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Written by Stacie Mahoe

Most coaches have fears, worries, or anxiety about something. In fact, I'm not sure I know any coaches who don't.  It's pretty normal, when you really care about something greatly, to have concerns or worries about it.

However there is one softball coaching fear in particular that I see get in the way of good coaching time after time.

Can you guess what it is?

It's the fear of what others will think about you. I've heard advisers in other areas of life say that if you really want to be successful, you have to stop caring what other people think of you and your choices.

I believe that holds true for coaching softball too.

It's an easy trap to fall into. You and I both know how many critics there are of any softball coach. It comes with the territory. It's tough not to take things personally. Sure we all intellectually know that we shouldn't, but that's not always easy.  You're not the only coach who finds challenge in not allowing whispers (for shouts for that matter) from the outside impact what you do and the choices you make as a coach.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Without a doubt this is a busy part of the fastpitch softball summer season. Tournaments every weekend, for some teams league or scrimmage doubleheaders during the week, and maybe a practice squeezed in here or there.

What that means is very little time to work on individual skills. Some may be able to handle that, but they're in the minority. For most, all this play time means skills are actually deteriorating.

It makes sense. In a practice setting, a hitter might take 100 to 200 swings in a session. In a game, she's lucky if she gets 12. That's a pretty big delta.

Same with fielders. Whereas in a good practice session you may field 50-100 balls or more, you may go a game or two without any significant fielding chances — especially if your team has dominant pitching. Sure, you get some practice during warm-ups, but your focus is different then. It's on getting ready for this game coming up, not on necessarily improving your skills.

This Giveaway is CLOSED.

Congratulations to our winner, Madison from Minford, OH!

During the remainder of June you have a chance to win a super cool prize pack from GotBustos!

Crystl Bustos is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and holds the world record for the most homeruns in an Olympic Series.  While well known for her tremendous hitting power, Crystl also has excellent defensive skills and can fill in the short stop position with the best of them!

She now dedicates a lot of her time passing on her knowledge and experience to young players all over the country.  In fact, she'll even be traveling to Hawaii in August for a 2-day clinic!

Now you have a chance to win some awesome GotBustos gear in this great prize pack from Crystl including:

• A Got Bustos? T shirt (design drawn by Crystl)
• A Got Bustos? visor
• A Got Bustos? can koozie
• A bungee-bat which comes highly recommended by Crystl to build swing strength and promote proper swing technique
• Headbands to keep you looking sharp on the field!

Total Value: $90

Enter to Win (no purchase necessary)

How to enter…

I recently read an article at TheGuardianOnline.com which was so full of softball awesomeness, I just had to share it with you.  It's no wonder this team is experiencing success this season and quite impressive under a first year head coach!

Here are some of my FAVORITE highlights from this article…

…everyone has identified their role and what it takes for the team’s identity of success…
Too many players and coaches miss out on that part after the "and!"

"It’s important that every player that wears a jersey realized they are just as important as a starter," …. "It is a constant reminder they need to be prepared to produce."
I could not agree more. Many times "bench" players are asked to "accept" their role, but this often diminishes their importance within the team environment. Make sure everyone on the team grasps how important and critical EACH team member is.

We have to get the little things done.
The "big" things don't always go as we plan. Sometimes they happen. Sometimes they don't. The "little" things are usually what we have the MOST control over. Make excellence in those "little" things a priority and I'll bet more of the "big" things fall into place.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

The latest issue of Fastpitch Delivery, the official newspaper of the NFCA, contains an article that covers a position statement from the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) regarding the increase in injuries in youth sports. Essentially, they attribute it to the face that it seems athletes these days never get a break. They are pretty much required to play their sport — in this case fastpitch softball — year 'round.

As has been mentioned on the Discuss Fastpitch Forum before, the NATA focuses particularly on over-use and repetitive use injuries. Running and throwing are called out particularly — both overhand and pitching for the latter.

It is a fact that in our society we place a high premium on winning. As a result, more and more teams seem to go non-stop. The end of one season blends into the beginning of the next. In fact, in the battle for players some teams are now holding their tryouts BEFORE Nationals are completed. That's just wrong on so many levels.

