INTRODUCTION
When it comes to baseball, there’s a game within the game known —simply enough — as gamification.
In other words, baseball may be a six, seven or nine-inning sport, depending on the age level, but it’s the grind afterwards that the premier players embrace. And coaches can help make that grind more palatable by adding the quirky, innovative element of gamification.
A coach in Gresham, Ore., Drew Peterson, describes a 10-year-old he used to coach who was stuck on a bat speed of 35 mph. To be kind, Peterson used to call it a “safe swing,’’ a swing to just get the ball in play rather than trying to drive it over an outfielder’s head. But just telling a 10-year-old to swing harder or swing for the moon was not going to be enough. He needed to fix the child’s negative attack angle on the swing. So Peterson turned their training into a game, hoping an aha moment would happen down the road.
The coach gave the 10-year-old a Blast sensor and pointed him toward the batting cage. The challenge, or gamification, would be to raise the bat speed from 35 to 38 mph. And as long as he maintained the 38, he could stay in the cage. If not, it would be next kid up —someone would replace him, someone who perhaps was chasing a different number.
Over time, the first 35 mph kid pulled it up to 38 —just from that simple game of what Peterson called “King of the Mountain.’’ He didn’t want to leave the cage and swung with more purpose, more efficiency and was more open to coaching, more willing to fix his negative attack angle. Eventually, the 10-year-old hit 40 mph, consistently, and monopolized the cage. The grin on his face was palpable.
Want the full e-book for FREE? Click HERE!
E-BOOK INCLUDES:
- What gamification is
- How coaches can utilize gamification to make training more fun
- The top tools for gamifying practices … and so much more!
