Team Building 101

Introduction to Team Building
By following these time-proven strategies, you will more likely reap the benefits that often result from a more unified and cohesive unit. This article describes what team building is and what factors you should consider before embarking on a team building session. Whether on athletic teams, in corporate America, therapeutic populations, for or at-risk youth, the inclusion of a team building and adventure-based approach to learning and to performance enhancement has gathered increased adoption because of its desirable effects in the workplace, team environment, and in individual development. Adventure programming and team-building activities embrace and encourage adaptation, creativity, risk-taking, the development of problem solving skills and helps individuals of all ages to trust, cooperate, risk, achieve and grow. There are several national curricula throughout the United States; one of the most popular and well known is operated by Project Adventure”. Their projects and activities have been successfully implemented by hundreds of schools, community, therapeutic, corporate and athletic groups both nationally and internationally.

I have personally used team building activities with boys and girls and men and women from ages 6 to 65. These types of activities provide a holistic strategy, and action-based learning environment for cultivating specific performance enhancements, including: goal-setting, communication, "in the moment" problem solving, emotional control and intelligence, anxiety management strategies, etc. I try to challenge people's assumption that team chemistry is a noun, a thing, something you have and that simply exists. Rather, I ask them to envision "team chemistry" as a verb, something you Do, something that is fluid, kinetic and action-based. Team chemistry is fundamentally a problem of action, of individuals and groups doing and being active in developing the intricate web of connections that exist among any group composed of diverse people, talents, roles and abilities.

Factors to Consider
If you want to include team building activities into your practices you should consider several key variables and tailor the initiatives to your particular group, level and activity. These variables include:

1. The age and maturity of the group (age, gender, level, goals, etc.)
2. The readiness of the group (safety, conflict tolerance, guidance required, etc.)
3. The length of time available for the program (per session and number of sessions per year and over what period of time)
4. The specific goals of the program for your particular team at a particular point in the season (trust building, communication, cooperation, competition, fun, problem solving, leadership, etc.)

Once you've made the decision that team-building activities will be part of your season and you've thoughtfully answered the four questions listed above, then it's time to begin to actually plan the types of activities you'll be including for your team. © Dr. Colleen Hacker

Team Building - Article 1

Planning
It is best to plan an entire team building session in a progressive manner with each challenge building on the next and organized around key themes for your team. For example, if you want to foster better communication among group members, then your activities should include initiatives that call for various combinations of players taking a leadership role in giving directions, commands or ideas in both verbal and non-verbal mediums. If you want to develop team trust, then initiatives should include activities that ask teammates to relinquish control and power to another teammate in a safe, non-threatening manner.

Beyond the thematic focus of the event, your team building session should also include progressions from individual and partner challenges to small group and eventually to full-team initiatives. The complexity should also vary on a continuum from simple (fewer rules, less demanding challenges or shorter times to complete tasks) to more complex (more rules or restrictions, greater demands on the individuals or the group based on length of time to be successful or level of difficulty).

Getting started with the "Ice Breaker"
Like any good practice session, team building should also begin with a proper "warm up" to prepare athletes for the day's events. Warm up activities can be thought of as simple "ice breaker" type experiences that encourage athletes to transition from physical training, competitive mode to a more relaxed and open spirit of engagement.

Laying the "Ground Rules"
At that point, the ground rules should be given to your team including the goals for the activity, any team rules you want to encourage (for example, "only positive verbal comments are to be shared," "let's all respect individual differences," or "let‚s foster a safe environment both physically and emotionally"). Let players know that there is a purpose to these games and while they may be having a great time laughing, having fun and enjoying themselves, there is a deeper meaning, if you will, that will be explored and that is embedded in the activities. Let them know that these messages will be addressed at the end of the day.

It's not over until the "Debriefing"
One error that many team leaders often commit is to focus almost exclusively on the initiatives themselves and neglect the debriefing session at the end of training with the entire group. At the final debriefing, lessons extracted from the day's activities should be explored. Players' opinions should be drawn out and they should be asked to explain what they saw, heard, learned and felt during the team building actives and what potential applications could be derived for the team or for the season. In many ways, the debriefing sessions are as important, if not more so, than the activities themselves. With experience, team leaders will increase their skills in both the art and science of leading activities and in discussing their use, value and application for the team in the weeks and months ahead.

