| 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 |
|
|
| SOFTBALL LINKS |
|
|
|
California Dreamin
by Dave
Monday, November 09, 2009
I'm not really sure what I expected when we recently made our way across the country so that my daughter could guest pitch with a Gold team at a showcase in California. For my daughter, I wanted her to dip her toes into the vast ocean of high level softball as well as the relatively icy Pacific. For myself, I wanted to compare the OC Batbusters Early Thanksgiving college showcase tournament with others I have seen. In the end, I suppose we could have been anywhere in the country doing the same thing. She would have experienced about the same level of play. I most likely would have learned the same lessons. Yet, it was somehow better that this was in California, the epicenter of fastpitch softball on planet Earth.
For my daughter, the experience was invaluable. She is a high school freshman and the team for which she played was a couple sophomores, mostly juniors and one or two seniors. She knew one of the girls on the team and had played in years past against a few of the others. But she felt really alone for the most part. That is an experience in itself but she's been on enough teams made up of strangers to overcome any anxiety caused by the situation.
My daughter has pitched against high schoolers here and there for several years, since she was 12. So the idea of pitching against high schoolers was not particularly intimidating per se. But these hitters, these teams were some of the best in the country. There were serious college coaches coming to keep tabs on many of these kids. Some will undoubtedly play for some of the top 50 D-1 teams in the country. Now that should intimidate anyone heading into the circle. But she survived despite making a bad pitch or two. Her very first pitch was met with a determined swing that drove the ball sharply into left center for a clean single. Her second pitch was swatted to the left side of the infield and played smartly into a 6- (or 5-) 4-3 double play by a teammate at 2B whose college scholarship is signed and sealed. The next batter popped out or grounded one back to her. Inhale deeply!
In my daughter's second inning of work, she was much more relaxed. She walked a kid after recording one out and then got the next two without much happening. Her first GOLD outing was over with no runs allowed. She was a much more confident kid. I won't bore you with the details of her entire showcase pitching experience but I do want to share one little piece of it with you before getting to the heart of what I really have to say today. In her second outing, she retired the first 3 batters she faced and then got up 0-2 on the next hitter. She threw a pitch that was fouled off and then tried to get the kid on a drop curve. That was her first mistake pitch! I do not believe they have yet found the ball. The last I saw of it, it was going over the fence about a millisecond after it came out of my daughter's hand and caught the fat part of the plate about 6 inches above where it should have been.
That's what happens at these kinds of tournaments. A pitcher who has never given up a homerun before (my daughter has - that is not a new experience for her), can make one mistake and only watch helplessly as it clears the fence. There are often 9 good hitters arrayed against you at this level. I have heard the various pitching coaches talk about working lineups and throwing certain pitches to the 3, 4, and 5 hitters while going right after the 7 and 8, etc. You cannot do that when you are a rookie playing showcase ball against Gold teams. The guy with the book might just as well say "this is their number 4 hitter" before each and every kid comes to the plate.
I don't think my kid was mentally prepared for the speed of the players at this level. That is a difficult adjustment to make. I did tell her that this would be the case but it is difficult for anyone to expect speed to that degree. You have to experience it for yourself. When a ball was hit back to my kid and it bounced off her shin, she hustled to pick it up and make a throw to first but I think the kid beat it, though the ump exclaimed "out." She did not have the same degree of sense of urgency which the other kids who have previously played this level had. My hope is that she now knows what I meant when I said the kids are faster.
But enough of my daughter's experience. I can't speak for her. What I can tell you is my experiences were many and varied.
First of all, the reason to play showcase ball is not really to compete at the highest level. This is the business side of the equation and the business is college recruiting. There is competition to be sure but there is no tournament winner or loser. There was no bracket play, just pool games. And a team's result and record do not count nearly as much for anything as do the individual players' exposure to college coaches. The results of game play are more about team pride and, I suppose, about who does and does not get to play on premier fields in future events.
As I said earlier, my kid is but a freshman and we weren't very much concerned that she get tremendous college exposure. We understand how the process works. But all we were after was an opportunity to dip her feet into this level of play and see how she likes it. Not everybody who gets involved with Gold or showcase ball gets such an opportunity to test the waters. We were very fortunate to have the chance.
As we were planning to fly out to CA, we decided that we should fake it until we make it - go ahead and contact college coaches to see if any would come to watch her play. I expect that not everyone understands this so I'll go ahead and explain. When one seeks out college exposure, it is not enough to merely play or play well at some recruiting venue. College coaches do not roam these things looking to cold prospect. They don't watch a game, pick out the one or two or three best players in it and then contact them to offer full rides plus meals, dry cleaning and a car, if those players will deign to come to their institutions. Generally the way it works is a kid will 1) register with the NCAA clearing house, join a team that plays important showcases, sign up for NFCA recru8itment camps or some such, pick out a number of schools to target, fill out prospective athlete recruit questionnaires, make some sort of contact with the softball coach, and keep them apprised of any big tournaments they are playing. This is done with an eye towards getting the coaches' attention, making a favorable impression and hopefully being "followed" by that coach for a while afterwards. I've been told that many coaches will follow a kid for a year or two before making up their minds.
I have also been told that coaches will take a look at any unsigned seniors briefly, are really interested in any juniors they have been following, and will pay a good deal of attention to sophomores from whom they may find the new talent to follow over the next year. They are not particularly interested in freshman unless those freshman happen to be six feet two 70 mph throwers with great movement and impeccable command. They would also be interested in freshman who hit numerous homeruns or demonstrate gold glove level defensive skills. But I have overheard a college coach complain about some 8th or 9th grader being too good for her program because everyone else at bigger programs is likely to grab her too.
So we sent out e-mails to about 4 coaches expecting about a normal response rate - 0%. Typically, you need to send out dozens of contacts to get a few responses. And we went to our first game looking to see where coaches were from and never expecting to see anyone we had contacted. We were shocked speechless when at our first true game, there was one of the coaches we had contacted and he was asking about our daughter by name.
There are a couple lessons in this experience. You need to contact coaches if you are heading down this path. If you didn't know that before, now you do. You should target schools in which you are really interested - those that offer the sort of academic programs you want. And you should not be completely amazed when they show up to watch you / your kid play. If you are paying thousands of dollars for your kid to play showcases, you should not place all your chips on the remote possibility that some coach from UCLA or Arizona will just happen to walk up to the field as your kid rounds the bases after going yard.
One other thing almost slipped my mind. Our team played a couple "practice games" on the day before the tournament officially opened. Most big showcases afford the opportunity for teams to sign up to request such practice games for a charge which is about what umpires fees would be. If you are in a position to consider going to such a tournament a day early and playing "practice games," do it. Maybe not all the college coaches have arrived by the time you take the field but I can guarantee you some have. We saw as many coaches at our "practice games" as we did the regularly scheduled, official ones. Basically, so-called practice games are actually additional showcase games. If you're gonna throw a couple hundred bucks down for flights plus a hotel room, you would be well advised to go for an extra day just to get a little more exposure.
The most important lessons I took home from the left coast are more general in nature. I have watched elite, Gold level CA teams on numerous occassions before. But I have never seen so many all in one place at one time as I did at the Batbusters showcase. In years past I have had the opportunity to watch the Batbusters, San Diego Renegades, and several other top flight CA teams play showcases. This time I saw countless teams I had never heard of before. That was worth the price of admission (and flights, food, housing, etc.).
The teams we played and those I watched were not the absolute best ones in all of softball in general or CA in particular. They were merely good teams, with tons of experience, and with many bona fide college prospects filling a good portion of their ranks. The level of individuals' play was not anything new to me. I have watched the Shamrocks, great Texas teams, Gold Coast Hurricanes, and many top 10, 20, or 64 ASA Gold teams play in person before. The teams we saw at Batbusters were more of the run-of-the-mill CA showcase teams (if that's not too much of a contradiction in terms for you). They had good players and somewhat weaker ones. They made good plays and bad ones. They all shared certain characteristics which any team at this level shares. It was very interesting and worth going over in some detail.
The pitching was of particular interest to me going in. I was not overly impressed with it. CA pitchers are not mechanically superior to pitchers I have seen from Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, or anywhere else. They do not throw harder. Their pitches do not have more movement on them. But what was evident was pitchers with apparently more experience, better command, and the ability to grind through when they did not seem to have their best stuff. I saw one kid who threw no more than 50. I saw a few harder throwing types but nothing I have not seen elsewhere. I did not see many very good rise ballers. Most pitchers threw a lot of drops and curves. As I said, they had good command of almost eveyrthing they threw, aside from the rises which frequently struck the backstop. Most of all, and I want to give this as much emphasis as possible, almost every CA pitcher I saw had an above average change-up she was not afraid to throw and was able to throw for strikes.
I know I have tried to impress you with this before but I'll say it again at this juncture because I do not believe enough have heard me. The best pitch in softball is the change. I do not believe enough pitchers give it enough of a working in their throwing sessions. The most effective windmill pitchers have good, effective change-ups. If you do not spend as much time working on this pitch as you do on trying to break the 60 mph barrier, you're making a critical mistake. And, finally, if you want to be a successful pitcher, the correct pathway is via command.
You have to throw hard. You have to have good movement. You have to have a good change. And you have to be able to hit spots - spots, not approximate areas.
I have been told that CA pitchers are good because they face CA hitters all the time. I am sure that the pitchers from CA face good hitters a lot. As I said, these pitchers seemed to be more experienced than their age would predict. But I remain unconvinced that they benefit from facing all those great CA hitters because, quite honestly, I did not see many of those.
The hitting was fine but it was not anything which stood out to me. We saw perhaps the same percentage of well hit balls as we have seen in many other venues. There was not a single team which had a monstrous lineup of powerful hitters. A few teams had a couple very good hitters. But the average hitter was an average gold hitter, good but nothing to write home about.
What I did notice was, of the non-slappers, most of the kids hit rotationally. What I mean by "rotationally" is via the Ted Williams style. I d0o not merely mean girls who use their hips by "rotating" them. Almost every decent hitter does that. Ted Williams allowed his hips to fly open early in his swing. So-called "rotational hitters" open their hips before their hands come forwards. They also tend to drop the head of the bat as well as making a couple of other characteristic movements which can be fairly easily traced to Williams. The CA hitters I saw at Batbusters almost all used this technique.
I have to admit a bit of surprise at seeing so many rotationally trained hitters. When, in the past, I have watched top level CA teams play, I certainly have seen some rotational hitters but not a high percentage. There are certain weaknesses to the swing and top level hitters employ parts of it but are not easily characterized as "rotational." At Batbusters, I saw only two kinds of swings, rotational and slapping.
One major difference between the typical rotational hitter I saw in CA was all these girls crowded the plate tightly. I suppose the biggest weakness a rotational hitter has that can be exploiited is down and moving away - like a drop curve or outside drop. The CA hitters cover this weakness by going toes to the line and beyond. This allows them to see an outside, dropping pitch like one over the heart of the plate or even inside. One thing you do not want to do is pitch a rotational hitter inside and low or over the middle of the plate and down. Ofxcourse, this leaves them vulnerable to an inside and up screw but I did not see many, if any, girls who could do this. I have heard Gold coaches speak at length about going high and tight. Now I understand why. If you are going to be effective against these hitters, you must go up and in.
I think I also understand why pitching coaches continue to emphasize the riseball despite the movement down of the strike zone to the solar plexus from its historical upper location at the armpits. It is very difficult to develop a good riseball. Many lay claim to it but few can actually execute on the claim. Among the few who have a legitmate rise, even fewer can throw the thing for a strike under the old strike zone, let alone the new one. But umps at large do not seem to have altered their perceptions to conform with the rule change. Pitches above the plexus and at or slightly above the armpits continue to be called for strikes. If rotational hitters are taking away the down and out, coming up is the next best way to get them out. It is nearly impossible to hit even an average rise ball above the belly button with the bat head held beneath the hands as rotational hitters generally try to do. Rise balls can be dangerous as a bad one travels a great distance. But pitching coaches still consider the pitch to be the Cadillac because it gets rotational hitters out.
Now as a final commentary on CA hitters, oh the slappers, oh the slappers! I saw more well-schooled slappers in CA than I have ever seen in a single place before. In order to discuss this, I mus first define what I mean by a good slapper.
I have seen a high number of kids who hit with a style I would call "tapping" or "tap hitting." &nbsop; This is a technique where a kid who is fast but struggling at the plate, moves to the left side and tries to just tap the ball into play. I see this a lot in high school ball and at the younger ages of travel where the kids are just learning to slap hit. A girl takes up position deep in the box, runs forward as the pitch is delivered and sticks the bat out to make contact as she exits the batter's box. To me, this is not slap hitting. That is why I call it "tap hitting."
Good slappers strike the ball after just a few steps which are taken to build momentum in their run to first. The best ones are quite capable of hitting the ball beyond the infielders. The very best are able to hit the ball to the wall or over it. When good slappers come to the plate, the infield is usually shifted around with one or both middle infielders coming forwards to about the same distance from the plate as the pitcher. There are a variety of other changed fielder alignments so I won;t go into detail. But suffice it to say that if the outfield is pulled in too far, good slappers can take advantage of that but putting the ball over their heads.
The vast majority of CA slappers I saw were very good. In fact, most runs scored as a result of the efforts of the teams' slappers. There were only a handful of well hit balls, hit by non-slap hitters in several games. There were easily double that number in slap-hits of all varieties. What was worse was each team had more than two girls who could slap hit effectively. Some teams had as many as four kids in the lineup who were well-schooled slappers. That's a nightmare for most teams to defense against.
One result of so many teams having so many slappers was that the CA teams seemed much more capable of defending against the slap. Infielders, particularly middle ones, were Kobata quick. They fielded slaps on the ground or bounced and made quick throws to the bases. I'm a huge fan of defensive softball. These infielders played it flawlessly on the slap. My guess is that there are so many slappers in CA that players and teams simply must learn to defense against it. The result is the kind of defensive infield play I saw. And that is the major difference between teams from CA and those from outside the state.
To wrap up, going to CA was a great experience for my kid and for my entire family of softball crazies. We saw some pretty good play and learned a bit about the college recruitment process. We saw some average players including pitchers. We did not see the "great hitters" we expected but the slappers were well above what you see elsewhere. Pitchers had command but were otherwise indistinguishable from their counterparts around the country. Oufielding skills were also about what you see anywhere at this level. The catchers were no more impressive than those from other places. But the rest of the infield was very good. My guess is that when you see slappers all the time, you either learn to deal with them or take up soccer.
As an additional comment, going into CA, we were told that the umpires there favored teams from the state over those from outside it. I saw some pretty bad umpiring. My kid did not experience any sort of negative calls made against her. Actually, to be quite honest, I think she benefitted from most of the bad calls when she was pitching. Some pitches that were clearly out of the zone were called strikes. But I watched a lot of games and I have to say that the theory I heard going in held true. There were bad calls made for and against all teams but the worst ones I witnessed and those which made a difference in the outcome of games were those made against out of state teams. I never saw any game changing calls made against CA teams.
What's worse is there are certain bad calls you have to live with. There is no point to arguing balls and strikes, ever. The ump is not going to change the call and he or she is not going to change the zone. But it is hard to watch one pitch to an area be called a ball and another to the identical place called a strike. There was no strike zone to speak of with most of the CA umps.
Further, while certain plays require a call whether the ump sees it or not, certain others require a call only when the ump sees something affirmatively. For example, if a plate ump blinks on a pitch and does not see it, he still must make a call. He will call ball or strike based on what his gut tells him. Similarly, if there is a play at first, the field ump will call safe or out regardless of whether he is actually convinced one way or the other. He has to make a call. But umps should never make a call on other types of plays unless they see something absolutely. For example, if a runner tags up on a flyball and the ump is not sure he saw her leave the base early, he should not call her out on appeal. That is a seeing sort of call, not a required call where the gut will do. Similarly, an ump should not call a baserunner out for leaving too early unless he actually sees this occur. Also, an ump should not call a base runner out because the base coach touched her unless he actually sees the contact. He cannot think that very possibly these things happened so "I'll go ahead and make the call." He has to actually see the thing happen. In CA, we saw umps make many phantom calls. I say "phantom" because the acts called did not happen. That is rather unforgiveable.
Well that's it. I advocate showcase ball but planes, trains, automobiles, and hotel rooms are expensive. I suppose there are a few other ways to skin the cat of college recruiting but showcases are the best way to make contact and gain a following. CA showcases draw a high number of college coaches as do the NFCA recruitment camps, the Rising Stars stuff in Florida, the tourneys in Colorado, Texas etc. On the other hand, I suppose one's softball experience cannot be complete without hitting CA at this level at least once.Labels: coaching, college, parenting, showcase, Tournaments
Permanent Link: California Dreamin
 
Hopes, Dreams, Goals and Such
by Dave
Monday, August 31, 2009
It is really important to have dreams. It is just as important to have goals. But what trumps both is differentiating between the two because doing so changes our actions and determines outcomes.
Dreams are wishes or desires which often exceed our realistic expectations. We hope they come true and we move in some ways to make them happen. But we don't necessarily expect them to come true. They are the upper limits of what we think we can attain.
Goals are things we believe we can achieve. We want them to come true and we act to make them reality. We expect to accomplish them. They are possible given our perceived abilities and ability to improve, and we expect that once they come to fruition, there will be new ones to replace them.
Differentiating between dreams and goals is important because, in the case of dreams, we do not take every possible step to achieve them immediately. I know a few folks whose dream it is to win the Mega-Millions lottery. But they do not mortgage the house or rob their savings in order to buy tickets. Whenever they happen to be near a lottery machine and have a spare dollar in their pocket, they buy a ticket. For a few hours, their dreams are filled with luxury automobiles, perhaps a new oversized house, or fantastic vacations. Then they go online and, if they are really lucky, they learn that they won two bucks to buy another two tickets for the next drawing. They dream about winning millions but they do not act constantly and consistently to turn dreams into reality.
In the case of goals, one does take many actions with the accomplishment in mind. A student sets a goal of achieving a B or B+ in some subject, as opposed to a C+ like they received last time, and they try a little harder every day to improve their understanding of the subject. Instead of devoting 10 minutes to the course's homework, they put in a half hour. Maybe more time is spent checking answers on tests. You know how that game goes.
With respect to fastpitch softball, the same principles hold true. Kids, parents, and coaches all have dreams and goals for themselves, their kids, and/or their teams. They may muse about making it to the final game of the world championship, dream about hitting the big homerun, or picture their child being recruited to play for the WCWS winning team. When we're talking about some Gatorade player of the year, some team which has already competed at the highest levels, or a kid, team or organization which has a realistic shot at achieving a truly noteworthy accomplishment, well, then we are talking about goals. But when we are watching our 11 year old daughter win the town rec championship, we need to temper or expectations and differentiate between dreams and goals.
This is all very rudimentary but I can tell you that often times kids, their parents and team coaches have unrealistic dreams and they act as if those are actually their goals. I would never suppose to take anyone's dreams away from them. I wouldn't even want to temper those, not even slightly.
When my daughter was four, she told me she wanted to be an astronaut. She had this little stuffed lion pocketbook which she cherished and carried around with her most of the time. So when she told me about her dream of flying off into space, I told her I was 99% sure that NASA would allow someone to bring their lion pocketbook with them into space provided that they had owned it a long time and kept it clean. She was very happy to learn this important detail and decided to wipe down her pocketbook.
When, years later, she told me she wanted to play basketball in college, well that was a different story. I thought about it for a minute and all that came to mind was, you are not going to be any taller than 5-6, you're not very quick, you can't dribble, and you only made two shots all of last rec season. So I said, "that's nice, and then we can come watch you play at a big stadium." She also liked the image that conjured up.
Early on in her softball career, my daughter began to play travel ball. She told me she wanted to be a softball player when she went to college. She was 11 at the time and playing on a 12U team of girls who were almost all 13 as of the beginning of the season. It was winter and the outlook for any playing time beyond a few innings on Saturday was not real good. There were four other pitchers on this team. The other girls had played more softball and were more in tune with the pace of the game than my kid was. As winter wore on, we worked very hard on her pitching. I had taken the focus off playing college ball (the dream) and placed it on pitching well enough to earn some innings (a realistic goal). She worked very hard and by the time we got to playing outside, she was pretty clearly the second best pitcher on the team. She had earned playing time through hard work and devotion to accomplishing a goal. She had not merely dreamed.
I tell you this story because very often at tryouts, I see kids who are decent pitchers or players but who could use more time in the laboratory. They make travel teams but do not practice real hard because they are not focused on goals. Their parents field the call from the team coach inviting them to join the team. After they get past the ancillary issues of cost, type of schedule, frequency of practices, etc., they get around to what matters most, "how much pitching time is Jillian going to get," "do you see her playing the infield or outfield," or "exactly where do you see her fitting into the roster right now?"
On numerous occassions, I have had kids play for me or seen kids on a team my kid plays for, who make a team, inquire about their status, and then never again work towards a goal because their dreams of playing for a winning team or of being the star pitcher, catcher or shortstop preclude them from making the realistic conclusion and sacrifice that they need to work and improve their game. On one occassion, I had a pitcher who I envisioned would develop over the winter, come out in spring and be primarily a Saturday pitcher who might also see some action for a couple innings in the field and then hopefully earn more Sunday time as she got her feet under her. Her parents were very proactive about my plans for their daughter, as you would expect. I explained about the need to work and earn playing and pitching time. Then when we got indoors for some live-pitched batting practice, it was immediately evident that she had not so much as picked up a ball since we ended our fall season a few months before. She couldn't pitch more than five minutes of batting practice without getting winded. She couldn't get a single pitch by our weakest hitters and we had a weak hitting team. They tee'd off on her and she got too tired to continue after the second batter.
At the time, I wrote this off and decided to put her in to pitch practice throughout the entire off-season to see what happened. One time she didn't have her mitt with her and could not pitch. Several times she couldn't make practice because she had rec basketball practice or games - her parents told me it was school ball because I had made an allowance for girls playing school sports to miss practice. I subsequently learned she was missing for rec basketball. I still wrote off the experience and hoped the kid would turn it around in the spring.
To be quite honest, that kid did not throw any better in April than she had in late December. When we played our first friendly, I could not, in good conscience, stick her into the circle. And they left my team precipitously. They blamed me, no doubt. I had broken a promise to pitch the kid. I had indeed but it was forced on me by her lack of work. She had unearned the right to pitch.
Another kid I had on my team was a pretty good hitter. She was moving up a class and an age group when she joined the team but she was a kid who I thought would find a decent amount of success. She was taking hitting instruction once a week and her swing was getting into a groove. We did some batting practices and everything looked pretty good. She was hitting the ball sharply. At some point, I noticed that there was the beginnings of a mechanical breakdown and she stopped hitting the ball. I didn't think much about it. Kids, even those in lessons, get into slumps where their coach is trying to correct something and they struggle for a while. Then her parent told me she was going to go "back to those lessons" as soon as the season started.
I couldn't understand what the parent was thinking when they halted this kid's hitting lessons. I knew money was not the issue. If it had been, it would have been a better idea to go once every two weeks or once every month. But this parent just plain stopped the lessons because we weren't in-season with the plan of jumping right back in whenever the weather turned warm. I'm not sure they ever started back to lessons. I do know the kid's swing never again looked right that year. She did not have the measure of success I expected from her when I put her on the team.
