the Boston Red Sox, I have enjoyed a wide array of experiences around baseball that have helped give me a very unique perspective of the many different sides of the game. In those roles over time, I have witnessed firsthand the change in the way both players approach the game and their futures, and the unrealistic, uneducated, and ill-informed support and expectations of those around the player, where many have come to believe that a college scholarship is a foregone conclusion, and that playing professional baseball is like signing up for a youth league.

The odds are staggeringly against you when it comes to moving up the ranks:

2,200,000 play in youth leagues. 455,000 play in high school. 48,000 play in college. 5,480 play at a Division I college on a baseball scholarship. 1200 get drafted. 750 play in the Major Leagues.

.03% of youth leaguers will play in the Major Leagues. .2% of high schoolers will play in the Major Leagues.

Also consider this when looking into playing in college:

Every year, the maximum number of scholarships Division I baseball teams are allowed to offer is 11.7. That’s not 11.7 scholarships each year for each new recruiting class of players, that’s 11.7 divided among 27 players within a program. One of the biggest misconceptions out there is the full scholarship. They are about as common as a solar eclipse: for the most part, they barely exist. Baseball is not like football (85 full scholarships) or basketball (12 full scholarships), but rather a sport that is forced to divide up their scholarship allotment amongst an entire roster. So when you hear every Tom, Bob, and Harry brag about their kids getting full rides, well unless their last names are Trout, Harper, and Kershaw, well then I’d be willing to bet the only thing that is full is them… of hot air.

10.5% of all high schoolers will play in college. That includes Division I, II, and III, all junior colleges, and NAIA schools. 1.2% of high school players earn a Division I baseball scholarship.

These are stats that your kids must see. By no means are they meant to deter them from going after it, but rather for them to understand the true difficulty in doing so. For the ones who will move on, those numbers will serve as motivation to work harder, and for the ones who get depressed after seeing them, it was probably never meant to be.

To many parents and coaches, those numbers will mean nothing and have little impact, leaving them unfazed in their conviction that their kid will have no trouble making it. To many players, those daunting statistics will barely even register, since in their minds, the odds won’t apply to them, because they have been told how great they are by those same parents and coaches who have no idea what it actually takes to make it. And therein lies the problem…

There is a fine line behind blind optimism, cautious support, and downright naysaying that will kill any and all hopes, but there are a few things that can be done to create reasonable expectations and attainable goals for your kid’s future in the game.

CREATE A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS

Knowing what you want to do is great, but knowing how you plan on getting there is better. You have a starting point. You have a finishing point. What happens in between? Write down all the steps needed to climb toward the ultimate goal. Focusing on short-term goals is much easier and much more doable than just looking at the end-all, and not having a clue of how to get there.

KEEP THE GAME FUN

The game is supposed to be FUN. The younger the kid, the more fun we, as coaches, have to make it. Players and parents shouldn’t even think or talk of scholarships or the draft until the sophomore year in high school, at the earliest. One of the more frustrating things to witness during my time as an assistant coach at Rutgers was going out to games where the players were more concerned with who was in the stands watching than they were actually going out and competing between the lines. Their joy of playing was, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. On very rare occasions, I would get a chance to see teams who had been playing together for years, playing the game the right way, playing the game to win, and most importantly, playing the game for fun. It’s disappointing that those teams are the exception in this day and age, and not the rule. Bottom-line: in order to advance in the game, you have to love to play, because the higher you go, the more time you will spend out on the field. If you don’t enjoy it, then why play at all?

BUYER BEWARE

Be careful. In an age where baseball has somewhat turned into a pay-to-play sport, be very cautious with ANYONE who makes promises of scholarships or getting drafted. The only people who have that power are members of a college coaching staff, or professional scouts. Too many times have I heard stories of empty promises by private instructors or travel teams who sell their connections that will get the exposure the player needs. Here’s the simple truth about exposure: if the player is good enough, he will be found. Period. Money can buy some of the most overblown evaluations ever written, and the majority of coaches will not invest limited scholarship funds on a player he’s never seen. Just because the guy you’ve been paying since little Johnny was six for private lessons says he’s the best player ever might not mean anything other than he enjoys cashing your checks. Consider the source before trusting it.

GO TO A GAME. GO TO A FEW.

As you get older, and college and professional baseball are legitimate goals, it is vital to get a feel for what collegiate level is best for you, and how talented those in the pro game truly are. There are various levels of the game just within Division I. Some conferences and programs could be viewed as comparable to low-level minor league baseball, whereas others are barely a step up from high school. I cannot tell you how many times we got calls from coaches, players, and parents saying how their kid is a perfect fit for us (when he wouldn’t even survive the first day of walk-on tryouts). We would respond with the question, “Well, have you ever seen us play?” Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the answer was no. Well then how on earth do you know that little Johnny is perfect for us when you have no idea how good we are??

HONESTY IS STILL THE BEST POLICY.

As noted above, the guy who’s been on your payroll since little Johnny’s 3rd grade is not an unbiased party. Coaches of their own players will almost always give rave reviews, where the spotlight can be on him or his team. Search out an objective third party coach and ask for an honest evaluation. An opposing high school coach who may have seen some of the best players in the area over the years would be a great reference. Maybe there is a professional scout or player who can watch you play and note the things that must be improved upon in order to reach whatever level you are looking to get to.

GET AWAY FROM THE GAME

With the explosion of travel baseball and private training facilities, while the game itself has not changed, the approach to it, has. We have moved into a culture of specialization and sport-specific training year-round, and it is saddening to see that the three-sport athlete is all but extinct, while the kid who plays two is now an endangered species. Players now have access to work on their game twelve months of the year, and had I have the same resources available to me when growing up, I’m sure I would have become one of the Joneses as well. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Major League Baseball players- the very best in the world, who play from the start of spring training in mid-February well into October if they are lucky enough- DON’T play 12 months of the year. From that very last day of their season in the fall, they will pack up their gloves and bats, and not pick up a ball for a couple months. So if the most well conditioned athletes in the entire sport don’t train year round, then how on earth is it appropriate for kids ages 8-18 to do so?? If you have your kid pick one sport too soon, and you’ll risk him playing none before all is said and done. It’s amazing how much more they will appreciate the game when they don’t have to play it every single day.

