Carson Raymond Foundation Work Day

On our Total Performance Elite travel team, we have emphasized service to others as a core value. On November 19, we had the opportunity to help the Carson Raymond Foundation and the UVA baseball team build a baseball field at Stone-Robinson Elementary School. Most of our team was able to participate in this effort. They did so with great enthusiasm…not always a given in these middle school aged kids.

They also had an opportunity to hear from Brian Moriarty, the Youth Baseball Director for the foundation, about the legacy of Carson Raymond, who died several years ago due to complications from the “swine” flu.

I’m always impressed by the UVA players enthusiasm for helping out in this community service project. I believe this is the 3rd year in a row that they have participated in the CRF’s efforts to build new fields in order to get more kids involved in the game. I know how much my group of 11 and 12-year old boys look up to these 18-22 year old young men on the UVA team. It was a pleasure to see kids (my team) and young men (the UVA team), who have been blessed with so much giving back to those that are less fortunate.

I certainly think these are memories that will last a lifetime, and hopefully, it was an experience that will have an impact on the hearts of these young players.

Hips Lead Hands…Using Video Analysis

I’m always trying to find good video that helps to explain the concepts we try to teach regarding baseball fundamentals. The Hips Lead the Hands video offers a great short summary that coaches and players can use when trying to learn to use the lower half of the body. Underutilization of the “lower half” is likely the biggest single mistake that immature hitters make in swinging a baseball bat. You need only look at your younger player’s arm mass versus their leg and hip mass to be convinced that utilizing the larger muscles should increase bat swing speed. Faster swing speed means the ball should be hit harder…a good thing at all levels of baseball. Faster swing speed also means that players can wait longer to start their swing…this should result in swinging at better pitches, assuming their judgement is good.

Banks Swing Analysis

I’ve included s short video we took of Banks Northington…probably the most advanced 12 year old hitter I’ve had on my Coke teams in the last 3 years. In order to watch the video, hit on the orange words: Banks Swing Analysis. That will take you to a 9 second YouTube video.

I attribute Banks’ swing attributes to several factors: 1) He’s had good instruction in his young life; 2) He works harder at this craft than most of his peers; 3) He’s a fantastic golfer and there are many similarities in the baseball and golf swing; 4) He’s got great hand/eye coordination.

If you watch Banks’ swing in slow motion, notice several things: 1) Good balance at the start and t/o the swing; 2) His head moves very little, especially once the forward swing begins…that means the ball is easier to see; 3) He gets some backward movement of his hands (the trigger) prior to his hands moving into the hitting zone; 4) His forward swing starts with his forward heel dropping (after a small stride) and his back knee rotating forward; 5) His hips begin rotation and has hands stay back (forward arm almost completely extended); 6) Once hips are completely “cleared”, his hands move forward. (BIG MUSCLES LEAD SMALLER MUSCLES).

Several other points worth mentioning: 1) At this point in his career, Banks hit most of his balls the opposite way. This happened for a number of reasons. First, he waits a long time before starting his swing and drives the ball the opposite way. Secondly, he almost always hits with a stiff front arm. As opposed to someone like Albert Pujols, who doesn’t extend his lead arm until after contact. A swing with such a stiff (again, in Banks case, probably a huge help in his golf game) makes turning on the inside pitch a little more problematic. If I had been pitching to Banks at this stage in his life, that’s certainly how I would have gone after him (up and in).

There is so much to the baseball swing, and I’m not particularly good at seeing the intricacies at full speed. Slow motion video analysis, if you have the equipment and the time, is a great tool that coaches may want to add to their toolbox.

Chick-fil-A Hustle Award

In late 2010, at the end of a long Coke season in which we endured a difficult losing streak, we decided we needed to do something to reinforce positive behaviors that we wanted to see repeated. One such behavior was extraordinary effort. I’m not talking about just running on and off the field. Teams I’m involved with are expected to do that. What I wanted to see was players diving all over the field trying to make plays. My contention, and the source of some debate within our coaching staff, is that the diving attempt (as opposed to the diving catch) can serve as a huge inspiration to teammates. When teammates see one of their own giving an extraordinary effort, even if the play is not completed by recording an out, the effort often inspires those around you to give similar efforts.

