8/18/12

MLB European Academy Tirrenia Last Part

Day 4:

   Day starts at 8:15 by early workouts for infielders – working on foot work and angles to aproach the ball. Hitters are working in cages on how to keep hands inside of the ball. I joined pitchers for morning work out. Pitchers started working on flaws which saw previous day during video session. It is very impressive how pitchers are trying to help each other as they are working on the little details in their pitching.
  
   Today is last full day and it is called Review day of all stuff which has been done so far, so coaches emphasize importance of stay sharp and focused during all day. Main workout starts with warm up and play catch at 9:00. Next 30 minutes are position work outs for catchers, infield, outfield and pitchers. At 10:00 all players are gathered around home plate as they go through situation plays and cut offs. All defensive situations are practiced in high tempo and this part is finished with cut off systems. Players shown, that they have listened to the coaches and half day off is visible on their very active performance on the field. Morning session is finished with two stations of live BP and  hitting of the Tee in cages. Meanwhile pitchers recap covering bases and very quick PFP.

   Afternoon is game. Before game both teams take infield/outfield. I took part of Team Blue as coach on first base. Hitters are very agressive and hit of the first pitches. Catchers on both sides are showing their arms as they catching several steals. After game all coaches positively evaluated effort of all players during game and practices and chose 4 players which are going to pick their rosters for friday´s last game. Game was very quick today and it gives me and some other coaches short time to make a trip to the beach and try italian ice cream. 

   After dinner all coaches decided to stay later in caffetria and talk about baseball topics as last evening of this camp arrived.

    Tomorrow is my last day here…..what an experience so far….



Day 5:

   Last day has arrived but all players reported on early work outs as it would be their first one. Coaches spent these last work outs by answering questions of players and reviewing important stuff for players to work on.
  
   Quick warm up and play catch is followed by last game. All players are enjoying every moment of the game as well as coaches.

   After game all players are gathered around home plate and coaches are having closing speech.  Players were told to keep up their good work and carry on as much as they can to the rest of the season and more importantly to the off-season as that will make the major impact on their next season.

   As soon as speech was finished all coaches received big applause from players. Coaches took time to take pictures with players and as surprise each players received signed ball by all coaches.
    Five days flew by very quickly, but I must say what a great experience…… I took loads of baseball knowledge with me…..


   Thanks to all who make this experience happend…


   Before I finish my writing, one thing which stood in my mind the most is, that all coaches in every situation were spreading their positive attitude and their approach to the players when every flaw and fault was transfered into a positive message and stated as part of their learning  proces to become a baseball players….

Petr

8/17/12

MLB European Academy Tirrenia Part Two

Day 2:

Long and very hot day ahead of us….

   Day starts at 8:15 with chosen players and their early work out. I joined Craig Shipley and infielders group. Players start with short play catch just to get thein arms ready for short throws during work out. All work out is focused on foot work and how to approach the ball on 3rd base and 1st base. All balls are being rolled to the players on very short distance, so coach can see proper foot work and immediately can give an advice to the player. At the end we got some minutes left, so Craig decided to show to the players 5 different situation and ways how  to bare hand a ball.

   At 9:00 sharp, all players going through their warm up routine and play catch. Half an hour later players are devided by positions and headed to their stations. I decided to join catchers for this part of the practice. John McLaren took all catchers to the side and explain them how to cover homeplate (proper position of the feet)  and how to

apply a tag on runner (which situation to sweep or block the plate in). This part was followed  up by blocking at very high tempo. Catchers has done a good job which was visible later on in the afternoon game.
Warm up



   Next session was popfly communication  and rundowns. Coaches were shooting pop flys from the machine to all directions and all players were involved in. After popfly outfielders had short water brake and got to do baserunners for infielder to work on rundowns. All pitcher were rotating on the mound and reacting on runners on 1st base or 2nd base regarding the situation.
Rundowns


   Last part of morning session was Batting Practice. Position players

8/13/12

MLB European Academy Tirrenia

  Hello to all coaches! My name is Petr Stříbrcký and I have been chosen by EBCA Exchange Program to go to the MLB European Academy in Tirrenia for a week.

Arrival day:

   After a few hours of flight to Pisa, where was a time to see Pisa tower and taste Italian Pizza, I took a bus to get to Tirrenia. After half an hour of ride and 2 km of walk I finally got to CONI, where the MLB Academy tooks a place.

   It is  really hot Sunday and players have afternoon off after work out in the morning. I got keys from my room and headed to have a look over the whole facility. It is a huge complex of baseball and softball fields, surrounded by hitting cages on one side and bullpens on the other side. In between our dormitory and fields is huge tent full of indoor batting cages and pitching machines to be used in bad weather. Few meters far from the indoor cages is fully equiped gym. In the areal is also track and field and several soccer and rugby pitches.

   Dinner is schedule at 19:30 in local caffeteria. As menu you can choose of variety of pasta, meat and fish and vegetables with fruits.


Day 1:

   Getting up at 7:00 for breakfast.
 
   At 8:00 chosen players are going to work on their positions or hitting in small groups with coaches. Official start of the morning session is at 9:00. By then