My story is unique, and by no means would I expect anyone to follow the same path as I have over the years to get to where I am today, as we live in a completely different world. But there are definitely experiences that SHOULD translate to today’s player, and first and foremost it all starts with having a love for the game and a passion to play it. For me, while growing up, playing baseball was 100% about having fun playing a game, and it remained that way even when it became my job. I couldn’t get enough of it because I loved to play, not because I wanted the exposure to college recruiters and professional scouts. One of the best compliments I ever received as a player is the one that I enjoy giving most now as a coach: you show your love for the game by the way you play it.

In my current position with the Red Sox, I am fortunate beyond belief to be working with some incredibly talented players, from completely different walks of life, with completely different paths into the game, but all with the same goal that I had just a short time ago: to get to the Big Leagues. Beyond their athletic ability, there are three things that stand out with those who do move up and eventually make it: they absolutely love to play the game, they want to work at getting better each and every day and they will compete at all things, at all times. The simplicity of those three things is really amazing. If you don’t love the game, you aren’t going to make it. If you don’t work hard, you aren’t going to make it. If you don’t compete, you aren’t going to make it.

Now, let’s think about this one again…

Are those bright lights of the Big Leagues your dreams, or your kid’s goal?

For more resources, check out the links below:

Online Education Center USA Baseball Mobile Coach Long Term Athlete Development Plan Keeping Perspective The Play Ball Parent Building a Baseball Experience

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Parents

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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Be Who You Want to Be by Controlling What You Can Control

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / January 26, 2018

With every January 1st comes a new year, a clean slate, and a fresh optimism for the future. In the baseball world, New Year’s Day often marks the final stretch of the off-season before we all head back on to the diamond, with the start of school practice and Spring Training just weeks away. And as the calendar turns with the holidays in the rear-view mirror, players can easily reset their sights on their final destination and get back to work towards their goals in the game.

But as quickly as most New Year’s resolutions are broken, so too can players get pulled in every direction but the one where they actually want to go during this very important time of the year. Whether it be added competition, bad weather, limited training time, or countless other things that may cause them to take their eyes off of the prize, players can significantly help themselves by continuing on their baseball journey by filling its path with things they can control.

Feeling discouraged about being behind a better player at your position? That won’t help you get in the lineup; getting quality reps at a different position will. Can’t get outside to throw because of the snow? Find a wall in a gym, a basement or a garage, and get to work to get your arm in shape. You can’t control the weather, but you can control how you respond to it when it screws up the day. Only have a half-hour in a cage to hit before the next group comes in to hit? Make sure every single swing in that half-hour is done with your best focus and purpose behind it. You don’t make the facility’s schedule, but you can be efficient with yours.

Life is full of things outside of our realm of power, and baseball is no different. Whether it be a bad call by an umpire, an immature team in the opposing dugout, or a heckling fan, while we cannot control the actions of those around us, what we can control is how we respond; and it’s that response that will keep us on track to becoming who we want to become.

Even Major League All-Stars want to become more than what they presently are; that’s a big reason why they are Major League All-Stars. They are impressively able to block out much of the noise of their lives – the media, fans, their contract status – understand what is truly important, and control the controllables as a part of their consistent routine and continual effort to be amongst the very best in the game. Amateur players, regardless of age, can easily follow that lead by learning the same mindset when challenges block the road they are on.

High school players across the country are preparing for their spring and summer seasons that they hope will bring scholarship offers, and for a select few, draft opportunities. Well, those players cannot control what a college recruiter or professional scout thinks of them. But what they do have complete and total power over is the enthusiasm with which they play the game, and that will leave a favorable impression. When on the field, they don’t have any control over whether or not a ball will be hit in their direction. They are, however, 100% in control of being in the correct position and throwing the ball to the right base, also leaving a positive mark on all those watching.

Every position player wants to play every day, and every pitcher wants to be in the starting rotation. Players have no control over the names their coach pencils into the lineup. They can control how they go about their business every day on the field, in the cage, and in the bullpen to develop into that player their coach just has to pencil in. They can control their ability to learn the game by watching or reading to become a smarter player, one whom their coach cannot win without.

We get into trouble when we react negatively to adversity. We get into greatness when we respond positively to it. When players and coaches alike are consciously aware of that which they can control, they are that much closer to becoming who they want to become because they have learned to put their days and their actions within their own power.

For more resources, check out these links:

USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center

Darren Fenster is a contributor to the USA Baseball Sport Development Blog, and is currently the Manager of the Boston Red Sox Class A Affiliate Greenville Drive. A former player in the Kansas City Royals minor league system, Fenster joined the Red Sox organization in 2012 after filling various roles on the Rutgers University Baseball staff, where he was a two-time All-American for the Scarlet Knights. Fenster is also Founder and CEO of Coaching Your Kids, LLC, and can be found on Twitter @CoachYourKids.

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Players #Coaches

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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It’s Always About the Player

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / December 29, 2017

WE ARE IMPACTING PEOPLE, NOT PLAYERS. In life, all anyone wants is to be heard by others. Coaching is a platform that gives us a voice. A voice that people listen to. Our goal should be to get our players to WANT to listen, as opposed making them feel like they HAVE to listen. Sports teach so many life lessons that players will take with them long after their playing careers are over, and it’s our responsibility as coaches to embrace our impact on others, as others have embraced their impact on us.

BUILD THE RELATIONSHIP IN ORDER TO BUILD THE PLAYER. Everyone has heard the saying, “they won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Well, that statement isn’t entirely true, because players do tend to listen that first day of practice before we’ve even gotten the chance to even know our players’ names. But a funny thing happens once we do show that we do care about each individual: individually, they’ll care more!