These are but two experiences I have had in which players acted as if making a team was the end goal of their lives. I can't count the number of apparently similar situations I have witnessed over the years. Some kid is the star shortstop for a team and she puts her glove away in late fall only to pick it up once a week during indoor training but never attends any clinic or gets out to field some grounders when the weather is agreeable. Another kid barely makes the cut, throws in the yard whenever the temperature rises above 33, goes to every clinic on the planet, makes her mom or dad get her out on the field to get grounders under threat of temper tantrum whenever they sit down for a millisecond. The team gets out for some tournament and the star can't make a play while the scrub acts like a human vacuum cleaner. Who do you think deserves to be SS? Who do you think the other 10 kids want at short?
Coaches are all too familiar with these kinds of happenings. We try out some kid in the fall and she forces us to buy new balls because the ones we were using are now coverless. Then we play real games and kid goes 0-fer-forever. We beg some tremendous athlete to join our team and she becomes the biggest liability on the field. I've heard pitching coaches who teach a large volume of kids talk about the freshman wunderkind who never got any better and was relegated to the bench in her sophomore year when the new promising freshman who played for some out-of-state travel team arrives.
A fellow I know had his daughter on some decent travel team. She was the youngest kid on that team, you might argue she was the twelfth addition to the roster. As tournament season proceeded, he began to notice that she played little on Sundays and not more than a game and a half on Saturdays. He began to get upset because he felt that much of her lack of improvement had to do with a lack of game playing time. Then, when another parent got very upset over her daughters perceived lack of playing time and voiced her disatisfaction directly to the coach, this fellow wondered if maybe he should do the same thing. He decided to think on it for 24 hours before saying anything.
This fellow, while thinking on the situation, placed a call to a relative who had several daughters that had played high level travel ball and then gone on to play in college. He explained the situation and asked for advice. The relative told him this was normal, a good experience for the kid, and not a circumstance which would be resolved by cajoling the coach into playing the kid more. He decided that the relative was right and while his kid's playing time did not improve during the remainder of the season, he learned a great deal and so did the kid.
The other parent, the one who had voiced her disatisfaction, got out of control. Her perceptions were off to begin with. At one tournament, her kid played about 3 innings in each of the team's three Sunday games. She complained to the coach that she was upset because her kid didn't play an inning, "not a single inning!" The coach informed her that she was way off the mark and he had the book to prove it. She threatened to remove her kid from the team. The kid's playing time ticked up a notch but when her mistakes started costing the team games, the situation went backwards and the kid did leave the team.
The parents of the kid most likely blame the coach but I can tell you that most travel coaches in the area know the full story. The kid is more or less marked. There are many teams and coaches who would be willing to give the kid a shot on their teams. But as soon as something similar happens, it is expected and the kid pays the price. That is, when the kid is not in a game for a couple innings and the parents complain about it, as they always do, coaches get their backs up and then start regularly removing the kid anytime she makes a mistake. The kid didn't learn anything. The parents didn't learn anything. The local softball community is wise to the games they play. The result benefits nobody.
As I said earlier, goals have a couple important facets. They need to be realistically attainable. Let's say you play a game and don't get a hit. Maybe your first goal in the next game should be getting a hit. If you've yet to make contact, grounding one back to the pitcher is a goal. I was watching a scrimmage recently involving one organization's kids. They put together two teams and the purpose of the scrimmage (as well as practicers and subsequent scrimmages) was to divide kids by ability and determine who would make which team. A kid from the prior year's B team was batting against the number two pitcher from last year's A team. The father of the B player yelled, "hit one out." The kid struck out! Now, I've never seen this kid hit one anywhere near any fence, let alone get an extra-base-hit off a very good pitcher. She should have been looking to make contact, perhaps get a single. But she began to tense up and swung way too hard because she needed to attain her father's apparent goal of going yard. She acted on the dream instead of accomplishing an attainable goal.
I remember one time my kid was called upon to bunt. She fouled the first one off. I cursed under my breath and yelled, "come on, get it down." She fouled the second one off. She took a pitch for a ball and then laced a lucky single. Another parent told me to chill out because "she got a hit and she's way too good of a hitter to be bunting in that situation." I cursed and told him that "my kid always gets her bunts down" and whether she is too good of a hitter to bunt there or not, that's what the coach asked her to do and as far as I'm concerned, she failed. I also told him, "as far as I'm concerned, if you can't get bunts down, you're not a softball player."
There are very few kids who can hit homeruns. There are very few kids who can be counted on to get hits in key situations. But every kid can get a bunt down. Just about every kid can hit a grounder up the middle when there is a runner on third and less than two outs. There are attainable goals in the shortrun which need to trump the dreams of achieving travel softball immortality. Players would be well advised to focus on something attainable and then set their sights a bit higher after the attainable has been achieved before shooting for the moon.
Tied directly into the issue of goals vs. dreams, of setting attainable goals rather than living and acting as if the loftiest dreams are the goals you should shoot for, is the concept of environmental factors. It is never a great idea in competitive situations to spend too much time and effort contemplating what others are doing. But on the other hand, one should not be oblivious to the competition. Players, parents, and coaches should take a look around themselves and see what others are doing.
I have had occassion to see teams play games in which one wipes out the other. The coaches of the victim team watch the other and comment about how well coached and trained they are. On a few of these occassions, I have tried to learn what sort of preparation the winning side does. Often I hear things like three, even four weekly practices year-round, or a large amount of fundraising which is then used to hire one or several professional coaches to come in a train the girls. I hear that this team has been trained together for three or more years under a particularly gifted coach. Perhaps this or that team is fully funded by some rich parent; they get over a hundred girls trying out because it is free; and all the best athletes from three states join this team because not only are they fully funded but they have the best training facilities available anywhere. You can't compete with that but what you can do is make the most out of what you can realistically do and what you have.
In these kids of circumstances, I never get the feeling that the coaches for the losing side appreciate the sort of preparation their opponent has done. They think if only they did X, got more committed athletes, or perhaps hired any old professional instructor for four weeks of lessons, the result would look like their opponent.
This breeds frustration more often than any measure of success. Coaches get wrapped up in this dream of coaching a team "like that one" and fail to recognize that the measure of their success is degree of improvement not beating the Olympic team. Their goals should be to improve their teams, not to have 9 batters come to the plate with swings that hold the potential of hitting one out every at-bat, or of having defenses that turn two every time there is a grounder and a runner on first. Coaches need to realistically assess the level of ability they have before them and work on devising practices which will improve their team and remove its deficiencies.
Similarly, players need to be aware of what others they play with and against are doing. I can't count the number of times I have heard a kid or their parent exclaim that so and so just "isn't much of a runner. She'll never be fast." I don't know if you all have been watching or not but fastpitch softball happens to be a sport! Running happens to be one of the primary skills. If you can hit a ball 300 feet 50% of the time, maybe you can get away with not running 50% of the time. Otherwise, you're out of luck. If you find yourself on a team which believes it can cover your lack of speed by positioning super-fast girls around you, great, but otherwise you sort of, kind of have to work on your foot speed.
It does not take very much for a kid who cannot run to get out in the yard or at some field and run 10-20 sprints a couple times a week. If you've got a few sheckles, it isn't all that expensive to enroll in an agility clinic once or twice a week. It does not so much matter that you'll never get to first in 2.7. If your current time is 4.0, I guarantee you that you can get that down to 3.5 with just a little effort and not too much time away from text messaging, IMing, or gaming. Think of it this way, when your friends say "what have you been doing," you'll actually have something to say other than "nothin." If you keep it up beyond a couple months, I'd be willing to bet you'll get down to 3.4, then 3.3, maybe even 3.2. Then all that embarrassed talk of "I can't (my kid can't) run" will disappear.
Pitchers in particular need to assess what the competition is doing. If all the other girls are throwing 4 times per week, 10 months of the year, you may be a big shot at 12U but the other girls are going to gain ground on you before high school if you make a habit of really working hard two days a week, only during real season, and only if it doesn't rain on your designated throwing day. I remember having a rough go of it in Little League all-stars. For whatever reason, the manager had designated some kid to be one of just two pitchers. I talked to her about practicing. She cheerfully came to me before one of her starts and told me she practiced every day that week. Well, she said, "not Thursday and Friday because it was raining but every other day." I asked her how much she had thrown and she boastfully told me "about twenty pitches." As you would expect, she got whalloped. She no longer pitches.
But that's an extreme situation and that's low level ball. I have seen similar situations at higher levels. One kid I can think of throws 5-6 days per week for hour and a half sessions. She perfects her pitches and can kill a nat on her catcher's shin guards with a curveball. Another kid has good stuff but throws only when she feels like it (like after she gets beat or when some other kid on her team throws better than she does). Eventually the kid who really works is going to consistently do better than the one who acts only when the spirit moves her. I have seen high school pitchers who are complete maniacs about practicing even though nobody, and I do mean nobody, ever hits them. I know of one girl who is in actual lessons four days per week. She is a throwing machine!
Not everybody can throw as long or as often as the two girls I'm referencing but everyone can plan and execute a program to improve their pitching. It takes a lot to be that good. You're not going to compete with these two girls unless you can realistically say that you've worked nearly as hard no matter how much talent you actually have.
In the middle of the pack, I cannot tell you how many times I have seen young promising pitchers who for one reason or another become satisfied and stop trying to get better. The typical scenario involves a girl who was lights out at 10U, 12U or maybe as late as 14U. She forgets what it took to get to that point and becomes enamored with her "talent." She doesn't work. She doesn't perfect her pitches and learn new ones. Then the hitters start catching up to her. She reacts with a spurt of hard work and then fizzles again. Then her competition begins to pass her and its too late.
We often see youngish pitchers who were once very good but who do not develop real command. Sometimes even their rudimentary control leaves them for extended periods. To be clear, I speak about control when I am referecing issues of throwing strikes and walking batters. I reference command when I mean actually hitting spots to get batters out. Pitchers without control sometimes hit spots. Pitchers with command sometimes walk batters, sometimes lots of them. But pitchers generally first get control and then look to develop command. Pitchers without command get pummeled at higher levels. Pitchers without control walk even number 9 batters on poor hitting teams.
I have watched pitchers who lose their command or fail to develop it. When the existing stock of batters gets better, they often get hit hard and then lose their confidence rapidly. They either go back to B ball and last a few more years or they give up pitching.
When younger pitcher lose control, they usually blame it on the umps or claim they have injuries which are never discovered by medical people. They walk too many batters and before long they find themselves not inside the circle. They seem to be better than that other kid but the coach just won't pitch them. They get invited to join teams but not as pitchers. Eventually the dream diminishes and they learn to play other positions or quit the game altogether.
All these little stories of failure obviously share a common theme. They are about kids who do not practice their craft. I believe much of this is caused by a focus on unachievable dreams rather than attainable goals. I would never try to shoot down your dreams. I would never even suggest that you cannot achieve them. But you've got to get there by working on goals and then stepping up those goals when you achieve your first ones. Before you hit the game winning homerun in the D-1 WCWS, you must hit the ball to begin with. Try that first. Then perfect your swing at the tee in your garage. Then be the star rec player. Then test travel and learn to be a good hitter there. By the way, don't frown when you get the bunt sign, instead lay one down.
You may not ever get to the D-1 WCWS. You may have to settle for the D-2 or 3, maybe even the junior college version. You may have to settle for just making some college team. Perhaps that college scholarship your dreaming of will only cover 10% of your school costs. Maybe you'll just barely make a D-3 school team but get academic money that covers the whole thing while attending a great academic institution which propels you to a wonderful career.
Maybe your dreams only extend out as far as pitching for the high school team in the conference tournament. Maybe they only go so far as 14u or 16U B tournament ball. You still need to focus on attainable goals and then make them happen. Before you do that, you need to determine which of those thoughts in your head are dreams and which really ought to be goals. You need to differentiate and then get to work.
I hope this discussion is helpful to players, parents and coaches. I could say lots more on goals. But I'll leave it at this because this thing has gotten way longer than I thought it would. And besides, I'll need something for another day.Labels: coaching, parenting, work ethic
Permanent Link: Hopes, Dreams, Goals and Such
Ownership
by Dave
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Ownership is an important concept in all human endeavors. With ownership comes all sorts of duties and responsibilities, and of course benefits. If I wanted to enter a political fight or business discussion, I could get into issues of ownership of the means of production - I have plenty to say about that - but this is not the right forum for such discussions. There are many cross-over concepts I'll have to explore to discuss the topic. But this is a a softball blog and today I am interested in exploring ownership as it impacts club travel fastpitch softball. So lets throw away the politics and business, and look at fastpitch in a test tube to answer some questions. Who owns a team - is it the players, parents, coaches, or the fastpitch organization under whose name the team plays? Why is this important and what are the ramifications of ownership?
Many fastpitch organizations proceed under the assumption that any of its teams is playing as a representative of the organization. Win or compete very well and the organization's stature rises. Comport yourselves badly, in terms of team results or coach/parent/player conduct and this reflects badly on the organization. This is certainly a valid approach to running an organization. No organization wants its players/partents/coaches behaving badly. And if teams within an organization can't compete reasonably well, eventually the organization will fail to draw suifficient talent to tryouts in order to put together teams.
We've heard all sorts of stories this year and in years past of conduct which reflects badly on entire organizations. One team at a tournament was disqualified because its players were caught consuming alcoholic beverages in a parking lot between games. That's beyond ridiculous to me but demonstrative of something which can happen that reflects badly on an entire organization. Still, it is probably not a very common occurence and at the far extreme of the conduct spectrum.
A far less extreme example involves coaches berating players in a manner which should not be tolerated. During an elimination round of a large, important tournament, a team coach delved into dark side behavior which reflects poorly on his organization. The game was in the last inning. His team was facing elimination with two outs and the batter down to her last strike. She watched strike three go by without flinching. The coach flipped out and began a tirade. He bellowed, "what were you thinking? What were you thinking? I want to know what you were thinking up there. How could you let that pitch go by? You just let your whole team down."
The girl headed for the dugout to drop off her bat and helmet while the rest of the girls came out for the obligatory congratulationory fist bump to their opponent. The coach came in behind her, still bellowing. The girl cowered. He continued, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ABOUT? I WANT TO KNOW. : I WANT AN ANSWER. TELL ME WHAT YOU WERE THINKING. TELL ME! I WANT AN ANSWER! TELL ME WHAT YOU WERE THINKING."
Do I have to explain this any further? I suppose I could tell you that the team did not have many baserunners that game. Strikeouts were in double digits. One batter in a single at-bat can never lose a game for a team. This particular batter had not done any better or worse than any of the other 8 or so girls on the team.
One person who witnessed the coach's conduct noted that he had no idea whether the guy was the girl's father but if he wasn't and this fellow had been her father, he said he would have punched the guy in the nose right then and there. He also said, if the guy was the kid's father, he wouldn't blame the kid for quitting sofdtb all altogether right there and then. He also noted that in the not too distant future, this kid will undoubtedly quit the sport regardless of who her parents are.
In another instance, involving a different team and organization, we witnessed a particular coach use a vulgar expression, spoken so that all in attendance could hear, in reference to an umpire with whom he was having a heated discussion over a call. He was completely out of control, if but for the moment. He allowed his competitive nature to overshadow his dignity during a meaningless softball game. I've got more to say about this individual a little further on in the discussion but suffice it to say that no organization should tolerate coaches using foul language out on the field regardless of how bad an umpire's call might be.
In yet another example of poor coach conduct, recently at a 10U B tournament, one coach was accused of using an illegal aged player. I get this about fourth hand so I cannot be sure of the facts in this case but this is a morality tale so I'll risk inaccuracy for the sake of making a point. It is my understanding that the player in question was used with the full knowledge of the coach that she was ineligible for 10U. When someone pointed out to others that the girl was too old, an opposing coach questioned her eligibility whereupon the coach agreed to remove her from the game and all succeeding games. Rather than permit this, the host of the tournament summarilly tossed the team right out of the tournament. Discussions ensued on a public forum wherein members of the accused organization thought there was nothing wrong with the coach's conduct and other bashed the organization for cheating. They suggested the coach be removed permanently from the organization. Many parents from within the organization came to the guy's defense. We spoke directly to one such parent who fluffed off the charges and noted that the coach merely wanted to win.
Merely wanted to win? Win by using an over-aged player? In 10U? At a B tournament? You have just got to be kidding me! Anybody who wants to win that badly at 10U of any level has ... never mind. I don't need to get insulting here. 99% of everyone involved with youth sports understands what I am getting at. The other 1% is ... well ... never mind.
I am appalled by the coach's conduct in this case. It calls into question whether he is supervised at all by the organization. I would never even consider my kid playing for them because I would be concerned that the same thing might be repeated on her team. I'm not sure what the organization's parents are thinking when they defend the guy. Actually, I wonder about the parent of the over-aged kid. I can't see myself ever considering having my kid play down in any circumstance. One of my kids once had her age questioned, informally, after a Little League tournament game, because she hit the ball too hard. But she wasn't even close to the cutoff and she never played ball at that levekl again after that. I wouldn't consider my kid playing down in terms of competition level, let alone age eligibility. I can;t say I understand anyone who feels differently, least of all a coach who sanctions it.
So that's a little about the conduct of people within an organization with an emphasis on coaches. When you are out and about, you are a representative of the organization under whose umbrella you play. But this does not nearly address the issue of ownership.
Many coaches feel as if their team is their team, that they own the team they coach. That has both positive and negative ramifications. A coach should approach his/her team's preparation as if the final work is representative of his or her efforts. A coach is responsible for structuring a season's practices so as to put the best team possible on the field. Winning, paerticularly at higher level tournaments, is in fact representative of a team's preparation. But this has its limits and therein lies the problem. There are a number of coaches who see team results, however achieved, as the measure of their personal success. Obviously, the coach who used the over-aged kid might fall into this category. The foul-mouthed coach I mentioned above offers up an even better example.
This guy has a tendency to compile a rather unwieldy roster. He starts out with the typical number, let's say 12, in the fall. He brings the girls together and they play some tournaments, scrimmages, and games. But if the team falters, he starts to bring in guests to fill perceived holes. He might bring in a new catc her if he thinks the team's opponents are running too much. he often brings in one or more guest pitchers if his existing staff is not quite doing the job. He has had as many as 15 kids on his roster during the middle of a season as kids come to guest, get the job done for him, and are asked to stay with the team. Of course, this results in kids who were playing a lot in the fall being relegated to the bench by May or June. Often players leave the team mid-season and who can blame them when they see little or no action and have zero chance of earning additional playing time as the parade of "guests" continues to expand. It is an extremely unfair situation and this guy's habits will eventually catch up to him because word is rapidly spreading.
Coaches can take ownership of their teams but that ownership must be reflected in preparation of the team as it exists when it is formed. If a team is shgort on players or talent, the coach must either fill empty slots early or do more to prepare the team as it is comprised. Bringin in any player in mid or late season is going to cause at least one person's discontent. Bringing in many players in order to win is going to alienate most of the people who did the heavy lifting and fund-raising rthrough most of the year. A continual habit of bringing in guests can only backfire over the longer term. No coach owns a team.
Parents are often somewhat proprietary regarding a youth travel team. This manifests itself in several different ways. The archetypical Bad News Bears commentary of "that kid has no business being on the field" is perhaps the most common example. The question is, who stands in judgment of the relative talents of any kid on a tournament team. Parents of better players find it easy to criticize players other than their own kids. They loook out at the opposition and note that the other team has good outfielders or a better second baseman than we do. We have to improve our roster, get somebody in here who is more athletic, can hit, can make those plays. This is very dangerous ground.
It is relatively easy to stand in judgment of other kids when your daughter is one of the top five kids on a team. Yet very frequently, the most effective thing a coach might do to supplement his roster is to bring in a better shortstop, pitcher, catcher, CF, or some such and move your kid to fill the weak spot in the field or batting order. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that your kid is the ace pitcher who, when she isn't pitching is the team's best SS. She hits number four in the order. She is one of the team's best players, if not the best. The roster compiling coach reaches out to girls he or she knows to bring in someone with more talent. That's going to relegate the team's ninth, tenth and so on best player to bench time. But if the new superstar is a better ace pitcher than your daughter, well, she may find herself outside the circle far more than she would otherwise, perhaps playing 3B instead of short, or otherwise unhappy sue to the "roster improvements" and guest players. It is not just the least who are impacted by roster supplementation. And there is indeed always somebody better than your kid at her chosen and earned positions.
When parents believe they own a team, they often can try to bring in girls they know who are good athletes to join their daughter's team. Other parents often resent such practices. I've experienced this sort of behavior in a couple different venues. I almost never blame the incoming kid. I would say I always blame the team parent who, dissatisfied with the existing team, dissatisfied with one or more other players, attempts to bring in the "real player" to make his or her kid's team worthy of her participation. These same parents are the first ones to freak out if some other parent brings in a kid who is better at their daughter's position. Parents don;t own any team. They make their kids' beds when they agree to join the team as comprised. If they dare to try to remake the team, they deserve all the animosity they get. And they deserve someone else bringing in a replacement for their own kid.
So, if the organization, the coaches, and the paren ts don't own the team, who does? That is, of course, where I am trying to take this conversation. the answer is pretty clearly, the players, numbered one through twelve (or whatever size the roster is) own the team. It is ultimately their venture. The organization, the coaches, the parents are all mere facilitators of it.
Before you call me a Communist - for I have just described a fastpitch softball team as a workers' cooperative - let me say that ownership of relatively small ventures must always be in the hands of those directly responsible for its success. If your kids ran a lemonade stand in front of your house, mom and dad most likely hold title to the table, chairs, pitcher, cups, and lemonade itself. But the thing will only make money if the kids working it entice passers by to purchase lemonade. They must be motivated with a high degree of the potential rewards, the nickels, dimes and quarters their patrons will tender in exchange. So it is with fastpitch softball.
When a pitcher strikes out a batter, works a one-two-three-inning, or completes an outstanding whole game performance, the parents and pitching coach along the sidelines rightly feel a degree of joy. When the catcher throws out stealing runners, doesn't allow a single passed ball for a game or an entire tournament, or builds a reputation for being one of the best catchers around, dad or mom can sit and contemplate with glee all those hours of hard work in the basement, garage, backyard or out at the fields and clinics when the catcher's skills were honed. When the outfielder runs all out, dives, makes a great catch in the air and holds onto thhe ball as her body meets terra firma, the person who hit hour after hour of flyball and linedrive can take a little credit for the accomplishment. When the team wins a game, competes or wins a championship or merely competes very well at a high level, the coaches who brought it together and trained the kids can take a degree of elation away. But ultimately, it is the kids who risk failure, who endure countless hours of hard labor, who hone their skills with a goal in mind, who really deserve all the credit.
It is the individuals and the team (as in players) who earn the victory. The parents, the coaches, the organization are the facilitators. They bring the means of production together on behalf of the kids. But it is the kids who must play. It is the kids who must stand in and lay down a bunt against the 60 mph lightning bolt thrower. It is the kids who must keep their heads down on some freakish 100 mile per hour grounder. It is the kids who must gain the next base without being put out. They do the real work. They take the real risks. They get the credit regardless of what we, the parents, the coaches, the organization do for them.
This is so because it needs to be so. Kids will do for their teammates what they will never do for their parents and coaches, never mind the organization, about which they care little, if at all. The kids on a team need their peers' approval. They should like most if not all the girls on their roster. They want to perform for each other. years from now, they may remember how they made a play or got a big hit which impressed so and so, a teammate. They aren't gointg to give a hoot about how they showed Mr or Mrs. so and so. They aren't really going to care how they showed the coach what they could do. They care about what they have done for their friends. They care about how they performed well enough for the team (as in their teammates) to win that trophy. And any smart coach or parent is going to use that.
