Building Better Film Sessions with Key Play Choices

When running team meetings focused on different situations and play types, ensuring that players are invested in the content should be a top priority. Covering topics that are both useful and engaging for players is essential. Here are a few assumptions I bring into every meeting I run:

• Assume players are not experts on the rules.
• Assume players may not have a solid understanding of each situation or topic you teach.
• Assume that plays you find interesting will also capture players’ interest.

These assumptions guide my meetings with players throughout the season. Keeping them in mind helps me choose high-quality situational plays to present and the videos or information that goes into each one. The fun part of film review can be gravitating toward niche, complex situations, but I’ve found success by selecting plays that serve a specific purpose or can apply to multiple situations throughout the game. Don’t underestimate the value of these more straightforward examples.

The bottom line is that when players come to a meeting, they need to feel that the plays they are engaging with are useful and will enhance their understanding of the game. They need to feel as though the information that they are being given is going to help them become better players or to understand the game at a deeper level. The idea is to challenge them to be better baseball players.

“When you watch the film, you learn the game from a different perspective. It gives you the chance to see what you can’t on the field.” — Bill Belichick

Game film allows you to slow down the action and view it from various angles, providing players with the opportunity to study the game in a controlled environment. On the field, players often can’t see everything or focus on multiple elements simultaneously. Reviewing film offers the chance to learn from others’ mistakes or their own, which is crucial for player development.

“Keep meetings engaging and to the point. The worst thing you can do is lose the room. Players need to see the relevance of what you’re saying to their success on the field.” — Pete Carroll

Pete Carroll gets to the core of successful film sessions. They don’t need to be overly complex or long-winded. It’s important to find engaging clips that not only hold the players’ attention but also contribute directly to their improvement. Players need to see situations pop up during games that you have gone over and reviewed how they should handle them. The best complement you can get as a coach is that a play happens and players and staff begin to approach you about including that in tomorrow’s meeting.

One of the key ideas behind building classroom meetings is to present plays to players and encourage discussion about the ideal outcome or a discussion about the possible outcomes that can come from a situation. We can nudge them in a direction or prompt them to question their own assumptions on how to handle different situations.

For example, baserunning situations where runners are thrown out are often seen as “bad” mistakes these are often great examples to pull from other teams or even from your own team. However, by reviewing the play, you can begin to separate the “good” elements from the “bad” and explore why a player made the decision they did. You can begin to look at considerations like: When did the player make the decision? What information did they use? Where they overaggressive or did just run into a great play or a bad outcome for the team? What was the player potentially looking at? By prompting players to think about these questions, we can help them build a more robust decision-making framework.

Players can also think about various game contexts, such as the inning, score, or the way a fielder approached the ball. The goal should be to direct their attention toward the key aspects of the play.

It’s also valuable to compare similar plays that may differ slightly. Examining these differences and similarities can stimulate analysis and critical thinking among the group. By comparing plays, players can transfer the principles from the first play to the second. This ability to apply learned principles to new situations is key to making a lasting impact.

The idea of this comes from Long Transfer which is when knowledge learned from a task is re-used in order to boost performance on a related task. So For example we can look at a few different plays where a runner was thrown out trying to extend a single to a double, and look at how the outfielder was moving (direction, speed, distance from 2nd) and start to ask them to examine a second play that is similar where a runner is safe and compare potentially.

The goal of every film session should be to engage players in meaningful analysis and discussion, decision-making skills by having them watch plays that can help them develop into better baseball players. By presenting high-quality plays and encouraging players to think on their choices, you guide them toward deeper understanding and improved performance on the field. The key is balancing simplicity with relevance — choosing examples that are both practical and thought-provoking, and ensuring that each meeting enhances the players’ knowledge of the game. Whether through reviewing mistakes or success stories, the ultimate aim is to develop players who can transfer learned principles from film study to live game situations.