This is the week for high school tryouts. And with it come the interesting stories.

I’ve heard from several of my students who told me that much of their tryouts were spent not showing their skills, but running, running running.

Not to go all Seinfeld on you, but what’s the deal with that? I know tryouts for the most part are perfunctory. Most teams, especially varsity teams, are chosen well in advance. Still, wouldn’t you think that coaches would want to take as long a look at the skills of their players as they can, to make sure no stone is left unturned?

All I can figure is they’re trying to weed out the girls who are just dabbling, or trying softball for the first time. That’s a shame. A school sport should be more inclusive, at least at the lower levels. Why make it miserable right off the bat?

Some schools have trouble even fielding teams at all levels. Running the girls to death is no way to get them out. It’s not that I’m anti-conditioning. It’s an important part of sports performance. But why not ease them into it? Or build up to it? After all, it’s not soccer or basketball. It doesn’t take all the much endurance to play our sport. Conditioning is not the game-changer it is in continuous motion sports.

Start with a reasonable amount and work your way up. Better yet, work conditioning into skills training to maximize your efficiency. With a little effort and imagination it can be done. And that way, you’re not turning off kids who might otherwise be able to make a real contribution to the team.

This morning in the newspaper I saw a story about the woes of women’s hockey in the Olympics. They were talking about how the Canadians and Americans dominated the competition, and how as a result the International Olympic Committee is considering taking women’s hockey out of the Winter Games.

Sounds familiar? It should. It was essentially the reason our sport was removed from the Summer Games. The perception was that the USA dominated the sport and so it should be removed for one that would give more countries a chance.

After reading this morning’s story it hit me. The problem isn’t softball or hockey. It’s bigger than that. The Olympics really don’t like team sports. Or put another way, they prefer individual sports.

Think about it. With an individual sport, you just need one good individual to compete for a medal. A country that hasn’t had much success in a particular sport can turn its fortunes around with a single outstanding athlete.

But it takes a lot more with a team sport. Take fastptich softball. You have nine players on the field who have to have outstanding individual skills plus the ability to play together as a single unit. It also helps to have a couple of dominant pitchers in the bullpen in addition to the one in the circle.

In the US, that’s not tough to find. We have a huge pool of top-level players to choose from. Same with Japan, China and Taiwan. All have viable softball programs. But in many other countries it can be tough to round up 15 elite-level softball players. Most have a few holes in the linup and as a result they just can’t compete.

In hockey it’s even worse, in my opinion, because you don’t have starters and bench players (other than in the goal). On a 20-person roster, 19 of them are likely to see a lot of ice time. Other countries may be able to find a few top quality hockey players. But with one-minute rotations on the ice they’re likely to have large chunks of time when they don’t match up with the world’s best.

The IOC sees that, and that’s why they seem to look for reasons to drop team sports. They replace softball (team) with golf (individual). True, they did add a form of rugby, but it wasn’t a full-team version. It was a short-sided version — easier to gather up a few good players than a bunch.

I don’t have a solution. Wish I did but I don’t. The IOC wants to spread the wealth when it comes to medals, and that’s easier to do with individual sports. Guess we’ll just have to settle for the non-Olympic championships — at least until there’s a change in thinking at the IOC. Perhaps someday they’ll realize that the people want to see excellence and entertainment no matter who is delivering it. Then we’ll stand a chance of getting our sport back in the Olympics.

Wow! It’s hard to believe Monday is March already. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was goofing off on Christmas vacation, staying up way too late and sleeping in until morning. But now Shamrock Shakes are available at McDonalds (although I’m not a big fan of the whipped cream and cherry) and at least here in Illinois girls are preparing for HS tryouts.

It’s been an interesting week. The time was spent getting pitchers ready to go in and show what they can do. (None of my current hitting students are in high school just yet.)

I’m actually looking forward to this HS season. My kids are all out of HS now so I don’t have a family interest in it. But I am looking forward to getting out and seeing my students play. Yes, HS ball can be maddeningly bad (and maddenly political). Still, there’s something fun about seeing kids compete for the glory of their schools.

The only thing that worries me is the weather. Right now there’s close to a foot of snow on the fields, and more on the way. It might melt by March 24, which is the first scheduled game for our local HS. But even if it does I’m not sure the fields will be too playable. Too bad, too, because one of my students is opening against that local HS, which would be awfully convenient for me.

Oh well, it has to melt sometime. Doesn’t it?

In the last few years, it’s seemed like fewer and fewer kids have been going to tryouts, and teams have had to compete harder for the kids who did come out. I know of several programs (including the one I’ve been associated with for the last 14 years) that have had to fold teams, or that maybe took a couple of players they normally wouldn’t have just to be able to play.

But I thought maybe it was just an isolated program here or there. Turns out it’s not. I saw this article this morning in my local newspaper. It talks about how the numbers are down all across the area, and how that is part of a larger trend.

The culprit? For once it isn’t coaches who yell at the kids or anything like that. Instead, according to the article, the #1 reason is video games. Kids are opting to stay indoors and play video games rather than go outside and play sports.

There are a couple of reasons listed. One, of course, is the general sedentary nature of kids these days. Between texting, mp3 players, computers, etc. they’re just a lot more oriented toward sitting and playing with electronics than getting up and moving around.

But video games have had another effect too. According to the article, and the experts it quotes, the nature of video games have made real sports less appealing to today’s youngsters. Video games are relatively easy to learn, and offer instant gratification — as opposed to softball which can take years for most kids to just become competent.