We had an interesting experience this year with a 14U team. They came together with not many kids knowing each other. Most had no experience playing A level travel ball at 14U. 3 kids had been bit players on prior competitive 14U ball. Many had played B ball. One had only played baseball - with boys. Some came up from 12U. All in all, we had a group with some athleticism and talent, but very little experience.
A funny thing happened along the way. The girls became very good friends. Early on, while they were proving their bona fides to each other, they won a couple tournaments. They had very good spirit. This probably facilitated the growth of their collective friendship. But still, they were not a team which had been through much together. They lacked that certain somthing, despite the early wins. As time wore on, they began to falter. Games against easy teams were played with easy errors and silent bats. They p;layed poorly one Saturday and set an impossible task for Sunday - though one they almost pulled off. They got smoked a couple times by good teams. They lacked energy on the field though the girls remained good friends. They had forgotten how to win. They lacked the magic they though they had.
The team went to a very big tournament and played first level games with a few reflecting decent performances and a few some of the worst ball the team had ever played. Then they went into a complex elimination round and lost again, once quite badly. At this point, the girls were exhausted and had no idea how to win again. Someone suggested that they were taking the wrong approach, not so much on the field but in their own minds. The person told the girls that they were playing for their parents and the coaches, though not doing a very good job of that. They told them they needed to play for themselves.
The person went on to say that "you Becky should be playing for Sarah; you Jenny, you should be playing for Mary, Joan, Steph; you all are in this together; you play as a team; you win as a team; you lose as a team." The person continued, "you need to play for each other. You all like each other. You all want to play softball together. You ned to play for each other and forget about the parents and coaches. We're all here merely to help you guys play together for your own reasons."
later the same evening, after a couple dreadful losses, after the suggestion by an adult, the girls got together, calling a team meeting with no adults invited. By all acounts, the meeting was a very emotional one. Most of the girls cried. Some said things they never thought they would. The girls decuided that their goal was to stay together as a team. That was the most important goal they shared. They all liked each other and they would play for each other. They wanted to win and keep themselves alive in the tournament.
The results are pretty much what I would expect. They played all out. They played well. They played for each other. They won a couple games against teams which had previously beaten them. Eventually they lost and were eliminated from the tournament. That was a sad moment but not nearly as sad as it would have been had they lost badly or not played well in the game which caused them to exit. More importantly, afterwards, they still had their team. Actually, they had more of a team than they had entered the tournament with. They were al;l better friends than they had started the thing as. They had forged a team. T9ime will tell whether they will continue to grow or eventuallty falter. But I'll be interested to watch their progress. They have crossed over into some very positive territory. They have learned the important lesson of this very difficult game.
It is the players who own the team. The parents, coaches, organization can lay claim to their hard won victories. But those entities will never feel what these girls feel about their team, about each other, about themselves. They have learned that when 12 kids work together for a common goal, they can accomplish what 12 individuals never can. They have learned that taking responsibility for one's contribution to a group effort can make their good friends feel good about themselves. They have learned that taking ownership has onerous duties and responsibilities, but, of course, immeasurable benefits.Labels: coaching, parenting, youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: Ownership
Thor, The Viking Bandit - part 4
by Dave
Monday, June 22, 2009
This is part four, the final piece, of our multi-part special interview with Chicago Bandits pitcher extraordinaire, Kristina Thorson. In part 1, we discussed rec play through high school. In part 2, we discussed her experience as a college player. In part 3, we discussed her experience as a professional pitcher. In this section, we focus on Thor's future including the short-run, during which she will be coaching a high school team and continue her work as a private pitching coach, as well as the longer term which is still up in the air a bit but could include work in public health. We also ask a question or two regarding the possibility that one day she might be a Little League parent!
Q: I see that you are going to be a high school coach during the next season. I know how I would feel about making the switch from player to coach. What are your thoughts about this? What are your expectations?
I couldn't be more excited! I can't wait to share my knowledge and love of the game to a new group of girls. It's a new challenge for me, which I love, and I'm going to learn a lot. I know we're going to have a solid and deep pitching staff, but my only real expecations are that the girls learn a lot, that they have fun, and that they are in every game and play to win.
Q: The high school game is very competitive and a nice level of play. But let's face it, whether coaching boys or girls, the situation is complicated by, well, having to deal with high schoolers, with teenage girls and boys and all that this entails! In my HS driver's education class, we were told to never get behind the wheel after fighting with boy or girl friends. Yet with all the drama that goes on in high school, it is very possible to watch your clean-up hitter stroll to the plate after wiping tears out of her eyes because her boyfriend split up with her last night, then strike out with bases loaded against the 61 mph all-state riseball pitcher. I watched our high school almost get knocked out of the state championships, which they eventually won, by a significantly inferior team when the first baseman dropped an easy toss from the pitcher on a routine play. She had attended the senior prom the night before and hadn't slept very well - our proms always seem to coincide with state playoff games. Do you look forward to such HS drama or is it something you hope to avoid?
I actually kind of look forward to it, because I think I can help the girls learn a lot. I've learned so many life lessons through softball, I want to pass those on to my team next year. It's not going to be easy, but great things rarely are. And yes, high school girls are drama no matter how you slice it, but these girls are going to get a big head start on other girls their age. I don't put up with drama, so they are going to learn to keep that off the field, and hopefully learn how to cope with things better while at the same time becoming more accountable for their actions.
Q:Of all the levels one could start coaching at, youth, high school, junior college, you have chosen to jump into the coaching arena with high school. I know some NPF players have jumped in at the junior college head coaching level or decided to become assistants under established D-1 coaches. For example, your teammate, Samantha Findlay is an assistant with Depaul. Is there any particular reason you chose the high school level?
Coaching college has never really been something I've wanted to do. I don't want to say it will never happen, but it's not a big dream of mine. This coaching job kind of found me. I have 5 pitchers I work with that will be at Cal High next year. There was some drama with the coaching staff this year, and they ended up losing both their coaches just after tryouts. So for a week, their team didn't have a coach. So the players I work with were trying to get me to coach them this year. I tried, but I couldn't free up my schedule enough to be able to do so. However, the man who agreed to coach the team this year said he wasn't going to do it next year. My girls got the idea in my head, and it grew and grew on me, so I finally applied and got the job.
Q: What are your ultimate goals coaching a high school team? Do you think you will coach for a long time? Do you have any aspirations of one day becoming a college coach?
I don't know how long I will coach at Cal High for, but I'd like to say a few years. I really want to try to build a program there, because there are a lot of softball players in that area. I really want to give the girls there a glimpse of what college life will be like, but more importantly, I want to teach them to work hard, be accountable, and teach them life lessons that will help them later on no matter what path they choose. Like I said before, I don't have any real dream of being a college coach, but never say never.
Q: Some high school coaches forbid their roster from playing any ball outside high school for the duration of the HS season. This makes sense to me as they practice a lot and play when not practicing. The wear and tear on the body can be significant. But some HS coaches go beyond this common sense approach, encouraging parents of players to form summer and fall teams (we don't play formal HS ball in the fall where I live). Kids on the high school team might be encouraged, perhaps a little stronger than merely encouraged, to play for these teams rather than local travel clubs. Some kids might argue that their participation with their old travel club actually cost them playing or preferred position time when high school season rolled around. How do you feel about this?
I think that high school coaches should stick to high school ball and let their players play for whoever they want for fall/summer teams. I will encourage my players to find summer teams to play for, but it's obviously not mandatory, and it's really not meant for everyone either. I feel like if you're a high school coach, you should stick to high school and the things you can control, which is your high school team. Let the kids do as they please, they need to be happy.
Q: Your bio includes much discussion about your educational and clinical involvement with infectious diseases as well as your interest in Physiology and Kinesiology. You have expressed an interest in one day conducting research into the "effect exercise has in preventing illness from infectious diseases." Do you see your life's goal as relating more to public health, to athletics, or do you feel strongly that the two are so related that you aim to make that more apparent to others?
At this point in my life, it's really hard for me to say. I am very passionate about both areas of study, and can see myself pursuing both. My plan right now is to apply to different schools, once I have money to pay for school, and see where I get accepted, then go from there. There are many, many things I'd love to study. We'll see which doors open up for me.
Q: I see that you already do some private pitching lessons. From a purely economic point of view, that can be at least as lucrative as many other pursuits. I have no idea what you charge for lessons but, at least in my area, it can be seen that a pitching coach with the reputation that comes from being a Gatorade player, a PAC-10 star and WCWS participant, All-American, and a bona fide professional ace, would all seem to point to long lines of girls standing outside your stable doors begging to come in. What I mean is, given your credentials, you could move just about anywhere in this country, set up a tunnel and fill every waking moment with pitching students at $50 a half hour. If you wanted to conduct group lessons at say $20 a head as some coaches do, you would spend most of your spare time explaining to people why you couldn't fit them into classes. Some people would wonder why pursue high school coaching, which does not pay particularly well, or many of the other jobs you would consider, when just hanging up your shingle and net would provide not only economic well being but also a lot of satisfaction. Any thoughts on that?
I love doing private lessons, and I have been lucky enough to be financially comfortable. I wouldn't say that I have a lucrative job or anything like that, but I can pay the bills and still save up a decent amount of money. I know that by coach high school I will lose money, but that's not the most important thing to me. I love being a part of a team, and it's a new challenge, so it's totally worth it to me. Plus, I can reschedule my lessons so I don't lose too much income either. I think I'll be fine. I try to live life by experiences, not by necessarily doing what is going to bring in the most money.
Q: Do you hope to one day raise a family and if so, would you prefer to have boys, girls, or a mix of each? If you had girls would you try to push them, ever so slightly, towards softball?
I go back and forth between wanting a family. I love kids, I love watching the girls I work with succeed, and I think being a parent would be an amazing thing. But, there's also the part of me that wants to travel the world, help people in all sorts of different situations, and that's not a good environment to raise kids in. If I do end up having kids, I want them to be active, but it'll be their choice what sports and activities they do. I would love it if I have a daughter that played softball, but I don't expect her to share my passion. She's a different person, I want her to decide her passion.
Q: If you had boys, would you look to get them involved with baseball?
Pretty much the same thing, I'd want them to play whatever sport or activity they are passionate about.
Q: If your children were to play several sports as they began high school, do you think you would encourage them to focus on one or two rather than play something different in each season?
That would depend on a lot of things. What are their long term goals? How are their grades? What other activities are they involved in? Are they successful and having fun in their sports? I think that as long as their grades are good, they are free to make their decisions on how they want to approach sports. I made my choices, I want my kids to have the same opportunity.
Thor, The Viking Bandit - index page- Part 1 - rec play through high school.
- Part 2 - experiences as a college player
- Part 3 - experiences as a professional pitcher
- Part 4 - future including high school coach, private pitching instructor, and some longer-term possibilities
Labels: coaching, high school, national pro fastpitch, parenting
Permanent Link: Thor, The Viking Bandit - part 4
Thanks For The Thankless Efforts
by Dave
Monday, June 15, 2009
I ran into a friend and neighbor of mine Sunday. He looked bad. His back was killing him. He was exhausted and wanted to go home to bed but he couldn't. He told me he had worked for 3 hours to get a field ready for his son's two hour long game of 14U travel baseball. This guy is a triathlete but no amount of running, cycling, and swimming could put him in good enough shape to work the fields this past weekend. He was not alone.
If I say it was wet Saturday, many in my area would laugh. It has been "wet" for weeks. We have been rained on at most tournaments. High school season was extremely compressed this year, thanks to the weather. The grass is doing great sans irrigation. Bugs are living in bug heaven. Carbon dioxide has been sequestered at record rates thanks to the out-of-control growth of brush and trees.
We were at a fastpitch tournament Saturday and knew that there was a decent possibility of rain beginning around 3:00 pm. Unfortunately, our last seeding game was scheduled for 3:30. After game 2, the girls did what tourney girls do and the parents ate lunch while sitting around watching the clouds build off in one direction. At about 2:30-45, the girls went to warm up while we kept vigil over the gathering storm clouds. As 3:30 approached, a few drops were felt, then a few more. Gradually the clouds slid over our heads and a steady rain began to fall just short of our scheduled start time.
The girls came back over and got beneath portable awnings. We watched while teams continued to warm up on outfield grass at 3 fields. Coaches with towels dried balls. [; Players threw soggy ones over each other's heads. Our girls stopped warming when they noticed umpires congregating beneath other portable awnings at and after the scheduled start times. We imagined that the forecast had changed for the worse and we waited to have our afternoon cancelled.
Some few of us checked forecasts on car radios and mobile phones. We reported back that most likely things were going to break up shortly and then the sun would come out. But we noticed a sheen forming on the fields as water began to build. Puddles began to grow in outfields. It wasn't looking good. As the rain continued to fall, perhaps harder as time wore on, eventually word came that we would cancel the remainder of the day and reconvene Sunday morning, early of course, to play one seeding game and then the elimination round.
The rain never ceased overnight. I suppose by 3:00 AM, it let up and then stopped. But by 4 or 5, the air continued to sweat. I could feel beeds of condensation form on my skin as I checked out the sky before loading up the cooler for what figured to be a long day. We packed up the car and headed for the fields about 6:15. When we arrived at the complex, we saw men standing around staring at what looked from afar like swimming pools filled with brown sand. The fields, the tournament, everything, was under water. The forecasts hadn't called for it but we received essentially the wringing out of a very damp atmosphere for about 12 hours overnight.
I don't know how much rain fell but it was a lot. There was no repairing these fields. You could have had one hundred or more human beings involved in the project. You could have shipped in bone dry clay and resurfaced the darn things. The ground was so wet, nothing could have made these fields playable. And nobody tried.
Instead, we were shipped to the "one good field" in town, probably the county, if not the state. There, no fewer than 7 men worked the entire thing as best they could. We played one game and then the remainder of the tournament was called. Oh well, you really cannot fight Mother Nature. Many tried but few succeeded.
Later that day, in early afternoon, the sun finally came out. I took one of my daughters out to work some pitches on a real field, if it had dried enough. Afterwards, we noted some baseball games at far off fields so we went to see what was going on. That's where I found my friend rubbing his back, calling pitches and watching his son play.
There were any number of baseball and softball events scheduled for this weekend in places all over a tri-state region which shared the rainfall. In most spots, no games were played. In a few, fields had good enough drainage to allow elbow (shoulder and back) grease enough to make them playable. I imagine that the same sort of thing I witnessed played itself out in many locations. Fathers and mothers worked rakes, emptied bags of quick-dry substance, dug holes in which to use shop vacs to draw out the water, etc. Parents who just wanted their kids to have the opportunity to play worked themselves into spasms of varying muscle groups to prepare fields in an effort to just get in a game or two.
There are no thanks for these hardworking folks. The kids don't overtly appreciate their efforts. They won't benefit in tangible ways far into the future just because they were able to play this weekend. Probably more parents of players like me wished they could have stayed in bed beyond the rooster's crowing Sunday. You just cannot look at a single day like yesterday and think, "gee aren't we lucky we got to play."
But the truth is, the kids did benefit. There is such limited time, though it doesn't always feel like it, for kids to get out and just play ball. My kid got to pitch 4 innings and while it was not a character builder from which she'll draw for years to come, she did get a little better for the experience. She learned something yesterday playing that one game. I don't know exactly what it is but she got something out of it. It may just barely be incremental. It may not matter much in the long run. But she did get something out of it. And that's really what parenting is all about.
On a moment to moment basis, it is difficult to identify what it is you have taught your kids. They'll never thank you for what you do teach them. Many times, you are fighting things bigger than yourself. Sometimes, no matter what you do, it doesn't do any good. Often, even if it does some good, it costs you more than you can spare. But you do it anyway because you want for your kids. You want them protected. You want them to get exercise. You want them to learn important life lessons. You want them to avoid drugs, bad grades, trouble with the police, trouble with other things, etc. So you put out.
You drive them to softball practice. You take them for extra help at school. You rearrange your life for your kids' benefit. You undertake a huge assortment of things you would rather not do, all for the benefit of someone who will probably never say thank you. But you do it because you care more than words can ever show. You do it because you are biologically and psychologically predisposed to do it.
So, here is your thanks. I know it isn't much. I know it doesn't begin to repay you for the degree of effort. But thanks, nonetheless. And, in closing, I would like to remind you that not everyone does what you do. You may see yourself as one of very many but that's just a perception. Not everyone got up yesterday morning before 10.
We may not often take notice but many parents could not care less what their kids have to do. They aren't willing to go out and rake mud, spread drying compound, get up before the dawn, drive all over the kingdom to tick-infested jungle encircled, uncomfortable places to provide a ball game or three. You did it. And your kids ultimately will benefit.
So, thanks. That's it.Labels: parenting
Permanent Link: Thanks For The Thankless Efforts
Free Market Economics
by Dave
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
I've been watching and listening for any mention of the current administration taking over the softball showcase world. There just does not seem to be anything out there. That means we are all at the mercy of the free market. So it is strictly a buyer beware proposition.
Some months ago, perhaps a year or more, I received disturbing word from a softball acquaintance of mine. This guy's daughter had joined a showcase team to get in front of college coaches. The team was playing a showcase tournament at which there was no elimination round playing to an ultimate champion. The thing was organized purely to get college softball aspiring kids in front of college coaches. The guy's daughter had done her homework, identified several schools she would be interested in, and contacted the coaches to get information and, ultimately, to get them to take a look at her. One of the coaches was in attendance but the girl was not in the lineup for that game.
I'm not sure if I remember this perfectly straight but either the college coach or the kid asked the team's coach if she could be inserted in the lineup for a few innings. The reaction of the showcase team's coach was somewhat odd. That coach informed the kid not only that she would not be inserted into the game, but also that the coach would always make all the decisions about who would play where and how much. He/she did not appreciate being approached to put some player in. The coach said he/she would always play to win and play whomever gave the team the best shot at winning, always, under all conditions!
That is disturbing to me. The best shot at winning a showcase game at a non-competitive tournament? Who is zooming who?
The world of showcase ball is very expensive with kids (parents) paying more to play on these teams than on run of the mill competitive travel teams. Typically, we are talking thousands of dollars before we even look at travel expenses. If you want to participate on a showcase team, you are definitely in for at least a thousand more than other teams and then, once you want to go to the full complement of events, well, by the time you are done, you may be out of pocket as much as ten large. At least one parent told me he had spent closer to 15 one year because he wanted to travel and watch his kid play. That's fine, if you can afford it but, well, you can go to college for less, especially if you get some academic and/or financial aid.
When I refer to "non-competitive" tournaments what I mean is, the world of showcases is varied. There are those with a set schedule at which winning games means absolutely nothing. There are some which conclude with an ultimate champion. There are many others where the only trophy is bragging rights to some sort of best record in bracket title. I suppose you could participate in the ones which end with a champion just like you would any other tournament, that is, try to win the things. I also suppose there is value to an organization which earns the bragging rights for winning a bracket. Perhaps you can earn games on a field where there are actual college coaches next year. Perhaps you will find an easier time recruiting players next year. But the ones which do not have any sort of winner or loser are an entirely a different matter.
When parents go into their pockets to pay for showcase teams, they are looking for exposure. Most of the time, they are choosing a team based on the salesmanship of the coaching staff rather than their technical softball skills. They want guys and gals who are on a first name basis with the college coaches. They want people who schmooze targeted coaches, take them out to dinner, know their kids first names, etc. They want to be on teams with good reputations, good reputations for placing kids. They frequently are not interested in the team's chances to sport an undefeated record or otherwise lay claim to best in state titles.
To be sure, sometimes kids join these teams with an eye towards earning a berth to ASA "A" or Gold nationals, perhaps even competing well once there, if not winning the whole thing. It can be a bit of a fine line. But while ordinary travel ball coaches have an allegiance to the full roster to get the maximum number of games for each and all, showcase coaches have that added duty to get the best possible exposure for all the girls who are paying the freight. Whereas a typical travel coach fields his or her lineup to get as deep into the tournament as possible, the showcase coach must also serve the more important goal.
I remember sitting through my very first showcase game. The pitcher for one team was rolling along nicely. She was truly outstanding, a likely D-1 prospect. I was mesmerized by her skills. Then came the fourth inning and the coach pulled her for a much less impressive kid. The team was in the lead something like 2-0 but the next pitcher quickly yielded some baserunners and then a couple runs. Neither team seemed to take much notice of the pitching change. Nobody seemed very upset or happy about taking or relinquishing the lead. I was dazed and confused. Why had the coach pulled her? Was she hurt? Had she pitched to some pre-arranged number of pitches or innings and now was her time to rest? I didn't know what was going on. But that coach had 4 pitchers to get in and just two games to do it that day. The games were time limited so he pulled his pitcher after 3 and put the next kid in. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
More recently a fellow wrote to me to complain that his daughter had joined what was called a showcase team. The team had brought several pitchers onto a slim roster. They went to their first couple of tournaments and had used just two of these girls. The other pitchers never so much as warmed up. His daughter was one of the "other pitchers." He wondered if he was getting upset over nothing. He wanted some advice. I told him to find another team and leave. But don't just leave and move on. Tell all your softball friends and acquaintances to avoid the team like the plague. Tell them exactly what happened. The rest will take care of itself.
That is the way the showcase world gets policed, by you and me, by buyer beware. The softball world is very small and if a team holds itself out to showcase girls but plays every game as if their reputation demanded victory, well, the next time they conduct tryouts, the talent pool will be significantly reduced. Who, in their right mind, with a full set of facts, is going to join a so-called showcase team which feels no loyalty whatsoever to the goal of actually showcasing their kids?
The truth is, this particular team does not play many true showcases. Rather they play a few real showcases and then mostly compete at run of the mill tournaments which call themselves showcases. These do not draw a lot of college coaches. They do not draw the best possible teams even from the local area. They are showcases in name but they are not showcases for bigger time talent. And the teams which attend are usually pretty petty, choosing to put winning over showing their kids.
A friend of mine told me about how he had his team playing showcases. I tried not to ask the critical questions about which college coaches he saw there. He noted that the teams they had played were very good and his team had done poorly. The second day of the tournament, they were stuck in a bad location due to their poor performance the day before. But I wonder how many college coaches were at the good site and I wonder how many of these teams were just there to fill out there schedule or tune up for the time when they will be playing national qualifiers. This guy's team was very young. And he was new to the very idea of "showcase" tournaments. He had signed up for this one merely because the organization running the tournament had called it a "showcase."
Showcases, like all products, run the full spectrum of quality. There are showcases which are really just dressed up 18U tournaments. They don't really draw any coaches. There are those affiliated with skills assessment camps with throngs of coaches in attendance. There are those which exist purely because they bring in droves of college coaches and the best teams year after year. Before you choose a showcase team and shell out your limited sheckles, you really need to educate yourself on the big, important showcases and learn which of these a particular team plans on attending.
If a team has a schedule made up up Jason's Car City Softball Championship and College Showcase, ASA/NSA/PONY A or B states, PBA softball extravaganza, etc., I would hope you wouldn't be mesmerized by the term "showcase" in their name. I would hope you wouldn't shell out $3,000 to play a bunch of pretty good tournaments within driving distance of your home. if you are going to pay more than regular travel, you;ve got to go to at least 2 to 3 bigger name events.
