FAQ's

Drill Library

Drill videos are organized in two ways: (1) By skill - List of baseball categories, organized alphabetically (baserunning, bunting, catching, etc); and, (2) By Practice Planning Absolute - The Absolute 8 segments used to create a Dugout Captain practice plan (Early Activity, Warm Up, Throwing, etc…). Users can sort and search using whichever logic makes sense. Each drill has video, diagram, descriptive text, execution keys, DC keys, and organizing tags like difficulty level, suggested ages, and running time.

A: No Currently, DC is not accepting user-submitted drill videos. However, you can add your own drill to a practice plan while on the clipboard. At any time, use Plan Tools to insert a Drill Segment and simply type in your drill’s name and notes.

MyDugout

DC members begin from MyDugout. Visit the drill library, the Training Clipboard (Train a Skill, Fix a Problem), or the Practice Planning Clipboard. Look below the main buttons to build a team or access saved training plans. MyDugout is an area we intend to evolve, including added videos and tutorials under the Forums and Resources areas.

Clipoard - Training / Homework Plan

Training Plans can be created by Premium members and shared via the clipboard. Select a drill, add any instructions or suggestions, and designate a number of repetitions (or time) per day. Use the ‘assignment’ to provide motivation and hold your athlete accountable to daily practice. Training plans are pre-programmed solutions to skill training or addressing common fundamental issues. DC Skill Training lessons are organized into two categories:

  1. Train-a-Skill - Think ‘proactive’. Meaning: “I want to work with my athlete to improve ____ skill.”.
  2. Fix-a-Problem - Think ‘reactive’. Meaning: “My athlete has an issue that we need to fix.”

How are Skill-Training Lessons organized?

Expand DC Homework --> Train-a-Skill to view categories. Lessons are organized under skill categorized such as Catching, Infield, Pitching, and the Mental Game.

How are Fix-It Lessons organized

Expand DC Homework --> Fix-a-Problem to search for common solutions by skill. Be sure to search Coach's Tips for solutions to common coach's challenges.

Can I build my own Training Plans?

Yep, that's the idea. Select a drill, add your instructions, and send it home to one of your players. Help with the athlete that's scared of the ball... assist a struggling pitcher... or provide training material for a father/son that want to learn the catcher position. We're trying to make you look good here ;)

Clipboard - Practice Plan

Practice plans may be created in one of three ways:

  1. DC Plan - Select a ready-made Dugout Captain practice plan. All drills are pre-planned with notes included. Plans are organized by age-level as well as time length.
  2. Blank ‘Template’ - Select the time length (60/90/120 minutes) that’s best for you and then the drills to include in your practice
  3. Build Your Own - Use Plan Tools to select drills, stations, and water breaks as you like. Then, fill your selections with drills from the library or your own favorite drills.

How are DC Practice Plans organized?

DC Plans are pre-determined practice plans organized by age level (tee ball, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14U) and also time length (60, 90, 120 minute options). Each plan follows a chronological athlete development curriculum to introduce and train athletes across age-specific learning objectives. These ready-made plans can be dragged onto the virtual clipboard and shared in a matter of seconds.

How do I share a Practice Plan

Any plan can be shared to an individual, team, or straight to email. Click the “share” button on the top control menu. A pop-up will prompt you to select either a contact, team, or email address that you’d like to share to. Enter the appropriate information and click send. Boom, it’s that easy. The recipient will be required to register for a free account to view any shared plan.

What is the difference between a "Drill" and a "Station?

Stations are simply a collection of drills. Run concurrently (at the same time), the players are broken into groups and will rotate through multiple drills. Group A goes to Station #1 while group B goes to Station #2. After 10-15 minutes, the groups switch stations. While stations are combinations of two or more drills, a drill, on the other hand, is an activity that the entire team will work through together.

DC Practice Planning Philosophy

DC abides and follows the Absolute 8 practice planning steps. Click to view more about: Practice Planning 101. All steps are included in 120-minute practice plans. However, steps are pulled out as practice length shortens to 90 or 60 minutes. Tutorial videos describing the philosophy of each step are available next to the segment title on the Clipboard.

Absolutely! While you can not upload a drill video, you CAN input a title and add any notes to a drill segment or station block on the clipboard. Use the plan tools to drag a drill or station segment onto the clipboard first!
Fo sho! All times can be edited, that's the power of the Clipboard :) If you change the starting time at the top of the plan, the ending time will automatically update as drill times are changed. Play around with it, we think it's pretty nifty.

Membership

Dugout Captain Membership is free and provides access to the following tools and resources:

  1. Clipboard - Practice and Training Plan creation via a patent-pending virtual clipboard.
  2. Drill Videos - 200+ drill detail pages with video, text, diagram, equipment, and DC keys to success.
  3. Practice Plans - 200+ ready made, professionally programmed plans.
  4. Skill-Training Lessons - Coaching-the-coach guides for working with your athlete in Hitting, Pitching, Catching, Fielding, etc.
  5. Coach's Tips - Best practices tips for coaching better baseball. Includes handling parents, distractions, umpires, communication, etc.
  6. Life Lessons - 50+ videos and over 100+ articles to assist with impactful conversations. Look for Life Lesson discussion points below each DC Practice Plan

Can I cancel my membership?

Why, it’s free?!? Of course you can :) Let us know via support and we’ll pull your info out of DC anytime.

Can I get DC subscriptions for my entire league?

Yes. DC offers bulk subscriptions and handles as much of the work as possible. Please visit our League Partner Page for more information.

League (Bulk) Subscriptions

Heck yeah. We offer league solution packages, where all coaches get memberships. Raise the expectations for a better practice league-wide by partnering with Dugout Captain. Please visit the