Inside: Conquering the Curveball

OnDeck

Baseball & Softball

Volume 6 Issue 4

April 2013

In This Issue

Coach a Good Teacher?

Criticizing Teammates

Conquering the Curveball

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Greetings from CoachDeck!

In this issue: New contributor Jeffrey Rhoads' article, Is Your Child's Coach a Good Teacher, is a great read for parents and coaches alike. We encourage league administrators to review the NSPCC's brief instructional video on the topic of inappropriate contact between coaches and youth. Brian Gotta's discusses how to address the issue of players criticizing teammates. And NY Mets' hitting coach Dave Hudgens comes through again with the first in a three-part series on hitting the curveball.

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Is Youth Child's Coach a Good Teacher?

By Jeffrey Rhoads

The quality of a child's experience in organized youth sports is highly dependent on his or her coach. Good coaches both understand their sport and how to communicate this knowledge. Read Article

Criticizing Teammates

By Brian Gotta, President of CoachDeck

As a parent, if one of your children was constantly yelling at and demeaning a sibling every time they made a mistake, wouldn't you put a stop to it? Why then do coaches allow players to chastise or put down teammates for errors on the field? This behavior is not only detrimental to team chemistry but will have an adverse effect on the player being criticized, as well as the one doing it. Read Article

Inappropriate Coach-Player Contact NPSCC Logo

We recommend watching this brief video from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Keeping Children Safe in Sports series. This episode dramatizes the issues of inappropriate contact between coaches and players. Watch video

Conquering the Curveball (Part 1 of 3)
by Dave Hudgens, New York Mets Hitting Coach

All Major League hitters can hit a fastball, but only the best have a solid plan to hit the curveball. No one can hit the great curveball - the curveball low and away, the hall of fame pitcher's pitch. Even the best hitters don't swing at that pitch until they get two strikes. So why then would anyone provide instruction on how to hit a pitch that no one can hit? Read Article