Fun in Practice – No Way

I recently heard a fellow coach state, “Fun in practice is not allowed.” Man is that wrong. As a coach for almost 30 years I have seen a lot of athletes participate in sports. Every athlete comes to practice to learn skills, participate, compete, develop fitness, and I think most all to have fun. What can we do as coaches to make our athletes have fun and of course win?

It all starts within your practice. Just like our bodies get accustom to our workouts, the athletes get accustom to our practices. As coaches we need to make change in our practice sessions. Why because doing the same drill every day becomes boring. This in turn makes playing a team sport boring and dreadful. Yes, a repetition is the key to getting better, but we can do this by changing the drills.

How do we accomplish this? First, we all should be planning out our practices. That means get a variety of drills. There are different drills that teach the same skill. These drills are out there. You don’t have to recreate the wheel. Search and you shall find them. That means we have to prepare to make it fun for our athletes.

By doing this we might just be motivating our athletes to come to practice. This makes the players come to practice not knowing what to expect and motivates them to come to practice eager to practice. If they are eager they will work hard. When they work hard they practice at game time intensity.

Yes expect mistakes in practice. That is what practice is for. Create a positive atmosphere. I can tell you if the player knows that they will not be punished for every little mistake they then will work harder and be more aggressive. Your players should not be afraid to make mistakes.

Help them to understand that we all make mistakes and these types of people are trying very hard and who care about becoming a better athlete. The greatest athletes in every sport make mistakes. If your team is having fun and are getting better in the process, chances are good that you will be having fun too. Do your coaching in practice.As the great Coach John Wooden said, “The way you practice is the way you play.” Let them have fun in practice and they will have fun in the game!

Savannah Area Prep Baseball Poll 2009

I thought it might be time to come up with a Savannah Area Prep Baseball Poll for the 2009 season after yesterday's game between Savannah Christian and Calvary. These two teams have common opponents and have had success against them. So, I wanted to see how others felt about who is the top team in the area. Here is my ranking. The records are the team's overall record followed by their region record.

1. Effingham County 9-0 2-0
2. South Effingham 10-1 3-0
3. HV Jenkins 10-1 3-0
4. Savannah Christian 9-3 6-0
5. Calvary Day 10-3 5-1
6. Richmond Hill 9-4 3-1
7. Groves 6-4 2-2

Let me know what you think.

What’s the difference between a Strain and Sprain?

We hear these terms, strain and sprain, but many parents and athletes don’t quite know what they mean. These terms should not scare you. Both terms mean an injury, specifically a tear, to a part of the body. If there is pain, its means get treatment.
A strain refers to an injury to a muscle or tendon, where a sprain refers to an injury to a ligament. Other terms you are likely to hear are: pulled (a muscle), tore, rolled (an ankle), and "tweaked". All these terms mean the same thing-an injury has occurred.
Strains and sprains are classified into three categories, Level 1 is mild, Level 2 is moderate, and Level 3 is severe. Most strains and sprains are mild injuries that can be treated at home and by an athletic trainer. Moderate strains/sprains should be referred to a physician with severe injuries definitely requiring immediate treatment by a physician as soon as possible. All levels will require some type of rehabilitation and treatment before returning to activity. Most of this can be done by the athletic trainer at the school or institution.
The best way to treat these injuries is to apply ice for the first two days with rest or decreased activity. Slow progression back to activity is best with ice applied after every work out. Remember if there is pain there is an injury. How serve the injury needs to be diagnosed by a professional.

Successful On an Off the Field Of Play

I am a firm believer that sports promote positive growth in our students. When students are active in sports they learn some of life's valuable lessons. Some of these lessons are commitment, dedication, hard work, communication skills, social skills, and, sportsmanship. Doing research on growth and sports on the internet I came across this segment of an article. I feel that this only gives us more reason to get our youth involved more in extra curricular activities. The following is reprinted from the article on excite.com.
Research indicates that the participation in sports can promote healthy development in young children. Being active in youth sports can help build a foundation for cooperative play, teamwork, and good sportsmanship while helping to refine gross motor skills in children’s rapidly developing bodies. According to an article published by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), “sports help children develop physical skills, get exercise, make friends, have fun, learn to play as a member of a team, learn to play fair, and improve self-esteem.”
Studies have also examined how sports contribute to the development of social competence—the ability to get along with and be accepted by peers, family members, teachers, and coaches; and, self-esteem—the extent to which an individual believes him/herself to be capable, significant, successful, and worthy (Ewing, 1997).
According to the findings, children learn to assess their social competence in sports through the feedback received from parents and coaches (Ewing, 1997). Self-esteem, however, is developed through the evaluation of one’s own abilities as well as an assessment of the responses received from others.
Since our children watch our responses, and those of their coaches, for signs of approval or disproval of their behavior, it is critical that we offer as much positive feedback as possible. So keep your students involved, make the experience a positive situation and it could just make them more successful on and off the field of play.

WARM-UP AND STRETCHING

Whether you are a weekend warrior or a highly skilled athlete warm-up and stretching should be a part of your workout routine. A good warm-up and stretching routine can have several benefits for the athletes that include:

Reduced chance of injuries to muscles, joints, and tendons
Reduce muscle soreness
Reduce muscle tension
Enhance physical fitness

The warm-up is done to increase the body core temperature prior to stretching. It is not a good idea to stretch without raising your body temperature. Doing some light jogging, jumping rope, etc. for about five minutes can do this. Once you have done your warm-up it is time to stretch.
The best way to stretch is stretch all the major muscle groups. Some sports and activities don’t require use of all the major muscle groups but it is a good idea to get in the habit of stretching all the major muscle groups. Start with the neck and work your down to the shoulders and upper body.
After stretching the upper body work on the lower body, which should include the hamstrings, quadriceps, groins, and calves. After doing all of these stretches you should be ready to into your sport or activity, whether a weekend warrior or a highly skilled athlete.

Virtual World

Virtual World

By Joe Winburn, MEd, ATC/L

St. Joseph’s/Candler Manager of Sports Medicine

The virtual world is upon us, but the question is how does it affect the children of the today’s society? It is expanded to cover everything from chat rooms to games to exercise. Is this the way we finally get the kids who send hours a day or week on the computer off the couch and exercising by designing a interactive game that is also a form of exercise? One of the big games out there is Dance Dance Revolution where you follow the steps on the screen; supposedly it is a lot of fun and gives you quite the workout. Others are: tennis, bowling and boxing (MoCap Boxing) interactive games. Play Station and Xbox also have their own version of exercise interactive games. Researchers at the University of Southern California have been studying the effects of the virtual world on today’s generation and states that virtual games like Club Penguin and Webkinz have become more popular with 6- to -14 year olds in the last two years then many other games. They state that the memberships to these sites are in the ten of millions.

How far will the world of virtual reality go? So far in a positive light it is being used in a children’s hospital in Ohio to distract burn victims while they receive treatments. Educational arena uses role playing and interactive scenarios to teach kids about difficult subjects such as ethics. Other aspects the virtual world has expanded to is opening kids gyms for ages 13-18 such as Overtime, these new futurist gyms offer virtual reality games to improve teens fitness levels. The gym is playing on the teen’s love of technology and video games. They offer workouts such as the Dance Dance Revolution to virtual reality bikes that makes you feel as if you are a rider that is racing around an apple orchard.

Is this the wave of the future? Gone are the days of running outside as soon as you get up to play with your friends, going out for a bike ride or playing sports with others as a team or one on one basis. Let’s get back to old schooling of being with others and having fun while exercising and playing sports with your best friend. Here is a thought: man verses man or man verses the computer, which one is in your future?