Category Archives: Coaching
The wonders of life
Just started up the new season of lessons this week and was struck by something interesting.
One of the places I teach is about 30 to 45 minutes away from my house. Consequently, when I finish lessons at the end of April it’s usually the last time I see some of my students for a few months.
Tonight I saw a couple of them and was struck by how much they had changed in the intervening months. One girl in particular stood out. Not only did she look more mature in her face (at age 12), she was actually talking in a conversational way with me tonight.
At lessons I’m usually pretty chatty. Some of the girls will chat right back. Some will joke around with me and toss good-natured insults back and forth. But some will barely say a word. The one I’m thinking of was in that latter group. But tonight that changed. We had some good conversation, and she started calling out when she didn’t execute a technique the way I wanted her to. That’s awesome because I always tell my students that it’s important that I know what they should be doing, but it’s imperative that they know because they’re the ones who have to do it.
I’ve had a few over the years who didn’t talk to me (more than answering a hello and saying “ok”) for a couple of years. They were either shy or uncomfortable talking to an adult. But I think it’s really cool when that changes and you begin building a more personal relationship. It absolutely makes teaching more fun!
Team-supplied lessons
Had an interesting email discussion today with Coach Mike. It revolved around a local team that “supplies” its players with hitting lessons. The basics are that they charge each person in the organization an additional (non-optional) fee, then contract with a hitting instructor to provide lessons to everyone in the organization.
The free market advocate in me tends not to like that arrangement. I think parents should be free to take their kids anywhere they want to get lessons. I doubt as an instructor myself that I would be totally comfortable with an entire program being directed to me either.
But I can also see the other side. At least this program is sure that its players are receiving regular lessons throughout the year. Assuming the instructor they contract with is qualified (and I have no reason to think otherwise), it could certainly present an advantage. Of course, with any private instruction situation success or failure is 90 percent the player and 10 percent the coach. Still, receiving regular instruction versus sitting around watching TV or texting incessantly ought to produce some results.
I’d be interested in feedback from others as to how common a practice it is for teams or programs to hire out a single instructor on any aspect of the game for the entire program. If you are or have been in that situation, how did you feel? Did you have the option of opting out and working with your own coach, and if so was the fee refunded to you?
The most pressing question to me, though, is if you were in an organization that did that and suddenly they said “here’s that part of the fee back; use it to hire your own private coach” do you think families who didn’t already have a coach seek one out? Or would they just pocket the money and forget about lessons?
If you’re thinking too much you’re not practicing enough
There’s an old saying in softball (and baseball) that goes “Quite thinking, you’re hurting the ballclub.” While it’s usually said in good humor there is some truth to it. Especially when it comes to executing skills.
When you first learn a new skill there’s a lot of thinking involved. You’re trying to get the movements right and overcome old habits in the process. It takes a lot of thinking, checking and rechecking. As you become more successful with the skill you get to the point of conscious competence — the ability to do what you want to do as you think it through.
That’s not the goal, though. At the point of conscious competence you’re not able to give your maximum effort. There’s still a point of being careful involved when you’re thinking. The point you want to get to instead is unconscious competence — the point where you no longer have to think about what you’re doing, but instead just do it (as the billboards say). At that point you can give 100 percent effort — throw yourself into it entirely without any worries.
There’s only one way to get there — through repetition. How many reps varies by the skill and by the person. But it’s more than a few no matter who you are. You’ll know when it’s enough — because you no longer have to think about what you’re doing, You’re simply going out there and giving it your all. On the other hand, if you’re thinking too much, you’re not practicing enough. Time to get to work!
USSSA pitching distance moving to 43 feet
This morning I received an email from USSSA announcing that, effective immediately, the pitching distance for 15U and above is now 43 feet. The decision is a reaction to the National Federation, the high school sports ruling body, moving the pitching distance to 43 feet for varsity. I have a few thoughts about this move (as you might expect).
One is kudos to USSSA for sending an announcement out directly to coaches instead of making us hunt for it on their Web site — which is what ASA typically does. Nice to see an organization actually using more modern technology to disseminate their information.
The second is amusement that high school softball is essentially dictating what summer ball does. For all the talk everyone puts out about how high school ball is a joke, it’s not as important as summer ball, blah blah blah it seems that the summer folks actually do put a priority on high school ball. Actions speak louder than words, boys and girls.
I can also see where pitching coaches (including me) are going to have some dilemmas this off-season. The key one is what distance to use when working with your pitchers. If ASA, NSA, Pony, NAFA, AFA and whatever other sanctioning bodies out there don’t follow suit, it’s going to be tough to know how to practice. There are some adjustments that need to be made going from 40 feet to 43 feet, and some pitchers adjust better than others. It’s conceivable that a pitcher will pitch a tournament one weekend from 40, the next from 43, and so on. (Or maybe even from 46 feet like my pitchers did at one tournament where the umpire didn’t know how the field had been set and assumed that the far pitching rubber was the right one.)