On the other hand, let's face the fact that many of us do not have the spare cash around to put our 6th graders, no matter how good they are, on a team which plans 6 out of state treks via airplane this summer. For many, a lesser interstate experience is appropriate. But I hope the prices are commensurate with the experience. If on one hand I have a team headed to 3 Gold qualifiers, 4 true big time showcases, and 3 other events, and on the other a team playing mostly dressed up regular tournaments, I would not expect both teams to cost $3,000 before travel expenses. If a team charges you $3 grand to play local showcases with no coaches around, maybe you're being taken.
In any event, if my daughter is involved with a true showcase team, I expect full lines of communication between myself and the team's manager. We all understand that our daughters need to stand up on their own, learn to deal with coaches on their own, and generally make their own way into the real world. But those fine and noble goals go out the window when we are talking about $10 grand for the year and multiple years going forwards.
The kid cannot enter into a legally binding contract. If I'm essentially purchasing an automobile, well, I demand lines of communication. And whereas I would not ever approach a coach to discuss my kid's playing time on a competitive run of the mill travel team, I'll be damned if my dollars are going to go to showcase 9 other kids while my daughter rides the pine and bides her time. Don't tell me that she needs to learn to pay dues and she'll be the beneficiary of other kids doing the same as she ages up. That's not the way it works. Check out your competitors.
In softball, as in other human pursuits, it is buyer beware. Showcase ball is no different. But showcase comes with a higher price tag. So before you buy the horse, look at the teeth. You want to know exactly the tournaments you'll be watching. You want somewhat firm commitments about playing time and an understanding that if a college coach comes around specifically to see your kid, the team's coach will be considerate enough to do what he or she can to get your kid in there.
You want to be able to talk to someone if you are not happy with the situation. Don't tell me parents must stay in the background with respect to this aspect. Yes we need to be neither seen nor heard when the college coaches are around but we have full right to talk to coaches and representatives of the organization about any topic. This isn't the high school team. This isn't 14U NSA ball nor any sort of regular travel team. This is showcase. Lots is riding on the opportunities here. There are alternatives to your team. I'll trust in your expertise but I am an active participant. This is a partnership.Labels: coaching, college, parenting
Permanent Link: Free Market Economics
Hare Of The Tortoise Who Nipped Me
by Dave
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Softball is life. Girls fastpitch softball is a long-duration sport. There's plenty of quick twitching and sprinting but, as my wife frequently reminds me, softball is a marathon, not a sprint.
Jeff wrote in for advice about how to bring his daughters up in the sport. He was asking about how to teach an 8 year-old and her 5 year-old sister the strike zone - how to swing at mostly strikes. His older daughter is currently in a slowpitch-coach-pitched league but next year she'll enter 10U fastpitch, mostly-kid-pitched ball. She swings the bat pretty well but his concerns involve the transition from arc ball to flatter, faster pitches.
He is also concerned because his older daughter is not very discerning at the plate. She "refuses to lay off pitches at all." As he said, "for the life of me, I cannot remember how I learned the strike zone (when to swing and when to take) when I was a kid. He thinks perhaps there is a way to teach her the strike zone and he wonders if putting her into a pitching machine will help her to adjust to the faster, flatter pitching.
I told Jeff to relax. I'm not saying that he is unusually tense right now. I'm not saying that he should "take a pill and chill." I am saying that if he thinks he has serious questions now, just wait. I am saying that he is going to get very tense before much longer! So relax now or prepare to get ever more tense!
The basic advice I have for anyone who has a child, or several of them, just now beginning to play baseball or softball, is to relax and have fun. Don't sprint to the point where your kid is some sort of 10U wunderkind. Sprinting leaves you short of breath and in no condition to think clearly.
If your child is starting into softball, just make sure it is fun, tons of fun. Practice with her all the time, all the time she wants to practice. She will eventually come to the point at which she wants to grab you anytime you are available to go out into the yard and play catch. In the purest sense, that is really what baseball and softball are all about. They are about a kid wanting to get their parents' attention for a half hour game of catch.
Let me put it this way. I am almost 50. My father passed away over 3 decades ago. Right now I can picture him in his grass-stained, cruddy shorts, with nobby knees, squatting down to catch my pitching in the cul-de-sac. That didn't happen often. My dad was always working. The number of times he caught me is probably something I can count on my fingers without resorting to my toes. But I can clearly picture it in my mind.
The other day my oldest, my wife and I were at some fields where my youngest's team was practicing. We brought our equipment and my wife hit grounders to my oldest while I took throws and gave instruction to her at all the infield positions. This was a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. And my wife and I will eventually recover from our injuries.
My fondest hope is that my daughters will grow up into the kind of parents who will want to spend great quality (as well as quantity) time with their kids. We will each pass the torch onto the next generation to really care about each other and have fun together.
I also hope my kids grow up to excel at the sport. But my reasons for wanting that have more to do with their development as people than they do anything to do with scholarships or getting their names in the paper during high school. I want them to look back at the time they spent in softball, the time they spent with us, and remember that they persevered and got better at a game they loved.
I completely get the line of thinking which Jeff exhibited via his questions. I just think that if you put fun first, the rest of it will fall into place. Yes, of course, there will be times when the lessons about hardwork and achieving your goals will be more important than "fun." But fun will never lose all its importance and before you can love something, you have to like it.
Right now, at 8, the like is more important than anything else.
As far as specific guidance for teaching the strike zone, I think I have some wisdom to share. First off, Jeff doesn't remember how he learned the strike zone. Neither do I. Do you?
My guess is none of us really remembers how we learned the strike zone because it didn't happen in a single moment of revelation. We learned the strike zone over a long period of experiences. We swung at a ball over our heads which we could not possibly hit. We were slightly embarrassed, more so when we heard the crowd laugh or act weird about our swing. Our parents complained to us. We failed, we learned, we got better.
To introduce the concept of a strike zone, I suggested to Jeff that he try to get his daughter out to watch some game involving older kids. Buy her an ice cream. Sit and watch at least a half hour of some game. Be by yourselves, together. Then when some kid takes an outside pitch, poke your daughter. Tickle her. Then say, "hey, why didn't that girl swing at that pitch?" See how she responds. Most likely, she'll giggle and say, "because it wasn't a strike." Ask her to explain what she means. "What do you mean not a strike? What's a strike?" Let her do the teaching.
All you are doing with this is having a great time and getting her to think about the existence of a strike zone and what area constitutes it. Later, like four years later, you can get into all those other concepts like umpires strike zone, the "black," etc. For now, all we want to do is make sure she knows there is a strike zone and that you don't have to swing at pitches you cannot possibly make contact with. You need teach nothing more than that. The rest will come via experiences she has in the game. If she has questions or seems confused about the exact dimensions of the strike zone at some later date, she'll ask you or you can ask her and then teach her.
But, if instead, you write down the rules of the sport on index (flash) cards and you make her memorize the precise dimensions of the zone and then pass daily quizzes on the subject, if you get out and throw her a bunch of pitches and demand that she, rather than swinging at the ball, yell out "ball" or "strike" for hours on end, each and every day, well, great. You will produce a very weird kid who thinks softball is approximately the same thing as piano lessons. That's just what we need in this world.
Jeff noted that he purchased a hit-n-stik which has helped her learn to make consistent contact but worries that he should be using some other tools, devices and drills to improve her hitting.
I would continue to use the hit-n-stik and also get yourself a tee and a net to hit into. I wouldn't worry very much about the trajectory of the ball, either now or in the future. If she loves the game and has fun doing it, those things will come on their own. Just hit the stick, off the tee, and soft toss.
I believe that if you give your daughter a good, short stroke with which to hit, you hold the stick for her, you have her hit off the tee and via short toss, everything else will fall into place. She'll learn the zone and eventually become a selective hitter, etc. If she has fun playing ball, she'll want to figure out all these things and then you can teach her what she already has the desire to learn.
If you want to, you certainly can take her to hit the machines. Heck, that's fun! Why not do that? I would start at the slowest speeds available (25-35) and then move up when she seems to have mastered it. Then, if she fails at the higher speed, go back to the slower one. We don't need to challenge her at this point. We need her to have fun swinging the stick.
You don;t become a great game hitter by hitting off machines. The speed has nothing to do with it. You become a good hitter by having a good swing, building the strength in your arms, torso, legs, etc., and by having lots of game pitch experience.
It fascinates me when people get worked up either because their town or team doesn't have a pitching machine or when it does, their kid takes loads of batting practice, and then can't hit. You do not learn to hit purely off a machine. You have to face real pitching in game situations in order to perfect your hitting. And before you are ready to do that, you have to take lots of swings - stick, tee, soft toss, etc. There is nothing magical about a machine just because it throws about the same speed as a pitcher or because it can throw drops, curves, rises. No matter how good your machine is, it does not have all the quirks that a real pitcher and her windup offer. There is no way to mimick hitting off a real pitcher even with all the elaborate video equipment some places use. If there were, major leagyue baseball players would not rehab in the minors, our Olympic team wouldn't have played all those games before the real games began.
So hit off the machine if you want but don't do it to prep your 8 year-old daughter for flatter, faster pitching. Do it because it is fun.
Too often I think we forget a basic fact. That fact is human beings are made by evolution or our creator, by birth in any event, to have difficulty vectoring slow moving objects. If an object were to enter your field of vision, way off in the distance while moving very slowly, initially we would have trouble following it. If the object were to enter our field of vision while moving quickly, we would have no trouble. That's because human beings are made for the hunt, to be able to follow the fast stuff we want for dinner.
Think of it this way - if I ball up a paper towel and throw it to you, at first you perceive an object moving towards you at, you presume, a certain speed. You reach up your hand to catch it. But the paper towel opens and encounters friction with the air. It slows down. You can't catch it. By contrast, if I whip a ping pong ball at you when you can just barely see it out of the corner of your eye, you turn, perceive it and make the catch cleanly. The ball started fast and continues fast but you made the catch easily.
In baseball and softball, kids have a ton of trouble hitting those first few years because the ball is so slow. They actually do better when it starts coming faster. Even really good hitters have trouble with the slow stuff, with movement or not.
Several years ago there was a study about this. I think I referenced it at the time. But the scientists determined that humans had an optimum speed at which they easily vectored moving objects. 25 mph was too slow. 50 was easier.
So to all you parents whose kids are playing 6U, 8U, 10U rec or travel ball, if they aren't hitting very well, it is not time to take drastic measures or quit the sport altogether. Instead, pick up the fun quotient. practice but have fun doing it. Take lots of swings but don't get stressed out. If a kid has lots of fun swinging at balls, she'll figure it out. She'll learn the zone because she wants something to hit, because she knows she can't succeed swinging at balls out of the zone, and because she doesn't want to end her at-bats with called strike threes.
I've said this many times before and I'll say it many times more in the future. The softball scrap heaps are full of kids who were fantastic at 10 but who didn't get it, didn't have fun at the game. Their parents were sure they would be the next Jennie Finch because they were just so gifted naturally and because they could really hit the ball at 8, 9, 10. But the kid didn't like the game and learn to love it enough to want to go out there and face the 60 mph pitchers. Just keep on keeping on. Just have fun and everything else will fall into place.Labels: hitting, parenting
Permanent Link: Hare Of The Tortoise Who Nipped Me
Important Non? Issue
by Dave
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
There has never been an incidence of doping within the world of international softball since testing of athletes began. Still, doping is something we should all be cognizant of and maintain our guard against. The May 18, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine contains the sensationalistic cover article discussing hitting superstar Manny Ramirez's fall from grace via a positive test for banned performance enhancing drugs (PED's). If you're a baseball fan, you'd probably be interested in reading the article. But regardless of your interest in Manny, baseball, or the controversy surrounding PED's, there is another article, far longer, less sensational, much more in depth, and of far greater importance to any athlete. It is called "Supplements - the $20 billion Obsession" and subtitled "What You Don't Know Might Kill You."
Thankfully, this article is available online here online at SportsIllustrated.com. I implore you to set aside time to read the whole thing and understand some of the more relevant points for the amateur athlete.
A few years back, I posted something to a forum suggesting that we need to be on guard against steroids and other PED's even within the world of youth sports, even with respect to female athletes. What I got back were a few positive reactions and a large number of sarcastic comments suggesting that girls don't do roids and my post was full of hot air.
OK. I'll accept that most girls are slightly less likely than their male counterparts to desire large bulky muscles and, therefore, to see steroids as any sort of wholly grail. But I guarantee you there is a girl out there someplace having trouble getting the ball out of the infield who trains with weights and might consider taking some sort of supplement to quicken her muscles' recovery time, allowing her to train more frequently, and gain strength more quickly. The thought of this conjures up images of Italian Stallion, Rocky Balboa cracking and pouring eggs into a cup and then drinking the disgusting brew down in a single gulp. Or how about those extra large sizes of tylenol and the like on sale cheap at your local warehouse store or Wal-Mart? What about the girl who pitched 3 yesterday and expects to pitch at least two today? Or maybe the HS girls who went out on the town last night after the big victory and who just realized they have another big game today?
The fact is, we live in a society of 20 minute abs, 5 hour energy drinks, analgesics used to the point of significant health effect, not to mention attention deficit disorder drugs used by undiagnosed college students to get through exams. Supplements are everywhere in our society. They exist wherever athletics exist too. They spring forth from workout facilities throughout the country where all sorts of kids and adults looking to get an edge work there muscles to ridiculous points of soreness.
When we eat a cup full of eggs, obviously we are after nutrition to naturally heal and strengthen the body. We increasingly utilize protein drinks for the same purpose and because they are made more palatable than say raw eggs, not to mention avoiding the risks of food poisoning. Many people grab bottles of vitamin B rich 5 hour energy from convenience stores on bad days during which they need a little boost. In short, we are supplement crazy and that's not a particularly new thing. back in the 1970s, my swimming teammates and I took enormous doses of vitamin C to guard against colds, infections, whatever. Today we have that mentality and more. We drink sports drinks. We seek to learn more about nutrition to properly supplement our diets to quicken recovery or speed our muscular development. TV's "Biggest Loser" is an immensely popular show which profits from the "obesity epidemic" paranoia which grips the country. And everywhere we see fitness and training, we see something else. We see the supplement marketplace.
The SI article discussing this points out a few facts anyone interested in athletics or fitness who would even consider altering their diet for training purposes should know. It points to President Bill Clinton's signing into law a change to the US FDA responsibilities in the 90s. That law took supplements outside the ranks of either food or drugs and made them essentially an unregulated commodity. As SI points out, all those items on the shelves of GNC, other large nutrition retailers, as well as 7-11 and many other stores whichpurport to aid the athlete or nutrition hound, may contain things we didn't know about.
I'm going to leave this as is because I don't want to attempt to paraphrase the article. I really want you to read it. I feel it is THAT important. So once again, just to make it easy for you, here is the link:
SportsIllustrated.com
Please read it before you do anything else softball or sports related today.Labels: coaching, parenting, Training
Permanent Link: Important Non? Issue
Proper Accounting
by Dave
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Economists know that human beings do not suffer illusions when it comes to buying power. Money's value can be somewhat nebulous when it comes to discussing a single purchase, examining personal wealth at one moment in time, or analyzing the cost of playing competitive club travel softball. That is, single item, short duration issues involving finances can be difficult to judge but over the longer haul, human beings have a pretty good, subconscious grip on what they get for what they give. That being said, nowadays, folks do not have to travel far to do some quick calculating, compare products, and generally become satisfied or disatisfied with value offered per dollar. And under today's difficult economic situation, those who run travel ball organizations have little choice but to provide open and honest management, keep costs down, and provide a full and proper accounting of sources and uses of funds.
It does not take a mathematical genius or computer expert to very quickly calculate the costs associated with participation in a travel program. This morning, before breakfast, anyone with an internet hookup can visit a few web sites and make a quick determination about whether they are being ripped off. Let's give it a shot.
Tournaments do vary somewhat in their cost, but not a lot. A typical 2 day event costs anywhere from $400 to $600. Yes, showcases, especially good ones, can cost quite a bit more but we are talking run of the mill stuff here. So, let's ballpark it at $500 for a 2 day tournament.
1 day events can vary in structure as well as cost. There are mere scrimmages which might only cost a visiting organization for the umps and balls while the host pays nothing for town fields. The cost for say 2 or 3 games might run anywhere from $50 to $100+. More formal events, complete with a single porta-potty for two or three fields, MVP medals (how I hate those), and perhaps a short run of t-shirts might cost about $250. Some one day events are full qualifiers wherein teams that win the bid might play as many as 5 or 6 games in a day and the costs of such actual tournaments might look more like a 2 day event. But as an average, I think using $225 is a fair guesstimate.
Leagues are an interesting way to coordinate a slate of "scrimmages" or otherwise fill out a schedule. The type that are available vary from place to place. There are some which mix local rec all-star teams with any comers from the travel world. A few leagues really focus on drawing in true travel programs and thereby provide an almost tournament like setting. In fact, many such travel leagues (as well as those more all-star focused) often hold championship tournaments. Some organizations hold leagues each season and host the majority of games at their own facilities. Some league managers are mere organizing agents and games are played at participants' facilities. The cost of such leagues can vary quite a bit but generally runs in the $600-$1,000 range. $800 is a fair middle number though I expect somebody will write me and complain that this number is too low or high.
Each travel team picks and chooses the type of events and the frequency of those for themselves. There are teams which will play 16 tournaments in a single spring-to-summer season. A few are satisfied with just 6 for the year. A nice round figure would be 10 tourneys including, perhaps one or two hosted by the particular team. In general, the average team pays out of pocket for about 9 tourneys, hosts one, and perhaps participates in one or two leagues.
Of course, we have left out fall ball. And, since a typical travel year begins with a tryout in August, followed by some sort of fall action, and then proceeds through a winter workout regimen, then a full slate of tournamewnts in the spring-to-summer period, we need to consider all of these costs if we are to figure out the value recieved for dollar spent.
The total cost for fall ball usually involves a team t-shirt (figure $10-$20) plus perhaps fees for 1, 2, or 3 tourneys, or a league of some sort. That puts the cost of fall ball at around $1,500 for a team, perhaps a little more.
Facility rentals for winter workouts can be quite a bit of money. Here there is far more variability. One team can pay $200 for an outstanding space for a single hour. Another may have an arrangement under which they can use schools on the cheap or perhaps an organization can negotiate a package deal which costs an individual team as little as $50 per hour for tight quarters to $75 per hour in great spaces shared between several teams. In addition to the cost per hour of commercial spaces, teams also vary in terms of how frequently they practice, whether they do hitting in a single or double tunnel, or perhaps use a full facility and do everything including full infield workouts at once. The sopan over which winter workouts are conducted also contains quite a bit of variability. One team might work three to five or more hours per week from November 1 through March 31, possibly later depending on the local weather. Another might not start up until late January and end early in March in the expectation of being able to go outside then. It is very difficult to come up with a set figure for winter workouts.
The best we can do here is use some basic assumptions and come up with a figure that will not be particularly useful for anyone unless they do some calculations on their own. You know where you practice during the winter. Most likely, if that facility is commercial, they have a web site and you can see what they charge. So, take my quick and dirty calculation subtract it from the whole and add in your own. For my calc, I'll use one facility for an hour and a half per week at $150 for such time, plus another for $75 each week. My speciment training regimen will span 15 weeks. My total cost per team figures to about $3,500.
So $3,500 for winter workouts plus: fall ball $1,500; 6 x 2-day tournaments for $3,000; 3 x 1-day for $675; add in a league at $800; and finally we'll factor in another $300 for scrimmage costs, bringing the grand total for fall, winter workouts and other games to just under $10 grand.
Of course, most teams skip one or more of the foregoing. Teams which play a good fall ball slate sometimes do not participate in a league during the regular season. Many teams couldn't do what they do without the cheap use of a local school during the winter. There is a broad spectrum and all I am trying to do here is give you some structure with which to do your own calculations before church and bagels. Just to make my numbers a bit easier to work with, I am going to choose a prototypical 12 member team and call their total costs (excluding some slightly important things like uniforms and equipment) at $8,400. That figures to a nice round figure of $700 per kid.
Again, you can manipulate the costs via numerous additional events or by cutting out things your team does not do. For example, one organization we have been involved with uses a facility once per week free and another at a somewhat reduced rate. Another team I know of hosts 3 ot the ten tournaments it plays. Another plays loads of one days and perhaps as few as half its events are two days. One team runs its own fall and summer leagues which end up making the organization quite a bit of money. Another plays nothing but very cheap scrimmages outside of its 9 tournament slate. presumably you know what you play and can do your own calcs.
Still, $700 is a nice number to use just as a talking point. Now let's analyze that. But before we do, we really should factor in something for uniforms, including socks and sliders, helmets, perhaops a practice shirt or sweat shirt. Other costs can be factored in such as a pizza party, coach shirts, etc. But in this day and age of belt tightening, I should think that perhaps many of us can do without absolutely everything we "needed" just a couple years ago. Let;'s call the total "needs" figure at $100 while understanding that this is on the low side for teams with two complete and snazzy uniforms as well as a complete sweat outfit for cold April mornings. Our total nut, if you will, is $800 and that's what we want to examine.
Some teams do very little fundraising and some do plenty. Some are smart and efficient while others take up loads of time and accomplish little. Just in mere tagging, some etams are able to earn as much as $50 - $100 for an hour's effort while many settle for smaller, low traffic, retail establishments and pull in $200-$300 in a 6 hour work day. A good, experienced, smart team can work a couple weekends, add in a few hosted tournaments, hold a sale or two and offset as much as half the total nut. Some teams can take up all your free time, make you buy whatever piece of junk they are selling, do a poor job with other types of fundraisers and wipe out a mere $100 of the total cost.
I have been personally involved with probably the middle of the spectrum in terms of team costs borne by parental units. We have paid as little as $300 out of pocket to as much as $1,000, basically for an identical experience. In some cases, the team which costed more actually offered quite a bit less and then had the unmitigated gall to raise rates the next year despite having nothing more to offer at a time when costs remained flat. In one instance, a fairly expensive team actually ended the year with quite a bit of money left in its account and proceeded to tell parents that this money had to be forfeited back into the organization's general fund because of bylaws! In another instance, a team was smart with its money, ended with some left over and kicked back the overage to parents at the final event of the year which event had costed each family quite a bit. The amount kicked back was not a lot but it did pay for a team night out at some restaurant with enough left over for a tip.
OK, so I've given you some calculations of travel team costs. You can do your own figuring. There is going to be a point to all this and I'll get to that shortly but before I do, I want to provide an examination of a couple teams I have seen in action and give you their approximate costs just to round out the analysis.
There is one team which conducts tournaments all the time at a "captive" facility. That team exists for the purpose of providing youth a great softball experience at the cheapest possible cost. Parents are out of pocket about $300 - $400 dollars each year. They make tons of money by hosting tournaments and leagues. At one point, they expected to do a bunch of other types of fundraising but their leagues, etc. were so successful that much of that was cancelled. This team brings in recent college players to help coach the teams and because these ex-players are more after experience than money, they get them cheap. Winter workouts are outstanding for all teams in the organization. Younger kids can be grouped with older ones depending on a number of variables. Generally players and teams improve quite a bit and become highly competitive during their season.
Another team charges closer to $1,000, does a poor job of fundraising, actually participates in less winter workouts than the cheaper organization, plays less frequently and lower quality tournaments, and generally provides less of an experience. Their coaches are all volunteer. Winter workouts vary by team according to the talent of the volunteer coaches. Generally, one gets less for more.
