April 29

April 29 Update

Canadian Girls Baseball - Online Baseball League for Girls (@CGBLeague on Twitter)

Just a caveat, I am unaware if this program is allowing athletes from outside the Greater Toronto Area. I am also unsure what equipment requirements there will be for their activities.

Canadian Girls Baseball is a non-profit, all-girls developmental hardball league. They have a burgeoning program in Ontario, Nova Scotia, PEI, and Manitoba. They will be starting their own, free, 8-week virtual season next week. They have a great promotional video below:

Baseball Alberta has also been incredibly supportive of the development of Girls' and Women's baseball in the province. Our provincial 14U, 16U, and Senior Women's teams have been incredibly dominant over the last few years and have sent multiple representatives to the Canadian National Women's team. The 2020 season was supposed to have a renewed effort around Girls' and Women's Baseball, with the start of the 9U and 12U all-girls tournaments (SPMBA is scheduled to host the 12U tournament from June 12-15, 2020). They have collected Girls' Baseball information and resources at the Alberta Girls Baseball website. Check it out!

Long Term Athlete Development Part II

The big question is what does LTAD mean for us as coaches? This is the question at the heart of these LTAD posts this week, likely next week, and into the future. It is a foundational component for how we should plan practices, games, and even seasons as a whole. If a coach is transitioning between divisions with their athletes, it is important for long term, year-to-year, planning. It is important for coaches to familiarize themselves with the LTAD document regardless of which age group or skill level they coach.

Most of our coaches will be involved in Innings 1-4 and 9, with the vast majority sitting between 1-3 and 9. This means that there are established frameworks for how to structure what our players do while we are responsible for them. Let's take a closer look at them and break down each section. The following information is summarized from Baseball Canada's Long Term Athlete Development document pages 44-60. Note that this document was published in 2007 and is currently the document guiding current programming.

Active Start (Ages 0-6 for boys & girls)

This age group has an emphasis on play. Our encouragement should be focused on keeping kids active and moving. This play is informal and can happen anywhere, anytime and at least 60 minutes in length per day. Simple 1-on-1 activities are encouraged too, but should be stopped once the child loses interest.

Examples of activities include: SPMBA's Blast Ball program, playing at the playground, parent & child swimming lessons, playing catch, hitting a ball, etc.

FUNdamentals (Ages 5-8 for females/ages 5-9 for males)

This is the age group where we can start to introduce the structure of games and rules with our athletes. A large emphasis should be placed on fundamental movement skills (that would be introduced in Active Start - running, jumping, throwing, catching, etc.). Basic baseball specific skills can be introduced here.

While planning practices, especially within our Rally Cap and 9U baseball framework, care needs to be taken in the amount and ratio of activity planned. This age group should see a 80:20 ratio of "training time" to game time (this is why Rally Cap is structured with multiple stations and shouldn't focus strictly on game play). This age group should also participate in structured activities and programs, such as Rally Cap, for 8-12 weeks in total. In the limited structured gameplay, no one should sit out and players should receive equal time at all positions.

Note: "Training time" is inclusive of practices, workouts, and structured play.

Examples of activities include: SPMBA's Rally Cap or 9U programs, sports which develop general athletic abilities (like gymnastics or swimming), and eye-hand coordination sports. Activities should emphasize the ABC's of athleticism: agility, balance, coordination, and speed.

Learn to Train (Ages 8-11 for females/ages 9-12 for males)

In Learn to Train, we can further develop fundamental movement skills and begin developing general baseball skills. This age group typically aligns with peak motor coordination development, meaning it's imperative that we focus on periodized skill development as coaches. Here, players can begin to learn positions and pitching, while still participating in a modified game. The emphasis is still on training as this age group should see a 70:30 training to game ratio, with three baseball sessions and three sessions of another activity per week. An important note is that competition, for this developmental group, needs to be treated as a chance to test and refine skills. It most certainly should not focus on games. To use an analogy from school, games are like tests or exams. We should utilize them to showcase our skills and show what the players know. Training time is the learning time and makes up the vast majority of what this age group should participate in.

Examples of activities include: SPMBA's 9U and 11U programs, periodized programming such as lowered pitch count limits early in the season, introducing position specific skills and drills, and dedicated practice time for laying the foundation for future success: arm care, mental game training (visualization, vision training, positive self talk, goal setting, etc.)

Active for Life (All ages)

I have chosen to skip to Active for Life because athletes have a choice to make after completing the Learn to Train stage, either continue on to Train to Train or Active for Life. Train to Train ramps up the intensity, competitiveness, and demands on the athletes, while Active for Life is focused on keeping athletes (or former athletes) involved in the game in any capacity: as a recreational player, a coach, an umpire, or a volunteer. Train to Train would see athletes transition to some form of competitive baseball, such as any of our A, AA, or AAA offerings. Athletes can enter the Active for Life stage at any point or re-enter the other development streams at any point either.

Active for Life is incredibly important because it facilitates a lifelong involvement and enjoyment in sport. Approaches to Active for Life are incredibly varied too. It could look like playing recreational baseball once or twice a week in an organized league, it could be playing catch with your children, it could be transitioning to another role in baseball, or it could be a dedication to throwing and hitting as hard as physically possible (Eric Sim on Twitter - be warned, some of his tweets are not for all ages).

I implore our coaches to look over current LTAD guidelines and reflect on where their coaching aligns with the framework. I recommend that they evaluate their practice plans to see if they are developing their players in a way that aligns with LTAD too. Ask questions, leverage your resources, and try to provide the best possible foundation for your athletes to move on, regardless of which level they move to. Much of this blog will include developmentally-appropriate activities that you can take and make your own. Good luck in your pursuit of LTAD.

Final note: Yes, SPMBA's programming does not exactly line up with LTAD guidelines. We are making concerted efforts to fix these gaps in our programming to address imbalances in our programming (such as 11U and 13U community programs moving from having almost no practices in 2018 to nearly a 40:60 practice to game split in 2019). This change does not happen without concerted efforts from our volunteer coaches, who I am eternally grateful towards, as our community programming could not exist without them. Also, the LTAD is a model, which means it works for the majority of the population, but not perfectly for everyone. For example, in other sports such as gymnastics, an athlete's maturation window for competition, and high level competition, is shifted earlier in their athletes' lives. Other late maturation sports, such as volleyball, are shifted to much later years. Each sport has its own model and its own demands. Athletes, parents, and coaches should always be in communication with each other to ensure our athletes are not overworked or burned out, both physically and emotionally. Further, the LTAD is based on an average of our youth population. Some athletes grow and develop earlier and faster or later and slower than others. All athletes will hit each stage at different times. It is up to our coaches to determine individualized approaches for each of our athletes. It is essential that they get to know each of their players to act in their best interests.

I look forward to discussing more about the LTAD on Friday's post!

Yours in baseball,

Coach Lovie
Baseball Development Lead
Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association
baseballdevelopment@spmba.ca