Welcome to the Website of Coach Ran Birkins

To my players: My purpose in taking the time to write these pages is to give you "study" material for things I have already taught you, or will teach you during our season, or expect you to already know. We have precious few hours of practice time before our season starts, and even less time once the season has started.

I know that each of you wants to be a tremendous success at whatever you do on the baseball field - you want to hit a screaming line-drive and drive in runs every time you swing the bat; you want to make a great defensive play every time a ball is hit to you; pitchers want to keep every batter from reaching base; catchers want to throw out every runner that tries to steal; baserunners want to slide in safely every time they attempt to steal or take an extra base; outfielders want to run down and catch every ball hit in the air anywhere near them and throw out every runner who tries to take an extra base; infielders want to make diving stops and great throws that take base hits away from the opposition, etc.

These are some of the hundreds of "games within the game" that are a part of every baseball game, the competitions between pitchers and hitters, between hitters and the defense, between baserunners and the defense, etc. What makes baseball fun and exciting is being able to experience the thrill of victory in these hundreds of little games and competitive battles. Each pitch starts a new battle involving at least the pitcher, catcher and hitter, and if the ball is hit or if a baserunner tries to steal, other battles start happening as defensive players are challenged by the offense.

The winners of the individual competitive battles worked hard (in practices and on their own) to make themselves the best player that they could possibly be, and then were intense competitors who were both mentally and physically prepared for every single pitch and play during the game. Here are just some of the things that the winners did:

• They were able to focus 100% of their talent and ability on winning each of the little battles that came their way during the game.
• They had the drive and desire and determination to maximize their abilities, and then they poured all that they had into the competition.
• Before every pitch was thrown, they already knew exactly what they would do with any ball that was hit to them (line drive, hard grounder, soft grounder, grounder to my left, grounder to my right, bunt, pop-up to my left, pop-up to my right, deep fly ball, etc, etc, etc).
• At all times they knew where the runners were, and where they would be going on any ball that was hit, and they knew where to throw the ball.
• Pitchers were determined to make every pitch a quality pitch that was only "marginally-hittable," never getting deep in the count to any batter, never issuing a walk and making every batter swing the bat to get on base - to make the opposition earn everything and give them nothing.
• Infielders were determined to not let any ball get by them and were ready to make diving stops to get to balls.
• Outfielders were determined to catch everything hit anywhere near them, diving for balls if necessary to make a catch or keep a ball from getting by them to prevent extra base hits.
• Every defensive player was determined to back up his teammates on every play, to anticpate where he might be needed, and to make quick and accurate throws.
• Hitters were determined to make every at-bat a quality at-bat, to patiently wait for a good pitch to hit, and trying drive the ball right back up the middle.
• Hitters were constantly "at-the-ready" to crush any pitch they swung at when they had less than 2 strikes, and adjusted their approach after they had 2 strikes so their plan was now to "put the ball in play" if a 2-strike pitch was anywhere close to the strike zone.
• Hitters ran at full speed with the mindset of turning every single into an extra-base hit, or taking an extra base if the defense misplayed the ball.
• Hitters were determined to beat out even the easiest of pop-ups or infield ground balls, because they knew if the defense bobbled the ball or made a wide throw, they would have a chance to reach base safely.
• Baserunners were determined to sprint as fast as they possibly could and slide safely into the base ahead of the tag.

Win The Little Battles!

Remember, the final score of game is not nearly as important as how we did in all the little battles that took place within that game. We can win a game but still be embarrassed about how and why we lost some of the little battles that were within that game. Or we can lose a game but still be very proud of some of the little battles that we won.

Take These Words To Heart:

"You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be."  Coach Lou Holtz

Coach Holtz coached four different NCAA football programs to top 20 finishes, won a national championship at Notre Dame and won national Coach of the Year honors. He is the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games, and those 6 NCAA teams went to 22 postseason bowl games. Today Coach Holtz is retired from coaching, but you can see him frequently on TV working as a football commentator and analyst.

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."  Coach John Wooden

Coach Wooden, who just died at 99 on June 5, 2010, won an unprecedented 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA (no other coach has won more than 4). Those 10 championships came in a 12 year span and included seven consecutive titles (1966-73). As a player, he was a 1st team All America 3 years in a row and the National Player of the Year as a Senior. Under Coach Wooden, UCLA had one of the most amazing win streaks EVER, in any sport, winning 38 straight NCAA tournament games. He also set the all-time NCAA consecutive game winning-streak record of 88 games over four seasons, which included consecutive 30-0 seasons in 1971-72 and 1972-73. Coach Wooden also had a 149-2 home record at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.

My Personal Words Of Encouragement

Work hard to be the absolute best that you can possibly be, and whether your accomplishments are great or small, you can always be proud of who you are and what you have done.

Our won-loss record at the end of the season means very little in the grand scheme of things. What matters most is how much fun we had, how much we improved as baseball players, and the "thrills of victory" that we were able to enjoy when we won a lot of the little competitive battles that are the "games within the game."

Ran Birkins,
Head Coach, Wyomissing Angels American Legion Team
ranbirkins@gmail.com
Cell Phone:  (610) 955-5736
Home Office:  (484) 949-2200
Fax:  (484) 489-2783