Category Archives: General Thoughts
Camp Independence opens at YMCA Camp Duncan
Today was a very interesting and special day for me. I was privileged to attend the opening of Camp Independence at YMCA Camp Duncan — a youth campground located in Ingleside, Illinois. I was invited because I happen to give pitching lessons to the daughter of one of the driving forces behind the camp — Kim Kiser, Sr. Vice President of Camping for the YMCA.
When those of us in the softball world think of “camp,” we tend to think “opportunity to show my daughter’s softball skills so some college coach will pay for her education.” This was a camp of a different type. It is designed to help kids from seven to 18 who have spina bifida learn to live on their own instead of depending on their parents.
While I was there I heard an interesting story from Dr. Dave McClone, the founder of the camp and a doctor at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He said that back in the 1950s and before, no one thought much about what to do with kids who had spina bifida because the mortality rate was 95%. In the last 50 years, that figure has reversed, and now 95% of the kids born with it survive into young adulthood and beyond. In fact, they’re not sure of the length of life for those patients because this is the first generation they can really track it on, but the expectation is they will live a regular life span.
That created a new issue, though. spina bifida can be pretty debilitating, and so it makes it difficult to live on one’s own. Things we take for granted — going to the bathroom, making dinner, doing laundry and other mundane tasks — have to be learned. With many of this generation’s spina bifida patients’ parents now aging, the kids have to start learning these skills so they can function on their own and contribute to their full potential in society.
That’s what Camp Independence is about. It will be taking in kids to live and work around the camp with the goal of teaching them, as the name implies, independence. It’s a very worthy endeavor that benefits not just the kids but all of us. From a selfish point of view (as was also pointed out), imagine these kids out there working and paying taxes instead of having tax funding diverted to them.
I know Kim comes on the blog now and then so hopefully she’ll see this and let us all know what we can do to help. The building that was dedicated today was just phase one. There are plans for a second building in phase two, and if I know Kim that’s not all.
You’ll pay $100, $150, $200 or more to have your daughter attend a camp or a clinic just to spend five minutes with an Olympic player or a top-level coach. Consider taking a little of that and applying it so a young person just like your daughter can learn to fix her own dinner. And regardless of which side of that divide you’re on, hug your kids tonight!
When in doubt, go for nekkid people
The other day I was hanging around my local Walgreens waiting for a prescription to be filled, so I started wandering around the store. (I’m pretty sure that’s why they say it will take 20 minutes for your prescription to be filled when you drop it off, by the way — so you will walk around, look at stuff, and make a bunch of impulse purchases you never would’ve made otherwise.)
In any case, my stroll through the aisles took me past the magazine rack. As I stood there looking at the tabloid headlines, the pictures of pretty actresses I didn’t know on the covers of magazines I’d never read, and all the motorhead publications, something else caught my eye — a nearly nekkid Serena Williams on the cover of something called the ESPN Magazine Body issue.
Hmmm, I thought. That looks interesting. So I picked it up, fully expecting to find a lengthy discussion of the biomechanics of various sports. Seriously. But this was no bait-and-switch. Inside, there was page after page of photos of nekkid and near-nekkid men and women, athletes all. They had the “good parts” covered up, which is why it was available on the rack at Walgreens instead of behind the counter at your local convenience store. Still, it wasn’t your average sports magazine fare.
As I paged through, I found that our sport was well-represented. Softball may not be in the Olympics, but it was definitely in the ESPN Magazine Body issue. There, in all their glory, were Natasha Watley, Lauren Lappin, Cat Osterman, and a very pregnant Jessica Mendoza, channeling Demi Moore’s groundbreaking cover from Vanity Fare and apparently having a delightful time doing it.
The issue is interesting on a couple of levels. For one, I guess you could say “take that Sports Illustrated.” Not only did they forego the swimsuits entirely, they used actual athletes as the focus instead of the sidebar. They also put in plenty of photos of men, which may the only time some women buy ESPN Magazine. Ultimately, though, it’s that ESPN Magazine ran out of things to say about actual sporting events and so decided to fill out the year by running photos of nekkid people.
Actually, I know that last one isn’t true. Sex sells, and since the magazine industry generally is hurting it’s time to bring out the big guns, so to speak. Maybe the next step is to be like the British tabloids with their Page 3 girls and publish a photo of a nekkid athlete in every issue. Bet that would help drive subscriptions through the roof.
Ok, SI. It’s your move. Maybe Hef can offer a few pointers between takes on his reality show.
What is the deal with all these injuries?
I don’t know what’s going on these days. Maybe there’s something in the air or maybe there’s a bad mojo working in this area. But it sure seems like I’m seeing a lot more injuries this year among my students than I’ve ever seen.
Now, let me first clarify. These are not injuries as the result of the pitching motion or any hitting technique. Heck, some of them aren’t even occuring on the softball field. But they are happening. I’ve heard of girls injuring their shoulders playing volleyball, breaking their legs running the bases, hurting their legs running into a fence, even breaking their arms falling off bicycles. The latest is a student (whose father reads this blog, by the way) who blew out her knee playing basketball.
