I'm continuing to find and add good instructional videos for the site. Today I added a number of outfield videos including a couple of drills.
You can find the new videos in the instructional area of QCBaseball.com. Here are some links to the new videos.
http://www.qcbaseball.com/skills/outfield_flyball1.aspx
http://www.qcbaseball.com/skills/outfield_flyball2.aspx
http://www.qcbaseball.com/skills/outfield_throwing1.aspx
http://www.qcbaseball.com/skills/outfield_throwing4.aspx
On another note, my last post about posting good videos from your teams as produced little results. Come on coaches post or have a parent post a good video and I'll feature it on my Facebook and Twitter pages!
Don Edlin
QCBaseball.com
Friday, May 3, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Send Me Your Video Links
Not sure if everyone know this, but I have a Facebook and Twitter account for QCBaseball.com. One of the things I'd love to do is post video of your teams great plays. I know with all the video cameras at games that some of you probably have some great plays of your team. Post a video to YouTube and send me an email at don@qcbaseball.com and I'll post it on my Facebook and Twitter pages. Don't have time? Ask a parent to do it for you. I think your kids would love to see that they were featured on a post.
You can find and follow QCBaseball on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/qcbaseball
and on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/QCCoachDon
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
You can find and follow QCBaseball on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/qcbaseball
and on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/QCCoachDon
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
Saturday, April 20, 2013
New Bravery Motivational Patch and 3 Day Patch Sale
Introducing the new bravery patch. Use the new patch for kids staying in the box while hitting, getting hit by a pitch, staying in front of a hard hit ground ball, diving for a fly ball or ground ball. For 3 days only enter the discount code bravery13 to receive 20% off your entire patch order!
If you have not tried motivational patches with your team, now is the time to try them with this 20% discount offer.
Orders for the patches have grown each year since I introduced them on the site 3 years ago. The simple reason for the growth is first, they work, and second coaches have been spreading the word about how well they work.
If you have a team and you want to motivate them to practice and play hard, then motivational patches will help you achieve that goal. Here is a quote from a coach about what the patches did for him:
"Don, I wanted to take a minute to thank you for the content information of your website and offering the motivational patches. I have been coaching youth baseball for 6 years and struggled keeping the kids engaged and focused on during games and practices. This year I coached a U10 team and implemented the use of your motivational patches. What a difference this has made. The kids loved the patches, worked hard to earn them, challenged their teammates to earn more, opposing teams wanted them, and our team performed much better than in years past. I’m hooked on the patches, please continue to offer them."
~ Coach Hanson
To learn more and order: QCBaseball Motivational Patches
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
If you have not tried motivational patches with your team, now is the time to try them with this 20% discount offer.
Orders for the patches have grown each year since I introduced them on the site 3 years ago. The simple reason for the growth is first, they work, and second coaches have been spreading the word about how well they work.
If you have a team and you want to motivate them to practice and play hard, then motivational patches will help you achieve that goal. Here is a quote from a coach about what the patches did for him:
"Don, I wanted to take a minute to thank you for the content information of your website and offering the motivational patches. I have been coaching youth baseball for 6 years and struggled keeping the kids engaged and focused on during games and practices. This year I coached a U10 team and implemented the use of your motivational patches. What a difference this has made. The kids loved the patches, worked hard to earn them, challenged their teammates to earn more, opposing teams wanted them, and our team performed much better than in years past. I’m hooked on the patches, please continue to offer them."
~ Coach Hanson
To learn more and order: QCBaseball Motivational Patches
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Are You a Happy Coach?
I think one of the most important things I've learned over the years of coaching is how important it is for me to enjoy coaching and to make sure I convey that to the kids. If I have fun at practice there's a great chance that the kids will have fun also.
I'll never forget my first year coaching a Little League Majors team. I had it my mind that I wanted to prepare the kids to move on to the next level. I thought 11 and 12 year old boys should be more committed to practice and improving then the younger teams I had been coaching the prior years. That season I worked hard to prepare those kids for the next level, but it clouded what made me a good coach. It took away my joy and that translated into practices that weren't fun. Not because I wasn't organized and had bad practice plans, I was well organized and had detailed practice plans designed to give them the skills to the next level. What was missing was my enthusiasm and fun for the game. I ended up feeling disappointed that the kids weren't improving the way I hoped. So I tried to talk to them about the importance of practicing harder. I spend way to much time giving talks that weren't working because even though I didn't mean to, I had a disapproving edge to my talks. I didn't realize this at the time as I was caught up in the goal of making them better players. The point of this whole story is even though I thought I was doing the right thing, I ended up failing that season as a coach. I remember that season often as a reminder to myself of the importance of me having fun coaching. It really comes down to me being part of the team and having fun with them. If I can't do that, then I know it will have a negative impact on the team.
So, what can we do as coaches to make sure we enjoy the season, no matter what the record or talent level of the team you have?
