May 6

May 6 Update

Coaching Educational Opportunity for 18U - Baseball Alberta

Baseball Alberta is offering a coaching clinic for any player registered on a Baseball Alberta team in 2019, from the 2002-2006 birth years. They are offering the Initiation Clinic on May 11 from 5:30-9:30 PM through the Adobe Connect platform.

Eligible players can get access to this clinic by:

1) Registering at nccp.baseball.ca. Here, interested players will need to pay $37.45 for the initial registration and access to the Coach Initiation in Sport online course. This is a prerequisite for the Initiation Clinic on May 11. This is also a once-in-a-lifetime payment as they'll receive their NCCP number. When registering, if you're asked which level you will coach, please indicate 11U or 13U (otherwise, you'll be directed to the Rally Cap course, which is not what is being offered).

2) Complete the Coach Initiation in Sport online modules. This needs to be completed by May 10 as the registration for the Initiation Clinic is 9:00 PM that evening. Completing it sooner is better as there is a greater chance of you getting into the course.

3) Once Coach Initiation in Sport is completed, email Sheen Bromley at Baseball Alberta, indicate your age and that you're registering for this program. Do not register or pay for this clinic on the NCCP website. Sheen can register you manually, allowing you to register for free. Details will be shared with you shortly after Sheen registers you.

4) If you finish the online modules, but the Initiation Coach course is full, Sheen will place you on a waiting list for a workshop at a later date.

This is a tremendous opportunity for our 18U players. Players can finish the entire catalogue of NCCP coaching courses from age 14+ and can be certified (being evaluated on a portfolio and game and practice observations) from age 16+. Learning how to coach baseball is an excellent way to sharpen your understanding of the game and many mental baseball skills. It forces you to break down baseball concepts, such as hitting, throwing, pitching, etc. to their most basic forms to help our youngest players understand the game. It's a great challenge and one that has no downside. Check it out!

Long Term Athlete Development - Part V

ParticipACTION - Encouraging Canadians to get healthy - Website

ParticipACTION is an organization funded at the federal level to get Canadians moving. They offer a variety of free programming that Canadians can take advantage of to continue moving - at any age. This falls within the final stage of Baseball Canada's LTAD, Active for Life. Their resources are geared to a holistic approach in making the lives of Canadians better, focusing on motivation, goal setting, obstacles, tracking, sleep, habit forming, stress reduction, and seeking supports. They also have physical literacy tools for all who are interested (which are especially beneficial for coaches). Their resource library also includes age specific, LTAD appropriate information, on movement guidelines for ages 0-4, 5-17, 18-64, and 65+. They also have a handy app! Check them out and leverage their resources to get moving, especially while we wait for baseball to begin!

Sport for Life - Long Term Development 3.0

I mentioned in a previous LTAD post that this environment is shifting, and will change soon. Baseball Canada is developing a revised LTAD document, but focused on LTD, Long Term Development, because it's not just athletes involved in sport. Parents, coaches, volunteers, umpires, and league administrators all undergo some type of development while they take part in sport. Their revised version will take into account some of the research-backed changes that Sport for Life has recommended, based on some of the shortcomings from their original LTAD 2.0.

Version 3.0, as per the LTD document (pages 11-13), hits on several new and improved components:

1) From Sport and Physical Activity to Quality Sport and Physical Activity

LTD requires sport to be run by good people, in good places, by good people. Quality sport needs to be developmentally appropriate, safe and inclusive, and well run.

2) From LTAD to LTD

Inclusivity is key in LTD. There are many stakeholders in sport that aren't necessarily directly involved (think of the physiotherapists that treat and rehabilitate injured athletes or website moderators at TeamSnap). Sport needs to be inclusive to anyone remotely involved.

3) Key Factors have Evolved

Baseball Canada's LTAD document outlines 10 factors essential to athlete development (not the 10 S's previously discussed). These 10 factors included the 10-year Rule (Think of Malcom Gladwell's 10,000 hour theory); FUNdamentals (fundamental movement skills); Specialization (when athletes focus on the sport. Baseball is a late development sport where premature specialization, before puberty, can hinder the maximum potential players can achieve while also exposing them to potential injury, burnout, and more); Developmental Age (timing biological maturity that differs between each athlete); Trainability (timing specific types of training based on development age and stage); Physical, Mental, Cognitive, and Emotional Development (taking into consideration all aspects of development and how they impact and stress our athletes); Periodization (time frames for scheduling training and competition), Calendar Planning for Competition (emphasizing competition during appropriate time frames and age groups); System Alignment and Integration (communication between groups inside and outside baseball. This also includes providing clear pathways for how and where players can go); and Continuous Improvement (the LTAD being a living, breathing document that adjusts according to the latest research and best practices) (Baseball Canada LTAD, pages 23-28).

The LTD document now has 22 key factors which need to be addressed.

4) Physical literacy has evolved

The "mental game" is becoming more and more understood as research develops and coaches implement tools and methods to coach the mental side of sports. There's also psychological components that are extremely beneficial to physical literacy that can be addressed.

5) More emphasis on the adolescent participant

Overall, we see a decrease in participation in organized sport by adolescents (a drastically disproportionate number of these are female athletes). It is also a time where many sports and athletes transition to high performance sport. Resources need to be directed to this age group as their needs are so vast.

6) Greater emphasis on stage of development versus chronological age

In retrospect, we saw this developing in the LTAD plan for Baseball. Just because athletes are 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 years of age, doesn't mean their physical growth and emotional maturation have kept up with their chronological age. The focus, instead is on if athletes have the capabilities to move from stage to stage, such as Learn to Train to Train to Train (as this is often the aforementioned adolescent dividing point where athletes branch off). If an athlete's is 13, but their overall development is that of an 11-year-old, should they really be in 13U or moving on to 15U? We also see a trend in youth sport where early birthdays (think January, February, March, and April) tend to dominate select teams, provincial, and national level youth teams.

7) Different types of sports

Version 2.0 only identified early specialization sports (such as gymnastics and figure skating) or late specialization sports (such as baseball, hockey, and volleyball). They have ensured more categories and more types of sport are represented.

8) Alignment with system stakeholders

Sport for Life is aiming for inclusivity in LTD. This means using language utilized by other stakeholders to ensure that LTD integrates between everyone involved.

9) The "Rectangle" has evolved

The stages, or Innings in Baseball Canada's LTAD, have changed. The new LTD has added Awareness and First Involvement to span our entire lifetimes. Further, they have split Active for Life into Fit for Life and Compete for Life, recognizing that people can compete in sport through their whole life, like the weekend beer league warriors, or simply enjoy a sport recreationally.

10) Evolution of Inclusion

The new LTD is meant to be inclusive of all populations, especially underserved populations. These include girls, women, individuals with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers to Canada, the LGBTQI2S community, aging adults, those in poverty, and those in isolated communities.

This is the first part of the breakdown of Canada's Sport for Life LTD. Friday, I'll dive in further! Until then, take care!

Yours in baseball,

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