We have completed the first of our six weeks of indoor, pre-season practices. For those of you who have been reading my blog posts in previous seasons while I was Adrian College, now that I am at Hillsdale College, our pre-season practices are the same, only different! I didn't look back to see what I wrote the last couple of years in January, but I'm sure there are paragraphs I could copy and paste here in 2014.
So, I can at least write about what things are the same, and what things are different. Let's go with the differences, first.
During my nine seasons at Adrian College I was working part-time there, and my full-time job was in the local public schools. At Hillsdale now, I am on campus full-time, as I had previously been in my sixteen years at Siena Heights. There are several differences when we compare a full-time job to a part-time position, most notably the fact that being on campus all day, every day, allows me to be in contact more often with our players, my fellow coaches, and the rest of the college community.
Another difference is that I work with different coaches now, and though I enjoyed all of the coaches I have been privileged to work with before, I now get to work with my son Eric, who as the head coach is my boss. Eric and I share an office, and that means that now I am with him usually for eight hours or more every day, at least during the winter months. Unless you have had this sort of opportunity to work with your own son, you can only imagine how awesome every day is for me!
I also have the opportunity to work with our hitting coach Brad Kocher for the first time, and though we don't share the same office, he is right down the hall. Working with Brad has proven to be an easy and comfortable thing to do, both personally and professionally. We also have a new volunteer coach who is working with our catchers. Joe Dubina is a former Adrian College catcher with whom I was able to coach for four years. He is a public school teacher, and he brings a special kind of passion to coaching catchers. He is already helping our team get better every day.
There are several other differences as well, and perhaps we'll get into those in the future. Some things included in a list of differences include my additional roles as part of being full-time, the different indoor practice facilities, the number of players in the program, being in a different division of the NCAA and a different conference, and the beauty of my 35 mile drive to work on the country roads of southern Michigan.
What is the same? That's easy, and awesome. In January and February we continue a plan of action to prepare for the spring season. As pitching coach, I get to prepare the pitching staff in an aggressive yet patient manner to pitch against opponents by the first of March. We are following the same plan of preparation that I had been following during the pre-season in my previous seasons at Adrian.
Physically, the pitchers will gradually work their way up to throwing at least 80 pitches live before we play a game. Mentally, they are learning our philosophies of pitching by working toward achieving a set of goals that are designed to give the team the best possible chance to win games and championships. Everything we do at practice is determined by our team and pitching staff goals. Statistical goals, strategic goals, fitness goals, goals of attitude, emotional control, and the progression from pre-season to the regular season and into the post-season are part of the entire plan.
In practicing with repetition and progression, including the practice of visualization and self-talk, the understanding of sacrificing for teammates and for a common cause, our players (and thus the team) are improving every day, like many others across the country. Improvement doesn't just happen, it is done intentionally as individuals and as a team. That does not change.
And of course, our main objectives as a pitching staff are still the same......throw first pitch strikes, get leadoff batters out.
So, I can at least write about what things are the same, and what things are different. Let's go with the differences, first.
During my nine seasons at Adrian College I was working part-time there, and my full-time job was in the local public schools. At Hillsdale now, I am on campus full-time, as I had previously been in my sixteen years at Siena Heights. There are several differences when we compare a full-time job to a part-time position, most notably the fact that being on campus all day, every day, allows me to be in contact more often with our players, my fellow coaches, and the rest of the college community.
Another difference is that I work with different coaches now, and though I enjoyed all of the coaches I have been privileged to work with before, I now get to work with my son Eric, who as the head coach is my boss. Eric and I share an office, and that means that now I am with him usually for eight hours or more every day, at least during the winter months. Unless you have had this sort of opportunity to work with your own son, you can only imagine how awesome every day is for me!
I also have the opportunity to work with our hitting coach Brad Kocher for the first time, and though we don't share the same office, he is right down the hall. Working with Brad has proven to be an easy and comfortable thing to do, both personally and professionally. We also have a new volunteer coach who is working with our catchers. Joe Dubina is a former Adrian College catcher with whom I was able to coach for four years. He is a public school teacher, and he brings a special kind of passion to coaching catchers. He is already helping our team get better every day.
There are several other differences as well, and perhaps we'll get into those in the future. Some things included in a list of differences include my additional roles as part of being full-time, the different indoor practice facilities, the number of players in the program, being in a different division of the NCAA and a different conference, and the beauty of my 35 mile drive to work on the country roads of southern Michigan.
What is the same? That's easy, and awesome. In January and February we continue a plan of action to prepare for the spring season. As pitching coach, I get to prepare the pitching staff in an aggressive yet patient manner to pitch against opponents by the first of March. We are following the same plan of preparation that I had been following during the pre-season in my previous seasons at Adrian.
Physically, the pitchers will gradually work their way up to throwing at least 80 pitches live before we play a game. Mentally, they are learning our philosophies of pitching by working toward achieving a set of goals that are designed to give the team the best possible chance to win games and championships. Everything we do at practice is determined by our team and pitching staff goals. Statistical goals, strategic goals, fitness goals, goals of attitude, emotional control, and the progression from pre-season to the regular season and into the post-season are part of the entire plan.
In practicing with repetition and progression, including the practice of visualization and self-talk, the understanding of sacrificing for teammates and for a common cause, our players (and thus the team) are improving every day, like many others across the country. Improvement doesn't just happen, it is done intentionally as individuals and as a team. That does not change.
And of course, our main objectives as a pitching staff are still the same......throw first pitch strikes, get leadoff batters out.