Ongoing Follow-up
Finally, it is essential that coaches follow up the event by highlighting the themes unveiled and revealed in the team building sessions in subsequent practice sessions e.g. on the court, field, pool, arena, etc. as part of a traditional practice). In other words, the lessons should be revisited throughout the year and not simply left at the site of the team building activities. © Dr. Colleen Hacker

Team Building - Article 2

Icebreakers

Games in which inhibitions are lessened, or activities for individuals to get to know one another, have fun, and take some risks would be called ice-breakers. As the saying goes, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression". This is certainly applicable to successful team building. Start with a bang. Make the activity an attention grabber that leads and motivates the group into the rest of the day's activities. Begin with a high-energy initiative that immediately captures the attention of the participants. An exciting beginning can serve as a bridge from the current to the next level of involvement and sets the tone for future challenges. Here is one example for a simple icebreaker. It incorporates competition, problem solving and communication.

Title: Bean Bag Shuffle

Equipment:
One stop watch for each team

Space:
An open field or gym

Teams:
Divide your group into two or three teams of 6-8 individuals

Set up:

1. Provide each team with one small bean bag (you can buy them in a store or make your own).
2. Have the teams stand in a circle, any size they choose.
3. Set the challenge: the goal of this activity is to see how fast you can pass the bean bag from person to person so that everyone in the group has to have completely handled the bean bag and individually passed it on to another team member (in other words, simply "touching" the bean bag does not count as "holding and passing individually").
4. Assign a stop watch coach (make sure it is a trust worthy, competent timekeeper) to each group.
5. On the signal, "ready, set, go," teams begin to pass the bean bag around the circle as fast as they think they can but still following all of the rules

Implementation:

1. Establish a winner based on time. Record that time.
2. Now ask, "Can they do it faster?" Let them try. Continue to record the times for each team.
3. Can you do it faster still?

Learning:
Eventually teams will learn that they can move very close together and make an even smaller circle so that it almost looks like a big mob of people. Then, they will learn that they can hand and pass the beanbag much faster, more efficiently, and all in one motion if they change their distance from one another and alter their team's configuration.

Debriefing Lessons:
At first, they'll think that winning is the only goal or that winning is when they simply "beat" another team. Ultimately, you want them to come to see, that what they initially thought was good enough, fast enough and successful enough can actually be made better and faster. It is the same principle we learn in sport. With planning, motivation and ingenuity, they can learn skills and strategies to keep lowering their previous best time and therefore improve overall "team" performance.

That debriefing message can have season-long implications no matter what the age, level or sport you play.

Have fun!

© Dr. Colleen Hacker

Team Building - Article 3

More Icebreakers

This is the second team-building icebreaker that you can consider using with your team. Remember that these initiatives should simply serve as guides or recipes for you to follow. Feel free to adapt, modify, create and improvise both the rules and the difficulty of the challenge in order to accommodate the qualities of your particular team.

As you will recall from last month's article, the activity must be age-appropriate as well as level-appropriate. Games that seem too "silly" for your particular athletes or challenges that are too easy to complete will not be met with enthusiasm or positive motivation. You should know your group well enough to construct challenges that are attractive to them, interesting and compelling.

You may want to start the session with a joke related to the situation, or even share a game-related need that this activity addresses. You may begin with a series of short questions that elicit a series of loud group responses or a meaningful team cheer just to get the activity started.

This next icebreaker can serve as an excellent warm-up activity not only for the team building session but also for the cardiovascular system and musculoskeletal structure depending how active and competitive your athletes are.

Title: Human Dragon

Equipment:
None needed

Space:
An open field or gym, free from obstacles

Teams:
Divide your team into 4 teams of 6-8 individuals. You can have odd numbers or vary the length of the "dragon" depending on the skill, size and ability of your athletes.

