Coaching Mastery: Expert Tips for Baseball & Softball Coaches ft. Coach Duke Baxter

February 16, 2024

Step onto the diamond with Coach Duke Baxter and Coach D Rubin as they share invaluable tips and strategies for coaching baseball and softball players to success. Drawing from their extensive experience and passion for the game, they delve deep into the nuances of effective coaching techniques and player development.

Coach Duke Baxter begins by highlighting the unique challenges and similarities between coaching baseball and softball, emphasizing the need for adaptability and tailored training approaches. From adjusting field dimensions to simulating game scenarios, he offers practical insights into optimizing practice sessions for maximum player engagement and skill enhancement.

As the conversation unfolds, Coach D Rubin and Coach Duke Baxter explore the art of practice management, introducing the "PRACTICE" acronym—a systematic approach to planning and executing dynamic practice routines. From leveraging available resources to maximizing time efficiency, they provide actionable strategies for coaches to elevate their coaching game and inspire their players.

Recognizing the importance of fostering leadership and teamwork, Coach Duke shares his innovative approach to developing player autonomy and accountability within teams. By empowering players to take ownership of practice routines and team responsibilities, coaches can cultivate a culture of excellence and camaraderie.

The dialogue extends to the realm of elite-level competition, where Coach D Rubin and Coach Duke reflect on the delicate balance between player development and the demands of national-level tournaments. While acknowledging the value of exposure and competition, they underscore the importance of prioritizing holistic player growth and team cohesion.

Video is on YouTube @dr3fastpitch

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Episode Transcript

[Music] welcome to Beyond The Diamond the podcast that goes far beyond the game I'm your host Danielle D Ruben and I'm
here to empower young women parents and coaches in the world of fast pitch softball as the owner and founder of dr3
fast pitch I'm passionate about bringing you inspiring stories valuable insights and expert advice to help you Excel both
on and off the field so whether you're a player looking to take your skills to the next level a parent supporting your
young athlete or a coach seeking to make a difference you're in the right place let's dive in and go beyond the diamond
together hey guys coach D I want to do a little introduction on my special guest speaker today his name is coach Duke
Baxter he's the CEO of Zone sports baseball and softball training in New Jersey he has an amazing facility I got
to go check him out and he's also the creator of the dominate The Diamond online baseball and softball training
videos for coaches okay he's also an author and he's a social media Legend he
has gone viral on Instagram and Tik Tok and YouTube and he just shares so much
amazing content for all players and coaches in the baseball and softball world I love seeing what he does I love
his energy I love his presence and he just has a great message that he brings to everything that he does his energy is
just contagious to be around and I got to meet him at the Louisville Kentucky nfca Convention 2023 in Louisville
Kentucky and the minute I saw him I like turned my head so quick I was like coach Duke I was trying not to like fan girl
and I'm trying not to even fan girl with him on my episode today okay so I'm just super excited we're going to be talking
about travel ball softball baseball we're gonna be talking about working with baseball and softball players
coaches strategies for team practice strategies for mental toughness and I'm just super excited so let's get going
hello everyone I am here with Coach Duke Baxter coach Duke thank you so much for being on today's episode I'm so excited
to have you on here it was a pleasure meeting you at the nfca convention this past year I've been a fan of you on
social media all the content that you're giving out for baseball and softball and I just really wanted to kind of talk and
dive a little deeper into the baseball and softball world I mean there's not many coaches who coach both and I would
love to just know like the differences with you on coaching baseball and
softball players what's the biggest challenge that you have as a coach and an instructor with that well well first
of all thank you know thanks so much for having me on this show was it was equally um exciting uh meeting you at
the NFC and at the fielders Dome mat booth and and and talking and stuff like that uh it's interesting when you see
people on social media then face to face it's so much more fun to uh you know to
communicate and talk and um I think that one of the one of the biggest similarities right the sport is
so much the same but yet so different the speed of the game for you guys in softball is different than in baseball
in baseball it's a fast sport but in softball it's even faster because the bases are closer everything is just so
much shorter and the speed of the game is is quicker um so when when we're
doing a lot of our training here what we do is we we bring the bases in especially even in the off season like
