Year 2 summary, things to work on

Hello. Well, this year was a gross disappointment, which ended in a sound trouncing at the hands of Delasalle, a private catholic school in Minneapolis.

I could whine about the lack of dedication of some of our better players, or the lack of experience of many of our players, but rather, I will list things that my staff and I need to work on and develop.

So here goes:
PITCHING!!! Along with inconsistent attendance, this kind-of-important skill really killed us. I need to allocate more time, especially in the first 2 weeks, to this area.

Skill-sets for every practice that the kids can do on their own. These will also be done before games.

Preach to the kids: YOU GOTTA LOVE BASEBALL!!! Be dedicated to your teammates and YOURSELF!

New fundraiser.

Get grounds to raise the mound, and give me new bases.

Positives:
Our Hitting was pretty good. We're VERY young. Good future? We'll see.

Opening Day

Tomorrow's the first day of practice and my first official day as a Head Baseball Coach. I love this game and helping teenagers become better baseball players and better people. Unfortunately, along with having fun, these are the main obtainable goals for my squad as we don't win much over here in St. Paul's East Side. In fact, it's been 31 years since Harding last won the St. Paul City Conference......a fairly long time. Furthermore, I don't dare guess the last time we won a playoff game. We've been close a couple times. Woodbury beat us 1-0 in 2003; St. Thomas beat us 2-1 in '05, and in '06 we dropped a routine fly ball in Right Field to choke away a four run lead in the 5th inning against Highland Park....that one really hurt. Last year, in case you are wondering, we got spanked hard by Park-Cottage Grove. But this year we've changed sections, by switching to Class AA, and I think if I was to place a realistic goal on the season, it would be to win a playoff game.

Hopefully this Blog will serve a couple purposes: 1-A time for my reflection and assessment of what I'm doing right and wrong. 2--Insight for outside readers, and a chance to offer their opinions and ideas.

Enjoy.