Coaching softball is not just a matter of running drills. There is actual teaching involved and I am amazed at how many coaches seem to bypass or forget about that part.

I recently watched some newer coaches coaching Little League baseball and I realized that some coaching mistakes are universal. The same mistakes that are made while coaching softball are also made in other sports as well. Take this teaching issue for example…

Some coaches skip this aspect altogether for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's because they feel the pressure of the season coming up. Sometimes it's because they simply aren't sure how to teach skills. Sometimes it's because they feel players should already know certain things and they shouldn't need to teach it.

I don't care what age level or competition level you coach in, if players don't know how to do something, whether they "should" already know it or not, it IS your job to teach them!

Where the mistake is made

It's said that becoming good or competent at something or reaching a level of mastery happens in stages. First you learn the skill or concept. Then you practice it. Typically, you need to do those two things in order before you can master something.

I love teaching girls how to sacrifice bunt. I mean I LOVE it. Partly because of the importance in the game, but more importantly because sacrifice is such an important part of life. Which is why it absolutely breaks my heart that in this game I love I see so much incredible sacrifice from parents, and so little from the players.

Performing a sacrifice bunt actually requires very little skill. The only true requirement is a simple desire to sacrifice ones self for another. The ability to bunt or not bunt, is a simple indicator of where the players heart is at. Because at the end of the day, at the end of the season, the most important things are not what can the team or coach do to help you. They are: “Where is your heart?” and “What are you willing to do to help the team?” Because those are the things that will carry you through the rest of your life.

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

One of the most common problems softball hitters face is a tendency to want to drop the back side down to early. Rather than rotating the shoulders and then dropping the
back shoulder down to get on-place with the ball, they first drop down and then come forward. That creates all kinds of problems – including extreme difficulties with hitting the riseball.

The softball hitting video below shows something I call the “helicopter drill.” It’s designed to give hitters the feeling of rotating the shoulders first and then getting on plane. Have them
stick their arms straight out and start to turn like a helicopter. They turn, then angle in.

On the video, the third one is the best example. It shows the shoulders staying up, coming forward and then coming in. And no, Coca-Cola is not paying a product placement fee.

Softball Hitting Drills - The Helicopter

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Beginning slappers, whether they’re natural lefties or right-handed converts, often have difficulty learning to hit the ball to the opposite field. They tend to want to turn their shoulders early and hit the ball out in front – as they’ve always been taught to do with full
swings.

Of course, that’s a recipe for disaster for slappers. The result is usually a weak ground ball straight up the middle, and right to the pitcher. What slappers should do is keep their shoulders squared up to the plate as they run up, and hit the ball off their back hip. That will send it toward the shortstop, or better yet the 5/6 hole.

Easier said than done, though. It’s often difficult for a beginning slapper to feel the proper position and visualize what she needs to do – especially when you’re in a batting cage. Here’s a way to make it easier.

Every once in a while I like to search Google for the latest softball stories. Recently there have been a few really cool ones that I'd like to share with you today.  Enjoy!

Softball Team Has Highest GPA - the Washington University in St. Louis softball team was honored for having the highest GPA among ALL NCAA Div III teams. Read more…

Free Softball Clinic in Tennessee - University of Memphis is holding a free softball clinic for girls 14 and under on October 9th.  More information here.

NPF Stars Contribute to a Great Cause - Chicago Bandits players Samantha Findlay and Angela Findlay participate in fundraiser "Going to Bat for Rodney."

Free Softball Clinic at Bethel College - For girls 6-8 on Tuesday, October 5th.  More information on how to register at South Bend Tribune.

Softball Team Has Highest GPA of all 4-year Colleges - Congratulations University of Arkansas at Monticello! Excellent season on the field and in the classroom.  Awesome!

Jennie Finch did an interview for ESPN's Page 2.  In this interview Jennie Finch reveals:

• What she expects in "retirement" (she's not retired from softball)
• What she'll miss most about competing (it's my favorite part of the game)
• What she's most proud of in her softball career (followed by when she got lit up!)
• What she realized after giving up a homerun to MC Hammer (something she's "no good" at)
• Her thoughts on Donald Trump (what she was impressed with and what he expected)
• …and more!

