As I wracked my brain for another inexpensive development tool to boast about for my newest edition of “Balling on a Budget,” I forced myself to pause and reflect on why I am doing this. When I say “doing this,” I mean writing this blog and trying to assist the baseball world in moving forward as an industry. Admittedly, I am hoping to showcase a bit of what I believe I bring to the table, but like anybody who loves the game of baseball, my mission lies deeper. As I embark on a journey to accomplish my own goals in coaching and player development, there are a couple cornerstones that always remain: 1) grow the game, and 2) help players improve.
Both of the above goals are generally tough to gauge. I suppose I could score my impact of each based on twitter interactions or post views on my website. Additionally, I could assess my value based on feedback or questions. However, I do not feel any of these measures accurately capture whether I am succeeding at growing the game or helping players improve.
Perhaps the reason I find it so difficult to evaluate whether I am achieving my two primary objectives is because the majority of my readership is coaches. In order to have the impact I strive for, I need to ensure that my message is understood and conveyable to another audience: a coach’s players. With that, I assume that most of my audience feels similarly to the way I do about coaching and player development goals. They are trying any way they can to find something cutting edge, new, or different to benefit their team or training group. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be reading my blog.
These thoughts are predominantly what led me down the road of writing my “Balling on a Budget” series. As I create content, I challenge myself to contemplate what I would enjoy learning about. In the process, I’ve come to appreciate just how critical creativity and ingenuity are for any aspiring coach operating with a minimal budget. I, like others, am constantly looking for something new or cutting edge to aid in the development of my guys, but I am at the mercy of the price tag of the latest tech…or am I?
This is where creativity and ingenuity intersect in the world of player development. It isn’t always about something I can invent, but rather about my ability to recreate something that already exists. In an ideal world, I would be walking around picking up every gadget that pops on the market. Sadly, we don’t live in an ideal world. However, this is where creative problem solving comes into play.
The best coaches, player developers, and inventors all share an important trait. They are the best problem solvers. Stemming from the previous paragraph, how can we, as coaches, move our guys or the world of baseball closer to that “ideal world,” if we don’t have unlimited access to funds? For starters, look at the devices or technology for what they are at their core. More specifically, what problem were they created to solve? There is no question I think all of the tech in baseball is incredible as it continues to push the game to new heights, but I need to boil this tech down for the sake of accessibility for my guys and programs operating on a budget like mine.
For example, what is the purpose of a Rapsodo pitching unit? Rapsodo captures ball data upon release to assess movement, speed, and spin. They coined the term pitch flight analysis. Other more portable and affordable options have since hit the market in the Diamond Kinetics and PitchLogic balls; however, these options still do not boil us down to the most basic, bare bones of the matter. What if we put a thick black stripe across the seams of a baseball? Now that is bare bones. That thick stripe, although it does not spit out data or numbers, can be done at no cost. With a permanent marker and the balls you already have in your bucket, every player can immediately assess spin efficiency by how distinct the black line appears. Additionally, the plane of the black line indicates spin axis. There are obviously some things that can’t be analyzed with this solution to the pitch flight analysis problem, but the only real investment in this case is about half an hour of your time to color on some baseballs, not hundreds or even thousands of dollars for something that can only be used by one person at a time.
This same theme of problem solving is what I discussed with the fish scale. I needed some sort of method to analyze force development, and I searched for an easy, inexpensive solution. Force plates for performance and fatigue management have become all the rage – rightfully so, I should add – but they remain unaffordable by the masses. Though, with a minuscule investment, you can begin to solve the same problems and analyze the same performance metrics as the well-heeled programs simply by using a fish scale and some isometric exercises.
I certainly am not the first person in the baseball world to advocate using inexpensive solutions to modern day problems. Whoever first started using a stopwatch and time constraints in the practice setting to simulate the same urgency of a game is a genius. Now that is a guy who should be in Cooperstown. He simply identified a problem of manpower and practice time allocation and solved it with something pre-existing and inexpensive.
This type of problem solving is what “Balling on a Budget” is all about. Solving a problem with affordability and ease of implementation is the name of the game. The solutions are endless. Whether it is repurposing equipment you already have (broomstick or colored balls) or finding inexpensive solutions to recreate high tech products (like the striped baseball mentioned above or tow straps), ingenuity and creativity are necessary qualities of a coach trying to make a difference.
Let me add that these solutions don’t need to be perfect. They just need to make sense. Data and technology mean nothing if you don’t know how to interpret or apply what you have. The same goes for balling-on-a-budget-style solutions. Find something that makes sense for you and your program. If your goal is to grow the game and help players get better, I challenge you (the same way I challenge myself) to not allow monetary restrictions to stand in the way of development.
I am not quite sure yet if this marks the end of my “balling on a budget” series. Regardless, I felt the need to explain a bit more of my “why” behind going down this path. Although this article functioned a bit as a stream of consciousness for me to get some thoughts in writing, it solidified a few things for me that I believe should function as major takeaways that we will end on.
1) The game of baseball is going to keep evolving. There is always going to be tech or gadgets that can do wonders for any team. Either buy the solution or recreate it. “If only…” cannot exist in a forward thinking program or in the mind of a creative coach.
2) Growing the game does not have to mean introducing it to new players. It often means boosting the level of play to push the game forward. Sharing my thoughts on how to grow the game can only add to the discussion on how to improve individual players or the game as a whole. If I share, the best case scenario is that I am right. The worst case scenario is that I learn. Both are solid outcomes.
3) My (coaching) success in this game is not defined by the gadgets I have, data I collect, or even the title I possess. Rather, my success is determined by the lives I impact along the way. I must remember that not every player is going to reach their goals, but it is my duty to at least help them move in the right direction.
Thanks for bearing with me.
Adam Moreau, MBA, CSCS
Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator
Eckerd College
419-250-7243
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