| SOFTBALL TIPS |
|
|
|
| SITE STUFF |
|
|
|
|
ARCHIVES
|
| • |
June 26, 2005 |
| • |
July 03, 2005 |
| • |
July 10, 2005 |
| • |
July 17, 2005 |
| • |
July 24, 2005 |
| • |
July 31, 2005 |
| • |
August 07, 2005 |
| • |
August 14, 2005 |
| • |
August 21, 2005 |
| • |
August 28, 2005 |
| • |
September 11, 2005 |
| • |
October 02, 2005 |
| • |
October 09, 2005 |
| • |
October 23, 2005 |
| • |
October 30, 2005 |
| • |
November 06, 2005 |
| • |
November 13, 2005 |
| • |
December 04, 2005 |
| • |
December 18, 2005 |
| • |
December 25, 2005 |
| • |
January 08, 2006 |
| • |
January 15, 2006 |
| • |
January 29, 2006 |
| • |
February 05, 2006 |
| • |
February 12, 2006 |
| • |
February 19, 2006 |
| • |
February 26, 2006 |
| • |
March 05, 2006 |
| • |
March 12, 2006 |
| • |
March 19, 2006 |
| • |
March 26, 2006 |
| • |
April 02, 2006 |
| • |
April 09, 2006 |
| • |
April 16, 2006 |
| • |
April 23, 2006 |
| • |
April 30, 2006 |
| • |
May 07, 2006 |
| • |
May 14, 2006 |
| • |
May 21, 2006 |
| • |
May 28, 2006 |
| • |
June 04, 2006 |
| • |
June 11, 2006 |
| • |
June 18, 2006 |
| • |
June 25, 2006 |
| • |
July 09, 2006 |
| • |
July 16, 2006 |
| • |
July 23, 2006 |
| • |
July 30, 2006 |
| • |
August 13, 2006 |
| • |
August 20, 2006 |
| • |
September 03, 2006 |
| • |
September 10, 2006 |
| • |
September 17, 2006 |
| • |
September 24, 2006 |
| • |
October 01, 2006 |
| • |
October 08, 2006 |
| • |
October 15, 2006 |
| • |
October 22, 2006 |
| • |
November 12, 2006 |
| • |
November 26, 2006 |
| • |
December 31, 2006 |
| • |
January 14, 2007 |
| • |
January 21, 2007 |
| • |
January 28, 2007 |
| • |
February 04, 2007 |
| • |
February 11, 2007 |
| • |
February 18, 2007 |
| • |
February 25, 2007 |
| • |
March 04, 2007 |
| • |
March 11, 2007 |
| • |
March 18, 2007 |
| • |
April 01, 2007 |
| • |
April 08, 2007 |
| • |
April 15, 2007 |
| • |
April 22, 2007 |
| • |
April 29, 2007 |
| • |
May 06, 2007 |
| • |
May 13, 2007 |
| • |
May 20, 2007 |
| • |
May 27, 2007 |
| • |
June 03, 2007 |
| • |
June 10, 2007 |
| • |
June 17, 2007 |
| • |
June 24, 2007 |
| • |
July 01, 2007 |
| • |
July 22, 2007 |
| • |
July 29, 2007 |
| • |
August 12, 2007 |
| • |
August 19, 2007 |
| • |
September 02, 2007 |
| • |
September 16, 2007 |
| • |
September 30, 2007 |
| • |
October 07, 2007 |
| • |
October 14, 2007 |
| • |
October 21, 2007 |
| • |
November 04, 2007 |
| • |
November 18, 2007 |
| • |
November 25, 2007 |
| • |
December 02, 2007 |
| • |
December 09, 2007 |
| • |
December 16, 2007 |
| • |
January 13, 2008 |
| • |
February 17, 2008 |
| • |
February 24, 2008 |
| • |
March 02, 2008 |
| • |
March 09, 2008 |
| • |
March 30, 2008 |
| • |
April 06, 2008 |
| • |
April 13, 2008 |
| • |
April 20, 2008 |
| • |
April 27, 2008 |
| • |
May 04, 2008 |
| • |
May 11, 2008 |
| • |
May 18, 2008 |
| • |
May 25, 2008 |
| • |
June 01, 2008 |
| • |
June 15, 2008 |
| • |
June 22, 2008 |
| • |
June 29, 2008 |
| • |
July 06, 2008 |
| • |
July 13, 2008 |
| • |
July 20, 2008 |
| • |
August 03, 2008 |
| • |
August 10, 2008 |
| • |
August 17, 2008 |
| • |
August 24, 2008 |
| • |
August 31, 2008 |
| • |
September 07, 2008 |
| • |
September 14, 2008 |
| • |
September 21, 2008 |
| • |
September 28, 2008 |
| • |
October 05, 2008 |
| • |
October 12, 2008 |
| • |
October 19, 2008 |
| • |
October 26, 2008 |
| • |
November 02, 2008 |
| • |
November 09, 2008 |
| • |
November 16, 2008 |
| • |
November 30, 2008 |
| • |
December 07, 2008 |
| • |
December 21, 2008 |
| • |
December 28, 2008 |
| • |
February 15, 2009 |
| • |
February 22, 2009 |
| • |
April 12, 2009 |
| • |
April 19, 2009 |
| • |
April 26, 2009 |
| • |
May 03, 2009 |
| • |
May 10, 2009 |
| • |
May 17, 2009 |
| • |
May 24, 2009 |
| • |
May 31, 2009 |
| • |
June 07, 2009 |
| • |
June 14, 2009 |
| • |
June 21, 2009 |
| • |
July 05, 2009 |
| • |
July 12, 2009 |
| • |
July 19, 2009 |
| • |
August 02, 2009 |
| • |
August 30, 2009 |
| • |
September 06, 2009 |
| • |
September 20, 2009 |
| • |
October 04, 2009 |
| • |
October 11, 2009 |
| • |
October 18, 2009 |
| • |
November 08, 2009 |
| • |
November 15, 2009 |
| • |
November 22, 2009 |
| • |
November 29, 2009 |
| • |
December 27, 2009 |
| • |
January 03, 2010 |
| • |
January 10, 2010 |
| • |
January 17, 2010 |
| • |
January 24, 2010 |
| • |
January 31, 2010 |
|
|
| SOFTBALL LINKS |
|
|
|
One For The Bucket Brigade!
by Dave
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tom writes in to ask, "How about doing one for the bucket dads? Everyone talks about the kids!"
You know, Tom, I would do something for the bucket dads and moms but I don't want to wallow in self-pity. So I am going to try to stick to anecdotes you and others have sent me, as well as some interesting stories I have heard or seen. I will, of course, talk about some of my personal experiences because those are the ones I know best.
Tom complains of pain he got while returning the ball to his two daughters when they practice pitched to him. As he notes, "there are no points for throwing it back on the fly." I'll add that there are no points for looking like a pro when you throw the ball back either!
I have not only caught a lot of pitching sessions, I have watched others do almost as many. One of the more comical things I have noted is the father or mother who squats like a real catcher and then tries to whip the ball back to the pitcher, again, like a real catcher. I know the mentality. I did this a few times and gave it up for personal safety reasons and to avoid pain.
Even funnier than the would be major league catcher is a fellow I know who wanted to work his daughter's ability to protect herself from line drives by whipping the ball back at her as hard as he possibly could each and every time. His throws probably maxed out at 50-60 mph. Nobody hits a ball back to the pitcher that softly beyond 10U. It doesn't do any good to whip the ball back at her if that's the best you can do. It just gets your blood up and makes her dislike you. It also will eventually burn out your arm.
Let me provide some advice to all parent catchers and this same advice was mentioned to me by Tom. Flipping the ball back on one hop is not a shameful act. It will save your arm. If your daughter is really, really going to grow up to be a pitcher, you are probably going to have to catch 2 - 4 times per week for 100 pitches and returns at the very least. A good average might be 3 times per week for 150 pitches and even that is a bit understated. That is 450 return throws per week, 44 weeks per year, over the span of perhaps an 8 year career, yields 158,400 throw backs. If you, like Tom and I, have 2 daughters, figure it out. You are going to hurt your arm!
I have a pretty bad right, throwing arm. I broke my elbow playing football when I was 15 and still have shards of bone on the inside of the elbow. I know the shards are there because my doctor warned about this at the time of the injury and, quite a while ago, I hurt it and it locked into place. When I had X-rays done, the doctor noted that he could see the shards and it was the swelling around them that had caused the lock-up. Years later, when my kids first got involved in softball, I threw a little too hard with another father before practice one day. My arm was sore for weeks after that.
Once you get the knack of throwing it back on one hop, it may actually save you time because you won't suffer all those bad throws as you try to emulate Pudge-Rod. Tom suggests that bouncing the ball back will make them better fielders. I'm not sure if it is true or not. But it certainly does not hurt their fielding ... or your arm.
The knees are probably your most abused joints. If you ski, snow or water board, that's more so. If you value your ability to walk around, up the stairs, into an elevator, I suggest trying something besides the standard catcher crouch. I am fully aware that there is a little known Medicare benefit for which you might qualify. I am slightly jealous of all those people on the TV who got their Power Chair and didn't have to pay a penny out of pocket for it. But if you are in your 40s, you will look silly making your way to the restaurant/bar/supermarket in an electrical chair. The alternative is a knee replacement but those replacements need to be replaced after a decade or so. You can count on having to replace your bad knee(s) as many as 5 more times during your life if you need your first one at 40 or so. Save your knees, get something to sit on during pitching practice!
Tom suggests a high bucket. He recommends this because 1) he has sufficient room to toss the ball back underhand and 2) he is able to get out of the way of a wayward pitch very quickly without stressing his knees too much. I prefer a lower bucket. I use one of the shortest buckets around, one I used on my boat before I got rid of the boat in favor of softball lessons. I like the shorter bucket because I can set a lower target and I want my kids to throw a lot of low pitches in order to induce grounders. But I may rethink my approach very soon as I am missing out on the benefits Tom noted.
