Baseball Coach Research Articles

Working with Sport Clients in Transitions: Four Practitioners, Four Narratives

In this paper, we aim to present four narratives disclosing our applied experiences of working with sport clients in transitions. Within the narratives, each practitioner reflected on their professional philosophy, approaches used in practice, and provided a case illustration. The four included cases on transitions of a student-athlete, a retired jockey, a novice baseball coach, and a basketball coach were informed by diversified developmental theoretical perspectives, employing context-driven approaches, and person-centered collaborations. Consistent with the literature, we share effective ways of developing client awareness of the transition demands/barriers, helping them become more resourceful to cope, supporting their coping strategies, and stimulating reflexivity on their transition experience.

Pride of the Greyhounds: Ray Legenza and 64 Straight Wins by Connecticut’s Best High School Baseball Team by Paul Hensler

Reviewed by: Pride of the Greyhounds: Ray Legenza and 64 Straight Wins by Connecticut’s Best High School Baseball Team by Paul Hensler Jorge Iber Paul Hensler. Pride of the Greyhounds: Ray Legenza and 64 Straight Wins by Connecticut’s Best High School Baseball Team. Naugatuck, CT: Paul Hensler, 2022. 306 pp. Paperback, $20.00. There are few things that can make a small town prouder than to have a group of their youths “make good” at the state level and, even in some cases, to bring national notoriety to the community. Winning state titles, particularly for a locale steeped in working- class values, is also often an element in such stories. The chronicle of the 1969– 72 Naugatuck High School Greyhounds, under the leadership of their legendary coach Ray Legenza, fits into this framework perfectly. In this self-published work, author Paul Hensler, himself a 1974 graduate of Naugatuck High, takes his readers on an ephemeral tour of the borough since the mid-nineteenth century. From the start, industrial production was at the heart of the community’s economic vitality, with the making of metal, rubber, and chemicals being among the principal endeavors. As many other authors have noted (in regard to the connection between such towns and sport— with [End Page 126] S. L. Price’s Playing through the Whistle being an excellent example), by the time we get to this story’s setting Naugatuck was beginning to decline and suffer from both environmental and economic deterioration. In this context, the notoriety and achievements of Coach Legenza and his charges were a welcome respite. Hensler provides background on Coach Ray and how he came to wind up in charge of the Greyhounds. Long before the storied undefeated run, which is the focus of this work, the NHS nine had success under his leadership, winning various titles in the 1950s and early 1960s. Coach Ray also guided the school’s football team to state championships in 1956 and 1967. In addition to discussing his success on the diamond and gridiron, the author also notes that Legenza, who served his country in the army during World War II, was a loving husband and father, a devout Catholic, and had a very conservative nature, precisely counter to much of what was taking place in the broader culture at the end of the 1960s. The reason for mentioning these points is because the military, his working- class upbringing, and his faith certainly shaped the way that Ray managed his charges at NHS. Particularly significant is how Hens-ler focuses on these elements in order to contrast Legenza to another successful high school baseball coach of this era, Lynn Sweet, whose unorthodox (might we say “hippie”) leadership methodology helped guide a Macon, Illinois, high school team to a state title at about this same time (in 1971). This particular, and in many ways, contrasting story is described in Chris Ballard’s book, One Shot at Forever. The divergence in managerial styles could not have been starker, but it is also insightful to see how two men, in similar situations, found success dealing with the broader social changes confronting their teenage charges. The book proceeds to examine the Greyhound’s loss in the state title game in 1969 and the subsequent start of the sixty- four-game winning streak. Hens-ler does a good job of providing a not overwhelming (specific game-by- game) recounting of the streak but just enough to provide readers with a sense of both NHS’s dominance against weaker opponents and more tense moments along the way of the long stretch of victories. Of course, the longer this string continued, the more positive publicity there was for NHS and their community. Additionally, there was a serious process of researching which high school team in the United States actually held the longest winning streak in baseball. At first, it was thought that the honor belonged to a school in Newark, New Jersey, with a total of sixty. However, it was ultimately (though incorrectly, as a team from Oklahoma City won sixty- six consecutively between 1952 and 1954) determined that a school in Waxahachie, Texas (with a total of sixty- five...