So, at the end of the 2010 season, on several occasions, I offered up milkshakes to any player willing to make a legitimate diving attempt for a baseball in the course of the game. In total, I probably bought 10 milkshakes in 2010 from various local vendors in and around Charlottesville. The low number of milkshakes purchased, however, had more to do with my inconsistency in bringing it to my players attention than it did with players unwillingness to respond. Going into 2011, I decided that I wanted the milkshake for diving attempt to be part of the fabric of our team…not an afterthought. I wanted players who were willing to “get dirty” for the sake of their team, and if a milkshake reward was what it took to get that extraordinary effort, then I was “all in”.

I polled some of our older team members and found that the Chick-fil-A milkshake rates at or near the top of everyone’s “best milkshake in town” list. So, knowing how community focused Charlottesville’s Chick-fil-A owners have been, I approached them in early 2011 with an idea. I wanted to name the award the Chick-fil-A Hustle Award (so that players would begin to talk about it by name) and I wondered if our local owners would be willing to donate coupons to be given out. In what was a real blessing to me and our players, our local Woodbrook Chick-fil-A owners were very excited to be involved.

Between my Coke and Total Performance Elite teams, we have granted approximately 120 Chick-fil-A Hustle Awards over approximately 60 baseball games (2 per/game) in 2011, and we certainly plan on keeping this award/bribe in play for 2012. It has been so much fun to watch kids excitement in the dugout when they see their teammates on the ground after a dive. I even enjoy the banter with these guys when they lobby for the milkshake after an attempt that might fall just short of a legitimate dive. I love to see the play made/the out recorded, but again, at this level (9-12 year olds), rewarded effort is repeated and eventually the skill level increases such that the play will actually be made after the attempt. As I’m often reminded, kids get bigger and their skill level increases, and in turn, they have a better chance to make plays in the future than they do now. But without effort, sometimes extraordinary effort, even skilled older players do not make the plays we think they should make. If we teach (and reinforce) effort in these young formative years, I have a feeling we’ll continue to see diving attempts and outs recorded even once the milkshakes stop changing hands.

I want to encourage my peer coaches to establish core principles for their teams. Make those principles well known to all in your baseball community and then find ways to reinforce the behaviors that support those principles. Our job, as coaches, is not merely to teach the game…it is to help raise these young men (and women). On Coke and TPE, we want to see extraordinary effort, and thanks to Chick-fil-A, we saw more of it in 2011 than we did in 2010.

If this kind of award appeals to you, please do NOT overwhelm Chick-fil-A with additional requests. I’m confident that there are many vendors or other giveaways that you can think of to create your own unique award.

Jeff Burton

HEAD HEART HUSTLE

Every year, my goal is to become a better coach. Why? Well some might argue that I’m prone to hyperbole, but I’m convinced that youth sports coaches can have a HUGE impact on players’ lives, and if that is true, I want to be the best that I can be. To be my best, though, I have to learn from what I’ve done in the past and improve upon it going forward.

I spend the majority of my coaching time in youth baseball, coaching 9-12 year olds. A challenge this division presents: the physical, emotion, and intellectual differences between 9 year olds (3rd grader) and 12 year olds (mostly 6th…can be 7th grader) can be immense. One common theme of almost all of us, and certainly 9-12 year olds, is that they like to be recognized for things they do well. So, in 2011, we started the HEAD HEART HUSTLE Awards.

I first heard the huddle breaking chant HEAD HEART HUSTLE from Luke’s football coach in 2010. I liked it. It emphasized, right before players take or leave the field, that THIS team will play with our head (we’re good thinkers), with our heart (we’re passionate and tough, but also sensitive to teammates needs), and we will hustle everywhere. In trying to build “complete” ballplayers, these are 3 strong foundational principles. So, in 2011, as we (our team) put our hands together in an act of solidarity before taking the field, rather than saying “COKE”, we chanted “HEAD HEART HUSTLE”. That became our battle cry.

