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Evidence-Based Coaching

Coaching Articles

Research from sport scientists, applied to the rec ball field. No jargon. No opinion pieces. Sources cited.

Featured · The Philosophy Behind DugoutLab
Your One Job as a Youth Coach

Every piece of research in this library points to the same conclusion. Nine researchers. One sentence. Here's what it means for how you run practice today.

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The Big Debate & Stories From the Dugout
The Big Debate
Drillers Make Killers vs. Let Them Play
The fight that splits every youth complex. Where each side is right, what the evidence says, and when to shift so kids keep loving the game.
9 min read
For Coaches Who Feel It
The Kid in the Dugout Isn't My Son
Why your chest gets tight before a game you don't care about winning — and what to do with it.
10 min read
Practice Design
Coaching Cues · Gabriele Wulf
The One Cue Rule: Why Less Is More
Science shows giving a player two cues at once makes both less effective. Here's what to do instead.
5 min read
Practice Structure · Motor Learning
Stop Running the Same Drill 20 Times
Blocked practice feels like progress. Random practice actually builds skills that transfer to games.
7 min read
Practice Design · Keith Davids
Let the Game Teach the Game
The constraints-led approach: why changing the environment produces faster learning than giving instructions.
8 min read
Practice Difficulty · Mark Guadagnoli
The 70% Rule: How Hard Should Practice Be?
Research has a specific answer to how challenging a drill should be. Too easy wastes time. Too hard prevents learning.
7 min read
Decisions · Joan Vickers
How to Train Decision-Making, Not Just Mechanics
The Quiet Eye research explains why asking "Where's the play?" before every rep produces better game performance than any mechanical drill.
7 min read
Player Development
Retention · Youth Sport Research
Why Kids Quit Baseball — and What You Can Control
The number one reason isn't losing. It's not having fun. A rec coach can change this in one practice.
6 min read
Mindset · Carol Dweck
Growth Mindset on the Baseball Field
What to say after an error, how to praise effort correctly, and why fixed mindset language quietly kills development.
6 min read
Long-Term Development · LTAD / Ericsson
Early Specialization: What the Research Actually Says
Decades of research show early specialization increases injuries and burnout without improving elite performance outcomes.
7 min read
Environment · Smoll & Smith
The Parent Sideline Problem
Research shows sideline behavior from parents directly affects how kids perform, their enjoyment, and whether they stay in sports.
6 min read
Pitching Development
Arm Health · ASMI / James Andrews
Arm Care: What the Research Says
ASMI's decades of data on youth pitching injuries. What actually causes them and what any coach can do about it.
7 min read
Data-Driven Development · Driveline Baseball
What Driveline Baseball Found
What their data on velocity, spin, and arm health means for coaches who never use a Rapsodo.
8 min read
Emotional Coaching
What to Say When a Player Cries
Specific language for after an error, a strikeout, and a loss — plus the 4-step framework and what the research says about emotional flooding in youth athletes.
8 min read