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Life Lessons Life Lesson #56: Keeping Practice Fun Keeping Practice Fun In offering Coaching Clinics and training baseball and softball team managers, we talk a lot about the structure of practice, season and game planning. Typically, our message is weighted most heavily on thorough preparation before events and organized and effective workouts. This month, I’d like to discuss keeping athletes engaged, occupied and having fun during the course of many, many practices. During the months of September to January, Lifeletics offers two off-season programs: Team Training and Elite Individual Training (Friday Night Lights). Offered inside our training facility, we’ve had to get creative to ensure an amazing workout while staying within the indoor training space. Both these programs started last month with great success and I wanted to share some of the highlights behind the positive reviews. To begin, “practice” as it’s defined must be something that the athletes enjoy. One of Lifeletics’ biggest goals is for athletes to learn to enjoy working; enjoy the process of getting better; enjoy the persistence of working to perfect a craft. Our communication always directly addresses the fact that we are trying to keep things fun. Without sacrificing the tremendous “work” that must be performed, the athletes know that the collective goal is to keep this training experience positive. All instructors attempt to instill an enjoyment of the grind that goes into fundamental training, and our programs support that message with the involvement of several key principles. The eight keys listed below ensure that athletes truly want to come give their all at a workout, something that could otherwise be easily perceived as negative. QUICK STATIONS The idea of a fast-paced workout is fairly common sense (as are most of these keys), yet it does require a full practice plan and solid communication amongst all coaches. At Lifeletics, we circulate workout itineraries in advance of all practice sessions so that the coaching execution can push the athletes to move quickly through the scheduled material. From an athlete perspective, it’s no secret that the athletes of today need to be consistently stimulated. A practice or workout plan should keep athletes progressing through varying movements and different drills. Minimize the amount of time spent at any single station and boredom stands outside the cage looking in at occupied athletes. MAXIMIZE INVOLVEMENT AT EACH STATION This follows along the concept of breaking down each segment of your practice plan into multiple stations. Follow the concept at each station, involving a feeder, receiver or additional movement. During our team training, athletes will work through physical (push ups, sit ups, etc.) or agility movements in between their baseball repetitions (swings, throws, ground balls). This can also be a role of feeding a machine or soft toss, or receiving throws and applying tags. While this supporting role may not be the focus of a station, it helps to avoid lines and standing around and shortens the time where most athletes’ mind can wander to what he or she would rather be doing. If an athlete’s mind never wanders away from the workout at hand, his focus has been manually enhanced. This enhanced focus will directly increase practice enjoyment, and make an hour long workout seem like mere minutes. POSITIVE MESSAGE Briefly described above, Lifeletics instructors continually preach the goal of enjoying the process. In order for this message to be believed, the physical workout must actually be fun. So, this positive message will only be received if supported by a workout that does not break the athletes’ spirit. When the energy is high, the endorphins are flowing and the athletes are feeding off each other, praise them for their work! Point out how hard they are working; how the workout really is fun; the fact that they ARE actually improving! There must be a bit of influence to shape their attitudes towards practice. But so long as the workout isn’t working against this influence, the athletes will respond positively and learn to enjoy the process. EXPLAIN WHY Give an explanation for why they are doing a drill. Explain how the drill is relevant and how the movements translate to the field of play. Our goal is to break down the game’s most common plays into their components and athletes appreciate understanding ‘why’ they are being put through a certain drill. For example, picture this situation: A second baseman going into the hole (between 1st baseman and 2nd baseman) to field a ground ball and then feeding second base to start a double play. Among other things, this play requires a reverse pivot footwork move to get the shoulders pointed back towards second base. For a single short drill, we pull that reverse pivot out of the play and drill only footwork. And when the athletes arrive to fire through such a drill, instructors start by explaining (very quickly) the situations where this specific movement would be relevant. In this case, we’d explain the visual of a second baseman feeding the shortstop – or a right fielder going down the line and shuffling the feet in line for a throw to 2nd base. INVOLVE COMPETITION All athletes have a competitive spirit, and enjoy competing. Whether it’s against parents, coaches or teammates, competition takes the focus off of the work at hand and places it onto a time, a number of points, or a place. When talking about enjoying practice, taking focus off of the work can be a good thing! And when combined with a positive message, an athlete can objectively look back at a drill or movement and say to himself: “You know what, that was kind of fun.” We avoid prizes and simply focus the competition on performing and improving. Keeping competition positive is a huge component to its enjoyment. Be careful not to alienate any participants or strongly identify a “loser.” INVOLVE SPEED, STRENGTH, AGILITY Outside this key involves baserunning. Indoors, each workout can involve some sort of speed, strength and/or agility training. With a never-ending supply of drills and movements, each practice can focus on something different. Remember that the goals here are two-fold: First, we want the athletes to get faster, stronger and quicker through physical training. Secondly, it’s important that we teach athletes to enjoy physical training and learn to accept it as a part of their lives. They need to understand that physical training is a regular part of practice (and life for that matter). After years of practice and working out, this physical activity will become a fundamental part of their lifestyles and an invaluable component of good health. VARIETY Another key loaded with common sense, variety keeps athletes focus on the drill at hand. If they know what’s coming, their minds can wander. A wandering mind leads to a bored or unhappy kid… or a frustrated coach. Even if a station falls under a similar category week in and week out, involving competition, multiple and different roles, and quick paced movements can keep practice fun. FINISH WITH FUN Many times, this fun will also involve competition. Examples include: a points based hitting game (points scored for execution, base-hits continue hitting, fast-fastball contact), a 2-team game involving ground balls or races, or an accuracy game with throws or even bucket tosses. Relax on fundamental critique and allow the kids to be kids (this can be hard ;-), and make sure that they finish with a smile on their faces. |
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