Jim Leyland managed in the Major Leagues for a long time, and lasted through many different eras of player personalities because of his ability to connect with every guy who wore his uniform. Every single day, from the start of spring training through the end of the season, he made a point to have a conversation with every single guy on his team. Sometimes those conversations revolved around baseball, while other times they had nothing to do with the game. The end result was a player being cared for by his coach, which enabled that coach to impact his player.

When working to accomplish something, it is far easier to achieve the goal with others pulling the rope in the same direction. The words “we,” “us,” and “our” create a sense of unity that makes a challenging goal just a bit easier to accomplish. The words “I,” “you,” and “your” create a sense of isolation which makes a challenging goal that much harder to accomplish. Choose your words wisely, and make your players feel like you are standing in the batter’s box or on the pitching mound right there with them!

A GAME OF ADJUSTMENTS. One of the biggest misconceptions in the coaching profession is that it’s the player’s responsibility to adjust to the coach. If we truly want to make an impact on our players, then it’s OUR responsibility to adjust to our players. To do that, it’s important to get to know how each player learns and responds individually. Some players can pick things up just by listening, while others need to see demonstrations in order to be able to grasp a skill. There are some players who will respond with an encouraging pat on the back, while others need more structured discipline. There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach to coaching. If we can get to know each individual, individually, then we are giving ourselves the best chance to reach the player, and that should be the goal each and every day.

YOUR TEAM. YOUR PERSONALITY. We are a product of the sum of all of the coaches who have been around us. The ones we couldn’t stand playing for or coaching under help shape us as much as those we couldn’t get enough of. But it’s important for us to be who we are, without trying to be someone we are not.

It is way easier to express yourself when you are yourself. Players are incredibly perceptive and can pick up when you aren’t being true to who you are. When you are being you, players will see that, and while they may not always agree with the way you do things, they will never be surprised by the way you do things. That fact alone is a huge part of getting the most out of your team.

Stay in the profession long enough and questions will constantly arise as to what to do, and how to do it.

A simple answer is all you need: it’s always about the player.

For resources on making sure it is always about the players, click the links below:

The Confident Baseball Coach Keeping Perspective Coaching Your Own Child Team Building Coaching Resources USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center

#DarrenFenster #FUNdamentalSkills #Coaches

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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We are the Game’s Stewards

FUNdamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / December 8, 2017

Many collegiate and professional baseball players spend their off-seasons working camps and giving lessons to kids as a means to keep busy while making a few extra bucks. I was no different as I was scuffling my way through the Minor Leagues in the early 2000s. Working at a small training facility in central New Jersey, I had the opportunity to work with a bunch of players of varying ages and abilities. From elementary school kids just learning the game for the first time, to high school players already signed to play in college, the opportunity to teach the game to others with such different backgrounds actually helped me understand my own personal game when it came time to train myself.

Now in full disclosure, I wasn’t doing this entirely out of the goodness of my heart. I was working clinics and giving instruction because I had to; my $1200 a month Minor League salary (for just five months of the year) didn’t exactly put me in then lap of luxury. The extra money didn’t enable me to move out of my parents’ house either, but it did allow me to have some semblance of a social life, and more importantly, it gave me a place to work out for free as I prepared for Spring Training.

That place where I was able to hit for free was owned in part by John Valentin, who played 11 seasons in the Major Leagues, 10 with the Red Sox and one with the Mets. As my professional career was just getting going, Valentin’s was just winding down. We were both preparing for Spring Training in the winter of 2003 when he asked if I would mind if he watched me hit. A Major League veteran wanting to watch ME hit? Absolutely. In my mind, I was going to show this former Silver Slugger award winner what a future big league hitter looked like.

And then I started swinging. As it would turn out, I knew very little of what a future Major League hitter actually looked like. It took about three or four swings before Valentin spoke up and made me realize that I had no idea what it meant to be able to hit at the game’s highest level.

“You have a two-strike swing, all the time.”

“Why aren’t you using your legs?”

“You’re swinging to protect… Attack the ball.”

“You don’t have to hit everything back up the middle or the other way.”

In a very blunt and matter-of-fact way, Valentin dissected my swing and approach in a matter of about 17 seconds. These were a swing and an approach, mind you, that I had spent 15-plus years perfecting at this stage of my career. By the end of that first time under the watchful eye of someone who was playing at the level I aspired to reach, everything that I knew – and had a ton of success with – about hitting was blown up in a matter of minutes. But soon thereafter, there was a second time when I’d hit with Valentin. And a third time… fourth… and so on. For the next month or so, our time together essentially turned into me getting free hitting lessons from an established Major League hitter.

When it was time to depart for Spring Training that February, I took off for Arizona with a revamped swing and a newfound approach. The result? The best offensive season, by far, of my entire professional career. While there were a handful of factors and a number of people responsible for this, the time that Valentin generously spent with me played a huge role in me understanding myself as a hitter, and would help set a foundation that I could build from a few years later as a coach.

At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but now with some perspective, I can now see clearly how John Valentin was paying it forward to me, as I am sure many had done for him over the course of his playing career. Currently managing a Minor League team, I see first-hand, every day, how competitive our industry is, full of players working tirelessly to advance to the Major Leagues. I was that player in my previous life. And John Valentin was that player in his, when he took the time to give countless hours towards MY development, rather than into his own.

The things that I learned about hitting in that month we spent together in that small cage in that small facility in New Jersey served me well as a player, and even more so now as a coach. But the more lasting impression that John Valentin left on me had nothing to do with the bat, but rather everything about making our game better simply by sharing knowledge and passion for it to the next generation of players.

We are merely the game’s placeholders. It is our responsibility as its stewards to leave it in better shape than we found it. John Valentin has already left his mark. How will you leave yours?

