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Winning and Losing Are Great Teachers

By admin On April 4, 2009 3,337 Comments

By Dick Smith
Head Coach – University of St. Francis (Ill.)

All coaches want to win. There’s no two ways about it. We feel wonderful when we win and badly when we lose. There are times that we feel awfully lucky when we win, but still that good feeling is there. Winning “ugly” happens when we do everything wrong, but still come out on top. Losing is never good in the eyes of most and this is the way of things.

There are many reasons for losing. The opposing pitcher might have been very good. Our bats just didn’t come around even thought the pitcher we faced was not that good. Our fielding might not have been all that good, and we might have made mental mistakes , especially on the bases. Our outfield might have forgotten their fundamentals and allowed balls to fall that would normally have been caught.

Coaching Youth Softball – Are They Early or Late Maturers?

By admin On April 4, 2009 3,350 Comments

By Celeste Knierim
NFCA Hall of Fame Member
Former Head Coach, St. Louis Community College, Meramec

I have been watching younger players’ practices, and I have also been hearing that some middle school coaches and summer coaches of players under 12 have been having tryouts and cutting players from their teams. I don’t think any middle school player should be cut from the school team. If you have too many, then maybe have a fifth-sixth grade team and a seventh-eighth grade team. Some summer coaches, even with 10 and under teams, seem to care only about wins and the very coordinated/talented players, rather than developing players.

Softball Fielding Tips – Playing First Base

By admin On April 4, 2009 7,071 Comments

By Sheila Douty

When I was asked to write this article, I was excited to share some of my knowledge and experience with all of my fellow ballplayers and possible future elite softball players. I decided to provide the readers with tips on first base play as I often think it is one of the most overlooked positions in the infield. There is more to playing first than standing on a base and catching some balls…..that is if you want to be a good first baseman!

Let’s begin with the basics of softball, in determining where to stand while fielding. Determining how far from the baseline to stand begins with getting in your “ready” position, then taking a normal cross over step as if you were going to field a ball. It is important to try not to make that step farther than you would naturally step. Keeping the glove centered over the foul line with your glove to the ground. If you are unable to reach the foul line, start closer to the line in your ready position, but if your glove reaches past the foul line into foul territory you need to start further away from the line in your ready position.

Softball Pitching – The 4 Forces of Flying

By admin On April 4, 2009 3,789 Comments

By Clayton W. Souders, Jr., Pitching Coach
Lehigh University

I started flying when I was 14 years old. It always fascinated me how an object, like a plane, could defy gravity. I also love the thrill of leaving the planet and returning when and where I desire. The forces that keep the plane airborne are the same forces that keep the ball in flight.

Thrust

The plane’s propeller takes a large mass of air and accelerates it rearward, resulting in the equal and opposite reaction of the plane moving forward. When pitching “thrust” is a force and when you exert a force against a smaller object it moves. Pitching force is wrist snap, arm whip, and trunk rotation.

Lift

As explained by Bernolli’s theorem – the faster a fluid moves past an object the less sidewise pressure is exerted on the body by the fluid. The fluid in this case is air and the body is the ball. With a plane the wing creates lift as the air passes over it. With the ball, the raised seams and their motion create lift. “More rotation – More Lift.”

Softball Coaching – Preventing and Treating Burnout

By admin On March 15, 2009 2,710 Comments

By Sharon Drysdale
Head Coach – Northwestern University

Coaching is a challenging profession! Coaching can be stressful and burnout can result.

According to the Burnout Susceptibility Profile (Vernacchia, Level 2 USA Coaching Education Program), individuals who are susceptible to burnout are profiled as: extremely, goal oriented, idealistic/altruistic, high achievers, highly responsible, perfectionists, success driven.

In my opinion, coaching burnout is a transformation from energetic, involved, accomplished, capable, “spirited” coach to exhausted, bored, withdrawn, cynical, ineffective, “burned out” coach.

There are varying degrees of burnout and not everyone will express it in the same way. Whether you are at a low, moderate or severe level of burnout depends upon the frequency, intensity and duration of signs and symptoms.

Signs and Symptoms

• Exhaustion
• Depersonalization
• Reduced sense of personal accomplishment
• Inconsistent or declining job performance.

Burnout can and probably will affect you in some way, to some extent, at one time or another.