I think the answer if fairly simple. Be organized, have good practice plans, but most important, have fun coaching your team! There has been some research on happiness and what things you can do to improve your happiness and many of these things can be applied to your coaching style.
The first thing you can do is show gratitude. Let your parents know that you appreciate them getting to the kids to practice and games on time. Let your players know how much you appreciate their effort and good attitudes.
The next thing is try to be more like your players. Have some fun drills and games and get involved in having fun with them. Get excited when a kid makes a good play in practice and encourage them if they are struggling.
Finally...smile and laugh a lot! When I think back to my youth baseball days, one of my fondest memories are of the coaches that really enjoyed coaching and showed us through happiness and having fun that they loved being part of our team.
As you coach this season, try to think about your own happiness and how you can make changes to help you enjoy the process of coaching the kids. It may be that you try to do everything by yourself. Don't do it if it's causing you to stress and not enjoy coaching. Ask parents for help and try to get to a point where coaching is manageable and fun.
In the end, youth athletics need good coaches that continue to coach because they find it rewarding and fun. Try to be one of those coaches by thinking of your own happiness as a priority in having a successful season.
Good luck this season and have fun!
As always if you have other coaches in your league that would benefit from the website or blog, please pass this post and www.qcbaseball.com on to your league.
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
I'll never forget my first year coaching a Little League Majors team. I had it my mind that I wanted to prepare the kids to move on to the next level. I thought 11 and 12 year old boys should be more committed to practice and improving then the younger teams I had been coaching the prior years. That season I worked hard to prepare those kids for the next level, but it clouded what made me a good coach. It took away my joy and that translated into practices that weren't fun. Not because I wasn't organized and had bad practice plans, I was well organized and had detailed practice plans designed to give them the skills to the next level. What was missing was my enthusiasm and fun for the game. I ended up feeling disappointed that the kids weren't improving the way I hoped. So I tried to talk to them about the importance of practicing harder. I spend way to much time giving talks that weren't working because even though I didn't mean to, I had a disapproving edge to my talks. I didn't realize this at the time as I was caught up in the goal of making them better players. The point of this whole story is even though I thought I was doing the right thing, I ended up failing that season as a coach. I remember that season often as a reminder to myself of the importance of me having fun coaching. It really comes down to me being part of the team and having fun with them. If I can't do that, then I know it will have a negative impact on the team.
So, what can we do as coaches to make sure we enjoy the season, no matter what the record or talent level of the team you have?
I think the answer if fairly simple. Be organized, have good practice plans, but most important, have fun coaching your team! There has been some research on happiness and what things you can do to improve your happiness and many of these things can be applied to your coaching style.
The first thing you can do is show gratitude. Let your parents know that you appreciate them getting to the kids to practice and games on time. Let your players know how much you appreciate their effort and good attitudes.
The next thing is try to be more like your players. Have some fun drills and games and get involved in having fun with them. Get excited when a kid makes a good play in practice and encourage them if they are struggling.
Finally...smile and laugh a lot! When I think back to my youth baseball days, one of my fondest memories are of the coaches that really enjoyed coaching and showed us through happiness and having fun that they loved being part of our team.
As you coach this season, try to think about your own happiness and how you can make changes to help you enjoy the process of coaching the kids. It may be that you try to do everything by yourself. Don't do it if it's causing you to stress and not enjoy coaching. Ask parents for help and try to get to a point where coaching is manageable and fun.
In the end, youth athletics need good coaches that continue to coach because they find it rewarding and fun. Try to be one of those coaches by thinking of your own happiness as a priority in having a successful season.
Good luck this season and have fun!
As always if you have other coaches in your league that would benefit from the website or blog, please pass this post and www.qcbaseball.com on to your league.
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Follow QCBaseball on Facebook and Twitter for Extras
I'm starting to post links to baseball highlight videos on my Facebook and Twitter feed. This isn't something I'm going to add to the blog, so use the links below to follow QCBaseball and get this extra content.
As part of this I would love to post links to videos of great plays featuring your teams. If you upload a good play or clutch hit on YouTube or another service, send me the link and I'll add it to my Facebook and Twitter feed. This can be at any level from tee-ball on up. I want to provide a way to promote videos from youth baseball to the QCBaseball community and I think the kids would be thrilled to have their video linked from the QCBaseball facebook and twitter page.
As a start I've uploaded a couple great collegiate plays that I saw recently. To see them just start following QCBaseball on Facebook and/or Twitter.
QCBaseball Facebook Page
QCBaseball Twitter Page
Finally if your league or team has a Facebook or Twitter feed, send me the link and I'll become a follower.
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
As part of this I would love to post links to videos of great plays featuring your teams. If you upload a good play or clutch hit on YouTube or another service, send me the link and I'll add it to my Facebook and Twitter feed. This can be at any level from tee-ball on up. I want to provide a way to promote videos from youth baseball to the QCBaseball community and I think the kids would be thrilled to have their video linked from the QCBaseball facebook and twitter page.
