Improving performance with TRT

We finished our fall practice season last Wednesday with game three of the Black vs. Blue Fall Classic at Hillsdale College.  The three game series was won by the Black team, which won two of the three games.  All three games were decided by just a run.

After using our full allotment of 24 practices, we move into the next part of the college baseball cycle, which allows us eight hours per week to spend with the players, no more than two of those hours being devoted to baseball skill work and development.  Fall practice has given us a pretty decent view of the talent we have on the field, along with an idea of our strengths and potential weaknesses.  This allows us to plan the rest of this semester to prepare for Christmas Break and the start of pre-season practices in January.

For me, as the new member on the coaching staff, I was also able to get to know our players much better on a personal level and to gain some grasp of their work habits, their expectations, the way they think about themselves and the team, etc. This has also been a time for me to learn how to work with the rest of the coaching staff, both on the field and off the field.  I can say with complete honesty that the coaches I'm privileged to work with are hard working, knowledgeable baseball guys with great expectations regarding the direction of the Hillsdale Charger baseball program.

There is no doubt that there is enough talent on this team to achieve some goals that have not been reached in recent seasons.  Part of achieving goals is setting those goals and making plans on how to achieve them.  There are many things necessary in achieving the goals of getting into the GLIAC Tournament, winning it, and advancing to the NCAA DII Regionals, and then some, in 2014.  Some of the plans concerning 'how' to achieve those goals are obvious:  get repetitions in the cages and defensively, increase arm strength and improve strike throwing, get everyone completely healthy and stay healthy, increase overall strength and conditioning.  Those are things that our guys do a great job of working on.

Sometimes there are not so obvious things that need to change or be improved.  For some of our guys and for so many college athletes around the world, the way they think, their self-talk, their expectations, their ability to control their emotions during practice and competition.......these are important pieces to the puzzle that influence on-field success just as much, and often more than their athletic abilities and skills do.

Through group dialogue with the pitchers, and group and individual interaction with all of the team members, the thought processes, self-talk, belief, and expectations are important things that we all need to work on and improve between now and the spring in order to give the team a better chance of achieving its goals.  Each player needs to practice his mental skills and ability to control his thoughts in order to maintain the optimal emotional levels to compete at the highest levels possible.

Understanding that our thoughts have a huge influence on our emotions can provide motivation to improve our practice of controlling our thoughts.  By recognizing any negative thoughts before they adversely effect our emotions and performance, we can eliminate some of the potential for hurting ourselves during a game.  As for how to eliminate the negative thinking, we have come up with some terminology to achieve that objective.  We need to replace any negative thought with positive ones.  This is what we have now named 'Thought Replacement Therapy' (TRT), and it will hopefully be an efficient way for us to improve the way we think during practices and games.

This Thought Replacement Therapy is something that we can use when trying to sweat the small stuff as well as when looking at the big picture of moving the program in the positive direction of becoming a championship program.  The guys we have will be able to look back and say that by changing their thoughts, they changed the program.  They became champions in their minds, and thus executed on the field and became champions there, too!!

The more things change, the more they remain the same

After spending the last few months in my new position at Hillsdale College, I'm long overdue in sharing some of this wonderful experience.  I may repeat things I've written before, but most coaches (and parents and teachers) are good at repeating things, again and again.

I have to say that I absolutely love going to work every day.  I have always tried to have that attitude and it has always been the truth, but with my own kid as my boss, working on a beautiful college campus with so many fantastic people, enjoying work is an easy thing to do.  Every day truly is Saturday!

After I passed the NCAA Recruiting test in June, I began hitting the recruiting trail for the first time since the summer of 2003 at Siena Heights.  While at Adrian College for the past nine years, I benefited from the recruiting of the full-time coaches and was blessed to work with the outstanding players who they brought to campus.

For the first 6-7 weeks of recruiting this summer, I have to admit that I often experienced information overload.  There were so many tournaments, games and showcases to see.  At each of those there were seemingly endless lists of players, along with their school info, academic achievements, positions, graduation years, and so much more data for me to try to consume.  Other coaches, including my friends, Eric, guys I have coached with, and even people in the stands, knew so much more about all of these potential college athletes than I did.  It seemed to take forever for me to get it all compartmentalized in my mind.