we are right now right we're we're inside we're indoors um the softball players haven't really thrown all that
much but it's so easy just to go live and to throw and the volume is so high
but we'll take the bases in and we'll just move them in 10 feet from each spot and almost like minimize the field so
what that does is a it makes it easier on their arms but it makes them have to
work even faster so if you can think the ball's getting on them quicker they're throwing to the bases quicker it's
almost like you're speeding up the game so when they go outside it almost slows down um because I think a lot of times
we train the athletes and we hit ground balls but we never put timing into it
right like we never you know what's the average girl from home to First well that's the stopwatch that's what we
should be doing and that's how we should be training the players not just hitting them a ground ball letting them take four seconds to field it and throw it
and make a good throw meanwhile the girls running down to first base in 3.2 seconds or 2.8 seconds and you're like
wait a second now all of a sudden the game speeds up on them and now they're making throwing errors they're trying to
rush and they're bobbling balls so I think the biggest difference in baseball and softball is that it's quicker it's
when we're working on hitting it's getting the foot down it's getting the body ready it's getting down into a more
solid foundation yes we teach that in baseball too but we have a little bit more time to do things in baseball you
know um so I think that's those are some of the things and I think mentally it's
I don't know working with softball players is so fun um I feel like they they're a little bit more you know ex
you have to explain it to them a little bit more of why they're doing things with guys it's almost like show me let
me just do it talk me through it but it's a lot more like you know create the
drill let them do it where I feel like with softball players it's it's still some of them it's just like that but
others it's you know why am I doing this how do I do this and it's really a more of a a conversation of what's going on
and then they can it's easier to get them to buy into why and how and then they see the video and and now it's like
oh okay I'm doing this because this how is this was this right was that and then it's you know it's the the process is is
is cooler I feel like um but I think those are the differences that I see
when you train at your facility do you have the girls and the guys work together like in classes or is it
separate it's separate um but you know it's it's it's so funny because a lot of
times you'll see some of the dads of uh of a baseball play be like man I wish my
I wish my son hit like her like she's over in that cage mashing balls and it's like so they're they're all very close
to each other but not in the same like we have an infield class we have the elite you know softball and baseball
they come in back to back but they're not like at the same time and I think that would be a really cool thing what
you're saying but I feel like the challenge for us sometimes is the ball change right the size of the ball change
is like having a bucket for this a bucket for that so the skills are so similar if not almost all exactly the
same and how we're teaching it and showing it but that's the only thing that makes it more challenging for us is
if we all use the same size ball 100% I think it'd be super fun to have baseball and softball all you know
working together um I think that competitive side I know me as a player like you put a guy like I'm just
competitive and so if like a guy's trying to show off like I'm gonna try to one up you like that's just always how I was like in the weight room at the gym
like I don't know why that's my personality um but I've just seen your videos and I didn't know if y all train
together or not it's a good idea though that would be fun we do some of our little some some of our younger classes
because they don't know yet whether they're playing baseball or softball or the girls are still playing baseball so it's fun to to do exactly what you're
saying um you should have some of your picturers pitch to your guys and that'll be a fun oh yeah that I don't think that
the guys are gonna W definitely won't like that too much no I'm loving I see videos of my pitchers pitching to their
baseball players and it cracks me up I love it fires me up well one of the big
things that I've just picked up on your social media and I just loved hearing all the practice tips that you have and
I've seen videos of you on was on social media I think it was on another podcast before but I'd love for you to share
like practice tips for coaches because one of the biggest questions I get and I'm not in the coaching world that much
I coached for two years I was a part like a part-time travel ball coach for
an 18u team and I saw like at practices we would it's about two hours long to be
honest it wasn't as efficient as I had at the college level like at the college level was like bang bang bang bang we
knew what we were doing especially at the D1 level we had a schedule right when we showed up we knew exactly what the time slots were we didn't go over it
was just it was just very organized and a lot of coaches come to me and they're
