Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Burnout In Youth Sports

 Burnout in youth sports is a threat to the physical and mental stamina of young athletes.As competitive youth athletics engages younger participants each year, the threat of, both, physical and mental burnout in young players grows more imminent. Over involvement in competitive leagues has long-term consequences for kids, if after the first 12 years of their lives they abandon organized sports or, perhaps, physical activity completely. This alarming situation is compounded by the growing competition between youth sports and modern technology, which is driving youngsters to become sedentary, often in the form of sitting in front of a computer for hours at a time. Unfortunately, once young victims of burnout quit sports, they rarely return. This startling predicament of modern youth sports can be attributed to the actions of parents and coaches.

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  Parents that enroll their children in too many sports, or multiple leagues for one sport, end up constructing a trap that will inevitably catch up with their kid. These children are often bound by impractical time constraints, almost literally living out of their family vehicles in order to accommodate their hectic schedules. Parents must find a reasonable balance for their children and help budget their time. Youth coaches can also share the blame for the dilemma. Coaches who allow their practices to become drudgery can get feelings of resentment from their players. Conducting short, stimulating, fun practices that convey skills in the form of spirited activity can turn practices into a positive experience for young players. If players leave practice unmotivated to show up at the next one, something is amiss.

  While burnouts result from participation in too many sports, as well as enrollment in too many leagues for a single sport, the latter scenario may pose greater danger for the player. Having a child play in numerous leagues in order to specialize their talents often leads to physical harm. Using the same muscles over and over again without varied activity can introduce problems with the child's growth platelets. This kind of damage can persist into long term health issues.

  Consider a twelve year-old youth baseball player who is involved in two leagues and is a pitcher. Suppose the pitch count slips away from an attentive coach or parent, or the coach sneaks in a few extra innings for a game that the team needs to win. If this realistic scenario repeats itself enough, the perfect formula is created for serious arm injury. It is not difficult for parents to overlook this outcome when they are blinded by their personal motivations. Perhaps the parent is looking to vicariously relive their childhood. Hopes of a college scholarship seven years down the road could also drive a parent down this dangerous path. Some youth players are not only involved in multiple youth leagues but in some cases talented ones also play for their school team. I have seen how middle school coaches are oblivious to anything their player does outside of school. If a talented player pitched on a Sunday in one youth baseball league and then in another league he relieves on Monday, like the previous scenario, I have seen coaches start the same pitcher on Tuesday for their school team without any regard to how much he has pitched the previous days. And some parents either don’t think much about it or are too afraid to rock the boat with the all important school team. This is really playing with fire when the number of pitches must be coordinated amongst all the leagues. I really believe the onus falls mostly on the parents. This is because they should know exactly how many games, innings, and pitches their son throws each and every day. Besides all the studies that reinforce this, there is an epidemic of physical and mental over usage, parents have to use common sense.

  I have also heard stories that some parents opt for “Tommy John” surgery when it is not needed and try to get doctors to agree to do it. This type of surgery is named after the former major league pitcher with the same name. It is a surgical procedure in which a ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with a tendon from another part in the body (usually the forearm, hamstring, hip, knee, or foot).The ridiculous thought pattern here is to try to increase the velocity of their son’s fastball by a few miles an hour, which happens in some but not all of the Tommy John type surgery. When I first heard that some parents would put their kids through this, I almost dropped. And to think that there are doctors willing to do this is also sickening. Hopefully no one in the medical profession would dare operate on a healthy young adult in order to help secure either a scholarship or a major league contract.

  With all these organized teams, we are also taking away from what I like to call the all important “Imagination time” for kids. When I coaches I encouraged my players with creative drills. If they made suggestions to make a drill better I not only tried it but used one or two in my video The 59 Minute Baseball Practice. Playing in the backyard and making up over-the-top fun games seems to be losing its luster as of late. I know myself, my favorite time as a kid playing sports was when my friends and I were able to be creative without any restrictions. Those days seem to be fading. So what is the correct formula? Unfortunately, there is no single answer to this question. All kids are different and some are more physically resilient than others. Parents need to prioritize their children's physical and mental well-being over their own emotional and monetary incentives. A lifestyle that emphasizes a balance between school, extracurricular, and free time, is probably the best thing for all kids in the long run. And if you, as parents, or your kids, who participate in youth sports leagues always seem tired, maybe this is an indicator to slow down. Remember, kids also need some free time away from organized sports to be creative in their backyards or the schoolyard. The burnout factor is something parents and communities need to pay attention to. Competition is great, but the overindulgence might be doing more harm than good.

