One of the most common pieces of advice given to fastpitch softball players (and their parents) is to look at what the best players in the world do, and then do that. While there is definitely a lot of value to that advice, especially when you’re early in the learning curve, it also has its limitations.

Basically, if all anyone does is imitate what’s already known, or analyze what people already do, progress stops. Innovation and improvement doesn’t come from seeing what’s already there. It comes from thinking “Is there a better way?” and moving away from the conventional wisdom.

A great (and often-used) example is Dick Fosbury, the high jumper who introduced the “Fosbury Flop.” Back in the 1960s, the best high jumpers in the world used a technique where they would run up to the bar from the side, push off of one leg, and then scissor kick their way over it. All the efforts in the sport were expended trying to figure out ways to improve on that technique a little more in order to get higher.

Well, almost all. Fosbury had the courage to not imitate all the others, but instead try something revolutionary – turning completely around at launch and going over the bar head and neck first. The rest is history. These days, any high jumper at a high competitive level does the Fosbury flop.

The same potential exists in our sport – if you’re willing to ask “why” things are done a certain way instead of just following the crowd. Rather than simply looking at video of what great hitters, pitchers, fielders, etc. do, innovators take that starting point and ask “is that the most optimal way to use your body?”

Innovators ask “what if?” and try something different. It may not always work out, but they’re in good company. Thomas Edison said he made 10,000 light bulbs before he found the one that worked. And that basic design lasted more than 100 years – at least until someone else said “why can’t we make a compact fluorescent bulb instead?

The idea of “what is” versus “what could be” reminds me of the often-quoted study of softball pitchers in the 1996 Olympics by Dr. Shery L. Werner. Many people look at her findings and conclude that what she describes is the correct method of pitching. Yet that wasn’t the purpose of the study.

The purpose of the study was to see what these elite-level pitchers did, and to see what they had in common. That, however, doesn’t say whether what they’re doing is optimal. In order to determine what’s optimal you have to take the same group of pitchers and try any number of alternative techniques to see which ones produce the best results.

For all we know, finishing with the hips at 45 to 52 degrees may not be the best way to finish. Or it might. The only thing we know is that’s what those pitchers did. It would take a lot more experimentation to conclude whether it’s optimal; you’d have to try different methods and measure the results – of course giving each pitcher a sufficient amount of time to master each of the alternative techniques. Truth is, we’ll probably have to wait for androids to be invented before you can run that experiment conclusively.

In the meantime, we need to be more than “monkey see, monkey do.” Don’t be afraid to thoughtfully break the mold now and then to see if going against the crowd rather than blindly following it produces better results.

You may wind up right back where you started. Or you could end up being the next Dick Fosbury. And wouldn’t that look great on a softball coaching resume?

Now it’s your turn. Have you ever gone against the conventional wisdom? If so why, and what were the results?

Back in March I wrote about a different team concept I was doing this summer. In case you don’t feel like following the link, it was called the IOMT Castaways – IOMT standing for Island of Misfit Toys. The team was put together by invitation, and was made up of girls I’d either coached before on a team or who were pitching or hitting students of mine. (Some were both, too.)

The primary credential to be on the team (which led to the name) was having been underrated or under-appreciated on another team. Perhaps it was a school team where they were overlooked for varsity, or not given a chance to compete for their primary position. Perhaps it was a travel team that passed on them, or one that took them and then didn’t play them or constantly criticized them.

Whatever it was, these were essentially players that other coaches didn’t think much of but that I thought could play ball. We also looked hard at the kind of people they were. We wanted not just quality ballplayers but good teammates with good parents. We also made it clear that the goal of this team wasn’t college exposure. It was to give girls who just love playing softball an opportunity to play purely for the love of the game. )Truth is there were a couple of girls I knew who had all those other qualities but were still interested in pursuing college scholarships, so I suggested they play on a team that had that goal.)

In any case, we just finished up the season last Sunday. So how did the experiment go? Were we able to take these “castaways” from other teams and train them up to be competitive, or was it a nice idea that fell apart in the execution?

I’m glad to say it was actually a very successful season. We played a mix of sanctioned tournaments (A, B and open), and finished with a record of 21-14 across seven weekends. In our tournaments we earned one second place finish, two thirds and a consolation championship. Considering I would’ve been happy with any one of those results, to have achieved so much in a single year was outstanding.

Perhaps my favorite story came from one of our players, who knows some of the families in the host organization for one of the tournaments we played in. It was a USSSA A tournament where we took third, and came within a run of going to the championship game. Apparently we were quite the talk of the tournament. Everyone was asking “Who the (heck) are the Castaways, and where did they come from?” Of course, our Florida-like uniforms certainly helped keep the mystery alive.