like I'm not getting enough time in practice I don't know what to work on these girls need reps but then these girls mental game is off and I don't
know I can't manage the pitchers I mean you have any tips for coaches on trying to manage these practices or I mean
we'll just start off with 12 to 14 year olds first right yeah yeah yeah I think
that coaches don't realize as much that the the girls are going to take on you
know the personality of them as a coach right if I go to practice and I'm not organized the girls aren't going to be
organized if I go there without a plan the girls aren't going to have a plan then we're wondering why they're all over the place and bouncing around and
not well it's because they don't they don't know what they're supposed to be doing like you said in college you had
the practice plan it was taped to the wall when you walked in you knew exactly what you were doing if you got there
early you knew before everyone else knew what was going on you were almost almost in your in your mind you were planning
what practice was going to be like if you don't have that then you don't know where you're supposed to go from here to
there when you're getting a water break when you're throwing when you're so you know coach Steve and I when we're on all
the Dominate the diamond stuff that we have it's talking to the coaches about preparing in that Advance right we know
nobody has time right they're going from work to practice but they still need to prepare what's going on so we created an
acronym that I think is really important it's just the word practice so p is
players how many players do you have right because a lot of times okay you're expecting to have all 12 but now all of
a sudden you're starting picturing your catcher have basketball practice and they're not going to be there you design
this kick butt practice plan and you're missing your catcher and your pitcher well your practice plan is now going to
change right based on who the players are uh the r is for resources what resources do you have do you have one
bucket of balls do you have a bucket in a tea do you have smoos balls do you have a batting cage do you have a te
like what do you have that you're actually going to be able to use in your practice that goes into the into the the
planning a what area do you have do you have cages do you have a do you have just a field are you on a gym floor do
you have you know so everything goes into that the C is coaches how many coaches do you have right if you have 14
14year old girls well is there just one coach well now I have to really plan on
breaking them up into groups but they have to be self-run stations right like
there's only one coach I can either line up all 14 girls and roll one ball at a time which is going to be so boring or I
can design the stations knowing there's only me today or do I have two other helpers to where now I can break up the
stations you know that way um the tea is for time how much time do I have am I do
using it do I have an hour do I have two hours do I have an hour and a half that's that's also super important and
then what do you want to work on you know do you want to work on hitting and Fielding do you want game strategies do
you wanna so you take all those elements and then you start populating it all okay we have 12 girls our entire team's
going to be there I have two coaches I have a batting cage and a field I have
an hour and a half to work with and I want to work on Fielding I want to work on pitching I want to work on hitting
and I want to work on rundowns today and then you just start creating that the formula now just Blends in okay now
we're going to break up into three eight minute stations so that's 24 minutes then a water break and then three other
eight minute stations so you're really starting to create like oh this is a
great formula for a great practice and you know you ask the question of how long should practice be I love hour and
a half practices maybe two hours maybe but I always say if you're getting bored
the kids were already bored 15 minutes ago so if you're like oh let me just squeeze you know the lemonade out of the
lemon well okay well you know an hour and a half is fine not okay now what we
gonna do for the next 30 minutes uh well then practice should be over right like because then nothing good is happening
after that so um I feel like the you know doing the skills finishing off with
a team competition and then maybe like a 30 minute simulated game I think that always is so fun for the kids whether
it's just six on six or you break it up into you know four in the Outfield four in the infield and four hitting and they
just rotate and they're like there's three different teams of four and they're playing against each other like make it fun make practice fun so that
they want to come back so I love that acronym that is an amazing acronym and I
will be using that one in the future um I mean my brain's already running right now I'm like that is awesome just to
help people stay organized um when it comes to for like what would you say if girl
like okay let me rewind BP at practice one of my biggest
pet peeves with this is girls just in the Outfield like just nonchalant like
they're not taking it serious and at the college level I mean we like we played games with it like we came up with our
