Category Archives: Coaching
At tryouts, there’s always someone watching
We’re smack dab in the middle of the fastpitch softball travel ball tryout season right now. For the next couple of weeks, players will be heading to tryouts to show their stuff, and coaches will be trying to determine which players will give them the best chance of achieving their goals next season.
I’ve provided some hints to successful tryouts in the past, both here and in my Softball Magazine articles. But there’s one I haven’t covered before (at least that I remember) that players trying out should keep in mind: at a tryout, there’s always someone watching.
What I’ve noticed over the years is that when you’re running players through a drill, most will give 100%. Let’s take fielding fly balls in the outfield. Coaches hit the ball, or fire one out of a pitching machine, and players run after it. Normally what you’ll see is what you’d expect — good hustle, a sprint to it, and maybe now and then even a slide or a dive.
Really, though, those are table stakes. What I want to see is what players do when they aren’t being given a specific test. Like when they’re sent out to shag balls during batting practice.
I don’t know about other coaches, but when a ball is hit well, I usually want to give the fielders time to catch it before bringing the next pitch. So what do I do? I turn around and watch the fielders.
It’s amazing how many of them laze after the ball, sort of trotting to it and letting it drop in front of them instead of bringing that great effort they showed a few minutes before in the outfield portion of the tryout.
That tells me a lot about their attitude and makeup as a player. You know what I’d love to see? The kid who sprints full out to try to get to the ball, and maybe slides in or dives to get one that might seem out of reach. I see that and it’s going to catch my attention. I now know that player is serious about her game, and will play hard all the time. Because if she’ll go for it while “just” shagging BP, imagine what she’ll do when the game is on the line.
One of the big keys to tryouts is to do something memorable. You want to find a way to separate yourself from the pack. Especially at the older ages, everyone has skills. Or at least nearly everyone does. The way to stand out is to show you have something extra, a fire inside you that inspires you to always do your best, not just when you think someone is watching.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Let’s hear from some other coaches. Do you watch what happens away from the main action? How much does this sort of thing influence your decision, especially when you’re coming down to the last couple of roster spots?
Fastpitch ability is also in the eye of the beholder
Regular readers know how much I love a good fastpitch softball success story. With the tryout season upon us I have a great one to share.
This one involves one of my pitching students, a girl who was 10U eligible but played up on an 11U or 12U team. (I’m old school, so I don’t really buy into the odd-numbered levels, but they seem important to others.)
Anyway, she isn’t the biggest kid in the world, so pitching at 40 feet instead of 35 and throwing a 12 inch ball instead of an 11 inch one was a bit challenging. She probably could’ve dominated hitters in 10U ball. She worked hard in lessons throughout the off-season, though, and got herself prepared.
Unfortunately, the season didn’t go quite as expected. Although the coach recruited her hard during tryouts, convincing her parents to have her play up and not even try out for the 10U team, when the season rolled around he just didn’t seem to have much use for her. I saw her pitch a game and she actually did her job. But her team had trouble making basic fielding plays, and struggled more than they should have. They won, as I recall, but it was tough.
After that she had a tough time getting playing time, either in the circle or on the field. Weekend after weekend she’d come to the games only to watch most of them from the bench. She was very discouraged, and her mom told me she was in tears on a regular basis. She even thought about giving up.
The last two weekends she’s been trying out with some new teams, and it’s been a completely different story. In fact, both teams she’s worked out for so far made offers right away, and are very interested in having her pitch for them next year. She’s gone from unappreciated and discouraged to having her choice of teams for which to play.
There’s a lesson in there for other players, and for all of us, really. While you always want to be working on your game, sometimes it isn’t you. It’s just someone else’s perception of you. Keep working hard, keep battling, and you’ll come out ahead in the end.
Something to keep in mind as the season winds down
Hard to believe the summer softball season is nearly over. Seems like it was getting started just yesterday.
As the number of games grows shorter, I have a suggestion for coaches. I know how tempting it is to narrow the number of players you’re using in a game, especially if you’re desperately trying to win something big before it’s all over. But remember why your players signed up in the first place.
Be sure to continue using your bench, and finding every opportunity to get all your players in the game. You are building memories for them — and what you choose to do now will determine whether they are happy or unhappy ones.
Long after the results of games have been forgotten and trophies are tucked in a box in a crawlspace somewhere, your players will still remember their teammates, their coaches, and time spent hanging out together between games. They’ll also remember whether they were on the field or always watching from the sidelines.
