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Admin
Clements JV
Sugar Land, Texas
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Friday, May 25
Initial schedule has been posted to our schedule page
Folks -
I have just received a draft schedule for the first 2 weeks of the season and so far it is like this:
Tue, 5/29 @ 8 pm vs. Kempner @ Kempner
Thurs, 5/31 @ 6 pm vs. Hightower @ Hightower
Sat,. 6/2 @ 9 am vs. Brazoswood @ Brazoswood
Tue., 6/5 @ 8 pm vs. Elkins @ Frankie
Thurs., 6/7 @ 6 pm & 8 pm vs. Bush @ Bush
This is subject to change and I'm sure they will be gettin lots of calls in the next couple of days. As far as I've been told, Stanford and Murphy will not be there on 5/29. If you have any additional conflicts for next week particularly, please let me know so I can plan accordingly. My understanding is that we will play 2 games per week after the the first 2 weeks. The league tournament is scheduled to start on July 5th. Good luck finishing up finals.
Sam
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Friday, January 26
Clements JV Site
Welcome to the Clements JV website.
Summer 2007 Information will be posted in later this spring as the school season winds down.
Check Back in April
I am looking forward to a great summer!
Coach Tucker
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Friday, January 26
Things to Consider
THE BATTER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
“A full mind is an empty bat”
When a player becomes a batter (aka “hitter), he or she is now the focal part of the game. An at bat demands the player’s FULL attention and imposes very clear responsibilities to the team and its mission. Each player must build their own approach to hitting with a strong commitment to “getting the job done.”
1. You must want to hit and be confident that you WILL get a hit.
2. Have a distinctive purpose with each at bat.
3. Listen to and watch your base coach(es).
4. Be alert and responsive to signs and EXECUTE.
5. Focus on the ball and “visualize” a hit: “A full head equals an empty bat.”
6. Control your bat and avoid “lazy and stupid” mistakes.
7. Do NOT argue with the umpire (includes a “no smirk” attitude). Adjust to his strike zone… he will NOT change.
8. “Get on for the next guy.”
9. SCORE
10. Have “good eyes!” See it, hit it!
11. Be adaptable with each at bat and “adjust” on the fly!
12. On a wild pitch or passed ball, signal the runner on third base as to action.
13. ON DECK (as the next batter): Remove the bat after the batter hits; coach the runner coming home (slide, “up”, etc.); time the pitcher and his delivery and focus on his release points. PREPARE TO HIT!
“Only a poor carpenter blames his tools”
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Tips to Consider
Hi Everyone,
I didn't write this but it closely matches my philosophy.
Coach Tucker
TIPS FROM THE COACH
There are three vital elements necessary to be successful at playing or coaching
baseball.
1. RESPECT THE GAME
2. WORK HARD
3. HAVE FUN
RESPECT THE GAME
You must respect how difficult the game is. Sure, you must show up prepared. Get
enough sleep, eat right and prepare correctly so that you have a chance to
succeed but you must also realize that this is a game of failure. Fail only 2
out of 3 times at the plate for your career and you'll end up in the Hall Of
Fame. The player that throws a tantrum because he struck out is not respecting
the game. Babe Ruth struck out over 4000 times. He ain't Babe Ruth. The coach
that yells at a player that boots a ground ball is not respecting the game. I
personally saw Ozzie Smith kick it 3 times in a game. So, how dare a coach yell
at a player for doing that which even the Wizard did.
It is how a player deals with the failures not the successes that will determine
how many more failures he has. How many times have you seen a player make an
error and after the coach berates him, then make 2 more? "E " coach! He
got in the player's head. He made it much more likely the player will not be
able to "shake it off" but will " gator arm" the next one. The coach did not
respect the game.
WORK HARD
This is the easy one. Work hard but work smart. Practice having success. It is
better to take 10 perfect swings on the tee than 100 with little thought or
consistency. I am very familiar with some "big time" college programs that work
their players to the point of exhaustion daily, hundreds of defensive reps, with
max intensity, each max effort, each timed with a stopwatch. I assure you they
would get far better results in the games if they were to just take 20 to 30
ground balls a day focusing on the players executing correctly and having
success. If he boots one, see to it you hit him several "Sunday hops" in a row
to regain his confidence. More failure in the name of hard work is
counterproductive.
