Scholarships by Sport: Baseball and Basketball

By Matt T Barrett   

Baseball:
For the thousands of potential collegiate baseball players considering the possible financial opportunities for themselves, there are partial athletic scholarships available, although not guaranteed.

The Myth: Despite what some boasting ballplayers say, college baseball programs don't hand out full athletic scholarships to recruits. In very special situations coaches may package together a combination of athletic and academic money. This too is very rare.

The Facts: The reason no baseball players receive full scholarships is because there are few to give out. NCAA Division I programs are permitted to disperse only 11.76 scholarships per year, and many lower level Division I programs have less because they cannot fund the full allowed amount. Division II schools are allotted even less scholarships, possessing a total of 9. For Division III baseball programs, they are not permitted to grant any athletic scholarships. But, they do offer a good deal of academic money for those players who are eligible.

The Scholarship Breakdown:

There are 287 division I and 246 division 2 colleges that offer NCAA baseball scholarships. That is a total of 5,594 scholarships in the NCAA alone. Scholarship athletes may receive no less than a 25% athletic scholarship

Overall: To receive a scholarship in such a highly competitive sport such as baseball it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. A high school ballplayer may be able to use his talents to partially pay for college. Parents would appreciate this. But, college coaches have the power to divide scholarships however they please.

Other Scholarships: The American Legion awards over 50-$1,000 scholarships to outstanding athletes on their baseball team rosters.

Basketball:

If you are aware of the challenges and hard work that it takes to receiving a scholarship offer, you will have a firm foundation to move forward and be rewarded for you hard work (Please refer to our scholarship article).

The Facts: Basketball is a "Head-Count" sport, this means that sport has a number of scholarships, and they are all full which typically covers the cost of tuition, room and board, course fees and provisions for books. The only two Head-Count men sports are Basketball and Football.
The Scholarship Breakdown-The NCAA allows each Division I Men's Basketball program 13 scholarships and offers only 10 available for Division II.

-For Women's basketball 15 Scholarships are offered in Division 1 and 10 in Division 2.
-There are 329 division 1 and 290 division 2 colleges that offer men's basketball scholarships.
-There are also 328 division 1 colleges and 291 division 2 colleges that offer women's scholarships.
-There are a total of 7,177 men's basketball scholarships available in the NCAA alone. For women's basketball there are a total of 9,285 in the NCAA

Overall:

To receive a scholarship in such a highly competitive sport such as basketball, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. A high school ballplayer may be able to use his talents to partially pay for college. Parents would appreciate this. But, college coaches have the power to divide scholarships however they please.

http://www.Ratethecoach.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_T_Barrett


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6829174

Pre-Game Evaluation

By Jim Bain   

You're on the bus traveling to a brand new opponent's ball park, of course you have the normal pre-game jitters, your stomach is queasy and you can't stop tapping your foot. Taking a deep breath to calm the nerves, you mentally go through your first task upon arriving, which if you think is analyzing the opposing team, you'd be wrong.

As soon as you step off the bus and walk to the dugout your senses of sight, and hearing should become acutely aware, familiarizing yourself with the environment. Familiarity, subconsciously, breeds comfort and you want to quickly become acclimated to the environment so you can focus on playing baseball.

1. Prior to beginning your warm-up tosses, slowly and carefully take a wide scan around the entire field, foul pole to foul pole, making a mental note of anything which could come into play that could affect the ball. Ask yourself a few questions as you look.

B. The most important thing to inspect is the playing field, especially the texture and make up of the playing field. Nearly all amateur ball parks have a dirt infield, but every now and then you'll run across a grass infield with sliding pits around the bases. Most importantly look at the outfield grass, is it thick or tall, as this will definitely have an impact on ground balls through the infield, such as you'll have to automatically charge a ball if the grass is high, or you may be able to stretch a hit into a double.

C. Observe the field layout including foul territories and corners. There may be a slight dip or ditch 25' outside the left field foul line, which would most likely be out of play, but if you're running full speed chasing a foul ball fly in that area, you'll need that subconscious note to pull up before falling or tripping in the ditch.
Or you may notice a weird angle at the right field foul pole area created by an awkward connection of fencing of the field and the parking lot, where a ball could get trapped in that area if it bounced a certain way.

Now that you have a mental picture of the playing field and any quirks which may cause a problem, analyze the natural conditions.

A. Wind or no wind today and if there is, which direction is it blowing? A Strong wind to a particular field, or blowing straight out from behind the plate, could cause a high fly ball to travel 10 feet or more further than it normally would, but in the case of a strong wind blowing in towards the plate, it'll hold the ball up longer and decrease distance of travel.

B. Is there a sun problem? Where's the Sun located, which of course will change during the game, but you need to know what affects, if any, the sun plays in the first inning. Is it a High Sky, where I'll need to wear sunglasses or cloudy and overcast.

*** Remember... there's a Huge Difference between Looking and Observing. ***

Jim Bain, former Minor league baseball player and member of "Baseball Coaches of America" shares his advice on baseball coaching baseball drills on his exciting info packed website: http://www.learn-youth-baseball-coaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6842732

Three Baseball Coaching Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

By Jim Bain   

People who decide to coach a little league youth team, whether it be baseball or softball, are a unique breed of person, forfeiting their time, money and relaxation time. It's a shame many such well meaning people fail so miserably.

Although 90% of coaching failures are simply lack of knowledge of either the sport or people, some are complete idiots which need weeding out a.s.a.p. However, in my opinion, being an elder statesman, today's baseball/softball coach must contend with distractions which weren't present when I coached. Ipods, cell phones, computer games and satellite television all vie for a kid's attention, we only had Popeye and Mighty Mouse cartoons to contend with.

