Look beyond the surface of fastpitch players
There is a tendency in all sports, not just fastpitch softball, to look for players who look like the best athletes. It makes sense on one level. You’d think the better the athlete the better the player will be.
But that isn’t always necessarily true, as evidenced by a post on Daniel Coyles’ The Talent Code blog. In it he takes a look back to the 2000 NFL Combine, and one player in particular. It was a quarterback who didn’t show too well in the tests they put players through.
He was fairly slow, running the 40 yard dash in about 5.2 seconds. (Understand that 4.8 is considered slow for an NFL player.) He didn’t have a bad arm, but it didn’t knock anyone out either. Still, one NFL team saw something in his character and thought he might just the right man for them.
The team was the New England Patriots, and the quarterback was Tom Brady. If you know anything about football, and probably even if you don’t, you know it was a pretty good selection.
You see, there’s a lot more to being a player than just athletic ability. Character plays a big part in an individual’s and a team’s success – especially in fastpitch softball, where there is so much adversity and failure. If you don’t have players of high character, they’re going to crumble pretty quickly under the pressure.
The IOMT Castaways
As at least some of the readers of this blog know, I am coaching an 18U team this year called the IOMT Castaways. IOMT stands for Island Of Misfit Toys. I recruited every single player on it, based not just on athletic ability but on character. 
They’re misfit toys because somewhere along the way some coach didn’t think very much of them, but I believe they can play. For the most part they’re not going to impress anyone with their time against a stopwatch, or the way they walk onto the field. But it doesn’t matter, because when the game is on they can flat out play!
The most important thing, at least so far, is how much they enjoy being together and playing together. Because of their individual histories there are no egos here, no one yelling at a teammate, none of the drama that often goes with the territory. Instead, they’re playing for the love of the game – as it should be.
It’s always tempting to go for that great athlete. But a lot of great athletes fail. In my book, and even at the professional level, character counts for more. Choose wisely and you can’t go wrong.
Fastpitch coaches behaving badly
Last week I had the opportunity to witness a type of fastpitch softball coach I thought was extinct. It was sort of like going to Jurassic Park and seeing a T Rex rushing at your Jeep.
The genus was Coachus Jerkus. In layman’s terms it was one of those old-style “command and control” coaches who seems to believe the more you yell at, embarass and humiliate your players in front of their teammates, parents, opponents and passers-by, the better of a coach you are.
It started with a pitcher (who was 15 or 16 years old) not hitting the spot the coach had called, with the result that the hitter hit a home run on a 1-2 count. (Understand that hitting a home run in this indoor venue basically meant popping a “Texas Leaguer” over a curtain about 120 feet away).
When the ball sailed over the curtain the coach screamed (and I am not exaggerating, it was like the aforesaid T Rex spotting prey) something unkind at the pitcher. I don’t recall the specifics of what was said, but it was along the lines of “What the hell are you doing?”
The intimidated pitcher’s first pitch to the next hitter went high and wide. To which the coach screamed “That’s where the LAST pitch should’ve been.” And on it went. If a player bobbled a ball, or didn’t make a throw quick enough, or didn’t get the bunt down she’d hear about it. As would all the rest of us. It went on from the beginning of the game all the way through the end.
To tell you the truth, I felt bad for the girls on the other team, although I understand this guy has been coaching for a while so they (or their parents) all probably knew what they were getting into. When the game was over that was unhappy-looking group of girls.
What’s really puts the capper on this behavior is that there was nothing at stake in these games. In fact, they were barely softball games. They were indoors on a short field with a 1-hour drop dead time limit. The purpose is to let the girls get out of the practice gym and try out their skills. Pitchers get to pitch to hitters, hitters get to hit off pitchers, teams get to work on plays, everybody has fun. Well, almost everybody I guess.
To go so over-the-top on any softball game when there are so many real problems in the world is wrong in my opinion. In this particular situation it’s particularly uncalled-for. The softball world could really use a governing board to report this kind of behavior so coaches who verbally abuse their players in this fashion can be disciplined.
The real shame, though, is that all that yelling and screaming really doesn’t help. Study after study shows that this old school style of coaching is actually counter-productive. Especially with females, where the old Mike Candrea admonition “Boys have to play good to feel good, but girls have to feel good to play good” comes into play.
Let’s hope this particular guy leaves the ’70s behind someday and learns that it’s ok to treat your players with caring and respect. In fact, it’s the way you get the most out of them.
Not fastpitch softball, but evidence that things are improving for women in sports
This morning I was reading the newspaper (yes, an actual paper newspaper) when I came across a very interesting article. Now, I will admit I am not really a NASCAR or auto racing fan, but something caught my eye about this story. And not just the picture that went with it.
