One thing I love to see is a team that is always putting pressure on the defense. These teams are very aggressive and do everything the right way. They round first hard looking for second, they steal, hit and run, drag bunt, slash, they do anything and everything to force mistakes from the other team. Teams like this are tough to play against because you can never relax, it feels like you never get to catch your breath and if you do let your guard down for one second they delay steal or take the extra base on a ball in the dirt. Every team has the capability to do this and every player will buy into the system, it just takes a coach to impress upon his players the importance of all these little things. If you are going to have your team play this style of baseball, which in my opinion is the only way to play, you must practice it, you must repeat the practice, and when you think they understand you must do it again. I am not saying you have to be a drill sergeant but you must build a culture of hard work and non stop hustle in order to get kids to buy into the system. The biggest part of this style for a coach is to hold everyone accountable. All coaches preach this style of play but when their star player messes up some coaches look past it. This is a huge no no because the other players pick up on this and realize you have not completely bought into the system you are trying to teach. In closing, make sure everyone plays hard 100 percent of the time, and do not make any exceptions for anyone no matter their batting average or on base %. Play hard and have fun.
Force Mistakes: Play Hard