Yet a third team is quite a bit more expensive than the former two. Costs span somewhere between $1,500 to $2,000. There are additional costs each team member bares for winter workouts and professional coaching. Top flight, paid coaches interact with the kids regularly. Kids are brought to a higher level of playing gradually through continued coaching and frequent practicing. The teams within that organization play quite a bit. Costs are higher but one gets quite a bit more from this expensive team than one gets from the middle team.
So, Goldilocks, that's your choice of three beds in which to lie. Your actual choices are probably different than my three simple examples. But the question remains, in which bed are you going to lie? It really depends on your means. But however much you spend, the one thing you want regardless of means is value for your dollar.
Year to year, moment to moment, you probably struggle to find the right fit for your kid and then scrape together the money necessary for that comfortable pair of shoes. Then as those shoes wear in or out, you most likely assess the value received for cost. If the shoes fall apart, iof the experience does not live up to expectations, you may thereafter seek anything else. But you do not do so in a vacuum. You assess the experience gained per dollar output, whether you admit that to yourself or not. And here is where the story is leading.
As parents, we sit along the sidelines for hours and hours on most of our weekends. There are many things considered either by us individually in our own heads or by us collectively in conversations with others. -; One of the most frequent topics I have heard as a parent is the one in which the costs are contemplated and the specifics enumerated to come to an understanding of whether we are receiving value for our money, or NOT.
As a coach, I have been intimately involved with figuring costs per kid and collecting that money. I have also been involved with teams which keep everyone, including coaches, completely in the dark. If prodded ceaselessly, they will provide an acvcounting but this accounting mostly consists of obfuscation of the facts. Anyone with spreadsheet skills can take this accounting and rip it to shreads. Less ambitious folks look at the accounting and are left with frowns on their faces.
The point is, as I said much eaerlier, anyone with a computer and internet hookup can quickly ascertain the costs a team bares. We may not precisely get all the numbers right but we will invariably get close. And when the experience of participating on a particular team does not provide value for our dollar, we will frequently leave that organization. The economists among us know that we will do that because we are not susceptible to confusion in the grand scheme of buying power. We do not suffer illusions over longer periods when it comes to our money.
This is true because we are social beings. We interact with tons of other travel ball parents. We ask them what their experience has been. We ask them what their team costs. We ask them poll questions like: are you satisfied, completely satisfied, dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied with the state of your organ ization's softball economy?
The grand point in all this is teams have to understand that scentient, social beings, with more than adequate experience and available information resources are going to formulate their own understanding of value received for dollar input. People are not stupid, particularly when it comes to their money. if a team does not provide a full, proper, easily understandable accounting, it is askin for trouble. No, this year's team will not get up and walk out. But as the organization proceeds, I can pretty much guarantee you that fewer and fewer kids will begin showing up for your tryouts. And as this year's team does not show up at your tryouts but rather goes to another team's, possibly every other teams', the word is going to get out. That spreads like a million little prairie fires and will burn you.Labels: parenting, youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: Proper Accounting
Fundamentals Revisited
by Dave
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Earlier today, I was asked by someone to diagnose some problems with hitting. I can't do that. I'm not a great hitting instructor. I know a few things but I am hardly an expert. I'll leave that to the many guys and gals out there who are bona fide professional hitting instructors. My role in all this is really just to provide a little fastpitch entertainment - something to read when you have nothing better to do with your time. More importantly, I view my role as making you really think about some things I believe are important. So that is what I tried to do via e-mail with the fellow asking for help with his daughter's hitting.
The one issue which immediately came to mind in trying to formulate an e-mail to assist this fellow was the issue of fundamentals. I mean fundamentals in general, not the fundamentals of linear, rotational or hybrid hitting mechanics.
I don't want to get any deeper into the hitting style debate. The only thing I have to say now in that debate is rotational is, at its core, Ted Williams hitting. Williams had vision so keen that it has been called mythological - though it was tested at a mere 20/10. He also had long arms, long enough to cover outside pitches which many trained in rotational mechanics struggle with. That's all I have to say.
The general issue of fundamentals is, well, fundamental to participation in any sport. Initially I believe we think of fundamentals in terms of taking some sleepy 8 year old and turning her into someone who can play the game at its most rudimentary levels. But fundamentals are far more important than that.
In most aspects of life, we have true respect for fundamentals. We know that a kid cannot be expected to perform calculus if they don't know algebra or their multiplication tables. We spend loads of time and resources teaching kids to read because we know they cannot understand "War and Peace" without first being able to read and read well. We teach kids so many fundamentals concerning everything they might encounter in life because we know there are steps to learning and living and without the fundamentals, nobody can accomplish anything. We do not look at some 6, 7 or 10 year old and say to ourselves, they are smart kids so we don't need to continue educating them. Yet, often, in athletics, that is exactly what we do.
Think hard for a moment about some kid you knew at some point who was a tremendous 10U or recreational softball hitter, fielder, or pitcher. Maybe her mechanics were a little off. But, gosh darn it, she was successful. She was a natural. I'm not gonna change anything about her approach because she gets the job done. Don't mess with success. I don't want to be the one who changes her and makes her into a worse player.
Coaches and parents are equally guilty of this mistake in thinking. We work with mechanics but when we encounter someone who succeeds despite poor mechanics, we leave them alone because we figure they'll be alright, they'll figure it out, they'll learn the right way eventually. But the softball, baseball, and other sports scrap heaps are filled with once great superstars who did something flawed and were not corrected.
As time wears on, the uncorrected behavior becomes more deeply engrained with each flawed reiteration. At some point it becomes virtually impossible to correct. At some point, the kid herself thinks I'm not gonna do it YOUR way because I already had success doing it MY way, or the behavior becomes so permanently etched into motor memory that it is incorrectable without truly Herculean effort.
Eventually, the lifetime .800 batting average kid achieves the ripe old age of 15 or 16 and she fails. She seeks correction from coaches and they do their best to provide guidance. But it is all to no avail because she has performed the same flawed action several tens of thousands of times.
My most important observation this year involved watching kids I have seen play the game since they were 10U or 12U and who have now made the varsity roster on a number of high school teams. It is astounding to me that I often can recognize a kid from several hundred feet away despite the fact that her body has changed so drastically and she is wearing a batting helmet. My vision is not good - I should make time to go to the eye doctor. But I have this impression of mechanical motion etched in my brain and that kid, two fields over, appears to be so and so. I decide to walk over and check and, almost invariably, it is so and so. Each kid that I recognize from afar still carries the same mechanical flaw from 10U into high school.
You look out over any complex and if there are kids there who threw with a funky hitch, had some affectation when they pitched, or swung the bat with too much of this or that ineffective motion, you can recognize them even if they are way too far away to actually see. Most kids who make any sort of mistake with some sort of mechanical motion will continue to make that mistake for the rest of their lives.
A long time ago, there was a young man, playing 14U baseball, whose swing was none too great. But when he got to the plate, the game stopped. The coach from the defensive team would call time, walk out onto the field, remove the second baseman in order to place him behind the left fielder at a point behind about twenty feet worth of tall trees and the picnic tables which lined the outfield. That fourth otufielder would be placed about 40 feet behind the trees and tables. Then the coach would move the left and center fielders back about twenty paces. The RF would be moved deep and a little towards center. The 2B, 3B and SS would be backed up to the point where they could not make a play on any grounder but that didn't matter since the first baseman was moved back to guard the line should this kid try to put one down the 1B foul line which he often did.
That was one opponent's approach to stopping this kid. It rarely worked. The kid still often hit homeruns between the fielders which would roll out into the parking lot, across the street and into the next lot. He sometimes hit balls between the trees which would elude the fourth outfielder. Sometimes the fourth outfielder would track down a ball and turn to try to throw it in before the kid made it to home, only to have it bounce back off the trees in the wrong direction. Eventually they just gave up with this approach and tried to get him out other ways.
As I said, the kid's swing was deeply flawed. But he had so much success from the age of about 9 that nobody ever corrected him. He received no constructive criticism from any coach until about 14. He was not receptive to it and continued to do it his own way despite numerous attepts to correct him. Perhaps once or twice he tried to do it THEIR way but when he struggled with the correction, it was immediately abandoned.
When this young hitter reached the ripe old age of fifteen, he began to struggle. The pitching was faster and better. The speed made little difference but the movement began to give this kid fits. More importantly, the pitchers began to find the holes in his swing. He adjusted and still hit for a high average but he never again had the power everyone once feared. And then, at 16 and 17, he had more trouble. Eventually, he quit the game. His swing had become unmanageable and he just couldn't cut it because his fundamentals were poor. He might have been something if only somebody had corrected him early on.
Now, that's a story from my youth and concerns baseball but I see the same thing all the time many decades later in softball. I see so many girls making exactly the same mistake in high school that they made in tee ball, 10U travel, or whatever. It is too late for them. You cannot correct a mechanical flaw after playing a game for 6, 8 or more years. The time to correct is when a girl is 8 or 9.
By the way, this is not limited to swings. It is undoubtedly true of throwing, of fielding grounders, of doing almost anything on the diamond. The kid who fields everything one-handed at 10 will be fielding less of them at 16 but use the same flawed technique. The kid who always takes two steps forward on every flyball but is fast enough at 12U to get back to the deep ones will continue to step forward throughout high school but reach fewer deep shots as girls begin hitting the ball harder. The girl who gets to everything from her position at SS and winds up before making the throw but has a strong enough arm to get 12U runners will continue to do that and learn to hear "safe" a couple times each high school game on routine plays she used to make. The catcher who turns her head but somehow scoops everything on the short hop at 14U will struggle to keep balls in front of her when she makes the high school team and catches the D-1-bound drop ball pitcher.
Fundamentals are the key to better fastpitch play. If a kid is schooled in sound fundamentals at an early age, that is no guarantee she'll be an impact player for her high school or ASA Gold team but she does have the opportunity. Conversely, no matter how good she is in little league, she will not be able to cut it later if her fundamentals are unsound. Oh, she may be a very good player at certain levels but when push comes to shove, in the 14th inning of the state quarterfinals, at some point, her fundamental flaws will come back to haunt her and she will fail. Then her confidence will sputter and fall. She will not be able to progress to the next level, whatever that is.
The payback for fundamentals is not always immediate. Sure, when you take a bunch of 8s or 9s who have never played the game, not really, and teach them how to field a grounder or make a throw, you may get immediate feedback. You may experience success by teaching a group of girls the real basic fundamentals. But this steep learning curve will quickly fall flat. It will stop producing immediately discernible results. In fact, coaches will find that if they don't "waste" time on fundamentals in practice, they can get better payback for effort on other aspects of the game like situational play.
This is often the case at young recreational levels. The typical coach sees that if he focuses on fundamentals, his girls will improve and by the time they are at the next level, they'll be solid players ... for somebody else. But here and now, if I ignore the fundamentals and instead teach a more nuanced approach while keeping my best "natural athletes" in the key positions, my team will win today. If I "waste" time on fundamentals now, I can't prep the girls for game play. And my team will lose.
A little while ago I suggested that we, as a society, do not take this approach with other sorts of learning. But my private fear is that we are moving in that direction. We want teachers "accountable" for the results of learning. If a teacher produces a class of poor readers or mathematicians, we want that teacher better trained, more focused on outcome, or removed altogether. That is entirely reasonable. But the best we have been able to come up with in terms of a system is an outcome based approach, No Child Left Behind.
Many educators are unhappy with NCLB. They may not want to be judged by any system. They complain it is an unfunded mandate. More to the point, they feel the system forces them to teach a certain way, it forces them to teach so as to achieve game outcome rather than fundamental skills. They know this results in the 16 year old hitter who no longer can hit a pitch. They know it results in a high school shortstop who can no longer get kids out because her throwing motion is too elongated. They know that before a kid can read, assimilate and fully understand War and Peace, that kid must be able to read. They know that before one can calculate derivatives, one must be able to perform algebra and before that multiplication, division, factors, etc. without thinking very hard about it.
Fundamentals are fundamental. The solution to a complicated problem is to simplify it, deconstruct, and repair the smallest elements. That's true of swinging troubles, other softball related problems, reading, math, everything. If you want to step up your game, go back to the basics and move forward from there. If you want an outcome tomorrow, don't worry quite as much about today's game, the outcome of your next at-bat. Fix your mechanics. Fix your fundamentals. Revisit them.Labels: batting, coaching, hitting mechanics, parenting, pre-season preparation
Permanent Link: Fundamentals Revisited
Were You As Good As Your Kid?
by Dave
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I have a question I would like to ask you. It is a rhetorical question because, in a certain sense, I expect no answer. On the other hand, I expect no answer because there isn't really one - you cannot really answer it. That makes it more of a philosophical question than a rhetorical one. The question is, were you as good as your kid is.
This question struck me after reading some of Marc Dagenais' blog on softballperformance.com. The piece I was reading had to do with types of parents. I don't believe there are really types of parents though I do think certain patterns arise with which one might classify sports parents. That blog piece was targeted to coaches and their dealings with parents. My blog piece today is aimed at making you, parents, a little bit more introspective about how you deal with your sports children.
So the question is, were you as good as your kid, way back when you competed in youth sports. And the reason you cannot answer it is because you really cannot compare your experience with theirs. The youth sports world has really changed that much.
Think hard about it for a moment. Most of us played some sport in a local rec league. Looking back, it may appear to us that we were more of an impact player in those days than our kid is today. But the truth is, when your world consisted of fifty or a hundred kids all playing in the youth baseball or softball program, you in no way competed the way your kid does in today's travel setting.
In today's setting, on any given Sunday, any 12 of maybe 600 kids might line up across the field from your daughter. Those kids probably come from each of two or three states. Your rec league might have had kids from three towns in it. And, for the record, I choose the number 600 more or less randomly as representing 50 travel teams filled with somewhat elite players. Your rec league, even if it was ever that large, did not consist of kids who were chosen after tryouts. You go to a tournament today and find maybe 12 or 16 of the best 50 teams from three states playing for a championship. Your experience was not like that. In your experience, everyone who signed up for the league played. They weren't excluded after a stressful tryout. So, while you may have been one of five or ten all-stars in your little pond, your kid is swimming around in a larger, more competitive ocean.
Secondly, when you played, you went to practice maybe once per week until, perhaps later when high school or local competitive quasi-travel teams were pulled together. Right now, your kid practices twice or more each week and her schedule includes spring, summer and fall ball, winter workouts, and perhaps lessons. You can argue that you would have been happy to have had all that - I know I would have been. But the fact remains that you, in your entire life, never had the kind of intensive training she has had and she's only 10-12 years old right now!
Third, if you are like most people, when you played, the season consisted of 15 or slightly more games. Your kid gets that much in just a couple weekends and she plays all year round. You were lucky to play one game on Tuesday and one on Saturday, assuming it didn't rain. She plays three on Saturday, a couple more on Sunday, a scrimmage on Monday, a school game on Tuesday, practice five days a week, and perhaps a travel scrimmage Friday night.
I was talking with the father of one girl who was 13 or 14 and he noted that between a little bit of rec ball - yes she still played some rec, a season of school ball, a full year of travel, and a partial year guesting with some travel teams, his daughter had played 140 games during one year. She had also attended countless practices and once a week lessons, not to mention some physical training sessions and the exercise routines she did on her own. By the time a girl reaches the ripe old age of 14, assuming she has played travel ball for 4-6 years, she has played more games than you have your entire life. She is loads more game experienced. She has more game savy. She is better conditioned and she probably has better skills than her parents did at the same age.
Now, I understand that you most likely played a broader variety of sports. That was the world we grew up in. Back in the day, it was pretty common for one kid to compete in two or three sports during high school and probably more than that during the pre-high school days. Today, that is far less common because to even make some high school teams requires absolute dedication to a single sport for years before trying out.
Not all high schools are created equal and some girls do still play multiple sports, starting for the varsity in more than one of them even as a mere freshman. But in any reasonably large high school, in any reasonably fanatical-about-softball area, if you want to do more than carry water for the starting squad, you need to play travel ball, year round, for several years prior to your freshman season.
Our local high school has a pretty good varsity team. I haven't tried to exactly count but I believe there are 4 or 5 Gold level players on it. Several girls have had their names appear on SpySoftball at one time or another. the starting pitcher is going Division One next year after graduation. The other girls have played a mix of travel ball and were good players in statewide competitions during their pre-teen years. There are girls on the team who have pitched at Gold level and will never pitch for the team because they have somebody better. There are players on the bench who have played travel ball since they were 11 or 12. This may not be the norm but many teams out there have similar situations. If a girl really wants to play high school ball, during actual games, she had better prepare from a relatively young age or it ain't going to fall into place.
So think about the question for a few minutes. Were you, at about the same age, as good as your daughter is? Were your mechanics as good? Did you work as hard? Did you run sprints and work on agility drills just to compete in baseball or softball? At the age of 12? Did you receive instruction and coaching on a par with what she has? Were you nearly as game experienced as she is? Did you walk around in a youth sports world that was anywhere near as competitive as the one she has been in for years?
If you are truthful with yourself, I believe the answer is going to be, no, I was not as good as my daughter. OK, so maybe there are folks out there who played baseball to the double-A level in the minor leagues. Yes, there are some former professional athletes among us. There are any number of kids, even on my own team whose parents competed at high levels in college. But the question involves an analysis of when you were her age and the degree to which you were trained, prepared and experienced. I dare say that even that guy who played professional football did not train seriously until he was perhaps 13 or 14 years old. I dare say that the minor league baseball pitcher or college softball shortstop who is reading this piece right now, while tremendously gifted, can honestly say that they were not nearly the athlete their daughter is when they were the same age. I take nothing away from all those outstanding athletes who are now parents. But I ask each of us, each of them, to make an honest assessment of how good, how dedicated, how well trained their daughters are.
OK, so I'm hoping that you have been truthful with yourself and admitted that your daughter is better than you were at the same age. I'm hoping that you have now a healthy regard for all that she has done to prepare to play this game. I'm hoping that you appreciate her not only as your daughter, a great student or whatever, but also as an athlete. OK, so now you're prepared for what I have to say next. What gives you, since she is better than you were, the right to criticize her play?
I understand that A) you are her parent and you will raise her, B) you only want is good for her, and C) she has played better in the past. But I heard what you said to her and I'm really wondering how somebody who wasn't nearly as good can criticize her play like that. That's different from raising her, having high expectations, or wanting what is best for her. Were you absent from the baseball /softball clinic the day they taught "shaking it off" and/or learning from your mistakes, not dwelling on them?
Let's be realistic. There's no way you ever faced this level of pitching when you were 12. Those girls all were above 50. If you're a man, you faced that kind of split-second decision making at the plate when you played varsity baseball and only then if you were facing a very good pitcher. If you are a women, there is only one way you faced that level of pitching at all and that is if you were an elite player in southern California or one of a very few other places. It didn't exist outside a limited geographical area when you played so it is highly unlikely you ever faced anything like it even in high school.
To go a step further, I do understand that you'd like her to get a hit. In that game, she got 3 at-bats and only hit the ball into play once. That was a fly out to right. Aside from that she walked once and struck out the other time. You know she can do better and perhaps you were rude to her about it but you want her to try harder the next time she gets up. But let's examine the game for a moment. There were a grand total of 5 hits during the entire 7 innings. We got three and the other team got two. Combine that with a couple walks and, out of 50 batters who came to the plate, just 8 reached base, with 5 of them hitting safely. You would like to see your daughter collect one of those hits. So would 15 other similarly situated parents of somewhat elite athletes who practiced all winter and went to hitting lessons 50 times last year!
I was standing along the sidelines at a very contentious high school game recently. There were a handful of baserunners in this extra-inning 0-0 game. the father of one player was stressed out. I was stressed out though I had no kid playing. I laughed at his stress level and he said something like I just want her to get a hit. Later, when she grounded out, he got upset. I chided him and he said something about her just getting a &^%$ hit. I said, OK, but there have only been two or three hits this whole game and we're in the 12th inning!
By the way, I don;t want to be self-righteous about this. had I been the father of a player and not a mere onlooker, I would have been just as stressed out as my friend was. her would have been laughing at me rather than the other way around.
We played several games the other day and the errors totalled up. The totalled maybe 5 for all teams in three games, not a bad day. But somebody had to make one or two. It is inevitable that the more games your daughters play, the more attemps they have, the more errors they are going to make. As I said before, your daughter has played far more games than you. She plays more games each year than you played in any five year period. She's going to flub a few plays. Even major league shortstops do. Just chalk this up to experience. If your kid's mechanics in the field or at the plate are off, by all means feel free to work on them. But before, during and after a game is not a good time to make those little tweaks you think might do the trick, loike when you tell your daughter, "for God's sake, get your butt down and stop turning your head."
Finally, there is nobody standing along the sidelines at your games thinking to themselves, "that Bob guy must have been a great athlete, his daughter is so good." Similarly, nobody is thinking, "that Mary must have been a real loser, her kid stinks." We all love our children. We all want them to succeed at everything, including softball. But they are good players. They are seasoned players. And wanting them to be better, wanting them to try harder, wanting them to do the things right, is not going to help at this moment.
And wanting them to be bette does not give you or them the right to criticize them. She deserves better than that. I believe she has earned more from you. After all, she is better than you were.Labels: parenting
Permanent Link: Were You As Good As Your Kid?
Game Changers
by Dave
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
There is a softball truism which says: "players win games, coaches lose them." I agree with the general philosophy of the phrase. Yet, if we don't analyze its meaning and come to an understanding, much is lost. And to take the idea one step further, I'm going to supplement it by adding, given today's youth sports climate, players win games, parents can only really participate in losses. Before I explain what I mean by my corollary, let me explain the original truism.
When we look at lop-sided losses, often the coaches have not adequately prepared their players for combat. Certainly sometimes the other team is just that much better and there is no way on Earth we could possibly ever beat them. That is the world of travel fastpitch softball. There are teams out there which have virtually limitless resources, draw the best possible athletes from several states, demand absolute commitment from roster members, practice 4 times a week through the winter, have so much talent (in terms of players as well as coaches) and work the kids so hard that the team just cannot be beaten by any team that is not similarly situated. But this circumstance is somewhat rare.
Most games are played between teams which have about the same quality of athletes, do about the same amount of practicing, and have about the same amount of resources. Even in games with relative team parity, there are lop-sided outcomes. In those, clearly the coaches have not done their work well enough, at least most of the time.
When we view closer (but not close) games in which the score ends at something like 6-2, 7-4, 4-0, there are often a few mistakes which determine the outcome. Sometimes it is easy to point to one, two, or a few plays which handed the other team a couple runs, took our girls out of it, or otherwise changed the face of a relatively close game, one which maybe we woulda coulda shoulda won.
Often teams with which we are involved are prone to that "one bad inning" syndrome or suffer something like: "we play well in the afternoon but morning games give us trouble." When the excuse sounds like that, mostly that is the coaches' fault, sometimes it is one or more parents whose actions lead to the outcome and habit, and almost never is it truly the players who are to blame. This is true regardless of whether it is the best player or worst who repeatedly makes the critical error.
To add some meat to this, I heard about a team which had some pretty good talent but which did not compete on a level commensurate with that talent. About half the team's parents liked to indulge themselves on Saturday nights during the season. They often got together after preliminary rounds and stayed up well into the night. They brought their kids to such gatherings. The result was a lot of kids crawling into bed well after midnight when they had to get up by 6:00 in order to arrive at the field on time for warm-ups. I don't begrudge anyone a good time on the weekends after a hard week of work. But, you cannot win out on Sundays when kids get 6 hours or less sleep the night before. The partying parents were very quick to blame other kids on the team when it should have been obvious that their actions had at least a contributory effect.
Most teams have a range of abilities on their squad. There is that one kid who pitches lights out, makes the plays in the field, especially at key moments, gets the majority of the big hits, earns the MVP medal most of the time, and seems as if she is destined to play D-1 despite the fact that she is just 10, 12, or 13 years old. Then there is the kid who is playing her first year of travel after just one or two rec seasons who just can't seem to make a play in any meaningful situation. She's a "charity" case. You're not really sure why the coach put her on the roster. Maybe he or she is life-long buddies with one of the kid's parents. Maybe there is something going on behind the scenes which you haven't learned yet.
When teams suffer multiple losses like this, usually the coaching staff can do a better job with both the players and parents to get out of that one bad inning habit or to come to games more focused and better prepared to give their opponent a better match. When we play games like this more than once, when we lose by multiple runs against teams which seem no better than us or possibly seem to be ones which we should beat, coaches need to step back and analyze the precise reasons the team fell into its usual trap. Then they need to take steps to mitigate the situation and improve the team. Sometimes they can make a difference, sometimes they cannot.
My wife is prone to claim you are only really as good as your weakest player. Usually it is not the all-star shortstop who boots one, strikes out with the bases loaded, or makes the baserunning blunder which takes you out of a potentially big inning. They do sometimes play the part of goat but often it is the lesser experienced, lesser gifted kid who makes the game changing mistake or error. Coaches can make a huge impact by giving these kids a little more in terms of technique, preparation, and practice reps. We don't want to get into the habit of coaching in a dumbed-down fashion, of working exclusively with the neediest team members, or of ignoring the kids who are most gifted under the mistaken assumption that they'll prepare on their own or are too good for practice. But we do need to make sure that our weakest players are competent in their craft.
Often, though certainly not always, the weakest members of a team are highly motivated. They don't enjoy the feeling that they are the least skilled. They want to get better. They'd like to attain the same skill level as the team's most talented girls. As a result, they take constructive criticism better and actually work harder than other players to improve their games. If you give them an extra five or ten percent, your overall team's results will improve. Almost anybody can become a serviceable player, particularly at lower age levels, if you correct technique and provide lots of reps.
To address the issue of parental behavior, sometimes coaches can make an impact on that enough to at least make them call it quits by midnight. Sometimes there is nothing you can do to change parental behavior and you must live with it. Given today's limited travel rosters - often just 11 kids - it is difficult to bench a player in order to provide her nap time. This can be a really scary situation for coaches. I absolutely despise when parents put me in the situation to place their daughter at third base knowing that she is not alert enough to protect herself when the number 3, 4, and 5 hitters come to the plate and pound the ball right at her at 90 mph. But I have been put in precisely that situation too many times to count.
The best approach is, as it is in most instances in life, communication. I think it is fair to pull aside parents who were out until the wee-morning hours and tell them that if their kid breaks her jaw or nose playing third base because they had a good time the night before, you will not take the blame. This sort of thing can wake up the parents. It can also backfire on you. But I'm not going to take the blame. I don't care about my words cutting me rather than them. If you can bench such a kid, do it once and then explain why you had to do that and that you are prepared to do it again regardless of apparent impact on game result.
Another trap which otherwise good teams can fall into is the clique issue. I have now been involved with enough teams of both good and poor talent levels, of dedicated and not so dedicated parents, of overall cohesiveness and general disharmony, I feel confident in saying that how the girls relate to each other is as important to competitiveness as any other characteristic. When three girls form a faction and then torment or chide the other girls, this does not produce a positive outcome. When one or more cliques form within the team structure, this is not a good or ordinary development. When several groups form socially, the team is not going to ever achieve its potential.
Joe Torre, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball team is famous or infamous for claiming that locker room comaraderie or team chemistry does not build wins and, to the contrary, winning builds chemistry. That may very well be ... when we're talking about professionals ... who have played the game for a couple decades ... who are paid millions of dollars to enjoy their passion ... who know they can earn millions more if they try very hard to be 100% focused on wins and losses, etc. Or maybe Joe is wrong about this and merely lucky. or maybe Joe's management style subconciously creates good team harmony and he is just unaware of what it is he has done to foster this.
I have my doubts about whether Torre is right but he knows major loeague baseball inside and out. I do not. And regardless of Torre's beliefs, I absolutely know this not to be the case when we are talking about 10 - 16 year old girls or, for that matter, boys. I know team chemistry to be critical to competitiveness in youth sports because I saw it firsthand as a participant. The baseball experience which made the biggest impression on me involved a 16U travel team I played for which had great team chemistry. We played well above our heads due to that chemistry. The least talented kids, including yours truly, stepped up and made lots of difference in the outcome of our games. Cliquieness destroys team chemistry, makes the overall experience unpleasant for most team members, and causes kids to be thinking of things other than fielding the next grounder or hitting this pitcher's change-up. Cliqueness has an insidious impact on losing, particularly in contributing to the "one bad inning" syndrome as well as the "we just don't play well our first (or last) game of the day" syndrome.
As a side bar, parents need to be cognizant of the fact that cliqueness is not normal, acceptable behavior. And it leads to losses. Often the worst offenders are the kids of parents who were less popular in high school and who seek for their offspring what they missed. They actually encourage their kids to be popular and to hang with the top crowd. And when they are involved in travel ball situations, they encourage their daughters to befriend this or that kid to the exclusion of others. I know this to be true because I have watched it in action. One girl I coached had a beach house and she made a huge deal about inviting kids to it. She, for whatever reason, could really only handle one or two friends at a time. And those friends had to be her exclusive ones for at least a while. The two or three girls would arrive at the field, mix in with the other girls for a time, and then this clique maker would tell the others about how she and so and so hung out at the beach together all week. She would tell stories about what they had done. The idea behind the story telling was oneupmanship, exclusivity, to announce they were buddies. Then this kid would actually bully other kids on the team and act like she was better than they were. She was not a gifted athlete but you couldn't tell it from her behavior towards others. And her actions made others uncomfortable. She detracted from the team spirit and our focus on the field. I will never have that kid on another team as long as I coach. I would never have a kid on my team who is related to the girl.
It is important to note that parents and coaches have an important role to play in this potentially disastrous dynamic. Coaches need to pay attention to the way their players get on together. They need to nip cliqueiness in the bud when they believe they see it forming. It can rip a team apart and make a mockery out of the structure you thought you were setting in place. Some things to watch out for are one, two, or three girls who are always together and never apart. You should also listen to the what-we-did last night, yesterday, last week after the final game of the tournament discussions. You don't need to intercede immediately. After all, it is important for the girls to make close personal friends with those they spend all weekend, every weekend with. But you need to at least be aware of the possibility of cliques forming.
Parents need to understand that the little harmless comments they make during drives to and from tournaments make an impact on their children. If the team suffered a terrible loss because Sally W. made three errors and "I don't know why the coach plays her at second base when she should probably not even be playing travel," guess what your daughter is going to repeat when she is alone with her teammates? That's an obvious one but everything you say is heard and you need to really guard your language when discussing games or other players. If you comment on one player's skills, your daughter is going to take that as gospel and she is also going to think that is is normal to talk about other people's skills or shortcomings. If you want your daughter's team to win, you as parent need to be more thoughtful before you open your trap!
I'll take this to the next level. If your daughter has ever played on a team that had cliques, you need to address this. One otherwise good kid who has experienced this on one or more teams is going to believe it to be normal. She is either going to act passively and just accept it wherever she is or she is going to react to it proactively and seek out membership to an intra-team clique. In short, she is going to become at least part of the problem. I hope yuou don't want that. I hope you will act to prevent it. If you don't, I'm gonna make fun of you. Didn't you have ANY friends in high school? Are you really that insecure? Are you really that immature?
Let's assume for the sake of argument that a team has fairly well dedicated players and parents, reasonably good talent, has worked the least talented kids to the point that they are competent ball players, and team chemistry is decent, this is where the coaches' work really begins. But the parents have a say too.
The other day I was fortunate to be involved in perhaps the best 12U game I have ever seen. Both pitchers were on. 5 batters came to the plate during one half inning once - the rest were threes and fours. The vast majority of innings had the minimum number of batters regardless of anyone reaching base because both catchers threw out, I think, all basestealers. There were a combined 7 strikeouts. And this was a complete 7 inning game, played in under 75 minutes. There were a handful of errors but I really need to talk to the scorekeeper because I really only remember one and that was at least questionable. The winning run scored in the bottom of the 7th on a close play at home. After the game a parent from the host organization approached me to tell me that this had been one of the best games he had ever seen at any level. Girls made plays I have seen good high schoolers blow. Girls made plays I have seen very few softballers ever make. We lost!
When I look back at the loss, it turned on one mistake. We were trailing by a run and had a runner on base in the top of the seventh. Our number 6 hitter drilled a pitch to within about 5 feet of the outfield fence. The baserunner easily scored. The batter baserunner headed for second as the throw was coming in from the hinterlands to a mid range cutoff. nbsp; I threw up my hands and yelled, "hold, hold, hold, get on the bag" only to watch as the girl looked out at the outfielders, turned around second and headed resolutely towards third. The next cutoff throw came into the pitcher in the center of the diamond. She instantly cut it and threw to third where her throw struck the third baseman in the glove and drove it into the bag where it waited a tenth of a second for our runner to slide into it. It was bang-bang like I've never seen - at this level and infrequently at higher ones. The umpire punched her out and there we were, one out, nobody on, tie game.
One out! Never make the first or last out at third!!
Our next batter struck out but the catcher who was otherwise infallible dropped the ball. No matter - our batter froze and never made a move towards first. No matter, the catcher would have easily thrown her out.
Our next batter flew out to right. The rightfielder had a relatively weak arm. You see where I am with this? First off, we school our kids to pick up the third base coach as they approach second. They are supposed to look for me just past the midway point between first and second. We school our girls to run after a strikeout and wait for the coach to stop them. We work tagups on flyballs at just about every practice. Had things gone according to plan, our number 6 hitter would have stayed safely at second, moved to third on the throw down to first after the dropped third and scored easily on a tag up after the fly out.
The reason I'm telling you this story is because the mistakes made which cost us the game were coaches' and parents' mistakes. The players were not to blame. This was not a champ9ionship or elimination game. It was a friendly. It was also the first time my team had ever played together. But the way it was played, it very well could have been a championship game. And we need to take away from the loss everything we can in order to make the team better. It should not go unmentioned that the reason I'm writing this is more for my team and myself than anything else. I will explain that in a minute.
Let me delve into the reasons why things played out as they did. First of all, we do, as I said, drill the kids to pick up the third base coach. We do that in practice. This particular kid has not been to many of our practices because she is involved in many other activites, including school softball and other sports. So she was not there the many times we had the girls run from first to third while picking up the base coach. We get good attendance at practice. Out of a roster of really 12, we usually get 10 or 11. But this girl frequently is not there because of her activities and it hurt the team although without her hit, we wouldn't have been it anyway.
Secondly, the girl who struck out knows to run to first. I saw her do it a few innings earlier. But in that instance, she was a little awkward anbd the catcher caught the ball cleanly. We all chuckled. She got self-conscious. That caused the momentary hesitation which allowed the catcher to tag her out though it didn't matter anyway because we had no baserunner who would have moved up. But after the first strikeout, I should have approached the girl and told her not to get heady about what just happened, that she had done the right thing and that's what i want her to do the next time. That was a c oaching failure.
Also, I should have made a point of talking with the girl who had been out at third to impress her with the fact that she does not make a lot of baserunning decisions. Those are in my hands. I have told our team that when they follow instructions and they are out, they are not at fault but when they do not follow instructions, it doesn't matter that they are safe.
After the game, the father of the girl who hit the ball to the fence and then was tagged out at third approached me and apologized that his kid had not held. He said the girl is used to her school coach who is unreliable in terms of her role as a thirdbase coach. When she plays school ball, she feels like she is on her own on the basepaths. I can understand that but this is not school ball. And it is important for a parent to impress that fact on their daughter. Also, more effort needs to b e made to make practices or perhaps the kid ought to think about not playing travel softball. I do not want to see that happen in this case but I am trying to give you, the reader, some food for thought. Your daughters need to be at practice.
As a final, final comment, I want to explain why I felt it necessary to provide the details of our loss the other day. We need to learn from our mistakes. More learning is done because of mistakes, because of losses, than can ever be done as a result of victories. Coaches need to understand why they got smoked, why they lost by a few runs to an inferior team, and why they lost great games by one run. They need to be ready to accept the blame for losses while giving credit for any victory exclusively to the players. Parents need to understand where their role is in this. When driving away friom the fields, they need to speak guardedly about how things went down.
Recently, at a 14U game in which my daughter participated which ended 2-0, the team which lost did not have much opportunity to score but the one big shot they had was blown. There were two outs with runner on second and the score 1-0 at this point. The batter had two strikes on her and hit a tweener bloop to right. It fell. The runner at second, a fast kid, went halfway, held, and returned to the bag when the ball came in.
This girl has not played a lot of travel ball. She didn't know what to do in the situation. You can see that as an unforgivable mistake and it might be, had the girl been playing a long time and had this been an elimination game - it was a friendly. I'd prefer to view this as an opportunity to teach. the girl should be pulled aside right then if possible, after the inning in any event, and definitely after the game or at the next practice and it should be explained to her that she should have been standing on home when that ball hit the ground.
I have seen the same sort of mistake from a high school team which is ranked in the top 20 in my state. It almost cost the team a game. It occurs to me that once, probably long ago, this girl was in a game like the one my daughter played. She was on base with two outs and somebody hit a bloop. She went halfway and didn't proceed like she should have. Nobody corrected her or brought the subject up again. They just assumed she would learn from it.
For your information, in case you don't see it, when you are on base, you get a running lead. With the count 3-2, you don't stop on your lead. You proceed to the next base since you cannot be doubled up. If the batter has two strikes on her, you lead and if you hear the bat meet ball, you proceed the same way you do on a 3-2 count. In the case described, the girl should have taken off for third, rounded the bag and focused only on her base coach, who by the way was in full wheel mode though the girl never so much as looked at him. She might not have made it home before that ball landed. But most likely she would have scored. That would actually have been better since most likely they would have tried to make a play on her and the batter would have been on second!
Coaches need to analyze exactly what happened in all games, win or lose, and decide what their take-aways are going to be. Then at the next practice, they need to discuss the mistakes, explain that the object of practicing is to improve upon mistakes and then design drills to addresss any shortcomings. I think, in our case, it would also be useful to emphasize how well they played but that we are going to see other games like this and when those games are elimination or championship ones, we are really going to want to win them. One of my main focal points is something I got from Jessica Mendoza when she said she tried every day to just get a little bit better. I can tell this team that they played very well, especially for a first time out on the field, but if we're going to be as good as we can be, we will need to improve just a little bit each time.
So, that is my piece for the day. To wrap it up, I'm talking about elements which are truly game changers. Coaches, parents and players are all participants in this process. Each can make a difference in the outcome of a game. If we walk away victorious, that goes to the players. If we lose, that is probably on the coaches. Hopefully the parents only factor in via positive ways but you'll get no credit. Of course, you're used to that. I know I am.Labels: coaching, parenting
Permanent Link: Game Changers
Fundamental Skills
by Dave
Friday, November 14, 2008
I want to speak to you today about the most important softball fundamentals a kid who aspires to play in college can have. These skills are indispensable not only for getting noticed by coaches and achieving scholarship dollars but also to insure success in one's college softball career. These skills cannot be overemphasized. They cannot be ignored. They are bare essentials.
The coach looked pretty glum as he began to talk to his young charges. Something had upset him. He was deeply troubled by some of the results he was seeing with a few of the girls he had coached for years. He wanted to address the shortcomings of his outgoing class and make sure these newer charges would not make the same mistakes.
The coach began by asking who of the 12 or so girls surrounding him wanted to play college ball. All raised their hands. He informed them that just about all of the girls he had now, of the right age and grade, had received scholarships. He began to list them one by one, noting where they were going. There were several good schools in the list. All the girls he talked about had received athletic scholarships to attend the institutions they had signed NLIs with.
This girl was going to ..., where she always aspired to go. That girl just received notice that she'll be going to such and such University, a school she has worked very hard to get into since she entered high school. It was her first choice. That girl will be going here, which is her first choice too. This girl is headed here.
All these girls had received athletic scholarships which would pay for tuition, fees, room and board, meals, books (oh my God, what textbooks cost today!), flowers in a vase on the nightstand on the day they move into the dorms, etc., etc. and so forth. And all this was covered by athletic money. Hurray! Mission accomplished! NOT!
The coach continued by asking the girls what their grades looked like. Most laid claim to straight A's, B+'s and the like. The coach told them that's good. Keep getting those grades. But your grades alone are simply not enough! You really need to try harder and do more.
The coach went on to discuss a few of the girls he coached who had received scholarships. This one was going to a very good institution but she received no academic money. Had she earned some academic scholarship money, say a half, a quarter, even ten percent of the total, the softball team might turn out to be better since the coach would then be able to go out and find some hitter, a catcher, a shortstop who would complete the recipe she was assembling to really compete in the conference.
This kid got a full ride but she settled for a school which, while certainly in the mix for her, was academically a cut below another school which she might have attended but couldn't afford with the less than full ride she was offered there.
That kid got into the school she wanted and received 100% funding via an athletic scholarship but she could not get into the major (of very limited size) she wanted because it was already full of kids with better academic credentials than she possessed.
The bottom line is the coach was upset by the harsh realities of higher education in this country. His kids all got reasonably good grades but they might have gotten better ones had they known earlier how difficult this process was going to be. Further, and more importantly, the real devil in all this was board scores (SATs / ACTs). This coach's kids, while good school students, often lacked that extra something, that little 800 pound gorilla in the room, which often makes a huge difference and which nobody seems to talk about until it is too late, board scores.
I believe we have largely been misled regarding college board scores. If I had a dime for every instance in which someone told me those scores may be somewhat important but not nearly as much as they were when you and I applied for college, I'd be a rich man. The diminished importance of board scores is probably true but fails to acknowledge that, in certain settings, they can make all the difference. I believe that your typical kid applying for a school will not make it in, be put on the waiting list, or be turned down exclusively or largely because of his or her board scores. The board scores won't be the deciding factor for entry. But they may matter in other important ways.
Things were simpler back when I was applying to colleges. You got good enough grades. You made sure your class rank was good enough to get into the schools you targeted. Then you sat for the SATs and, if those scores put you in the middle of the pack of the school's typical freshman class, you usually got in.
I went to a pretty good academic high school. The majority of our top ten class rank got into Ivy League schools. Those who didn't typically went to schools which were about equal to the Ivy League. The entire top 25% had pretty much their pick of the remaining top schools and often attended outstanding institutions.
I wasn't at or near the top of my class in terms of class rank. My grades were OK, mostly Bs. I hadn't taken very many honors classes. I did not take a fourth year of math, science or foreign language. In today's highly competitive environment, I would probably have been in trouble. I targeted and applied to 3 schools, all of which accepted me. One of these was a very good academic institution. The second was pretty darn good too. The third was very average.
I was accepted to all three schools largely because my board scores were very high. I guess you could say I was the classic underachiever. I should have been immersed in math and sciences, particularly given how well I scored on boards. But I was a schlep, uninspired, unambitious. As it turned out, we couldn't afford two of the schools, the two better ones, which had accepted me, so I went to my third choice. But I could have gone to my first choice based solely on academics because back then, things were pretty clear cut - high enough board scores could get you into just about any place. Nowadays, that's not true.
The formula by which universities determine who they will accept and who they will exclude is a complex one. Grades certainly matter a lot. Class rank isn't what it once was because many high schools, especially the best ones, don't even calulate a class rank, let alone report it out. Board scores were once very important but in the modern political climate, these are discounted because schools seek to have well rounded populations and kids from inner cities just do not earn the sort of scores on standardized tests their suburban counterparts do. There are other considerations which, when I applied to college, weren't even in anyone's discussion, let alone a primary consideration. Nowadays things like community service, work experience, particularly in charitable causes, and other intangibles play a much bigger role than they once did. Additionaslly, when a school puts together its acceptance list, it limits the number of kids who come from a particular high school.
When kids are in their sophomore or junior years of high school, they begin contemplating the various choices for college. These are not necessarily cold, rational discussions. Often the discussion centers around a few schools. High school kids don't know the names of very many colleges. It is highly likely that in a population of 500 aspiring college students at a single high school, the list of colleges discussed will be rather short, possibly as small as 30 to 50. These kids will get it into their heads that their first choice is this school or that. And when it comes time to apply, there is a pretty good chance that 20, 30, 40 kids from a single high school will end up applying to the same school.
When today's colleges go over their applications to pull together the acceptance list, one of the things they will try to avoid is pulling in 40 kids from the same high school. This makes a lot of sense. But if you are the fifth or tenth kid, in terms of all academic and other credentials, from that high school and you really want to attend that university, you are probably going to be out of luck.
Also, even if you get into the school of your dreams, that doesn't mean you are going to be accepted into the major of your dreams at that particular institution. Even when I went to college, there were certain majors in my school which were competitive. Several friends of mine did not get into the programs they sought. They went to the school anyway but were often disappointed because they really wanted to be financial analysts, nurses, accountants, chemists or whatever. Some were able to work their way into the majors of their choice but many were not. Today is an even more competitive climate at many schools, particularly in certain majors with well developed, highly respected programs.
Let's say you want to be, I don't know, an astrophysicist. You did pretty well in your science classes but you scored an average of "only" 600 on each of your SAT test sections. You were accepted into the university of your choice. If the astrophysics major in that school only has room for 40 kids and you are ranked 41, you're out of luck. Board scores can often differentiate one kid from another when it comes time to accept a kid into a particular major. And most good programs at most good universities are indeed limited to a relatively small number of kids.
In terms of scholarship money available to athletes, board scores can make a huge difference. I recently spoke with someone whose kid received a large piece of money to play a sport at a college. That kid did not receive a full ride but he is going to sign an NLI for that school and is excited to go there. He'll have to come up with thousands to fund his education. Most likely, he and his parents will take out student loans. So, when he graduates, he'll have more than a valuable piece of paper, he'll also have debt!
This kid's father told me he may very well get some additional academic money. They're really not sure how much yet. The whole equation has not been completed by the school. But they are fairly certain that the piece of money in academic scholarships will be relatively small. Why? His board scores are just average for the athletic team. I wondered why this kid was not going to get more academic aid since he is a very good student with outstanding grades in almost all honors classes who also did some community work, etc. This kid is pretty much of a stellar college applicant. He's stellar except for his board scores which are really not bad, just sort of average when compared to the kids on his new team.
I mentioned the idea that if one were able to get more academic money, one could endear themselves to the coaching staff by freeing up athletic money for pursuing other kids. But there's another reason why academic money is really important. Athletic scholarships are one year deals. If a kid blows out some part of her body and can no longer compete, she may have to leave the institution she has grown to love because her parents cannot afford to pick up the slack after she quits her sport.
Sure, some institutions will honor a scholarship when a kid gets injured on the field of play and is physically unable to perform for the duration of her years. But not all will. And sometimes the injury caused on the field happens to pop out its head after a minor car accident, while fooling around at home during Thanksgiving or Christmas break, or as a result of something done in the weight room while doing mandatory work at 5 in the morning when nobody else is around. Athletic departments may be reticent to continue an athletic schoalrship for a kid who is physically unable to perform and the cause of the injury is at least somewhat suspect.
What if a kid decides she really doesn't want to play softball during her senior year because the team stinks, the coaching staff changed, or all the kids she liked just graduated and all the ones she hates are still on the team, not to mention she wants to take a special course so she can fly through her medical or business school boards? Maybe she is just 6 credits from graduating and this wonderful opportunity to work as a graduate assistant popped into her lap but she cannot compete in the sport and take the position? I can think of a thousand scenarios in which a kid could possibly want to relinquish an athletic scholarship at one point or another while hopefully remaining at the particular institution. Earning academic money is critical to pulling this off. And if you achieve good grades in college, keeping that academic money is usually pretty easy.
So, you may be wondering because I know I am, why I would bring this subject up on a web site which really targets softball players younger than say high school juniors and seniors. My reason for bringing this up here is because now is really the time to begin thinking about this whether you hope to play ball in college or not. Now is the time to mobilize and acknowledge that board scores are still important.
The reason one should addresss the issue of board scores now is because it is far easier to address with years in front of you than it is with just months. You can remediate now, either on your own or with help. By the time your kid is in her junior year, the only way you can do anything at all is to take very expensive classes and cram, cram, cram. This can put a serious damper on living a reasonably sane life at a time when things are already pretty stressful.
Basically, boards consist of verbal and mathematics skills. I don't hold out myself to be an exspert but I think it stand to reason that these skills are pretty easy to break down. If you want to do well on math boards, you need to develop a logical progression of skills. You must have the multiplication tables down pat. I don't mean that if I ask you how much is 12 times 12, you can think for second and eventually come up with 144. I mean that when you look onto a piece of paper and see the equation, you think the answer. I mean that when you contemplate an algebraic equation which leads to the 144, you immediately think 12 times 12, 3 times 3 times 4 times 4, two 3 and four 2s, 9 times 16, etc. The synapses in your brain are capable of doing mathematical gymnastics on the fly. That isn't really quite as impossible as it sounds.
The way to gain real abilities in mathematics is very similar to the way we train athletes, particularly softball athletes, via drilling. There is a whole school, a pretty expensive one, of mathematical training called "Kumon" which specializes in drilling. There are others but Kumon is the one I'm most familiar with. IMHO, Kumon is to math what Kobata is to infielding! Essentially, this is where many school systems fail today's youth in mathematics. Kids no longer drill. They don't live the problems and solutions, they survive the classes.
In order to perform calculus, you must be quick at algebra. In order to perform algebra quickly, you must be fast at multiplication, division, and factoring. These require in-built mastery of the multiplication tables. A good mathematics student doesn't think their way through a calculus problem, they feel their way through it. They are able to concentrate on the thinking part of the solution because they have mastery over the more mechanical sides. They look at a problem requiring factoring and the solution to an algebraic formula and feel the answer while spending more time on the important parts.
I watched a number of people in college struggle in calculus class. We had this nutty professor from Columbia who did not do a very good job of explaining things. We started with about 40 kids in the class. 15 remained at the end of the semester. 2 passed. I achieved the high grade in the class with a 3.0, a B. The other person who passed was a girl I often studied with - who I essentially tutored. She earned a C. I tried to tutor other kids who were my friends but I was struck by the number of them who could not solve the algebraic equations involved. They struggled because they didn't automatically think the answer to several types of problems involving factoring, multplication, etc. They got hung up on these rudimentary parts of the problems and failed to even get to the more difficult parts.
So, if you are planning on remediating your kid's education, I strongly suggest you do so with respect to multiplication tables. It is a simple exercises to make sure your kid has mastery over these but it can take time. Performing drills over a long period of time is the best way I know of accomplishing the task. Then pay special attention when your kid is taking algebra. Get yourself an algebra text book, preferably one with an answer key. And make your kid do some drilling for 15 to 30 minutes a day at least as often as she practices her softball skills. I know this can get pretty hectic during the school year when you try to fit in all these other things. But surely you can find a half hour on at least two days per week. And step it up to four days a week when school is not in session. The time spent drilling when school is out can be crucial to making real strides in this regard.
When your kid gets into geometry, algebra 2 and trig, look through the work. It's been a long time since you did any of that and you need to be refreshed. Build up a collection of problem types, a compilation of problems, and answers, so you can craft drilling work for her to do in the future. If you want to score high on math boards and you do these kinds of things, you can save a ton of money (or if you have the money and want an easier way for yourself, enroll in Kumon or some such). The bottom line is, given years, you can push a kid's math board scores to the roof and clear a path for her in terms of college and career.
Verbal skills are more involved. A student needs sound reading comprehension, a good vocabulary, the ability to express herself well via the written word, etc. These skills sometimes seem daunting to one trying to remediate. You have to take a slow, rational approach. Vocabulary is probably one of the easier problems to solve because there are techniques which, when used frequently over the long-haul, complement techniques used to remediate other areas of verbal skills.
For example, start now developing a large stack of cards or a Word document consisting of all the difficult words encountered. I remember a time when I was doing a lot of fairly difficult reading on my own. In a given hour, I typically came across a dozen words with which I was either not familiar or with which I had only brief, cursory experience. All I did was write the word down and plan to look it up later. I did this on note cards and later looked them up in a good collegiate dictionary, writing the definition on the back of each card. Then I would review these cards periodically. I didn't study them until my brain hurt. I merely reviewed them many times over a long period.
Understand that I readily acknowledge that I do not own one of the stronger, more well developed vocabularies of people I know. But you should have seen me before I did this! And for unknown reasons, I stopped the practice. Eventually I suppose everyone stops doing things like this because life takes its twists and turns and insufficient time remains to keep up good habits. But a junior high school or early high school student has no excuses. If she wants to do well on her boards, she needs to build a vocabulary as muscular as her legs.
Reading comprehension is really easy to remediate. But it takes loads more time. That's because in order to build comprehension, what you have to do is read. You have to read a lot. You have to become a quick reader. You have to understand what you read quickly. The best way to do this is to read material you really like.
If you are a complete sports nut, read sports related material. I recall a kid in high school who was having all sorts of problems in classes which required good reading skills. He had never read very much. He was a very good athlete who was a sports nut. At some point, a very smart teacher decided to make him read sports novels. He read them voraciously for several months and afterwards, his reading skills were dramatically better than they were to begin with.
Whatever genre of stories or other reading materials you take to, get lots of it and read, read, read. After a while, you'll have to move away and engage in more difficult reading but the first step to improving reading skills is to read a lot and you need to be so entertained that you cannot help but to become a fast reader whose comprehension is improving by the day.
At this point in the process, you have to start reading material which challenges you. You need to be forced to sometimes jot down those words which cause you difficulty. If you read something for an hour and do not ever encounter a difficult word, something is wrong. You are not picking sufficiently challenging material. Conversely, if you read material which forces you to look up words every five minutes just to comprehend what the author is saying, chances are decent that you are reading something too difficult and your efforts are wasted.
If you read frequently, read quickly, are challenged by what you read, encounter new words which you write down, look them up and then review systematically, your reading comprehension and verbals skills will improve steadily. Now it is time to consider your writing skills.
I believe our schools do a much better job of teaching writing today than they did when I went to school. Kids today write more, do more presentations, are forced to express themselves on topics they researched or had to dig out from deep inside themselves, than we did in school. But not everyone excells in these areas. And when a kid falls behind, most often they just get stuck in classes in which less of this kind of work is demanded of them. Whether you are very good at expressing yourself via the written word, merely average, or one of those people who gets stuck in "dunce" classes, you can help yourself to become a better writer. The thing to do in order to improve writing skills is ... to write.
It doesn't really matter so much if you write letters never meaning to send, sports stories for games you watched on TV or in person, a diary, the next great novel, or anything at all (except text messages and/or IMs which we'll address momentarily). Just write.
Good writers learn to speak through their written words. They get to that point by writing a lot. I forget which author wrote this but he said, "if you want to be a writer, write, write every day, write as often as you possibly can." What he meant by that is the way to learn to write is just to write. You don't have to write literature. It does not have to constitute grammatic perfection. It can be complete junk which you despise and which, upon re-reading, you have the overwhelming compulsion to throw into the waste basket (I mean recycling bin). But you simply must write.
Texting and IMs do not count as writing. These are mere conversation and poor conversation at that. When you write, you must write in sentences. You must complete some sort of thought. It can be as simple as "I'm hungry now, have to go, be back to write another chapter tomorrow." Or it can be paragraph after paragraph telling some complicated story about your life. The more you write, the more you will be able to write.
As you begin to be able to write what you are thinking, at some point, you should want to do more than a mere diary of the immediate goings on in your life. At some point, I hope that a diary entry which discusses a really hard thing you did at school might explain in some detail about that difficult thing. At some point, I hope that your diary entry might include a deep philosophical thought you havw, a cause and effect essay or some sort of more advanced writing involving more than simply jotting down what happened today. If you are reading a book, perhaps your diary might include a summary of the chapter you finished. If you watched a professional football or college softball game, maybe you can pick a player who really impressed you, do a little internet research and then include a bit of biographical information in your writing. The point is just write. Above all, just write, and then, when you find you can write, stretch yourself.
In more general terms, I want you to consider one other aspect of college boards. If you are already moving along in your high school career, you want to make sure you take the college boards as well as any available practice tests as early as possible. For example, you can sit for the PSATs your sophomore year. Do it! Keep in mind that to enter the National Merit Scholarship competititon, you will still need to take the PSATs again during your junior year. But taking the test early should point out any deficiencies you may need to remediate.
I think you can take the SATs just about any time. I'm not really sure about any restrictions but I recall folks I know having their kid take the test as early as 8th grade, if I'm not mistaken. That's really early since an 8th grader probably has not been exposed to algebra 2 or any of the other material assumed to have been learned. I'm not suggesting that you sign up your pre-high schooler to sit for college boards but I am telling you to plan to have her take the test earlier than her peers. As usual, I'm teaching what I need to learn. I missed the first opportunity to take the PSATs in high school, then registered late for SATs, and even missed one sitting of the CPA exam because I failed to register on time! Don't be me. Get moving early!
I'm really not sure what single specific event caused me to write this piece today. I always think at least a little about college. Every day, something from my college days pops into my head. Very frequently, I find myself involved in my kids' studies to some degree. When that happens, I muse about their future college days. Whenever I'm in a softball setting, something about college pops up whether it be a college scholarship, a kid I know playing on some college team, a game I watched, or whatever. College, college, college. Everywhere I turn, college looms. And within the context of a youth softball blog, I imagine the same thing holds true for you. So I guess I wrote this because I thought perhaps somebody out there might be interested in a few thoughts I have on the subject.
I know that as important as college boards were to me, they are far less important today. Grades and other things are more important. Still, boards are not unimportant. They could be critical in certain settings. It would be well worth your efforts to at least think about them and see if any remediation for your kid is necessary. It really is not hard to do, especially when you have several years. I think your efforts will pay off tremendously.Labels: college, parenting
Permanent Link: Fundamental Skills
Fatal Team Flaw
by Dave
Monday, November 03, 2008
I have received countless e-mails concerning a perceived fastpitch softball travel team flaw which seems to be perhaps more prevalent in the sport than composite bats. These messages come from Illinois, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Connecticut, Australia, and even Europe. I believe I have received questions regarding this single issue more than any other general area of questions by a factor as large as 5 or 10 to 1. That is, I receive 5 to 10 e-mails asking about a certain situation about as often as I receive questions regarding hitting, fielding, or pitching. These may be as much as half all messages I receive. The issue concerns one's status as a player on a roster including three, four or more kids whose parents act as the team's coaches.
The very first item I would like to bring up is there are two fundamental situations which can prevail in any youth sport. One is a team which is not coached by parents. The other is one in which players' parents do most or all of the coaching. That's simple enough but even when there is a paid "professional" coach, very often 2 or 3 parents become that coach's helpers. And because those parents become close with the coach, they have much more input to the decision making process than all the other parents.
The second item I would like to bring up is, one situation is not necessarily better than the other. There are plenty of teams coached by an outside, paid coach on which there is a tremendous amount of anger over roster and lineup decisions. Conversely, there are plenty of parent-run teams on which relative happiness, peace and harmony are the rule. In fact, some of the best travel ball teams I have ever seen were coached by parents of players for many years.
Additionally, the paid, professional coach may or may not be a better actual coach than the parent. There are any number of parents who are at least as knowledgeable as an ASA Gold or similar level coach who just happen to have 10 - 14 year old daughters. As an aside, if you read this blog, you should know that I believe in having your daughter coached by anyone but you by the time she reaches 14. That doesn't necessarily mean a paid or outside coach. But it is in your daughter's best developmental interests to be coached by someone besides mom or dad.
Some professional or quasi-professional coaches can sometimes have an outdated view of the game, be totally inexperienced at coaching, or otherwise not be the optimum person to coach a particular team. I am not biased towards outside, professional coaches. And I am not blind to the type of problems which can arise in either type of situation. But those are your general options.
Where I would like to take this conversation is into the realm of some of the deciding factors involving the parent-coached team. What I mean is, I would like to point out certain situations which folks who have their daughters on parent-coached teams should look out for. I'd also like to discuss why some of these situations happen and why they should be expected. Then I'd like to provide some general guidance for parents who wonder whether they should leave for greener pastures. &mnbsp; Before I can do that, I need to break down the issues into their logical subdivisions.
The first issue involves playing time. I believe in a 12 or 13 member roster. Obviously that means 2 to 4 kids would be on the bench at any given moment. Also, I am speaking in the realm in which a team typically plays 3 games on a Saturday and then plays until they lose on Sunday - one game guaranteed, two better than one, and three usually meaning you have reached a championship round. That means a team is playing on average about 15 - 21 innings in 3 games on Saturday and anywhere between 7 and 21 innings on Sunday. I see the two days as decidedly different animals so let's take Saturday first.
On Saturday, a team has to fit 12 or 13 kids into 9 (or 10 if using the DP/Flex) positions, each played for on average about 16 innings. That calculates to about 144 - 160 "position innings." If you divide 12 kids into 144 position innings, that's about 12 innings per kid, assuming everyone sits about the same amount of time. So it is relatively easy to get every kid on a 12 member roster sufficient playing time to keep them satisfied.
But, in practice, this almost never happens. In practice, the same few kids usually sit and the same few kids usually see far less action than everyone else. Folks observing this, say to themselves and their friends, "well, this is travel not rec, the best kids should always play." I cannot find particular fault in that reasoning but it can be in everyone's best interests to make sure the least capable players get as much playing time as everyone else.
I have never been involved with a team on which nobody ever got hurt. I've been involved with some teams on which one of the best players ends up breaking her ankle or otherwise suffering a season-ending injury. When that happens, somebody is going to have to "come off the bench" and take over for the rest of the year. Also, many injuries can be of shorter duration, like the kid who thinks she broke her ankle during the first inning of the first game, leaves for the hospital, and comes back with the medical advice to stay off the sprained joint for a week. Sometimes, kids get hurt for the remainder of a game or perhaps for just two games and can come back and play later. And, finally, sometimes the star shortstop has to go to her grandfather's birthday party, fourth wedding or funeral. It is almost impossible to have the same kids playing the same position for every inning of every game for an entire day, let alone an entire tournament or season.
So, somebody needs to be ready to back every position up. If one kid sits the bench for the entire year until that wonderful moment when a coach realizes he or she is down to 9 live bodies going into the toughest tournament of the year, well, that kid is not going to be ready to come off the bench and play like an all-star while leading the team to victory. In fact, it isn't fair to expect particularly much from a kid who only gets in once you are ahead or behind by ten runs, takes one or two at-bats per tournament or just generally sits for all but a handful of innings most of the time. You have no right to expect much from her and that's a good thing because you aren't going to get much.
I know that when I coach a team, I try to make sure all my players get sufficient experience to get them ready and keep them ready to step in and up whenever the circumstances call for it. That's true of overall playing time and it is also true of playing time in important positions.
If you have a really great shortstop who plays there every inning of every game, I'd be willing to bet that if your team experiences a season-ending injury for anyone, it will be that shortstop. My advice is to play your star shortstop for two games out of three on Saturday and have the backup kid play one full game.
If your catcher is an all-star destined to play for a Pac-10 program, it may be that she catches 5 of 6 games over a weekend. But, again, if she goes down, you are going to wind up losing games later on in the year because she is out for a game or a tournament and the only other kid you have who can catch has never caught any of these pitchers before. She is going to have some PBs, mess up pitch calls, not set up the target in the right place, and generally not be able to hold the baserunners at bay. You have to get into the habit of using more than one catcher on Saturdays. It would be great if you could limit experience to one game each for three kids. Further, on Sunday, you may ask your first string catcher to get behind the plate for 3 straight, 7 inning or longer games on a surprisingly hot day in May. It would be smart if she could have a little rest on Saturday.
The bottom line is the team is served best by having several players receive playing time at critical positions throughout the tournament season so that, if the need arises, each will be ready to step in and play at about the same level as her predecessor. But sometimes parent-coaches don't do this. Parents who don't coach should keep their eyes open for these situations.
A frequent question arises in circumstances in which a parent-coached team seems to have the 6 infield positions, including pitcher, etched in stone. The same coach's daughter kid catches every inning of every game. The same, coach's daughter kid plays shortstop. The pitcher whose father coaches either pitches every inning of every game or, at the very least, pitches as much as all other pitchers combined. I don't want to get into the foolishness of having a pitcher throw that much - no it doesn't build character or stamina - but we'll have to get into that on another day.
Sometimes, it is blatantly obvious that the coach's kid, who has become a monument at a position, is not quite as good as someone else on the roster. Sometimes, she might be the third, fourth, or fifth choice of a rational, objective coach. I have often heard from folks who have daughters that play the same position as the "monument" player. They sometimes think, if only for a moment, that the coaches may see that their kid is far superior to the coach's daughter and get her some time at the position. I could be snide and say, "good luck with that" but instead I'll say, "I think you know where this situation is going to end."
Recently, I had the opportunity to see a monument second baseman whose father had always coached move to a new team. We heard the kid had joined a particular team on which the coach's daughter was also a monument second baseman. We let it be known that this was the case and then learned that the kid had left the team within days of hearing this. It's a smart move. She would never have seen any time at second.
It really takes one to know one. Often when a coach has a monument player and then tries to join a team with a similar circumstance, the new player recognizes what is going on very quickly and leaves as fast as she came. It is the kid whose parents haven't coached and/or guaranteed her playing time at a position who think she may have a shot to supplant another monument coach's daughter player on merit who stays and ends up being disappointed when no matter how many errors the coach's daughter makes, no matter how badly she costs her team, she still plays every inning of every game at the position.
So my first piece of advice is to keep your eyes open and get to know what is going on with respect to roster decisions on every team you might consider playing for in the future. If you find yourself having finished a fall ball season and one of the coaches' daughters plays your kid's position every inning, don't expect that to ever change. Find yourself another team.
The most obvious monument player circumstance involves the weak-armed, none to athletic, coach's daughter at second. Some people believe you can get away with putting a less gifted kid at second. The throws are easier, after all. But more balls are hit to second than are hit anywhere else in the field in girl's softball. A weak player there is going to eventually cost a team.
You should watch out also for "stealth" parent coach favoritism. Recently I watched a team bring a guest player on board. This team also has a monument second baseman whose father is the manager. The guest player is a very good pitcher. When she doesn't pitch, she likes to play second. All during their first tournament, the guest played second when she wasn't pitching. The coach also had his kid sit a fair amount of the time - something he never does during the real tournament season. This guest will probably join the team expecting to pitch a game and then play two at second. My guess is they'll try to have her pitch two games a day and then sit the remainder of the time so she can pitch some more. She won't be happy but she and her parents didn't do their homework. They didn't know the team has a monument 2B player.
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that a coach will want his or her kid to play at a desired position all the time. Certainly not all or a majority of coaches do that. But it shouldn't surprise anyone when they do. Volunteer coaching is a tremendous burden. It is physically and psychically draining. The only reason anyone does it is so their kid has the opportunity to play and improve at the game. Many coaches are fair and see playing their kid when she doesn't deserve to play as irresponsible. Some parent coaches see putting their daughter at some favorite position when there is a better option, as such blatant favoritism that they are embarrased to do it. But enough people have no such reservations. So when we encounter such a circumstance, we should be ready for it.
It often baffles me when a parent speaks glowingly about their daughter's skills. I've been around enough parents of good players to observe their behavior. None of them overly promote their daughters. Most parents of good players pretty much complain about some deficiency in their daughters' games.
I know of one very good player who has always been an impact player even when she plays with much older kids. If you ask the father how things are going, he will sigh, get angry and then tell you everything his daughter does wrong. He situates himself as far away from the field during games as he can and then yells at her, complaining about lack of effort and the like. He used to coach some very competitive teams she was on but can no longer stand it. Now he's on the sidelines and moving away from the field with each passing tournament.
Another parent I know often spends the entire tournament complaining, under his breath, about his kid's lack of focus. She's the best player around. I have seen the father of a successful division one player march the sidelines cursing his kid's lack of focus or one stupid thing she might have done by accident. Yet another parent I know spends entire games trying to get his kid to put out more and more effort. In sideline or other conversation, he would never suggest that she does more than anyone else. She's headed to a Div I on a full ride. Many of these fathers and mothers once coached but gave it up because they wanted to back away for their kid's development. They didn't need to create spots for their kids. Their kids deserved to start without having their parents coach.
By contrast, I have heard several parents who also happen to coach sing the praises of their kids. One in particular will tell anyone willing to listen that his kid is the best one around. She's not - she's actually pretty bad. A reader of this blog told me how he went to a coaches-parents meeting and listened while the coach told how his daughter "always gives 110%." When I heard that, I told him "this is not a good sign." It turns out that the kid giving 110% is not one of the better players on the team but she is a fixture at a key position.
Even when the parent is not a coach but has a tight relationship with the coach, that is a cause for concern. I can think of several circumstances in which coaches and particular parents were "buddies from high school." Often when I see such situations, the kid of the non-coach is a bad player. She is disruptive in practice, doesn't take the game seriously, doesn't practice on her own, and generally ends up costing the team.
In certain circumstances, some parents are not coaches nor longstanding buddies but they try to push their way in anyway. One such fellow had his eyes wide open for any opportunity to volunteer to help. Then, as soon as such oppotunity presented itself, he tried to make himself a fixture on the coaching staff. And he promoted his kid endlessly. He sang her praises and insisted she play this position or that. But she was terrible and eventually cost the team so badly, that the coaches saw through his methods and pushed the kid back in the pecking order. As you might imagine, this kid moves teams each year and the dynamic plays out every time in very similar ways.
Almost as a general rule, coaches who sing the praises of their kids should be avoided at all costs. When such a coach has a monument player as a daughter, run like heck to get away. And if she's a pitcher, watch out!
I suppose one of the things that troubles me when it comes to pitchers is the girl who does not attend lessons and/or apparently does not practice very much on her own. I mean this in the broad scheme, not just in the parent-coach scenario. I have seen a number of self-described pitchers who do not take any kind of lesson or attend a few clinics infrequently and never work to get better.
It is certainly possible for a parent to become so educated in pitching that they are able to act as their kid's private coach. Some parents of big name pitchers have done just that. But this is the exception, not the rule. Also, some kids go to lessons with decent instructors but do not practice as much as they need to be successful. I have often seen kids who should be very good based on their overall mechanics but who are not, precisely because they do not work adequately.