own games I really tried to get these girls um that I worked with trying to get them a little bit more motivated
with these games but I mean I wasn't a head coach so I didn't overstep on certain areas of the structure and the
culture of the team but I mean BP is boring for me like as a coach it's boring to watch especially if it's just
it's not really organized I mean do you have any suggestions on how to make BP like more fun I mean if you said
stimulated game like automatically that's I feel like the answer right right
and another thing we like to do is you know not just BP but you have two other stations on the side so one's taking BP
one's Hitting off the te one maybe is hitting soft toss into a net so they're all getting ready together not just the
one person the you have the people that are in the infield and give them points for making plays like they're playing
the ball live off the bat so they're Fielding balls and throwing them out and they're getting points on
defense hold on second and they're getting points on defense for making plays the ground ball if they boot a
ball they lose a point if they catch it clean and throw it the first they get a point you know in the Outfield the same
exact thing how quick can you get the ball into the the relay person or hit you know maybe there's just a screen out
there and have to throw the ball to the screen so now everything is gamified and you give the point you give D the same
exact thing like um you give points to the batter line drives are one point you
know if you hit in the Gap it's two points if you hit the fence it's three points and if you just hit the you know and a weak ground ball is just zero
right just like a weak hit or whatever and now everyone's getting points and it's just like so much more fun you have
the kids keep track of their own score like it doesn't matter it doesn't have to be like one coach or oh now I need three people that keep track of the no
it doesn't have to be crazy like that the kids will keep track of what's going on and then when they rotate it's like
all right we have we got nine points that round or this batter got eight points the infield got so it just makes
it way more fun what incentives have you had for like the teams with the most points are the
players man uh I don't know maybe they get one of the uh the dr3 beginner
pitching courses if they went um um
I mean would you say like they get like off the top of my head it depends on the age group so like younger girls I feel
like they like taking charge a little bit more of they want if y'all win then you get to pick the last 15 minutes of
what we do at practice what game that we play or even if it's not even softball related we do kickball or whatever it is
just to like have fun I feel like that's what the younger girls kind of strive for the older girls I got to think about that a little bit more as far as like
what they might want as an incentive whether it's practice is cut to an hour
like it's cut 15 minutes for the next practice or what like I don't know I think that's an awesome idea you know
and it just got me to think about um one of the things I spoke about a couple weeks ago was putting the girls in
charge of practice right because a lot of times we don't know who the leaders are we don't know who who wants to lead
who can lead so every day at practice we would nominate two two players and it
would change every week and it was no specific order but everyone got a chance to do it so it's like okay and what what
it means when you're a team leader that day is you have to make sure that all the balls are back in the bucket the
dugouts are clean that when we play catch all the balls are picked up and brought over here when we're done in the
cages everything is brought back and not just those two people have to do it all
but they have to make sure that it's all done so as a team we all have to do it and they're the ones that are in charge
of making sure that it was done and the coaches won't believe how much faster things get done and when
you and when you explain it properly the other girls that aren't the leaders know that maybe next week it's going to be
them so you find the ones that maybe were goofing off a little bit they don't because they want everyone else to
listen to them when it's their turn to be a leader so it's two different girls every single time then it starts back to
zero again so they're not really captains we just call them team leaders for the week so they have to do it for
practice and then they do it on the games that weekend and then that following Monday it starts all over
again and that has become something that really they love taking ownership of
stuff and being able to call it their own or hey this is how we're going to do it and you know so you give them a
little sheet here's the here's the warm-up so here go follow this and go run warm-ups and they can do it all by
themselves you go watch the teams doing their entire warm-up by themselves they're doing the throwing routine by
themselves and they like whoa how are you guys doing that it's like well they're in charge and it's it's so cool
to see you know and if they mess up who cares like you're just teaching them how to you know how to take ownership life
lessons they're learning life lessons through this right then and this just gonna help them be a better adult and
