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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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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
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