I do not suggest spending money to get the item I have seen in stores and online. That is a stool which stands on one leg and is sold specifically for bucket dads and moms. I got one for Father's Day. It is not very convenient and I have fallen off it several times. The thing about a bucket is you can use it as a bucket in which to carry gloves and balls. It is sturdy. One cheap little plastic bucket will probably survive your kids' pitching careers and you will be able to will it to them when they become parents.
At this point I have to tell you a story or two story about buckets. I learned about them my first year of travel. The warehouse superstore was selling seeds in a bucket for a very cheap price and we decided to buy one for the team. I had hoped to recoup the bucket after the seeds were gone because it looked like it might make a good seat. But when the seeds were depleted, the team's manager, a father of a pitcher, grabbed the bucket and made it his own faster than I could possibly have grabbed it back. A month or two went by and someone took the top of that bucket and attached a proper seat cushion to it for the coach. He still has my bucket today! I think he is rather proud of it.
Another bucket brigade dad I know often catches his daughter when she pitches. He does so in pitching lessons and practice sessions, at team practices and before games. I noticed that he sits sideways on the bucket in order to protect his potential to produce children in the future. After years of watching this, I commented to my wife about it and was surprised by her reaction. She told me that when she first saw him sit sideways like that, she lost all respect for the man! She said he should sit like a real man!! So if you are at all concerned about the way people perceive you as you sit on your bucket, sit straight and protect yourself through other means.
Yet another bucket dad I know has a daughter who is a good pitcher but not always that successful when pitching against the best kids. We were conducting a tryout for catchers one day and she was pitching to them. I asked her if she had a dropball because I wanted to see the catchers block. She said she did and proceeded to throw several very good ones. I was genuinely impressed, not with the catchers but with this girl's dropball. So I asked the father about why he never had her throw the drop in games. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and said,
"Well, she really doesn't have a drop. I mean we don't work on it at all. I can't stand catching the thing. So she never works on it. I didn't think it was very good because I haven't seen her throw one in many months."
I informed him that she does indeed have a good drop. I also told him that she practices it when she throws with her younger sister, a catcher. I strongly suggested that he begin calling the pitch as one of her main ones in games. Do you know, that pitch has become her mainstay and she is a much more effective pitcher now than she was before she started throwing the drop a lot.
Yet, I understand why a father would not want his daughter to spend a lot of practice time working on the drop, at least not while he was catching it. The drop is the bane of many bucket dads' existence. I remember talking to one father who had a daughter with a good drop. He was catching her in the yard one summer evening when one pitch pointed out a tree root he had not completely removed from their throwing area. He was struck in the knee by a drop that bounded off the tree root. For months afterwards, he walked around with a softball sized bump on one leg. This guy used to wear shorts in weather above 25 degrees. But during July and August of that summer, he wore long pants due to his embarrassment.
Speaking of embarrassment, another father of a talented drop ball pitcher I know took one off his shins. He had to go in for X-rays after a few weeks of hobbling. The pain was excruciating. But this guy had some trouble with the doctor because he refused to tell the man flat out that the injury was caused by catching his daughter's pitching! The doctor wanted to know how it happened. He said "never mind." The doctor persisted relentlessly. I think the doctor finally accepted some explanation about a foul ball at a high school baseball game.
The moral of that story is shin guards are advisable. I actually don't wear them because I can't stand them. I caught until I was 18 but I never really loved wearing guards. And as an adult, I really can't handle the feeling, especially when I wear shorts. That's not a very good excuse and I have chipped bones on my shins too, though nothing that hindered my ability to walk. I guess I am pig headed and one day my daughter's dropball will convince me to wear the shin guards I have.
Tom has some advice if you also refuse to wear baseball/softball shin guards. He uses soccer style leg guards. I may have to look into this because it makes a lot of sense. But I may have trouble finding anything that fits properly. If you don't have football shaped calves, you might want to look into soccer shin guards to protect you while catching.
I have one final dropball story for you. I was at the field one day and noticed a bunch of guys from our organization standing around a pick-up truck chatting. As I walked towards them, they were laughing and making all kinds of odd faces. As I got close, one yelled out to me, "hey Dave, have you ever taken one in the ... you know?" I replied, "yes, many times, it ain't pretty, it's always the darn dropball." As I uttered the beginning of the word "dro" they all broke out into hysterical laughter. They were all pitchers' dads. They knew exactly what I meant. They all had the same experience.
I understand what Tom is saying about the higher bucket. If you are catching a dropballer, it is best to get the heck out of the way once that ball hits the ground. It has a lot of spin on it. You really do not know where it is going to go. The faster you can get out of the way, the better.
Still, I cling to my low bucket. And one of my kids is a dropballer. I have worked a way to protect myself and that is: I stay closer to the plate and when the ball hits the ground, usually it is right around the plate. I go forward rather than trying to block it like a catcher. I attempt to short hop it right near where it hits the ground so it doesn't have the opportunity to jump. It doesn't matter to me if I catch it or merely knock it away. Just so long as it doesn't jump me. So far, that technique has worked.
The worst I have ever been struck is actually on a change-up. My kid's change is pretty good. It moves and dives. When it hits the ground, it is difficult to know which direction it will bounce in. She once threw one that hit the plate, bounced up, and caught me in the chin. I saw stars. I got a nice little knot on my face that stayed there for several months. I think perhaps the bone was chipped but I never sought medical treatment because I was a little too embarrassed. I didn't need to hear another human being suggest I wear a mask. So I won't go into proseltyzing you about wearing a mask. I'll just say that there is a good reason to put one on, and leave it at that.
So to recap, a bucket is better than squatting. I prefer a low one but Tom likes a high one and he can offer some sound logic for choosing that size. Protective equipment is probably a good idea though I admit to wearing none. You must be hyper vigilant to protect yourself. And those of us too proud to admit it hurts when we get hit should probably rethink our manhood.
Speaking of manhood, I don't want to shortchange the many women who catch their daughters' sessions. I know several who, for one reason or another, do the job. They may be better athletes than their husbands are. They may just be the only one available when their daughters take their lessons. I think I know of more fathers than mothers but there are penty of each and all have their own war stories.
As a matter of fact, I know that one of the guys who laughed at my comment above no longer catches his daughter's lessons. Instead, he has his wife do that. The reason is he has become very good friends with the pitching coach. When the coach sees him, he likes to talk endlessly. The guy not only feels as if his daughter is shortchanged due to the coach's excessive conversation, but also he is concerned because he too often gets distracted from the job at hand. His daughter has hit 60 on the gun. But she is a little wild, especially when throwing movement pitches. l; He often finds himself nearly getting hit because he is too engaged in conversation. So now his wife catches the daughter at lessons. And she's the one sporting the injuries most of the time.
I really urge you in the strongest terms possible to not allow yourself to be distracted when catching. Even a 50 mph pitch can do some damage when it hits you in the head. Talking with others is possibly the most insidious form of being distracted. I just heard on the radio that the result of laws prohibiting cell phone usage behind the wheel actually have accomplished one of their objectives - to lower the rate of usage while driving. Unfortunately, the laws did not accomplish the main objective. Accident rates did not go down. While hands-free devices are used to a much higher degree than before, it turns out that they do not prevent accidents. It is the talking that yields the distraction, not the use of hands. If you try to hold a deep conversation while catching your daughter, you're gonna pay a price.
I have on many occasions found that I am not quite as wide awake as I should be when catching. Sometimes my concentration drifts. Sometimes my relatively weak eyesight takes me out of focus. That is not good.
I strongly suggest that before you get behind the plate, you make certain you are wide awake. I now very often drink a full cup of coffee before catching. I sometimes take a shower beforehand. I will try almost anything to ensure that I am as awake as possible. It is no fun to recognize that you almost got hit by that pitch.
Speaking of those times when you feel like you almost just got hit, it is difficult for those whose daughters don't yet throw hard or those who have never been part of the bucket brigade to understand our plight. The best way I can describe this is via analogy.
Do you know that feeling which immediately follows a near miss auto accident? Your adrenaline pumps at full throttle. You feel sweat start to well up in all the usual places despite having been relatively cold before the incident. Your heart pounds. You feel throbbing at your temples. That's an almost car accident. Almost being hit by a pitch is not as bad. I would say that on every pitch my daughter throws, I feel about 5 percent of the car feeling. And when I almost get hit, I suspect I reach to about 10 or 15 percent of that extreme. During the winter, we catch down in my basement which is very large. The basement is also rather cool, perhaps 45 - 50 degrees. But after we are done, I am always sweating. And when I almost get hit, I sweat profusely.
Women have more sense than men. They are more willing to don the full gear. Men are often either too lazy or too stupid unless or until their daughters become demonic hard throwers. I know of a Division one pitcher whose father always puts on the equipment. He does this because his daughter has been clocked around 67 and for one other reason. When the kid throws to him, which she still does on occasion, he abuses her psychologically. When he does this, she usually throws harder. And she, I believe, aims to hurt him. He throws the ball back at her hard a lot - he doesn't follow my one bounce advice and when he does throw it hard at her, I believe he aims to hurt her. Their sessions are rather violent. He dons the gear as a matter of survival. She should consider pitching with catcher's gear on too. Then again, she throws harder than he does.
One other item about gear, as a person who has suffered several concussions, not as a result of catching, I urge you to use the old style of catchers mask which is generally more protective of your brains. I know the newer, hockey style masks are more in vogue and look better. But the helmet part is intended to deal with foul balls. I personally do not think you need to use a helmet. And the hockey style mask provides less cushion when the mask is struck. That is my opinion formed after doing some research. You can do your own thinking and research.
The plight of the bucket dad or mom is not a well respected one. Those of you who regularly catch your daughters know of what I speak. We in the bucket brigade suffer all manner of injuries and humiliation. A little common sense can go a long way towards reducing the number of our injuries. And learning from others is at the heart of the human condition. So take Tom's advice and mine. Don't let your pride get in the way of protecting yourself. Also, when your daughter can throw a projectile hard enough to kill you, it is best not to anger her too much.Labels: parenting, parents, pitching, safety
Permanent Link: One For The Bucket Brigade!