The story was about how several well-known drives and champions on the NASCAR circuit were bringing their young daughters to meet driver Danica Patrick in the pits. Patrick, of course, is know both as being the first woman to drive Indy cars and for the commercials she does for GoDaddy.
All I could think of was how times have changed for women in sports since Title IX came into being. Back then, mostly male-run academic institutions has to be forced by law into offering athletic and other opportunities to women. Many men either thought that women were too delicate to play competitive sports or that they were taking away money that ought to go to men.
Now fast forward to today, and not only is Danica Patrick allowed to race, but the good ol’ boys of NASCAR are bringing their daughters to her as a role model. How cool is that?
There may be hope for us as a society yet.
Every pitch is a new day
One of the challenges with fastpitch softball is how difficult the game can be from a mental standpoint. A little failure here, a little failure there and things can start to get overwhelming.
Last night something occurred to me to help change that thinking. I held a ball up high and asked the students to imagine it without any seams. I then asked them what else is yellow and sits in the sky? A few seemed to think it was a trick question, but they eventually got that I meant the sun.
I then started moving the ball at arm’s length from hip high to overhead, and asked “What does the sun do each morning?” They replied various versions of “rise.” Then I kept moving the ball down and asked, “what does it do each evening?” Most said “fall” instead of set, but they got the idea.
Then came the point. I asked if they’d ever had a tough day, where they couldn’t wait to go to bed. They’re teenage girls, so of course they have. I asked, “But then after a good night’s sleep you felt better the next day, right? The world looked a little brighter.” They agreed.
I told them each pitch is like a brand new day, full of possibilities. Whatever happened the day/pitch before doesn’t limit the possibilities of today. They understood.
Tonight I told a girl named Hannah that story. Later we played the “High Fives” hitting game, and she got in the hole with -4. One more bad hit and she’d owe me five pushups. But she kept battling back, and eventually got back to -1 when we had to stop.
I complimented her on her mental toughness, because I really was trying to sink her. She told me she remembered what I said about the sun, and didn’t focus on what would happen if she missed. Instead, she focused on that pitch and that pitch alone, independent of everything else, and said it it worked for her.
If you’re looking for a way to explain playing one pitch at a time, give this one a try. And if you have your own way of explaining it, please share!
Contemporary way of explaining explosion to a pitcher
One of the biggest challenges of working with young fastpitch players is they continue to be young while I continue to get older. What that often means is that my frame of reference to explain things isn’t necessarily the same as theirs. Not to mention male v female — any
references to Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and similar fare usually meets with blank stares. But I digress.
Tonight I was working with a high school pitcher named Maty. Getting the hang of leg drive has been a challenge for her because she didn’t use any for most of her pitching career. She’s improved quite a bit, but I know there’s still more leg drive (and speed) left in her.
I was trying to think of a way to explain the idea of being explosive when an idea popped into my head I thought she could relate to. I told her she needs to come off the rubber like she’s doing a photobomb. She laughed, but she got it.
So there you have it. A good photobomb usually requires a quick move to get in right as the photo is shot.
Never stop thinking!
Softball hitting: The Oh Yeah v the Oh No Moment
In my never-ending quest to help fastpitch hitters be more successful I’ve come across an interesting way of explaining how to get to that moment right before launch. It seems to be resonating with the hitters on my IOMT Castaways team, and with my students as well.
Essentially I tell them that when the front foot lands (toe touch), there can be two possibilities: you’ll either think oh yeah, or oh no. (This is the cleaned-up version; with my high school age students I use a more PG word.)
What does that statement mean? You’ve done your load, made your positive move into toe touch, and now it’s time to rotate and swing. If you’re in “oh yeah” mode, you realize you’re just ahead/right on time, and you’re feeling like “oh yeah, just bring the ball because I’m ready to hit it.”
If you’re in “oh no” mode, however, you realize that you’re late, and instead of taking your best mechanics to the ball you’re in survival mode. The ball will probably get too deep too fast and you’ll be doing anything you can to get the bat on it. Which more than likely will result in an out.
As a hitter you want to set your mind to work for that “oh yeah” moment. Learn the pitcher’s motion. See the speed she’s throwing. Figure out if she favors a particular location. Then use all that information to get to your oh yeah moment. It makes hitting a lot more fun.
More about seeing and anticipating the ball
A few weeks ago I wrote about an interesting video on YouTube showing soccer player Cristiano Reynaldo scoring goals in the dark. In that post I suggested a way to apply it to hitting by closing your eyes just after the pitch is thrown.
I have to admit, though, it was just theoretical when I wrote it. Being the adventurous type, however, I decided to take my own advice and give it a try with a few hitting students. Here’s what I found out.
It actually does work — with an older, more experienced hitter. Generally speaking, hitters with good mechanics who are 16 or older are capable of recognizing the path of the ball off front toss and making adjustments after closing their eyes right after the pitch is thrown. I did it throwing to different locations, and the ones who were successful were able to hit most of them. And not just tip it, but hit through the ball.