HAVE FUN
This is the most often forgotten essential element in baseball. Baseball is a
little boys game that if you are lucky you can player into adulthood. Even Major
League players sometimes forget this. During a recent end of the season losing
streak, Jeff Bagwell nixed the idea of a team meeting because the only reason to
have a meeting is to remind everyone to relax and " this is not the time to
relax". That is why Baggy is a choking dog when the pressure is on! You are not
playing the other team. You are playing only the ball. To the ball, there are no
big games. It is just a ball thrown over the plate. It is just a ball bouncing
along the ground. The player must execute as he has thousands of times before.
He will not do better by trying harder. He will, in fact, do far worse! All
things being equal, If one team is grim faced and fired up before the big game
having gotten a rousing pregame speech from the coach and the other is loose,
horsing around and laughing, guess which will play better.
For more thoughts on this subject, you will enjoy my book, A PARENTS GUIDE TO
BASEBALL- Surviving And Thriving Youth League To College or my video, COACHING
PHSYCOLOGY. To order visit www.tipsfromthecoach.com
Yours in Baseball
Bruce Lambin
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Poise
I pulled this from the Eteamz site. It is worth the read.
ETeamz Baseball Tip - November 20, 2003
POISE
As pitchers, you are inherently leaders. Like it or not, it is your responsibility to keep your teammates in the game and maintain a confident, and controlled, attitude. I speak often about self-confidence and the true belief in yourself and your abilities. Poise is a virtue that is a direct relative of self-confidence, and is defined as... a state of balance or equilibrium; stability.
Maintaining poise essentially means not showing your emotions while on the mound. Often times, "a pitcher having poise" refers to one that handles difficult situations without appearing outwardly affected. They remain a pillar of strength for their teammates, and have a calming effect on nervous infielders. When Roger Clemens encounters a ferocious opponent's rally and a hostile Boston crowd, do you see him back down, or give in? Most definitely not! Although he may be nervous, his body language stays the same the entire time. And although he may have given up a couple hits, his confidence remains high enabling him to make the pitches he needs to get out of the jam. Positive body language, and strong self-confidence are two important ingredients to a pitcher with poise.
Major League Baseball Scouts will often refer to poise as an intangible skill. That is, a skill that cannot be graded the same way as running speed, pitching velocity, or home run power. While you can receive a specific time in the 60-yard dash or hit 85mph on the radar gun, it is difficult to measure a pitcher's poise. Instead, scouts look to how a pitcher will handle stressful and difficult times. Will he crumble when the going gets tough in the second inning? Or, will he maintain the exact same demeanor he displayed while striking out the side in the first inning? When applied to the rest of your lives, the concept of maintaining an even disposition or having poise can assist you when the going gets tough.
- Have you prepared thoroughly for your class presentation? When the teacher asks you an unexpected question, will you have the poise to handle the pressure and answer calmly and confidently? Will you stand tall with poise or slouch with timid insecurity?
- When you go to pick up your date for your first school dance, will your shirt be tucked in... your hair neat... and your appearance sharp?
- When you stand at the free-throw line with the score tied and two seconds on the clock, will you show the other team you are scared? Or, will you assure your teammates that you have everything under control?
POISE - Do you have it?
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Looking to the future
The fall season is over.
For those interested, here is my suggestion for preparing for the spring.
Everyone should take a month off from playing baseball, stay in shape but let your body have some time off to recoup from all those little nagging bumps, bruises, strains and pains. Go out and do some of the fun things you haven't had time to do. By Christmas break you should be throwing and swinging again. Nothing serious just getting a feel for the bat and the ball again. After Christmas you should start pushing yourself harder. Working every other day or so, stretching out your long toss to test but not strain yourself, concentrating on your swing and building up the calluses on your hands. You should be at about 80-85%. On New Years day you should be out and going at near 100%. This puts you in a position to maintain and be ready for the spring season. I would guess tryouts will occur the middle to end of January. By having yourself at 100% by early January you have a couple of weeks to stretch any tightness, heal any blisters, aches and pains that can occur and be ready to put forth your best effort for tryouts.