Worse yet is the Speed everything happens today, reducing the word patience to literally an unknown quality. This is where baseball is beginning to lose it's edge against other forms of sports. Kids demand action, their parents demand action and a poorly run baseball practice can't contend with the action soccer, football, lacrosse and etc. provide.

So let's talk about a few coaching mistakes, made with good intentions in mind, but slows the practice to a snail's pace, and see how to avoid them.

Mistake Number One: This first issue is a catch 22. Having your son or daughter on the team opens up a whole array of problems which must be dealt with, however, if you don't have a personal experience of what kid's like or respond to today, you'll have trouble reaching them. It's best to have your own kid on the team.

Coaches who believe they can reach their players by joking with them, being their friend and never challenging them, because you're here to have Fun, will make a lousy coach.

Kids expect to be challenged and by being so they can achieve recognition for effort, hard practicing, a good feeling of getting better, thriving on competition and learning the feeling of being a teammate. Challenge your team with these obstacles while teaching them the proper method of achieving success and you'll positively influence their lives forever.

Mistake Number Two: People learn in different ways, but I'd venture to say if asked whether the person wanted the skill explained to them, or shown them, 98% would say "Show me."
I once observed a coach yelling at his players every time they made a mistake, but not once did he go out and demonstrate how to properly perform the skill. You can tell me I'm wrong all day long, but until you show me the correct way, I doubt anything is going to change.

Slowly and repetitively demonstrate the actions required to perform the skill. Talk and explain what and why you're doing something. If you're old like me and are teaching the shortstop how to jump over a sliding runner, walk him through it and state "Here's when you jump," but if you're teaching how to put down a tag, put that glove on the ground in front of the base showing how it's done.

Mistake Number Three: Some coaches seem to think they're playing professional ball and everything is a secret which must be hidden. If you have parents interested enough to ask your advise on what they can do to help their kid improve, tell them.

However, do it at the proper time, after practice, not during. Talk in positive terms. Don't say "Your kid's a lousy fielder" rather say "He's got the basics down pat, but if you could work with helping him get in front of the ball it'd be great." Believe it or not I've heard horror stories of coaching being so blunt with parents.

Coaching a little league team is a labor of love and those who do it have my greatest respect. So if there's any little bit of information I may give to help, it's free of charge.

Jim Bain, former Minor league baseball player and member of "Baseball Coaches of America" shares his advice on baseball coaching baseball drills on his exciting info packed website: http://www.learn-youth-baseball-coaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6849417

How to Build a Pitching Mound in Your Backyard

By Jim Bain   

There are a few basic issues about backyard pitching mounds which must be initially considered. The first being, buying a pre-made portable pitching mound is expense, $700 to $1500 + depending on quality and accessories, secondly, to actually build a dirt pitching mound is an enormous amount of work, cost and should probably be undertaken only by a skilled professional due to the slope requirement.

Great, all I wanted was a pitching mound in my back yard which I could practice throwing off and you're telling me I need a ton of money to do it. Oh contraire my friend. If you have moderate building skills, I'm going to show you how to build a perfect practice pitching mound for a mere $200 or less if you have spare lumber around the house.

Finished Size 4' wide - 8' long with 2' top and 6' downward slope.

Required Material:

1. 5 - 2" x 10" x 8'
2. 1 - 2" x 4" x 8'
3. 1 sheet - 4' x 8' Plywood ** There are two factors to consider when buying the plywood, ¾" plywood is much stronger and stiffer than ½" plywood, negating any softness in the platform, but it's also much heavier and more costly.
4. 1 - 4' x 8' piece of Astroturf and contact cement.

Step 1
Place your tape measure on the end of one 2" x 10" x 8' and measure down 2' and make a pencil mark.

Beginning at this 2' mark, which is the edge of your platform base, (top of the pitching mound) begin your marking for your down slope by measuring down 1' - then measure down 1", another foot and measure 2" down, another foot and 3" down until reaching the end of the board.

Step 2
Using a chalk line, hold it at the 2' mark and extend to the bottom, snap a line and it'll mark the downward slope of the pitching mound, which is 1" drop for every foot of slope. Using a power saw, carefully cut along this line, which will give you a template to produce 4 identical 2" x 10" pieces.

Step 3

Lay the 4 stringers out equally spaced apart. Attach a 2" x 10" x 4' to the back of each stringer. Attach a 2" x 4" x 4' to the front of the stringers. I'd advise cutting 2" x 4" or 2" x 10" pieces and attach them in between the stringers at the beginning of the mound's downward slope. You'll have extra wood from the bracing.

Step 4

Cut a 2' x 4' piece of plywood and attach it to the mound's flat area. Use the remaining plywood to cover the slope. Use at least ½" screws placed every 4" apart to secure the plywood to the framing, you don't want any wobbling.

Step 5
Cover top area with contact cement and attach 2'x4' piece of Astroturf. Repeat for the slope using remaining Astroturf and contact cement.

Tips:
*** You can try to attach Astroturf as one piece, but it's quite difficult to transcend the flat to slope without cutting it.
*** The finished pitching mound will be very heavy, it's suggested you place it where you want it before attaching the plywood.
*** You can install a pitching rubber or a piece of wood simulating a pitching rubber for better accuracy of foot placement, with screws.
This mound, although possibly crude looking in comparison to a $1500 pre-made mound, fulfills every requirement needed to practice throwing off a pitching mound, which is totally different from throwing on a flat surface, and for a possible ZERO cost.

Jim Bain, former Minor league baseball player, who since retiring has dedicated his life to teaching baseball to youth, shares his advice on baseball coaching baseball drills on his exciting info packed website: http://www.learn-youth-baseball-coaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6791039