I believe that burnout is a condition that is continuously present in all of us, at one level or another. The nature of the burnout experience, however, is personal and unique – different for each of us.
Nevertheless, we can all end up in the same place, feeling much the same way.

A Coaches Guide to Softball Pitching – Keep it Simple

By admin On March 15, 2009 1,571 Comments

By Mona Stevens
Head Coach – University of Utah

In my work with coaches and players over the last 20 years, covering all but three of the 48 contiguous United States, I can without hesitation say that the greatest concern of fastpitch softball coaches is how to coach their pitchers.

We often feel we can teach the defensive techniques, and some feel comfortable with correct hitting fundamentals, but the majority of coaches are frustrated, unsure or down right afraid of the pitching aspect of softball. I’ve heard comments from coaches ranging from not wanting to “ruin” their pitcher to wishing they knew what to say when they are having problems.

First, you should try to keep in mind the coaching point of keeping it simple and attacking one point at a time. I learned the term “paralysis of analysis” in my sports skills analysis in college.

I really learned about it as an athlete trying to think about too many things at once. If I am trying to correct two or more things at once, my brain will most likely overload and basically become paralyzed, not knowing which thing to think about. You can’t focus. Do yourself and your pitcher a favor, work on one aspect until it is mastered before you move on to the next.

Softball Pitching – Effective Off-Season Workouts for In-Season Wins

By admin On March 9, 2009 1,988 Comments

By Cheri Kempf, Club K

Winter off-season training for pitchers should include drills and workouts that enhance and improve the pitcher’s repertoire or ammunition and will have a direct effect on their performance from the outset of the season opener. Too often, pitchers and coaches have a goal to maintain abilities through the winter and try to ensure that skills do not decline through the decreasing number of total absence of pitches. Off -season training is prime-time to make corrections and improvements in form and pitches while also increasing strength and stamina in preparation for a demanding spring and/or summer schedule. The following are focus points of off-season training.

Form Adjustments and Corrections

Throughout the season of competition, pitchers will often times pick up bad habits (as a result of fatigue or pressure situations), that will stick with them. To prevent these bad habits from carrying over into another season, the pitchers and their coaches should do a slow-motion video analysis to check form and look for areas that could improve efficiency and/or speed.

Softball Hitting – Attitude for Success

By admin On March 8, 2009 2,100 Comments

By Provincial Women’s Softball Association (PWSA)

A complete hitting plan emphasizes both the physical and the mental skills necessary to become a consistent hitter. With careful attention and regular practice, players can develop a fluid and powerful hitting stroke. Developing physical aptitude is one dimension of hitting, a second dimension is also essential–developing a positive hitting attitude. A good swing without a good attitude to direct it will produce poor results. To be effective, hitters must learn to regularly combine a proper batting stroke with a positive mental strategy.

A powerful swing needs a powerful attitude to guide it!

The goal of a positive mental strategy is to develop a hitter’s frame of mind. Such a mindset is the key factor that controls and releases all the explosive power of your hitting plan. This mindset is the hitter’s mental edge. Just as the development of the hitter’s physical skills require careful practice and repetition, mental skills require similar development. Before the game, during the game, each turn at bat, and with every pitch that is thrown, a hitter should seek to develop and strengthen his/her edge at the plate. Doing so will provide him/her with the greatest opportunity for success. There are simple and important keys for successful hitting. Each key unlocks more power for a super strong attitude.

Mental Preparation – The Key Factor for Consistent Performances

By admin On March 7, 2009 2,570 Comments

By Rhonda Revelle, University of Nebraska

Adversity is guaranteed in athletics. The most consistently successful athletes are those who learn skills to handle adversity through compensating and adjusting to ever-changing circumstances during competition. Mental preparation and skill development enables an athlete to maintain this consistency even when external conditions are inconsistent.

Mental preparation and physical preparation are the same in that they are both skills that need to be constantly sharpened in order to become a consistently high level performer. Athletes understand the need for ongoing physical practice, but sometimes don’t quite grasp the how’s and why’s of mental training. As a coach, one of my biggest responsibilities is to have the athletes understand the correlation between preparation and consistency of play.

Athletes enter college often times without giving much thought to mental skills. In talking with them about the mental game, they just figured either someone “had it” or “did not have it.” We not only let them know that everyone can “have it” but it is a skill that needs to be trained just like any other skill and ultimately, it is the responsibility of the individual to develop her own talents.