More importantly, and I think anyone who has ever coached girls can appreciate this, we had no drama. None. There were no hurt feelings, no cliques, no catty remarks behind people’s backs. Our Castaways genuinely liked each, and embraced their differences and the quirks of their teammates. It was one of the happiest teams I’ve ever been around – at least until our last game was over, at which point there were many tears shed for the end of their careers, and the end of all of our time together.

The only regret our whole coaching staff had was that we started it at 18U instead of 14U. We couldn’t help but wonder what we might’ve been able to accomplish with them with a couple more years together. Often your better teams are those with at least a core of players who have been together for a while. Almost everyone on our team knew someone from having played with them before, but it was hardly a familiar group to start. To see them bond they way they did, and most likely make friends for life, was an amazing thing.

So there you have it. Proof that with the right group of players, the Castaways concept works. There are no plans for an IOMT Castaways in 2014. But I’m keeping the organization alive. It’s sort of like the Three Amigos. Whenever another group of players need a positive, supportive atmosphere where they can get an opportunity to show what they can really do, the Castaways will be there for them. And hey, who knows? Maybe a couple of the original Castaways will come back and coach.

As a general rule, I strive to keep myself out on the front end of the softball world. I’m constantly looking for new information and new ways of doing things.

There is one area, however, where I am pretty much “old school” – how I view opponents when we’re playing. Normally I’m a pretty friendly person. But when I’m coaching I tend to be rather, shall we say, focused and intense.

I am a competitor. I always have been. As the Billy Beane character says in the movie Moneyball, I hate losing more than I like winning. So when my team is playing, I’m not particularly interested in meeting new people and making new friends.

In fact, I can’t really understand those who are. I’ve seen plenty of coaches who like to come up and chat as though we’re just hanging out at a bar somewhere watching a game neither of us has a stake in. I’ll respond politely, usually. But I still don’t get it.

When we’re playing I’m not interested in being your friend or chatting about the weather. I’m interested in figuring out how to beat your team and not a whole lot else.

I dunno. Maybe it’s a character flaw. But at this point in my life, and my coaching career, I don’t see it changing.

So what about you coaches? Do you like chatting with the opponents? Or are you more like me and view them as an obstacle to be overcome and dispatched without prejudice?

Actually, this doesn’t just apply to softball coaching. It also applies to work, and family, and just about any other interaction. But it’s something to keep in mind:

The biggest mistake in coaching is insisting on proving you’re right in face of all evidence to the contrary.

Yet it seems to go on all the time. Coaches will stubbornly adhere to a certain strategy or way of playing even though it doesn’t work. Or they’ll set a lineup and stay with it even though it’s not producing runs – or wins.

One of my biggest pet peeves is coaches who make a decision at the beginning of the season  (sometimes even before the season) about the abilities of their players, and never bother to notice which players have improved and which ones haven’t.

Whatever it is, they may think it makes them important, or awesome. But it only hurts the players and the team.

It’s good to have opinions and convictions. But not to the point where you do things just to prove you’re right. Instead, be sure to constantly evaluate what you’re doing, and don’t be afraid to make changes for the better.

There is a tendency in all sports, not just fastpitch softball, to look for players who look like the best athletes. It makes sense on one level. You’d think the better the athlete the better the player will be.

But that isn’t always necessarily true, as evidenced by a post on Daniel Coyles’ The Talent Code blog. In it he takes a look back to the 2000 NFL Combine, and one player in particular. It was a quarterback who didn’t show too well in the tests they put players through.

He was fairly slow, running the 40 yard dash in about 5.2 seconds. (Understand that 4.8 is considered slow for an NFL player.) He didn’t have a bad arm, but it didn’t knock anyone out either. Still, one NFL team saw something in his character and thought he might just the right man for them.

The team was the New England Patriots, and the quarterback was Tom Brady. If you know anything about football, and probably even if you don’t, you know it was a pretty good selection.

You see, there’s a lot more to being a player than just athletic ability. Character plays a big part in an individual’s and a team’s success – especially in fastpitch softball, where there is so much adversity and failure. If you don’t have players of high character, they’re going to crumble pretty quickly under the pressure.

The IOMT Castaways

As at least some of the readers of this blog know, I am coaching an 18U team this year called the IOMT Castaways. IOMT stands for Island Of Misfit Toys. I recruited every single player on it, based not just on athletic ability but on character.

