Live ABs In Practice
I remember heading down to the Shulte during the cold winter months for practice. It was Lincoln, Nebraska- we HAD to be inside. There were certain days I remember walking there with more excitement, more anticipation. Those days were "LIVE" days. We'd be facing our pitchers head on in a cage. The coaches would give us scenarios and counts to work on; give us anything they could in order to forget that we were in a cage, inside, and against our teammates. They wanted us to compete. I had the privilege of facing not one, but two NCAA All-American pitchers on a weekly basis and because of them, I got better. They challenged me, beat me, then shared with me what they saw when they were pitching. I can't think of a faster way to learn your strengths and weaknesses than having your opponent tell you. On LIVE days, our pitchers were our opponents, but on game day we were a force.
In the past year, I've been working with club coaches more and more, and there seems to be a theme when it comes to LIVE hitting; "we don't want our pitchers throwing to our hitters in practice because someone might get hurt."
Yes its true. Someone may get hurt. One of my teammates was hit in the forehead with a pitch on a live day and had to get stitches. She was practicing less than 2 weeks later. In 4 years, and thousands of pitches later, that was the only serious injury that occurred on a LIVE day at Nebraska. Many times, we'll preach to our players, how they can't play the game scared. My challenge to coaches, is don't coach scared. Live at bats are one of the best ways to truly prepare hitters AND pitchers. Coach Hutchins at Michigan, Rhonda Revelle at Nebraska, and countless other collegiate coaches "risk" putting their players in live situations in order to prepare them for battle. Keep in mind, these programs have invested a lot of time, money, and resources into these athletes, so it's fair to say, their "risk" factor is high. If the goal is to help develop players both physically and mentally, than putting them in game situations is essential for development.
Now imagine you're an 18 year old getting to play in college. The first week of practice coach has you go head to head against teammates to see where everyone's at. You happened to play for a club coach who feared live at-bats in practice settings. Would you feel prepared? Would you feel comfortable facing the 22 year old senior on the mound for your 1st unofficial college at bat? If we are committed to preparing young athletes to reach their potential, give them every opportunity by putting them in game-like situations so they're truly ready on GAME DAY.
For more information on implementing Live Drills contact: nicolejtrimboli@gmail.com
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