Looking to the future.
There are a lot of upper classmen ahead of you guys. I don't know how many Varsity will carry and how many will get pushed down to JV and consequently, how many of you will be asked to play Soph again. For some being asked to play on JV or Soph will be a disappointment. Some of you will be faced with the decision of what to do. My advice is to be true to yourself. Ask yourself what YOU want and what will YOU will most enjoy this spring and summer. You are old enough now that you should examine your options, make your own decision about what is important to you and speak up for yourselves. Don't make a decision based on what you think a coach or mom or dad or even your friends want you to do. You need to make your decision and carry on. Putting yourself 100% into your decision.
What's your point coach?
My point is this. I don't think everyone has there heart in playing baseball. It is to easy to push baseball down the priority list for other activities. Baseball is time consuming hard work and requires a lot of blood sweat and tears to make yourself a good ballplayer. If playing baseball is something you want then by all means play on. Continue to do the things it takes to make yourself a better ball player, push yourself to your limits and play hard.
If your heart is not in it face up to it and move on to something that you would enjoy. I know it is a cliche but its true. Life is to short to spend all the time and effort required by any activity if your heart is not in it and you don't enjoy it. If putting in the work to improve your skills and playing baseball is no longer fun retire and find something that your are willing to work for and is fun to you.
I enjoyed coaching each of your this year and look forward to seeing you play in the spring and then coaching some of you again next summer.
Keep in touch. You have my email and my phone numbers.
Good Luck,
Coach Tucker
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Little Things
OK guys I have calmed down a bit so let me try this again.
You are a good team, actually, a very good team BUT to be a great team capable of beating varsity teams or a team that will become a district and state playoff team capable of winning a state championship, like I think you are capable of. You have to put forth your best effort every pitch. Less than your best will beat a lot of teams. Heck I think with your talent less than your best will beat most teams you face but if you keep on with the cruising by teams with a lack luster effort, having to overcome mental errors and the lack of hustle you are currently playing with, you will continue to develop bad habits that cannot be overcome when you find yourselves in championship situations against other championship level teams that have been playing full speed all the time and don't have to think about it because it is second nature.
I honestly don't care if we win this fall. I do care, more than you know, that we play hard every pitch, keep our heads in the game and Hustle. All your hustling and hard work may only create one chance a season for you personally and it is hard work but I promise you, it makes coaches stop and think about sending runners, bunting even pitch selection. Your hustle and heads up play, covering basis, looking for advancing runners even if you know they are not going to advance, backing each other up, applying tags straight down to the base whether the running is coming or not, talking and letting each other know were the throw should go, positive talking picking each other up after a physical error, taking the extra base when other teams are not doing these little things, are the difference between winning and loosing in big game playoff/tournament situations.
This fall season is the first opportunity you have had as a team to face quality teams on a regular basis. Teams that don't make 3,4,5 errors a game for you to exploit allowing you to win easy games. You should be pumped to have such a rare opportunity. This season is the only time you will be in this unique situation. Next Spring against other JV teams you will be expected to win. Next Summer and Fall against Varsity teams you will be expected to win. Don't squander this opportunity to make yourselves better ball players. The reward is great while the risk is minimal.
As a JV team playing against Varsity teams, the test against is not whether you win or loose, it truly is how you play the game. Right now I would say not fair at best. You cannot continue to have the mental let downs that cost you runs. It changes the complexion and often outcome of the game. In a playoff atmosphere every pitch is important, every at bat crucial to the success of the team.
Guys, I would not be so passionate about this if I didn't know you are capable of competing and winning at a varsity level. It drives me nuts when you don't stay focused and compete for 6 innings of a game. You are much better ball players than what you are currently displaying and Coach Porter and I would be negligent in our duties as your coaches if we allowed you to continue to play at a level less than your capable of.
We have a tough weekend against Bellaire. Each of you individually have the opportunity to improve on what we have done so far. Take advantage of this opportunity and step up the challenge.
Coach Tucker
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