For more resources, check out these links:

Coaching Resources USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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Get Out of Your Usual Bubble

FUNdamental Skills - Postseason Series

By Darren Fenster / October 13, 3017

October 10 marked Opening Day for the 2017 edition of the Arizona Fall League, a “polishing-off school” of sorts for some of the game’s top prospects who are on the brink of the Major Leagues. The 32-game schedule allows for a select few players from the upper-level Minor Leaguers of all 30 MLB clubs to get just a few more at bats or innings before heading into the offseason. The AFL provides an incredible opportunity for development not just for those players fortunate enough to be selected to play, but also for the coaches chosen to coach. This fall, I have the privilege of being one of those coaches.

Six teams make up the circuit, each based out of various Spring Training facilities surrounding Phoenix, with players and staff from five different Major League organizations comprising each team’s roster. As a part of the Peoria Javelinas, our players from the Red Sox will be joined by those from the Padres, Mariners, Braves, and Blue Jays. And by nature of this unique setup, therein lies the awesome opportunity.

From the start of Spring Training in the middle of February to the end of the Minor League season in September, I live inside of the Red Sox bubble. Just about everything that we do over the course of the year comes at the direction of our coordinators and front office. As an organization, we are incredibly consistent in our daily approach that has helped develop countless Big Leaguers not just in Boston, but around the entire league. While we have a formula that we believe works, it’s a formula that always gets tweaked slightly from year to year; a formula that, no matter how good it may be, can always be better.

The Arizona Fall League offers me a rare chance to live outside of my usual baseball environment for a month and a half. While the players and coaches from the other four clubs who will make up our team in Peoria will get a glimpse into the way we do things with the Red Sox, we will equally get to see how those other four organizations go about their business. By the middle of November, as the league is finishing up, I am sure that I’ll have plenty to bring home with me that will help make our players and organization better, just as the guys from the other four organizations will feel the same.

This won’t be the first time I escape my usual bubble, and, based on similar experiences outside of my normal comfort zone, I sure hope it won’t be the last.

My coaching career began at Rutgers University, my alma mater, where I played for and later worked under American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Famer Fred Hill. He is the number one reason why I am a coach today, having seen something in me far before I was ready to see it in myself at the abrupt end of my playing career because of injury in 2006. At a time when I had a degree, but no plan B for my life, he literally created a position for me on his staff because he thought I would make a good coach. The rest, as they say, is history.

Fred Hill’s style of Rutgers baseball was all I knew. It’s what helped build me into the player I was back then, and more importantly, the person I am today. From swing mechanics to practice organization, accountability to discipline, work ethic to bunt defense, offensive philosophy to strength and conditioning, recruiting to coaching, upon the start of this second life of sorts in baseball, my approach and beliefs in the game really weren’t mine at all – they were his. Now, some 11-plus years into my own coaching career, it’s easy to see how much of my foundation with my own clubs is a direct result of my ten years with Coach Hill. But that’s much of my foundation, not all of it. The rest is a product of my time spent away from the only thing I knew…

The position that Coach Hill created for me back in the spring of 2006 was that of Director of Baseball Operations, one that was just beginning to make its way around to the bigger programs across the country. While I was on the Rutgers coaching staff, technically, by NCAA standards, I was not a coach, and was not permitted to be on the field, actually coaching players. I had a wide array of responsibilities, from helping our organizational recruiting efforts to compiling scouting reports, coordinating camps and their daily schedules to assisting in travel logistics. This position enabled me to learn everything it takes to run a college program from top to bottom, except one vital element: coaching. So, in an effort to get a uniform back on, and to see if this coaching thing was truly for me, I looked to hook on with one of the many collegiate summer league teams that played around the nation.

In the summer of 2007, fresh off a Big East Title at Rutgers, I shipped off to Minnesota, where I’d be an assistant with the St. Cloud River Bats of the Northwoods League. Head Coach Tony Arnerich, a former Minor League teammate of mine with the Royals who was an assistant at the University of California at the time, saw a good fit for me on his staff to work with infielders and hitters, while coaching first base. It was interesting for me to be a part of a team that didn’t bunt most times when the situation called for it, like we did at Rutgers. It was eye-opening to see how many different things went into the decision-making process over the course of a day, from setting the lineup to organizing the pregame schedule to using our in-game strategy, not to mention daily concerns including travel times, team meals, and hotel rooming lists.

I honestly had no idea how much responsibility fell on a head coach’s plate. That summer in St. Cloud made me realize how much more there was to coaching, than just coaching. Those two-plus months helped me learn how much I truly needed to learn.

A year later, I was off to the Cape Cod League as part of the Orleans Cardinals coaching staff, where longtime skipper Kelly Nicholson afforded me what is still to this day one of my biggest breaks and best opportunities to develop as a coach. He would have me make out the lineup every day, organize batting practice, coach third base, and run the in-game offense as I saw fit. For the first time in my coaching career, I had to think on my own two feet. He gave me responsibilities that I never had, and put me in a position to make decisions I previously never had to make.

With the perspective that almost ten years offers, I can honestly say that it was during that summer in Orleans when my coaching career truly took off. That time spent with Kelly as a mentor along with the duties he put on my plate helped me grow more than I could have ever hoped, and helped prepare me for the day when I would be promoted to an assistant, on-field coach at Rutgers and later, as a hitting instructor and manager in professional baseball.

Having just completed my fifth year as a Minor League manager with the Red Sox, I have my own personal pillars and beliefs that I have seen first-hand yield some incredible results both on the individual and team levels. But over the next month and a half out in Arizona, being surrounded by those from four other organizations, I am excited to learn from them new ways to make those pillars and beliefs even better.

Comfort is one of the biggest obstacles to growth. Get out that comfortable bubble of yours… because that’s where our personal development truly lies.

For more resources, check out these links: USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center Coaching Resources

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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A Champion’s Resiliency

FUNdamental Skills - Character Development Series

By Darren Fenster / September 29, 2017

Perspective can be an amazing thing sometimes.