They simply don’t have the patience for the constant repetition required to learn how to play softball. Throw in “cheat codes” in games that allow them to overcome their shortcomings by getting past obstacles and you can see where there’s a disconnect. There aren’t any cheat codes in softball.

The article says the younger ages — under 10U — are not being affected as much. But once kids get to the age where they have iPods, smart phones, maybe even their own laptops, and of course a choice of gaming consoles — the 10U to 14U range — the numbers drop off dramatically. And it’s even affecting high school sports, as fewer kids are going out for them and often the ones who are don’t have their skills developed quite as well as those of a few years ago.

So if you feel like your travel team or league has been struggling, you’re not alone. Apparently it’s happening all over.

Receive the message below from Bobby Simpson today and wanted to pass it along. The message is pretty much self-explanatory but I wanted to add a few thoughts anyway. Just call me Mike Brady.

The US isn’t the only country who is suffering with the IOC’s decision to remove softball from the Olympics. As you’ll see, that action has caused the removal of funding for the British National team, which means that despite qualifying for the ISF Worlds in the summer of 2010, they won’t be able to attend unless they get some help. That would be a shame, especially as we claim that softball is world sport, not just a US sport.

I’ve never been real big on those petition that go around, although I do sign them too. But they’re pretty easy to ignore, as the IOC does. But participating in this vote has the potential to actually result in something. I just did it and it took about two minutes.

One little trick once you get there: if you have a Facebook account you don’t have to sign up for anything else. You can just use that login to get to the actual voting area.

Without further ado, here’s the message. Please take the time to help the Brits participate on the International stage.

During 2001-2004, I was honored to serve as the Head Coach of the British Women’s National Team. This past summer, they qualified for the 2010 ISF World Championships, but they receive no public funding since softball has been deleted from the Olympics and it is VERY difficult to raise the type funds that they will need. They have entered a British Airways program and have been shortlisted to possibly receive 16 free flights. They need your help. Please read the item below from Bob Fromer, a man who has truly given his heart to helping this program for many. many years. Then, PLEASE VOTE NOW (contest ends in about a week) and notify others so they can help. These are very deserving people and this could make the difference for them. THANKS for your help.   Bobby Simpson

YOUR ONLINE VOTE CAN HELP THE GREAT BRITAIN WOMEN’S
SOFTBALL TEAM GET TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!
 

The Great Britain Women’s Fastpitch Softball Team earned a place in the 2010 Softball World Championships by finishing second in European Championships this past summer, the team’s highest-ever European placing.

But the team receives no public funding because softball is no longer an Olympic sport. Players and staff had to pay their own way to compete for their country at the European Championships, but the cost of competing in the World Championships, which will probably be held in North America, is beyond what the players and their families can afford. So the team has entered a British Airways contest called “Great Britons”, where the prize could be 16 desperately-needed free flights that can get the players and staff to the World Championships. Now the team has now been shortlisted along with seven other entries, and the winner will be determined by public vote.

So please go online to http://www.greatbritons.ba.com/shortlists and cast your vote for the GB Women’s Team entry submitted by first base player MORGAN PARKERSON.

Just click on Morgan’s name on the Judges’ Shortlist and then hit the VOTE NOW button under Morgan’s photo. You’ll need to do a quick registration, and then you can vote. And then please get everyone you know and everyone you can reach by way of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc to vote as well!

Winning this contest could make all the difference between the GB Women’s Softball Team being able to go to the World Championships and having to turn down its place.

Thanks very much for your help!

Bob Fromer
GB Softball Team Manager     

I was just looking up the statistics for the blog when I noticed that yesterday (December 7) was the three year anniversary of the Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog.

Wow! I can’t believe it. Has it really been three years since my first post? It must be true, though. GoDaddy would never lie to me!

In any case, thanks to all of you who stop by to read my random musings, and who comment on various posts. A blog is only an online diary without readers!

A friend of mine sent me a very funny article today titled 7 Things Good Parents Do (That Screw Up Kids for Life).  Actually, I put it in the category of funny because it’s true.

In particular, pay attention to #5, because it directly applies to a topic I preach on often — what we’re teaching kids when we teach them to win at all costs. Here’s a quick excerpt:

“But let’s face it, you’re not sending your kid off to practice so he can have a good time and make friends. You want some goddamn trophies, so coaches are not above teaching kids how to cut corners, feign injuries and do whatever humiliating damage they can to their opponents, because hey, nothing else matters but winning, right?”

Unfortunately, many people do feel that way — they want the trophies, so whatever it takes to get them is fine by them. This article references an actual study that shows kids who play sports are more likely to cheat in other aspects of their life, such as school. So much for sports teaching positive life lessons.

There’s also a great section on the damaging effects of constantly heaping praise on them, to the point where they can’t handle legitimate criticism when it occurs. It definitely makes coaching much more challenging, because what is coaching if not saying what you’re doing now could be done better? There’s also that element of handing out trophies for participating, which totally negates the idea of having to work hard to earn your reward.

There’s a lot of truth in here, and the article even references legitimate outside studies to prove its points. Be warned, though. There is some profanity in it, so if that sort of thing bothers you approach with caution. I think there is a way to turn it off, but since it doesn’t bother me I didn’t check that part out thoroughly. Still, it’s worth checking out.