To further emphasize how we wanted to play, we decided to implement the HEAD HEART HUSTLE awards after each game. Early in the season, I actually kept clipboards in the dugout, with a column for each of the words in our chant. It was the players responsibility to record examples of their teammates exhibiting HEAD plays, HEART plays, or HUSTLE plays. Examples of HEAD plays: an OF throwing to the 2nd base rather than home plate in order to keep a base runner our of scoring position; a pitcher throwing a ball “up and in” and following it up with a pitch “low and away”. Examples of HEART plays: a 9 year old player confidently striding back to the plate after striking out in his previous at-bat to an overpowering 12 year old; an older player consoling a younger player (or vice versa) after an error. Examples of HUSTLE plays: a diving attempt for a ball, regardless of the catch or not; a catcher chasing the batter down the 1st base line in order to back up the play at 1st. While our players (and we as coaches) were inconsistent with our clipboard notes, the exercise did give us another opportunity to talk to our players about what we wanted to see on the field.

To further reinforce these HEAD HEART HUSTLE plays, we gave out a helmet sticker to 3 different players after each game….one for a HEAD play; one for a HEART play; and one for a HUSTLE play. Because these behaviors can equally be exhibited by all players, the awards can equally be won big 12 year olds and smaller 9 year olds. In this contest, all players were equal and every player was “in the running” for any of the 3 awards in every game. As the year progressed, we tried to make sure that each of our 12 players was getting a similar number of helmet stickers so that all felt they were key contributors to our team’s goals…better players, maturing kids, one team.

Not everything we do as coaches works. There’s certainly some trial and error in what we do. The HEAD HEART HUSTLE theme: the clipboards, the chant, the helmet stickers will all make their way back into the the fabric of 2012 Coke. It makes every player feel special b/c they are recognized in front of their peers for behaviors that we as coaches want to reinforce. My assessment is that behaviors that we reinforce will be repeated.

2011 Reflection Season Begins!

Its the season for reflection. As the skies grey, and the leaves fall, and most of “my” baseball players turn their attention to Winter sports, I find myself reflecting on the 2011 baseball year. Typically, its during these off months that I frequent this blog just a bit more. I find articles of interest that I think are worth sharing. In my mind, I’m recapping the past 10 months of practices, games, and tournaments and some of what I think is worth putting to “paper”. At some point, my attention turns to 2012 and what that year might bring.

2011 was an exciting baseball year, for many reasons, for the teams I help coach and follow. UVA had a magical season…one that saw them post better results than any team in the history of the program. Luke and I had the opportunity to once again follow the team out to Omaha to compete in the CWS. While they came up short of their goal of winning the Championship, that didn’t diminish (at least for me) the magical run they had.

I had a chance to help coach Owen’s t-ball team…the Cubs. While it has been very rewarding to watch the older kids on Luke’s teams develop into players playing a game that resembles baseball, there’s something very refreshing about the innocence of the game at the very young ages. At the t-ball level, its an accomplishment to get kids to run the bases from 1st to 3rd rather than from 3rd to 1st. Its a big deal when kids actually run to the shortstop position when you tell them that is where they are playing. I absolutely loved being involved with this team. It was also nice to be the guy NOT in charge. Thanks, Mike Pausic! Most of these kids will move on to a machine pitch league next year.

Our 2011 Coke team had a magical run. After 2 years of futility, years when we competed but won few games, our boys had a vastly different experience. We were not a dominant team, but we were a team that played fundamental baseball. We were not mashers of the baseball, but we hit the ball hard enough and ran the bases well enough that we outscored our opponents. Our pitchers matured into strike throwers who trusted their defense to make plays and the defense did just that. All this added up to a 15-5 regular season record and the McIntire championship, the first for Coke in many years. No less than 6 of those wins were “come from behind” wins that showed the character of these young men. In the City Championship game, we lost to another turnaround story. Central’s Masonic Lodge team, coached by my friend Greg Porter, was 0-20 in 2010, and they were 22-0 in 2011. If we had to come up short in the finals, I’m glad Greg was able to hold the trophy. While we lose 4 outstanding players from the 1010 squad (Ryan Ingram, Sam Ryan, Jai Williams, and Iain Springman), our Coke team will return 8 ballplayers in 2012 and should be well positioned for another run at the league championship. Returning players include: Luke Burton, Jack Carey, Stephen Yoder, Jack Marshall, Henry Deal, Jack Emery, Tommy Mangrum and Ben Ryan. Regardless of our on the field results, however, it will be excited to see these 9-12 year olds continue to develop as ballplayers and young men.