Set-Up:

1. Each team designates the "head" person and the "tail " section of the Human Dragon
2. All other team members fill in behind the head of the dragon by holding on to the person in front of them at the waist
3. At this point, your four dragon teams should form one long line with all team members connected by holding onto each other's waist in a single-file, one-in-front-of-the-other line

The Challenge:

1. The goal of the activity is to have the head of each dragon attempt to tag the tail of any other dragon team
2. Only heads of the dragon can do the tagging as all other team members must remain connected (with two hands) to their teammates
3. Players attempt to avoid having their team's tail be tagged and skillfully (did I mention, humorously?) attempt to shield their tail from other dragons on the prowl

Implementation:

1. Each time a tag occurs, the tagging team receives one point and the tail of the team that was tagged becomes the new dragon head, therefore creating a new tail
2. If one person is a tail for too long, switch the tail and periodic time intervals
3. The game continues on for a specified time (as competitiveness and interest allows)
4. If the any of the dragon people in the middle release their grip on the person in front of them, teams are asked to "self-report", count a point against themselves and switch the tail of the dragon. In other words, releasing your grip results in a loss of one point for your team
5. Dragons should call out their score every time they gain or lose a point

Learning:

This game is great for communication, competition, honesty, cooperation and protection of teammates. By moving as a team to "protect" their tail, the team's success is more likely enhanced.

Good luck and have fun!

© Dr. Colleen Hacker

Team Building - Article 4

This is another activity for you to consider when designing your next team building session. In this simple but fun initiative, the following concepts can be emphasized and developed:

• Collective effort
• Competition between groups
• Cooperation within groups
• Speed of performance

This challenge is a great small group activity whose difficulty can be altered to achieve desired results. For example, groups can be prodded to "beat the other team(s)" or to "beat their own group's personal record," depending on (a) the desire to emphasize either intrinsically motivated standards of excellence or (b) an extrinsically-oriented focus on outcome and result. Decide what's best for your particular group at this particular point in your training cycle and alter the activity to meet those demands.

Title: The Hula Circle

Equipment:

• One hula hoop for each team (if you can't find hula hoops, any building supply store will have plastic tubing that can be shaped into a circle and secured with duct tape)
• A stopwatch

Teams:

Divide your group into the number of teams you desire with 8-15 individuals per team.

Set-Up:

Each team is asked to stand in a circle by clasping hands with the person on either side of them. That grip cannot be broken.

Place a hula-hoop on the forearm of the "Team Captain" and have him/her re-grasp the hands of his/her teammate to complete the hand-in-hand closed circle.

The Challenge:

On a "ready, set, go" command, teams begin to "pass" the hula-hoop around the circle without breaking the handgrips.

Players bend and twist their bodies through the hoop by climbing through the hoop, ultimately getting it over their head to the other side of their body.

The entire process repeats itself as the hoop travels from teammate to teammate around the circle as fast as possible. Keep in mind the handgrip can never be broken.

If the handgrip is broken the hula-hoop must start back at the beginning again.

Variations:

How fast can you pass the hoop? Who finished first? Can you do it even faster?

Have players stand with their back toward the center circle and try it again.

Learning:

There are so many lessons to be gleaned from this fun and exciting initiative. Players will discover that just because their team may be far in the lead at one point in the contest (or behind), a few small errors (or quick recoveries) on anyone's part can lead to disaster (or can bring them quickly back into the game). The point is that whether you are winning or losing at any given point in the contest, it is no guarantee of final outcome. Truly, anything is possible. Often in sport, teams get the lead and relax. That loss of focus and competitive fire can be costly.

Secondly, players also learn the importance of not only competing against someone else (as in beating the other team) but also learn the real value of competing against their previous best performance (as in "can we lower our team's best time?").

© Dr. Colleen Hacker

Introduction to Psychological Skills

Introduction
Whether you are an athlete or a coach, mastering the mental game of sport will allow you to reach greater heights as a competitor than you could otherwise achieve by focusing exclusively on the physical side of sport. You can use these tips in a variety of ways including incorporating them completely, sequentially and additively into your own game plan or selectively choosing from among a variety of techniques -- the ones that most interest you at a particular time.