The Bold News of Birdcalls by Edward Morin

Reviewed by: The Bold News of Birdcalls by Edward Morin Meg Kearney (bio) the bold news of birdcalls Edward Morin Kelsay Books https://kelsaybooks.com/products/the-bold-news-of-birdcalls 102 pages; Print, $18.50 "It might almost be said that the birds are all birds of the poets and of no one else, because it is only the poetical temperament that fully responds to them," said John Burroughs in the opening line of his Birds and Poets (1877). As proof, the world abounds with poems about and inspired by birds. Although Edward Morin's new book often strays from that feathered subject, The Bold News of Birdcalls is filled with a variety of songs as well as the "news" of stories. The collection is divided into four sections of fairly equal size, each with a varied tone suggested by its title: "Noise of Blue Jays," "Melody of Wrens," "Endurance of Robins," and "Passage of Swans." With boisterous, troublesome jays ("sinister as Dutch elm disease") as its [End Page 136] backdrop, part 1 explores themes of life and death through its free-verse elegies for fellow poet-teacher friends, a poem titled "Icicles" ("Stilettos of ice, / as many as stabbed Caesar"), as well as a gripping narrative detailing the speaker as victim of an armed robbery that nearly saw him killed. A tribute to those "black-winged acrobats," "Bank Swallows" almost reads like a love poem as the speaker recalls finding the swallows' nest: "Remember, love, our barefooted climb / in dry roots thin as hair, up the sliding, / steep sand hill?" But it ends on an ominous note as the birds "flutter and scold above us / … throwing shadows the size of hawks." In "Depression," a jack-o'-lantern sits "ravaged" in the post-Halloween season just as we humans are ravaged by the passing of years; its "limp mouth / twists crookedly as during a stroke." And the last poem in the section, "Yes," tells the story of Joe Sartori, a neighbor of the speaker's parents whom the speaker visits when home from college. Sartori, wheelchair-bound and nearly completely paralyzed, is capable of saying only one word: "Yes." This sort of one-note song proves to be an inspiration to the speaker, when he is old enough to appreciate the affirmation embodied in the word. Part 2 kicks off with a sort of ode in tercets to the "plain-brown-wrappered wren" who appears in April seeking summer "housing." While the goldfinches "emulate forsythias' hue," the plain wren is a "friend of gardeners" with a surprisingly strong song: Voice vibrations pulsate from chin through tall throatand halfway down the chest. Such breath control!What long, loud peals for such a little bell. This is a section of nostalgia, with the speaker recalling memories of a childhood spent in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We take a ride on the "Milk Train"; we meet Brad, a high school classmate who died young; we hear the clang of metal on glass as carpenter's nails are poured into a jar; we join in the rallying cry to rid the Midwest's wetlands of the invader-phragmites choking out the cattails and pushing out the wildlife; we listen to a fish story of "The Big One" that got away; and wince when a man falls from a ladder as well as when the baseball coach calls a twelve-year-old second baseman an "idiot," only to remember—much to his embarrassment and horror—that the boy is "slow witted." The speaker is haunted by his mistake, recalling being labeled a [End Page 137] "moron" by schoolmates as a youth; and "Now that I'd acted really dumb, the mantra / 'You idiot!' choked deep in my throat." Morin's is a warm and empathetic voice, buoyed and inspired by birds. His very soul is lifted by seeing them and hearing their calls—"as when indigo buntings fly through sunlight, / magically changing from black to bright blue" and when from the canopy of deep woods ringsone distant thrush's haunting descant …This recluse trills its two voice boxeslike Pan's double flute. The poems in part 2 are often written in...

Colin in Black and White

Colin in Black and White

The interaction between servant leadership and organizational culture: an NCAA Division III case study