especially just prepare them for the college world but I mean I know all the life experience I learned in softball has got me to where I am and stuff we
did similar things like that um or my senior year so it was like but again we were 18 years old at that time so it
it's kind of like girls if we don't do it then we're not going to perform so like we knew that was our expectation
but this kind of feeds into my next question for you and I have mixed opinions on this because I've been a
part of a team like this but then I also see the struggles with it so if you're on a nationally ranked or not even nationally ranked just a national team
where they pick girls from one state one state one state I mean you only come together on the weekends to play you
don't have the ability to have practice like this at all you don't be a you're not able to build these skills but you
might as well you might be showcased a little bit more I mean what's your opinion on those teams because for me
I'm all about building culture and I think it's impossible to build a culture if you only are playing with them like
once a month or once every other like here and there so the expectations the relationships it's not going to be able
to be built but I get that you're also getting ranked it's also a lot of money
out of Mom and Dad's pocket that I'm like oh my goodness gracious like you can get that you could be playing
somewhere else and getting just as much exposure for Less the money but I mean what's your opinion on that topic I
think that there's a time and place for all of it right like I'm not I'm not saying it's wrong that's just not
something that we do here at Zone we take our team we have our 12 guys and we
go head to Georgia and it's our same team we're not bringing in for that
special event two other stud Short Stops and the other two guys are sitting now and the first Bas is not playing anymore
and we're flying in six pitchers again there's nothing wrong with it if that's what people if that's you know and
there's organizations that build their organizations based on doing that um we just don't do it right um but I think
that like you said there's there's a time and a place for it even for that specific player that maybe she loves
playing at home with her friends and that's awesome and but she's really good
and going to a certain event with another team can get her exposure like I
feel like a lot of times if you just communicate that and like hey this weekend I can't go because I'm going to
blah blah blah I'm not selling out the team you know in advance so if you want me to play these are the two events that
are like must dos for me and but I'd love to be on your team and if and if I can't then I understand and then the
answer is no and then I'll I have to make another decision but I think a lot of times it's when everyone's like
sneaky about it like oh um I was sick this weekend and you find out that they went down to Georgia and they were
playing for another team and you're like just you know but I think people are
afraid to do that they're afraid to talk up front or what's going to happen then what's the coach going to say what am I
going to get kicked off the team or you know but what they don't realize is that the word travels really fast and then
other coaches realize and find out what's going on like wait don't you play on so and so's team what are you doing
here this weekend oh well college coaches do know that stuff and they worry about that especially with the
transfer report and other things that are going on today like what kind of what kind of player is that what you know what kind of makeup does he have or
she have to what's going to happen you know but I think there's a time and a place for both you need the the travel
teams that that stay local and play you need the ones that travel just as a unit and then you need the ones that hey they
just fly everybody in and they all get their jerseys that day they don't know each other they don't but they just go
and play and they know what they're doing right they know what they're getting that's it and you know they're all first round draft picks and they win
and it's like but when we go to play those guys are like hey let's let's get ready it's it's going to be a tough you
know it's just different but I think it's you know one of the questions I get
asked around like I have a couple pitchers right now they're kind of on the Teeter Totter of Are We jumping to a
ball right now are we okay with being the third or fourth pitcher on a really strong team might not get a lot of
playing time or do we stay down another level get a little bit more playing time but they're at that sophomore freshman
sophomore year high school and they're asking me they're like coach D what's your opinion do I need to be on like in
Georgia the Atlanta vipers is a big name or Georgia impact's a big name and so like do we need to try out for a team
like that or can I stay on more of the Georgia fire or something like that and I was like so I have mixed opinions
because some of these girls I think they need a little bit more Reps for mental game um if you're not going to play then I feel like you're going to mentally
break down a little bit where I was the opposite player so I was never the stud on any travel ball team I played with um