Marty Schupak has coached youth sports for 25 years. He has written 11 books and produced 26 sports instructional videos. His is the founder of T-Ball America. 

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  If you like this article, you may also like:

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Saturday, December 10, 2022

T-Ball Practice Template #8: Marty runs trough another stimulating practice with valuable tips! The concept to separate skills as well as the two biggest fears to overcome in tee ball are discussed. Go to:



Thursday, December 8, 2022

Who Really Invented Baseball?

 

When I sat down to write this article I couldn’t help but remember a movie I saw a few years back called Flash Of Genius. It is a story of a man who had invented a form of the Intermittent Windshield Wiper that is used today. The short of it is that he spent his entire life fighting Ford Motor Company trying to get credit for his invention. It was David vs. Goliath in public relations and in available capital. The movie was excellent and it shows how individuals and corporate entities want to take credit for things, whether it is for monetary gains or for pride.

  A number of years ago I went with my son to Cooperstown, NY to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was in the middle of February and we figured it would not be too crowded, which we were right about. Unlike many kids, I never got a chance to go there as a youngster, even though I have been a lifelong New Yorker and baseball fan. When there, I had thought I was in baseball heaven and regretted not going when I was 10, 11, or 12. I had the time of my life and being there with my son made the trip all the more special. Having a love of history and baseball, I read in detail how Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839 in Cooperstown. This was supposedly confirmed by something called the “Mills Commission” put together in 1905 by Albert Spalding. This was supposed to verify the origin of baseball, which is questioned at another part of the Hall of Fame museum.

  A few years later, my oldest son had gone to Hoboken, New Jersey for a business meeting. He told me about four plaques there that are supposed to represent where the four bases stood for the first organized game of baseball. I was intrigued. The first free afternoon I had time, I took the 45 minute car ride from my house to Hoboken. Sure enough at the corners of Eleventh Street and Washington Street were the four plaques. I must have gone from corner to corner five or six times reading and rereading each of the four plaques. It is here that Alexander Cartwright wrote the first published rules of baseball. On June 3, 1953 Congress credited Alexander Cartwright with being the inventor of the game of baseball.

  History tells us with bits and pieces from articles and the such that baseball may really have been started decades and even centuries before the 1900s. Many historians maintain that baseball developed from the English. Games with names like Rounders, Cricket, Goal Ball, and Stoolball all have bits and pieces of the game of baseball.

  A hand written diary which was authenticated from Surrey, England mentions: “After dinner, went to Miss Jeale's to play at base ball with her the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr.Chandler, Mr. Ford and H. Parsons. Drank tea and stayed til 8.”This diary has been verified by the National baseball Hall of Fame.

  So if you are as confused as me, don’t worry. Let me explore a few facts, and maybe I can make it clearer. One thing is certain, there is no clear inventor of the game of baseball. I believe that baseball evolved from a combination of English games as it is stated in places. The game Rounders is popular among English and Irish children. It involves rounding a circuit of four bases after hitting a small ball. If you ever go by an inner city park on a weekend you may run into a game of Cricket. This game is made up of two teams of eleven players. Each team takes its turn at bat and in the field. Stoolball is similar to Cricket except that in Cricket, the ball reaches the batter on one bounce. In Stoolball the ball reaches the batter on the fly. This is very similar to our modern day baseball pitcher, although the distance between the player throwing the ball and the player hitting it differ.

  There are more games such as Goal Ball and even one called Base Ball. From the ones mentioned it is quite apparent that American Baseball took parts of each game. I theorize that this is how the game evolved. Finally, men such as Henry Chadwick were astute enough to develop rules that were able to excite Americans to start playing and follow the game. Baseball evolved to gain such popularity in America that many in the country were dedicated to naming it an American game at all costs. It eventually became a matter of pride to convince all that baseball had only American roots, which is obviously not true.

  Historians who are constantly pressing to give America credit for the game of baseball are making a mistake. It’s origins must be shared. The game of today has evolved and is still evolving. Look how we now have instant replay in baseball. Isn’t this part of the continuing evolution of baseball? Who would have thought that in Hoboken or in Cooperstown in the 1800s that we would do this today? Or that baseball is a multi billion dollar business?         