 
Individual Motivation
by Dave
Thursday, January 28, 2010
I want to venture into a very difficult labyrinth today. I should probably just step back and not get into this but something is pulling me and I don't feel like fighting it. The issue has to do with how athletes become motivated individuals and how parents and others interact with them in order to enhance this "coming of age," if you will allow me to call it that. This is not a particularly straightforward issue to discuss. But I feel the need to try.
Some time ago, I told you that I once was told by someone far more experienced than I that a father must find the right time to step back from his softball playing daughter in order to allow her to mature in the game. She needs to be coached by someone not related to her. She needs to find her way in the real world where not everyone thinks she's wonderful, where some folks might be less tolerant of some of her bad habits. She needs to prove herself anew to someone else in the sport who has interacted with many other girls prior to meeting her. You (I) need to stand back and become a mere fan again.
Since I heard those words, I have discussed the issue and related ones many times with friends, others in softball, and even a few visitors to this site who wrote me e-mails on the topic. I agree wholeheartedly that a parent of a softball player needs to give her the room to stretch her wings, as it were, or she may never learn to fly.
I say she "may never learn to fly" because many girls have indeed gone very far within this sport while being coached by fathers or mothers. Tincher was taught to pitch by her father. Other name players had heavy parent involvement before they became name players.
Most kids need their parents to step away in order to take the steps of personal development on their own but it is not necessarily a panacea for raising a softball player. Both ways work, depending on the individuals involved. Still I agree in principle with those who argue for giving my kids space because I am not trying to raise softball players. I am trying to raise people, two individual people. I believe I need to step away from them in order for them to grow up. It's just not that easy to do!
Within the issue of stepping away from a softball playing daughter is the related one of her self-motivation. Youth is wasted on the young. If I had my life to live over again ... I would know how much effort would be involved in developing any skill to a desired degree. And, of course, I would put in the effort needed for the things I wish I were doing today!
When I was very young, I decided I wanted to be a baseball player. I was too young to have my dreams dashed so, when I told my parents, they waited several years before explaining to me why this was a bad idea. When I told my father that I wanted to play football in the NFL, he quickly pointed out that I would need to be at least 6-3 and that was unlikely. He also pointed out the short duration of a lineman's career and other problems with my idea. When I told my parents I wanted to be a mathematician, they pointed out that the only career for that kind of direction was teaching and since teaching didn't pay, I might find another career choice. They were wrong on that and other scores but I am not going to try to beat my parents into the ground today. What I want to point out is it is not a great idea merely to explain logically to a person why they can't or shouldn't do something. Instead, it is probably a better idea to inform them slowly about what is needed to become this or that and then let them find their own way.
With respect to school, my parents always wanted me to get good grades. Perhaps they wanted me to get great grades but they accepted my somewhat above average ones without giving me too much trouble. My siblings struggled in school to some degree so when I had better grades than they did, I was able to get away with less than I was capable of. But my motivation was external, not internal. I got the grades I got in order to appease them, not because I enjoyed learning or wanted to achieve at some level in order to accomplish things or make my life better. It was not until I returned to college as a 23 year old that I found self-motivation and at that point, I became an "A" student, near the top of the class, who wanted to achieve the highest grades possible regardless of the level of effort required.
Self-motivation is tricky because each of us are individuals who have our own hopes and dreams, who mature at different ages, and who have our own unique capacities and abilities. One kid is apparently fully mature, within the context we are examining, at the age of 7 or 8. Another is incapable of self-motivation until perhaps 16 or in my case, in terms of academic motivation, as old as 23. It is next to impossible to know for sure when a kid is capable of self-motivation in any pursuit.
When we start out the softball careers of our very young daughters, they really do not know what it takes to improve their skill levels and play to their potential. I recall one of my daughters, 8 at the time, telling me that she would like to throw better. We went out into the yard and threw the ball for 15 minutes before she informed me that she was tired or saw some neighbor kids playing and ran off for that action. A day or so later, I reminded her of her desire to throw better and suggested another session of catch. She told me she had something else to do and, after all, "we did play catch for a very long time yesterday." She was sure she had done enough to improve to the level she desired!
Later, when pitching lessons arose, my wife and I decided to tell the girls that they could continue pitching lessons and we would pay for them provided that they practiced an acceptable amount. We decided that 2 times per week in addition to the one lesson would be the minimum and 4 the maximum. They could continue with their lessons if they practiced twice a week but it would be better if they did more. And, if they did more, we would never consider dropping lessons. If they stuck with just 2, we might one day put an end to lessons.
So my daughters continued to pitch several times a week in order to preserve their lessons. When they wanted to play travel ball, we put certain other restrictions on them. They were required to get their homework done in a timely fashion so as to avoid conflicts with practice. They were also required to step up their pitching to a minimum of 3 times weekly in addition to lessons. If they pitched for one half hour at practice, that would count. We didn't want to burn them out. We just wanted a commitment level in order to justify our spending this much time and money to keep them in travel ball and pitching lessons.
As time wore on, my kids did what they needed to do to maintain things as they were. But sometimes that edge you need to compete was missing. I won't quantify it in this article but there is a level or degree of pitching effort one must do in practice in order to maintain proficiency levels and advance them enough to make all this worth it. Sometimes, with one kid or the other, that level was missing.
Sometimes, one or both of my daughters would complain about me making them pitch. It might not be right at the start or at the mere mentioning of "we'll be pitching at 7 o'clock tonight." It wasn't always a direct complaint. Sometimes we had just finished the warm-up and my kid would say "I'm really tired today" or "I'm still sore from all that pitching we did yesterday." Sometimes it was even more insidious like, "how many pitches are we going to do today?" And still other times, it was a matter of one kid, or both of them, putting out the bare minimum of effort in making each pitch.
Initially, I told them that I never want to be asked how many pitches we are doing. At different points I told them that I am not going to waste my time by catching them while they put forth less than 50% effort. I have actually picked up and walked out on a few occasions because I felt their effort was completely insufficient. I refuse to waste my time if they don't have their body and mind into it.
Soreness is a tougher issue because I don't want them to alter their motions because a bicep or forearm is sore. When they complain about sore muscles, I try to diagnose the problem, come up with a solution or dump practice for that day. I used to think they were using soreness to get out of practice but I have learned that my kids don't do that. When they complain about soreness, I believe them and we can usually do some skills that will not beat them up further.
As time has worn on, I have become weary from listening to my kids try to make practice shorter or get out of them entirely. It doesn't happen very often but when it does, it gets under my skin. That has been made more irritating by my often very sore shoulder, elbow, wrist or hand. A couple years ago, I developed bad tendinitis in my catching wrist which required me to soak my hand in ice water several times each day. It eventually went away but pain in my catching shoulder is a constant companion. Sometimes my elbow hurts and sometimes my hand does. I try not to complain to them about it - I don;t want to teach them how to get out of things - but when they are trying to wiggle out of practice and I'm hurting, I have less patience with the head games.
That was a while ago because gradually they have become self-motivated and that's why I am telling you this. My older daughter became self-motivated quite a bit sooner than the younger one. She loves just about everything that has anything to do with softball. Softball dwells within her very being, perhaps her soul. If she were confined to a wheelchair today, I believe she would either find a softball league for wheelchair bound persons or start one on her own. .
I know I am prone to digressions but I want to explain the wheelchair comment lest I receive some angry e-mails. When I was in my late teens, I worked as a lifeguard at a pool. One day, one of my fellow lifeguards dove into the pool and fractured his neck. He was paralyzed from pretty much the neck down though he could use his arms fairly well. The name of this fellow is Doug Heir.
Doug was an athlete before his accident. After the accident he wanted to end his life. That's pretty normal for a person in that predicament. If you love sport and one day are told that you'll never do any of the things you love, well, that's about as tough as it gets. Gradually, through the efforts of his brother and friends, Doug found the motivation to move forward with his life. Move forward, he did!
Doug became the President Of The National Spinal Cord Injury Association. He also finished law school and has been a practicing attorney. He has run for public office. He is a motivational speaker. He also has been called the most accomplished athlete on Earth because he has won more gold medals than any other human being.
Doug found his self-motivation, with help from his brother, in sport. He competed in field events at Paralympic and other world championships. He has one too many events to name and, in the process, set several world records. His image has appeared on the Wheaties box and many sports media outlets have proclaimed him the world's greatest athlete, among other noteworthy achievements.
So, you see, I do not use the wheelchair example lightly. And when I speak of self-motivation, I have seen it at its all-time low.
So my older daughter is now just about fully self-motivated. This was accomplished primarily by gradually allowing her to control the direction of her practice sessions. At every turn, I have reminded her that the game belongs to her, not us. Our purpose is to facilitate her accomplishment of what she tells us her goals are. She is never practicing or pitching for us. We enjoy watching her pitch but if she were never again to pitch, that would not change anything about the way we love her or treat her. The decision to pitch or not is hers and hers alone. The decision to play softball is hers alone.
As I say, she is just about fully self-motivated. It is a long process which requires work for the full duration. One does not one day turn from being externally motivated to being completely self-sufficient. It is a process not a watershed moment. We must still remain vigilant and work towards instilling the internal motivation.
As I say, this was a gradual growth which took place probably over a 2 year period. It probably, I don't remember, started as a result of a planned practice session at which she was not motivated. She may have complained. She may have inquired about how many pitches we were going to do. She may have thrown at less than her best. I just don't remember. But at that point, I believe I ended the session early. I was tired of the continual lack of effort - in a relative sense. I told her that she could tell me when she wanted to practice again. And I waited for her to do that.
After a few days, she missed working on her pitches and came back to me. In the next session, I let her control almost everything. There is a pattern to her warm-ups which I like to be adhered to to avoid injury. After that, it was "so, what do you want to do next." I really enjoyed asking her "how many pitches are you going to do today?" I think she understood the irony. But she chose her direction and I have to say that it was fine.
