Category Archives: General Thoughts
A little perspective
Check out this link to a blog on Belicove.com. The entry is called The Pale Blue Dot. It’s a look at the Earth from space, with an essay by the late Carl Sagan. I found it both interesting and moving.
Now is the time to start preparing for 2008
But we’re not in-season now are we? At least not in much of the country. Sure, there’s fall ball, but that’s more like a restaurant serving up some meals before the grand opening, just to see how well the kitchen works.
This is an ideal time for players to start preparing themselves for the next campaign through weight training, plyometrics, conditioning, and yes, distance running. Building a solid aerobic base provides the conditioning and longevity that helps players last through the hot and humid days of the summer season, and perform at their best through all the games in a day in the cooler weather.
Building strength, especially the right kind of strength, is important. Pitchers who are looking for a few more miles an hour, hitters who want to get the ball to go over the fence instead of to it, catchers who want to cut time off their throws to second, baserunners who want to shave a little time off their first to second runs, and players at every other position can benefit through an intelligent, sport-specific conditioning program.
There are all kinds of places to obtain an intelligent workout program. Believe it or not, the local HS football or wrestling coach are a couple of good options. They’re used to developing weight training programs that combine endurance with explosive strength. Wrestlers in particular are less concerned with muscle bulk than they are with being solid and surprisingly strong, so the wrestling coach is a good option. Besides, after working with smelly, surly boys all the time he’d probably get a kick out of helping a female athlete for a change. Just watch out, because he’ll probably try to recruit you to keep stats for the wrestling team in return.
However you go about it, the important thing is to get off the couch and start working now to get ready. I know 2008 seems like a long ways away, but quality change in conditioning, just like all your other skills, doesn’t happen overnight. Get moving now and you might even amaze yourself.
No shortcuts on the road to success
During the tryouts I was observing a pitching tryout. The girl was someone new, a 12U. I was chatting with her mom and bit and she told me where she’d been taking lessons and from whom. As I sat there, the girl seemed to go through an elaborate (to me) warm-up, beginning with some wrist snaps and then staging her throwing arm through about four or five starting locations. At no time did her feet move during these. Finally, her last drill was from full distance; she did what is usually called the “stork” drill, where she stood on one leg and then launched herself and pitched. So one leg at least got involved.
I guess different people have different philosophies or ideas or whatever, but it didn’t make much sense to me. I subscribe to the Bill Hillhouse school on warm-ups and drills — the more you make it like the actual pitching motion and get the whole body involved, the better off you’ll be. It looked like the girl was practicing to be an arm pitcher. When she went to full motion that’s exactly what happened. No leg drive, no body drive, just an arm thrower. It was too bad, because she looked pretty athletic and it seemed like she could get a lot more out of her body than she was getting.
I mentioned all this to another of our coaches, and he said that maybe she was being taught that way because it would be easier to throw strikes if she wasn’t going fully into it. I suppose that’s true. If you’re only using one body part there’s less to go wrong. But that seems like a shortcut to a dead end. Sooner or later if she wants to compete she’ll have to learn to throw her body into it, at least if she wants to develop speed. At that point she’ll probably have some setbacks and will have to relearn how to pitch. By then she’ll be behind the other 14Us who started out learning a more dynamic way of pitching and who were willing to walk a few more batters early to become better later.
Of course, that’s only one assumption. For all I know her pitching coach may be telling her to use her legs and she just doesn’t like to do it. But again, based on the warm-up drills I saw, that doesn’t appear to be the case. It seems like the arm is the focus, and the weak muscles in the wrist, and nothing else matters much.
There are no shortcuts on the road to success. It takes a lot of the proper work to learn to do things right. Parents, before you go shelling out for lessons, see if what your daughter is being taught is what you see from the players in the NPF or the Women’s College World Series. If it doesn’t match up, you may want to find another coach.
What’s not to love
I called a girl named Kathleen who had played for me the year before, and who I had worked with on her hitting during the high school and travel season. (Kathleen had left due as much to a political issue with her high school as anything. Things happen, ya know?)
In any case, I knew her summer team wasn’t going anywhere for Nationals since I’d already snagged one girl back, so three days before it was time to leave I asked if she’d like to go with us. She jumped at the chance. She rearranged her work schedule, her parents got vacation time, and she joined us for the tournament.
That would be pretty cool by itself. What I just found out, though, is that not only did she do all of that, she played with a finger that was either badly bruised or broken. I never knew it, she never complained or said “I can’t do that.” She was just happy to have the chance to be there, and willing to do whatever it took.
That kind of thing doesn’t show up in a stat sheet. You can’t measure it with a stopwatch or a tape measure. But any coach should be thrilled to have someone with that kind of heart and dedication. In this self-centered day and age those qualities seem to be few and far between.
What it takes to be a D1 prospect
So, what does a D1 prospect look like? Is she easily identifiable amongst all the other players, or are there more intangibles at work?