As I’ve written before, in late 2010, we started putting together a travel baseball team of All Star level players from Central Virginia. In the Spring months, while the “rec” leagues were playing their games, this travel team practiced and played some scrimmage games, but we played secondarily to the local leagues. Starting in late July, however, we played 5 tournaments, and a total of 31 games, concluding the season the last weekend of October. This Total Performance Elite team was so much fun to coach with a mixture of players from 6 different local leagues (McIntire, Central, Monticello, Peachtree, Fluvanna and Waynesboro). They were/are a high character group of guys who competed hard against the best teams in the state of Virginia with very good results. Most, if not all, of those kids, will stick together in 2012 as we go back to “secondary” status in the Spring (all our players are required to play in local leagues), and then move to the full size diamond in the Fall. Players include: Ryan Sukovich, Matthew Seidel, Luke Burton, Andrew Porter, Ryan Porter, Nic Kent, Ethan Murray, Jack Pausic, Chris McGahren, Derek Domecq, Jack Carey, and Michael Vanderveer.

I’ll have more to say about the lessons learned in 2011, but if for nobody other than myself, it is good to have a recap like this down on “paper”. Thanks for indulging me.

Coke 2011 12-Year Olds

As in any championship season, your veterans have to play like veterans. They have to be leaders on the field, in the offseason and in the dugout. Coke 2011s 12-year olds: Ryan Ingram, Sam Ryan, Jai Williams and Iain Sprigman certainly were great leaders this season. Here’s a video tribute to those 4 special young men. <a href="http://

Coke 12s in 2011 from Jeff Burton on Vimeo.

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Coke 2011 11-Year Olds

Coke 2011 11-year olds Luke Burton, Jack Carey and Stephen Yoder were instrumental in leading our team to the MLL Championship. They each had big “step up” seasons and will be counting on to carry the leadership mantel in 2012. Great job, guys. <a href="http://

Coke 11s in 2011 from Jeff Burton on Vimeo.

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Coke 10-Year Olds in 2011

Coke 2011 10-year olds Jack Marshall, Henry Deal and Jack Emery had All Star seasons for our team. Here are some pictures to commemorate their successes and the fine young men they are. <a href="http://

Coke 10s in 2011 from Jeff Burton on Vimeo.

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Coke 9-Year Olds from the 2011 Season

Coke 2011 9-year olds Tommy Mangrum and Ben Ryan had great seasons. Here are some pictures to celebrate these 2 special young men. <a href="http://

Coke 9s in 2011 from Jeff Burton on Vimeo.

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McIntire’s Eric Tucker is a Finalist for PCA’s Double-Goal Coaching Award

I wrote last week about Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). Specifically, I wrote that Charlottesville was going to host a Coaches Seminar on Feb. 10 entitled “Double-Goal Coach: Culture, Practices and Games”. It is an intermediate workshop in the PCA line-up of seminars and specifically, it expands on three principles: (1) Helping coaches help athletes strive for excellence; (2) Providing a “10-step Guide” to successful practice sessions; (3) Explores the art of game coaching.

McIntire Little League was informed this week that one of our own, Eric Tucker, who manages the Barracks Road team in our Majors division, has been named a Finalist for PCA’s Double-Goal Coach Award. Supposedly, there were “thousands” of applicants for these awards out of the millions of youth sports coaches nationwide. At this point, 50 Finalists have been named. In late February, 20 coaches will be selected as the Winners of this year’s awards.

I’ve known Eric Tucker for only about 6 years, but I can tell you that he represents everything you’d want to see in a youth sports coach. He understands and teaches the game at an elite level. He understands that the game of baseball draws kids in for a variety of reasons. His teaching methods will differ, even within the same year/same team, in order to make sure that each and every kid has a chance to succeed. He has a long history of producing “winning” teams, and yet even when his team does not win, his parents and kids rave about him. He draws in other volunteers with his enthusiasm and his inclusive methods. In summary, he is the poster child for PCA’s “Double-Goal” coach, one who understands winning is important, but also, and equally important, is the life lessons that can be taught through youth sports.

I’ve linked the announcement of Coach Tucker’s making the Finalist list. There is a blog at the bottom of the list where you can leave a comment about Coach Tucker or the process that recognizes Double Goal coaches around the country. I hope you’ll consider visiting this site.

http://www.positivecoach.org/blog.aspx#

Congratulations, Coach Eric Tucker!