Now, what I do in order to sway her in the direction I think she should go is make suggestions. If I think her screw, drop, or drop curve is not quite as sharp as it should be, I ask, "do you want to work on X pitch today?" or "you know, you have thrown better drops, maybe we could work on that pitch more during one of our sessions this week?" or "is there any pitch that you would like to work on?" I try to sway her but I don't want to take over and I don't want her to get mentally lazy and allow me to take over. It's her game. These are her pitching sessions. If she's going to put into them, she must decide what it is she is going to do.
At various times, I think she informed me of when we were going to pitch and then, when the time came, she complained or was less than thrilled when I reminded her. Now when that happens, I react by telling her that I would love to have the hour to myself and it doesn't matter to me if she doesn't practice. She does not do that often anymore. She is responsible for her success or failure. If she wants to skip, it is entirely her decision. And she has to live with the results.
When she does complain, I generally believe she needs the time off. She has become self-motivated enough and we have informed her enough that she now knows that there is a minimal level of effort required to maintain and only through exceeding that will she get better. She wants to get better. She works pretty darn hard at it. Her practice sessions are much better. She seldom, if ever, takes a pitch off during practices.
To tell you the truth, I'm the one lacking motivation these days. She wants to pitch more often and her sessions are longer. I intervene more because I think she is overdoing it than I ever did because I thought she was doing too little.
My younger daughter is more difficult, as a general matter. She has had way too much success at almost everything from too young an age. She is very successful in school without ever having to put out much effort. Her report card is almost always better than her sister's, even when her sister gets almost all A's. When the kids take those state proficiency examinations, if her older sister scores advanced proficient on the math part, as she has many times, the younger one will score higher. She once scored a perfect score on that test. That's the way it is for her.
She was also a successful pitcher with far less practice work than her sister. The only times she would really work were after losses, expecially those in which she got hit fairly hard. It has been very difficult to get her to work at anything, especially pitching, unless she experiences some degree of failure.
She was always the biggest complainer with respect to practice. Even when she did not complain, she was far more prone to those lackluster sessions in which the effort needed to improve was missing. It probably took 3 years to find her self-motivation and I'm not quite sure I know what brought it on. Something, somehow, somewhere must have happened which caused her to recognize that she needed to work in order to succeed. And very recently, she has begun to use this self-motivation in many different ways.
I should tell you that I understand parents who tell me about their daughters, "if I didn't push her, she would do nothing. If I don't make her pitch, she won't and her ability will drop off." I am not telling you to drop everything and do all that it takes to get your daughters self-motivated. What I am telling you is that you should have this as a goal, a long-term goal.
Every kid, every person, is different. Some require more push than others just to achieve up to their 50% level. There is no particular age, no particular experience level, at which a given kid must become self-motivated. But as much as I have encouraged you to do certain things in order to have your kid become a good pitcher, catcher or whatever, I am encouraging you to find those things that will point her in the direction of becoming self-motivated. And everything you do with respect to this must leave the door open for her to become self-motivated when she is ready to do so.
This process, like the game of softball itself, is often rather difficult. Worse, while I can tell you how to fix some hitch in the swing, some shortcoming on the drop ball, or some particular fielding or throwing problem, I cannot tell you how to instill self-motivation in your child. It is a hands-on chore. Problems must be diagnosed in person. Treatment varies with the individual. Prognoses will vary. The time during which you may be able to accomplish the task is going to be different for any two kids.
I had a friend from childhood who became an Olympic medalist (a couple gold and, I think, one or two silver). He was a champion from a young age. His motivation was entirely external. He became a champion to appease his father. He was a world class athlete before he found self-motivation. But he also developed substance abuse problems. It was only after he solved his substance problems and found self-motivation that he became an Olympic champion.
I have often observed parents encouraging their kids to play hard, hustle, get a hit, etc. in softball tournaments. I have sometimes been an overbearing father with respect to my kids' softball play. I understand when parents need to be involved with their kids' softball. I also understand sideline nerves. But there is one thing we must remember and a few corollaries which spin off this single principle. It is their game - we had our opportunity already.
It is their game and we cannot necessarily relate to what it is like to stand 4o or less feet away from some hitter to guard against the bunt. We don't know what it is like to stand in against some 60 mph rise ball throwing freak of nature. We do not know what it is to live amongst their peers while suffering a tough game when everyone else is hitting the ball hard. Sure we had similar experiences but we do not know what they are going through. We have to guess.
When we were their ages, we didn't necessarily trust when our parents, teachers and coaches told us how to live. We learned most of what we know today thanks to mistakes and a few very smart mentors who taught us how to be self-sufficient. We got bored at practices. We turned our heads away on hard grounders. We complained about the duration of practices, etc. We dogged it. Why on Earth would we expect them to be any different.
When a young kid starts hitting, catching or pitching lessons, their coaches tell them what they need to do in order to prepare for the next session. "Don't forget to take 50 swings in the yard, do your blocking homework, pitch 4 times between sessions, etc." We can and should encourage our kids to hear those messages over and over again. We can tell them that if they would like to continue doing these lessons, they must practice on their own. We can make them practice but they will learn how to do it with the least possible amount of intensity to appease us. We can be perfectionists who mentally beat on our kids to make them all that we think they should be. But what is gained and what is lost when we do this?
If you think you may have the next Jennie Finch, there is probably nothing to be learned from me. If, on the other hand, you are simply using softball as an enjoyable way to teach your kid certain things, if you just want her to enjoy athletics, if you are not trying to take her up to the very top levels of the sport, then one of your goals should be to teach her self-motivation which she can use in other aspects of her life. It isn't an easy thing to instill. You will have to find your own way. But, in the long run, it is a highly advantageous thing to have taught your child. It is well worth the significant effort.Labels: mental toughness, parenting, work ethic
Permanent Link: Individual Motivation
Parent Trap
by Dave
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Before I begin today, let me say that I do not know what it is like to be a mother. I am, of course, a father. I was the last of 5 siblings to have children. I have daughters, not sons. Before I became a parent, I was an uncle. My sisters all had boys. So while I do not have personal experience being a father of a son, I can say that I have observed, up close and personal, the different ways fathers and mothers relate to their sons and daughters. There is a difference. Also, parents are not particularly aware of the ways they relate outwardly to their children and how their behavior appears to others. The discussion I want to engage in today, one about parental conduct in travel softball, is very difficult and I expect many just won't get it. My perspective is as a father of daughters, but it also, I hope, can be applied to mothers and fathers of both sons and daughters since I have observed all the various permutations.
This discussion concerns the way parents outwardly relate to their children within the context of travel softball teams and tournaments. The reason why this is critical is because it really does matter, mostly to the kids themselves but also it can have unforeseen and unintended consequences with others.
I have observed parental conduct as a newcomer to a team, as one with a daughter guesting, as member of the old guard on a team, as mere spectator, as a head and assistant coach, and from just about every other imaginable point of view. I have seen all kinds of behavior and I'm not sure I am positioned properly to judge all of it. But I can tell you about some of the more extreme examples and how I interpret them.
I want to draw on some images. So I have to tell you some stories.
I have a friend whose daughter has played gold level ball for a few years. Back when she got involved with it, I ran into the father at a showcase. He told me of the instruction he had received from the staff of the showcase team. They warned parents against the sort of conduct they had observed over the years in younger aged tournament ball and gave several examples of what to avoid. The gist of that went something like, "make yourselves invisible at showcases if you want your daughter to make favorably impressions with the college coaches."
This father began his experiences observing his daughter playing showcases by sitting beyond the outfield fence. He arrived at the field, made sure his daughter had her stuff including water and money, and knew how to get in contact should she need something. He saw her off to join her teammates. And then he disappeared from her life for the day.
I say I ran into him but I went to a game his daughter was playing. We had talked by phone prior to this so I went to see if I could find him but had a little difficulty locating him. He told me he would be in the outfield and I scanned the fence to find him but he wasn't there. I expected to see him leaning on the fence. There were some people doing that or sitting in chairs next to it but he wasn't one of them. So I gave him a call on his cell and he said, "look at rightfield and now I'll lift up my arm so you can see me." There he was! He had been lying down in the grass, almost completely out of sight! He had done this purposely because he wanted to be virtually invisible.
This is the model of good behavior for a parent at a showcase tournament.
There is a girl, now off to college where she plays softball, who was a youth and high school pitcher. She tried out for and made various teams over the many years of her career. You could always find where she was playing tournaments even if you didn't know her team because her father always stood out. You wouldn't find her if you looked at the girls on the bench. But if you scanned the dugouts and sidelines, you would invariably not miss her father.
I say "you" because I mean you, the reader. You don't know the girl or her father but you would know them if you happened to be where she was playing. He'd be the guy constantly talking to his daughter and giving her signs about which pitch to throw and where. He was frequently on the coaching staff of these teams but when he was, he was exclusively concerned with his own daughter 100% of the time. Sometimes he might talk to others briefly but he was focused on his daughter. That wasn't just true when she pitched. That was true when she played SS or any other place on the field.
This conduct by the father occurred not merely in travel ball but also in HS. She was a varsity pitcher and I was shocked to see the same sort of behavior there. For a couple years, he merely signaled pitches to her. Then, he actually wormed his way into the dugout and called her pitches directly from there. No matter where this kid played, the father was involved a bit more than he should have been and trying to control what his daughter did on the field, even when she was as old as 17!
I was at a high school game with different teams once when a group of parents happened near my perch along the outfield fence. They were discussing some pitcher on one of the teams. I don't know this girl and it was several years ago so I never really figured out who she was. These parents were talking about the pitcher's prospects with a certain college. They said, and I have no way of verifying it though it does sound within the realm of possibility, "she convinced the college coach to come watch a high school game and she came only to see the father calling pitches by sign language from the sidelines. She packed up and left after crossing the kid off her list of prospects."
