Category Archives: Coaching
National Fastpitch Coaches College schedule is now online
Saw this a few days ago and have been meaning to post it, but you know how it goes.
The National Fastpitch Coaches College (offered by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association) has posted its schedule of classes for the coming year. In all, they are offering 14 classes between mid-October and June of 2009.
This is a fantastic program for coaching education. Each three-day course provides intensive study of a single facet of the game, such as skill mechanics, offensive and defensive strategies, structuring practices, etc. All are taught by some of the top coaches in the game.
I’ve attended two of the courses and found them to be fascinating. They were small groups, perhaps around 50 students or so, and offered a lot of interaction between students and instructors. One of the coolest things, to me, is that the instructors are very approachable and are as interested in what the students think and have done as the students are in what the instructors have to say. It appears coaches at the top of the game look for good ideas wherever they can find them
I highly recommend this program. It’s not cheap — tuition alone was $225 the last time I took one of the courses — but it’s worth it if you’re serious about expanding your knowledge.
My only wish is that they were offering the classes I want to take in the Chicago area. Oh well. I hear Denton, Texas is lovely in January.
Pitchers hitting
There is all kinds of “conventional wisdom” in the game of softball. You’ll often hear you should never make the first or last out at third base, that you should always bunt a runner to second with nobody out, and other such ideas. Some of them make sense, some do not.
Another common one is that you should DH for the pitcher. The reasoning is pitchers can’t hit because they spend all their time working on hitting. (Or in some cases there is a fear that the pitcher will get hurt batting or running the bases and then be out of the game, perhaps even down for the season.)
Yet let’s think about it for a minute. Pitching in fastpitch softball is an extremely difficult position. It requires great dedication and great concentration. Pitchers often continue to practice their craft after the field players have been sent on their way. Hmmmm. What attributes would we like in hitters? How about dedication in the off season and concentration at the plate? Get where I’m going?
Here’s an extreme example. When the 2004 National team was making its run toward the Olympics, their cleanup hitter in most games was a lady named Lisa Fernandez. She was either playing third or DHing for someone, and hitting the heck out of the ball. Yet when she was in the circle, the coaching staff would have someone hit for her. One day Coach Mike Candrea stopped to think about it and realized that was just silly. He then let Lisa hit for herself when she was pitching, and she helped the team win its third Olympic gold medal.
On my own team we’re seeing a microcosm of that scenario. Currently three out of the top four hitters are also my pitchers. (The fourth is an ex-pitcher, incidentally.) We’ll see how it goes during the season, but those three are leading or close to leading most offensive categories. Why on earth would I want to DH for them?
I’d be interested to hear from others who let their pitchers hit, to see if they are also at the top of the stats. Maybe we’re on oddity. But I don’t think so. Dedication and focus are required to hit well. Good pitchers have both in abundance.
Are we having fun yet?
Just completed our first weekend of 16uU ball this past weekend. It was a bit rough going at first, but as the girls relaxed and started getting back into the rhythm of summer ball, the caliber of play definitely improved.
Which makes you wonder why so many coaches feel they have to completely dominate their players and put them down in order to get them to play. Sure, it may provide a temporary improvement, but there’s a huge difference between compliance and giving your all.
A lot of these girls didn’t have much fun during their high school seasons. They felt very stressed. I’ve heard some developed stomach trouble and many couldn’t wait for the season to be over. Walking around the fields this weekend I saw some of the same kinds of things. A player would make some small error or not react fast enough and the coach would be all over her. There were plenty of long faces, not to mention looks of “here we go again.”
Some of those teams were pretty darned good. But many didn’t look like they were having much fun.
Our approach was a little different. We can be as tough as anyone in practice. But come game day, it’s the players’ time. Rather than chasitising them constantly for bad decisions, we encouraged them to explore their talent and push themselves. We wanted them to get out of the boxes they’d been put into and see what they could do.
What we saw was a level of play that improved steadily throughout the weekend. The last couple of games especially were very well played. We won one and lost one of those, but the loss was one of those games where someone has to lose (unfortunately) and the win was sweet, full of great plays as well as plays you’re supposed to make. More importantly, the girls were having fun. And I think that’s what allowed them to play so well.