  There is no doubt that America perfected and popularized the game of baseball. This is where the American pride should come into play. And one thing is certain about the development of baseball, the player, Henry Chadwick who played for Cartwight’s Knickerbockers, did in fact help develop and write a lot of the rules of the game. He was prominent with numbers and statistics and is credited with establishing the distance between bases to be 90 feet as well as using the abbreviated “K” to signify a strikeout and is said to have written the first baseball guide.

  I can’t help but remember the line at the end of the classic western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”This great movie line can be equated with many things. With baseball it also holds true. Baseball has always had a lot of debates and theories. The discovery of this great game is still debated.

Marty Schupak has coached youth sports for 25 years. He has written 11 books and produced 26 sports instructional videos. His is the founder of T-Ball America. 

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Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Hitting Techniques Simplified

 

 One thing I learned in my 25 years coaching youth baseball is that there is no perfect way to coach hitters. I never considered myself an expert at teaching young 7-12 year-old ball players the most refined hitting techniques. The most success I’ve had with improving hitters’ techniques is when I didn’t over coach them. And I’m aware that many parents take their kids to private hitting instruction every week.

  I’ve attended my share of baseball conventions and hitting clinics. Sometimes I came away more confused than when I went in. The hitting coaches I enjoy the most are the ones that simplify not just the hitting technique itself, but the explanation so young players will understand it. Most of the speakers at these clinics have incredible knowledge about hitting, but I believe many should work on targeting their lessons to younger players. The best speaker I ever saw was Bobby Woods because I could understand everything he said. Bobby later helped me produce a hitting video Hitting Drills & Techniques that has been viewed by a large audience. As far as what I see in hitting I’d like to share the five biggest mistakes I see young players make year in and year out and what I do to correct them.

  Mistake #1 is a batter stepping towards third base with his front foot. For lefty hitters it would be stepping toward first. For young players, this might be the most common hitting mistake I see. Instead of stepping toward the pitcher or even just lifting the front foot and putting it down, many players step toward third.This can also throw off the whole rhythm of the player’s swing and also reduce the amount of power the player can put into the swing. If the batter does make contact and hits the ball fair, the ball usually is a grounder to the right side of the infield. This hitting flaw is easy to recognize. To correct it can take time. What I do is take two pieces of 2x4 wood, each about 36” long. Putting them on each side of the player’s feet during batting practice will force his front foot from stepping to the side. Very rarely do players actually step into the wood while batting. Coaches should have the batter practice stepping without even swinging for a few pitches. One session alone will usually not solve the problem, but over a period of time this can work more often than not with most young players. You can also use two bats, but I prefer wood because the bats can roll.

  Mistake #2 is when the batter takes too big a step forward toward the pitcher. Many hitting coaches teach that batters need to limit excessive movement of the head. Some hitting coaches are even teaching their hitters that they do not have to step forward as long as they lift their front foot up and put it down when transferring their weight. When a player takes an extra big step, his head can drop a good 4-6” or more. Plus, stepping too far forward can limit the batter’s hip rotation and power. To help curb this, I will take a flat piece of wood, like a piece of ¼” plywood 4”x 36” long. This would have to be cut to size. I put it about 6-8” in front of the player’s front foot. He has to avoid stepping on it. Again, the coach or parent must give the player numerous repetitions to reinforce the muscle memory of the act.

  Mistake #3 is when players lift their head too soon. Everyone who ever hit a baseball or a softball wants to see the result of their effort. At the youth level, batters will sometimes move their heads prematurely, losing sight of the pitched ball. This is almost equivalent to a batter closing his eyes and trying to hit the ball.

  Young players tend to do the same thing when hitting off a batting tee. First, I have the player hit off the batting tee, and he must yell “hit” upon contact. This forces them to focus more and they will tend to keep their head and eye on the ball. The second technique is to color code a few balls. I usually use blue and yellow painter’s tape on some,, and keep some unmarked. We have blue, yellow, and white balls. Do not over mark the balls with the tape. One small slice about two inches on each side is sufficient. A coach will throw the balls and the batter must track or follow the baseball into the catcher’s glove. He will then call out the color of the pitched balls once he recognizes the tape on it. The next step in this drill is to have the batter hit and yell out the color after swinging and making contact. I’ve had pretty good results with these two drills.