Do them a favor. Make sure those memories are good ones. Find a way to make it happen for them all.
Stuff fastpitch softball coaches say
There’s a big ASA softball tournament coming up this weekend, one of those that carries a lot of prestige for being successful.
One of my students told me her coach is very uptight about it, and has been telling his team “There are no bad teams in this tournament. Pitchers, you can’t walk anyone. Fielders, you can’t make any errors.”
Gee, I thought that was always the goal, no matter how good or bad the other teams are!
Lesson learned: why it’s important to use video
I’m never shy about pointing out problems with things other fastpitch softball coaches do or say. So it’s probably about time I told a story on myself which illustrates a great point: no matter how good you think you are, it never hurts to shoot a little video to check on what you’re saying.
Last year I was working with a girl named Megan in a lesson. She had a good swing overall, but when she finished I could see that she hadn’t gotten off her back side enough. At least that’s what I thought I saw. Instead of having her toe down, heel up and an L in her back leg, her heel was pointed backwards and her back leg was pretty much straight.
She wasn’t feeling the lack of drive, so I pulled out my trusty Kodak Playsport video camera and shot a swing off a tee at 60 frames per second (fps for those who don’t know video shorthand). I figured if I could show her what she was doing wrong she’d be able to correct it.
By now you’ve probably guessed what happened. I stepped through the video frame-by-frame, and everything looked good. When she got to contact her hips had come through, she was up on her toe, and her back leg was in a lovely “L.” Continuing through she held that position until after extension, then sort of settled back into what I’d seen to catch her balance.
“Hmmm,” I said. “I guess I suck. Remember everything I told you about finishing? Forget it. You’re doing fine.”
Since that time I’ve learned a valuable lesson about the importance of shooting video whenever possible. Most of the time I’m right, and can use it to illustrate the point. After all these years I’ve gotten pretty good at diagnosing skills in real time.
But every now and then it shows me that what I think I see, and what is actually happening are two different things.
Footnote: Little pocket videos such as the Kodak Playsport are pretty cheap, and make a good investment. Yes, you can also shoot video on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, and even telestrate it, but usually there are a couple more steps before you can use it. That’s why I like the dedicated video camera. You can shoot it and show the video right away, saving time that can be applied into working on the skills.
So how about you? Ever have an experience where you’ve believed one thing but video told you something else? Go ahead and share — you’re among friends.
Fastpitch hitting: sometimes you just have to say huh?
Last night I was doing a hitting tune-up with one of my students. She’d been hitting the ball pretty well, but over the weekend she struggled a little bit. She told me her coaches told her she was dropping her back shoulder and her hands.
I just sort of rolled my eyes because usually when people say that they don’t know what they’re looking at. But then, before she stepped up to the tee I discovered the cause of the problem. She quietly said to herself “Hands to the ball.”
“Where did you get that?” I asked. “Did those knuckleheads tell you that?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Ok then riddle me this,” I said. “If you take your hands to the ball, what are you going to do?”
She thought for about a second, went through the motion of doing it and the lightbulb came on.
“I’m going to drop my hands,” she said.
And there you have it. Her coaches were telling her to do the exact thing they were saying was a problem. It’s no wonder so many players have trouble hitting.
This is why you have to be careful about what you say as a coach. It also helps to actually know what you’re doing instead of repeating the same bad advice that limited your own playing career.
Most importantly, when you’re instructing a skill, listen to what you’re saying. You just may find what you’re saying, and the result you’re trying to achieve, are at odds with each other.
Fastpitch success story
Heard another great fastpitch softball success story yesterday that I had to share. This one involves a pitcher who has gone from what Jeff Janssen might call forming to performing.
Her name is Tina Kliver, and she is a second-year 16U. I met Tina after the last summer season (2011). Her dad Bob contact me about getting a pitching lesson for Tina to see if I could help her. She really wanted to pitch, and they’d been to a couple of pitching coaches in the area who have good reputations (and one of whom has a great resume), but she was struggling.
When I met Tina her basic pitch was a fastball in the dirt at the hitter’s feet. I could see some core things I thought would help and we gave them a try. They did help in that first lesson, but more importantly Tina and I seemed to click. She has the same quirky sense of humor I do.
