How To Get The Most Out Of Practice

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Are you a baseball player who has all the measurable but struggles taking it to a game? Are you a baseball coach who is looking help your player with the ‘what’s next?’ conversation? Strategic Baseball Podcast and our Strategic Advantage Baseball Process is for you.

Geoff and Darrell talk about How To Get The Most Out Of Practice

Geoff Rottmayer Twitter – @geoffrottmayer

Geoff Rottmayer Email – grottmayer@athletic-mission.com

Darrell Coulter Twitter – @darrellcoulter

Darrell Coulter Email – dc@starttpitching.com

Website: www.strategicbaseballpodcast.com

– Transcript –

I do. I’m gonna let you take this off. We’re talking about how to get the most out of practice.
Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training Yeah, I think coming off the last week, man, we’ve we’ve got some good feedback. We’ve got some interesting feedback. And again, we appreciate it. If you’ve got questions or feedback, we’d love to hear it. And, and again, we don’t think we got everything figured out and mastered. But the one thing that we that we have been super focused on and especially here, you know, over the last two months as we’ve been transitioning from preseason to end season, especially with the high school guys, is Understanding like how do we maximize practice? And how do we truly look at it from an individual need perspective, because that’s sometimes the hardest thing for coaches to do, especially high school coaches that are in season, and they have some kids that got off to a great start. And I have some kids that are struggling. And and so when we look at it from that perspective, and maybe even step back a little bit and really look at, okay, how do I individually help somebody in season and, and make some adjustments, because we know that we don’t want to overhaul anything in season, they’re just saying enough time to get that that player to buy into the change, buy into the new feeling and adjustment, and then build the competence to actually use that. And so we know that’s probably the offseason activity or change that we want to make. And so today, I just wanted to walk through Jeff and walk people through the five step process that we use that. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training And again, I don’t want to get into the debate about tools and tactics, men, I mean, as coaches, you got to know your players, you got to know the things that work. And I think sometimes we use tools and tactics as a cop out. You know, we think there’s some magic in the way to balls, or we think there’s some magic in in lifts, and different training tools or bands or throwing programs or long toss. And, and again, used right all of those things in the right environment, the right situation can help you become more athletic or are maybe more physically capable. But at the end of the day, baseball is played on a on a real field, man, and you got to practice. And you got to do the things that that you want to do well on game day. And again, drills and and tools and tactics are cool. But at the end of the day, if they don’t lead to us mastering baseball skills that we can use to create a strategy versus any hitter or pitcher, then at the end of the day, we wasted our time. So today, I just want to walk through kind of the five core things that that no matter what kind of drill training, Workout, practice, anything that you’re doing, if you walk them through these five metrics, then we’ll know whether the one the player gets it or and to whether it’s actually helped with them on game day. So the first thing we establish is what we call the intent is literally Why are we doing this? You know, why are we doing this? And what are we doing? And and no matter what it is, when we look at intent, that has got to be the first thing that the player buys into. And again, we can’t manage practice, just because we want to say there’s X amount of stuff that we got to get down, or we got to get done in this amount of time. We got to manage practice based on how do we help these individual players get better develop their individual skills, and their talents and abilities, that’s going to give them again, the ability to create a strategy on game day. And the way we do that is letting them understand the why the why of this drill the why of what it means and why it’s important. And so coaches, if you don’t hear nothing else, I say if they don’t get this y piece, right, then the act of doing it, it’s just mindless. And again, that leads into the second thing we always do, it’s got to be measurable. If we can’t measure it, we can’t track it. And we can’t tell if there’s progress being made, then there’s no way for us, either intellectually, emotionally or tangibly to understand the why and whether it’s really working. And again, this is a key piece to it. Because the measurable might just be a percentage, it might just be a feel. There’s different things depending on what type of workout you’re doing, or what type of drill you’re doing that that that would be the measurable in it. But But if we can’t explain to the players like hey, Ben, here’s the thing that we’re measuring, and here’s how we’re tracking it, then I think we’re missing the whole point. Because if it’s not measurable, and it’s not trackable, then for most young players, they’re just not paying attention to it. And then the third thing is to keep peace and we’ve talked about this before on previous shows is the takeaway. Like what what we set the intent why we’re doing it, we know the measurable now so we know whether it’s working or not, or whether we’re getting better at it or not. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training And then what is the takeaway? And so the takeaway, whether it’s a drill, whether it’s playing patching, and I’m consistently hit a guy in the chest with it, or whether it’s uh, you know, the amount of swings I take and the amount of barrels I barrel up pitches with from the hitting side, which I know you’ll talk more about in a minute, Jeff. But when we look at that piece of it, like before we create the drill or before we implement a drill into our practice plan. We need to be able to walk them through the intent, the measurable and the takeaway. That way We know like at the end that we’re done with that drill that that workout, whatever it is that you’re doing, like, we know that the player understands not just the why and what we were measuring, but how it’s going to help them on game day.