They’re misfit toys because somewhere along the way some coach didn’t think very much of them, but I believe they can play. For the most part they’re not going to impress anyone with their time against a stopwatch, or the way they walk onto the field. But it doesn’t matter, because when the game is on they can flat out play!

The most important thing, at least so far, is how much they enjoy being together and playing together. Because of their individual histories there are no egos here, no one yelling at a teammate, none of the drama that often goes with the territory. Instead, they’re playing for the love of the game – as it should be.

It’s always tempting to go for that great athlete. But a lot of great athletes fail. In my book, and even at the professional level, character counts for more. Choose wisely and you can’t go wrong.

Last week I had the opportunity to witness a type of fastpitch softball coach I thought was extinct. It was sort of like going to Jurassic Park and seeing a T Rex rushing at your Jeep.

The genus was Coachus Jerkus. In layman’s terms it was one of those old-style “command and control” coaches who seems to believe the more you yell at, embarass and humiliate your players in front of their teammates, parents, opponents and passers-by, the better of a coach you are.

It started with a pitcher (who was 15 or 16 years old) not hitting the spot the coach had called, with the result that the hitter hit a home run on a 1-2 count. (Understand that hitting a home run in this indoor venue basically meant popping a “Texas Leaguer” over a curtain about 120 feet away).

When the ball sailed over the curtain the coach screamed (and I am not exaggerating, it was like the aforesaid T Rex spotting prey) something unkind at the pitcher. I don’t recall the specifics of what was said, but it was along the lines of “What the hell are you doing?”

The intimidated pitcher’s first pitch to the next hitter went high and wide. To which the coach screamed “That’s where the LAST pitch should’ve been.” And on it went. If a player bobbled a ball, or didn’t make a throw quick enough, or didn’t get the bunt down she’d hear about it. As would all the rest of us. It went on from the beginning of the game all the way through the end.

To tell you the truth, I felt bad for the girls on the other team, although I understand this guy has been coaching for a while so they (or their parents) all probably knew what they were getting into. When the game was over that was unhappy-looking group of girls.

What’s really puts the capper on this behavior is that there was nothing at stake in these games. In fact, they were barely softball games. They were indoors on a short field with a 1-hour drop dead time limit. The purpose is to let the girls get out of the practice gym and try out their skills. Pitchers get to pitch to hitters, hitters get to hit off pitchers, teams get to work on plays, everybody has fun. Well, almost everybody I guess.

To go so over-the-top on any softball game when there are so many real problems in the world is wrong in my opinion. In this particular situation it’s particularly uncalled-for. The softball world could really use a governing board to report this kind of behavior so coaches who verbally abuse their players in this fashion can be disciplined.

The real shame, though, is that all that yelling and screaming really doesn’t help. Study after study shows that this old school style of coaching is actually counter-productive. Especially with females, where the old Mike Candrea admonition “Boys have to play good to feel good, but girls have to feel good to play good” comes into play.

Let’s hope this particular guy leaves the ’70s behind someday and learns that it’s ok to treat your players with caring and respect. In fact, it’s the way you get the most out of them.

Ok, this is a little self-serving, but I am now a Three Star Master Coach with the NFCA’s Coaches College, or NFCC. Not only is it an achievement on its own, but it also takes me 3/4 of the way toward full Four Star status.

If you’re not familiar with it, the NFCC is a college Masters degree-level program that delves in-depth into various aspects of coaching fastpitch softball. You receive one star for every two courses successfully completed, so obviously I have taken six of the eight courses.

Courses cover everything from the mechanics of pitching, hitting, throwing, etc. to offensive and defensive strategies (two separate courses, by the way), defensive techniques, strategies for game day coaching and more. The latest course for me was #406, Coaching Dynamic Team Practices.

For this course I flew down to Orlando, where I spent two days with about 60 other coaches, from D1 college down to 10U travel. The instructors were Carol Hutchins, Cindy Bristow (both NFCA Hall of Famers) and Carol Bruggeman (no doubt a future inductee). We did several hours of classroom work, and each day we were also outside for two hours watching the instructors run a couple of teams through a sample practice.

While what they did was interesting, it was really watching how they did it that was the most fascinating for me. You got a pretty good opportunity to see why they are where they are. The first day they worked with the Seminole State Junior College team, and the second day with D1 Central Florida University.

If you’re committed to being the best coach you can be, the NFCC is an awesome program to improve your knowledge and help you grow. It’s not cheap — I probably spent more than $1,000 when it was all said and done — but a very worthwhile investment for serious coaches.

Of course, earning Three Star status doesn’t give my team any extra runs to start the game. But it sure helps me feel like we’re preparing the best we can for competition. And it’s fun to be among so many other committed coaches.