PurposeServant leadership is primarily focused on the empowerment and moral development of followers (Burton et al., 2017). Within sports research, little is known about how servant leadership interacts with organizational culture in teams. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the servant leadership of one head baseball coach and examine the degree to which servant leadership affects the program's culture.Design/methodology/approachData were collected for this case study of an NCAA Division III head baseball coach throughout one academic year. Sources included 12 interviews (ranging from four minutes to 92 min), observation of practices and games, textual analysis of documents and websites, as well as the coach's reflection journal. Data were analyzed using a six-phase process of thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).FindingsThe participant exhibited the following servant leadership behaviors: empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, behaving ethically, and conceptual skills (Liden et al., 2015, 2008). In addition, the program maintained a culture featuring a few distinct artifacts, very clear espoused values, and three deeply held basic assumptions. The findings suggest that the head coach used servant leadership not to create or change culture but instead to amplify the existing culture of the baseball program.Originality/valueThere is strong evidence of a link between servant leadership and team culture, which is context-bound. At the Division III level, servant leadership behaviors can be used to embody a program's culture. Furthermore, through this embodiment, servant leaders can perpetuate an effective, functioning team culture, particularly within intercollegiate athletics.

Did judge dismiss coach's age discrimination claim?

Indiana University at South Bend's athletics department began searching for a full‐time baseball coach. They desired a coach who would prioritize successful recruiting, student‐ athlete success off the field, and follow university policy.

Judge rules baseball coach might have discriminated

Case name: Resendez v. Prance, et al., No. 3:16‐cv‐862 (N.D. Ind. 03/29/18).

The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly by Rebecca K. S. Ansari

Reviewed by: The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly by Rebecca K. S. Ansari Wesley Jacques Ansari, Rebecca K. S. The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly. Walden Pond/HarperCollins, 2019 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-267966-6 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-267968-0 $7.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-8 On his twelfth birthday, Charlie wishes desperately for his little brother Liam back. Liam vanished a year ago, and only Charlie seems to remember Liam ever existed; he’s also troubled by strangely vivid dreams of being part of a family emigrating from Ireland in the 1800s. Only Ana, Charlie’s best friend, seems to believe him about Liam, and the two of them attempt together to figure out what happened. A mysterious note soon points the duo in the direction of their baseball coach Jonathan, who tells them of an asylum full of children erased from their lives by their regrets, and Charlie is determined to investigate what may be the answer to Liam’s disappearance. Ansari’s layered mystery is as supernaturally intriguing as it is realistically unsettling, as depression and loss seem to haunt Charlie and his family. A happy ending, although neater than the otherwise smartly but heartbreakingly messy story suggests, is well earned by each character’s acceptance that life, love, and family are necessarily complicated and will always be. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Identity(ies) Explored: How Journalists’ Self-conceptions Influence Small-town News

ABSTRACTExisting literature on community journalism suggests it is worthwhile to theoretically and conceptually examine journalists in small towns. These reporters and editors always wear multiple hats, including news worker, community member, and booster. Therefore, drawing on newsroom observations and interviews, and applying the interpretive lenses of sociology and identity theory, this study examines the self-perceived identities of weekly newspaper news workers, and how those identities influence their news production. Findings across three organizations show that for these journalists, professional identity is intertwined with personal identity as a church member or baseball coach. Simply put, these journalists see themselves as members of the community that their newspaper covers. Their interactions with friends and neighbors are also interactions with sources – and with advertisers. This sense of personal connection further serves as a key motivation to produce meaningful news for their communities, which the author suggests has served as a safeguard to declines in readership for many small-town weekly newspapers.

Youth Baseball Coach Awareness of Pitch Count Guidelines and Overuse Throwing Injuries Remains Deficient.

Baseball is one of the most popular youth sporting activities. Youth pitchers remain at high risk for shoulder and elbow overuse injuries despite well-established recommendations on pitch count limits. The purpose of this investigation was to conduct surveys of youth baseball coaches evaluating the current state of understanding and compliance with youth pitch count guidelines and risk factors for overuse injuries. A total of 82 youth baseball coaches in surrounding suburban areas outside 2 separate Midwestern metropolitan cities were asked to answer an anonymous 13-question survey. Survey questions solicited demographic information of youth athletes coached, while assessing for incidence, knowledge of, and compliance with established recommendations on pitch count limits and upper extremity overuse injuries in youth pitchers. In total, 61 of 82 (74%) coaches returned surveys. The majority of coaches reported coaching male athletes (89%, n=54) primarily between the ages of 11 to 12 years (51%, n=31). A total of 56% (n=34) of coaches reported "always" keeping track of pitch counts; however, 92% (n=56) reporting not keeping track of pitches based on established recommendations by the American Sports Medicine Institute, whereas 56% were noncompliant with age appropriate pitch count recommendations as established by the 2006 US Baseball Medical and Safety Advisory Committee. Only 13% (n=8) of coaches were able to correctly identify risk factors for overuse injuries while acknowledging the necessity of off-season strengthening. Thirty-eight percent (n=23) of coaches reported sitting out an athlete because of overuse injury, with the highest rates found in those coaching the youngest (≤8 and younger) and oldest (≥17 and older) age groups. Meanwhile, 15% (n=9) of coaches were noncompliant with age-based recommendations against throwing breaking pitches. Knowledge regarding pitch count guidelines established to prevent overuse injuries to the shoulder and elbow in youth pitchers remains deficient in the cohort of coaches surveyed. Level IV-Case Series.