  Mistake #4 is when a player stops his swing. I can’t tell you how many young players I’ve seen who have a tendency to not swing through the baseball. This happens when a player makes contact with the ball. His swing all of a sudden slows down. We all know the importance of the follow through. Again, the batting tee has given me the best results. I stand next to the hitter and just tell him to swing through the ball. This is a process that can take a while. Having the batter take numerous practice swings is also a good idea.

 

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  Mistake #5 is the upper cut. To help solve this, I use the “Chair Drill.” I set up a batting tee with a chair just behind it. When the batter swings, the bat must go past the highest part of the chair first. When swinging and trying to hit the ball off the tee, the batter must avoid hitting the back of the chair.

  I like to use the term swinging “high to low.” The player understands this and knows what he has to do in this drill. In batting practice, I also ask my players to try hitting only grounders without chopping down on the baseball. This also helps solve the upper cut issue.

  For these remedies to work, repetition is the key. With young players, keep it simple. My own “Hitting 101” lesson is the soft toss drill 6-10 feet from a fence or a wall with rag balls (rags wrapped in masking tape). I then tell the hitter he must try to hit the ball so it lands at eye level or lower. I have no scientific proof, but when the hitter does hit the ball at eye level or lower, it seems the batter is doing more things correct than not.

  Here’s another hint, make sure your players have had an eye test within the last 12 months. Twice in my coaching career glasses and contacts took an average hitter and made him an All-Star. One of these players ended up playing college baseball.

  Hitting instructors are incredibly knowledgeable. They must convey their theories so both the hitter and the layman coach, like me, can understand the common nuances of this great skill. We all have to keep it simple and supplement all instruction with relevant hitting drills.

Marty Schupak has coached youth sports for 25 years. He has written 11 books and produced 26 sports instructional videos. His is the founder of T-Ball America. 

www.TBallAmerica.com

 

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Friday, December 2, 2022

Five More Things Coaches Should Practice But Don’t

   In my first Baseball Chronicles book, one of my most popular articles in terms of feedback was “FourThings Coaches Should Practice But Don’t.”

  The four things I mentioned were: Pitchers not practicing fielding from the mound, catching a foul ball near a fence, players not sliding, and practicing fielding wild pitches or passed balls. Reading some of the feedback I got, many of the readers were a little misconstrued about my point. There must be hundreds of things coaches should practice, but don’t. I just picked four of them that I see coming up year after year. So keeping with the spirit of practicing rather than just telling your players, here are five more things that come up over and over again that most coaches do not practice or go over.

   1. Calling Timeout

About once every couple of years I witness a runner sliding into second, and he either gets up without calling time out or calls time out and is not acknowledged by the umpire. A smart infielder will keep his glove on the baserunner as he gets up from his slide. The umpire will call the runner out if he slips off the base or thinks he has time called. We have to teach our young players that calling time out in organized sports is a lot different from calling a timeout in one’s own backyard. Coaches should practice having their players slide into a base, then call “time out” with the coach playing umpire. The coach should purposely not acknowledge the time outright away, keeping the baserunner on the ground.  Each and every player should go through this at least once. It is the same situation when the batter asks for time. Coaches should also practice this, teaching players not to step out of the batter’s box until the umpire gives them time.

  2. Rundowns With Too Many Throws

I’m obsessed with this. We practice rundowns almost once a week. Many youth baseball coaches teach to run the runner back to the base they came from. I take the proactive approach that rundowns are a gift to the defensive team and you have to come away with the out. The ideal number of throws is none. And after that, I teach my players that the ball should not be thrown more than once. I use the term“sprint mode” and teach my players once you get the runner into this sprint mode, it is hard for him to stop and change directions and that is when we take our one and only throw. This has to be practiced.


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  3. Baserunners Stopping At First

We see it all the time. A player will hit a slow grounder and run to first base only to stop right at the base like the base is a wall, thus slowing himself up and being called out. If he ran through the base he would have beaten it out for a base hit. We tell our team to run through first base. How many of us take time to practice this? This is one of the easiest things to do. When you practice this, it will stick in the player’s head. Set up a cone ten feet past first base and have your team get in one line at home plate. On the “go” command they run one at a time and sprint past the base after stepping on it up to the cone. Simple, but it works, and must be practiced even with your best baserunners.

