Baseball in February
Tournaments | High School
The cold, the wind, the rain. February baseball needs to deal with all three and baseball families and players make adjustments.
This President's Day weekend all three (cold, wind & rain) came in strong Friday night and shut down baseball in the 972 area code, leaving families and players indoors, dry & warm.
Question: Is playing baseball in February just a waste of time in North Texas?
Playing baseball in February is like stealing base second base. Stealing second base? For a team/player that knows how to steal bases - the odds are good that they will steal second and be in scoring position. For a team/player that does not know how to steal bases - you will give a defense an out and possibly put your batter in a whole.
Playing baseball in February all depends on the experience of your team; families, players and coaches.
Experienced Team: An experienced team will leverage indoor workouts for more than just hitting - know how to use small fields for situations and positioning, build muscle memory for skills and drills, and slowly get their pitchers arms in shape. An experienced team - adjusts to weather; knows that it is okay to cancel practice if the weather doesn't cooperate, knows to add a practice to take advantage good weather, has a flexible practice plan, and discusses situations to train the baseball mind. The weather never frustrates or worries this team.
In-Experienced Team: An in-experienced team will force workouts indoors and is compelled to 'keep up with the Jones'. This team will only use the indoor workouts for hitting - maybe pitching - but never realizes that they could be training the baseball mind. This team never cancels practice and doesn't ad-hoc schedule practices to adjust to weather changes. This team is often frustrated and worries that their players are 'getting behind'.
Final Thoughts: Baseball in February is not a waste of time, just like stealing second base. Teams just need to know how to leverage indoor workouts, have confidence that 'one practice' is not going to make-or-break a season and prepare their families for cancellations and adjustments. Keeping February workouts lite, focused on fundamentals and developing baseball thinking should be the focus in February baseball.
So this President's Day 2012 weekend, I sit - indoors, dry and warm. Tournaments, games, scrimmages and practices cancelled - it's okay to take a day off. Enjoy your day today, enjoy your weekend off - because as you know - when March comes around it's "Madness!!"
