Anticipate the play instead of waiting for the coach
When a runner waits for his coach to tell him what to do, he loses a step he doesn't have. I want players who anticipate the play and make the decision on their own.
You smack a base hit to right. As you approach first, the ball gets by the right fielder, and you take a short round and stop.
“GO! GO! GO!” your coach yells.
The right fielder recovers, and you’re out at second by a step. The problem wasn’t the decision to send you. The problem was that you weren’t anticipating being sent — you didn’t move until someone told you to.
I call it the three A’s: Anticipation, aggressiveness and autonomy. Anticipation means you see the right move as the play develops. Aggressiveness means you act on it with confidence, without hesitation. And autonomy means you made the decision on your own, without waiting for instruction from a coach.
Here’s another example. Runners on first and second, a base hit goes to right, and the third base coach is waving the lead runner home. The trail runner stops at second.
Why did he stop? Because he was waiting for instruction that he didn’t get. If there’s a close play at the plate, the defense isn’t paying any attention to him (particularly on a ball to right). And if the run scores easily, he should have had plenty of time to reach third.
My 11 and 12-year-old Spiders were still learning this. How do you get your players to anticipate instead of waiting to be told?
Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.
“Standing on second base isn't an option.”
I wrote the long version of this when I coached the Spiders: The Importance of Anticipation, Aggressiveness, and Autonomy on SpidersElite.
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