The Importance of Mental Skills
The best pace to start is to outline why mental skills are so important to performance and why they are often neglected by coaches and athletes. Yogi Bera has been quoted as saying, "sport is 90% mental and 50% physical." You can question his mathematical savvy, but if you're an athlete, coach or fan, you can't question his wisdom. Most of us realize that it is often deficits in our psychological game rather than errors in our physical performance that keep us from performing at optimum levels in practice, games or matches. Both research and anecdotal evidence support the notion that it is not the physical talents or abilities that separate athletes and teams, or successful versus less successful performance. Rather, the psychological dimension in sport is the most frequently cited variable explaining a given sport outcome or individual performance. In fact, when over 600 United States Olympic Athletes were interviewed after the 1996 Olympic Games and asked to list the top ten factors essential for success at the higher levels of competition, mental skills were listed in the to five spots. Not surprising, the single most important quality cited was mental toughness. In sixth place, athletes listed physical talent.

What do these elite performers know that the rest of us can utilize to supplement our traditional training methods? They understand and develop the psychological dimension of their game. No matter what sport you play or the level of competition you face, recognizing and developing your mental game plan should be a significant priority.

The Fundamentals
Every sport is comprised of four fundamental components, namely: the technical, tactical, physiological and psychological. Briefly, the technical components represent the actual skill necessary to play a given sport. Examples include dribbling in soccer, shooting in basketball, passing in football, etc. The tactical aspect refers to the strategies and concepts employed to showcase those techniques in competition. Examples include what system to play in soccer, what offense to run in basketball, or what offensive schemes to utilize in football. The physiological components refer to the physical demands of a given sport. Examples include the cardio-respiratory demands, strength, flexibility, anaerobic needs, etc. The fourth component is the focus of "Colleen's Psychological Skills,": the psychological dimension. Examples include: motivation to compete, mental toughness, self-confidence, imagery, goal setting, etc. These are the topics that will be addressed each month.

Mental Skills - Article 1

If you're like most sport enthusiasts, you're convinced that a commitment to the psychological dimension of your game will not only enhance your performance but also bring you closer to reaching your potential no matter what your current level of competition.

If you are also like most people, you may begin a mental skills program highly enthused and motivated for the first couple of weeks but if you don't see dramatic results "immediately" you may be tempted to revert back to practice that only includes three of the four pillars of peak performance. In some ways, mental skills training is like the familiar New Years Resolution to "get in shape." Unfortunately, data indicates that 50% of the people who start an exercise and fitness program drop out within the first six months. Our culture has sold us on the idea of quick fixes and immediate change. Instead of thinking of mental preparation as a "magic pill" think of it as a "steady diet." You will see results only if you commit to it in the same way you do the technical, tactical and physiological aspects, namely consistent and prolonged effort over time.

If so many top level athletes and coaches extol the benefits of mental training for peak performance, then why do a relatively small percentage of teams and individuals commit to practicing and refining this critical part of performance? Listed are the top four reasons for discontinuation. Check to see if any of your reasons are included:

1. I don't have enough time
2. I'd like to do psychological skills training (PST) but I don't know how
3. You're either mentally tough and motivated or you're not. It can't be taught or acquired, so why try
4. People need to "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" and not look for improvements from this new fad. We never did any of that stuff when I was an athlete.

Let's look at each reason, beginning with "lack of time." To be most effective, PST should be part of your regular daily practice and/or game routine, not necessarily separate from or in addition to your normal sport activities. Start applying goal setting to your daily training schedule, or practice positive self-talk as you play. In this way, rather than an adding another team meeting into an already hectic day, you can incorporate mental practice into the arena where you will need to use it most...on the court, field, pool, arena, etc. As you become more proficient in practice, gradually you will begin to apply and utilize these same performance enhancement techniques into games, matches and actual competition. Just as physical skills are first practiced in a controlled environment in order to sharpen and automate performance, the same principle should be followed for PST: simple to complex, less demanding to more demanding.