Again, I cannot judge the veracity of these comments but they sound plausible. If a coach were looking for a self-sufficient kid to fill the circle, you can imagine what she might think. If a coach merely wanted an effective pitcher, she might ignore the strong parental influence, assuming the kid had several effective outings in front of her. On the other hand, unless the father was planning to go to college with the kid, I know I would want to see how she pitched without him calling the shots. I'd like to observe how she worked with catchers.
Compare and contrast these three stories. How do you analyze them? How do you see yourself fitting into the spectrum of possible behaviors? Are you more like the father sitting, hidden out by the fence, or the father calling all his kid's pitches, perhaps worming his way into the dugout to be a pretend coach?
Let me tell you, I am not like the father by the fence. But I aspire to become like him. I am a nervous, tense person most of the time. I find I can turn this off sometimes, rarely, but I have yet to do that at a softball game. I find that any softball game can make me tense. I get tense watching games at every age level whether I know someone on one of the teams or not. My kids' softball games make me really tense. I suppose I like to be tense and that is why I like softball. But I do not want to ever do anything to harm my kids. I want to do everything I can to make my kids' softball experiences as good as they can be.
When I was an older "kid," about age 20, I had a friend who stood something like 6 foot 4, was otherwise rather large, and was very loud. We regularly referred to him by his nickname, "big and loud." I was known as "not as big but just as loud." I don't know where I got my voice from. It is too bad that it is married to abject tone deafness or I might have been an opera star. When I played ball, I annoyed more people than I would want to admit because I never shut up. I talked so much that many of my teammates mocked me. But I did it on purpose because I was catching and it broke hitters' concentration. Still, that need to talk nonstop with full voice pervades my being whenever I am at a game including my kids' softball games. You would easily find my kids by looking for me at games, unless I am coaching in which case I show a little more discretion and restraint!
Early on, my kids were busy trying to perfect their pitching motions and pitches. I provided nearly constant vocal reminders to them while they were in the circle. I just couldn't help myself. Do this, do that, faster arm, snap it off, hit your spots, spin it hard, etc., etc., etc. almost constantly sprang forth from my pie hole. When my youngest started out in 10U travel at the age of 9, I sometimes went so far as to signal her pitches. The team coach was someone I knew and he began to encourage me to do that. he said he didn't mind because he had no idea and wanted her to be successful so the team would win. So I started acting just like that father of the high schooler I mentioned earlier, acting as pretend coach.
In later years, I started getting involved in coaching so that I was no longer merely calling or signing from the sidelines. I enjoy coaching, particularly coaching other people's kids but I don't like coaching my own. I found myself too involved with my own kids, especially when they pitched. I started calling pitches for all the pitchers on my teams. And I was constantly coaching my daughters when they pitched. That's fine, I suppose, but the reality is they would not be able to grow as pitchers unless I took a step back.
At some point in my kids' softball careers, I attended a large clinic at which kids of all ages were present. Somehow, I got into a conversation with a guy whose daughter had been playing showcase ball with a well known gold team from the southeast for a year or so. She was a very accomplished player who was being recruited by a couple schools. This fellow talked to me for a while and then asked if I was coaching my daughter. When I told him I was, he said I should look to cut that out soon, "by the time she reaches 14." He went on further to say that otherwise she would not develop fully as a ball player. He did not speak about how others might interpret a player's father being a coach, but rather was focused on how that might effect my daughter, herself.
Since I heard these words, I have tried to extricate myself from coaching my kids' teams. Unfortunately, I have been cajoled into coaching by someone who knew me or been convinced to help out on teams that were short-staffed. So I have not yet succeeded in pulling back fully. I keep trying and as I say that, I hear Yoda, the Jedi master saying, "Try not, Do, Or do not, There is no try." Wisdom aside, I suspect there are many of us who coach our daughters' teams against our better judgment and the advice of others.
Many of us who do not directly coach are more like Sandra Bullock in the recently released movie "The Blind Side." (I highly recommend this film to anyone - I no longer go to see movies very often as most really stink. This would be the exception.) In the film, Bullock watches over her soon to be adopted son very closely, especially when he is at football practice. At one point, she gets frustrated with the coaching, marches onto the field and proceeds to give instruction to her son with the help of some of the players.
The story is a true one with a happy ending. The film is very good. But this particular scene got under my skin because it tends to support a bad notion, the idea that it is right and good for parents of young athletes to walk out onto the practice field, perhaps even the game field, in order to instruct their children about what they are doing. This is not a great thing.
In case you might think that parents would never do anything of the sort, I assure you that you are mistaken. Parents very often do exactly that. I was once running an indoor practice in which we set up an infield and ran situations, especially bunting situations. I pulled the girls into a circle before we started and explained what it was I wanted them to do. Then we ran plays. Unbeknown to me, one father was sitting behind the protective net by first base where his daughter was playing. He constantly gave her instruction. He also instructed the other 1Bs. His instruction was directly contrary to what I had told them. I couldn't understand why they could not perform a relatively simple play the way I had instructed them to do it. later I learned what had been going on and corrected it. I gave the father a stern talking to. Thereafter, he stayed in his car during indoor workouts.
On different occasion, we were playing a game in a tournament and suffering through some pretty bad umpiring. Everyone was on edge because most of the calls had gone against us and some were ridiculous. After one call, as it happens a legitimate one, a father walked onto the field to question the umpire about the call. I stood in stunned amazement as the father entered the playing field. Fortunately one of my assistants caught him before he crossed into play and told him to go back and sit down. I gave him basically the same talk I had given the other father.
Lots of the sort of bad behavior is displayed after parents become familiar with the coach and team. They engage in regular conversations, get comfortable with everyone and then lose their heads when games get stressful. Usually this does not happen right away because, just like on job interviews, people have their guard up the first couple times they meet you. But some folks are not at all restrained. Some folks act badly as early as tryouts.
I have had my kids go through tryouts annually since we got into travel ball. I9 wanted them to get experienced trying out so that when they had to do it for real, it would be no big deal. I practiced this in my life at times I was not looking for jobs. I would send out resumes and go on interviews years and years before I was ever actually looking for a job. I figured it would be good for my kids to do the same. Also, I wanted to see how other teams conducted their tryouts so mine would be more professional looking. In any event, what I saw at these tryouts frequently left me speechless.
I can understand a little good natured cheering at all times around the softball diamond but at tryouts, this should probably be a little less loud and frequent than it is at games. Some parents insist on giving their kids encouragement even in this tryout setting. It can be a little absurd but there is nothing wrong with it per se. I guess I prefer to be pretty quiet when it comes to tryouts others are conducting when my kid is involved. I watch but keep my mouth shut. Many parents cheer but others are much more involved than that. They scold their kids when they make mistakes. They walk over to the dugouts when kids are coming off the field and give instruction to their kids. Some transgressions are worse than that.
A travel coach friend of mine wrote in to say, "I think that parents really need to know they can actually do more harm than good during try-outs. The last thing a coach wants is parent issues. I have seen kids rejected due to their over-the-top intense parent. I don't want to deal with that and neither would you. One guy actually went out on the field during try-outs and caught his pitcher-daughter. When asked to let a player catch her, he called pitches from behind the back-stop. Unreal. Dad was told he was the reason the kid was overlooked. She is a very good pitcher, but not worth dealing with dad ... Best thing to do is stay in your car or on the bleachers and just observe!"
In my own experiences, parents can be problematic at tryouts and coaches should always be on the lookout. I had one set of parents behave themselves through tryouts, occasionally cheering but never saying anything directly to their daughter. Then after the tryouts, they questioned me excessively long. I kind of got a bad feeling from them but I ignored it. That was a mistake. It is OK to ask questions after tryouts to learn about the team and organization. But there are common sense limits.
For example if your daughter is asked to be on my team today, right after tryouts and the rest of the roster is also set, there is no way I can "guarantee" her a certain amount of playing time at a particular position. I can say that today she is the best or second best pitcher, catcher, infielder, or whatever but that does not mean she will perform so in games or that some other kid is not going to earn her position next spring. So, why ask about it? Why ask, "can you guarantee my kid infield playing time?" You can get a sense of how many other girls are pitchers, catchers, etc. before committing to the team. But you will never receive a contract and you shouldn't ask for one unless you want to scare off a coach.
I heard from one coach who was asking some girls to play for him. One of the girl's parents called the coach to ask questions before committing. That phone conversation lasted an hour in which the parent needed to know if a couple other girls were being asked to join and then whether they were likely to get the kind of playing time they would be looking for. This parent couldn't commit unless the other kids were coming. And they wouldn't be coming unless ... So on top of asking about her kid's prospects on the team, she had to be concerned with the others as well. The same lengthy conversation took place several times with a parent of each of the kids. After the last conversation, the coach drew a deep breath, pulled out his list of phone numbers and called each family back to inform them that he had completed his roster and their offers were no longer extended. He was not going to deal with these people for an entire year.
I held a tryout once in which I really only needed a couple kids, a pitcher if someone stood out, perhaps a catcher, and a utility player. The rest of my team was set. 7 or 8 kids showed up. One wore these super-kewl sunglasses despite it being very cloudy out that day. Those represented her attitude. She was pretty sure she was all that and more. Her mother felt the same way about her kid. She figured out who my wife was and sat next to her apparently on purpose. She talked non-stop and afterward my wife had a migraine. Not a good start!
Thuis kid wore a weird smirk on her face too, another attitude thing. She was convinced she was a good player and going to make this team. She wasn't and didn't. Back then I always liked to catch the pitchers because I wanted to observe movement and speed for myself. I caught what she suggested were fastballs, changes, curves, and drops. To tell you the truth, I was not able to discern between the pitches. Worse, the mother sat there and told my wife how she "knows your daughter is fast but my daughter is more of a finesse pitcher. She doesn't have your daughter's speed but she has better movement and you'll see that as they get older, movement's more important."
