Thursday, May 14, 2009

Effectively Using Video During Baseball Season


The following post has to do with in-season coaching not out of season coaching:

Using video to teach players can be an invauble resource for both players and coaches. It is one of my favorite tools and I have used it quite extensively in my coaching career. However, I caution coaches to use it in the right way. I unfortunately had to learn the hard way. Sometimes as coaches we can be so motivated, hard working, and well meaning that we actually do more harm then good!

I have effectively used video to make players better. I believe I have also used video ineffectively and made them worse. Players are visual learners and in fact most of us learn better if we can see someone do it either live or on video. The message the teacher is trying to convey is much easier for the player to understand. It just seems to make more sense that way. It really isn't that hard to mimic someone else if we have a clear picture in our minds of what we are trying to do.

Although, I read and research alot of information on learning it nevers really hits home with me until I experiment myself to see what philosophy I believe in. Almost every belief I have has come from reading and researching all the information out there I can find then trying out different ways and seeing what works best. If you can find a book where one author says one thing then you will definetly find another book by an author who says the opposite. They always have solid research and information that sells their point.

If you are like me and you read 5 different books on the subject you will come up with 3 or 4 different philosophies. They all sound great. They all make perfect sense. But which one do you follow? Which one should you use? My best answer is, I don't know! Instead what I do is read all of it and then try it out. If what I am doing first is working then I stay with it. If it isn't, I go onto the next one. I will continue this cycle until I get what I want. The funny part is you often find the answers your looking for when you think there is nothing left to do.

Let me give you an example of how I came up with my philosophy on the use of video tape. Our season in 2005 was a magical year for us. We accomplished every goal we had set for ourselves. We finished the year number 1, won a state championship, won the diamond classic tournament, I mean life was good. I was so proud of what our ball club accomplished. We were a good team but routinely beat teams who were as good as us and better.

It would be great if I could say the entire year was sunshine and rainbows but it wasn't. In fact, early in the season we were not playing well. Our pitchers in particular were not throwing up to their capabilities. I couldn't figure out why. I had taught them every phase of pitching and we drilled on an everyday basis. I had two TV's set up in the locker room each hooked up with a vcr. I had tape of them side by side from a week ago to today. I had tape from last year, comparing it and breaking down each component of pitching.

We would look at how to improve each flaw. They were hard workers would stay late and watch film to improve their mechanics. I had pictures of major leaguers at certain points in their delivery hung around the room. I showed them books and read from them. I mean every pitcher on our staff could have given a clinic on pitching including technique, drills, grips, pitch selection, and video analysis. I mean these kids were smart and well informed.

Yet, we couldn't get anybody out. We were inconsistent in throwing strikes and spent the majority of the time throwing from behind in the count. If we didn't walk them, they would mash it. It was the most frustrating time of my coaching career. For the first time I didn't feel confident I had an answer to fix the problem. I was so upset I called the pitchers over one day and reamed them about not doing their jobs. That I had nothing left to teach them or rep them on. I was so frustrated I even thought for a minute that they just didn't care!

After I calmed down I knew that wasn't the truth but I was angry at myself for not being able to identify the problem and fix it. I went home and poured through every book I owned and that's a pretty big bookshelf. I found absolutely nothing to help us. I mean I was already doing all the things that I had picked up from different coaches I respected. Guys I believed were much smarter then me. I fell asleep still conflicted about the answer.

The next day I drug myself into school. I mean I had the look of a beaten man. I went into my 2nd period class and totally didn't want to be there. I saw two students in the back of the gym fooling around and dancing. Normally I would have jumped right on them but I just didn't have the energy so instead I just sat quietly waiting for them to finish so we could start class. Usually, the peer pressure from the class to stop will do the trick.

I watched the first student do some fancy dance from an MTV video. It was really good and it was complicated as hell. The other student with him, without trying to sound to mean, was dumber then a box of rocks. I had him in health class the year before and he was a terrible student who was lucky to pull a D in my class. Within 5 minutes this student memorized the entire dance. This kid couldn't memorize a simple defintion in class and he memorized this complicated dance in less then 5 minutes. I mean it was so good the entire class was just watching the two of them put on a show. I spent most of the period in aw!

I sat in my office after class thinking how did some 13 year kid just teach another 13 year old, who is not very smart so I thought, this skill? I went to practice that day thinking about the two of them. When I got to practice I decided to make three changes with our pitchers.