The second concern people have is acquiring the proper knowledge base. Well, if you're reading this article then you are already on your way in developing the requisite knowledge and skill. There are excellent books and journal articles available concerning mental training for sport. Whether you compete in golf, soccer, baseball, basketball or any other, much has been written on how to get the competitive edge and how to use it to your best advantage. Attend clinics, listen to respected athletes and coaches discuss their techniques at conferences or workshops and by all means, keep reading the eteamz site!

The final two excuses could best be explained by reminding yourself that mental skills are just like physical skills, they respond best to practice and repetition. All of us are born with varying levels of a host of qualities from mental toughness, to competitive drive to perseverance after failure. No matter how much or little you possess of any one characteristic, almost all psychological skills respond positively to sustained and appropriately focused efforts at improvement. Years ago, few athletes sought professional advice on personal training and fitness and yet today, that practice is commonplace. Years ago, few people understood the role that diet played in enhancing peak performance in sport. Science, research and technology have made incredible advances in our understanding of what psychological skills are best targeted to enhance performance and what principles to utilize to see those positive results.

Mental Skills - Article 2

Goal Setting

Goal setting is one of the foundational building blocks of a successful psychological skills training program. In fact, coaches and athletes can utilize the goal setting principles that I'll discuss in the next two months of eteamz articles, with each of the four pillars of sport we have previously discussed: namely, the technical, tactical, psychological and physiological areas. To understand goal setting better, and more specifically, how you can utilize its powerful effects to your competitive advantage, it's important to define what goals are.

Definition

Goals are a specific standard of proficiency achieved in a specific area of performance within a specified time. For example, an athlete could set a goal to improve their free throw shooting ability by taking 30 extra shots every day immediately after practice. All of the criteria listed in that definition must be met (along with several other important standards) in order for behavior to be considered a goal. The two key questions to determine if goal setting is successfully being implemented are: Can I measure it? Can I see it? Goals are more than wishes, hopes and dreams. Dreaming is important in sport and in life, but dreams lack an essential ingredient inherent in effective goal setting, and that is the observable, measurable behaviors required for achieving the end result. For example, I might wish that I was an Olympic performer and I might dream about making an Olympic team, but when I goal set, much more is required of me in order to reach my goal standard.

Types of goals

There are three types of goals. Each will be defined and a sport-related example will be provided for clarification.

1. Performance Goals: Performance goals are goals in which participants focus on process-oriented standards relative to ones own best performance capabilities. They emphasize the PROCESS by which a given outcome is achieved. Another key component of process goals is that the participant has much more control on the achievement potential and successful outcome of these types of goals.

Examples of process goals are increasing the number of tennis serves taken in order to improve ones' first service percentage, committing to a consistent pattern of three strength training sessions per week in order to increase the amount of weight lifted for a one-rep max, and engaging in first person imagery training two days per week for the next month of practice.

2. Outcome Goals: Outcome goals are goals in which participants focus on the end result, the outcome, or a PRODUCT-type measurement as the standard of comparison. These are the most often recited and typically utilized types of goals among coaches and athletes. While participants "think" they have control over outcome goals, the facts indicate that athletes and coaches have only partial control (at best), or little to no control over the ultimate successful achievement of outcome goals.

Examples of outcome goals are: to become a starting member of the team this season, to win the league championship, or to achieve the school scoring record before graduating.

3. Do Your Best Goals: Do your best goals are obvious from the title itself. The focus is not on specific standards of proficiency, process or outcome other than asking the participants to "give it their best shot", try hard and "do your best".

Examples of this third type of goal would be saying, "I'll try my best to play well in today's game," "We'll try our best to play good defense," or "I'll try to be a better coach this season." What is clear in these examples, is that do your best goals lack the specificity and detail that are so apparent in the first two types.

While it may be easier and more convenient to set outcome goals in sport, experts recommend and the sport psychology literature clearly indicates, that the most favorable results in performance occur when athletes and coaches set performance goals. In fact, process goals will allow you to achieve greater success, if they are correctly and consistently utilized, than either outcome or do your best goals.