I wanted to fight for my position and I played for the impact I played for the Vipers and that made me the player I was
at the college level and just like I was hungry to fight and hungry to learn but
like I was learning through those girls that were playing and everyone's different when it comes to that but when
do you think that turning point is I mean do you think it's more important recruiting purposes to have the name on
The Jersey even if you're not playing as much or is it to be playing a little bit more but you might not be as exposed to
as many schools because of the name on your jersey I I have a different answer I think my answer is who do you have in
your corner when you're playing on your team like there's some people we don't have the best team in the world but I
think 90% of the guys that were on this last team are all playing college baseball like we're they're not playing
for you know a nationally ranked team but having coaches and a group of people
that hey this guy you know is going to vouge for you when a college coach calls or you're calling a college coach on
their behalf and they just right there in a spot are like boom so I think that's sometimes just gets pushed under
the rug like people don't think that's a thing but man it's really something big you know when you're talking to coaches
and you're you know someone's reaching out hey what kind you know I see so and so he's throwing 90 but what's he like
well you have to give a real answer so it's not just do you throw 90 miles an hour what is that person what kind of teammate is he what kind of makeup does
have what kind and now you have to be honest and truthful about that right and even vice versa sometimes maybe he just
throws 83 but man he's a gamer and he and he fights and he you know and you can vouch for a guy and the coach like
we're gonna take him and the kid does awesome it's so I think people have to be careful what team they play for they
have to see what's the staff like what are the coaches like what are the people that are going to be representing them
like because if you have a bad feeling about that it's not the right place you know if I'm just looking for for the
best girls well who's get who's not to say that when I sign on all of a sudden there's another girl now from Alabama
that pitches better than me and I'm already I'm just bumped down here now well now what happens now I'm the third string pitcher I pitched one inning all
weekend it doesn't matter if I have that amazing name on my chest if I'm not playing and I'm not getting you know
what I mean so to your point though it's a fine line because that doesn't mean I'm not saying that you shouldn't fight
for where you're you know nothing should be handed to you like oh you're the number one pitcher but you need to get reps in the summer you need to know that
you're on a team that you're going to be able to work your way up and be able to
be seen or maybe go to that showcase instead with that same name on your chest so they're looking at you in a
different fashion so I know my answer is kind of a little bit all over the place but I I just I see that it's kind of
like a windy road of of a lot of different things you know not just one
and I think the key to just both of our answers is the
or for your answer and that's what I'm going with now is having a coach who will vouch for you and like just having
some a coach who is knowledgeable about their recruiting World about knowing these coaches having good relationships with college coaches because the minute
a coach lies to a college coach about this this pitcher throws 65 and has five amazing spins and then she shows up to
camp and she throws not even 60 and she can't even throw a change up and a drop and like she has no spin at all like
you've lost credibility right there and college coaches talk and I hear that a lot and so I tell my girls I'm like I
will because recruiting is like I will help y'all with that and I will talk you through it and I will talk to a many
college coaches as you'd like but I am G to be honest and I'm G to be honest about your mental toughness I'm G to be
honest about your attitude I'm going to be honest about Mom and Dad if coaches ask these questions because I have a reputation I need to maintain and like
what I tell them I will tell you to your face you're not going to hear something else come out of me like I'm going to be as honest and truthful and vulnerable to
both sides and it's all coming out of love but I also have to protect my name and myself when it comes to talking to
college coaches I'm not going to sugarcoat things like maybe somebody else would um so that's and there's and
there's a lot of that right there's a lot of sugar coating to get them on the team oh you'll be starting it short stop
and you'll bat third and next thing you know you're on the team and you're not you're not batting third and you're not
playing short stop then you're like what and now of a sudden you have to now what you know it's like oh do I work through
this do I you know what's what's going on here and I feel like that's the thing
that happens sometimes it's people just jump too fast if they're not happy right away and I think you you keep on saying
the mental toughness and the and that's such a huge thing that a lot of parents don't and players don't think is is a
