Gilmer High did not have to go far for its summer baseball regimen.
GHS hit the field for four weeks in June as team morale and getting live hitting and batting repetitions took center stage. The Bobcats were on the field for Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for 12 total practices. The first hour was spent lifting weights before heading to the field for the final two hours.
In past summers, GHS attended the camp at Berry College where the Cats played exhibitions against other schools. Instead, head coach Jeff Thurman and staff concentrated on controlled scrimmages where they could correct and fix mistakes on the fly.
“Our focus was primarily on intrasquad scrimmages where we could play a baseball game at our own pace,” Thurman said. “Sometimes we broke them up into two teams, and then sometimes we split them into three teams of five or six players. We’ve done some of that in the past, but this year, we decided to focus entirely on intrasquad scrimmage as opposed to traveling off and playing other teams.
“I felt like this year we needed to focus more on ourselves where we can control the environment a lot better. It was really good for us.”
The Bobcats also worked on situational awareness with runners on different bases and outs. They focused on the process of improving rather than winning games.
“There were times we intentionally put our pitchers, defense and hitters in certain situations that you might not always get into if you’re playing a real game with the scoreboard on,” said Thurman. “When you turn the scoreboard on, then the focus, even if you say it’s not going to be, the focus tends to be ‘let’s do whatever we can to win.’ For anyone competitive, that’s what it becomes, and there’s not anything wrong with that.
“This was a good way to introduce the upcoming ninth graders. It was a good way to introduce our system to them and the environment of high school baseball. Sometimes you don’t get to focus on that when you’re playing other teams.”
Thurman noted that it has become increasingly difficult to find teams to scrimmage because of the hectic summer schedule. Those who play other sports often have to split their time during June. GHS has around 10 players who are on travel teams, which often leads to sporadic attendance throughout the summer.
“There are a lot of kids who are traveling these days, especially compared to five or 10 years ago,” said Thurman. “It’s kind of tough to play games during the week when some of the travel players are holding practices or still finishing up tournaments.
“That was another reason why we decided to focus on ourselves. Then we wouldn’t feel so pressured if we had some travel kids who weren’t able to make some games. I didn’t want those kids to feel pressure and didn’t want us to feel pressure as a team and throw some young kids in there who weren’t quite ready for varsity type experience. We have a lot of multisport athletes, and it was OK if they missed a day for other sports. I’ve tried to not put those kids in a position to have to make a choice.”
Even with players juggling busy schedules, between 18 and 22 were in attendance for each practice.
“I feel like we had a really good summer,” said Thurman. “Getting them back in the weight room was important for June to set the standard. We really wanted to work on the culture of our team. That was the main focus to rebuild the culture and improve the culture of what we’ve already created, but also to make it better.”
The Bobcats will return to the field in January for preseason practices as they look to reach the state playoffs for a third straight year.