Mental Skills - Article 3 GOAL SETTING PRINCIPLES Goal setting helps direct an athlete's attention to appropriate behaviors necessary for athletic success, it helps increase an athlete's persistence in the face of adversity and difficulty, and, it increases effort and output in both practice and competition. There are three types of goals: Performance goals, Outcome goals and Do Your Best goals. The preferred type of goals to set are performance goals that specify both the observable behavior and the time frame for when these changes will occur. I generally recommend that for every outcome goal that a coach or athlete sets, it should be accompanied by at least four process goals. For example, if you set a goal to become a starter on next year's team (an outcome goal) you should set four process goals that will increase the likelihood of you achieving that goal. These performance goals would be behavior or activities over which you have complete control and your participation and ultimate success is virtually guaranteed. Examples An example of four process goals to accompany the outcome goal of starting might be: I will complete my strength training program three days per week all year long I will stay after practice on Wednesdays and Fridays to take 50 extra shots with my right foot and 50 extra shots with my left foot I will watch game film at least two hours every week and write down three key tactical points for each video session I will complete five, five-minute imagery sessions each week all season long Lessons What should be clear from these examples is that: Athletes can completely control whether or not they engage in these activities (whether or not the coach ultimately selects them to be a starter) Engaging in these activities will lead to improvements in each of the specified areas of performance and these improvements will increase the likelihood of achieving the outcome of becoming a starter Each of these goals provides a specific standard of proficiency and a specified time for achievement Guidelines In order for goal setting to work for you and your team, the following guidelines should be followed: Goals should be difficult but realistic to achieve (Unrealistic goals create anxiety and disbelief) Goals should be specific, observable and measurable Set proximal (short term) as well as distal (long term) goals Set performance or techniques goals rather than outcome or do your best goals Write your goals down ("ink what you think")! Discuss your goals with at least one other person Set the goals yourself rather than simply adopt someone else's goals for you Provide and get goal support through interactions with coaches, teammates and other important people in your life Evaluate your goal effectiveness and adjust the goal difficulty in the future so those goals are optimally challenging for your current abilities and your future potential Set goals in each of the four pillars of sport: technical, tactical, psychological and physiological © Dr. Colleen Hacker Mental Skills - Article 4 COMMON ERRORS IN GOAL SETTING The focus of this discussion will be on anticipating and safeguarding against the most common errors in goal setting. As you may recall, previous articles have distinguished goals from "wishes, hopes and dreams" by their specific, behavioral and observable nature, and the fact that they must include a specified time period for their completion. Further, we described three basic types of goals, namely: product goals (where the focus is on the outcome; like "becoming a starting player"), process goals (where the focus is on one's own performance and on factors directly under the athletes control; like "running four 60 yard wind sprints after practice three days per week"), and "do your best" goals (which sound altruistic and positive but invariably lack specificity and detail; like "I'm just going to try my best when I lift weights this week"). You were encouraged to consider setting goals for each of the four pillars of your sport: the technical skills, the tactical requirements, the physiological demands and the psychological components. Once athletes (and coaches, for that matter) begin to set observable, measurable goals and specify the date for completion, it is not uncommon to experience increased motivation and excitement as goals are successfully accomplished. This exuberance leads to two of the most common goal setting problems: Setting too many goals too quickly Setting unrealistic goals based on one's current level of performance While there is no magic formula for how many goals to set in a particular time frame, I generally encourage athletes to focus on a maximum of three to four goals per week: a "goal set." The challenge is to keep the goals meaningful, relevant and motivating. Goals should not control your athletic life or become burdensome to the training regimen. Rather, they should serve as guideposts and standards of excellence that are individually significant. They should be difficult but realistic and only you can determine what that may be. For example, if you are currently bench-pressing 100 pounds, it would be an unrealistic goal to bench-press 125 pounds (a 25-pound increase from your previous best) in one week's time. Let's say your long-term goal is to be able to bench-press 125 pounds, however. Perhaps the best way to utilize effective goal setting is to make a commitment to "complete three sets of 10-12 repetitions three days per week at 100 pounds for the next four weeks, using perfect form." The process of bench-pressing consistently each week, following proper strength training guidelines will be behavior completely under the athlete's control (barring injury or illness) and bring a person closer to reaching their ultimate goal. Likewise, if your goal is to improve your free throw shooting percentage over the last season, then establish a realistic long term goal of say, a 10% improvement in nine months and then devise a "goal set" plan to achieve that outcome. Specifically, you may commit to shooting an extra 100 free throws each week for three months, or you may "goal set" to shoot however many free throws are required to make 50 after practice two days each week. Both of these goals would be excellent means to bring you closer to achieving your long-term goal of improved free-throw shooting percentage. The key point to emphasize is that it is better to design fewer, high quality goals and commit to their successful accomplishment than to set too many goals and hope that several will be accomplished. Decide what aspects of your performance are most important to you and which skills you want to focus on for a particular week. Once you've made that determination, you are then ready to create your weekly "goal sets." © Dr. Colleen Hacker

