May/June 2019 - 12

Running for
punishment
Why coaches should quit using conditioning
as a negative experience
By Randy Hisner, contributing writer
At a high school baseball game, I watched as the batter
took a called third strike and immediately began running
toward the dugout. " Nice hustle, " I thought. That's until he
bypassed the dugout, ran to the outfield fence, and tapped
the foul pole. He then sprinted back to rejoin his team.
A couple of years later, I got to know a player from
that team. He confirmed what I had suspected that day:
Running to the fence and back - during a game - was
how his coach punished players for taking a called third
strike. To avoid public humiliation, I'll bet that several
players on that team swung at a lot of bad two-strike
12 MAY/JUNE 2019
pitches, just to avoid making that trip to the outfield fence.
I could cite countless other examples of coaches using
running as punishment. It's a common practice. But
this method of supposedly motivating players to avoid
mistakes is not only ineffective, it's counterproductive. It
can even have negative effects that last into the athlete's
adult years. Here's why it doesn't work.
1
. It doesn't address the problem. Making players do
. pushups or run laps for missed free throws does not
improve their free-throw shooting. What will? Reteaching
free-throw technique and devoting more time to it during
May/June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2019
