What If?
A random posting theorizing what if we started from scratch in player development…
What if we stopped treating players like possessions and we started treating them like humans?
What if coaches removed their ego from every situation and only did what is best for the players?
What if we viewed youth player development through the lens of science instead of the lens of tradition?
What if we took what we know works at the upper levels of the game (bigger/stronger/faster/healthy) and made it the focus of a player development system?
What if coaches were upfront and honest with players and families about how they are going to prove the players will get better?
What if we mandated youth coaches to gain readily available knowledge on how the human body works and teach them how to apply that to a practice and training setting?
What if we took the facts around arm care in baseball pitchers and used the objective data to take care of arms and build-up pitchers? What if we prioritized that over winning games?
What if parents invested the same amount of money they put into tournaments and showcases into the development it takes to thrive in those same tournaments and showcases?
What if we focused on building the big tools at the younger ages instead of overly coaching mechanics? What if we learned that’s how you make pro players (see the Dominican Republic)?
What if we understood college recruiters use metrics to filter out potential recruits, so a high school kid’s focus should be on developing the tools they are using to filter?
What if we made sure youth players are always having fun and understand how that joy will lead to more motivation and work ethic as they age?
What if we stopped putting up walls and silos between all the different areas of player development (skill/strength/health) and we created a system that could do it all?
What if there was a place doing all of this…..