 

The slider is an effecitive pitch in three ways. First it is going at about the same speed as the fastball...a bit slower but not a lot. Secondly, there is a slight break to the pitch of about 4 to 8 inches. Third, it is not a difficult pitch to throw. The grip of the ball is almost identical to your fastball. Notice that my middle finger is on a seam as well as my thumb. The major difference in throwing a slider is what you do right before you release. I tell my kids that you must think you are throwing a fastball up until this point. Let me explain... An instant before you release the baseball you will snap your wrist on the side and your pointer and middle fingers will come over the top of the ball, This will give it just enough necessary spin to create the small break yet keep the ball speed up. This sequence is shown in the last four figures to the right. In talking about when to throw the slider, we need to understand what it does. As discusses above we now know that. So a pitcher will want to throw a slider after a good fastball inside. He will throw a slider away. This is done because the batter has just seen something straight and hard, and now he is going to see something hard and breaking a bit. The slider can also be used as a set up pitch on top of what we just described...an out pitch. We can think in the opposite way...a pitcher throws a hard slider away off the plate that the batter swings at it and misses. Well what can he come with next...a hard fastball in on the hands or on the corner. That pitch will freeze up the batter or at best he may fist it into the infield if his hands are quick enough. The slider then can be a deadly pitch if used correctly. It is however very easy to hit if you leave it out over the plate. That is because it is about the same speed as a fastball therefore the hitter does not have to worry about dumping his wieght on it like a curve or other offspeed pitch. You don¹t want to throw sliders to hitters who go the other way. That is because they will slap singles to the oppositve field consistently. Most of those hitters are said to be contact hitters. Now this is all good for the same side hitter as pitcher...ie LH hitter and LH pitcher. So what good does the slider do if I am a LH pitcher and the hitter is RH? In this case the slider slides into the batter and not away from him. Good question...A slider in on the hands can be very effective because the batter is usually not prepared for the little extra break at the end. Therefore his swing is not going to be adjusted to that...more often then not the batter will be jammed. This pitch is a lot like the cut fastball which I have discusses also. Take a look at that and see which best fits your needs. Submitted by: Coach B

THE CHANGEUP

In my opinion, the changeup is the most deadly pitch in the game. For example, look at Maddux...he dominates the game with it. Reason being, he can place it wherever he wants to and can throw it whenever he wants to. He proves you don¹t have to be overpowering to be successful at any level. With the most effective pitch in baseball comes some difficult aspects in throwing it. The way that I teach it may be different then you. The most important thing to realize is that the grip of the changeup is meant for you wrist to be able to break and not to be straight or stiff. (FIG 3) The reason it does this is because there is no pressure under the ball. The concept then of the changeup is to let the ball come off your fingers. Your wrist then should be in the lead when you begin to release the baseball. As your hand comes through behind your wrist, the ball is forced away from your body by your fingers. The key here is to make sure you have a down and away motion with your arm. This causes the ball to have a heavy backspin as well as to break away from a RH batter assuming the pitcher is LH. This backspin on the ball creates a force and slows it down as it cuts through the air. Remember to keep your arm speed the same as your fastball. You DO NOT want to slow your arm speed down to slow the ball down. The grip, shown to the right can be tricky and is important for accuracy and effecitveness. The ball must lie or rest on the balls of your fingers (meaning where your fingers are attached to your palm). You don¹t want to have the ball jammed up in your hand because that makes the pitch harder to control. Keeping your pinky finger on the side of the ball helps immensely. Kids want to put that finger under the ball...remember we don¹t want to have pressure under the ball. Always concentrate on letting and feeling the ball come off the fingers in a down and away motion. I show that you throw the ball with the seams...you can throw it against the seams if you wish by just rotating the ball 90 degrees.