For my part, I would assume you could pick her out of the bunch. She would generally be very athletic — faster or stronger than average, with quicker reactions. If the next best player on the team is hitting .333, she’s over .500. In the field she is very sure-handed — no fumbling around with balls when she gets them, she just picks them and fires them. Her arm is very strong, with good mechanics. When she throws the ball it pops!
Mentally, I’d assume she knows the game well. She is rarely confused about what to do with the ball when she gets it. She exhibits leadership qualities among her teammates, is generally very confident, and has an overwhelming desire to win.
Is that accurate? What did I miss?
Fastpitch softball IS America
At last weekend’s tournament I observed a scene that to me captures the heart and soul of what makes fastpitch softball such a great sport. It was a typical thing, really. A girl on our team was having a little trouble hitting, and her father was talking to her offering his best advice on how to break out of the slump.
Nothing remarkable there, except for one thing: the dad, who is from India, probably has never played baseball or softball in his life. Yet there he was trying to help his daughter with something that is vitally important to her.
I couldn’t hear what he was telling her so I don’t know whether the advice was good or bad. That’s not the point. The point is that it was a Norman Rockwell moment, only with faces Norman Rockwell never thought to use.
Fastpitch softball is as all-American as it gets. Most sports have certain requirements for body types or athleticism to be successful at all but the most basic levels. In basketball and volleyball it really helps to be tall. Football is best played by those with sturdier builds. Soccer requires a combination of endurance and speed above normal levels. The list goes on.
But in fastpitch softball there’s a place for both the small and speedy and the large and strong. You can overcome your athletic weaknesses by maximing your strengths. If you’re not too strong but you’re fast you can bunt or slap. If you’re small and slow you can work on your hitting technique to punch the ball through the infield to give you more time. If you’re big and really slow, you can shoot for the fences.
Yes, being athletic and in great shape is an asset, especially at the upper levels. But not being the greatest athlete, or a certain height, or a certain body type, is not as much of a limitation as it is in other sports.
Softball also drives a kind of camaraderie between kids and parents. When I asked for volunteers to pitch some batting practice with wiffle balls, the dad I described earlier was one of them. He was only too happy to help the girls prepare for their game, and he’d certainly watched enough games and warm-ups to know what to do despite never having played himself. The parents enjoyed participating, and the girls appreciated the help. We were able to warm up efficiently and come out with the bats roaring.
The girl I described at the beginning of this post was about 10 years old when she first started playing. In fact, we talked about that this weekend. Her mom worked with a guy who was involved in our organization, and she mentioned she was looking for something athletic for her daughter to do. He suggested bringing her to our tryouts and she did. The girl told me she had no idea what a softball was or how the game was played, but once she got started she got hooked. She started out playing a few innings here or there in right field, and gradually got the hang of it.
As she has continued she has worked on her game and is now an excellent first baseman. She is not only sure-handed but also has great awareness of where the runners are on the field. In fact, she has been involved in several double plays for us this season that ended with the last out at home off her throw.
America has always been a country that is more concerned with what you can contribute than where you came from or what natural gifts you have. Fastpitch softball matches up with that ideal very well.
A Little Perspective
It had been a rough weekend so far. We were 1-2, but as they say in Bull Durham it’s a miracle we’d won the one. Now it was Sunday morning and we were a 4 seed playing a 1 seed out of a tough pool. Not exactly the formula for a great day.
I’d gone ahead to check if the field was open so we could warm up there. It wasn’t, so I started heading back to where our team was waiting. That’s when I saw her. A young girl, perhaps about 12 or so, shriveled up and being pushed in a wheelchair. It looked like her physical challenges were multiple, and that she may have some mental challenges as well.
As we approached each other I saw it — she had a softball glove in her lap. Then as we got closer she put the glove on, as though she was getting ready to play. She was smiling as I walked past her, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
It was then that the first thought struck me. My players were sitting around getting ready for warm-ups. It was 8:45 AM, and some were probably thinking how they’d rather be back in bed. It was just another day at yet another tournament, and maybe a few were thinking about somewhere else they’d rather be this July day. After all, a season can be wearing after a while.
But I thought about that little girl, and what she wouldn’t give to spend just one day doing what these girls were taking for granted. Just one day to be able to run out onto a freshly dragged and lined field, feel the heat coming up off the infield dirt, and get her uniform dirty diving after a pop fly that’s falling short Just one day to step up to the plate and face a pitcher bringing some serious heat. But I knew it was never to be.
I thought about telling this story to my players but decided against it. It just didn’t seem like the time to tell it. I feared instead of inspiring the girls it might bring them down. You never know how people will react. We went on to lose that Sunday morning game, getting blown out after a good start. We went home early, and I will admit I was rather bummed about our inability to play to the level we can this weekend.
Then in the evening the second thought hit me. What would that little girl have given to be be the coach of a team that got run ruled on that Sunday morning? To be making up lineups, calling defenses, giving signals from the third base coach’s box on a bright and sunny July morning? I realized then that my problems were small, and instead of feeling sorry for myself that I should be thankful for the opportunity to do what I do.
