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Youth baseball coaches and parents, do you have these concerns?

• Even when you tell them to “practice,” the child won’t practice on their own

• Even though they are working hard, they don’t feel like they are improving and are losing motivation

• You don’t know how to praise children with smaller builds or those in lower grades

• You want to try physical fitness testing, but you don’t know how to run it

Children think, “I want to throw a faster ball” or “I want to hit it further.” However, it is difficult for them to know on their own how much they are improving.

That is why in my team, we hold a youth baseball physical fitness “record meet” once every three months . It is like a baseball version of a school physical fitness test, where we measure pitching speed, long toss, swing speed, and base running, and keep a record for each individual.

The goal is to increase the players’ motivation and have the children try to improve their physical abilities on their own .

By reading this article, you will learn the following:

• How to run a record meet that boosts children’s motivation

• How to measure 12 players with 4 adults in about 2 hours

• How to communicate so that no child feels inferior compared to others

Why “once every three months”?

Children grow really fast. If you measure every three months, most records will show improvement.

If you leave more time than this, the children will forget about the previous time. Conversely, if you measure every month, there will be more instances where the numbers haven’t improved. I feel that three months is the perfect frequency to see that “every time we measure, there is clear improvement.”

Measuring 4 events, twice each

There are these 4 events. We measure each one twice and record both results.

• Base running (running ability)

• Long toss (shoulder strength)

• Swing speed (speed of swinging the bat)

• Pitching speed (speed of the thrown ball)

Base running: Securing the bases

Base running is measured after securing the bases so they do not move.

If you step on the base hard, a base that is just placed there will shift. If they are worried about it shifting, children cannot step on the base with confidence, and their speed will drop. If you secure them, they can kick off the base and round it with full force, which will result in a faster time.

Long toss: Two 50m measuring tapes and cones every 5m

By the time they reach the 6th grade, some children can throw about 70m in a long toss.

Therefore, we use two 50m measuring tapes connected together.

Then, we place cones every 5m starting from 30m. The cones serve as a distance guide, so you can immediately measure where the ball landed, and the children throwing can also set a goal, thinking, ‘Next time, I’ll reach that cone.’

Swing speed: Measuring in two ways

The key to swing speed is measuring in two ways.

As children grow, they often switch to heavier bats. When they switch to a heavier bat, their swing speed often drops temporarily.

Even though their bodies are developing, if they only look at the numbers for their own bat, it will show as ‘lower than before.’ This would disappoint the children at a record meet that they were looking forward to.

Therefore, the team prepares one standard bat, and in addition to their own bat, we measure with that bat as well. If you compare the numbers measured with the same bat every time, you can tell if they have truly improved.

Measure pitching speed and swing speed with one device

We use this device for pitching speed and swing speed. Since it can measure both pitching speed and swing speed with one unit, this is all you need for a record meet. It is very convenient because it is easy to operate and can measure just by being placed nearby.

SSK Multi Speed Tester IV (MST400)

How to run the day: Divide into 2 teams, with 4 adults

If all players go through each event one by one, there will be too much waiting time. Therefore, we split the players into two teams and proceed simultaneously.

• Team A: Base running → Long toss (Adults: 1 measurement staff, 1 recording staff)

• Team B: Swing speed → Pitching speed (Adults: 1 measurement staff, 1 recording staff)

Once Team A finishes, they switch to Team B’s event, and once Team B finishes, they switch to Team A’s event.

The adults can be coaches or parents. If you have 2 measurement staff and 2 recording staff per team, for a total of 4 people, it will run smoothly.

Base running and long toss use a large area of the field, while swing speed and pitching speed are measured in front of the measuring devices, so the locations do not overlap.

With this rotation, if there are 12 players, it will finish in about 2 hours.

Provide the recording staff with the child’s past records

The most important thing in a record meet is how the records are kept.

We create one record sheet per player. It contains all records from previous meets.

We hand this sheet to the recording staff and have them write down that day’s results directly onto it.

And there is one more thing we ask of them: to read the previous record aloud so the player can hear it right before they measure.

“Last time, it was XX meters.”

Hearing this fires the players up. Because the goal to surpass is clearly defined as the number from their ‘previous self’, their eyes light up.

Also, by using a sheet with past records written on it,

• right on the spot after measuring, you can tell if they have improved since last time

• by the time the record meet ends, the ‘improved records’ for each individual are already compiled

state.

At the end of practice, the manager announces the ‘improved records’

On the day of the record meet, after practice is over, I hand out the record sheets to each player one by one.

Before handing them out, I always tell the children this. I say the same thing before we start the measurements.

“Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to who you were before.“

At that time, I announce that child’s ‘improved record’ in front of everyone.

“Your long toss distance has improved since last time.”
“You’re using the same bat, but your swing speed has gone up.”

What I announce is not the child who is the fastest or threw the farthest, but the record that improved compared to their previous self..

The children who receive their sheets look at their numbers and seem happy.

The person to compare yourself to is not your ‘friend,’ but your ‘previous self’.

What I realize while holding these performance tests is that ‘improved since last time’ is something everyone can achieve..

When comparing by ranking, the ones who get praised are always the same kids—the fast ones or the big ones. Younger children or those who are still small physically can’t reach first place no matter how hard they try.

Numbers are clear, but they can also be cruel. If you measure without saying anything, there will always be children who feel inferior when comparing themselves to those around them. There is no point in holding a performance test meant to boost motivation if it ends up discouraging some children.

That is why I make sure to tell them ‘compare yourself to your previous self’ twice: once before measuring and once before handing out the results. This one sentence might be more important than the measurement method itself.

When you make ‘your previous self’ the person to compare to, everyone has ‘improvement.’ And because that is visible in numbers, the children themselves can feel their own growth.

Rather than adults saying ‘practice more,’ children will work hard on their own when they can see through numbers that they are ‘improving.’ This is because the desire to raise their numbers in the next performance test directly translates into how they approach their practice.

Summary: 3 tips for a performance test that boosts motivation

• Measure continuously, once every 3 months

• Right before measuring, let them hear their previous record

• ‘Compare yourself to your previous self‘ and tell them, then announce the improved records in front of everyone

If there is a child you feel you ‘can’t find anything to praise,’ please try measuring them once. Numbers will tell you about growth that adults have overlooked.

Next time, I will release an advanced version of last week’s ‘Pressure Pitching’: ‘Real Pressure Pitching’. This is a game-like pitching practice where you add defense and a batter, and pitch from a desperate, walk-off situation of ‘bottom of the final inning, no outs, bases loaded.’

On this account, I introduce practice menus that keep all players active even with only one coach, complete with layout diagrams. Please follow so you don’t miss them.

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