First, I called them over and told them we were done doing anymore pitching drills. Second, I told them we were going to pitch and play with tempo. I wanted them to stand on the mound, get the ball back from the catcher, and almost imediately throw the next pitch. I spoke with our catcher about getting the ball back quickly and I turned the pitch calling over to him so we could get the sign to the pitcher quicker. It helped that I had complete confidence in my catcher.

Third, I stopped all video watching except I went back and got a film of a stud pitcher we had two years before. I put it in the VCR and would let it roll. No comments, no corections, just let the video roll. I just wanted them to get a visual picture in their mind of a pitcher with good mechanics having sucess.

The pitchers knew the kid on the tape and knew how good he was. Fundamentally he was very sound and they like to watch him throw. So they would watch the film and joke about how nasty he was. We never said a word about technique just watched him throw.

The first two things tempo and pitching drills are for another post but the third(video) was based on the fact that our pitchers had become to technical, to robotic, and to critical of themselves. The video was a big part of that. They wanted to be perfect and pretty but truth is that's not what I believe in as a coach. I want feel, tempo, timing, and rythym. Breaking down the video so much was defeating what I wanted. It wasn't the players fault it was mine. To me pitching is an art not a science!

After watching those two boys in class I began remembering the dance class I had to take in college. I had to learn a dance called the Dublaska(I know this is spelled wrong) Polka. I was given a book with pictures and the steps. I tried hard to learn that dance but I just didn't get it. The teacher would explain to me the steps and would break it down into small parts for me to learn.

I was awful! I just didn't get it! Finally, she gave me a copy of the dance perform on stage by some traveling dance company. I watched the tape every night before bed and honestly didn't even practice that much, I just watched it over and over. When it came time for me to perfrom the dance I did pretty well. I just mimiced what I watched over and over on the tape. I wanted our players to do the same thing so to speak.

I didn't want every pitcher trying to copy the same guy however, so I taped major league pitchers who I thought they were most like. I just rolled the tapes and would tell certain pitchers you throw alot like this guy I want you to watch him.

Point here is we went on to have the best season I ever coached and the pitching staff ended the year with the lowest ERA of any staff I had ever coached. The funny thing here is they were not the most talented pitching staff I had worked with. The reason we were so successful was all because I shut up!

The pitchers had a good idea of the right mechanics and getting all those thoughts out of the head was the difference. I took it a step further and wouldn't even tell the pitchers who was throwing that day. They would look at the line-up 30 minutes before the game to see if there name was on there. I didn't want them having all night and all day to start filling their heads with technical nonsense. They checked the list and if they were pitching they immediately went out and went through their pregame process. They didn't have a lot of opportunity to sit around and think.

In Conclusion

Alot of you might be thinking a lot of those ideas are a little to extreme. I want you to know I agree with you. I do not go that extreme when I coach. It was good for that year but although it is what a lot of my philosophy is, is not totally what I do now.

First, I do teach pitchers the proper mechanics of pitching but I do not go overboard picking apart every little detail. Instead, I will check a few critcal points in the delivery from time to time. I will not make any change unless it is absolutely neccessary or something very small.

I will use a pitching drill but truth is, it is not a breakdown drill but rather based more on feel and rythym then technique. I want them to get comfortable with their delivery and grips. I want them to focus more on location then technique.

Also, I will show them film of themselves pitching but I am very careful to limit how much they watch and what the emphasis is on. In most cases I will only show them if they are struggling and not getting what we are trying to do. If all else has failed I will go back to it. If they are throwing well I will not show them.

I believe whole heartedly that players are better able to mimic other players then to learn through constant instructions. I think it is in their advantage if you can put together tape of a player who is similar to them and make suggestions as they watch it. You will begin to see them naturally evolve into what you want.

An arguement someone may make about this, is the fact that what players think they are doing and what they actually do are two different things. If you are thinking that I completely agree with you. That's why I am saying put a visual picture in their head and not repeated instructions. They have a much better chance to imitate that video in their head then to listen to our commands.

The video is an invaulble teaching tool and you need to use it to your advantage. Just be smart enough to realize when your pitchers are becoming to mechanical and remember a pitcher with rythym and feel has a better chance to be successful. Be careful to coach but not overcoach or you will learn the hard way like I did. I was fortunate enough that two knuckleheads in my class taught me a valuable lesson!

The final note here is I am talking about in season practice. If I were working with a player out of season. I would show them more film and break it down for them. I might do a couple of pitching drills to help get them in the right spots. If they are out of season and being very technical and a little robotic that's fine. They are not throwing to hitters and compromising their success. However, if we are within a month of the season I am not going to fill his head with 10 different things to work on. If so he is headed for self-destruction. Best of luck!

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