It remains to be seen how long it carries over. But my gut tells me that if they’re having fun they’ll also be doing the things it takes to win.
One more thought. When I read interviews with top coaches in the NFCA newspaper, one of the questions they always ask is what do you wish you’d known when you started your career that you know now. Invariably the answer is “I wish I would’ve enjoyed it more. Instead of being focused on winning so much I wish I would’ve enjoyed being with my team.”
Coaches have egos, and we all like to win. But if we make our players miserable in order to achieve that goal, is it really worth it? I know as a former baseball player I can’t remember the specifics of any complete games. My teams never won a championship, but I still remember those days just as fondly as though I had. I also remember the coaches I liked, and the ones I didn’t. The ones I liked best were the ones who tried to bring out the best in me, and helped me to believe in myself.
Think about that the next time you yank a player off the field because she missed the cutoff. If you really want to build a legacy, it starts with your own team.
You’re either moving toward or away from your goals
With softball (like so many other sports) turning into a 12-month pursuit, it’s easy to let a sort of malaise slip in. After a while, players tend to walk through their drills somewhat mindlessly, going through the motions but not really accomplishing anything.
That is such a tremendous waste of time. If you see that going on, here’s something to try. Take a hitter (for example) aside, and ask her what her goals are. Ask her to put a specific number on her hitting goal, such as when she looks at her stats at the end of the year what batting average she’d like to see next to her name. (Make sure it’s realistic.)
When she gives you the answer ask her one simple question: Is what you’re doing here today moving you closer to or further away from that goal? Because the truth is you’re either getting ahead or falling behind. If she has a number in mind and her actions aren’t moving her toward that number, then what is she doing out on the field?
Many players don’t think that way. Especially these days, people tend to live in the here and now. They don’t think in terms of moving toward something. Yes, you can set goals and all that at the beginning of the season, but often those goal sheets get stuffed into the bags along with the articles and directions to the next game, never to be seen again — or at least until it’s time to clean out the ol’ bat bag for next year. But they have to start thinking that way, seeing their actions today as part of a chain of events that lead to a conclusion. The big question is what will that conclusion be?
Everyone likes to be successful. But success isn’t just handed to you unless you’re Paris Hilton. For the rest of us, it requires work and effort. That’s what makes the journey so satisfying.
Keep that idea in mind. Are you moving toward your goal or away from it with what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it. It just might help take some of the monotony out of practice, and give your players a little more sense of purpose.
Identifying elite pitchers
A while back a friend put up a list on his blog. Unfortunately, it is no longer active, but in it he identified the characteristics he would use to determine whether an 11 or 12 year old has the potential to be an elite pitcher. It’s based on his experience in training, as a grad student, and coaching.
I looked at the list and I would agree with everything he says. It does seems like those are the characteristics for an elite pitcher. The thing that might discourage many people about the list, though, is if they see their daughter doesn’t have some or all of those characteristics. Does that mean she shouldn’t pitch?
Not necessarily, in my opinion. First of all, most of those attributes are true regardless of position. Becoming an elite player takes more than hard work or wanting to play at UCLA ASU. There’s a certain amount of good fortune involved. As I told my own daughter last night, certain people in the college game did a better job of picking their parents than she did.
The point is, she doesn’t have any particular desire to be an elite player, but she does love to play and does love to pitch. The attributes she does have lend themselves to being successful at the level to which she aspires to play. You don’t have to be everything on the list to pitch. You mostly have to want to, and be willing to work at it. Those things are required regardless of the level.
People fanatical enough to hang out on softball boards and read softball blogs often hope their daughters will be the next Cat Osterman. But those players are rare. Fastpitch softball is a huge sport, though, with a great many levels to it. There’s a place for everyone who wants to play.
If your daughter wants to be an elite player, definitely check out the list and see how she measures up. It’s a great level set. But if she doesn’t, don’t sweat it. Just make sure she does the things to be successful at the level she can compete at. That’s the single best thing you can do for her.
Focusing on fundamentals
Heard about an interesting conversation the other day. If I understand it correctly, one of the participants was saying that by the age of 16 it’s a waste of time to work on fundamentals. Either they have it by then or they will never get it.
