The following article is a comprehensive review of IA's integrative player development program throughout the fall of 2023. The head of each department in our program has provided an overview of the training and development that our athletes are receiving on a day-to-day basis. While this is not fully encompassing of every detail of our program, it will provide thorough insight into the ins and outs of how your Lions are being trained.

Hitting and Mental Conditioning

We began the fall introducing all the players to the mission of our offensive philosophy; we are obsessed with scoring and preventing RUNS. This involves all players, including starters, substitutes, bench players and injured players contributing in one way, shape, or form to our focus of being positive and competing at a high level.
 
The five pillars of our hitting program: Rhythm, Vision, Timing, Direction and Balance, have been discussed and/or covered throughout the fall including classroom discussions, drills, competitive settings and the recording of metrics and video, in order to establish a base for the mechanics of our hitters' swing. In addition to establishing the base for their mechanics, we are teaching each hitter how to make corrections on their own by understanding our pillars, thorough awareness of certain feels in their swing, and using external cues to allow their true athletic ability to show their capabilities.
 
Each player was given a journal to keep notes, questions, opinions, and results. They have been instructed numerous times to keep up with these journals in order to create a source that reinforces their growth, self-confidence, and a reference point when they happen to get stuck, confused or discouraged.
 
We have also discussed the mental side of development for each of our athletes and the importance of a "growth mindset". When they perform, they have good reps and "learning reps". There is no such thing as a "bad" rep. If they understand and commit to this concept, it takes negativity away from their learning process and reinforces steady development and opportunities to become consistent at a much quicker rate.
 
Developing our athletes' self-confidence is paramount in our program to help them attain their goals. Positive self-talk, awareness when they become distracted, and re-focusing to get back to the present are common concepts we are constantly pushing in order to create the mentality for our athletes to be productive, score runs, and prevent them from scoring.

Defense
 

Prevent runs. These two words are the motto of Inspiration Academy's defense. Keeping runs off the board for the other team is what great teams do to win games. Infielders and outfielders have taken this to heart and have spent the fall crushing the four pillars of IA defense: Vision, Timing, Securing the Ball, and Direction.
 
Starting with the first pillar of vision (awareness), all defenders have to understand the situation of the game before the pitch is thrown. This concept of forward thinking allows our defenders to problem solve before the play ever takes place. We have worked on this through classroom settings and video review, both of our own fall games and also MLB playoff games.
 
The second pillar is timing. The timing aspect starts as the pitch is being thrown. All infielders and outfielders have spent practice time working on their pre-pitch routine and prep-step. Being on time with the prep-step allows fielders to have more range and gives them a chance to make plays they otherwise wouldn't have gotten to. The next aspect of the timing is with the feet when fielding a ball. Outfielders have practiced both the pro-step and the crow-hop when charging a ground ball, while infielders have worked on their feet being on time through a "slide and glide" or a "right, left, field" routine.
 
The third pillar for IA defenders is securing the ball. Every day before defensive work, all infielders and outfielders do what we call the "knee series". This series emphasizes the hands and either "killing" or "funneling" the ball when fielding it. If we do not secure the ball while making a play, the play will not be made. Players are challenged daily not to overlook this simple process of catching the ball.
 
The final pillar is direction. This is the process of making sure the entire body is working together to get into the right position to make the play. In the infield, it involves using the hips and feet to create the right throwing angle for our arm to work through. In the outfield, it involves getting our body lined up with where we want to throw and making sure the shoulders are in line with our intended target.
 
If all these pillars are executed on a play, the play will be made by the fielder. Executing all of these and practicing them daily is how all IA defensive players will prevent runs this season.

Pitching
 

Our pitchers have gotten a lot of intentional work and made great strides this fall. The philosophy we uphold for our pitchers consists of three components. The first component is first pitch strikes (FPS). As pitchers, we want to be in "attack mode" from pitch one. Getting ahead of hitters keeps us in the advantage of the at-bat. If we cannot achieve the FPS, the second component is getting to two strikes as fast as possible. We want our pitchers to get back into a competitive count quickly. If that isn't accomplished, the last component is inducing weak contact. No matter the situation, we need to find ways to keep hitters off balance and off timing and miss barrels. This philosophy keeps our pitchers in a positive mindset as well as in "attack mode" at all times.
 
The two major feels we strive to achieve as a pitching staff include finding tension and stability in the back leg, as well as capturing the energy of the trunk. These key points in a pitcher's delivery help their body to work in unison as much as possible and recruit as much power and force as we can. We have used implements such as medicine balls, water balls, and a variety of plyometric ball drills to train and hone these skills on a consistent basis. The variability in our training allows us to keep our athletes' arms healthy by controlling the volume of throws while translating "feels" from our drills to the mound.
 
