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Certification   »   Skill Development and Instruction

SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND INSTRUCTION Other than being a positive role model, the most important job you have as a coach is to help the youngsters on your team develop their playing skills. Improved playing skills lead to increased confidence and improved performance, and your team's winning percentage should rise without having to place too much emphasis on winning. Skills should be taught in a progression, from less difficult to more advanced, and you should never ask your players to perform something in a game which you have not taught in practice. For example, don't expect a player to slide properly and safely if he/she has not been given the information and steps to do so. Your Teaching Sequence Teach the finish first, then work back to the start . Place your players in the "ultimate" position which you expect them to perform. For example, if you want your hitters to finish on balance with a firm front side, place them in the position shown at right and give them "keywords" or "terms" like those accompanying the photo at right. This will help them create the muscle memory needed to have balance and a firm front side at the finish of their swing. Once your players have a good grasp of the result they are trying to achieve, work your way back in steps toward the beginning of the action. For instance, once your players have learned the finish, the next position they must learn is the objective, or position they must be in when they make contact. After teaching and drilling the objective, move on to the trigger (preparation to swing), and then on to the initial stance. Have your players perform plenty of drills to reinforce muscle memory. Simply showing your players the positions and actions they must perform does not ensure that they will learn them and be able to perform them in practice and/or game situations. It is crucial that you have your players regularly perform drills to reinforce the skills they have learned, and also to allow them to have success in a low-pressure environment. A game situation is not a low-pressure environment, and failures in game situations often lead to decreased confidence.