Why on Earth would you say such a thing to a coach's wife if you wanted to make the team? the kid had no movement, not even close to my daughter's. She couldn't change speeds even if she could throw moderately fast. Her curve and drop spun but didn't move at all. It was as uninspiring as it could be and the kid was not even close to as good as my younger daughter who played down an age group. I wouldn't take her on ability alone but I really was not going to have her anywhere near my team once I heard what the wife had said. What if she had been marginal? What if I was seriously considering inviting her?
In another case in which I was not a coach, there was a girl who was perfectly nice and a decent player. Her father, on the other hand, was another story. I won;t go into details but he had absolutely no restraint when it came to what he said and his choice of words to say it. After the first season with the team, a few girls left the team and they held tryouts. After the tryouts, the coach called the father and said, "I am not asking your daughter to join the team this year. She made the cut but you did not." The fgather had to be removed from the team and, therefore, the girl was not invited. That is a shame.
OK, so those are some stories about parental conduct in the softball setting. I said at the beginning that fathers probably relate to daughters differently than mothers do. I guess I didn't develop that so much as just give you examples of each. In the end, I want you to walk away from this understanding that your conduct as a parent of an athlete has an effect on numerous intended and unintended others. It will effect your kid, perhaps in ways you don't want it to. It might color her prospects at tryouts or with her team. It may effect the way college coaches look at her if that is where you are. You must restrain yourself. You have to think about the way others perceive you and your child, and how you would like them to perceive you.Labels: coaching, Conduct, parenting
Permanent Link: Parent Trap
Why Stress Fundamentals
by Dave
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
If you spend time on any large softball forum, you will see very little discussion about real fundamentals. The subject is just not exciting enough for a good read or heated discussion. Instead what you generally see are these convoluted discussions about sophisticated topics, using words you have never heard, brought up by either real experts, those pretending to be such, or people who have no idea what they are talking about. People would rather use big words and engage in the complex then deal with what really matters, fundamentals.
I want to tell you a story that just happens to be extremely timely at this moment. Once there was a young man who was what you would call naturally gifted athletically. By gifted athletically, I mean he was both fast and quick, had good flexibility and strength, was gifted with good hands and eyes, as well as the coordination of the two; he could convert coaches words and descriptions into action; he could watch others play a sport and copy the good parts of their mechanics without taking on the bad; he was motivated to be good at the sport of his choice and became one of the most renowned prospects within it at a young age. This young man rose through the ranks of his sport rapidly and as he got older, he began to play with and against others who were similarly "gifted" with "natural" ability.
The young man became a professional in his sport and rose up to its highest levels. When grouped with the other top athletes, he still stood out. But as his game began to be scrutinized, he was compared unfavorably to several.
The young man was named Derek Jeter. His sport was obviously baseball. His defensive game was compared unfavorably to everyone from the other local MLB team's SS to others within his league and outside of it, not to mention the gentleman who plays the next position over from him. In fact, at times, minor league SS prospects were compared favorably to Jeter in terms of range and other aspects of the position. Most recently, the negative comparisons have died down quite a bit and the man was recently named American League Gold Glove Shortstop as well as Sports Illustrated Magazine's "sportsman of the year."
Wha happen?
Not for nothin but, if you live anywhere near da Bronx, you know wha happen.
Wha happen were several things. First off, the team replaced their stocky, hard hitting, poor foot speed, lousy fielding first baseman with a certain tall, athletic Gold Glover. That made a huge difference to be sure but there was another basket of changes that made a bigger impact.
A certain coach worked with Jeter, watching his fielding mechanics and various aspects of his defensive game. And you know what? This coach changed some things Jeter was doing. For one thing, he moved him deeper. That changed the path he took to the ball. More importantly, he adjusted or corrected Jeter's ready position.
Let me say that again for effect. One of the biggest improvement Derek Jeter made, the thing he did which moved his status from defensive liability or second rate SS to Gold Glove winner and arguably the most heralded athlete in his game was an adjustment to his ready position.
Are you getting this? I just said that a professional athlete who is assumed to be a member of a small elite club of fellows who are, at least potentially though probably at this point likely, first ballot Hall of Famers had his ready position adjusted and that has made all the difference.
Ready position? Isn't that the first thing anybody teaches? How can a professional get that far without a nearly perfect ready position? The answer is we can all always improve even the most fundamental aspect of our games. Professional athletes, even HOF-destined professional athletes, are no exception. If you want to improve your game, look at the basics, not the sophisticated stuff.
If you examine what professional hitters do when they get into difficult times, you will find that they always go back to the drawing board. They go back to the tee and examine their fundamental mechanics. They do not ask ace pitchers to throw batting practice for them. They do not go into the batting cages and tell the coach to turn the speed up above 100. They do not read books about new and better hitting mechanics. They do not start emulating the swing of somebody who happens to be hot right now. They go to the batting tee and review videotape regarding their hitting fundamentals.
While examining the college recruiting game in softball, I have heard several stories which do not seem to compute in my puny head. Once somebody said, lots of times coaches don't even watch the actual games when they go to showcases. Many like to watch warm-ups because they get a better sense of the kid from that than they do from the games. Players are warned against being nonchalant before and after games, and most especially during warm-ups. I can accept this but, on the other hand, I have watched so many teams warm-up like professionals and then when we got into the game, our band of scraggly goof-offs have kicked their butts. What on Earth can you tell from warm-ups?
There are lots of things you can see from an individual player during warm-ups. &nbsop; You can judge attitude, seriousness, approach to playing the sport, etc. More importantly, you get a really good sense of a kid's fundamentals from warm-ups. It is virtually impossible for a kid with poor fundamentals to pretend to be a really well-schooled player repeatedly while fielding simple grounders. Likewise, it is almost impossible for an extremely well skilled kid to go about her business using bad mechanics during a warm-up. On the other hand, when 3 to 10 balls are hit into play during the course of a game, it is almost impossible to gain a sense of a kid's fundamentals when she fields somewhere between 2 and none of these.
Also, it is very possible that some kid with absolutely fantastic skills will have a tough day because her grandfather died the night before, she was forced to stay up all night to complete a school project, she caught a stomach bug from her little brother, her boyfriend gave her heck because she spends too much time playing softball, the teacher in her otherwise favorite subject gave her heck because she spends too much time playing softball, or for any number of reasons. maybe the pitcher throwing today always misses her marks and the SS finds herself out of position because she was expecting an outside pitch for a ball and a perfect, down the middle strike was thrown. There are so many possibilities for something external to a particular player to cause her to look bad that it defies reason.
There once were two catchers on a team with two pitchers. One pitcher hit the mark all the time. The other missed more than 50% of the time but she was a hard thrower and still found success. The catcher who caught the control pitcher looked like an all-star in almost every game. The catcher for the less accurate pitcher spent way too much time with her back to the field while chasing balls bouncing around the backstop. At some point, folks watching the two drew the conclusion that one catcher was much better than the other. Then, one day, the good catcher caught the wild pitcher and the bad catcher caught the controlled one. Everyone's opinions of the two catchers changed instantaneously.
If you were evaluating catchers, would you feel more confident in your assessment if the catcher were catching somebody who always hit her marks or one who always put the ball in the dirt? If you were evaluating infielders, would you feel better about your assessment if you watched a game in which she fielded two or three easy chances cleanly or you watched her field 20 reps in a row during a practice? If you were evaluating a pitcher, would you feel comfortable watching her mow down a team of batters about whom you knew absolutely nothing? Or would you rather focus on her mechanics, speed, movement, ability to hit spots?
OK, enough of that. My point is recruiting coaches often watch warm-ups because they want to observe fundamentals. It is easier to judge fundamentals in drills with repeated reps than it is to see them on display in a game. They want to watch fundamentals because fundamentals are critical. And why they are critical is what this is really all about.
If you watch some games at various age levels, before long, you should form an understanding of why fundamentals are critical. At 10U or 12U, girls who are the best athletes make all the plays. It does not so much matter if they are fielding balls properly or throwing correctly. They are athletic. They move well enough to the ball and get there because they are fast and/or quick. They pick it up cleanly because A) they are confident in their abilities and B) the balls just are not hit as hard as, or with as much spin as, they will be soon. They make the throws accurately because they have experiences making good throws under little pressure, not because their throwing mechanics are right.
Take the successful athletic kid with poor fielding mechanics and move her gradually up in age group. Her success will begin to falter because her mechanics are bad. I have watched some middle infielders who make all the plays at 10U or 12U but who do not get in good ready positions, don't field with two hands, or otherwise make a travesty out of what are normally viewed as sound mechanics. These girls get rather frustrated when everyone catches up to them athletically or strength wise, when the balls are hit so much harder, when everything seems to have a weird spin on it. They also have difficulty getting outs when the kids' baserunning speeds pick up. They do not field properly to make a quick throw and when the girls start getting under 3, they make a lot of late throws to first. l; Then they start rushing everything to make up for their poor mechanics and the wildness begins.
Throwing mechanics, in particular, hold kids back as they get older. I have watched many otherwise decent outfielders cause major problems because they are side-armers. A couple RFs come to mind immediately. Maybe you have seen this sort of thing? There's a runner on first when a basehit reaches right field, down the line. The RF rushes over taking a good line, picks the ball cleanly and fires a side-armer to third trying to nail the runner from first. The ball sails past the line and out of play, more than 60 feet up the left field line! Ugh!
As girls age, like I already said, balls are hit harder and with more spin, runners are faster, and there just is more and more pressure put on players to do everything right, to do everything extremely fast. Girls who have sound fundamental mechanics seem to rise and those who do not, fall. Give me the super-athletic kid with sound fundamentals every time. But if given the choice between the weaker athlete who has sound mechanics and the superior athlete with poor fundamentals, I'll take the former. At some point, you just cannot help a kid who is completely disinterested in fundamentals or who has atrocious ones. That point is probably sometime between 13 and 14. So work kidsensively on fundamentals from the time they start playing until ... there is no until as Derek Jeter can attest to.
