This episode is brought to you by baseballcloud and OnBaseU.

iTunes 

Summary:

In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I interview Matt Denny, the Head Baseball Coach for Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, Arizona. Matt walks us through what his typical training sessions look like, how and why he developed a ‘hard-nosed’ culture in his baseball program to integrate consistency into his team, and methods for coaches to get players to overcome their fears and mistakes.

Matt Denny introduces himself and shares his background

What does a typical week during fall training look like

How do they go about grouping players for training needs

How many coaches does Matt have in the fall

Which internal competitions does Matt integrate into training

How is Matt developing a hard-nosed culture for his team

What does Matt look for in his players on a regular basis

How does he bring his players closer together as a team

Matt walks through their weekly training plan during the season

How do their BP sessions work in practice

What data does Matt track besides BP and defense

How does he get his team ready to play in the post-season

What is meant by the belief that ‘fear is a liar’

How does the summer program operate

What advice does Matt Denny offer to first-time coaches

Be fair and be consistent

What gets Matt excited the most lately

Which training drills get the most enthusiastic reaction from Matt Denny’s players

Matt Denny shares his biggest baseball resources

Be a part of coaching associations

3 Key Points:

Coach your players to be leaders so the program can lead itself.

Players are more likely to listen to you when you develop trust and open communication.

Talk to your team about other programs that are worthy of being state champions.

Tweetable Quotes:

“You can’t move on to anything else that we’re doing until you can do things exactly how we want them to be done.” – Matt Denny (5:05)

“To have a culture like that (hard-nosed) it’s not just something you can talk about and it happens, it is something that has to happen over time.” – Matt Denny (17:20)

“Every single mistake that they make, my coaches and my assistants are instructed to talk about every single mistake.” – Matt Denny (18:24)

“’We have a sign that just says, ‘Do Things Right,’ and it’s kind of has been our mantra this year, D.T.R...” – Matt Denny (21:00)

“As hard as we are on them, it is because we love them and there are times when things aren’t going our way and we are all in it together.” – Matt Denny (23:16)

“Preparing for the post-season, in my opinion, starts the day you lose your last game the last year.” – Matt Denny (34:36)

“To beat the best you have to be ready to play the best.” – Matt Denny (36:24)

“Fear is not an actual thing. It is something you choose to do. You’re choosing to be nervous. You’re choosing to be scared.” – Matt Denny (36:42:)

Ahead of the Curve Podcast

@AOTC_podcast

Matt Denny’s Email: [email protected]

Website and Social Media sites for the show 

www.aotcpodcast.com