Planning for the Game
Just as you need to be ready before every practice, you need to prepare a game plan well before the game starts. The game plan should include batting order, defensive positions and substitutions.
Preparing line ups is an important part of your coaching duties. If you coach a recreation team you will want to ensure that players receive equal playing time, are rotated among several positions and bat in different spots in the batting order. If you coach a competitive team you will want to make sure that you have your best players in for crucial games, that players play in their best positions and that your non-starters receive enough playing time to maintain their enthusiasm and to be ready when they are need.
To prepare line ups for a recreation team consider using your computer. List your players in a range or table alphabetically by first name. You can easily re-sequence the names each week to ensure that the same player doesn’t bat first every game or start as the pitcher every game.
For each game, you re-sequence the list for each inning, switching the last three players to the top of the list. This movement is repeated after each game or inning. When you reach the point where the original players are back at the top of the list you then re-sequence each group of three players. Change the sequence from 1-2-3 to 2-3-1. An example of a completed list is shown in the Defense Positions form below.
Blank Defense Position and Batting Order forms are on the CD.