We can look back at some great accomplishment, and figure out all of the things that went into reaching that pinnacle. We can do the same with failure, and determine how and why the wheels fell off the bus. In both cases, our experiences into what was help prepare us for what may be down the road, knowing exactly what worked and what didn’t.

Perspective on our 2017 season with the Greenville Drive was indeed a beautiful thing. We won the first South Atlantic League Championship in the 12-year history of the franchise, and set a regular-season record for wins with 79 along the way. We had some incredible wins. Extra inning marathon wins. Great, competitive wins. Perfectly played, all-around wins.

And we had some losses as well… 62 of them, to be precise.

Looking back now, there were four specific games over the course of the season that clearly shaped us as a team. Not a single one of them was a win. Some clubs create their team identity behind improbable comebacks. Our Major League club in Boston seems to have built theirs in extra innings, just finding a way to outlast their opponent late into the night. Meanwhile in Cleveland, the Indians, in the midst of their own historic run, have done so by pummeling teams from the very first pitch of the game, rarely ever trailing over the course of nine innings. The 2017 Greenville Drive? Our identity was born from potentially debilitating defeats. Our lifeblood was our unbelievably consistent ability to respond to them.

May 30: Rome Braves 10, Greenville Drive 7

The first of these identity-building losses was quite possibly the worst. Not only the worst of the season, but it just might have been the worst loss I have ever experienced personally in my entire career on a baseball field, as a player or coach.

In the first game of a doubleheader against a Rome Braves team that was nipping at our heels in second place, we took a comfortable 7-0 lead into what should have been the final inning of the game. The frame opened with three hits, a walk, and a hit batsman; the score was 7-3. A base hit sandwiched in between two outs drove in another run with one out to go. 7-4. With the tying run at the plate, and us now clinging nervously to a three-run lead, we got the game-ending strikeout that we needed… but our catcher was unable to get a glove on the ball, and the pitch went to the backstop as the batter reached first with another runner crossing the plate. 7-5. The next hitter doubled off the wall to complete the unthinkable comeback, driving in two to tie the game at seven. We had just blown a seven-run lead in the last inning of a game, and eventually lost after giving up a three-spot in extras. This was the kind of loss that could stay with a team for a long time.

It was my job as manager to make sure it didn’t.

Very rarely would I ever address the team after a game. Over the course of the regular season, it might have happened five times – maybe. Post-game speeches just weren’t my style; we would generally talk about the previous night’s game before stretch the following day. But after a loss like this, with another game to start 30 minutes later, it was a no-brainer to speak to the group about what had just happened, as I had to make sure the guys got that game out of their system and move on. With players shell-shocked, sitting quietly in front of their lockers in the clubhouse, most with their heads down wondering what had just happened, my quick team address went something like this:

“This was bad, there’s no sugarcoating it. But it’s not one person’s fault. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. We move on as a team. Right now. The best part about that game? It’s over. In 30 minutes, we get the opportunity to right the ship.”

And we did…

Not only did we win game two of the doubleheader – we went on to win four games in a row, part of a run in which we would win seven of our next 10 games, putting ourselves in a great position to close out the first half of the season on top of our division.

June 15: Columbia Fireflies 7, Greenville Drive 2

The 140-game South Atlantic League season is broken up into two, 70-game halves. The winners of each division in each half go to the playoffs. With four games to go in the first half, we were clinging to a half-game lead over Columbia, who came to town red hot, winning something like 12 of their previous 13 games. We had played extremely well over the course of the first 65 games of the half, pacing the division in first place from Opening Day on. If we took care of business on our end, we wouldn’t have to worry about what anyone else was doing below us, and that playoff ticket would be ours.

Well, we didn’t take care of business that night, and for the first time in more than two months, we found ourselves in second place with three games to go, on the outside of postseason baseball looking in. A three-game series awaited us on the road in Rome to play what was arguably the most talented team in the league. A thrilling comeback win on the final game of the half gave us a series win, and – with some help from Charleston against Columbia – the division title.

We were going to the playoffs.

July 7: Lexington Legends 5, Greenville Drive 2 (PPD, eight innings)

We stumbled a bit out of the gate in the second half of the season. Perhaps we were tired from the way we had to play the final two weeks under pressure to win the first half; but while playing the same brand of baseball we had been the entire season, we just couldn’t find ourselves on the winning side of the scoreboard like we had so often in the months prior. Our record, which stood at 4-10 going into this game, wasn’t a huge concern for me because we were going about our business professionally and competing in a similar manner as we had all season long… that was, until this game.

As we sleepwalked into the eighth inning, we found ourselves down 5-2, playing with very little energy, and even less focus. As a team, we had just one hit for the game, and it certainly wasn’t Clayton Kershaw or Corey Kluber who was on the mound. It wasn’t “just one of those days;” we flat-out were not competitive. Unfortunately, these days are bound to happen over the course of a 140-game season. In the bottom of the eighth, as the skies opened up and the ocean began to fall from above, our players’ enthusiasm was renewed. As I sat on one end of the dugout, I thought to myself, had we had this kind of life when the game was actually being played, we’d probably be in a better position. The energy that this rain delay brought out in our team frustrated me.

And then, when the game had been officially called, a few guys thought it would be a good idea to go tarp sliding. After we had just lost a game. After we had gotten just one hit. Well, needless to say, this prompted a post-game “speech.” That “speech” had a clear message: even if it’s just for one day out of 140, a lack of energy, focus, competitiveness, and professionalism was not acceptable. Not even for one day.

The next day would be the start of a seven-game winning streak, and a stretch of winning ten of our next twelve contests.

August 22: Columbia Fireflies 14, Greenville Drive 7

In one of those days that was, truly, “just one of those days,” we were getting beat handily by Columbia, down 14-0 as we went to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning. A Rome-like, miracle comeback was hardly in the cards in a game where two touchdowns would merely tie things up. But from the third base coach’s box, I witnessed something pretty incredible during our last two times at bat, which spoke volumes about who we were as a team.