We worked throughout August and September, and then every other week in the off-season. (She was a two- or three-sport athete in HS plus doing some other stuff so every week wasn’t going to work.) It took a little while to lock in the core mechanics we wanted.
Her first time out throwing with the new mechanics was pretty much a disaster. She struggled and had to be taken out. But there were some good things that came out of it, and she understood what she needed to do. We kept working, not just on basics but on throwing different pitches too.
She didn’t get to pitch more than a couple of times in the HS varsity season since her team had a couple of very good, established pitchers ahead of her. Then fast-forward to yesterday.
I received the email every coach hopes to get. Tina pitched a six-inning no-hitter (have I mentioned I hate time limits?) plus a few innings in a couple of other games when other pitchers struggle. So she went from hoping to get a couple of innings here and there to being the go-to pitcher for her team.
Time will tell whether it’s permanent, but I have a feeling it is. Yesterday should give her the confidence to go out and be the pitcher she’s capable of being. It just goes to show you what you can do when you’re motivated and determined. For those of you who are struggling right now, take heart! If you want it bad enough you can make it happen.
Excellence in sports doesn’t have to be miserable
My friend and co-worker Tim Boivin pointed me toward this story today from the Wall Street Journal. It’s about Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin, and her coach Todd Schmitz.
One of the interesting things in the article covered her training routine. Unlike many high-level athletes who train constantly, Missy’s coach actually has her train less than most, and even gives her weekends off. His rationale is — wait for it — he doesn’t want her to burn out.
Amazing isn’t it? A coach who doesn’t believe you have to spend every waking moment working on your skills.
The other part of the story I personally found interesting was when they talk about her relationship with her coach. Her parents say many people tried to tell them over the years that they should take Missy to a more “high level” coach.
Todd Schmitz is not an international superstar coach. In fact, the swimming club he works through, the Colorado Stars out of Denver, doesn’t even have its own pool. But Missy’s parents resisted the pressure to have her move to a “name” coach because of the excellent relationship she had with Schmitz — and the fact that she kept getting better under his instruction. It seems to have worked.
Give the article a read. It’s worth it as a reminder that excellence doesn’t have to miserable. You CAN be a world class athlete and still have a life.
No magic bullets in fastpitch softball instruction
It often seems like fastpitch softball players (and their parents) come to lessons seeking a magic bullet — a tip or hint that will turn them from average to awesome. I wish that was a possibility, because if it was my teams would win a lot more games. It’s as simple — and as difficult — as that.
But the truth is that the only real “magic bullet” in fastpitch softball is hard work. And that isn’t very magical, because it takes a long time and many correct repetitions to make the leap players are looking to make. It is possible in time, however.
This is a theme that’s explored to great length in The Talent Code, an incredible book that every coach, parent and player should read. As I’ve written previously, it explores the myth of being born with “talent” and shows how the people we perceive as talented were actually just more single-minded in their pursuit of excellence. When others would normally quit to do other things, they’d continue on with borderline (or sometimes over the border) obsession.
Of course, those are the ones who are driven to the highest level of whatever they do. Not every fastpitch softball player aspires to play on a National Team or at a top D1 college. Many just want to play and be successful at whatever level they’re at now. But you can’t get there by showing up for a lesson once a week, or once every weeks, and then practicing either not at all or very little in-between.
The most successful players I’ve worked with do the same things:
The other thing they do is give themselves time. They realize that while they can make small improvements over a short period of time, more long-lasting and better-impacting changes take time to sink in during game situations.
With the pressure on it’s all too easy to fall back on old habits, no matter how hard you try not to. But given sufficient time you can replace old habits with better ones, so that’s what you go to when the heat is on. And that’s when real softball success occurs.
In my experience it takes about a year of dedicated effort for real, permanent improvement of a particular skill to set in. What about you? Do you agree? Do you think that’s too long, or too short? Share your thoughts.
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Fastpitch softball coach’s guide to scoring a game
In talking to some of my fastpitch softball students and former players in the past few weeks it seems like there is a lot of confusion among coaches as to how to score a game. In particular, I’m hearing some very interesting interpretations as to what is a hit versus what is an error. I think that covers it. But may not. Anyone have any more situations like this to add to the list?
So, as a public service to those who don’t seem to quite get it (or who are making up their own rules as they go along), I offer the following guide. This ought to clarify things, and make it easier for them to keep an honest book that tells them how their players are actually doing — good and bad. You’re welcome.
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