Of course, that dilemma already exists for high school age kids. Should a freshman practice at 40 feet, which is likely to be the frosh/JV distance, or should she assume she’s going varsity and practice at 43 feet? The longer distance doesn’t become mandatory in high school until the 2010-2011 school year, but Illinois has already adopted it for varsity.
It’s all very confusing right now. I expect that eventually it will all be standardized, and the distance will be 43 feet from freshman/15U up for everyone. Then the 12U and 14U pitchers will get better and soon everyone will be there, except 10U pitchers who will move to 40 feet.
I say why not get it over with and just have all pitchers pitch from second base like Eddie Feigner used to? Then they won’t need to wear masks, and you’ll have fewer ground balls getting through the middle.
The quiet wheel gets the shaft
Heard this one from a friend the other day. His daughter was playing on a travel team this year, and despite her good performance she didn’t seem to be getting a lot of playing time. I don’t think this is the case of a father not evaluating his daughter’s capabilities fairly, because if anything he tends to be tough on her.
Anyway, as a former coach himself he didn’t want to cause any problems. But after a season of less than optimal playing time, particularly at her preferred position, he decided to ask the coach what his daughter needed to work on to increase her playing time. The coach’s response was that he thought she was a very good player, maybe the best at that position, but the other girl who plays it (and/or her father) would cause a lot of problems if he cut her playing time. Since my friend never complained it was easier for the coach to sit his daughter instead.
I can understand it in a way. No coach wants to put up with a lot of grief from parents so it’s tempting to take the easy way out. But it’s still wrong. All you’re doing by going that route is rewarding (and encouraging) bad behavior. Yes, the squeaky wheel often tends to get the grease. But in so doing you’re encouraging the players (and parents) you really want to go elsewhere.
As difficult as it can be in the short term, it’s important to act with integrity to support the long term. There are lots of criteria you can use to determine playing time — best nine players, even playing time, development of players at a position, etc. Who would complain the most if they don’t get their way shouldn’t be on the list.
Nice problem to have
I am currently watching the championship game of the KFC World Cup series — USA v Australia. Eric Collins and Michele Smith were just talking about the decision to pitch Monica Abbott instead of Cat Osterman in this game.
Let’s face it. Don’t you wish you had that decision to make? I wonder if Jay Miller agonizes over it? I also wonder if he worries about the confidence of one or the other, or whether one of them will be upset if she doesn’t get the ball? Still, that’s a great problem to have. And he didn’t even think about Jennie Finch, apparently. She’s over at first base and unlikely to pitch. Imagine having Jennie Finch and not even thinking about pitching her.
Must be nice!
Cindy Bristow on coaching female athletes
Leave it to Cindy Bristow to come up with a great article that explains some of the mysteries of female athletes and how they think. If you’re a male and coaching females, especially if you’re new to it, you may find yourself quite bewildered at times. You say something you think is perfectly legitimate — and maybe it is — but you get a reaction that isn’t what you expected. Cindy’s article will explain why.
If you’re a female coach, especially if you’re a former college player, you may want to read this article too. I’ve found in talking with some of the girls who have played for me that female coaches can be even worse about that sort of thing. My theory is that they don’t fit the stereotype Cindy talks about, and maybe even resent other females who do. So they have little sympathy for how sensitive or insecure their players are. But the truth is if you want to build a team and have players who will run through a wall for you, you’d better get on board with it. There are more of them than there are of you.
It never ceases to amaze me how things can be taken. I recently had one of players wondering if I was mad at her because I dropped her a couple of positions in the batting order during a rough tournament. I was desperately searching for a combination that would work (none did, unfortunately) and just shuffled things up. She apparently spent the rest of the day wondering what she’d done wrong.
So yes, you definitely have to watch it. Cindy’s article is a must-read for all of us.
When is it too much?
I was just on the Web site of one of our local fastpitch organizations (not the one I belong to) and saw that they have announced tryout dates for 2010. Any guesses as to when tryouts are? August 8th, which is the week after ASA Nationals are finished.
To me, that just insane. Every sports psychologist, physical training expert and even high-level coaches will tell you it’s critical for players to shut down for a while, take a break from the sport, overcome those little nagging injuries that occur over the sesaon and just generally recharge the ol’ batteries. In our area, where many of the high schools start in mid-August, that time after nationals is likely the only opportunity families have to go on vacation together.
So why are they doing it? It’s the competition for players. If everyone else has tryouts at the beginning of August and you don’t, you might miss out on your shot at some good players. Not the best, necessarily, because I’d bet any program that has a shot at a top-level player isn’t going to stick to their guns on the whole “you have three days to commit or you’re out.” Nor do those players have to worry about finding a place to play. But for everyone else, especially at the younger ages where kids are less known, there’s a fear that the kids won’t be able to find a team so they go along with it.