As a start I've uploaded a couple great collegiate plays that I saw recently. To see them just start following QCBaseball on Facebook and/or Twitter.
QCBaseball Facebook Page
QCBaseball Twitter Page
Finally if your league or team has a Facebook or Twitter feed, send me the link and I'll become a follower.
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Using a Batting Tee
In a previous post I ranted a little about advertising claims by other companies that try to make you feel like your doing something wrong by using some of the traditional hitting tools in your practices. You can find that blog post here: Baseball Hitting Advertising Claims
As a response to one claim to "Throw away your batting tees", I wanted to create a couple of videos on why I think the hitting tee is a great hitting tool if used properly. If your a coach that personally didn't use a batting tee or were never instructed on how to use a batting tee, then you may find this interesting in how the batting tee can be used and how you can use it successfully in your practices to help improve your players hitting.
I created a new page on my website where both videos are listed. You can find it here: Using a Batting Tee to Improve Hitting
I apologize for the poor video format. I shot it on a rainy day in my production studio (my garage!) and used my phone for the first time to capture the video. I forgot that my phone shoots in HD and had it positioned vertically. So when rotating to upload to the web, it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. I hope to re-shoot the video when the weather improves and replace them but they'll do for now.
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
As a response to one claim to "Throw away your batting tees", I wanted to create a couple of videos on why I think the hitting tee is a great hitting tool if used properly. If your a coach that personally didn't use a batting tee or were never instructed on how to use a batting tee, then you may find this interesting in how the batting tee can be used and how you can use it successfully in your practices to help improve your players hitting.
I created a new page on my website where both videos are listed. You can find it here: Using a Batting Tee to Improve Hitting
I apologize for the poor video format. I shot it on a rainy day in my production studio (my garage!) and used my phone for the first time to capture the video. I forgot that my phone shoots in HD and had it positioned vertically. So when rotating to upload to the web, it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. I hope to re-shoot the video when the weather improves and replace them but they'll do for now.
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
Monday, January 21, 2013
Catching Instruction Updates
Just completed an update of the catching section under the instruction area of the website with a number of good instructional videos from a number of different sources. If you feel like you would like to improve your knowledge of the catching position I think you'll enjoy the new videos. You can view the changes starting from the following link: Catching Instruction
In addition to the instruction information I added a couple of additional Catching Drills to the drills section.
On another note, living in Seattle I just happen to be a big Seahawks fan and have become a real fan of our rookie quarterback Russell Wilson. Here's a young man who has to overcome skepticism because of his size (5'10" or 5'11" for a NFL quarterback is considered by many to be too short to be effective). What Wilson lacks in size he seems to make up for in every other category you can think of. He's not only very athletic but a hard worker, composed, and already a leader on the team as a rookie. The things that impress me the most about him is his confidence and attitude. Despite people not believing in him, he has the inner confidence and belief that he will be successful at any level. I recently watched an interview where he asked about his size and people not believing in him, his response struck a chord with me as he talked always in the positive voice and displayed that inner confidence. Part of his answer included the statement, "Why not me". I love that statement as it can apply as positive self-talk in so many situations. Wilson isn't afraid of failure, he is open to success.
As a coach it seems as if I spend quite a bit of time trying to instill positive thinking and positive self-talk in my players. Often it's difficult to find positive role models among pro athletes but I'm currently using Russell Wilson as an example for my basketball team and trying to get each player to realize that with practice and hard work they to can improve and reach their goals. If they buy in then maybe they will have the confidence to step on the court and instead of worrying about results and pressure, they can instead think "Why not me".
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
In addition to the instruction information I added a couple of additional Catching Drills to the drills section.
On another note, living in Seattle I just happen to be a big Seahawks fan and have become a real fan of our rookie quarterback Russell Wilson. Here's a young man who has to overcome skepticism because of his size (5'10" or 5'11" for a NFL quarterback is considered by many to be too short to be effective). What Wilson lacks in size he seems to make up for in every other category you can think of. He's not only very athletic but a hard worker, composed, and already a leader on the team as a rookie. The things that impress me the most about him is his confidence and attitude. Despite people not believing in him, he has the inner confidence and belief that he will be successful at any level. I recently watched an interview where he asked about his size and people not believing in him, his response struck a chord with me as he talked always in the positive voice and displayed that inner confidence. Part of his answer included the statement, "Why not me". I love that statement as it can apply as positive self-talk in so many situations. Wilson isn't afraid of failure, he is open to success.
As a coach it seems as if I spend quite a bit of time trying to instill positive thinking and positive self-talk in my players. Often it's difficult to find positive role models among pro athletes but I'm currently using Russell Wilson as an example for my basketball team and trying to get each player to realize that with practice and hard work they to can improve and reach their goals. If they buy in then maybe they will have the confidence to step on the court and instead of worrying about results and pressure, they can instead think "Why not me".
Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com
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