Rules + Experience + Instincts = Execution
25
Sep
2013
Whether it's Opening Day or the NBC final, coaches want their players to execute. How about these as a simple set of steps to help your players do the right thing in the right place at the right time:
- Develop and implement rules.
- With enough reps, your players will follow the rules and end up being in the right place at the right time more often.
- When they spend more time in the right place at the right time, they'll start to develop instincts as situations become more predictable.
- When they have instincts they'll be able to execute, whether it's getting down a bunt, getting an out on a bunt coverage or making a relay throw in a double cut situation.
* * * *
Be careful: too much repetition without games or simulated games will create robots. Implement your rules and then let your players fail and succeed in competition - they'll flourish. We can't predict everything that will ever happen on the field but we can prepare for the things that over years and years of competition happen over and over again - developing rules for those situations will provide your players a foundation to develop instincts.
And when your players have instincts, they'll execute when the unpredictable happens.
Down the road we'll get into examples of rules for various situations, and the drills and strategies you can use to implement them. Here's a quick example on the Sacrifice Bunt:
Buy-in.
Bunt strikes.
Up (in the box) & In (on the plate).
Show early.
Set the angle.
Hold the angle.
Get it down, then go.
LC
tagged under: baseball, coaching, softball