Judge rules baseball coach might have discriminated

Case name: Resendez v. Prance, et al., No. 3:16‐cv‐862 (N.D. Ind. 03/29/18).

A systematic review on posterior circumflex humeral artery pathology: sports and professions at risk and associated risk factors.

Posterior circumflex humeral artery (PCHA) aneurysm formation and thrombosis as overuse injury in the dominant shoulder can result in ischemia of the forearm, hand and digits due to arterial embolisms. Increased awareness among physicians is necessary as PCHA pathology (PCHAP) might be underdiagnosed. Knowledge of sports and professions at risk and risk-factors for obtaining PCHAP is essential for the development of future preventive measures. This study aims to identify sports and professions at risk as well as risk factors for PCHAP. The databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus were systematically searched. Twenty-seven papers fulfilled the inclusion criteria and described 67 patients with PCHAP involved in seven sports and three professions. The sports (number of cases) were volleyball (41), baseball (13), swimming (1), tennis (3), American football (2), canoeing (1) and yoga (1) (2 unknown). The professions included a baseball coach, a circus trapeze artist and a mechanic. Apart from expert opinions, no studies have identified risk factors for PCHAP. An anatomic variation of the PCHA origin is suggested to be protective for PCHAP. PCHAP is reported in seven overhead sports and three professions. No risk factors for PCHAP were identified. An anatomic variant of the PCHA origin was found to be a potential protective factor for PCHAP. Physicians should be cautious for distal embolization as a result of PCHAP in athletes and workers, both adult and adolescent, involved in repetitive powerful overhead movements.

Speed/Agility Editorial

This Special Topic Issue for the Strength and Conditioning Journal (SCJ) is on speed and agility. Over the course of my previous athletic career (D.J.S.), I often heard sport coaches say, “You cannot teach speed.” I never thought this was true, but I did not participate in track, so I did not have a sport coach who could technically teach me how to sprint better. In addition, I never had a sport coach who was exceptional at teaching me the most effective ways to change directions. Therefore, I did what I could to run fast and make defensive plays. Once I decided to be a baseball coach, I was determined to learn as much as I could about becoming an excellent coach through my formal education and practical experiences working with other knowledgeable baseball and sports performance coaches. At that time, I became a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. By reading articles and books, watching video tapes and DVDs, going to conferences, and then, later in my career, learning from some outstanding track coaches and sports performance coaches, I truly learned how to design and teach the skills necessary to enhance an athlete's speed and agility. This special issue provides you with a collection of articles written by top practitioners in the field of strength and conditioning that will help you better prepare the athletes you train for speed and agility. In this issue, you can read 5 articles related to linear sprinting covering such topics as various resistance training methods and sprint performance, attentional focus and cues for speed development, and mechanical limitations to sprinting and biomechanical recommendations. Furthermore, you will see 3 articles related to agility, such as valid ways to measure change of direction and agility, cognitive training to enhance agility performance, and a training model for the prevention and rehabilitation of anterior cruciate ligament injury. Finally, there are 2 articles that address both speed and agility. One discusses the speed and agility needs of baseball players and makes recommendations for sport-specific drills, whereas the second article describes postactivation potentiation and linear and change of direction speed. As guest editors, Dr. Jay Dawes and I would like to thank all the authors for this issue. Moreover, we thank the individuals who reviewed each article. This work takes place behind the scenes, requires great knowledge of the topic(s), takes time to do a thorough and thoughtful review, and often goes unrecognized. Without the dedication of the authors and the reviewers to the NSCA, this issue could not have been completed. We thank Dr. Jeff Chandler, the Editor-in-Chief of the SCJ, for his guidance and support throughout the entire publication process. In addition, we thank Managing Editor Britt Chandler for editorial support and assistance. We hope that you enjoy reading the articles in this issue and hope that they help you further your knowledge and ability to train those who need to improve their speed and agility.

