First of all, let me assure you that I haven’t abandoned the Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog. I’ve just been taking care of some other stuff.

Anyway, today I heard about a 16U team and its first few practices. Apparently the coach has been running through some scenarios, but has spent no time working on the fundamentals. The speculation is that she assumes by now they should already have them.

If that’s the case it’s a mistake. No player ever has it down so much that she doesn’t need to work on technique and the fundamentals.

Want proof? The top D1 college programs in the country work on the fundamentals constantly. So does the USA National team. Check out this video of former coach Mike Candrea running one of my favorite drills. It’s a few years old, obviously, but it shows the importance he and the other coaches place on fundamentals.

No matter how good you think your team is, remember it always starts with the fundamentals.