Some of that information started to sort itself out, and eventually I felt like I at least had a general grasp of the recruiting landscape.  The recruiting process and the way it is done is much different than it was when I recruited in the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s.  What has not changed though, is that it takes legitimate effort to do a good job of recruiting, to seek out prospective student-athletes who may be a good fit for our program and our institution.  Successful recruiting still requires leg work, so to speak, and travelling, some late nights and many weekends on the road.  It is still necessary to actually see guys play the game on the field, to interact with teenagers and their families, to be genuine and honest.

Recruiting doesn't end when the fall semester begins, and we have had two successful recruiting events on our campus in the past few weeks.  We couldn't have had those without the selflessness of our current players, though.  These guys have been tremendous every single time I have interacted with them.  We have now finished a week of practice and they seem excited to play and make sacrifices for their teammates and for the program.

The foundation for success had been built by our current players and the other two coaches before I arrived. I am happy to be a part of strengthening that foundation and for the opportunity to be included in the achievements of the current Chargers and future Hillsdale College baseball players who we have seen in our travels.

If you believe, you can achieve!

The Next Page

As my players and most of my friends and family already know, I recently accepted a position as assistant coach at Hillsdale College.  For me, it is an opportunity to get back to full-time coaching, something that I have not done for the past ten years.  Even better than that though, is the opportunity to coach with and work for my son, Eric.

I will fondly remember the nine wonderful years at Adrian College.  I had the privilege of being able to be a part of a program that played in eight NCAA Regional Tournaments in nine seasons, has won five consecutive MIAA Conference Championships, and appeared in a DIII World Series (finishing 4th in 2008).  More importantly, as any coach will tell you, I had the opportunity to develop and nurture relationships with so many fantastic young men who I can call my friends and who will be my friends for a lifetime.

One of the beauties of coaching is that we teach, we push, we nurture, we care, we compete for and with, and we love the student-athletes we get to be able to spend time with during their college years.  We see them grow from kids into men, we see them work through their own personal struggles, we support them and they support us, we benefit because they allow us to share in their glories.  And no matter how much we sometimes think we are doing to help them live their dreams on and off the field, they are doing so much to fill our lives with pride and joy.  Our players ultimately give us so much more than we ever really give to them.

To my players at Adrian College.....the ones who have gone on and graduated and those of you who are still wearing your Bulldog uniforms in the next year or three, you have provided me with a lifetime of memories and a heart full of gratefulness.  Your willingness to accept me as a part of your college years and your lives has been such a huge part of my daily life.  You have helped me to remember that coaching isn't just something that I do, but it is what I am.  You have given me an opportunity to improve myself as a coach and as a man.  As much as any coach could ever be a part of a student-athlete becoming a man, you have all been the most important part in me evolving in the same ways.

I am also grateful for having the chance to work with my fellow coaching brothers Nate Sarkissian, Aaron Klotz, Luke Harrigan, Xander Younce, Phil Lawrence, Rob Heumann, Curtis Fischer, and of course Craig Rainey, the guy leading the ship to the promised land who first asked me on board nine years ago.  In addition, I enjoyed working with and learning from each of the Athletic Trainers who helped keep our players healthy enough to compete at high levels.

For people who have not had the privilege of coaching hundreds of players, the relationships that can be developed can come close to parenting and being a part of a family.  We aren't exactly fathers, and don't necessarily bounce the next generations of the guys' families on our knees during holiday gatherings, but nonetheless the ties that bind us together never really break.......they go on and on in various shapes and forms.  Twenty-five years of coaching college baseball players (at both Adrian College and Siena Heights University) have given me enough fabulous experiences for a lifetime!

And now I get to coach with my own son, who is a new head coach and now my boss.  I can't really adequately explain how amazing that is yet, and of course, how thankful I am to be able to do so.  It isn't necessarily the beginning of a new story; just the next page!

The Day After

A college baseball season, unless your team plays in the National Championship game, just ends.  You don't expect it to end because you anticipate winning every time the team steps on the field.  You expect to win and advance, but when that doesn't happen and you are a day away from a chance at advancing to the World Series, all of a sudden the season is over.  You shower and get on the bus, and when you get home and wake up the next day, there is nothing you have planned, because the plan was to win and play again another day.

So the next day becomes a day to reflect on the season.  What do I need to do better?  How can I do that better?  How can we do a better job at getting leadoff batters out? Can we get more double play balls early in the count? What do we do to attack the running game better?  How do we avoid giving up 0-2 hits next season?  What sort of drills or mental training can help us to take care of damage control more effectively?  Can we do a better job of mentoring our upperclassmen so they can be better leaders for the young guys?  Did we do enough over the years to help the graduating seniors be prepared for their next roles?  Did we prepare the younger players to expect to play for a National Title next year?

