Keeping Your Players’ Attention

If you’re coaching baseball, you may be at that point in the season where it’s a little tough to keep everyone’s attention.

When everyone is excited about the prospects of a new season, it’s a little easier for kids to listen and effectively pay attention. Every practice should feature some “how to” and “team talk”. So, here’s “how to” keep focus and attention.

First, always stress the rule of “when someone is talking, everyone else is listening”. This is one of my key rules. The rule applies to coaches too . . . if a player offers a comment or question, coaches listen too.

Then, make sure to have “how to” time that involves a little action. Use examples that involve the players and use players to show proper technique. This will help keep them more involved.

Cut your losses. Remember, if you’re dealing with a young age group, you’ll have to keep “team talk” time relative to what’s reasonable for the age group’s attention span.

Finally, make sure you’re covering the fun and the positive. Always start “team talk” with a recognition of those who performed beyond the ordinary in the previous game. Stickers on helmets, game balls, Big League Chew are always good rewards for this type of performance. If you really want to get creative, print up some jerseys players wear at practice after superior performance that have labels like “Terminator”, “Big Stick” or “The Wizard”. You can make up your own terms and criteria.

Here’s a post from http://www.baseball-tutorials.com/ that offers more on keeping your players’ attention -- http://tinyurl.com/p6oa4b.