In this clip, Coach Corbin discusses the highs and lows of a college coach and how he has learned to stay in the middle.
This made me think…
Throughout my time coaching college baseball I have come to this same realization. Balance is the true key. This applies to every angle of coaching.
How to Lose: There is a lot of talent in college baseball. Everybody we played this year had SOMEONE tell them they were good enough to have a spot on their team. This means that everyone has talent to some degree.
There are good teams in the NCAA who got beat by bad teams and vice versa. There are teams who were supposed to be great who underachieved and teams who were supposed to be bad who overachieved. This battle alone takes preparation. It is difficult knowing you could go and lose an embarrassing game and have to find a way to deal with that.
How?
I’ve had the luxury of being on teams that won a lot and the luxury of being on two teams that lost a lot. I consider both of them a luxury because I’ve learned a lot from losing. During those two seasons it was VERY difficult to find any meaning at all. My favorite way to describe the lessons I learned from those two seasons is from this presentation:
Before my first losing season I had no idea of this “Quicksand Effect.” At the time, I thought teams who were better and physically prepared would win out. The truth is there is an emotional and/or mental element to the season.
Quicksand Effect: When you adapt to your mistakes by overcompensating, resulting in even worse mistakes.
This is a complete spiral out of control. If you have been there then you know what I am talking about; if you haven’t I hope you never know. I can remember thinking in 2013, “Well, this is rock bottom. We have to play better from here because we can’t play worse.” But it wasn’t. Rock bottom was further down.
What happens to teams that experience this effect is they need an immediate fix. The low is so low they have to get out of it NOW. You immediately bail on the process you believe in and you have convinced your players to believe in as well. You then turn to “the fix.”
“The fix” is what every arm chair quarterback in your life is telling you to try. These people were not around when you were putting in the work to get better at your craft. But they have the right answer. They are quick to tell you to yell more, yell less, practice with this style or that style, etc. Pretty much, whatever you are doing, do the opposite. You eventually succomb to the requests because you hate losing.
A week later you discover a new “rock bottom.” Now you are playing worse and have no answer and no faith in this process. If you did, you would have subscribed to this in the first place.
What is your response?
Try the third fix, then the fourth, then the fifth, only to realize you liked your orignal way much more. The original way was what you studied, poured your heart into, and preached for an entire off season. The original way helped a lot of people have success in the past. In fact, you would kill to be back at that first rock bottom. The first rock bottom was something you could have recovered from.
A few facts about baseball:
1.) Baseball is a long season.
Good coaches recognize this mindset. They set their daily goals to be attainable based on the style of team they have. Over time, this is the best way for us to win. So then the goal is set – Play the absolute best we can by the END of the year.
2.) Good teams can play poorly.
In fact, good teams can play poor for stretches of time. You have to continue to prepare for each game until they pull out of it.
3.) Good teams can play well but lose because of one or two minor details. COACHES can turn minor problems into major problems.
Here is an example… You pitch well and play great defensively. The pitcher gets in a jam late in the game and you go to the wrong reliever. You end up losing that game. At the end, coach makes a major emphasis on being better out of the pen and learning to hit. You have now given life to a problem that may not have existed prior. It could be just one poor move and just one poor offensive game. Then practice all week changes to address your problems you don’t really have. Now you have pressure that didn’t need to be added to an already difficult game all because you’re fixing things that didn’t need fixed.
So what is the answer to losing?
The Effective Loser (Rich Franklin, TED Talks)
Back to Rich Franklin’s presentation. This applies so much to a college baseball team. He states the Effective Loser has 3 traits:
1.) Selective amnesia – You take failing situations and forget all but the lessons gained from the failure.
2.) Thinking outside of the box – Making an “on the fly” adjustment without any hesitation – without ANY fear of failure.
3.) Lose with the effort of a champion – You have to take ownership in your preparation. Trust the outcome will play out in your favor.
Im adding a #4
4.) Surround yourself with people you know and trust – In life you need people who you relate to. I’m not saying “yes people.” I’m saying people who know and value your work but also can tell you when you need to get back on track. When you face trials, these are the people to lean on. You also have to be able to invest in them. This two-way relationship can prevent this quicksand effect we can ALL fall into.
Losing is not as bad as your ego is making you feel. Failing is not the worst thing, but being unproductive after failing is devastating. Coaches who take the failing as a learning tool can avoid long periods of underachievement.
How to Win:
If avoiding a losing downswing is critical then it has to be the same on the other end. Although it sounds crazy, I believe winning takes management as well.
Why would winning be hard? Complacency. There seems to be a consistent trend with teams who win a lot of becoming bored with winning. It almost becomes a challenge to get guys to remember to put in work. Players forget what got them the success they are having.
Consistent winners take care of the same details every day. It isn’t about how many games we’ve won in a row, it is about moving to the next practice, workout or game.
My first year at WSU we won our first five in a row. As a small, midwest D1 this is very rare. We had a very good team and were playing good baseball. Our 5th win was a Friday night at North Carolina State (who was a top 5 team in the country). That was the first big time win of the season and I feel we were all a little shocked (whether we would admit it or not). Instead of just taking a step forward I think we all thought about what could happen in the season ahead.
We rattled off 5 losses in a row.
A once promising season was now being questioned. Coach Lovelady was quick to direct the team’s focus back to our process and goal of getting better each day. We didn’t abort the mission. In fact we lost our 3rd rounder behind the plate during this time, and it would have been easy to panic. But we didn’t.
We began to string games together one at a time. The result was 46-17 which is a program record. Those five loses are such a small part of that season because we didn’t make them more than they were. Or maybe they were a big part of our season; maybe those loses (and our reaction to them) are what made us successful.
Were we frustrated? Yes. But we were able to have plans to get us back to what worked – the original plan we went into the year with.
So How Does This Apply to StealBases.com?
I run a website were all we talk about is base stealing so I probably should get to my point…
Base stealing is the exact same way. You have to get the knowledge and then put in the work on a daily basis.
I had a player who stole 36 this year. This was just 3 off the nation’s co-leaders (Click here to see!). He rattled off his first 26 without getting thrown out. He then experienced changes. He saw multiple pickoffs and game plans to prevent him from running. This was a critical time to bring him back to Earth. We went back to the very basics at practice:
-Sliding
-Returning
-One-on-one drills
These drills remind him how good he is at getting back and reading a good jump off of a pitcher. We build his confidence by bringing him BACK, not adding something NEW.
We also communicate about failure. It is important our guys are aware of the learning process. You are going to make outs and those outs will be our best teachers. If you are educated about the process you will have faith you can get through rough times. You will have faith that the opposing team using multiple strategies to stop you is a good thing. You have earned that. It isn’t something to fear but something to embrace.
Conclusion
Baseball is an extremely difficult sport. Somewhere along the line we all forget that. As coaches we can only control so much. It is critical to work really hard, study the game, recruit the best players who fit our ideal makeup, then work to get players to understand the plan you develop. After that, you cannot control the smooth sailing but you can control how you react and adjust to it.
As Coach Corbin detailed, the extreme highs and lows of coaching are not places we want to reside. Balance is the key to coaching. Being able to work extremely hard at developing your plan and remaining on the balance point. Remember, at the end of the day the goal is to get the guys to play their best for as many innings as possible during the season. Don’t do anything to get in the way of it.
As always, check out the rest of my website here and see the reason so many members have joined:
These drills remind him how good he is at getting back and reading a good jump off of a pitcher. We build his confidence by bringing him BACK, not adding something NEW.