How do I improve at communicating to all the players, not just the ones who give me genuine feedback, but also to the players who are more challenging to communicate with?  How can I help them all to improve each day, and to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses?  How can we get each guy to give 100%, 100% of the time?  How can we do a better job of coaching in practice so that the guys are so prepared for and need very little guidance in pressure game situations?

We accomplished a lot again this year at Adrian College, and all of our players are to be congratulated!  Our seniors won championships in each of their four years and the program has won five consecutive league championships, including the first two conference tournament championships in league history.  The team has advanced to NCAA Regional competition in eight out of the last nine years, including one trip to the World Series.

When you experience success, you want more.  It is important though, to appreciate and enjoy success, analyze what you are doing right, and improve some things that need to be improved.  We all know that each player can improve himself through off season strength and conditioning, and they can make improvements in the mental and emotional aspects of being athletes on their own during the summer, on their own during the fall and winter, and with teammates throughout the year.  Coaches are no different.  We need to get better at many things as well.  Learning the game, understanding the players, knowing the opponents, setting our egos aside, continually trying to become more selfless, etc.

When we all do what we can do to improve, the team and the entire program also gets better.

I want to congratulate the graduating seniors for their enormous successes, and thank them for their selflessness, and encourage the returning guys to check that mirror daily and take this another couple steps in 2014.  I am forever grateful to be able to have so many outstanding young men who share their success and passion with me.

Peak in May

The post-season is here.  This is what we have practiced for and visualized since we exited the Regional Tournament last year.  During my years as a head coach, I had a sign in my office that said, "Peak in May," and that is an important thing to try to do when a team has the privilege of playing in the post-season.

During winter practices (and several times in the spring) I repeat to the pitchers each year that we have to go from point A to point B, and during the steady uphill climb to point B there will be some peaks and valleys.  This is a year that as an entire team we have gradually improved from the first week of March until now.  Our offense, defense, and pitching have all gotten better throughout the season, as has our awareness of game moments.

Our last couple of weeks were very good, and though we are the number two seed entering the MIAA Tournament, in tying with Hope College for the conference championship we have now won five consecutive MIAA regular season championships.  That is an accomplishment that none of us take for granted.  Now, it is a privilege to again compete for the MIAA Tournament Championship and the honor of advancing to another NCAA DIII Regional Tournament.

In order to achieve our next goal, we have to do several things.  As a pitching staff, I'll repeat what our pitchers hear several times each week.  We have to throw first pitch strikes, get leadoff batters out, close out innings, manage damage control effectively, attack the running game, and give our team a chance to win.  There is no reason not to believe that one of our pitchers will be on the hill getting the last out of the tournament on Friday!! If we can imagine it, it can happen.

Of course, there is more to winning the next championship besides the goals of our pitching staff.  We know that our hitters are going to get more at bats in these nine inning games against quality teams than they did in the seven inning games during our conference season.  We also know that our hitters are going to enter each game with the confidence of champions, because that is what they are.

In winning any kind of championship in the post-season, the athletes must believe in themselves and believe in each other.  In addition, it is important for each individual player to check his thoughts, to make sure that any thoughts this week about themselves on the field, their teammates on the field, and the performance of the team are positive thoughts.  Practicing positive thinking and positive body language are crucial, especially when the potential for intense game situations in the post-season can possibly bring a little more stress to each pitch and each inning.

Ultimately, our players know that they have been there before, whether it was this season, in previous seasons, or in their visualization, and they have executed successfully and come out as champions when they have kept each other united.

I have already been picturing the field in Holland, Michigan, the green grass, and the confident demeanor of our players as they focus, execute, and compete for 250 or so pitches each game.  When we visualize success in crucial situations, it is easy to execute it again on the field.  I love seeing our guys walking like champions!

The right direction

I haven't been very dedicated to my blog posts this season, so hopefully I can at least paint a picture of how we're progressing at this point.  With an overall record of 14-8 and a conference record of 14-4, one game behind first place Hope College, we are in a position that we haven't been in in quite some time.  Last year we (Adrian College) only had four losses in our entire 28 game MIAA season, so our work is definitely cut out for us if we want to finish in first place again in order to earn the right to host the conference tournament.