That’s certainly an interesting perspective. I know a lot of college coaches would be shocked by that thought. Fundamentals are the foundation of the game, by definition, and they always need work. Problems with fundamentals are where errors come from.
Anyone who has read anything from legendary basketball coach John Wooden knows how he felt about fundamentals. When new players came to UCLA he would teach them how to put on their socks. Part of it was to instill a sense of discipline and control — this is how we do things around here. But part of it was also to help them minimize blisters.
Wooden took the same care with basketball fundamentals. He felt if his teams could pass, shoot, rebound and whatever else they do in basketball better than their opponents, they would win.
Softball is a complex game in a lot of ways, that’s for sure. But it’s also fairly simple. As the manager in Bull Durham says, you throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. The better you can execute these skills under pressure, the more chance you give your team of winning.
Spectacular plays are spectacular because they’re unusual. It’s great if you can make them. But they’re the exception. If you make those but don’t make the plays you ought to make, you will probably lose, because there are a lot more of the straightforward plays in the game.
Major League Baseball players start with fundamentals every spring, and continue to work on them throughout the year. When teams hit losing streaks, managers will decry the lack of fundamentals and place extra focus on them. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for youth players.
Knowing where to go with the ball is important. But you also have to be able to get it there. Without a continuous focus on fundamentals, it becomes a crapshoot.
Softball performance program
Saw this over at Stacie Mahoe’s Fastpitch Softball Blog and thought it would be worth passing along. It’s a free program called “How to Overcome Failure and Play as Well in Games as You Do in Practice.” (The link is to Stacie’s blog, which will take you to the program.)
This is a fairly common problem, especially in places like the Midwest where I live, and any of the Northern states where we spend most of the year practicing indoors. It’s one thing to be successful in the batting cages, but it doesn’t always translate to the field. When that happens it can be very discouraging.
This program has a series of exercises that can help a player get back on track. It was developed by Tom Hanson, one of the authors of the terrific book Heads Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time. That’s a book every player and coach should have on their bedstand.
Give it a look. It just might mean the difference between hitting .250 and .300.
The principle of interchangeable parts
One of the most common complaints a coach hears at the younger ages is that he/she is playing players in too many positions. This complaint, of course, is only heard when a team is losing. 
Fastpitch softball is a sport that requires specialization. Each position is played differently, has different decision trees, and largely requires different skills. Some great infielders never learn to judge a fly ball and are disasters in the outfield, despite being great athletes. Some excellent third basemen don’t have the range to play short. Some second basemen don’t have the reaction time to play third. It all varies.
That, to me, is one of the secrets to success in fastpitch softball — matching the player’s abilities to the position.
Now, at the younger ages, perhaps up to 11U, it’s a good thing to move players around more, at least early in the season. They are nowhere near fully formed yet, so how do you know that the kid you have in right field wouldn’t make a good first baseman with a little work and experience. You won’t until you try her there.
As players get older, though, this scenario becomes less attractive. Moving players around, unless you absolutely have to, can end up in disaster. This goes not only for the average ability players, but also for the studettes.
You see, there is a difference between great athletic ability and the ability to play a position. Trying to force a player into a position where she lacks the skills/knowledge/experience can wind up backfiring on you. I don’t know how others feel, but I’ll take a kid with less raw athletic ability but more knowledge and skill at a position than the reverse.
Now, I know college coaches often talk about taking athletes. Perhaps they have the luxury. Most of us don’t. Besides, their pool of athletes, especially at the upper level, are also pretty darned skilled. And they don’t just arbitrarily stick one of those athletes into a new position on game day and hope they can figure it out for themselves.
Softball players are not interchangeable parts that can be moved around willy-nilly. If you feel a position change is required, be sure to spend plenty of time with that player so she can learn the little stuff about that position. Otherwise, sure as you’re reading this, her lack of experience will come back to bite you at the worst possible moment.
Sometimes ignorance is just…ignorance
Saw this one at a high school game today. It makes me wonder sometimes how people get hired to coach kids.
