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There are thousand of players creating videos for college coaches to look at every year.
They hope these videos are seen by coaches, and that the coaches will invite them to join the team. Some will even get scholarships from these videos.
Many times a player ads her video to … Continue Reading
I thought I would share this with the Fastpitch TV Community.
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
MEMORANDUM
April 3, 2012
TO: Head Softball Coaches, Directors of Athletics , Senior Woman Administrators, Conference Commissioners and Conference Senior Woman Administrators that Sponsor Softball. … Continue Reading
When you play each opponent at least 12 times during the season, you’re bound to get real familiar with the opposition. There’s the time spent in the cage before the game, time in between innings, the downtime before the game and the various meals and get togethers.
The women that play this game are … Continue Reading
If you are a regular reader you know I started a new set of blog posts called 10 questions. On these blog posts I send 10 questions to great softball players, and coaches. Then I am posting the questions with their answers.
This week Former Olympian Leah O’Brian Amico answers our 10 questions. … Continue Reading
We’re officially less than two months away from the start of another NPF season and the wheels are definitely moving for the four teams!
Akron is in full swing with its tournament schedule, Carolina is learning the ropes as the “new team”, USSSA is in motion 365 days a year and the Bandits have a little bit of everything going on. … Continue Reading
The other day I received an email from a young girl named Ashley. She is a pitcher who was recently hit by a ball while in the pitchers circle. I am a big believer in protecting these young players from harm, so when I saw her email I knew I had to share it with all of you. It read as follows: … Continue Reading
“I hate high school ball. Do I have to play high school ball?” This is something we hear from travel ball players at the beginning of each high school softball season. How we respond … Continue Reading
If you are a regular reader you know I started a new set of blog posts called 10 questions. On these blog posts I send 10 questions to great softball players, and coaches. Then I am posting the questions with their answers.
This week Former Arizona Pitcher Taryne Mowatt answers our 10 questions. … Continue Reading
I have this fantasy as a coach. Maybe other coaches have it too. Now, before you go crazy and think this is a strange post, hear me out. My fantasy is someday I will have a parent bring a player to my team and say, “Hey coach. My daughter is going to try out for your team. She can play a lot of different positions, but she would really love to be an outfielder.” … Continue Reading
There are a lot choices in Fastpitch Softball Gloves. It can be very difficult to find the best glove with all the sizes, designs, and models available.
Fastpitch Softball Gloves have a larger pattern length because the ball is larger. A deeper pocket is commonly designed into a softball glove also. New glove manufacturers designed certain Women Fastpitch Softball mitts with small hand slots. The distance between the thumb and index finger is shorter to support a small hand. … Continue Reading
The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.
Henri-Frederic Amiel
You face hundreds of decisions daily, BusyCoach. Venti or grande? Recruit A or recruit B? Practice more or rest? … Continue Reading
Do you have a passion for softball?
Do you think people may be interested in what you have to say?
Do you enjoy writing? … Continue Reading
Keeping It Simple Is a Pre-requisite for Releasing Talent
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – I wrote a book with 200 pages and I can talk to athletes for hours about thinking DOs and DON’Ts. This leads some to think that they should avoid mental skills training because they don’t want to make the game too complicated. Not to worry: a primary goal of mental skills training is to help athletes keep it simple when it’s time to perform. … Continue Reading
Are you planning ahead? As a former teacher, I know the importance of planning lessons in the classroom. As teachers we are taught to set objectives, set deadlines for when skills have to be learned, and then making progressive plans that lead us to the final result; our students learning what they need to learn and demonstrating that via exam or project.
What I find with most coaches is that they know when their first games are and they have an idea of where they want their team to be when that game comes, but they don’t really have anything written down. That make work for some coaches; the ones who are truly gifted, but the rest of us tend to get sidetracked without a guide to keep us focused. … Continue Reading
You’ve heard about the Titanic, the ship that “not even God could sink.” Maybe God couldn’t sink it, but an iceberg sure did. The ship’s operator had received multiple warnings to “look out for icebergs,” and after the 6th warning he even shot back, “Shut up! I’m busy!” Perhaps he thought they didn’t look big enough to damage his huge ship, yet he forgot one important fact: 90% of an iceberg lies below the surface.
What a powerful metaphor for leadership. Dr. Tim Elmore, author of Habitudes, likens the 10% of an iceberg above the water to our skills and the 90% of the iceberg below the surface to our character. Though unseen, our character is much bigger and has greater potential to wreak havoc. How many coaches are “too busy” honing their skills to heed warnings about character flaws that can sink their ship? … Continue Reading
I often get asked about my feelings regarding slapping in the game of fast pitch softball. In a nutshell I say “It’s unfair.” Really it’s like stealing when you think about it. Not sure why they even allow it. Why? Well in any normal foot race things are even. The “racers” line up on the same line and they run to the same location. Occasionally the two racers might even come to an agreement like “Hey Meghan you know you are way faster than me how about giving me a 5 foot lead?” Many times Meghan and Anne will then negotiate the size of the lead, and the slower runner will get the “head start.” … Continue Reading
I recently had the opportunity to visit with baseball’s great Pete Rose. No matter people’s opinion about Pete, one thing everyone will agree on is that Pete went all out when he played baseball. During our visit, Pete asked me this question. In the thirty years that I coached, what was the most important thing I learned to do? I went into all my lists of things, such as recruiting speed, having an offensive that would create runs, win with defense, etc. and when I was finished Pete smiled at me and wrote three letters on a piece of paper in front of him. WIN … Continue Reading
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – Athletes can do everything else beautifully, but if they fail to focus, they will not release their talent.
Did you ever try to hit a ball or target that you didn’t see? Stop an opponent with your eyes closed? It won’t work too well. What about the opposite? Did it ever look like the game was going in slow motion, and relevant cues (ball, target, etc.) seemed bigger than normal? That’s a tunnel vision focus on the task-at-hand. The goal is to get zoned in like that and making the attempt to get there will help performance, whether it becomes a “peak performance” or not. … Continue Reading
There is nothing that people seem to love more than sales. You can’t really argue with the logic either.
If you wanted to buy something anyway why pay full price when you can get it for less. The word “sale” alone isn’t always enough to prompt folks to go out of there way to buy something. But if the “X% off” is a big enough number, people will camp out overnight and stampede over each other to purchase the item.
Yet on the softball field we so often neglect to even look at the numbers involved with what we do, let alone see what we could get “on sale.” If you ask the vast majority of coaches and players how far it is from home to first they will tell you that it’s 60 feet. … Continue Reading
In separate conversations with four different coaches recently, a common theme surfaced—they wanted to show more joy and enthusiasm during the season. Even when they experience these emotions, they struggle to express them outwardly to others—especially to their teams.
While competitiveness and intensity are the hallmarks of great coaches, those strengths turn into liabilities when taken to an extreme. These four coaches strongly desired to live more joyfully—even, and most importantly, during the season. They had grown weary of allowing their joy to be stifled in the crucible of intensity, competition and pressure. … Continue Reading
Last week I started a new set of blog posts called 10 questions. On this new blog I am sending 10 questions to great softball players, and coaches. Then I am posting the questions with their answers.
This week two time Olympian Michele Smith answers our 10 questions. … Continue Reading
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – What we think directly affects how we feel, which directly affects what we do. Said another way: attitude determines our altitude, and it comes from how we think, whether we realize this or not. Wait…does this mean that athletes who are confident and having fun play better than those who are frustrated and timid? Absolutely! So which comes first, the chicken or the egg? I don’t know. But which comes first: successful outcomes or a positive, confident, fun attitude? For many, success does, but for the greatest athletes in the world, the ideal attitude for performance comes first. … Continue Reading
The other day I asked to do an online interview for some of my podcasting endeavors. When I agreed to the interview I was sent a list of 10 questions. After sending in the answers I realized that this was a great way to get interviews, and that I needed to start using this method. … Continue Reading
“What?! How can it possibly be 10pm? The sun is still beaming through the apartment window. It looks like late afternoon out there. This is bizarre!” I said after my first night of experiencing Sweden’s long summer days. … Continue Reading
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – You can get whatever you want in life if you have enough MOTIVATION and COURAGE! Every coach in America wants athletes who are “intrinsically” motivated. … Continue Reading
One of my fellow coaches and I were talking the other day about a player on his team who was having a confidence crisis. The young lady, who has been playing since she was 8 years old, was always considered the best in her age group as she came up through the 10u, 12u and 14u ranks. She has always been one of the biggest, strongest athletes in her age division. … Continue Reading
Unguarded, the ESPN documentary about former NBA player Chris Herren and his struggle with addiction, received tons of positive reviews this week. A powerful story of redemption and hope that with help, we can overcome the addictions that seek to destroy us. … Continue Reading
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – I love watching highly competitive athletes compete, in part because I often see outstanding performances. Unfortunately, I also often see impressively awful performances. I see so many youngsters pressing to try to make things happen that it seems like an epidemic. The first message I want to get to them is this: HAVE FUN! … Continue Reading
I grew up before Gatorade and cell phones. A self professed “gym rat,” I rode my bike to summer workouts in high school and went running in the snow (in my boots, no less) to stay in shape during my Christmas break in college. As an athlete, my mindset reflected the times in which I grew up. The same holds true today. … Continue Reading
Much of Sweden is made up of large-framed people. There are, however, some who do not quite fit the typical Scandinavian mold. Sally is a young Swedish girl. In her blog, my American teammate likens Sally’s body type to a “Chinese gymnast in the 2008 Olympics, very slight, slender and adorable!” … Continue Reading
Self-Control is a Must for Optimal Performance
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – Self-control is a big deal for any performer. It means that emotions are kept in check, which is essential for maintaining discipline. “When you lose control of your emotions and your discipline breaks down,” … Continue Reading
The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine who also coaches. He was sharing a conversation he had with one of his athletes after a tough practice. The interesting part of this talk was that the coach spent most of the time asking questions instead of telling the athlete anything about her performance. He wanted HER to understand what happened in the practice that day instead of just giving her his “take” on how things went. … Continue Reading
I had an interesting string of chats with two very qualified coaches today that I’d like to share with you and get your thoughts on…
It started with this quote:
The ones who want to achieve & win championships motivate themselves. -Mike Ditka … Continue Reading
The power of patience. What is it and what does it mean to parents and coaches? The Fall season is what it is all about.
Fall is that great time of year when softball teams begin their long journey to the end of the summer. It’s a time to get a new team together, see how players do as they move up a level, or let players try new skills, new positions in the field, etc. Too many times during this time of year,adults worry about the wrong thing; winning. Or they worry about batting averages. They worry so much that they don’t notice the little things that mean so much. … Continue Reading
It’ll be Hard to Focus Without a Healthy Perspective!
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – Tennis Champion Jim Courier said it succinctly: “It is very, very dangerous to have your self-worth riding on your results as an athlete.” Unfortunately, today’s athletes usually hold the distorted belief that they are a good person after a good performance and a bad one after they stink it up. Rationally, … Continue Reading
While in Sweden, I had the opportunity to visit different schools to teach the game of softball. The last school we were scheduled to visit before students were released for the summer is located twenty minutes outside of Skövde.
All the Swedish players had other responsibilities during the day. Nicole, my American teammate, and I were scheduled to teach the classes. … Continue Reading
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – Courage is the strength of will to do what is difficult. When courage and motivation are combined, mountains will be overcome one step at a time, and then look like molehills in the distance behind you. Without courage, even a molehill is insurmountable. With courage, an ingrown toenail is irrelevant during a performance. Without courage, the injured athlete loses intensity, focus, and balance. Without courage, adversity is bad and represents the end of the road. With courage, adversity is actually sought out because mistakes are viewed as critical components for growth and happiness. With the courage to admit mistakes, weaknesses become strengths. … Continue Reading
In the midst of my hometown’s relentless heat, it is hard to imagine a place where the temperature is between 10 and 20 degrees in the summer!
Welcome to Sweden, where degrees are measured using the Celsius scale. Ten to 20 degrees Celsius is approximately 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit.
When it comes to cool weather, I will admit to being a bit of a wimp. In fact, quite often during Skövde summers, temperatures loom in the 40’s F. It usually feels colder than the actual thermometer reading, too. The wind is biting.
I most definitely prepared for cool outdoor practices. My workout apparel included tights, wind pants, long socks, Under Armour gear, a sweatshirt and occasionally a beanie. … Continue Reading
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – After a plane crash, the cause is aggressively sought, and the black box is the key to finding answers.
An athlete wants to achieve something outstanding. He is capable of producing this outcome, but it’s not happening for him at this time. He is motivated to work hard, but he continues to make the same mistakes because he doesn’t realize specifically what he’s doing wrong. Without awareness, no adjustment is possible… he has no sense that he needs to fix the problem, because he doesn’t realize exactly what the problem is. His biggest problem, therefore, is the lack of a persistent search for the black box. … Continue Reading
What is the ultimate goal on the softball field? We all want to be safe at home, right? One particular week, though, making it safely home took on a whole new meaning for me.
The other American players and I decided to go exploring. One morning, we hopped on our bikes and headed toward The Hill. The Hill is more like a small mountain to this Southern girl! … Continue Reading
Strive for Excellence Now
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – Great athletes make excellent performances appear easy, but they obviously are not. How can we prepare for excellence in performance? For me, thinking about this question starts with three quotes:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
The past is history, the future is a mystery, but the present is a gift.
Strive for perfection, but never expect it.
I spent some time this week with the 16U A Duluth Wildcats. This great group of young ladies recently earned their birth to the ASA Nationals by performing well in the ASA Hall of Fame tournament. This is a team of girls who have poured their hearts into this great game for the vast majority of their lives and they were so excited to have finally earned this chance to compete at this prestigious event. Unfortunately for them the jubilance was short lived as mysteriously many of their friends got an advanced copy of the ASA “script” that will be handed out at the tournament which dictates which teams will win and which teams will lose and apparently were more than happy to share it with them. … Continue Reading
Perform in the Moment
Today’s Mental Skills Tip – You must be present to give your team the best chance to win. It says so on some locker room bulletin boards, but what does it mean, exactly? To be fully present, you cannot mentally be partially in the past or the future. … Continue Reading