Yesterday I wrote a piece about improving softball by improving rec ball by improving pitching and fundamentals. Today I am not fixated on the lowest levels of the sport, but rather the highest. Ignore fundamentals in favor of what you deem more important aspects if you must but consider what happens when the kid who knows where to go with the ball can no longer pick it. Consider the accuracy of the strong armed girl whose throwing mechanics stink. Consider the success rate of the infielder whose foot position is always is improper. Consider how well your team does when everybody fields with one hand, pulls their gloves to their throwing hand while taking excessive amounts of steps, and then fires a rocket to the base after the baserunner gets there.
Football is perhaps one of the most complex games on the planet. We often hear broadcasters talk about the "skill positions." These broadcasters have never tried to put a block on somebody. If you do not have blockers who are capable of blocking properly, you cannot run the ball and the only thing that will come out of your passing game is a continual line of star quarterbacks sidelined with concussions, or broken bones. Blocking is fundamental. Blocking is boring. Blocking is critical.
If you coach a basketball team on which everybody could teach Coach K a thing or two about sophisticated plays but on which nobody can dribble, set a pick, make a pass, or shoot properly, good luck. It makes no difference how much your kids know about the game if they can't perform the fundamentals well.
So why do we put girls on a softball diamond and then worry that they know where to go with the ball? Why do we put the course in back of the cart? Why do so many of us not spend time on fundamentals because they are boring when those fundamentals are the single most important aspect of the game?Labels: coaching, defense, instruction, parenting, practice, throwing
Permanent Link: Why Stress Fundamentals
Now Is The Time
by Dave
Monday, November 30, 2009
Many, if not most, of us are in the off-season. Yes, elite travel players aged about 14 and up are working towards winter showcases in Florida and elsewhere. Many warm weather states are playing their winter seasons. And in the cold states, some few are making plans for indoor winter ball or their indoor workout sessions. But that's travel ball and what I'm about to discuss has nothing to do with that. Right now, my thoughts are with rec programs around the country. Officers and other league officials are making plans for the coming season including tryouts which will happen for many right after the holidays. In going with the catch phrase of 2009, how about thinking about some sort of "change" for the 2010 season?!
When my mind drifts back to rec ball, a couple images come to mind. For one thing, there are those eternally long games between large teams (15 or more) of girls aged 7 to 10. Another image that comes to mind is of girls in the 12U division who really are not interested in playing softball at a high level but just want to get out and socialize with their friends. The final image that comes to mind is of the older divisions which have depleted rosters either because most of the skilled players are somewhere else, perhaps in travel, or because softball is competing with school and other activities.
These are macro images and when I think of each, a couple sub-set images come to mind. In the 10U age group, typically you have about half the girls who have never played anything beyond tee ball and about half the girls who have already played a full year, possibly more, of real softball. Of those who have played some, there is a smaller sub-set of girls who have attended clinics on their own or possibly gotten involved with travel ball someplace where they played 50 games outside the rec league, practiced all winter and developed their skills well beyond the newbies.
Generally, the pitching stinks in this category except for a very small group of girls who have actually taken lessons, perhaps even pitched travel ball for a year. There are not nearly enough of these girls to go around to all the teams and because the league restricts girls from pitching more than say 3 innings a game or week, the games almost always degrade into walk-fests with a few hits when the pitcher finds the strike zone and the wrong kid, some travel kid, is at bat.
Games usually have some sort of time restriction like 2 hours and thank goodness for that because nobody could take any more. A game might start out with a bunch of walks and then somebody hits a grounder that exceeds the reach of any infielder and rolls past the outfielders. Finally the last outs are recorded and the teams switch. the next half inning might proceed like the first or the other team might have one of those travel pitchers. In any event, it continues until the score is pretty high, the travel pitcher ends her permitted number, or some such. Nobody has really gained from the experience. But everyone goes out for ice cream or speeds off to a family party or other event. Meet back here Tuesday or next Saturday and we'll replay the same game against another team.
At 12U, most of the girls are more coordinated and there is more "quality" pitching. A few teams have one travel pitcher, possibly two. Some teams do not. Generally the teams that have pitchers will make it to the playoffs by blowing out the others. And then there are some quality games, quality for the more serious players, that is. The less serious, less skilled kids will be either at home because their team is no longer playing or stuck out in the outfield and overwhelmed by the opposing pitching. Games are shorter throughout the season and particularly in the playoffs. Bragging rights are established. And many girls start considering leaving softball for something a little more interesting and exciting, or something they can actually excel at.
In the older age categories, there is a massively reduced number of players because girls have left for other activities because they have absolutely no confidence on the softball diamond. Some play although they are not serious about the game because they can still hold their own and there is nothing else much that interests them. When basketball or some other event conflicts with their rec softball games, they choose the other activity which causes teams to have trouble fielding 9. There are fewer and fewer teams and age groups are often combined in order to have enough teams with enough kids to play games.
This is the rec softball pyramid. We start out with too many kids to count at age 7 or 8 and end up with too few kids to bother counting by 15 and 16. Competition stinks in the early ages. It gets marginally better in older ones and then degrades as the number of participants depletes. It is a shame for a truly great game.
But what do we do about it? Like I said, right now is the planning stage for many rec programs. If I have accurately described rec softball, ultimately, We can really do only one of two things. We can leave it alone and assume nothing will make it any better, or fooling with it might make it worse. Or we can try to make some positive changes. What some of these changes could be are the subject of today's discussion.
Some leagues divide up the girls between 8U and 10U or 8-9 and 10U while some have leagues where 7 and under are relegated to tee ball while everyone over 8 and under 10 plays in a single league. The differences in coordination, strength, athleticism, etc. between a youngish 9 (let alone 8) and an older 10 is considerable. IMHO, girls aged 8 should not be playing with the 10s. It would be preferable if programs could establish separate leagues for 8U and 10U, even perhaps divide up the 9s and 10s into competitive and less competitive play.
If for example, you have 8 teams of 10U in which all different skill and age levels are represented, what would be wrong with creating 2 divisions, based partly on age and partly on skill. These would then play against just 3 other teams rather than having a single 8-team league in which some kid who could not field a grounder or make a decent throw to first must play against another who has played a year of travel ball in addition to rec. So my first recommendation is to consider dividing up your 10U league into competitive and less competitive divisions. If you do not wish to do this at 10U for whatever reasons, consider doing it for 12U.
Next, it is almost painful to watch the pitching at 10U in most rec leagues. Yes, there are some which train their pitchers and that is generally a better league. Many just conduct tryouts and leave the teams to their own devices. One team has one great pitcher and many poor ones. Other teams have decent pitchers who do not walk the world. But overall, the total quality of pitching is very poor.
Right now, when budgets are being established and plans for the season are being laid out, why not consider addressing the pitching issue? What you can do is bring in a professional instructor to train a group of pitchers at weekly clinics. If a professional trainer is not within the realm of budgetary possibility, comsider talking to local high school coaches to get a kid pitching at that level who would volunteer to work with the kids. Every high schooler who aspires to go to college must perform a minimum number of hours of community volunteering. This would be a fun way to earn one's required points.
These clinics could be conducted during the late winter months in some school gymnasium or other facility. Presumably the local rec league can gain access to a school gym for free or some sort of nominal charge. You get your space, some balls, an instructor and see how things develop.
The pitching clinics should not be some sort of free benefit provided by the league that anyone who wants to come whenever they want to come can feel free to attend. It should be mandatory for all girls who state they want to pitch in the league. There could be a nominal fee to cover expenses. If a professional instructor would accept $200 for a two hour clinic and you were able to squeeze 20 kids into a lesson, $5 - $10 per kid is not bad for one or two hours worth of Saturday afternoon baby sitting for a girl to gain the opportunity to stand in the circle. Add to this the other costs and divide by 20 or have the league pick up those costs. The point is, this could be accomplished for very little cost per aspiring pitcher.
One league I have spoken about in the past puts the word out that anyone who wishes to pitch must attend their pitching clinics which have a paid instructor plus some high school volunteers. A good instructor can easily handle 20 kids but give him 2 high school aged, softball playing girls and everything goes very smoothly. Attendance is taken at these clinics. Girls who want to pitch must attend, regardless of excuses provided. If your clinic consists of 8 to 10 sessions, you might allow any one girl to miss 2 but more than that and they are no longer pitchers. yes that's tough politically but if you want your league to provide a quality experience, trust me, this is a necessary step.
Girls who attend their own private lessons, could be exempted or have a reduced number of sessions, provided that it is clear that they are actually attending lessons and do not need additional work in a group setting. This can easily be seen in tryouts or at a first clinic session at which skills are evaluated. Don't simply accept anyone's word that a particular kid is in lessons and therefore has a valid e4xcuse not to show at your clinics. Otherwise, you will most certainly see more kids laying claim to being in lessons while your league's pitching improves only a bit.
The point about improving pitching is not merely some way to alleviate parental pain caused by sitting through horrendous walk-fest games. There is a better reason to take the plunge and do this. While hitting is very much a mechanical issue that should be addressed in a vacuum, it is also critical for hitters to see decent pitching, as mush as possible. When walk-fests take place, nobody benefits, not the struggling pitchers, not the bored fielders, not the batters who never get to take swings. When a league's 10U pitching improves, everybody benefits. Batters take their cuts. Fielders field balls because batters are hitting them. And the game moves along so nobody is caught yawning either in the stands or out in right field.
It should be noted that when 10U pitching improves, 12U games are better too as kids move up having actually pitched somewhat well. Others have fielded real grounders or flies. And batters have real experiences of seeing strikes and ripping at them.
As a side note, there is another pitching related issue which can be addressed to improve your local rec league. That issue can be addressed either in a non-competitive 10U or, if you have a 9U or other pre-10U league, there. That issue is walks.
One way to deal with the issue is to alter the number of balls required before a batter is walked. At young ages, 6 might be the magic number which changes the game for the better. If that doesn't cut down the number of bases on balls, there is another approach which is guaranteed to. Abolish them. That is, do not permit walking. When the pitcher throws 4 or 6 balls, have a coach pitch.