These two teams — call them team A and team B — had played on Tuesday. Team A had the better record but wound up losing to team B. From what I heard they had a tough practice on Wednesday that consisted primarily of running every time they made a mistake. Keep in mind that they had lost primarily because they didn’t hit very well and team B did.
Tonight team A lost again. They made a couple of fielding errors, but the primary reason was again a lack of offense. So what does the coach do? She decides to have them run a bunch of foul poles. I’m not sure how many since I didn’t bother to count but it was probably close to a dozen.
I have to ask: how does this make sense? I highly doubt that any of those kids went to the plate thinking “What I’d really like to do is ground out weakly to the second baseman” or “Boy, a pop-up would sure feel good right now.” I watched them. They were energetic, kept their spirits up and battled to the end. But they came up short. So the coach, apparently in a fit of pique, decided to punish them for something, I don’t know, I guess for not being good enough.
Personally I think all she accomplished was getting them to hate playing for her. Kids aren’t stupid. They recognize bad coaching when they see it. Now, if she would’ve told them tomorrow cancel your plans, we’re going to hit until your hands bleed it would’ve made sense. She would’ve been addresing the problem. Instead she makes them run. Not for conditioning. Not to improve their technique. Apparently just because she was mad at them — or didn’t know what else to do.
Running shouldn’t be a punishment. It shouldn’t be used to embarrass your players (this little display was done at team B’s field while team B was working the field after the game). It should have a purpose. If your team doesn’t field, hit, get the bunt down or run the bases well enough, have them practice fielding, hitting, bunting or running the bases. As far as I’m considered the person this coach embarrassed the most was herself.
In a little postscript, one of the players who was made to run had an asthma attack in the middle of it. Out of fear of the coach she kept going until she got to the point where she couldn’t breathe at all. It took her at least four hits on her puffer to stop wheezing so loudly that it could be heard across the field. I was getting ready to call 9-1-1 it sounded so bad. She got to stop, but the rest of the girls were made to keep running.
I ask again how does this make sense? Who is it good for?
Blasting balls at fielders
You see it everywhere. Teams of younger players out on the field for fielding practice. A big coach (usually a guy) standing at home plate. He tosses the ball up, takes a powerful swing, and blasts a hard ground ball at one of the girls, who does her best to field it and make the throw. The coach is hitting the ball hard at the girls with the best of intentions. He wants them to learn to handle hard hit balls, and to improve their reaction time. Yet what he is more likely doing is practicing to lose rather than win.
Think about it. Let’s say the team is 10U or 12U. How many girls that age can hit a pitched ball as hard as a large, grown man can fungo it? You can probably count them on the fingers of one ear. Once in a blue moon a ball might be hit that hard, but it’s certainly the exception.
By hitting hard ball after hard ball, the coach is teaching his players to sit back and wait. He’s also teaching them that the elapsed time from contact with the bat to contact with the glove is one second or less. Yet that’s not really what happens on the field. It’s more likely that the ball will be hit softly, requiring the fielders to charge it. But since they’re used to sitting back so they don’t get killed, they’re slow to charge the batted ball. In the meantime, the batter is running up the first base line. The throw gets there late and everyone is unhappy that the fielder got to it late.
The other thing that happens with hard fungoes is the practice becomes more about survival than technique. The fielder may learn to knock the ball down or stab at it, but she’s not really learning proper fielding technique that will translate to the field. She’s less likely to be able to get her butt and glove down properly, receive the ball gently, scoop it cleanly and make the transition to throw. She’s just going to grab it and go.
Contrast that with what I see when I watch college teams practice. They often roll the ball by hand to players so they can work on their fundamentals — even before an actual game. When they do fungo ground balls, they’re hit lightly so the fielders have to be aggressive, rather than sitting back passively waiting for the ball to nearly overpower them.
It applies at every level, but especially at the younger levels. If you’re smacking hard grounders at your players, make a pledge to stop now. Hit the ball at the speed they can reasonably expect based on your level of competition so they set their minds on making the plays you need them to make. Believe me — if anything is hit harder and right at them, they’ll make the play out of self-defense. Coach for the majority of what you’ll face instead of the minority and you’ll make more plays and win more games. It’s just common sense.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 