Jacob Solseth

Dr. Nichols

SES 435-005

26 March 2018

Coach Observation Assignment

1. Description of Practice Session:

Date: 22 March 2018

Time: 3:30-6:00pm

Coach: Nate Liffick

Team: Freshman Baseball

School: Dakota Ridge High School

I’ve now Nate for 5 years now and we are good friends. He played baseball at

Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton, as well as on the club baseball team here at

UNC. He didn’t have a practice plan, but he did have an outline of what he wanted to

run through during practice and his objectives. He had it in a yellow notepad that he

carried around to reference as well as take note of what he saw at the practice. They

did not have specific times written down for the objectives but had an idea of what

he wanted to do, and made it happen efficiently.

2. Did your coach use or outline any practice objectives for the observed session? If
yes, what were they? And if no, what practice objectives might he/she have used?

Yes, the coach used an outline with his practice objectives written down in a

yellow note pad.

1. Cleat out, quick run after breakdown

 2. Stretch, throw, long toss is arm does not work

3. Do Infield/Outfield

4. Break up infield, do grounders and ball drills

5. Hitting Philosophy

a. Coach through mistakes and good plays

b. Conclude with good things and things to improve on, then game plan

3. Description of demonstrations:

The coach demonstrated good technique for getting ground balls, as well as

hitting technique. For both demonstrations he had all the infield players make a half

circle around him. For grounders he reminded them of the steps to approach a

ground ball, squaring up and fielding technique, them making a good throw for the

out. He only briefly went through and demonstrated the steps because I believe this

was a review of a skill he had already taught. He did mention how without a good

base and fielding the ground balls all the other tactics about the infield wouldn’t be

possible. Some of the cues included: Attack the ball, square up, get your mitt dirty,

and move and throw to the base. Nate demonstrated this skill himself as the infield

coach. They then went on to demonstrate proper hitting technique later in the

practice as a whole team. The made less of a horse-shoe shape and more a wall so

that no one was close to getting hit with the bat as Nate demonstrated. He began by

reviewing proper stance and then going into the steps that they had previously gone

over. He explained the importance of offense and why a good foundation in hitting

is the only way to win baseball games. Some of the cues he used included: Good
 stance, check your hands and bat, watch the ball into the bat, power comes from the

hips and swing through the ball. Nate was the one who demonstrated this skill. The

coaches did a good job of breaking down the techniques and going through the

proper form even through this was just a review for the athletes.

4. Summarize with an evaluation of the practice session.

I thought this coaching session was done very well. The coaches knew their stuff,

they had the athletes ready, and engaged, and they went through the practice

effectively and efficiently. They were very organized, they knew where the athletes

were supposed to be, what they were supposed to be doing and what the objective

of the practice was. Nate had a hand-written copy of the practice plan, which was

more of an outline (attached) which was a good thing and helped keep the practice

organized. However, they could have made a more detailed practice plan with

diagrams, times and names, that would have made things even more smooth as well

as made it possible for another coach to pick it up and run practice if Nate wasn’t

there. The athletes were awesome. They engaged and really tried to learn, and still

looked like they had a lot of fun doing it. Almost all of the main portions of the

practice was spent on learning and perfecting these skills, about out 80 minutes of

the total 2.5 hour practice. After they had their skill development session the teams

went into live scenarios and practiced what they had just learned at game-time

speed. The only things I would do to improve the practice would do to improve the

practice would be create a better practice plan, with the improvements I mentioned

before, as well as not split the team into groups so everyone learns all the positions
 at this young age. These freshmen shouldn’t have to be specializing in a specific

position, and instead learning and trying out every positon on the field. This would

also eliminate long drawn out drills and make the practice faster and higher paced.

5. Practice Plan – Written Practice Plan

Dakota Ridge High School Freshman Baseball Practice #11

Date: Thursday 22 March 2017

Time: 3:30-5:30 (2 hrs.)
Place: DRHS Baseball Field
Age/Level: 14-15/High School
Equipment: Baseballs, Bats, Pitching shield
Number of Athletes: 21

Practice Objective:

Defense: Fielding ground balls, and catching Pop Fly’s

Offense: Hitting in gaps

Previously Learned Skills:

General Fielding Technique

General Hitting Technique

Time: Description of Activity: Diagram: Cues: Feedback:

3:30- Warm-up (Coaches (Evaluation of

3:50 comments to Practice by
players) coaches)
3:50- Conditioning
4:10

4:10- Fielding Ground Ball Attack the

4:25 ball

square up

get your mitt

dirty

move and
throw to the
base

4:25- Catching Pop Fly’s

4:40
4:40- Hitting Good stance
4:45
check your
hands and
bat

watch the
ball into the
bat

power comes
from the hips

swing
through the
ball

4:45- Scenarios (Practice Under

5:15 Competitive Conditions)

5:15- Cool-down
5:30
Team Meeting
Name: Notes: