This is a video interview with Monica Abbott. The interview was done over a web video call that I recorded. In this interview, we discussed our upcoming softball cruise clinic (February 2010), her career, softball in general, and of course, pitching.

For the interview, we received 125 questions. Obviously, I couldn't get through them all but I tried to cover as many as possible within a reasonable amount of time.

Enjoy the interview!

Any other ideas?

One of major problems in youth softball in North America is our short-term focus when it comes to softball training for young players.

For example,in the 12U category, we are thinking about winning  tournaments, dominate the opponents, going to Nationals, etc. rather than to focus on building fundamental skills and thinking about the long-term development of the kids we work with.

We tend to forget that 12U is far from being the "be all and end all" of softball. It's rather just an "early developmental stage"  in the career of a softball player.

I've got a quick announcement for those of you who are close to Cincinnati, Ohio.

I'll be presenting at the Ohio Hawks clinic on Saturday November 22nd, 2009 along with Howard Kobata (defensive skills), Bill Hillhouse (pitching), and Debbie Hartwig (hitting).

I would love to meet you there if you are close by. It should be a great clinic. We also do on-field instruction for the kids on the Sunday.

For more information:

http://www.ohiohawks.com/clinic and you can register for the clinic online.

Any other ideas?

The say the name of the game is pitching. I can't argue with that. Without solid pitching, you can't expect to win much.

However, something is even more important than pitching: confidence. Without it, you're out before you even step on the field.

I've been coaching 20 years and the single biggest challenge I've had all these years: to get my athletes to be confident. Too often, they have doubts, fears, worries. It's the nature of being humans.

Check this video to learn how to become more confident at the plate:

Should be running miles if you a softball player? It's a good question. We know that running isn't a big part of the game as I report in this blog post: Softball Conditioning - Stop Running, Start Sprinting

I'm actually answering that specific question from a reader:  "We have a local JCC softball coach who has his team run two timed miles on concrete sidewalks twice a week. If they fail to best their previous time they do 2 more miles. Everyone on the team must break 16 minutes or not play. Your opinion of this?"

Here's my answer:

Please respond to this in the comment form below because I need 10 comments to continue posting.

A few funny softball moments…

If you think of anything I left out of this post, please feel free to put that on the comment.

I will never repeat it enough: softball is a game of speed and power. In particular, when playing defense, you must be able quickly accelerate in any directions from a fairly still position (defensive position) to field a ball.

In softball, how quickly you get out of your defensive stance and accelerate towards the ball makes all the difference in the world when it comes time to field the ball - it's often the difference between a hit or an out.

Softball is, for a lot of people, a year round sport. However, the big mistake many softball players do is to play competitively year round. You need periods in the year when you taper and focus on building your softball skills and improving your conditioning. This period is the off-season.

Fall is considered for youth softball players to be the off-season.

This morning, I was talking on the phone with the dad of a young 13-year-old softball player who absolutely loves the game and dreams of playing college softball.

Today, I got a message from a coach that was looking for a stretching resource for his daughter.

Her physical therapist told her she was too tight and needed to loosen up to relieve her pain. She has nagging  shoulder pain due to too much tightness in the shoulder area.

This is VERY common in softball.

Tightness leads to PAIN, INJURIES, and AFFECTS PERFORMANCE.

Are you tight?

If so, you game is affected.

Increasing your flexibility will bring you MANY benefits:

• Increased speed and agility (increased stride length)
• More hitting power (more rotational trunk flexibility)

Softball is a sport that requires a lot of speed and agility. More specifically, you need quick footwork and the ability to change directions quickly (agility).

Here's a very simple drill with variations that will really help these skills:

So, what do you think?