Younger players, however, had much more difficulty. They tended not to recognize where the ball was headed and would just guess.
That makes sense. I heard John Tschida talk about the stack of mental index cards players have that allow them to recognize situations and patterns more readily. The longer they play, the bigger that stack gets.
Seems like that was at work here. More experienced players have a better feel for where the ball is headed with minimal information because they’ve seen more pitches. They can tell by the arm circle, or the way the hand is pointed, or the first split second of travel where the ball is headed.
It was also a lesson for those older players, however. I told them if they were capable of doing that, imagine what they could do if they put that much effort into seeing the ball out of the hand and then still being able to see it as it comes in. That made sense to them.
So give it a try – and let us know if you get the same results.
Video of the backwards curve ball drill
A week or so ago I had a request to provide some video of the fastpitch backwards curve ball drill. It’s the one I mentioned in a previous post, where you stand with your back to the catcher, then turn and throw the curve without moving your feet.
Well, you ask and I provide. Here’s a view of the drill from the front of the pitcher, demonstrated by Lake Forest College’s Kristi Gandy (who incidentally loves this drill):
And here’s another look from the side:
Hope that helps make it clear!
Update: I finally figured out how to embed the video. Had to cheat and go on the software’s forum, though.
Not exactly fastpitch, but…
You can tell by the name of this blog that it’s devoted to fastpitch softball. I try to provide information that helps coaches and parents help their fastpitch players.
But my guess is that at least some (if not many) of you parents also still play a little slowpitch softball yourselves. So for your benefit, I thought I’d pass along a little info that came to me from a manufacturer called jak’d, about their new bat called the Claymore. It’s a 100 percent composite bat, and the manufacturer says it has plenty of pop and a short break-in period. Also that it’s approved for play by USSSA.
This is not an endorsement since I haven’t tried it, but if you’re a player it might be worth checking out. And if you do, be sure to stop back and leave a comment letting us all know if it performs as-advertised. After all, we can all use a little extra edge in our games.
Demonstration of seeing and anticipating the ball
The example I’m providing today isn’t from fastpitch softball. It’s from soccer. But it really does a great job of showing how the eyes and the brain work together to provide athletes with important information. Softball players who understand this principle can use it to help them hit better.
So, check out this video from Sports Science, which shows Cristiano Reynaldo, arguably the greatest soccer player in the world at this time, demonstrating his prowess. Skip the first part, and advance it forward to around the 5:30 mark. That’s where it gets interesting.
The Sports Science folks set up a test to understand how his brain helps him score goals. In the test, he is set up in front of a net in an indoor facility. They have the ball off to the side. So far nothing unusual. But immediately after the ball is kicked the lights are turned off and Ronaldo has to try to knock the ball in the goal in pitch darkness.
First you see his attempts normally, which means the screen goes black. Then they show it with night vision video.
He does it every time, which is simply amazing. Then they run one more test which will blow your mind. In the last one, the lights go out right before the ball is kicked. It’s not a great kick, but he still manages to get a shoulder on the ball and knock it in the goal.
You have to see it to believe it. But in the analysis they talk about what’s going on, and how he’s able to do it.
The short version is he has a ton of experience, so he can recognize patterns. He can see where the ball is going to go before it goes by seeing the approach, the angle of the foot, where the ball is being contacted and so on.
Fastpitch hitters can learn a lot from this. Despite all the talk about watching the ball out of the pitcher’s hand, most hitters really don’t do that great a job of it. And those that do still may not be using what they see properly.
By watching more intensely, and training your brain to recognize the patterns of arm circles, hand positions, body leans, etc. you can get a better idea of where the ball is headed before it’s even thrown. It would be practically like hitting it off a tee.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But how do you do it? I will be the first to admit I don’t have all the answers. But here are a few tips:
- Make a real effort to see the ball as it’s being pitched. Pay attention to the details. If you notice certain things about certain pitchers, write them down in a notebook so you can remember those little “tells” the next time you face her.
- See as much live pitching as you can. It doesn’t have to be from an actual pitcher, although that is certainly preferable. But the more you see the ball from a pitcher’s hand, the more you’ll be building up that little pile of reference cards that will help you know where the ball is going to go by the way the pitcher’s arm, hand, etc. are going.
- Test yourself by hitting front toss with your eyes closed. You don’t want to do this with a full-on pitch, but with a slower front toss close your eyes when the ball is about half way in and see if you can hit it. If you have some success, close them sooner. This may take quite a while to do successfully. Ultimately you’re going to want to track the ball in as long as you can. But if you can tell where a basic pitch is headed by the way it’s being thrown, you’ll have a great advantage when you can watch it much longer.
Take a look at the video to see what’s humanly possible. Then start training yourself to “see” better.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 