thing right like a coach is gonna ask what's mom and dad like what's he like on the field what's he like off the
field they get there early to watch batting practice and to see how you get off the bus they don't think that's true
I don't think be but you hear it all the time out of college coaches you know they went to the game and they left before the game started because of the
way the player acted or did something and the team culture is so huge and it's
trying to instill that in them you know is it's hard especially trying to do it
in lessons and you know outside of that and in practice and trying to you know have failure Fridays having practices
that are really hard that you know they're not going to be able to do but to push them through it so that when the game comes they can you know try to
really maintain that uh that Focus I saw I mean at a showcase last summer um who
was it I can't honestly I can't think of the name of the coach or the school heck there's three college coaches two of
them were not even wearing their college stuff like they were dressed like they looked like a parent and I I was just
kind of picking up because I saw the clipboard and I saw their backpack and it didn't have a logo on it but I was I was picking up I was like you're not
just like an average parent like what and and then I asked my travel I asked the head coach I'm like who is that and
then he said the college coach's name I was like I knew it I was like I I had signals from that and then on top of
that I saw Karen Weekley who was just sitting in her car and she was just had her arms crossed she was watching a game
and I was parked right next to her and I was just like oh hi um right she was I
mean I was just watching the players and how they were talking to their parents in the uh parking lot and I'm like she has a front row seat to this madness
right now and people don't even realize it I mean she was decked out in Tennessee stuff but still I mean she was
hiding in her car like just kind of watching the game from her car and like could see and monitoring everything and
then those two college coaches dressed not like college coaches I mean it is a thing and people truly don't believe
that well plus think about it you see the the coach from Ohio State walk by you see the missou coach walk by you see
you know Tennessee walk by you're GNA act differently shaping up right you're gonna act differently and everything you
do from that point on is going to be you know without that you're going to really see the true colors of what the players really like and that's what they're
really going to get is is that so I think that's awesome well with mental
toughness this will be kind of the thing that we wrap up on today I'm so thankful again for you being on here this is
awesome information that you're sharing love this conversation and I do know you talk a lot about mental toughness and
you do like motivational stuff around that area I mean how often do you believe players baseball
and softball need to be training on the mental game per week because my answer I
say minimum one day but that's like minimum in my opinion I think it should be a part of every practice every
pitching Bullpen every lesson somehow some way I mean what's your opinion on coaches training that with yeah I mean I
I I think it's every day right in in some capacity whether it's just positive
selft talk whether it's journaling like how's your day going right how how was your how was your hitting session today
what was it like you know what did you guys work on you know what could you do better at how after a game how did I
pitch today what how was I feeling just kind of really just getting you know
getting more in-depth with with yourself of what's happening and what's going on and what well maybe I didn't do well
because this happened earlier in the day you know maybe I didn't get a good grade on my on one of my tests and I carried
that into the game and then I carried that into my warm-ups and then it took me three Innings to really flush
everything out and then I was really but if you write that down and journal it you're like oh this look at this is why
you know I need to make sure that I clear my mind after a bad test or blah blah blah blah or you know after the
first game of a double header I'm over for three with three strikeouts I need to be able to write that down how do I feel what I do once it's done I crumple
up I throw it in the garbage can and then Here Comes game two it's like now I'm like 0 for o but so many players are
I'm 0 for three well now I go one for one but now I'm still just one for four so so if you keep on compounding it well
I'm still having a bad day instead of up on one for one today let's go that's a totally different mindset so if we can
have the the opening day mindset every single game it's like we're starting from scratch and that's what we try to
do here when we're talking about tournaments it's like I don't care what you did last weekend because this tournament's a whole another you know
it's not a big it's not like a grade in School where just it just keeps on compounding and then whatever you did
like I mean yes yes and no right if we can take it as every weekend's totally
separate or even every day or every game or every inning right we're just trying to win every inning we trying to win every inning win