One league we were involved with had a rule which limited walks to 4 per inning. After that, a coach pitched the rest of the inning. That did not really work all that well. Almost every inning began with 4 walks followed by, of course, coaches pitching. if you want to do that sort of thing, why not put 3 runners on base, give the batting team a run and then have coaches pitch the whole thing? Of course, this also solves nothing. So, instead, consider doing away with walks, just at this low level, and allow pitchers to try to throw strikes to each and every batter without facing the risk of boring their teammates to death.
A peripheral issue involves the way teams are set up. Say you have 8 teams in your league and 16 kids have attended the clinics. That works out nicely since 2 pitchers could be placed on each team. But that is never the way it works unless you design it as such. if you want to improve your league's games along with the pitching, conduct separate drafts of pitchers and other players. The teams which go first in the pitcher draft go last in the player draft. And do not allow two parents who also happen to have their kids in pitching lessons to coach on the same team. Split them up. I don't really care who is friends with whom. The league exists for the good of the largest possible number of participants, not to ensure that Sally gets to play with her best friends.
This raises an issue unrelated to generally improving a rec league but I want to address it nonetheless because it is a thorn in my side. How many times have you seen this kind of thing happen: Matt, Sara's dad who is coaching the Marlins or Phillies has Sara, an ace pitcher on his team. His daughter knows Jane and Mollie who are very good softball players that can also pitch in a pinch. They know Maggie, Allie, Kristen and Lauren, also good players. The group conspires to go to tryouts and not really try. Matt is able to draft all 6 girls plus his daughter and they crush all comers in the league once games start. One of the 7 always pitches, another always catches, and the others make up the infield. They bat 1-7 with the "other girls" filling in remaining spots and sharing tim e on the bench. This kind of stuff cannot be allowed to go unpunished. It happens all the time across this nation and most other league participants are hurt in some fashion by it. Enough of that. If a league president knows about such shenanigans and is too spineless to put a stop to it, he or she should not be president.
So that is pitching and two related draft issues which could be addressed in order to improve a rec league. I believe that this issue alone, if it is resolved, will lead to a better rec league. But I'm going to delve a bit further into other areas because I do not believe resolving this issue alone will lead to better participation, particularly as girls age up.
Another area which can be addressed is fundamental defensive skills. So many kids progress through rec softball without ever really knowing how to field a ball or make a throw or catch that it is mind boggling. Kids come out for the lowest levels and coaches do make an effort to teach their teams how to field and throw. But before long, they come to the conclusion that half the kids can do it and the other half cannot. They also conclude that the only way they are going to win games is to take the kids who can field and throw, put them in the infield, and then teach them where to throw. They encourage these more naturally gifted kids to take over control of the game. If the ball is hit to the outfield and you can get it, go get it. Don't wait to allow the others to try to make a play. Just take charge and make every play you possibly can. While there is nothing wrong with the philosophy of going for everything in general, it can devolve into the old "Bad News Bear" scene in which one kid races back and forth and catches the ball right in front of another kid. That's not good.
A better approach is to require coaches to teach basic skills. That's tougher than it sounds since most coaches: A) do not have the slightest idea of what basic skills are, let alone how to teach them; B) see the rec league as a way of raising their own egos or providing their kid with a winning experience; or C) do not want to be told how to coach or structure a practice since they played college ball and the league officials did not. Leagues must coach their coaches.
If you go watch a very good rec league, one of the elements of play which will strike you is the fundamental skills of the players. This league might just be blessed with better water or soil which yields a better crop of athletes. But if that happens year after year, most likely the water and soil have nothing to do with it. There must be another reason. Most likely they teach all the participants those fundamental skills.
Many towns have certain requirements their coaches must meet. They have to attend the safety training class. They must attend a meeting which tells them that they should emphasize certain things like fun, basic skills, and team work, not winning. But even when these perfunctory meetings and classes are conducted at which all the good intentions are laid out, nothing much changes. We have to find a way to force or coerce coaches into teaching sound fundamentals, putting the emphasis on the right thing, or otherwise improving everyone's experience and learning.
The first issue is to make sure coaches know fundamental skills. For this, perhaps a film session followed by an open discussion would suffice. There are videos out there which teach fundamentals. Most are addressed to players but there is no harm in having coaches watch them. An alternative is to bring in a competent local high school or travel coach. I say competent because there are plenty of incompetents. I know of some high school coaches who parents of players would like to sit down and teach the basics of the game to. If the local high school coach is merely taking additional pay for the least possible amount of effort, perhaps a travel coach would be willing to come in and help out. If he or she pulls many of their players from the local area, this can only benefit their program.
The second issue is finding a way to make sure the coaches teach the skills to their players. It is nearly impossible to draft up a specimen practice regimen, require its use, and then enforce the requirement. Nobody takes kindly to this sort of control from league officials. But some sort of requirement for teaching skills is absolutely necessary at young ages.
There are a couple ways to resolve the issue. One is to require coaches to conduct practices of a certain duration consisting of a certain amount (say half of practice) of fundamental skills teaching and practicing. [; The second half is theirs to do with as they choose. This can be tough to police unless a league rep can attend practices regularly and watch in order to enforce the rule. A secojnd, more effective way to enforce the requirement of spending a certain amount of time working fundamental skills is to take away the practice time and put it into "clinic" time. You have 8 to 16 coaches looking to practice their players. You have say 160 girls looking to practice. Rather than conducting separate practices by team, use half the time to conduct clinics at which the team coaches are instructors under the supervision of a coordinator who directs what is to be done, when and how.
A league which, for example, plays its games on Sunday and Wednesday could establish some sort of Saturday clinic schedule and then allow teams no more than one practice outside the clinis per week. Coaches might work with their players for some of the time but be supervised by league officials or the coordinator while conducting the drills. There are many ways to conduct these clinis but you can figure this out for yourselves.
As a final comment about clinics as opposed to practices, I find that many leagues do this sort of thing but only at the youngest age levels. It would be best if these kinds of skills clinics could be continued at least through 10U. It would be better if they continued up to at least 12U, though in more sophisticated form.
And as a final comment about coaching or policing coaches, some sort of evaluation program should be implemented. It should be formal and standardized. It must involve the players, parents or both. Each participant's family ought to receive an evaluation form concerning how the team was run. The form should contain a questionnaire which grades coaches ability and willingness to teach fundamental skills. The questions must be objective such as:
"Fundamental skills" (circle all comments that apply)
"I (my daughter) was taught fundamental skills more than / less than half of all practice time"
"I (my daughter) had ample / insufficient time to learn these skills"
"The coach was knowledgeable / needs work on his understanding of skills / ability to communicate those skills with the kids."
I think you get the idea. No, I don't have a specimen questionnaire for you to use. You need to draft one up which mirrors your organization's values. But keep in mind that you want a high level of participation in the process. Getting 50% or less of these questionnaires back is not only a good thing, it makes the entire batch completely useless. You cannot evaluate coaches based on a half return rate. You need a minimum of 75%. Also the process must be anonymous. Specific comments, if you allow parents to provide them, cannot be read back to the coach. When the process is over, the overall grade is the only thing which you share with the coach.
For example, a coach might be told, you had an overwhelming response which indicated that you do not like to teach fundamentals or you need to work on your communication skills. A coach might be told that the majority of respondents felt that you put winning too high on your list of priorities. Again, I think you get the idea and can do for yourselves.
So, these are my suggestions to you to improve your rec league. I have no vested interest in this. It really just popped into my head this morning. I suppose I know where it all came from. I was discussing some softball issues with a web friend. He directed me to a forum which discussed all sorts of softball issues in his state. I was struck by how similar the discussion was to similar forums regarding my state. I was also struck by how many of the same issues pop up all over the place.
One of the issues which was raised had to do with "how do we bring our state's softball up to the level of California?" In that discussion, one of the readers wondered why CA players were so good. All sorts of reasons were givewn and most I take issue with. For one thing, there is this assumption that the only good ball is played in CA. Last I looked Florida is making some large inroads. Further, there is very good softball being played in Texas, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Georgia, etc, (sorry if I missed your state).
For another thing, everyone assumes CA has better softball because it has such great weather. yes, they do have great weather but not everywhere in the state. Some places are way too hot to play ball in the summer. Some places actually get snow. Some places are just grand to play softball 365 days per year but, you know, I know of some teams that play in colder, less pleasant climates who play over 100 games per year, play indoors whenever the weather is no good, and otherwise ought to be able to compete with CA teams. Yet there must be other reasons because one particular organization which does this and who I am thinking about is good but hardly the best around.
The fact is CA has been at this fastpitch thing longer than most places. In my state and many others, girls were playing slowpitch or modified for many decades before they gradually moved over to fastpitch. Heck, there are some high schools which still play slowpitch in a few places around the country. Fastpitch hasn't really been around many places for very long. I think that people either don;t know or forget that colleges in the SEC and ACC have not fielded softball teams for very long, mostly less than two decades. Until the game has been around for longer and things have sorted themselves out, just a few places will continue to yield the largest, highest quality crop of softball players and teams. The question cannot be what does CA have that we'll never have which allows them to produce better softball. The question has to be, what can we learn from other places about how to improve our softball. One, important place we can improve is the quality of our rec leagues. If we drastically improve our rec leagues, the entire game in our region will improve. But not only that, also more and more girls will come to appreciate our game. More and more girls will have fun p[laying softball well. That is why I wrote this today.
"Change" is the catchword of today. We do need to make changes in many aspects of our lives. It cannot be change for change's sake. It must be change for the sake of improvement. I've laid out a few areas in which our rec softball leagues can change. Pitching is key. Fundamentals are almost as important. As you, the league officials, plan for the coming rec season, how about thinking about some positive changes?Labels: coaching, fielding, instruction, little league, parenting, pitching, pre-season preparation, Youth recreational softball
Permanent Link: Now Is The Time
|
|
|