1. Unfortunately, a late start in a game like tee ball or baseball typically means players won't make up the difference until the following season when he can get a better start. Get organized, develop a plan, and prepare to work hard. Learn as much about tee ball and baseball as you can. Prepare to learn enough about baseball to be able to present the material in "kid terms."

2. Kids don't know what it means to "step in the bucket" or "take an extra base" or "turn two" until you teach them and show them. Successful coaches know their audience and use analogies and common visual imagery to establish an intellectual and cognitive connection with their players. For tee ball players, these images are best when they are a bit dramatic: point the belly button toward the part of the field where you want to hit the ball (get your hips rotated), make your arm like an elephant's trunk when throwing (don't launch the ball like a catapult, THROW it), and point the button on your cap in the direction the ball came from when fielding a ground ball (keep your head down), for instance.

3. Whether your league keeps score or not, or whether you have a team that can win games or not, don't ever fail to take your responsibilities as a coach seriously. Being a serious coach means that you'll try to teach them something about baseball, basic skills, and sportsmanship, it means that you're attentive to player safety, and it means that while you're asking your players to put their best foot forward, so are you.

4. Having been a good player is no assurance that you will be a good coach any more than being a good student necessarily means you will be a good teacher. A coach must possess certain qualities – many coaches are satisfied with merely having characteristics. A coach has to be a good teacher, he has to be patient, he has to be confident and decisive, he has to be nurturing when his players get hurt or make mistakes, and he has to be able to get as much as he can out of his players without going too far.

5. Tell players' parents not to assume that the game of tee ball is just like the game of baseball; try to tell them the difference because it might spare you an untimely laugh and them the humiliation of asking a silly question later.

6. The most difficult thing a coach has to do is see the twelve players on the field who are not related to him. If you can do it, try to be a coachon the field and a parent off the field, and get your fellow coaches to do the same. Impartiality (and avoiding excessive impartiality) is essential to success.

7. Coaches need the assistance of their players' parents. I found that parents are normally willing to help out if they aren't too busy and they tend to learn that the more they participate in the operation of the team, the more they also stay in touch with the challenges coaches encounter as they try to build the team. (Getting parents' assistance does not mean losing controlof the team to them.)

8. There can be three hundred people in the stands and three coaches shouting during a game, but the one voice a player hears is his own mother's. This isn't a problem until the coach tells the player to stop and she yells forhim to go. The only thing a coach can do about this is tell the parents how tough it is to communicate with the players when there are conflicting instructions on the field. At times, it can be a safety issue.

9. Parents bring their own expectations into the season and it's safe to assume that coaches and managers do the same. The best way to ensure there are no surprises as the season develops is for the manager to hold a meeting and set the tone early. He should let the parents know that he knows whathe is doing and help them develop confidence in him during this first team meeting.

10. The only way to build a good team out of a group of individuals is through effective practice. On the field, you have to be a teacher as well as a coach. Teach them what they need to know, show them what you taught them, practice the things you taught them over and over, then be prepared to do it all over again.

11. Practice, by definition, presumes repetition. Repetition is the keystone of successful game preparation. However, repetition soon turns into monotony with players, particularly tee ball players, unless you: (1) PLAN every aspect of every practice right down to the minute, (2) Maintain a distinct sense of MOTION to your practices and a coherent FLOW to them, and (3) Make a GAME out of as many things as you can.