Down 14-0, with six outs to go and everyone – myself included – tired and hungry, as the post-game spread was getting cold, we didn’t give away a single at bat. Our competitiveness in the box during those final two innings was as good as it had been all season long. We were disciplined and made the pitchers work. We found ways to get on base beyond just base hits. We got clutch hits to keep the line moving, and the game going. Eventually, the last out was recorded, and we had lost the game by seven runs when the dust had settled. But despite the box score that would show us losing, I remember thinking to myself how awesome it was to witness our guys truly play all nine innings, which was our Modus Operandi all year long.

In a game where we were dead in the water, the life we showed in those last two frames carried over to the next day, which put us on a run of eight straight wins, and got us on a trajectory to peak at the exact time of year when we needed to: right into the playoffs.

If someone asked me to describe this collective group of 49 players in one word, that would be simple: resilient. Time and time again, we got knocked down, and time and time again, we got back up, and responded.

As we moved through the playoffs, I had my “back against the wall,” or, “world against us” speech all ready to go, with those four aforementioned games as its backdrop. This team was battle-tested and as well prepared to respond as any group of players I had ever been around. It was who we were; it was what we did. And I was ready to give that speech to make sure every single guy in our clubhouse knew that.

But in the end, these guys played so well that I would never have to give it.

The natural ebb and flow of our game will always present adversity. Often times, we cannot control how, when, or even why that hardship will hit. What we can control is our response. When many others would have been crippled by it, in 2017, the Greenville Drive used adversity as a springboard that enabled us to leave our own mark on a franchise’s history. We responded better than any coach could ever hope for. We responded all the way to a ring.

For more resources, check out these links: USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center The Mental Game

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches #Players

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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Spreading Sportsmanship into Your Opponent’s Dugout

FUNdamental Skills - Student-Athlete Development Series

By Darren Fenster / May 19, 2017

It was the spring of 2000, and my Rutgers Scarlet Knights had just been swept handily by Tulane in an early season three-game series. Following the end of the third game on that Sunday afternoon, as both teams went through the traditional post-game handshake, the Green Wave’s young assistant coach, Jim Schlossnagle, grabbed me out of the line, and paid me what, still to this day, was one of the very best compliments I have ever received.

“Good luck in pro ball,” he said.

Now, his well wishes in and of themselves might not seem that significant, but to understand their significance to me personally, you have to understand what had transpired just a few months prior.

In June of 1999, I had just finished an All-American junior season at Rutgers, and was anxiously looking forward to being selected in the Major League Baseball draft. To me, it was just a matter of when, not if, I was going to be picked up after surpassing any and all expectations I could have dreamed upon entering college as an undersized, under-strength middle infielder who couldn’t run or hit. The years of hard work and dedication to the game would be validated, and my life-long dreams would come true the moment my name was called.

When day one of the draft arrived, my phone was ringing on and off throughout the day, mostly from friends and teammates to see which club took me. When the sun went down on day three of the draft, 50 rounds had passed, 1500 players had been chosen, and not one of those was I.

I was broken.

I was bitter.

I was lost.

Not getting selected after a season in which I felt like I couldn’t do anything more made no sense, and, as it would turn out temporarily, made me believe that professional baseball was not for me. What was I going to do with the rest of my life since this life I had been planning for and working towards in baseball clearly was not going to happen?

My coach at Rutgers, Fred Hill, an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall-of-Famer, offered some encouragement, but was more excited about me returning for my senior year than he was comforting me in my disappointment. At the time, his approach bugged me, but now, I see how valuable his vision truly was for me, focusing on what could be instead of what was.

Return back to that Sunday afternoon at Tulane. To that point, all of my support with regard to me getting drafted had come from those I was close to… people who almost had to lift me up because of the relationships I had with them. That's what friends, family, coaches, and teammates are supposed to do, right?

But then in came Coach Schlossnagle and his simple, five words to me after his team had just finished drubbing mine for the past three days. I cannot remember exactly what I did during the series to stick out on the field- might have made a nice play or two at shortstop- but it was definitely nothing noteworthy, in my mind at least, that would make an opposing coach seek me out to wish me luck.

Jim Schlossnagle didn’t have to do what he did. And even though on a number of occasions I’ve relayed this story back to him, now the highly successful head coach at TCU, I doubt he realizes the significance of how his five words lifted me up at a time when I really needed it. He gave me back my confidence. He gave me back my dream. A dream that did, in fact, come true when the Royals selected me following a year that had even surpassed the season prior when I thought that I couldn’t do anything more.

Today, still relatively young in my own coaching career, those five words left such a lasting impression on me that whenever I see the chance to potentially do for others as Coach Schlossnagle did for me, it’s an opportunity that I try to take advantage of as often as possible. Very early in my time as a coach, I learned that coaching needs to always be about the player… about being selfless with focus on others, as others before have focused on us.

What Jim Schlossnagle taught me back in the spring of 2000 was that that player doesn’t always have to be in your own dugout. THAT is the epitome of being a true coach. THAT is the epitome of being selfless. THAT is sportsmanship. THAT is leadership.

Thank you, Coach Schlossnagle, for inspiring me to inspire others.

For more resources, check out these links:

Sportsmanship A Baseball Coaching Philosophy The Confident Baseball Coach USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Players #Coaches

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 7 years

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Balancing 1,440 Minutes

FUNdamental Skills - Student-Athlete Development Series

By Darren Fenster / May 5, 2017

There are 1,440 minutes in the day. No more, no less, for no one. Every one of us is given the same canvas of seconds to paint whatever kind of picture we want.

During my time coaching at Rutgers University, it was clear that time management was a far bigger adjustment for our student-athletes than was actually playing the game at a higher level. Throughout the recruiting process, our staff would make it a point to bring awareness to the challenges that come with 18 year-olds being on their own for the first time. Some handled it well, while others got completely handled by it.