  4. Covering First On Grounder To Right Side

This is another one of my obsessions. Often times in youth baseball the pitcher stays frozen on the mound when the ball is hit to the right side of the infield. This can give managers gray hairs during the course of the day. We practice this, giving each pitcher a chance from the mound. He simulates a pitch. I will throw a grounder between the first and second baseman. The pitcher has to run off the mound to cover first. A key here is to make sure the pitcher hits the first base line about 6-10 feet before the base and then turn up toward the base. Whoever fields the baseball must lead the pitcher with the baseball. This should be practiced with a baserunner to simulate game conditions.

  5. Bunting At High Pitches

Every player who plays for me in our league knows that we bunt a lot. Each and every player must become proficient bunters during the course of the season. We even practice bunting with two strikes, a strategy most baseball purists will frown upon. We are always changing our bunt signs to make sure the opponents are not picking up on them. Even with all this practicing, it drives me nuts when a player is given the bunt sign, and then offers at the next pitch above his shoulders. The batter is putting himself in the hole with one strike on a ball outside of the strike zone, and the other team now knows we are bunting. Coaches must tell these young ball players that when they are given the bunt sign, it does not mean they have to bunt at all costs. We want them to bunt at balls in the strike zone. This must be explained to the players and practiced. We practice bunting a lot in batting practice, and whichever coach is throwing, I tell them to throw some balls out of the strike zone. We are practicing having my players recognize bunt-able balls and pulling their bats back if the ball is out of the strike zone. Coaches need to practice this.

  I mentioned in my first Baseball Chronicles that practices are the place to teach and games are the place to reinforce what is taught. I don’t know of any other formula that is the most effective to the majority of young baseball players. Even with practicing, many of these mistakes come up again and again. We have to keep reminding ourselves that these players are still kids, twelve years old and under.

Marty Schupak has coached youth sports for 25 years. He has written 11 books and produced 26 sports instructional videos. His is the founder of T-Ball America. 

www.TBallAmerica.com


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                         44 Baseball Mistakes and Corrections



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If you likes this article, you may also like:

Four Things Coaches Should Practice

Practicing When No Field Is Available

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Baseball & Softball Hitting Techniques

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Baseball Gloves: Breaking In New Ones!

 “The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?”

           Ray Liotta aÈ™ Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams

 

   Some major league baseball players have used the same gloves for years. This, despite having lucrative contracts with glove companies that provide freebies every year. Former major leaguer Adam Everett used the same baseball glove for six years. Shortstop Jordy Mercer used the same glove for ten years. Chet Lemon used the same glove for sixteen years. If you love baseball, you don’t have to play in the major leagues to know the relationship one can develop with their own glove. For many it is an extension of the human body. If you ever misplaced your cell phone and experienced those few seconds of panic, baseball players go through the same thing if their glove is misplaced for a short time.

                


                             

  Buying your son or daughter’s first glove can be the beginning of an emotional bond for some. I remember my dad, who knew nothing about baseball, bought my first glove from a neighboring wholesale sporting goods business in the Bronx. It didn’t matter to me if it was the right size or if the quality was not great. I just wanted to have my own glove. Today there are a lot more baseball glove manufacturers than when I was a kid. 

  Before I get into the nuances of breaking in a new baseball glove, let me say that after that first glove my dad bought, my next two were easy. Being a leftie living in a sports minded neighborhood, with only one other leftie, I was able to inherit the gloves that neighbor Peter, the older leftie up the street didn’t want when his dad bought his new mitt. So before you go out and purchase that Rawlings Heart of the Hide R2G $300. glove, check with some of your neighbors. Chances are their grown up kids are out of the house and they might have old broken in gloves lying around. In fact, with the price of sporting goods in general, I have always advised young families who are just getting started in youth sports to check with their neighbors who may want to part with some old equipment. If you knock on some doors, there is a great chance if the mother of the house answers and you explain what you want, she will lay down the red carpet and take you into her garage and tell you to help yourself. You may get a line like “I’ve been after my kids to go through their stuff for years, now you just did the job for them.” 