And I think that is the key piece, a lot of times we miss when we just try to manage practice based on time, or just Hey, so go down here and throw a 20 pitch pin. And they just, you know, throw 10 fastball, five changes, five curveballs. And they just walk away out of it. And it’s like, hey, the takeaway is I just need to throw my pin today. And I tell him, No, the takeaway is, I need to get my pitches game ready. And if you don’t understand that, that everything that we do in practice is to get our skills game ready. And if this drill, or this workout, or this, this training method is not developing skills, that helped me show up and put in use it on game day against an opponent, that we wasted our time. And so again, we got to set the intent, we got to set the measurable, we got to be able to track it. And then we got to know what the takeaway is, how’s it going to help me either master a skill that’s going to help me play better on game day? And then the last two pieces is the experience. Okay, now, literally, we got to talk to that player about what the experience, Was it good? Was it bad? How did they feel about it? You know, does it make sense to them, and they might understand the intent the measurable in that takeaway, but really, they haven’t grasped the the experience that we want them to have. Because and why this matters is because the experience is going to set the story in their head, the experience that they have, is, is even deeper than the takeaway the experience is going to be whether they think they suck or not, whether they think they’re good at it or not, whether they see them getting better at it or not, even though they intellectually know what we ought to be doing and what the takeaway is, do they do they emotionally feel like they’re getting better. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training And that is what eventually builds confidence. That’s what takes us through practice habits no matter what you do, and, and builds our confidence to be able to take that and show up on game day and and have success with it and play well on game day with it. And and that is the story that we end up killing ourselves with either as coaches about what they did with that, what kind of experience the player have with that. And, and then the individual player what kind of experience they had. And the story they tell themselves is what that brain is going to remember. And so it’s like you and I always preach man that we’re training the brain to tell our body what to do. And so that intent that measurable the takeaway to the experience, and then the story that that player tells themselves, when they finish that drill that workout that program is is ultimately going to be what we see show up on game day. And and again, as you and I say, consistently, that’s a true serum happens on game day, everything that we try to the to get players to buy into is is to help them show up and play better on game day. And so that’s the key that that I wanted everybody to take away from this like hey, again, man, there’s a there’s 100 different programs that people can use and and there’s enough Twitter debates and and arguments about different training methods and tools and tactics that you know is overwhelmed. But man, let’s just be real about it. But at the end of the day, when we walk through that five step process, the intent, the measurable the takeaway, the experience in the story, and the kid is healthy, and the kid is getting bigger and stronger. And the kid is playing better than the proof is is in the pudding man, the proof is in on game day. And so that’s what we want to build the program off of. And and I think as coaches and parents and instructors that are listening to this, if you get that piece right, then you’ll be able to find out what drills work better for certain players. Because that litmus test will tell you, if the takeaway is good, the experience is good. And they’re coming back to the next practice or they go to the game. And it shows up at the next practice as progress or it shows up in the game as success or that they they improve thing continue to grow, then that right there ought to be what tells and whether this program, this drill, this workout is working for the individual player. And so again, I hope that’s helpful to the point that we need to know no matter what type of program you’re using, no matter what kind of drill you’re using, you know the the key is that we want the kids to be healthy and we want the kids to get better. But once we’ve established that then we got to go with stablish them five key pieces, the intent, the measurable, the takeaway, what kind of experience are they really leaving that drill workout practice with? And then what story are they telling themselves because that is going to be The foundation of their competence. And and Jeff, I know that something that you and I are dead serious about here at athletic mission. And hopefully, the the people listening to this show today will get that piece of it. Because once the kids grasp that, then that’s when we truly do see them get better. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training And then we see the game day success start to come. And and we still see that confidence build. And once we see that competent start build demand that we see these kids get better quicker.
Yeah, for sure. And you did you did an awesome job explaining that I don’t know, there’s much more I can add other than I think, you know, when after you’ve taken the time to explain what everybody doing the drills and everything. And understand get guys to understand what they’re trying to measure. Or maybe some guy have their own measurement they want to do, which is fine. And what the takeaway should be, I think guide need to show up in practice knowing what to expect, I we see a lot of guys showing up in practice, and they don’t they, they look at the board, and then that’s the first time they know what they’re going to do for the day. And I think mentally they just don’t get them prepared to practice, you know, we need to prepare for practice too. So I think if we could do a better job letting guidance, know a week ahead, you know what they’re going to do it practice, I think you’ll see guys showing up with better attitudes, and actually come up with their own in their own intent and their own measurable and their own takeaway that they want to have and, and try to lay out the experiences they want to have and the story that they tell themselves so and the same way, like on game day do like guys showing up on the right at the moment, figuring out that they’re playing, you know, 10 minutes for the game start is crazy to me. So but but as far as practice, you know, if we can let God know what they’re doing, then we can see the five things work better in terms of the player getting better.