When freshmen arrived on campus, we structured much of their days for their entire first year in college with the idea of helping them get into a well-rounded daily routine as they adjusted to life without their dads waking them up or their moms packing their lunches. If our collective years of experience taught us anything, we learned time and time again, a consistent routine off the diamond could set up for a very successful one on it. Conversely, guys who had no clue how to balance their days constantly found themselves in catch-up mode; catching up on the schoolwork they had gotten behind on, and catching up in baseball to the players they had fallen behind of.

During the season, the NCAA mandates that we were only allowed to spend 20 hours per week on the field for athletic activity. At Rutgers, on top of the 15 credit hours many were enrolled in for the semester, we also required that new student-athletes completed eight hours of study hall per week.

From Monday through Friday, there are 120 hours in the workweek. Between class, study hall, baseball, and the suggested eight hours of nightly sleep, we’ve accounted for roughly 85 hours, leaving an average of about seven hours per day of free time. How our guys handled that “free” time often was the difference between their being successful in the classroom and on the field, or their days being a constant struggle to stay on top of that various aspects of being a student-athlete at Rutgers. Would they spend those two hours in between classes playing video games or taking extra swings? Was that free hour before lunch used to get started on the term paper due in a few weeks or spent aimlessly surfing Facebook?

By no means did we expect members of our baseball program to be social hermits, spending every waking moment either playing baseball or studying nonstop, but we did expect our players to use their free time wisely. Priority number one was always school. They were expected to put time in on their own to their studies, outside of the allotted eight hours of study hall, not to keep pace, but to hopefully get and stay ahead academically.

Priority number 1-A was always baseball. We expected our guys to hone their craft on the field when we weren’t around, on top of the twenty hours a week that we could work with them, as the bare minimum wasn’t going to get us anywhere close to where we wanted to go. We wanted them in the weight room, getting stronger. We wanted them to get their sleep, but without sleeping the day away. We wanted them to have a social life, but not become a star of the remake of “Animal House.” For years, we saw first-hand how success for them was going to be all about balance, and knew how one side usually correlated right into the other.

While every student-athlete came from their own unique background, with some already well-versed in structured days, there was always an adjustment period because being in college was something brand new for them all. For the ones who took longer than others to adjust, we found that something as simple as writing the week down on paper could alleviate many issues they experience when they try going ad-lib.

Every semester our academic advisor would print out the weekly schedule of classes and study hall, in addition to the blocks of time during the week when practice or games were to take place. From there, we would give each student-athlete their own flexibility to fill in their free hours, as they saw fit. They could figure out on their own when to eat or get their classwork done. For the few morning people we had in our program, they might plan on waking up early to use time before classes in the morning to get in those extra swings or that additional workout in the gym. For night owls, maybe that was the best time when they could bang out additional schoolwork, while planning to sleep in a bit later the next day. The point of them scripting their free time down in ink and on paper was for them to treat those parts as mandatory parts of their day, just as practice, school, and study hall all were already. More times than not, it worked.

College life is hard enough for anyone experiencing it for the first time, even more so for those who have earned the opportunity to compete in a sport. Being away from home brings upon newfound freedom, but also comes with many newfound responsibilities that student-athletes have to learn to fulfill and prioritize. The key to being able to do that successfully? Learning how to balance each of their 1,440 minutes of the day, every day.

For more resources, check out these links:

The Mental Game College Recruiting Academic Eligibility USA Baseball Mobile Coach Amateur Resource Center Online Education Center

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Players #Recruiting

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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Individualizing the Off-Season

Fundamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / November 2, 2018

By the end of the season, it is smart for all of us in the game to do our own personal year in review. From there, we can see what went well, and what we need to improve upon. And it’s in that introspection where we need to dig deep with both objectivity and honesty. Self-awareness plays a vital role in player development, as those who know what they can and can’t do are able to, in a sense, be their own coaches, constantly looking for ways to either improve themselves or break out of a funk without always being under the watchful eye of an instructor. A coach has done an incredible job with a player when that player has learned himself inside and out.

Athletes never stay at the same level; they are either getting better or they are getting worse, and complacency is the quickest route to the latter. A separator amongst the game’s best isn’t always talent. Combined with that knowledge of self, often times it’s a player’s obsessive desire to get better without ever being satisfied with where they are, whether that be in A-Ball or the Big Leagues. And it’s in the off-season- when players are on their own, away from their teams- where that desire becomes the driving force being their everyday work.

The off-season should hold three distinct characteristics: 1) rest to recharge, 2) make your strengths stronger, and 3) lessen your limitations. We’ve previously discussed the value of getting away from the game and playing other sports, so this week’s focus is on the individualized aspect of the latter two off-season traits.

Ask yourself, your coaches, scouts, and teammates, “what do you do well?” Also ask the question, “what do you struggle with?” Often times our own perception of self is slightly different than other’s reality. And that’s fine. Maybe we come out of those conversations humbled, not nearly as good at something as we think we are, or with a newfound confidence, aware of something that we didn’t even think about as a weapon in our arsenal.

MAKING YOUR STRENGTHS STRONGER

No matter how good a player may be, they can ALWAYS be better. After taking that straw poll of those around you, reflect on that list of strengths and figure out how they can become stronger. For example, if you are a hitter, maybe you displayed an outstanding feel for the strike zone this past season, but you could have been more selective at times, and aggressive at others. Well, your off-season focus can be placed on learning YOUR zone; understanding the pitches you hit well, and those that you don’t. Then, come the spring, your approach in the box can reflect an improved selective aggressiveness that might just turn a good year into a great one.