People, it’s time to stop the insanity. I know our legislators have a lot on their minds right now what with the economy and bailouts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all. But I sure wouldn’t mind seeing one of them pass a law requiring teams to wait three weeks after the official end of the season before they can hold tryouts. I don’t think three weeks is asking a lot. But it sure could help out some kids and families. It might also help stop some of the softball burnout players are getting that is causing them to quit playing by the time they’re 15 or 16 or so.
“We have standards”
Heard about this one a few weeks ago. It’s something that happened at a tournament, but it’s the kind of thing that drives me nuts — mostly because it’s the kind of thing that drives parents, coaches and players out of the game.
During the tournament, a 10U team with a first-year coach was playing one of their pool games. This team was part of the host program, so various people were going around checking progress and making sure everything was going ok overall.
One Board member, however — a guy who is a well-known blowhard and not particularly well-liked within his organization — showed up at the 10U game in his little golf cart. He looked into his program’s dugout and didn’t like what he saw. There was a bag of catcher’s gear that — gasp! — was the wrong color. The catcher has her own gear and keeps it in her own bag. But no matter — in the middle of the game he starts screaming at the poor coach that they need to get that bag out of there, it’s the wrong color, and of course “we have standards.”
Later, this same guy saw that the first base coach wasn’t wearing the right coach’s shirt. The first base coach was wearing the shirt of a different program, because he is head coach of his older daughter’s team in that program. But he was trying to help out the first year coach by doing what he could. Since both teams were in this tournament, and the tournament ran across a couple of different complexes, he was running back and forth, doing his best to help out. Again, the blowhard starts yelling about standards in front of everyone. I’m not sure if he was yelling at the head coach or the first base coach, but he made it known that he wasn’t happy about the lack of conformity to the “standards.”
Seems to me if you have standards, the first standard is you don’t go yelling at your volunteer coaches in front of the parents, players, umpires and opponents, especially about something so trivial. By doing that, you’re hurting their credibility, and their desire. In addition, it makes them spend their time worrying about stupid, meaningless crap instead of focusing on the game and the players.
I understand the principle of if you look good you play good. I preach it myself. But if there’s a problem, you wait until after the game, you take the coach aside and you explain what you want quietly and rationally. You don’t stand there during the game and berate him. That’s just someone with his ego out of control, thinking he’s the Big Man. Here’s the thing. The teams can play without a particular Board member. But they can’t play without players and coaches. If you make life miserable for volunteers, especially first-year coaches doing the best they can, you’re just going to drive them away. Then who will you show how important you are?
I know if I was that first base coach, helping out for the sake of the team, I’d probably say it’s not worth it. No, check that. Knowing me, and knowing a confrontation would result, I’d probably wear the “wrong” shirt again on purpose. When the blowhard came by and yelled again, I’d taken him out of earshot of everyone else and quietly tell him if he EVER speaks to me like that, especially in front of the team, he will spend the rest of the tournament trying to pick my New Balance shoe out of his John Brown hindparts because that’s how far up it’s going to go.
Again, if you have standards, fine. You enforce them quietly and invisibly. If you really feel you have to let everyone know you’re in charge, you’re not in charge of anything. You’re just a blowhard and a jerk.
Ignorant v. petty
Ok, back to business on fastpitch softball.
I’ve been holding on to this one a little while, but can’t wait on it anymore. Stupid is a high school coach scheduling her team into a four-team tournament on the same day as prom. Petty is then benching a senior during the one game she is going to attend because she took the lead on behalf of all the others and asked if they could leave early to get ready for the prom.
The reality is prom is a big deal to most high school girls these days, whether they are athletes or not. They spend days or even weeks picking out just the right dress, deciding on how they’ll do their hair and nails, and generally getting prepared. The day of prom most will take several hours getting ready. It’s a very special day, especially for seniors who are at the end of their time in high school. Scheduling a completely meaningless tournament on the day of prom is just asking for discord and disappointment. It’s also asking for three extra losses on your record, because you’re fighting the tide. They’re going to go to prom, whether you like it or not.
Worse, though, is taking those kids who are willing to cut things a little closer by attending at all and punishing them for wanting to be high school girls. Why penalize your players because you were too short-sighted to realize what you were doing, and what you were asking of them? Why not give them that weekend off, so they can take advantage of another activity the school has to offer? And one that’s sure to be a lot more special and memorable than some pointless softball tournament?
Many have talked about the year-round specialization of softball players (rather than being well-round athletes playing multiple sports) as one of the leading factors in the increase in softball injuries. That same single-mindedness applies to other activities as well.
It’s time to remember that youth sports participants are youths first. You’re only young once. There’s plenty of time to be responsible adults later. When you’re making out your schedule, be smart. Don’t put your players in a position of making that decision and you’ll all be a lot happier.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 