When I was 11, I found myself watching the replay of our Little League World Series game on ESPN 2. This is after my team lost in the Great Lakes regional championship. However, our 12 and under baseball team was ranked 13th in the world. There are hundreds and maybe even thousands of little league teams in just the state of Illinois alone, and we were the Illinois champions. This is a consequence of a mix of great players chosen from great coaches to create a successful organization. At the end of the regular season of little league baseball, the director of the little league organization chooses the three best coaches based on their performance and coaching abilities in the regular season. Furthermore, these three coaches chose the twelve or thirteen best players based on their performance in the regular season.
A baseball team consists of eight starting position players and a starting pitcher. The rest of the players are either reserve players for the position players and relief pitchers for the starting pitcher. The position players are put in the field to play either left field, center field, right field, 1st base, 2nd base, shortstop, third base, or catcher. Within the little league baseball rules, the pitcher also has to hit, so all eight position players and the pitcher are put in the batting order to hit against the opposing pitcher when on offense.
In deciding on how to structure our baseball team's defensive setting, our coaches assessed our skills and abilities in a tryout for the positions after the coaches picked the players to be on the team. Typically, an outfielder has a strong arm to throw the baseball from great distances. The center fielder is the captain of the outfield who has priority to catch the ball when the baseball is in midair. Also, the right fielder will have a stronger arm than the left fielder because the right fielder has a further distance to throw to third base than the left fielder. In the infield, a tall and lengthy ball player should play first base in order to give the other infielders a bigger target when they are fielding a ground ball. The shortstop should be the best fielder in the infield and is considered the person who gets priority for pop outs in the infield. A second baseman needs to have quick hands to turn a double play. The third baseman needs to have quick reflexes, as third base is considered the "hot corner". Third basemen also need quick in order to be able to charge towards home when there is a bunt. Finally, the catcher needs to be able to have a strong arm to throw those out stealing bases and also have the ability to calm the pitcher down during mound visits in pressure situations. In addition, the pitcher will be someone who can throw hard fastballs and have a variety of off speed pitches.
On the offensive side of our team, our coaches did the same thing in structuring the batting lineup. They held tryouts to assess our ability to hit and also run. Typically, the fastest hitter hits either first or last. The lead off hitter needs to have speed so the heart of the batting order can hit the fast lead off hitter in and produce RBIs. The last hitter is also fast and is considered the "double lead off hitter" because this hitter will also be affected be the heart of the batting order who produce the most RBIs. The second hitter will have a mix of speed and power, but the third fourth and fifth hitters have the most power to produce home runs and RBIs. After the heart of the order, the sixth, seventh, and eighth hitters are ordered from best to worst in producing a high batting average.
After the tryouts within the team, we were all assigned a position to play and get used to for the Little League World Series. There was a pitching rotation that our team followed as well as a substitution package that we would follow as the reserves need to play. Also, there were a couple extra players on the roster in case of injury. Our team followed the depth chart the entire summer and players gained confidence in the position that they played. As we continued to win, our team built chemistry. Chemistry is key to winning since everyone on the team gets along and there are no internal problems that can create distractions and cause the team to fall apart. With our team having both a physical edge and mental edge on other teams in the nation, we gained recognition in the nation and even the world. However, in the Great Lakes finals, we played the team that went on to dominate the rest of the country and nearly won the Little League World Series.
You spent much of this post on the individual function of members of the team, without talking about how those functions mesh into team function. (And, truthfully, sometimes baseball is considered more individualistic than basketball or football.)
ReplyDeleteGiven the prompt, however, it would have been good for you to talk about team interaction and what it means for a team to gel. Sometimes the most talented team doesn't win because the positive interactions aren't at a high level.
In your last paragraph you wrote:
"Chemistry is key to winning since everyone on the team gets along and there are no internal problems that can create distractions and cause the team to fall apart."
So you presented the interaction issues in the negative - without chemistry individual performance will suffer. I'd have preferred it you framed it more positively, and then gave some examples where the interactions worked well. On defense, hitting the cutoff man, turning the double play, and the communication between pitcher and catcher are all candidates for interactions to consider. If you had done that, you'd have gotten closer to the gist of the prompt.
Having a leader not just in the outfield or infield, like the center fielder or the shortstop, is key to bringing positive chemistry in the dugout. A leader is someone who is vocal and will bring out the best of his teammates. Sometimes, a leader won’t even be one of the best players on the team; he may be a bench player who cares about the ultimate goal of the team, that is, winning a world series. You also hear about the “little things” that happen during a baseball game that will turn out to be important in deciding the outcome of the game. For instance, back when Derek Jeter was playing against the Oakland A’s in the playoffs on October 14th, 2001, he ran from shortstop to home plate to be the cutoff man for a play at the plate, even though that is not his job. Other examples of players putting forth the effort to perform the act of executing the “little things” during a baseball game include communication between teammates when trying to throw out a base runner, taking the correct amount of steps during a leadoff when stealing a base, and calling the ball when there is a fly out or pop out. These positive interactions on and off of the field will gel the team together.
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