If you’re a pitcher, perhaps one of your greatest strengths of the year was the way you filled up the strike zone and challenged hitters to put the ball in play. But in doing so, you might have thrown too many hittable strikes, when you could have let the count play to your advantage by forcing the hitter to chase pitches out of the zone. In that case, your off-season focus can be centered around your ability to command the baseball for a ball; elevating the fastball or burying your off-speed stuff. Do that, and you will be well on your way to becoming a complete pitcher, who knows how to really pitch.

LESSENING YOUR LIMITATIONS

There is not a player out there who can do everything at a Hall-of-Fame level. Even Mike Trout has his own limitations…and while I can’t think of a single one right now, trust me, he does! At the higher levels of the game, scouting reports are developed for one team to exploit another club’s weaknesses. That goes as broad as for a team who might not be able to field a bunt to as detailed as a hitter who cannot get to the inside pitch to save his life. Naturally, the fewer weaknesses a team or player may have, the tougher they are to beat.

So, with that in mind, take note of what you don’t do well. While no one will expect you to turn a weakness into a strength overnight, if you can slowly but surely improve upon your limitations, over time, you might eventually become just average at something you may have previously been terrible at. Like that hitter who couldn’t hit anything inside. By starting on the tee, and the progressing to toss, and finishing with BP either off of an arm or a machine, you can emphasize the inside pitch every day. It may be ugly at first, but by practicing with a consistent purpose and plan, before long you can, in fact, learn the proper way to get the barrel to a pitch that for years may have given you nightmares in your sleep.

There is no secret switch in the game. Your strengths didn’t magically appear overnight; rather some things in the game just happen to come more easily than others. To be good at anything, it takes time, focus, and energy. Probably none more so than when it comes to working on your weaknesses. But when that time, focus, and energy is spent on all parts of the game- both good and bad- a lot of good is sure to follow. One player’s physical gifts are completely different than another’s. So, the way each player trains should be a reflection of their own individuality, rather than a singular ideal of what a player can and should be.

#FUNdamentalSkills #DarrenFenster #Coaches #Players

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usabsportdevelopment-blog · 6 years

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Little Things Make for Big Wins

Fundamental Skills

By Darren Fenster / October 12, 2018

Omaha, Nebraska.

Every June, this quaint Midwestern city becomes the pinnacle of the college baseball world when it hosts the College World Series. Every February, it is the destination for all 298 NCAA Division I baseball teams. It is the goal. But out of those 298 clubs, only eight get to go. Only eight get to play for the National Championship. EIGHT. It is a special place that only a few special teams get to experience.

Last June, in the bottom of the 10th inning of a tied, deciding game-three of the Louisville Super Regional, Cal State Fullerton found itself one run away from its season ending when the leadoff hitter for the Cardinals reached base. A sacrifice bunt was in order. Everyone in the ballpark knew it. Everybody watching on television knew it. And Cal State Fullerton’s defense knew it, too… especially their second baseman, Taylor Bryant.

As Louisville’s hitter laid down a textbook sacrifice, Fullerton’s catcher fielded the ball cleanly, and without a play at second, shuffled his feet towards first to take the “sure” out. When the ball left the catcher’s hand, it was apparent that “sure” out would not be recorded; the throw airmailed over the 1st baseman’s head and headed for the right field corner- but the ball never made it there. The ball never even made it into the outfield because Taylor Bryant was backing up the play, in position behind first base, exactly where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there. Had he not been there, Louisville’s runner from first likely would have scored easily, and a frantic dogpile at home plate would have ensued with the Cardinals’ ticket punched to Omaha.

But Taylor Bryant was there.

Bryant’s simple backup of first base not only saved the game, but it saved Fullerton’s season. Fittingly, both he and the Titans were rewarded, escaping out of that 1st and 2nd, nobody out jam without giving up a run, and an inning or two later, they would push across a run of their own that would punch THEIR ticket to Omaha… all because Taylor Bryant was backing up a base.

Who knows how many times Bryant had made that sprint to back up first base, only to watch his teammates throw and catch the ball without issue and get that “sure” out? Who knows how many times Bryant practiced backing up first base, only to realize his energy to be in position, just in case of a bad throw, went for naught.

What do we (and Taylor Bryant) know? Clearly, that “little thing” is not so little after all.

One of the biggest challenges for coaches in any sport is to get their players to buy in to the small details of the game, the things that seemingly, to them, don’t really matter. While stories like Fullerton’s help in the cause, the reality is that it takes a special culture to get an entire team to embrace those things that barely get noticed. When you have a roster full of players who take pride in doing the little things, a funny thing happens: those big things tend to take care of themselves.

Creating that detail-oriented, little-thing atmosphere begins with the coaching staff. We as coaches cannot expect players to care about something in games if we don’t show how much we care about something by working at it. From there, it’s time for us to get our players to buy in. That’s not an easy thing to do, especially when the majority of these little things garner little notice, nor recognition. So take it upon yourself to change that. Take notice of the details. Recognize those who are doing the right thing.

Everyone knows the hitter who got the game-winning hit, or the pitcher who secured the win with a key strikeout with the bases loaded. Praise the unsung hero. The guy who isn’t in the box score. The player who didn’t get the headline. Point out the guy who moved the runner, or drew the walk to keep the inning going that gave the hero the opportunity to be the hero. Applaud the middle-reliever who pitched those middle innings that kept your club in the game and give the closer that chance to close the game.

In the age of selfies, every kid wants the lens of them. So give them what they want, but do it in their selfless moments. Those moments that aren’t about them individually, but about the team as a whole.

The ultimate compliment a coach can get is that his team plays the game the way it was meant to be played. That compliment, while independent of winning and losing, is a testament to simply caring about doing the right thing- always, and in all ways- because it’s the right thing to do. Caring about the little things shows a love for the game. Caring about the little things shows an attention to detail. Caring about the little things displays character.

Caring about the little things, we promise you, will help make for big wins. Watch this month’s MLB postseason, and you’ll be sure to see for yourself.

Just ask Taylor Bryant…

This article was published in the April 2016 edition of Coach and Athletic Director Magazine.

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