Absolutely not to it, Jeff, I think to ban what we’re seeing now is is smart coaches are realizing that there’s two or three things that they can do. And, and it’s flexible enough that each player can can have their own takeaway from it. And it’s something I know you talk about to the hitters all the time that you can do the same drill. And each player takes something different away from it, depending on what they were looking at what their mindset was, and what really what the intent and takeaway was going to be. And then the measurable would be based on those two things, the intent and the takeaway. And I think that’s something that coaches are seeing now they’re simplifying practice down to what they want to work on that day. What specifically do they need each position or each player to take away and what they want to really work on. And I think once they define that, and they kind of establish that Hey, man, on Tuesdays, we do this on Wednesdays, we’re doing this on Thursdays, we’re doing this, they’re seeing that that notification about what we’re going to be doing and kind of what the intent measurables gonna be. And now what the takeaway is, whether it’s, you know, in field work, or whether it’s pitching in bullpens, and how we really get our pitches game ready, or whether it’s BP, all the different things that they can do, they’re starting to quit trying to figure out 50 ways to run batting practice and really find that one thing that they want to master the big thing, and then taking the little different pieces into it. And I think that’s, that’s what we’re seeing that Amen. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training The better coaches are really simplifying practice that don’t mean they’re dumbing it down. They’re just they’re simplifying it in a way to where now, the each player understands the intent, the what we’re going to measure what the takeaway is, and then hopefully have that experience in the story that is going to get them confident in Game Day ready, man. And at the end of the day, that’s what coaches care about is that, hey, we keep you healthy, and we get you ready for game day. And then you go out and play the game man and own the success on game day. And I think that’s where we’re starting to see coaching go to and that’s an awesome way to use it. That’s what technology and and all the video and all the stuff that we have available to us now, when you’re using it to make practice simpler, but you know, get to the point and being really more directive. That’s the piece that we’re seeing a lot of coaches having a lot of success with a bunch of different types of players, man so that’s the cool part about it that there’s no magic way to do it. But when you said intent and the measurable and the takeaway, then it seems like the kids have more success and buy in a lot quicker to what you’re trying to get them to do.
Absolutely. Hey, man, you You nailed the whole show. I don’t know if it’s much more I can add though. there anything else you want to add one last takeaway? Are we good?
No, I think over probably there man. Like, you know, the big takeaway is is that we want them to, to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. And I think after last week of poking them about we don’t practice right. I think this will be a good show to kind of follow up like what we meant by that. There’s not really about the tactics or two Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training That you’re doing manifests working for your players and it’s keeping them healthy and they’re playing better than do your do what you do. But at the end of the day, if you’re doing the same thing and only three out of 19 players are getting it then you got to you either got to change the intent set the intent or do something different because it’s not working right. And I think that’s kind of the big key takeaway. I wanted them to grasp from it, I think Yeah, so I think that’d be a good one man. I think we start talking about that kind of stuff. I think that will kind of lead into our strategic advantage stuff anyway, that we’re always kind of talking about the game at a little deeper level than the average practice guru or somebody trying to sell a drill or tip or tactic Yeah. Yeah, kind of what the audience we want to go
so no, now I thought you know that one so like, I really did think there was much more I could add but that’s it now that now’s a good one.
Good, good, good. Well, sir, something when you want to put throw down, because I think down and I think I think we’re good man. I think I like where we’re headed. We just kind of figure out like, how we receive sausages and get these guys go home. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training But I tell you, I tell you something else to Jeff man like these Wednesday nights like tonight, we need to talk about like this strategic advantage stuff. Like with our crew tonight, we need to talk about because I think we can address some of their, their issues with that intent, track, and measurable type of thing. And we can talk about Hey, man, here’s the intangibles that make you great on game day, your mindset, this this, you know, the talent, your practice your game, planning your game to execution. And maybe we just drag the whiteboard out. And then I’ll break down and you can jump in and do the hitting stuff that you’re seeing with like with Avery with these guys, maybe we just grab a home plate and grab a bat just put you there man and say here and then I’ll have dinner, maybe we just take them out there and we’ll fold the whiteboard out there on and then I’ll have Ty come up and video it’ll go and we’ll just kind of break down kind of put that through and then stuff that we could use to kind of go through it and and lay it out and tell them guys like hey man, here’s where this is really at. And you’re in season now man, you’re gonna start fighting this mental grind of having a game plan and get ready for different teams every day. This might be a great chance for us to really put some good information out there about this piece. Tulsa Baseball Hitting Training And so I’ll get this typed up and put out or wrote out and take a picture and send it to you anyway of this whiteboard I got or this my flip chart. And that way you can see it kind of what my thinking was on it and then we can we can use it tonight when we have the crew Okay. All right brother everybody, bye