  When you do purchase a glove, there are some things that you need to know about breaking them in. The first thing I will tell you is you must adhere to the directions of breaking in the glove instructions put out by that company. If Rawlings recommends you putting hot water on your glove but you purchased a glove by Wilson, don’t do it. Get a hold of the directions that Wilson has put out and if they recommend hot water than it’s okay but follow their directions. Remember you don’t want to fill up a car that takes diesel fuel with regular gasoline.

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  A new glove will be stiff. I can tell you 100 ways to break it in. First and foremost on top of the list-have a catch with the new glove. As stiff as it will be, and with all the balls dropped at the beginning, you will at least begin to get used to it and start having a comfort spot as to the exact spot in the glove you want the baseball to land. I always thought it a little strange that these companies advise us how to break in a glove with an emphasis on where you actually catch the ball in the glove before you even have a catch with the new glove on. As you continue to play catch over and over again, the leather will stretch and actually begin to kind of mold to fit your hand. You want to have a natural feeling with the glove and you want it to feel like it is an extension of your arm. Play ball with mom or dad or your older brother and sister until you get called you in for dinner.

  After you purchase your new glove, if there is a salesperson taking care of you, they might recommend that they steam the glove for you or they will try to sell you some oil for the glove insisting that this is a must and their product has Lanolin Oil which all good glove oils should have. This oil is good for most gloves and you’ll see that each company has their own brand. So if you buy a Rawlings glove they have a Rawlings Glove Oil which they call Glovolium. Wilson’s is called Wilson Pro-Stock Glove Conditioner. And even glove manufacturer Mizuno has their own Mizuno Strong Oil. You can purchase the oil but before you do I’d take it home and do a few things first. Why spend the money if you don’t need it? But if you do purchase the oil and apply it to your glove, make sure you never put it directly on the glove. The technique is to put a little on a rag and spread it over the glove as evenly as you can. If applied directly on the glove, it can leave stain marks. 

 When you are purchasing gloves for your son and daughter, don’t do what I used to do. I was under the impression the glove has to get bigger every couple of years. I was wrong. In fact when I was at a baseball game years ago in Yankee Stadium, the person I was with knew some of the players. Before the game they came over to our seats and when the second baseman came over, I was amazed that his glove was not much bigger than the out line of his hand. Chose the size of the glove wisely and don’t go for the largest glove thinking the player has a better chance of making a play. Control and feel are the biggest glove factors when making a play.

  I have to address the catcher’s glove which is a kind of different type of animal. Coaching in my local recreational Little League for over 25-years, I convinced my league to purchase a new catcher’s glove for each team every year. The new glove would be the practice glove and the one from the year before would be the game glove. This worked great because the new glove got a lot of repetitions with pitchers throwing to other players or coaches in practice.

When you do this, you may miss out with the same catcher’s glove for the same player, but I have found even on the recreational level, the players who are serious about catching will purchase their own equipment especially the catchers glove.

 

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  Now some “do’s and don'ts for your new glove or your kid’s new glove:

                                 

  Do’s

  1. The best way to break in a glove is with repetitions.
  2. Check your neighborhood first for a used glove.
  3. Be consistent with the brand of glove and the directions they offer.
  4. You can store a ball in the pocket of the glove overnight. I recommend using an 11” softball wrapped with a belt or rope around the glove.
  5. Stretch the finger part of the glove every which way by hand. In fact if you can turn it inside out, stretch the fingers again.
  6. If you use glove oil spread with a rag.
  7. You can use a glove mallet to pound it on a soft surface.
  8. Don’t just put a name on it somewhere with a permanent marker but put a phone number. The phone number is more important.

                                                 Dont’s

  1. Don’t run over it with a truck or car. You can cause serious abrasive damage
  2. Don’t bake or microwave it. This can destroy the lacing.
  3. Don’t get gloves too big. Control and feel is the key to using a glove.
  4. Don’t over treat with glove oil.
  5. Don’t overexpose your glove to heat. It loosens the leather short term but you want the fibers to mold around your hand and that takes time.

 

  As I stated before best takeaway is to play catch over and over again. The one thing I want coaches and parents to grasp it that an expensive perfectly broken in glove does not mean the ball will automatically pop into it. The player has got to move their feet to make the glove work. Too many players think because “I’m wearing an expensive glove, the ball will go into it.” Life doesn’t work like that. A good broken in glove is only part of becoming a good ball player. 

  If you buy a new glove, take care of it as you would a pet and never forget where you leave it! A great glove is part of your body!


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