Tonight I had a very interesting discussion with one of my students. She was my last lesson of the night and we had a little time to chat before her mom came back to pick her up.
We spoke of many things, but then we got into the idea of players being willing to change what they're doing to get better. I then mentioned that my teaching had changed somewhat since the days when my sons had played baseball.
That's when Jenna asked an interesting question: If you found better mechanics than what you're currently doing, would you make your students change?
I paused for only a moment and then said yes. She seemed a little surprised at first, but then I asked her "If I discovered something that could add five mph to your pitches wouldn't you want me to share that with you, even if it's different?" It didn't take her long to nod her head yes.
This is something coaches need to be willing to do — give up what they believe when something better comes along. That might seem self-evident but it's really not.
One thing that's often said about hitting is that "hitting is timing." Well if you're a pitcher and you want to experience success in the circle, the last thing you want to do is allow hitters to get their timing down when hitting against you.
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With all the crazy parent stuff that goes on these days, many teams and programs have adopted the so-called "24 hour" rule. With it, parents are not allowed to talk to coaches about something that happens in a game, or playing time, or any other issue until 24 hours after a game.
Yet often the same coaches who want parents to take 24 hours to cool down forget they can use a little cooldown time too, especially after a poor performance by the team. That can be a huge mistake for a couple of reasons.
One is that it's tough to objectively assess the facts of a game in the heat of battle or directly thereafter. What seems like a horrible game at the time may not look as bad when it's a little further in the rear view mirror.
The other is that you may say something to blow off steam at the time that comes back to bite you in the behind later. Any experienced coach can tell stories about things that were said that could never be unsaid. It can lead to all kinds of trouble.
Fastpitch Drills Work Better When You Know Why You're Doing Them
Yet another story from the fastpitch front, i.e. lessons. Tonight I was doing a pitching lesson where the pitcher brought her own catcher. The catcher happens to be a girl named Lindsay, a former player of mine and a personal favorite.
As the pitcher was working, she occasionally threw a ball into the ground. My expectation was that Lindsay would drop and block the ball, or at least catch it competently. But instead, she was just sort of swatting at it, which looked very odd.
After the pitching lesson I asked her what gives, and that's when she told me she'd just come from a team workout (not sure if it was HS or travel ball) where the coach was bouncing balls into the catchers, who were only wearing masks. I asked her what the purpose/point of the drill was, and she said she didn't know. None of the catchers did, apparently.
Tonight I was working with one of my top hitting students, a girl named Amy who always draws oohs and ahhs when people watch her swing the bat. She's a very good hitter, better than she herself realizes, I think, and really turned some heads as a varsity starter last year when she was a freshman.
Her normal swing is a good one, but tonight while we were doing some front toss I noticed something. At one point you could just see that something had changed with her — and changed for the better.
I had to stop and ask — did your concentration level just go up? Yes, she answered. She told me that the last swing, where the ball just jumped off her bat in what looked like it would've been a 300 foot home run if we were at a field instead of in a cage, she just totally blocked out all other thoughts and just focused on the ball.
1. “It doesn’t take talent to hustle and be on time.” For many coaches, this is the first thing noticed.
Who shows up early? Who runs on and off the field EVERY TIME regardless of what others are doing? You should always be 15 minutes early or you will be considered late. And if you are late, you better be running, with cleats on ready to go, not having to still get “dressed” as you approach the field. Prepare ahead of time for situations that may potentially deter you from being on time so as to give the best initial impression to the coaches.
WE NEVER WALK in this game. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. Hustle on and off the field and in everything you do and you will be noticed. You should come off the field after try- outs, and after every practice once the season starts, knowing that you gave 100% the entire time.
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.
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.
With fastpitch softball being as competitive as it is these days, most of us spend 100% of our time looking forward. We see the goals, they're out in the distance, and we're always looking to move ourselves closer to them.
But with the new year upon us, it might be a good time to take a look back, even just for a moment, to see how far you've come. I find that is often one of the most inspirational things you can do, and a good way to recharge the ol' enthusiasm for the journey ahead.
I've done this with a few of my students lately, especially the new ones. I ask them to think back to when we started back in August and September, and what things were like for them. I then go through a quick review of what we've worked on since then, capping it off with a count of the months we've been working on it.
For example, with a high school pitcher we might look back to find we've rebuilt her mechanics so they are more consistent and allow her to throw both harder and more accurately. We'll see she is throwing a change-up, and starting on a drop ball.
1. “It doesn’t take talent to hustle and be on time.” For many coaches, this is the first thing noticed.
