Colorado Legion Baseball

Take a poll of high school coaches and ask them what is the most important thing a young player can do to make them a success at a high school or college level? The majority of the answers would be FUNDAMENTALS!!!

If you were building a home and you skimped on the foundation, what would you really have? You can build a million dollar home, but if you don’t have a good foundation underneath you really don’t have much. In baseball and softball the scenario is the same. You need to learn the proper throwing, hitting and fielding mechanics at an early age. If you are not taught the proper mechanics at 9 or 10 by the time you reach high school you have to play catch up to the players who were taught the proper fundamentals. Bad habits are very difficult to break. Many times high school coaches will overlook a player who they have to invest a lot of time into for a player that they can tweak just a few things on.

As parents of young players it is vital to try to get your child on a team that has a coaching philosophy that stresses the fundamentals. Far too often in today’s baseball and softball world, with so many travel and select coaches get caught up in how many games they can squeeze into a few month season. It’s not about how many games you get to play in a season but rather where did your youngster start at in the beginning and where are they at the end of the season. A coach that is not afraid to practice is really something to keep in mind. The game situation is not where your child learns very much. The game is moving at way to fast of a pace for them to comprehend. Practice is the only way for them to really retain what they are supposed to be doing. With the number of travel and select teams growing every year as a parent we can be selective on what type of coaching we can choose for our young athletes. If we make good choices for them early it will pay dividends later.