"Just do the reps" might be making players worse.
Do you believe that quantity is necessary for everything?
If you play baseball, there is a phrase you have likely heard at least once.
That is,
"Just do the reps."
Hundreds of tee batting swings.
Hundreds of long tee swings.
100 consecutive tee swings.
I have always felt uncomfortable with this phrase.
Of course, I do not want to deny the value of repetitive practice.
Repeating what you cannot do until you can do it.
This is absolutely necessary for improvement.
However, I believe that "repetitive practice" and "just doing the reps" are completely different things.
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What I think is the problem is that practice based on "just doing the reps" lacks a theme.
"What am I going to master today?"
"Is this practice really necessary right now?"
Without deciding those things, you just go through the motions.
Before you know it,
the act of practicing itself has become the goal.
That is why I do not like the phrase "just do the reps."
—
Just 100 long tee swings.
10 sets of 10 consecutive tee swings.
Just 1 hour of machine batting.
If it were me, I would first set a theme.
For example, let's say today's theme is
"Batting that doesn't get overpowered by fastballs."
In that case,
• Use front toss to increase perceived speed.
• Let balls go by in the short-distance machine to get your eyes used to fast pitches.
• Perform drills to improve how you bring the bat through the zone.
Even if it is the same "hitting" practice, the method changes if the purpose changes.
And the number of swings required changes as well.
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I also did an insane amount of reps back in high school.
Sometimes I would look at the clock and realize batting practice had been going on for three hours.
"Do it until you can."
"If you couldn't do it, do it before the day is over."
That was the mantra at my high school.
Of course, there is a lot I gained from that environment.
But looking back now,
"Why am I doing this practice?"
I feel like there was a lot of time where I didn't think that far.
High school baseball, which I gave everything to.
I barely even came close to reaching Koshien.
That is exactly why now,
I strongly feel the importance of "practicing with a purpose"
rather than "just doing the quantity."
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I think excellent coaches do not rely on time or quantity.
They design practice so that players can grow in the shortest time possible, and they make the players think for themselves.
"What am I going to have them master today?"
They build the practice by working backward from that.
That is why they get results even in a short amount of time.
Conversely, because they cannot set a theme, they resort to the phrase "just do the reps."
That is what I think.
—
I don't want you to misunderstand; I am not denying quantity.
But that quantity must have meaning.
Is it something you can do?
Is it something you cannot do?
Is it really necessary for you right now?
Repeating the same practice every day without thinking about those things.
I think that is the biggest waste of time.
Baseball is not a sport where you compete over "how much you practiced."
"How much did you practice with a purpose, and how much did you grow?"
I believe that is where the value lies.
What do you think?
Please let me know in the comments!
That is all for today.
Thank you for reading until the end.