Our pitchers have been consistently throwing off the mound twice a week throughout the fall to continue to hone their skills, develop pitch shapes, and execute pitches. One bullpen a week is typically focused above the rubber on finding "feels" and consistency in their deliveries, while the other bullpen or game environment is focused on executing above the plate and mastering their pitch arsenal. We have implemented competitive bullpen sessions as well to chart pitch execution and strike percentage, two major focuses that stem from our initial pitching philosophy. Keeping our pitchers in "compete mode" frequently in practice helps it become second nature in the heat of the game.

Strength and Conditioning
 

Our goal in strength and conditioning is to help create the most prepared and resilient athlete possible. We need to be able to increase power output and speed while also reducing injury risk in our athletes. With the fall being the main offseason for baseball and softball, we take it very seriously and typically the programs are a bit more intensive than the rest of the school year. 
 
The training block we just finished is called triphasic training. This type of program splits up our main movements into three parts, the eccentric, isometric, and concentric, each having dedicated weeks to work on them. Main movements that we focus on in those tempos are the squat, deadlift, bench, RDL, and landmine presses. This type of program helps teach each movement at its root to help build better bases for each individual athlete. We see great results converting triphasic training to normal strength training and then power training as the athlete learns to be more comfortable during the highest tension parts of the lift. For the rest of the offseason, we will do a small phase of purely strength work and then focus on power output with velocity bands as we approach the season. 
 
Our speed sessions are focused on becoming better at accelerating and creating more reactive power. We create more reactive power through various types of jumps, plyometrics, and bounds where they learn how to use the ground to minimize the time it takes to produce force so that they can exert power as quickly as possible. We train acceleration through utilization of sport sprints in different positions. After teaching proper mechanics, putting athletes in difficult start positions (one knee down, laying down, weighted) helps emphasize the importance of good first steps and the ability to start fast. We will continue to train this way year-round as the season typically doesn't affect this.
 

Analytics
 

Inspiration Academy's player development program is a pivotal part in the success and development of our athletes, both baseball and softball. During this school year, Trackman and Rapsodo have been very useful in tracking our players' growth and development. Trackman is a technology that allows us to track what the eyes can't see. It measures the full ball trajectory and spin, including metrics such as: Release Speed, Spin Rate, Spin Axis, Release Height, Release Side, Extension, Vertical Release Angle, Horizontal Movement, Plate Side and more — all with unmatched accuracy. That's just the pitching side; on the hitting side, it tracks Exit Velocity, Launch Angle, Spin, Direction and even Distance. 
 
Rapsodo camera and radar technology provides accurate, pro-level data. Their baseball flight monitors seamlessly connect a player's mechanics with instant data output for real-time understanding of progress. Rapsodo unleashes potential with data-driven products. We mainly use Rapsodo for pitching purposes in softball. While analytics isn't used as frequently in the softball world, this is a great opportunity for the Lions to acquire the metrics, learn and grow from them.
 
We use these metrics and log them into an Excel spreadsheet so we can monitor the growth throughout the year of each of our athletes. Not only is it great for player development, but it's great for college recruitment purposes as well. Trackman gives us the ability to track these metrics and videos and send them off to college coaches, showcasing the talent we have here at IA from both a baseball and softball standpoint.

 

The five catching pillars of our catching philosophy include vision, direction, timing, communication, and leadership.  The goal for our catching staff this year is to "be the ambassador of the field." This means we want them to have a palpable presence, command the field and communicate with everyone on & off the field. As a staff we are placing importance on securing the baseball and having a sense of urgency. Blocking is a huge emphasis for us this year. We are taking pride in what we call "working the circle" on balls in the dirt to eliminate free bases. Having a sense of urgency contributes to their ability to secure the baseball and make the next play.
 
As leaders of the field, it is important for our catchers to have an understanding of each pitcher on the staff, how they like to pitch to hitters, how their pitches move, and more. The stronger the connection between the catcher and the pitcher, the more effectively they can work together to command the game. Our catchers have worked tirelessly to improve every aspect of their game from receiving to blocking to communication, even getting work in early some Saturday mornings. The catching staff and the athletes have put in the work this fall and we are excited to see them in action this spring.

 

Stealing bases has been one of the main points of emphasis this fall at Inspiration Academy. Players have been given different ways to steal and have been in classroom settings learning how to pick up pitcher tendencies and timing. One of the ways IA baseball is stealing bases this year is through a "new school" approach called vaulting. Many professional organizations are teaching this, particularly the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks.
 
Baseball players get a small shuffle, or "vault," as they think the pitcher is going to pitch. If he goes to the plate during this "shuffle" the player steals the base with all of his momentum already moving in the right direction. Players have had weekly baserunning practice periods to work on this vault, as well as every day during stretch lines for their sprints. This "new school" stealing approach, combined with the "old school" standard approach, will allow IA baserunners to steal lots of bags this season, directly causing more runs to be scored.