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Welcome to New Format
We hope that you enjoy our new format. For best results, please click on "View" at the top of your browser and then select "Text Size" or "Fonts" and change your font size to "Medium" or "Smaller."
Don't Forget About Interactive Tips
Don't forget about our interactive tips, located within the website portion of Coach's Clipboard. If you have a drill, an instructional point or a question for us, simply click on the Tips link located on the right-hand navigation bar on the website portion of Coach's Clipboard. Your entry will be reviewed and posted.
Hey Parents ... Ask Cal!
Cal Ripken, Jr. offers adivce to parents of young athletes each week in the Baltimore Sun. If you don't live in Baltimore, don't worry, you can access the column at www.baltimoresun.com/askcal. If you'd like to send a question of your own to Cal, please email it to askcal@baltimoresun.com.
Looking for a Sports Medicine Tip?
If you have a question about a sports-related injury, a rehabilitation program or proper training techniques, please visit the website of our partner, Union Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine/MedStar Health. Submit a question directly to an athletic trainer at http://www.unionmemorial.org/body.cfm?id=1015, or call 1-888-44-SPORT to speak directly with a sports medicine professional.
Newsletter for Parents Coming
Look for Ripken Baseball's Sports Parenting e-newsletter coming in a few short days! It will be made available to all Coach's Clipboard Subscribers.
Cal and Bill Live on XM Radio
Talk baseball live with Cal and Bill Ripken every Saturday morning on MLB Homeplate, XM Radio Channel 175. Tune into Ripken Baseball from 8-10 a.m. every Saturday to hear Cal and Bill's insights about all aspects of baseball - from the youth leagues to the big leagues!
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De-pressurizing Youth Baseball
By Cal Ripken, Jr.
As with all sports, youth baseball provides an arena in which our young people can learn so many valuable lessons. The values of preparation, teamwork, discipline, individual responsibility within a team concept, sportsmanship and hard work that are embodied by sports participation are lessons that those who don’t participate in sports as kids often aren’t exposed to until much later in life – often when the stakes are much higher than on a Saturday morning at the local park or recreation center.
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Baseball According to Bill
By Bill Ripken
At all levels of baseball it can be hard for coaches to get players to run hard on the basepaths all of the time. There are many scoring opportunities that get wasted because a player (or sometimes a third base coach) hesitates for a split second. That brief moment of hesitation can freeze a runner and keep him from trying to advance to the next base or can be the difference between being safe or out. Most times on the basepaths, the best bet when a runner hesitates is to have him stay put and hope that the next hitter can come through.
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Catching Basics
By Cal and Bill Ripken
In many ways the catcher is the quarterback of the baseball team.
A complete catcher has enough knowledge of his team’s pitching staff and a comprehensive enough understanding of the game’s various situations to call pitches and team defenses. The complete catcher also has the luxury of being able to see most of the action that occurs on the field during a game. This allows the catcher to give his or her teammates direction about whether or not to cut off throws, which bases to throw to and who should field bunts or pop-ups.
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Drill of the Month
Tee Drill Variations
At our camps we always have talked about utilizing each hitting drill to develop a specific component of the swing. For example, with soft toss we work on the proper grip – loose and in the fingers with the middle knuckles lined up – and having a quick bat (since a loose grip unlocks the wrists and allows for greater bat speed). When players hit off of the batting tee, since the ball is stationary and easy to hit, we like to have them focus solely on their weight shift – gathering all of their weight and energy by shifting their it to the back foot before exploding forward (“you have to go back to go forward”). When we do short toss from the front we throw the ball to the outside part of the plate and ask the kids to keep their front shoulders closed by hitting the ball up the middle or the opposite way.
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