November Practice

[AlwaysTheTruth84]

I am just curious how many of the teams you follow or keep up with use the November practice time that the teams are allowed?

I know many teams that do and a few that do not use this time to get some quality practice in. I know lots of coached that say it is useless because you work for three weeks and then do nothing for 2 months and then their are others that love to see what they have to work with in the young players and go fundamentals.

Just want to know what your teams do if anything?

 

[LeftyTosser]

Spending time on the field is seldom useless. If for no other reason than to give the players an opportunity to fine tune what they work on before practice starts for real. Most of the teams that I am familiar with in the Upstate will use the 3 weeks on the field. It also gives you an opportunity to see new kids and rising younger players that will attend tryouts.

 

[BBFan413]

It's amazing to me how many other sports dislike the 3 week period. How can you not take advantage of 21 days to get better??

 

[AlwaysTheTruth84]

hey I agree, I think they should be out there 4 hours a day, there is a lot you can do.

I do not like the newer 2 on 1 rule, really unless you take a pitcher and catcher everyday there is not much you can do. they need to go back to 7 on 1 to allow these guys to work together.

 

[baseball31ne]

The three weeks are best served getting the players who can make to show what their current skill levels are. It gives coaches a chance to let players know what they can work on to get better for the spring. Here is where the teams can greatly improve themselves, if those players can find the time to improve on those skills and the coaches are able to get the right info to the players. Really like to work with the younger guys to build for the future.

 

[magiccityrooster]

Originally posted by AlwaysTheTruth84:
hey I agree, I think they should be out there 4 hours a day, there is a lot you can do.

I do not like the newer 2 on 1 rule, really unless you take a pitcher and catcher everyday there is not much you can do. they need to go back to 7 on 1 to allow these guys to work together.

I don't ever remember the 7 on 1 you mentioned. In the 80s while I was playing, we practiced all fall, whenever and however much the coach decided. When I started coaching in the 90s through the time I stopped coaching a few years back, it was always 3 on 1. I know North Carolina had a 7 or 8 on 1 rule for a while.

 

[COHAZE]

I think the 7 on 1 rule was only in effect for a year or two, immediately prior to the current fall practice season rule was passed.

 

[LeftyTosser]

COHAZE, you are correct. The 7-1 for baseball was only in place for 2 seasons. The rule was 75% of starting positions, so baseball and softball were 75% of 9. The problem that came into play, according to the SCHSL, was that ADs could not keep up with what 75% of the starting positions were for each sport. LOL Like the AD cannot read the SCHSL rule book under the 75% rule and see how many were allowed. This came directly from a conversation with Jerome. As a former coach, I like the 75% much better than the current rule. The goal of the current rule is to make things less beneficial so coaches will not do it at all. Another football thing.

 

[BBFan413]

I think both serve 2 different purposes. The 7 on 1 rule was great for the polishing up of skills whether it be hitting, positional defense, pitchers, etc. You take your core group and refine and deficiencies. The 21 days rule on the other hand is a great time for the evaluation of new "prospects." What does everyone thing of holding the 21 days during the month of January, leading up to try-outs??

 

[Jhawk4]

No January weather is too bad most days to be outside without damaging kids or bats!

 

[Ball Hound]

Why doesn't everyone just have a baseball class like some schools and just have the whole team out there every day of the week practicing right now.

 

[AlwaysTheTruth84]

the 7 on 1 only lasted a couple years poor to going to this silly 2 on 1. The 21 day rule is good in theory but you have to rely on players having arms in shape to get ready for 21 day rule and then the take 2 months off before tryouts.

the 7 on 1 also lead a lot of questions about summer and fall teams and HS coaches coaching them. Some claimed they didn't understand the rules in order to get away with breaking them. would make sense to use the 21 days in Jan except for weather. Some teams play scrimmage games during second week of practice, that is not enough time to get arms ready.

 

[COHAZE]

AlwaysTheTruth just hit on my big problem with the November practice period. Dr. Andrews and the ASMI guys recommend shutting pitchers down completely for 3 months a year. When my son was coming along we usually tried to shut him down from Sept through Nov. Thanksgiving was usually our signal that it was time to start getting ready. That gave us Dec and Jan to gradually work his arm back into shape. The November practice period kills that plan. November practice may have some benefits, but it is terrible for pitchers.

January practice is an interesting idea. The hardcore kids are already going to be out in January throwing and hitting in the cages. Coaches could use it to gradually get kids arms back into shape. I don't see the cold as an issue in that regard. So long as he warms up properly, the cold is not going to hurt a kid. Let's face it. Temperatures on January 29th aren't going to be much warmer than they are on January 1st. As things stand now you start practice January 29th or thereabouts and start scrimmages a couple of weeks later. Anybody that thinks that two weeks is enough time to get a kid's arm in condition to pitch is crazy. That's why we always started early. The hardcore kids will do that, but a lot of kids won't. Starting earlier in January would certainly help the kids that don't have the motivation to do it on their own.

Would the cold cause problems with bats? Maybe to some degree, if they're left in the trunk of a car overnight. But that should be a manageable problem. College players are out hitting in the cold in early January and don't seem to have any problems.

I guess the other downside to starting earlier is the basketball players will be even further behind when basketball season is over. This will be a bigger issue at smaller schools where you have more kids playing multiple sports.

I'm not totally sold on the January idea yet, but it is an interesting idea.

Personally, if it was up to me I'd change the rules to say you could have 8 on 1's starting Dec. 1st AND you you could have multiple coaches working with groups of 8 at the same time.

As far as baseball classes are concerned I am opposed to those philosophically. Plus, it's not as easy to schedule those classes as it might seem, ESPECIALLY if the coach teaches something other than PE.

Originally posted by AlwaysTheTruth84:
the 7 on 1 only lasted a couple years poor to going to this silly 2 on 1. The 21 day rule is good in theory but you have to rely on players having arms in shape to get ready for 21 day rule and then the take 2 months off before tryouts.

the 7 on 1 also lead a lot of questions about summer and fall teams and HS coaches coaching them. Some claimed they didn't understand the rules in order to get away with breaking them. would make sense to use the 21 days in Jan except for weather. Some teams play scrimmage games during second week of practice, that is not enough time to get arms ready.

This post was edited on 9/28 8:58 AM by COHAZE