With September now upon us, many high school players are starting to enter other sports like football and soccer. Others are continuing their baseball in one of the many fall leagues that now exist. Whatever their fall plans are, it is in every players' interest to do some reflecting on the baseball season they just had.
The advantage of this reflection is that it can be used to specifically target areas for improvement. If asked how their season went, most players will generalize and respond with something like "It went fine" or "It was horrible." Although that may be true as a whole, it does not provide enough information and might even mislead the player. The player who says "It went fine" may fail to identify specific areas that need improvement in order to continue playing the following year. The player who says "It was horrible" may, in fact, be describing his performance too harshly. Looking back on the season in a productive way may give this player a better perspective of what specifically went well and what did not. More specifics can ultimately help a player more efficiently plan their off-season workouts.
One way to be more specific is to use some sort of a report card. At the end of this post, I provide a couple examples of ones I've used. Feel free to use them or create your own.
Players can also give a copy to a coach to get another perspective. As stated earlier, some players may be too lenient on themselves and some may be too hard. A second opinion is not a bad idea. Coaches might even require players to fill one out prior to a post-season conference so as to better guide the discussion.
However it is used, a post-season evaluation form can be very effective for both players and coaches.
Examples:
Evaluation Form #1:
Evaluation Form #2: This example is a text-box version of a Word document. If used, the person filling it out just clicks on the gray box and starts typing. The file can then be saved.
(I had trouble with the link to the 2nd one. If you have trouble opening it, let me know)