Was a university bound by its administrators’ assurances of continued employment?

University of Wisconsin‐Oshkosh baseball coach Thomas Lechnir proposed a new stadium and offered to lead the fundraising for the project.

Was a university bound by its administrators' assurances of continued employment?

University of Wisconsin‐Oshkosh baseball coach Thomas Lechnir proposed a new stadium and offered to lead the fundraising for the project.

Former baseball coach's lawsuit strikes out

Case name: Gordon v. The Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas, et al., No. 4:15CV00518 (E.D. Ark. 03/10/16).

Training Plays an Essential Role in Delivering Practical Knowledge

Tech 101 Practical knowledge can be defined as “knowledge attained through action” while theoretical knowledge is “knowledge attained through established facts or thoughts.” One of my favorite quotes on this matter is from the recently deceased Yogi Berra, an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach. Yogi was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. In addition, he was famous for his paradoxical quotes. We are living in exponential times and knowledge is at the center of it. By the time you graduate, the skills you learned in college will be outdated and it does not stop there. Before you even feel like you have mastered your current job, you will probably transition to a new job or even a new career. The typical person changes jobs 10 to 15 times during his or her working career. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that people born between 1957 and 1964 held an average of 11.7 jobs from ages 18 to 51. Training will be your constant companion, and your ability to learn, apply, and relearn will be your most important skill. Knowledge Begins as Practical Experience The first lesson in practical knowledge is that you must make room for it. As we attain theoretical knowledge through formal education, we can get caught up in a false sense of thinking that our learning is complete. Do not fall into that trap. You will really understand that the first time you go out to the field you are side-by-side with your colleagues who are pushing the boundaries. They tackle obstacles and challenges every day. It becomes part of their nature; it becomes natural and instinctive. That is what you want to learn from them. It is important to remember that “openness and humility” are the real signs of intelligence. People will not share their valuable knowledge and experience with you otherwise.

Vague promises fail to save former baseball coach

Case name: Lechnir v. Wells, et al., No. 14‐C‐1020 (E.D. Wis. 06/29/15).

A Study on the Norm-Referenced Criteria for Isokinetic Functional Strength of the Wrist for Junior Baseball Players

The purpose of this study was to norm-referenced criteria of upper limb for Korean middle school baseball player. Ninety five male middle school students with age ranging 14 to 15 years were participated in this study. They didn’t have any medical problem. HUMAC NORM (Stoughton, MA, USA) equipment system was used to obtain the values of peak torque, peak torque to body weight ratio. The results were presented as a norm-referenced criterion value using 5-point scale, by 5 groups (5 percent, 15 percent, 60 percent, 15 percent and 5 percent) and a few suggestions from this study as follows; • For the evaluation of strength, peak torque % body weights more than peak torque appeared to be more valuable information. • The provided criterion of peak torque % body weights are very information for baseball coach, athletic trainer, baseball player, sports injury rehabilitation specialists.

A case study of one high performance baseball coach’s experiences within a learning community

The purpose of the present study was to examine the learning experiences of a high performance, head baseball coach within a learning community. We drew upon the barriers and enablers of a learning community to structure the current study's learning community intervention. Our learning community was comprised of one collegiate summer league head baseball coach and three coach educators (i.e. facilitators). Data were collected via eight weekly learning community meetings (i.e. recorded and transcribed), the coach’s daily journal and post-learning community meeting journal, and the memory of his coaching experiences. The findings, which suggest a potential framework for sustaining an effective learning community, resulted in six themes (i.e. problem setting, problem sharing, questioning to prompt reflection, prescribed suggestions, collaborative solutions and psychological wellness) that describe the coach’s experiences both internal and external to the learning community. The findings are discussed in relation to research on learning communities, experiential learning and reflection. Furthermore, we provide implications for future research by considering the learning community’s influence on the head coach’s reduction of stress and the utilisation of technology to sustain a stable learning community setting.