I don’t know who that girl is, or what team she was there to watch. But I feel lucky that I had the chance to see her. She helped me gain a little perspective on an otherwise disappointing weekend. If she can smile and be happy to be a part of this great game, I should remember to do the same.
Conditioning without conditioning
As I watch and hear about various practices, it’s amazing to me how much practice time gets wasted on pure conditioning. For example, coaches will have their players line up on a foul line, then have them run endless rounds of 60′ sprints. In the meantime, the clock is ticking and you’re not solving any of your other softball-related concerns, such as throwing and catching.
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t see the value of conditioning. I do. I wouldn’t be checking out the Softball Performance web site all the time if I didn’t. But when you’re in-season, or even preparing for the season, running to run is just wasting time. Don’t even get me started on distance running!
Last night we ran a drill that on the surface is aimed at improving our ability to throw and catch on the run. It’s a variation of the four corners drill, where you set a player on each base and throw the ball around. Normally when this drill is run you stack two or three players at each base and alternate. Sometimes you throw to the left and run to the right, or throw right and run left to the next base to get a little movement in. But with two or three players waiting at the next base there’s no sense of urgency to get there, and the running is more of a job.
So we took it down to its bare essentials. One player on each base, throw left and run right. Now it’s a sprint, because that ball can get thrown around the bases a lot faster than anyone can jog. Depending on where you are, you barely have enough time to get there.
We ran the drill three times with each group. Do the math. Four sprints, three times each, equals 12 sprints. To make sure they were full sprints, we timed each set with a stopwatch, and on the third go-’round we offered a prize (a page of coupons to Dick’s Sporting Goods that I’d gotten for free) to each participant on the winning team. Later we used different people for baserunners in a fielding drill, which increased the amount of running considerably. But never, at any time, did we say “now it’s time for conditioning.” Everything was done within a softball context.
Imagine trying to motivate your team to run 20, 25, 30 sprints just for the sake of conditioning. You could find yourself mightily challenged. But put it into the right context and you won’t have to motivate them. They will motivate themselves and each other. And you’ll improve the conditioning of your athletes.
Trackbacks are temporarily closed
Just wanted to let everyone know that I have temporarily closed trackbacks for this blog. Ol’ Coach Ken was getting tired of having to delete robot-generated trackback notices for porn sites and wonder drugs from his e-mail.
I may open them back up after a couple of weeks. But for now, just remember on your own to give credit where it’s due. Thanks!
It’s about time to end the time limits
Over the weekend the Mundelein Thunder 16U team I coached played in an NSA World Series qualifier. The rules for the tournament stated that no new inning could start after one hour and fifteen minutes. Not just in pool play but in bracket play too.
That is just insane. The time elapsed to play one fastpitch softball game from beginning to end was less than that for a youth soccer, hockey, or basketball game. That’s just not right. All of those sports by nature have a clock, with natural breaks (quarters or halves) to reset strategy and make substitutions. They’re oriented toward a clock, and cutting out a little time per period doesn’t have a huge impact on the game.
Putting a clock on softball does. After all, as George Carlin says, it’s a pastoral sport played in a park. Or as Yogi Berra said, it ain’t over ’til it’s over. When you put a time limit on softball, especially one as short as 75 minutes, you have changed the essential nature of the game.
If you are dedicated to giving your players the opportunity to play (as I am), rather than the opportunity to watch their friends win trophies, a 75 minute time limit is particularly tough to deal with. You have to be ready to make substitutions around the 35 minute mark. Not so bad if you’re the home team. But if you’re the visitors and want to sub when you go on defense, some kids aren’t going to play very much. I find that managing the time is far more stressful than managing the game.
But even if you’re not trying to squeeze in all your players it can still be rough. Some teams, for whatever reason, take a little while to get going. By they time they’re hitting on all cylinders the game is over or nearly so. They never get a chance to establish their rhythm, wear down their opponents, or get the feel of the game. It’s wham, bam, thank you ma’am, clear the dugouts so the next team can get in. It definitely favors the team with the biggest, strongest pitcher since hitters sometimes need a couple of at bats before they can zone in on the pitcher. Hey, it took Arizona three full games to figure out Monica Abbott.
This is a phenomenon peculiar to summer ball. High school games can (and sometimes do) go on forever, as two worthy opponents slug it out. College games are the same, as is youth league play.
It’s tempting to say the time limit is driven by greedy tournament directors trying to squeeze 10 lbs. of teams in a 5 lb. facility. But that’s not necessarily true, at least in the majority of cases. What it probably points to more is a lack of adequate facilities to host these summer tournaments.
Not sure what the answer is, but after experiencing it this weekend I think all tournament directors should be required to post what the time limits will be where they have the entry information. That way coaches can at least make an informed decision BEFORE they’ve committed their teams and their budgets. As a postscipt, I once took a team to a tournament where the 1:15 time limit was cut to an hour because of rain the day before. Needless to say I’ve never gone back there.
At the high school level and above, two solid teams can complete a game in 1:30 to 1:45. If you have to have a time limit, use one of those. An hour and fifteen minutes doesn’t serve anyone well.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 