What it takes to “get to the next level”

Across all of the age groups and teams, the most common question I get asked is, “what do I need to do to get better?”.  For each player, the specifics are a little different, but the high level answer is the same… you have to put in approx. 2 hours outside of practice working on skills for every hour of team practice, on a weekly basis.  I actually cribbed this rule-of-thumb from my freshman orientation at college back all the way back in the Fall of 1991.  The advisors told us that we if we wanted to do well in each class, we needed to block out about 2 hours outside of class for every hour we spend in class (or should have been in class, in my case).

Last Fall, we had a pitcher that fell well short of our 50% strike threshold early in the season, and she was probably around our 4th best pitcher in the age group at the time.  So, we had to chat early in the season about her not being ready to take on a significant number of innings.  Of course, this isn’t the kind of status update that anyone wants to hear, and it isn’t enjoyable for me to share.  However, this player accepted the feedback and her parents were pretty much in agreement with my assessment.  The takeaway for the player was to work hard, use her opportunities to pitch in practice to show improvement, and that she would get additional pitching work as her performance improved.
 
I try not to micromanage any of the players, regardless of age, so I hadn’t been tracking the activities of this player outside of our team practices.  As I recall, the initial conversation I had with this pitcher and her parents was in mid to late August.  At the Spooktacular Tournament last October, this pitcher almost single-handedly won the team’s first pool game … I couldn’t believe how well this young lady pitched!  And, then to prove it wasn’t a fluke, she came back and turned in another amazing pitching performance in the 3rd pool game!  I was not only pleased, but I was amazed.  Only once before have I seen a player make such dramatic progress within a given season.
 
After the tournament, I spent some time talking with the parents, as I wanted to find out what “magic formula” they used to get this pitcher from “walking in 5 runs per inning” to “striking out the side”.  As we went through the details of what she had been doing each week, we mapped out the time she spent on these weekly activities.  Of her on volition, this player was consistently working 4 to 5 hours each week … and she was the one driving the activity.  Of course, Mom and Dad were supportive, but the player is the one who “owned” the schedule … she was twisting her parents’ arms to get in the work, not the other way around.

I only share this example becasuse I think it shows that the “magic formula” is simple conceptually … if you want to get better, you have to be doing the drills and exercises that will help you improve, and you have to get in enough quality reps each week.  The drills may vary, as will the number of reps per drill, but the overall effort required is the same … you need to be putting in twice as much work on your own as you do with the weekly team activities.