Check out ESPN to see Jennie's full interview.

Thanks for joining us in this 10th Anniversary Tour of Softball Performance!

Today is Day 2 of the Tour and we'll be looking at a great new resource for coaches (and parents too). If you're a coach that wants to raise the performance of your team by increasing speed, agility, strength, power, and endurance, Softball Team Training is something you'll want to see.

• Maybe you don't have access to a gym
• Maybe you know how great core training is, but aren't sure how to go about implementing it with your team
• Maybe the only time you have to train your players is at practice on the field

Whatever the case may be, Softball Team Training can help you. It is the best (and simplest) way to train your entire team on the field without the need for a gym or lots of expensive equipment.

Not a coach? That's okay. The Softball Team Training program will show you how you can set up effective softball workouts right at home in your own backyard!

Guest Post by Don McKay, Softball Editor for Bellaonline.

I was watching Game 2 of the UCLA/Florida game yesterday on ESPNU and was kind of blown away by some of the commentary by Michelle Smith and Pam Ward. Because the game had controversy (6 illegal pitches by Florida by the end of the 3rd inning) and was quickly out of hand (UCLA won 16-3), there was plenty of opportunity to discuss that game and the state of College Softball in general. It started with a discussion of the illegal pitches (here’s my article discussing how Smith and Ward got it all wrong on illegal pitches: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art67136), but then moved to the amount of offense in the College Game today.

Understand from the start that Michelle Smith was one of the best pitchers in softball history, and so she has a certain pitching-centric perspective on the game. She stated during the telecast that, while Softball used to be too dominated by pitchers, in her opinion the pendulum has swung too far and now the batters have too much of an advantage. She postulates that all the illegal pitching rules and advancement of composite bat technology has distorted the game into something that isn’t really Softball. According to Smith, there are times when the batter is fooled and does not put a good swing on the ball, yet still hits one out of the park.

The top seeded University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Softball team tied the NCAA Single Season Homerun Record in their WAC Tournament opener.  The Rainbow Wahine racked up a total of 6 homeruns in the game as they defeated San Jose State 16-8. Melissa Gonzalez homered twice as Katie Grimes, Alexandra Aguirre, Kanani Pu'u-Warren, and Kelly Majam each added homeruns of their own. (full story here)

UH goes on to play Fresno State in the winners bracket of the WAC Tournament. Want to stay up to date with what's going on with the University Hawaii Softball Team and their quest to break the NCAA Homerun Record?

You have two great options:

Track Live Game Stats HERE

Watch Live Online HERE (one-time subscription fee applies)

If you're looking to play college at the next level and are not taking advantage of Facebook and Twitter, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with college coaches.  As you may know, coaches are limited when it comes to contacting prospects.  Since there are limits on in person contacts, phone calls, and text messages many coaching staffs are now looking to avenues such as Facebook and Twitter to instantaneously inform prospects or recruits with the latest news.

Smart college coaches know that high school student-athletes now days often carry smart phones around with them.  While they may not e-mail all that often, many have 24/7 access to their Facebook or Twitter account via their phone, which you probably know is ALWAYS with them!  As a coach who works with that age group, I know there may be times when a player forgets socks or shoes, but never their phone. 

Anyway, the point is, many college coaches are well aware of how tech-savvy high school student-athletes are and many are beginning to tap into those avenues of communication for recruiting purposes.  This means a couple of things:

Building a strong softball program or organization is no small feat. However, the Ohio Hawks, which is still a very new organization, is off to a great start. Softball Magazine published an article about one of the main things they are doing: focusing on quality coaching. How are the Hawks doing that? By implementing a uniform method of coaching and by making a conscious effort to educate, inform, and train their coaches with the best resources they can find.

While instructional videos and books are wonderful, receiving instruction in person is even better! In November 2009, the Ohio Hawks brought together an amazing line-up of softball instructors to do a coaches clinic. The 5 instructors in this superstar bunch included Howard Kobata, Deb Hartwig, Howard Carrier, Bill Hillhouse, and Softball Performance's very own, Marc Dagenais.