Since coming back up north, we have made progress in all aspects of the game: hitting, defense, and pitching.  From the pitching standpoint I think we are in a pretty good position.  As we enter this weekend's series with Calvin College, who also sits at 8-4 in MIAA games, we are in a position of having five, and perhaps six, starting pitchers who have earned the right to be in the rotation this week.  That is a good problem to have, since some teams are perhaps still searching for a fourth starter and perhaps even a third.  We have also been pretty good at the back end of our bullpen, and have actually used those pitchers more than we have in recent years, which will help us considerably as we get later in the season.

One of the things I have wished the MIAA would do is incorporate a couple 9-inning games into each weekend series.  I think that would help prepare each team better for the post-season, since all post-season games are nine inning games.  From a more selfish standpoint, those extra four innings each weekend would give our pitching staff an opportunity to develop a few more guys and give some more pitchers a chance to pitch in and gain experience in critical situations.

Since we don't play any nine inning conference games, as the pitching coach I have to remember to control what I can control, which are things such as how I view the more limited opportunities and how I can try to prepare the entire pitching staff for the post-season.  We do have a handful of single, non-conference 9-inning games that allow us to use many pitchers who don't get many innings in our weekend conference series.  In addition, we have a pretty good amount of JV games.  Unfortunately, we have had about ten JV games cancelled in the past couple of weeks due to the cold and rainy/snowy weather.  There would be some valuable innings that many guys could use to improve and gain experience in competitive situations.  Again, control what I can control.

We have been pretty good in some important pitching statistical categories, and we are improving as the season develops in almost all of the important categories.  One of the things that we are making slower improvement on is forcing hitters to swing at pitches that they don't want to swing at when they are behind in the count.  We have still given up a significant amount of hits when we have hitters down in the count at 0-2 and 1-2.  We have also allowed more leadoff hitters on base than we want to do, which creates more stressful pitching situations, both mentally and physically, especially in close games.

As soon as we make gradual improvements in those two areas, we will give our team a chance to win more consistently than we already are.  Last weekend we got a little better, giving up seven runs in the four game series against Albion in winning three of the four games.

We are heading in the right direction and are on course to play our best baseball in May!

The 9th inning is ours

We have gone to Florida and Alabama and back, and played a game in central Indiana.  We haven’t won as many games as we had hoped for (3 wins, 4 losses) at this point in the early season, but we have done some things pretty well.  A little adversity for a team early in the season can be a blessing, allowing us to better understand our strengths and weaknesses more clearly than if things had come a little easier.

As far as the pitching staff is concerned, we have had quality innings from our starting pitchers in our last five games, after having sub-par starts in games one and two in Florida.  In the last five games our starting pitchers have left each game with a lead, though we have only won the last two of those games.  The success of our relief appearances has also improved.  After surrendering leads in games 3, 4, and 5, we have now closed out the last two games successfully in the 9^th inning.  We need to do a better job of proving that the 9^th inning is ours!

I am always one to look at the silver lining, but I am also well aware that if we don’t do some things better we will have more difficulty winning close games.  For example, though we have made some progress in getting ahead of hitters by throwing more first pitch strikes, we still need to get better at finishing hitters off when we get ahead of them and closing out innings when we get two outs.

Closing innings out has everything to do with taking care of damage control, one of the things we talk about regularly.  Doing a great job with damage control is important to our pitching staff and the entire team.  We never want to follow a mistake (walks, hit batters, errors) with another mistake (ie., missing over the middle of the strike zone, especially  when we are ahead in the count).  After a poorly executed pitch sequence which gives our opponent baserunners, a double play ball (or other ‘easy’ outs) early in the count can do a lot to get us out of what could be a stressful inning.

One of the things we have to do to win games is to do what we do well better than our opponents do what they do well.  Recent history shows that what we have done well is pitch and play defense.  If we can continue to get better at these things that we do well, and do them better than whatever it is our opponents do well, then we are going to win a lot of games, because when we do those things well it is a huge task to overcome for anybody we play.

Thought the weather will be cold this week, we have games and practices that will give us daily opportunities to continue improving the things we do well so that we can open up the MIAA season successfully next weekend!

FEB

27

Here we go again!!! 

As we complete our last week of indoor practices before heading south to play baseball, I've got to admit the gratitude I have for being able to participate in this great sport daily with other baseball lovers.  The bus leaves in two days, so there is excitement for the beginning of a brand new season, and this is something that I certainly hope never to take for granted.