I have actually always been a fan of the multi-sport athlete approach. I think there’s a lot of benefits from training for different sports. But after what’s been doing on this year I’m not so sure.
Is this just a local phenomenon or are folks outside my immediate area (North/Northwest suburbs of Chicago) seeing an uptick in injuries as well? And if so, are they on the softball field? And where or doing what? I hope it’s just a coincidence or bad luck and that it will stop soon. Otherwise there may not be any players left by spring!
Don’t let the pursuit of perfection stand in the way of execution
There is a tendency among coaches (me included) to place a lot of emphasis on having rock-solid mechanics. We know what we want to see, we know what the best players in the world look like, and we try to get our players to match that image we have in our minds. Our most dedicated players often know what they’re trying to achieve and work toward meeting that ideal, whether it’s hitting, pitching, fielding, throwing or any other aspect of the game.
Overall, that’s good. But sometimes this relentless pursuit of perfection can get in the way of player growth. How can that be? Simple. All those skills we’re working on with such passion require dynamic and often ballistic movements. Yet it can be difficult to be dynamic or ballistic if your focus is on being extremely precise with what you’re doing. A hitter trying to get an exact bat path, or a pitcher trying to throw a pitch “just so,” may wind themselves up too tight to get the kind of impact they need. So while they would look great in slow motion video — everything is exactly where it should be when it should be there — the result is less than explosive.
I don’t think this is something coaches build into what they’re teaching. In fact, I think it’s often something that’s more hard-wired into certain players. They have such desire for perfection and achievement that they let it get in the way of just going for it. Put another way, they are so focused on their mechanics they become, well, mechanical.
Pursuing perfection is a worthy goal, but it has to be tempered with a ballplayer’s attitude. We’ve all seen kids with terrible swings or terrible throwing form that still hit or throw the heck out of the ball because they approach it with such intent to hit or throw hard. That is something we all need to be sure we’re instilling in our players.
I would rather see more intent and less perfection in a player or student, particularly at this time of the year (fall). Yes, I want them to improve their mechanics and approach that ideal, but not at the cost of putting every ounce of themselves they have into it. It’s important to remind them every now and then that the intent to perform an action is every bit as critical as the mechanics themselves. After all, you can fix mechanics and make them better. It’s a lot tougher to fix intent if it isn’t there.
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!
Great example of sportsmanship
Here’s a great example of coaches who understand that there’s more to life (and sports) than pummeling your opponents and running up your stats. It’s not from fastpitch softball, it’s from football, but I think the lesson here applies.
Essentially, two high school teams were playing. One was winning 46-0. The coach with 0 went to the other coach and asked if his team would allow a player with Down’s Syndrome who had suited up for every game but never played to score a touchdown. The coach with 46 agreed to give up his shutout on the last play to make it happen.
One kid got the thrill of a lifetime. But a whole lot of other kids got a lesson in sportsmanship and class. Kudos to both teams.
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?
Great article on mental toughness
Read an interesting article today in Baseball the Magazine, the sister (brother?) publication to Softball Magazine. It was on the secret to mental toughness and was written by Jack Perconte, a former MLB player (LA Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox) who is now coaching youth athletes.
In the article he goes through all the usual suspects — confidence, love of the game, aggressiveness, etc. But what he ultimately comes back to is strong fundamentals.
In the article, Perconte says that mental toughness isn’t in the head — at least not entirely. It’s really driven by knowing exactly what to do and how to do it. If you can execute the correct skills without thinking or hesitating you’ll be known as being mentally tough. One example he gives is the hitter who stands in the box and fouls off pitch after pitch. That hitter most likely has very strong fundamentals, which is what is enabling her to continue fouling off pitches until she gets one she really likes and can hit well. She’s not worried about whether she’ll hit the ball or not. She’s just relying on her strong fundamental to carry her through.
Coaches are often in a hurry to get past the fundamentals in order to get to the “good stuff.” Yes, there is a lot to learn in the game of softball and sometimes it feels like there simply isn’t enough time no matter how hard you work. But if a player can’t throw the ball 60 feet and hit her target it doesn’t matter whether she knows which base to throw the ball to. It just means she’ll be making an error at the right base. If she doesn’t know how to hit, having great baserunning skills won’t matter a whole lot.
It’s a great article. Baseball the Magazine is available on newsstands everywhere. I recommend you pick it up, give it a read, and pass it out to your team. It may help them understand why you’re spending so much time on fundamentals skills.
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!
A little hometown recognition
Ok, I will admit this post falls under the category of shameless self-promotion. Those who follow me on Twitter already know about it, but it’s kind of cool so I figured I’d post it here today.
I was profiled in the August 20 issue of the Mundelein Review, a local weekly newspaper that I read regularly. For once I can honestly say that I had nothing to do with generating the article. They called me. Somehow they found out that I write for Softball Magazine and work on the Discuss Fastpitch Forum, and they decided I was story-worthy. The article was written by Bill Pemstein, who covers high school softball for the paper and has for many years.
If you’d like to read the article you can see it here. (If you decide to leave a comment, be nice!)
I will say it’s fun to be featured in my hometown newspaper. I have to say I wish I was being profiled for winning a $225 million Lottery prize, but this is a good second choice!