every pitch like okay we lost the first inning two nothing can we win the second inning well it's way more fun thinking
of it like that than oh we give up six rounds we can't win today well are we just gonna stop playing the game or are
we gonna try to keep can we win the other five innings that we're playing and try to get them to think that way um
and the parents right trying to get the parents to think that way because ultimately once the game's over they get
in the car with their parents it's all that's a whole another conversation right but that one's just as important
because we're only with them for so long you have maybe a 30 minute lesson with them or a on hour practice within the
mom and dad with for the other 23 hours of the day and what are they saying what's their talk like to them oh man
two strikeouts say I can't believe it you stink what are you do like then now they're beating them down and it's
trying to get them to you know how do you say good things to yourself or you
know pick up a teammate to make you feel better as well right anytime you say something good to somebody else it makes
you feel better and now that person is g to do the same thing to you and now you have a team of people so like you were
saying before team culture is so important in building that good solid team culture um but I think every day
that everyone should be working on themselves what you're grateful for what you did well today what could I have worked a little bit harder on did I get
better today because that all just keeps compounding to better and better and better like wow look at me at the end of
the week you know I I took a thousand swings like I'm better you know little
small wins is is the way to go 1% better every day is what I tell my girls either
physically mentally or emotionally that's what your goal is in this training session in this practice just
when you wake up in the morning how can I be 1% better as a ball player and human being in
general um but you mentioned I'll just end on this the flush it mentality and that was Brian K's um I learned that
through Brian Kan and college and I have actually a little potty at my facility or at the place that I give less at and
mainly my younger girls I've even had my older girls do it and they roll their eyes at me I'm like you better I don't care how old you are you're going to flush your negativity down this potty um
but it's like a little pink body and it sings the song when they flush it but they write if they come in with attitudes or they're upset or if they
had a bad day I'm might go straight there let's write it out let's crumble it up let's flush it because this is a
new new hour new time reset regroup refocus um so I just think that flush of
mentality works very well and people are like crumble it up and throw it away no like actually do that and you feel power
from that or I did at least in college and and I think it's it's equally important for coaches do the same thing
leave your work environment or your home environment outside once you go to practice those 12 kids are so excited to
be there with you it could be the best part of their day so you having an attitude as a a coach coming into a day
that oh you just had a bunch of things go wrong well now all of a sudden you take it out on the kids and it's like a
horrible experience so as coaches we need to do the same exact thing before we step onto the field I
think that's important too well coach Duke thank you so much for being on this week's episode it's
been awesome chatting with you I would love for you to tell everybody how they can get in contact with you how they can
find you on social media and some of a few little things about what you have going on at Zone sure sure it's uh Duke
bter is my personal stuff we have dominate The Diamond that's all the online courses the baseball and softball
courses um and then atzone sports that's where we are in Bridgewater New Jersey uh we have YouTube channels for both and
you know we have a lot of videos and we post daily so come see us in New Jersey
you can see us online and uh hope everybody gets better yes hopefully I'd
love to off the podcast I'd love to chat with you in the future and see how I can come up to New Jersey and do something
with you I'd love to do some pitching stuff with you that'll be awesome that'll be awesome well thank so much
for having me on the show of course thank you so much yall have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a great rest of the
week thanks thank you for joining us on this episode of Beyond The Diamond
connect with us on all social media platforms Twitter Facebook Tik Tok and YouTube @ drr3 fast pitch but Instagram
is my biggest platform where I post daily content for questions or topic ideas visit our website Dr through fast
pitch.com and submit the form on our homepage I would love to feature you on our next episode remember you can find
all of our episodes on Apple podcast Spotify and on our website dr3 fast pitch.com stay tuned for more exciting
discussions stories and insights in the world of fast pitch softball on the next episode of Beyond The Diamond until then
remember the only thing that matters is the next pitch deep breath next pitch I will see you soon

Coaching Mastery: Expert Tips for Baseball & Softball Coaches ft. Coach Duke Baxter

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