I spent four years as a college student-athlete preparing for southern spring trips, and now two-and-a-half decades of doing so as a coach.  I sometimes refer to our pitching practices as being something like the movie 'Ground Hog Day', but in reality they are anything but monotonous.  Our pitchers are just trying to practice doing what they will do in games, and the more they can succeed in doing so at practice, the easier it will be to accomplish on the mound on game days.  In saying that, yesterday's live pitching sessions with hitters in the cages was outstanding.  The pitchers are throwing better than they did a few weeks ago, and that is one of the goals, of course.

Hopefully our pitching staff won't take anything for granted.  I should probably remind them a little more often that it is a privilege to be able to play college baseball and to work toward team goals with each other. Heck, I still have to remind myself the same thing.

One thing I hope this year's pitchers don't forget is that they are charged with trying to continue to build the tradition of great pitching that has taken place at Adrian College for quite some time now.  Before I arrived on the west side of town, there were outstanding pitchers named Keith Bozyk and Bobby Wrozek, among many others, whom I was privileged to see play from the other dugout.  I was blessed to begin my time at Adrian with great competitors like Jeff Nokovich and Craig Reynolds, and to continue working with great pitchers like Bobby Rickstad, Alex Webster, Josh Lancaster, Nick Vandike, Ryan Domschot, Dave Partyka, and Jason Fryman, all of whom made their marks on Adrian College and MIAA baseball.  There are many others who may not have been in the headlines as often as those mentioned, but who toiled just as diligently and got many huge outs with their teammates in hundreds of great baseball games.

This year's pitching staff has a chance to be as good as any of the ones we have had here at Adrian.  In my opinion, we have more quality pitchers than we ever had, and part of my job is to try to get enough of them in competitive situations so that they are well prepared for the MIAA and Regional Tournaments in May.  Some of that preparation includes having them understand what the guys before them have done and hoping that they have a sense of pride in the task of trying to continue building the great tradition.

The bigger picture, of course, has to do with competing for all of their teammates, not just their fellow pitchers.  Each guy wearing the uniform should have pride in continuing the tradition that has grown in the last decade and led to lofty expectations for the entire program.  Our pitchers have been fortunate to have several fantastic athletes playing defense behind them and putting runs on the scoreboard to make it easier to stand on that dirt hill in the middle of the infield, and this year is no exception.

As we begin, I am again reminded of how lucky I am to be able to share my passion for a kid's game with others who love getting dirty with grass stains and reddish colored dirt.  I don't ever really have to grow up.

May God Bless not only our players, but all of my friends in the baseball coaching community and their families and athletes as well.  Go Bulldogs! Go Saints! Go Chargers! Go Battlers! 

Give everything, expect nothing

This time of the season (pre-season) is always filled with positive anticipation for opening day and beyond.  We are now in our third week of our pre-season practices, and many teams have started playing games already.  Though our opener is in Florida in three weeks and our physical preparation is in full swing, it is important not to neglect the important role that the mental game plays in college baseball, as well as in all sports for all ages of athletes.  A positive mental game not only enhances a player's ability to execute and perform, it also provides a team with a culture that makes success something to share and take pride in.

Though college baseball teams vary in the number of players they roster, the number of players who are privileged enough to travel south and participate in early season games, and in the number of games they play during early season trips, players need to be aware of their value as a team member and their roles as teammates.

Every team has a set of goals that members of the team work toward during every practice, conditioning session, meeting, and even during the time spent outside of team related functions.  In addition, each athlete has his own goals that he tries to accomplish from the beginning to the end of the season.  A player having individual goals that are challenging and optimistic is something to be admired, and at the same time a coaching staff hopes that each player wants his accomplishments to contribute to the achievement of the team's goals.

There does not need to be conflict between individual goals and team goals.  As a matter of fact, the more success a team achieves on the field normally leads to the success of the each player on the team.  For this reason, it is always important that team members and the team as a whole have a purpose for everything that they do in preparation for a season.  It is also important for players to understand the philosophy that putting teammates ahead of themselves when it comes to attitude and effort will ultimately help them to achieve their own objectives.

When all team members can give everything they have and expect nothing in return, the players will not be disappointed in the results and the entire team will benefit.  When the team benefits, everybody wins.  When nobody is interested in receiving credit for the team's success, the rewards can be shared among the team's members.  Team success is always sweeter than keeping it to one's self.