Needless to say, this clinic was an amazing experience for all those who attended. I soooo wish I could've been there! Instead I had to hear about it second hand from Howard, Bill, and Marc. Bummer! But no worries. If you're like the many out there who wasn't in Ohia that weekend, you can get the full scoop about the clinic and the instructors from Softball Magazine.

If you want to know whether or not your child has "softball" DNA, there is a company that now provides a service to parents of young children to help them determine which sport they'd be best suited for genetically.  That's right, this company, Atlas Sports Genetics, does DNA testing on swabs from the inside of your child's mouth.  The testing supposedly shows whether or not your child would excel more in sports that require endurance or sports that are more based upon fast twitch movements.

Of course there are people who don't think this testing is a good idea.  Some feel it would discourage kids from playing sports.  The president of Atlas Sport Genetics feels that the testing would encourage kids to try more sports.

What do you think?

Would you pay to have your child do this testing?

Read the article and learn more about Atlas Sports Genetics HERE

[caption id="attachment_1130" align="alignleft" width="318" caption="A little stop in Grand Cayman with our magnificient ship in the background!"][/caption]

I'm currently writing you from an internet cafe in Jamaica.

So far, the cruise has been a great experience. It is my first cruise ever and I'm really enjoying it.

What better mix than softball, a cruise, the sun, the ocean, and The Caribbean!

It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for any softball player, coach, or fanatic.

My only complaint so far is a bit the lack of sun. It's been cloudy for most of the week so I have yet to "maximize" my tan.

Here is an overview of our itinerary:

Saturday PM - Boarding and leaving for Key West.

Sunday - Key West, Florida

Monday - We were supposed to be in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico but because of a rough sea, the crew decided to head to Cozumel instead. It was a nice alternative.

Tuesday - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Wednesday - Montego Bay, Jamaica where I am writing you from an internet cafe.

Thursday - At sea all day.

Two of the leading softball websites partner to deliver more top-notch resources to softball fans.

Quebec, Canada - Feb. 1, 2010 - Two of the biggest websites in softball partner up to create the biggest softball network to date.

Leading fastpitch softball resources website SoftballPerfomance.com welcomes AllAboutFastpitch.com to its network, further expanding the reach of the two websites that are already popular in various softball circles.

Meanwhile, All About Fastpitch owner Stacie Mahoe will work as the network’s Softball Manager.

Mahoe is one of the most recognized names in softball. She has been involved in the sport since age 9, beginning as a softball player, later on becoming a softball coach and parent. In 2004, she created All About Fastpitch and has gained thousands of followers since then.

As the network’s Softball Manager, Mahoe is tasked with ensuring that visitors and customers enjoy the high quality resources from the websites on an ongoing basis. Her experience in providing softball resources through text, podcasts, interviews, and video tips play an important role in this partnership, says Marc Dagenais, owner of Softball Performance.

It's fast approaching - the first ever softball cruise !!!

Yes, that's right, I'm talking about a softball cruise in the Caribbean for 7 days with Monica Abbott and myself!

My friend Reese Oslinker of Smooth Sailing Cruise has put this together - what a fantastic idea!

I'm really looking forward to it because (1) I have never done a cruise before, (2) It will be winter in Montreal, and (3) I will get to hang around softball fanatics for a week!

Would you care to join me and Olympic star pitcher Monica Abbott in February aboard the great MSC Poesia for a 7-day tour of the Caribbean?

You better hurry up because most of the cabins have been sold and there are only a couple left

Here are additional details:

Dates: Leaving Fort Lauderdale, FL on February 13th,  2010 for 7 days

Where: The Caribbean baby with stops in Key West, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and Nassau, Bahamas.

Presenters: Olympic star Pitcher Monica Abbott, Dave Paetkau (hitting expert) and your truly (Marc Dagenais, Softball Peak Performance Coach)

Who is it for? Female fastpitch players (age 10-17), their parents and coaches.