One of the catch-all phrases that attracts my negative attention occurs when the parent of a pitcher notes that, although their kid is not very fast, speed isn't as important as movement or location. I don't wish to debate the relative merits of speed, location, movement, etc. right now. If you read this blog, you know I value all these attributes. But if I had a dollar for every time an under schooled or under practiced pitcher's parent proclaimed that the daughter may not have speed ..., I'd be a wealthy man. Almost without exception, the kids who are prolaimed to be movement pitchers with good location turn out to have very little movement and poor control, let alone location. If they had movement or hit their spots, nobody would ever have to tell me. I'd see it myself. 99 times out of 100, these girls end up being ones who pitched pretty well at 10U, several years ago, struggled through 12U, and now have skills which are well beneath their counterparts who worked and trained hard.
It is usually quite evident, very quickly, when a pitcher is under schooled or under-practiced. When such kid is the daughter of a coach or manager, or she is the daughter of a close personal friend of the coach or manager, trouble is bound to happen. She will get more time in the circle than is deserved. One of the things to keep your eyes open to is the pitcher who isn't apparently very skilled but who always seems to get pitching time while another kid who seems to be far superior sits or plays some other position. This doesn't happen all that much in tournament ball but it does happen. Verify that there is some sort of relationship between coach and subpar pitcher. And if you see such a situation, run away fast!
Many, many times, parents who find themselves in such circumstance eschew the "quitter" mentality and seek, instead, a conference with the coach or coaches. They wish to point out apparent injustices, gain an understanding of why the situation persists, and then hopefully obtain promises for redress. I am not an advocate of always running away but I have seen this kind of thing not work or perhaps even backfire more often than it has actually worked to solve the problem.
For example, once upon a time, there was a girl who was a very good overall ballplayer. She wasn't the greatest to ever play the game but she was very good. She could play anywhere. She could hit but she needed some coaching to improve and step up to be one of the better players around. She found herself on a team on which coaches' daughters were monument players. One played her position, first base. The coach's daughter who played first was not a good defensive player. She was an adequate hitter. She played every inning at first and batted in the 3, 4, or 5 slot.
When it came to defense, this girl, this monument, was a monument in more ways than one. She could not play a bunt because her footspeed was poor. She could field a grounder right at her but anything to either side was going to go right past her. She couldn't field a pop-up behind first so she didn't bother trying even when the ball was less than five feet in back of the bag. When it came to covering the bag, she wasn't too bad but because she had slow reactions and was not particularly athletically gifted, anything offline or a little high usually got past her. Further, her throwing transition and release were slow. So, if say a fielder checked the runner at third and went to first, this girl was pretty much unable to make a good, quick throw home in the event the runner tried to advance. 9 out of 10 times, perhaps more, such a runner with average or better speed would be able to make it home safely on any play in which the fielder tried to get the out at first.
The good overall ballplayer, by contrast, could make all the plays, most of the time. She ran and laid out for balls hit behind the bag, as well as balls hit beyond her reach. She did everything one would hope to get from a first baseman. And she had a hard-working, aggressive attitude. She was a difference maker in terms of her actual play on the field and her impact on teammates. But she never played first. Instead, she was stuck at third which she never really liked. After one such season, she and her parent approached the team's manager to discuss her continued participation on the team. They obtained promises that the girl would play quite a bit at first as it was clear the monument player was not going to be able to cut it at their current level. The coach found himself a decent third baseman and the team headed into fall ball. But things did not turn out as planned.
Halfway through the fall, after this girl had really proved herself at first, a change happened. The monument was restored in its "rightful" place and the gifted girl was moved to an outfield position. Nothing had transpired which would cause an objective observer to move the gifted kid off first. But the coaching father had noticed his kid marginalized, had begun complaining and working to have her restored at first, and succeeded.
The lesson, boys and girls is, of course, actions speak louder than words. Promises are not often kept when push comes to shove. Coaches' daughters may get moved off a position for a time but either they will be restored or "by, by coach." It is simply not enough to obtain promises of playing time or promises of some time at a position. You must see action. And if you are already on a team with coaches' daughters always seeing time at monument positions, promises may be made but they will, more than not, be broken sooner rather than later.
Before I go, let me say that I am not some sort of advocate for constantly jumping from one team to another until perfection is achieved. Perfection does not exist in our Universe unless all these things you currently see before you are actually already perfection in motion. But there are some fatal flaws with which none of us can live. The coaches' daughters playing every inning of every game while others, perhaps of higher caliber, sit or play merely supporting roles to the monuments, is a situation to be avoided whenever possible. This is less true when the coaches' daughters happen to be the best players around and/or the coaches are really talented ones. Not every professional or outside coach is good - some are and many are not. Not every parent coach is bad - a few are but most are quite good. I hope you can tell the difference. It is critical for you to learn to do this.Labels: parenting, youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: Fatal Team Flaw
For LOVE Of The Game
by Dave
Friday, October 31, 2008
Last night, I read an article in "Fastpitch Delivery" written by Margie Wright, 24 year head coach of Fresno State and NFCA Hall of Fame inductee. I found it to be an interesting perspective but wrong on a number of levels. Today I want to offer up a refutation of many of the article's points.
Before I begin, let me acknowledge that Wright has much more perspective on this subject than I do, having played and coached the game for longer than I've been an adult. Further, she's been involved in the game at a high level in the most competitive "market." I should not have a better perspective on girls competitive fastpitch softball than Margie Wright and I suppose I really don't. She knows the subject inside out. Still, there are some obvious discrepancies in her positions and it is these I want to point out for the purpose of examining the sport and hopefully improving some folks' understanding.
Wright first praises the growth in our sport from the point of view of the benefits Title IX has bestowed. Coaching women's college softball has become "financially sound" in terms of higher budgets including more scholarships, better facilities, and legitimate recognition. There are more opportunities than ever for girls to participate in "competitive softball at all levels."
Wright claims that the huge growth in "exposure tournaments" has become a "lucrative business." She believes this and some other changes have made the game more about money and less about the "original reasons girls and women wanted to have the opportunity to play sports," which is for love of the game.
In order to bolster her arguments, Wright discusses the history of the game and notes that back in the good ole days, there were no age groups in softball. Young girls had to play with older ones or have no opportunity to participate. This provided opportunities to develop leadership skills as the older girls with greater experience necessarily had to teach the younger, less experienced girls what was expected of them. There were very few scholarship opportunities. Tournaments were always competitive ones - fastpitch showcases hadn't evolved yet. Opportunities to play professionally or in the capacity of representing the country were minimal. So players could play only for one reason, love of the game.
Before I get too into my refutation, let me say that "lucrative," "financially sound" and other measures of "success" are apparently in the eye of the beholder. It is relatively easy to acknowledge that women's basketball is a much more financially sound operation than softball is. Further, I know no person who has become particularly "wealthy" as a result of participation in softball.
Measures of wealth are obviously relative but among the most successful people involved in the sport, I believe very few have become wealthy directly from softball, at least in terms of what most people in this country would call wealthy. Many private coaches who run clinics and schools do make significant chunks of change. Some top college coaches are paid pretty well. Those who sell equipment or tutorials often earn a good living. There is money within the sport and some are better than others at piling it up. But the opportunities to earn significant sums are extremely limited and available to but a select, decided minority of even the best known names in the sport.
Women's college basketball coaches make far more money than do softball coaches. The very best earners, while not making anywhere near their male sport counterparts, often earn top dollar when compared to their peers in the general public. A local D-1 basketball coach, who happens to be among the top earners in the sport, makes a living which is among the top 1% of all earners in the country. She makes somewhere between a half million and a million dollars annually. But her university decided to pay her this money because it brings prestige to the institution and draws in women of all sorts for many different kinds of purposes. She does not earn this income on the strength of ticket sales for the institution's home games. She promotes the institution in ways completely unrelated to athletics.
I went searching for college softball head coach salaries. I'm pretty sure there is a broad range. Top D-1 coaches obviously make more than those plying their trade at D-3 at American Cumquat College in East Nowhere, Maldives. But across the broad spectrum, what I saw most often were figures in the range of $40K to $60K. By contrast, many lower level, assistant women's basketball positions advertised greater salaries than D-1 head coaching positions.
I'm fairly certain that tope clinicians in this sport can earn a very nice income. I expect there are less than a dozen individuals in these United States with sufficient reputations to earn top dollar and those individuals not only run clinics but also distribute videos they have made. On a local level, I can think of several private instructors who make significant sums. These folks' instruction is highly sought after. Their schedules are booked solid. And they work long hours, including all day long on Saturdays and Sundays. Most of the top local instructors are unable to go out and watch games any longer. The toil away in poor facilities, often run by them, rent out cheap space in schools or use their backyard or basement batting cages to give lessons.
From what I have observed running facilities can be a financially risky proposition. Over the past year or two, we have seen a number of new facilities come into being. Recently, we have observed a number of them close. There has been a net increase in local facilities but that's after about a 50% failure rate. And most of the facilities which have survived do not merely cater to softball. They opened up offering both baseball and softball, added agility and other types of training, and then expanded into other sports like soccer. The amopunt of money in softball is extremely limited.
Also, I challenge the notion that exposure tournaments have become a "lucrative business" for the coaches who run them. Certainly there is money to be made at these things but much of that money is channeled back into the game. My daughters' softball organization partially hosts one of the more important exposure tournaments in the country. It is held at our complex and we get to earn whatever we can make from the snackbar. The fellow who runs the thing has made money outside the sport. His whole reason for running the thing has to do with fundraising for the exposure team he runs. He does not have some huge house or expensive car as a result of running the tournament. It is not a lucrative business for him.
Our organization pretty much makes its money exclusively for the purpose of keeping itself afloat in order to provide a place for a hundred or so girls to play softball, recreational and travel. Were it not for that money, I'm not sure the organization would last a year. The funds go to field maintenance and other run of the mill expenses. There is nothing left over.
You know, when I was a young man, I took a job working in a retail store until such time as I could figure out what I wanted to do. I rose up within the hierarchy and became one of the most respected employees. When someone above me was fired, typically ownership would evaluate the position and decide if I could be moved up. This happened several times until I was the number 2 employee. That provided great opportunity to earn more and more which paid my way through college. I think the top salary I made in that job was $30,000 per year.
That was in the 1980s and was not a bad salary at the time for a 20 year old kid with no degree yet and no previous experience at anything. After college, I made more but at the time I earned $30K, I felt really good about it. I felt like I was earning a lot. No I didn't feel rich but I was making as much as I needed and really had no concept of what making say double that would feel like. A few years later I was earning twice as much but I was in debt, trying to start a family, and generally felt as if I really needed to make a lot more to pay for the things I wanted. Earnings and wealth are mostly relative.
I expect the college coach who made $30,000 per year for several years and then only gradually made her way up to $60,000, maybe $100,000 would feel as if the amount of money in the sport was really skyrocketing. But at the same time, I have to acknowledge that in my area, some elementary school teachers with advanced degrees, paid for by their employers, who have as much experience as Margie Wright earn close to $100K, with a select few making more than that. The average salary stands at near $75K with top earners (holding doctorates and with several decades of experience) making as much as $125K in one school system I reviewed for this article. Softball coaches are not extremely well paid.
In regards to college scholarships, there certainly is some money out there. The cost of tuition, books, room and board, etc. has become quite a nut to crack. Receiving anything at all towards that nut must be seen in a positive light. Achieving a full ride, obviously is a good thing from a purely financial point of view. But, according to stats I saw in the same issue of "Fastpitch Delivery," there were in excess of 370,000 girls playing high school softball last year. According to one web site I saw, there were less than 6,000 full ride equivalent college softball scholarships at all D-1 and 2 schools last year. That's a coverage ratio for all high school kids of less than 2%. That's not a lot. Softball is not a lucrative pursuit for the majority of girls playing the game.
Of those who actually do attain a softball scholarship, I imagine an estimate of the total value would be in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $40,000 per year. I'm willing to be high or low in the interests of just roughing this out. Right now, the cost of your average travel program is somewhere in the neighborhood of one thousand dollars per year. If the average 11 year old were to play travel softball - that's where the scholarship money comes into play - for the duration of her pre-college years, the cost would be a mere $8,000. $160,000 (4 years of college costs) would be a nice return on $8,000. But there are many other costs and evaluating this from an investment perspective yields all sorts of variations on the theme.
For one thing, taking that $8,000 and investing it over the course of say 8 years should cause it to double. Further, nobody I know who attains a fairly high level within the sport ever considers the cost of the travel team to be a particularly large piece of the overall cost structure. There are private hitting lessons, clinics, speed and agility, videotapes, seminars, somewhat significant costs of traveling to run of the mill tournaments, significant costs of travelling to one or more out of state tournaments, greater costs when girls compete at older age groups or go to those "lucrative" showcase events, etc. There are the little incidentals like composite bats at $200 a pop (often at least once a year), the expensive cleats (especially for pitchers), the hundreds of dollars in catching gear every couple of years, doctors bills, etc., etc. and so forth.
One father told me he expected to spend around $20K this year alone (aoll in and including his travel expenses and lodging) for his junior with some chance of obtaining a small piece of money at a lower level D-1 or a D-2 school. Another offered the more modest sum of $10K for his sophomore daughter. That's a one year cost. The sophomore family will spend $30K over the three years before graduation.
If you take all the financial costs of travel softball, played at a high level, and treated it like an investment - putting a little aside gradually and earning a return on it, and compare that to money saved on college costs, I expect the return would be significantly less than what one would hope for. No Virginia, softball is not financially lucrative for anyone but a few involved in the sport.
With respect to fastpitch softball's ability, or lack thereof, to produce leaders today vs. those it may have produced yesterday, I have to disagree with Wright that any drop off has to do with the growth of the age group game. For a very long time, boys have played baseball according to their ages. That's because 12 year olds cannot play baseball with 15 year olds of any decent skill level. Its just not possible. Oh, a few kids sporting 70 mile per hour fastballs who are "natural athletes" (meaning their fathers have them out working every day of the year) may be able to survive playing boys 3 years older than them, especially if those boys are not particularly good. But across the broad spectrum, middle school boys cannot hold their own against boys varsity players. They can barely engage in a game of catch or running bases with older boys. So it has always been.
Of course, there have always been more boys playing baseball than girls playing softball. It is a relatively easy matter to pull together a full league of four or more baseball teams in a small town, even when limited to an age span of just two years. So because there are enough boys and because boys cannot play with those much older than them, age group ball has reigned supreme in the boys game for many decades. Still, leaders are born of youth baseball leagues. There is not any real dearth of leaders on the baseball field.
I believe that if you take any group of people and put them into a situation, some kids will rise to the level of leaders and others will not. Leadership skills can be taught but in any given population, some will rise and some will follow. This has been proven over and over again via various studies. A year or so ago, there was that ridiculous reality TV show in which a group of kids was put into a pioneer town and tracked. The kids ranged in age from around 8 to around 13, I think. Some kids rose up and took leadership roles and many did not. Some of the oldest were reluctant leaders and became followers. Some of the youngest took charge and led groups older than themselves. This was more personality driven than age or experience driven.
I believe leadership comes about through via a complex recipe involving environment, experience, maturity, personality, opportunity, and some intangibles which we are not completely aware of. I do not believe for an instant that given a group of softball players, every time the older girls who have played more will necessarily become the team's leaders. Further, I believe that many of the societal influences on our lives create or fail to create leadership qualities in individuals. In other words, to the extent that we are failing to create leaders in the softball world, this reflects the overall society and does not exist separate and apart from it.
In the current societal environment, our nation's children have far more done for them than current adults do. Further I believe the same was true for the previous generation. The reasons for this are many and complex. I do not wish to delve into them as this might open up a can of worms I cannot shut. I will tell you that in one of the better moments of my life, I paid a visit to the Jack Daniel's distillery in Tennessee. There I learned that young Jack was a mere teenager when he founded the business. That was after years of an apprenticeship and some other business dealings. In Jack Daniel's day, kids took lots more responsibility than I and my peers did.
I know I worked for the first time at the age of 14, illegally, and had self-earned money in my pocket as early as 10 when I would walk along the train tracks, unbeknownst to my parents, pick up returnable bottles, bring them to a candy store and convert my earnings into bubble gum which I sold, against the rules, at school. By eleven, I was arranging to sell seeds via an advertisement I had seen in "Boys Life" magazine. I never asked my parents when I sent in the form. They learned of my endeavor when the seeds were delivered to the house. I walked door to door for three miles, visiting people neither I nor my parents had ever met, selling those seeds, turned in the money myself and arranged to have my reward, a tent, shipped to my house without ever seeking guidance from an adult. I was home alone when the tent arrived. I remember this because I didn't seek any adult guidance in putting the darn thing up. I never noticed the little loops on the side of the tent. I hammered the stakes right through the tent material just like I had seen on cartoons! The tent was garbage after that, although I did use it for several years.
I am hardly the picture of an early starter when it comes to learning how to be self-sufficient. Generally I would say I was far behind the curve - I lived a protected childhood when compared to many I knew. But my kids, by contrast, practically live in a bubble. I was caught hitch-hiking at age 8. My kids were not out of my sight long enough to walk to another house by that age. My friends were busy stealing sun glasses at a department store to sell to friends by age 9. I never engaged in that enterprise because I had been grounded for getting into a fistfight or for hitch-hiking. My kids have never been left alone long enough to get into a fistfight or to steal anything. If they did steal something, I would find it and ask where it came from. If somehow they managed to hide the contraband, they would never have any opportunity to sell it and if they did, I'd know about the money. My kids are growing up in a different environment than I did.
But back to softball. When my kids began playing the sport, I bought some balls and other equipment for them to use. When I was a kid, I was lucky if my father bought a single baseball, perhaps for Christmas or maybe for my birthday. I never remember a time when we had more than one baseball lying around. If I lost it, it might be months before I got a replacement. We have several dozen softballs laying around.
When I was a kid, mny father was a pretty well respected baseball coach. He coahced the 12Us when I was 9 and playing 10U. When I reached 11 and played 12U, my father coached 14s. I was the oldest boy. My father did not coach any team on which he ever had a kid. He did catch my pitching practice, however. I think that was maybe 6-12 times .... during my life. I caught my two daughters that many times (each) during August, our "rest month." Understand that I'm not complaining about my father. He did more than most. And I was never around anyway - I was never around. I usually left the house at about 7 am, every day of the summer, returning by dinner time on most days, lest I receive severe punishment. That routine probably started around age 8. If I wanted to pitch some practice, it was entirely up to me to find a catcher. My kids don't have that option. ' I'm pretty much it. It is a different day.
I believe this has much more to do with the development of leaders in softball than anything else. I do not believe for an instant that we would in anyway increase the development of leaders by combining younger kids with older ones in age group ball. I believe that has nothing to do with the equation.
I do believe there is one tendency of today's youth coaches which hinders the natural development of leaders. That is the fear of loosing control and/or unwillingness to see the development of leaders as a necessary part of putting a good team on the field. We live in a very structured world in which time is very precious. As I believe I noted a moment ago, we manage our kids' lives much more than our parents or their parents ever did. We begin indoor workouts in a highly structured form and continue this into the warmer months. If a kid disrupts the flow f practice, we pull her aside and talk to her about being more focused. That, of course, seems necessary. We don't want to allow practice time to be broken down. But when I was a kid playing youth baseball, that never happened.
When I was a kid, if there was one kid disrupting practice, we had a way of dealing with that. We beat him up and told him to quit it lest he suffer another beating. If we were running a batting practice and the pitcher was trying to strike everyone out, we told him to just throw it over the middle. (I don't wish to go into the error of our ways with this approach here and now) One of us would tell him to just get it over and stop trying to strike the kid out ... or else. It was understood what the consequences of not obeying would be. That could not happen anywhere in this country in a boys or girls sports environment today. Our "leadership" would be squashed immediately. And this extends well beyond the examples provided.
Some of us out here in youth travel coaching land do see the need to identify and develop leaders but we're not really sure how to do it. If we do understand, we are seldom willing to give up the degree of control which has a reasonable chance of building real leaders. Building leaders requires us to give up control and provide the environment in which anarchy can prevail. That is too difficult for most of us. So we err on the side of stucture and that prevents leaders from flexing their muscles.
My points are, there are certain situations which must prevail in order to develop leaders and today's adults do not provide much opportunity for such a development to occur. It has nothing to do with the relative ages we bring together on teams. It is more a societal/cultural thing.
To wrap this up, everything in my experience indicates that: A) Softball is growing - has grown quite a bit from the time of my youth to today; B) Money is not a significant part of the changes in the sport - nobody does this for exclusively financial reasons; C) We do not create as many leaders as we might in this sport - but we don't create as many leaders in any other sort of venture either due to societal forces having nothihng to do with softball, and D) Girls do indeed play this sport for LOVE of the game.
You know, it is impossible to imagine anyone doing something which results in the amount of pain and unhappiness softball induces for any reason other than LOVE of the game. Think about it this way, why would you ever try something with the high likelihood of a 30% success rate being the best you could possibly hope for in the long run? Why would you stand 40 feet from another girl with a big stick trying to hit a projectile at you at hopefully 98 mph? Why would you practice four times a week, year round in order to maybe defeat 60% of the other girls in the game while risking taking the blame for defeat from your closest 10 or 11 friends? Why would you choose to do something in which at least half the people you encounter, probably more like 90%, hope you fail? The only reason someone would choose to do something like that must be LOVE. This great sport of ours is growing precisely because more and more people each day develop a LOVE for it, not in spite of LOVE, nor for financial reasons. if we fail top develop leaders, there may be some things wrong, some things perhaps we can fix, or perhaps not. But its got nothing to do with diminished LOVE for the game.Labels: coaching, parenting, players
Permanent Link: For LOVE Of The Game
Concepts Of Visualization
by Dave
Thursday, October 30, 2008
I remember discovering visualization by accident when I was ten and playing football. Nobody ever told me to do it. I just started one day as a way to calm my nerves before a game. I sat there contemplating the game I was to play and began picturing how it might play out. That lesson carried into baseball and other sports I played in an organized fashion. It always provided an edge which might not otherwise have been there. And so, I'm now going to share with you some of my observations and the concepts I have discovered in my travels.
First of all, I'm afraid that many do not understand or even know about visualization, let alone practice it. Select few coaches ever teach it to their players. That's a shame since every major athlete in every sport practices this "secret technique."
I don't know exactlty how to prove to you how prevalent this practice is but I'll try. When you see someone in a sports contest turn away from the game and seem to stare off or go through some private ritual, they are either visualizing or invoking some element of a prior visualization. When you see Kobe Bryant listening to an ipod while dribbling the ball back in the corridors, waiting for his team to take the court, he's visualizing. When a baseball pitcher goes to the back of the mound and engages in a prayer, yes he is praying but he is also invoking something from a visualization exercise. When a player squats in the on-deck circle and closes his or her eyes, he or she is visualizing. When the track star makes a slow motion exercise out of their running form, swinging their arms, etc., they are visualizing the race. I absolutely know they are visualizing because I have done this myself many times, found it to work, and seen it cause the seemingly odd athlete behavior we often see at sporting events.
The reasons why visualization works are many and complicated. For one thing this practice instills confidence since the athlete thinks more about success than failure which is always advisable. Also, it helps one become more focused as one waits for his or her turn to perform. Probably more important though not often discussed is something I saw recently in a show about technology.
What I saw indicates that visualization is a powerful form of practice. You see, when a human being thinks about doing something, his or her nerves fire as if the motion is actually being made. A technology show I watched recently involved a man thinking about moving one limb or another. Scientists connected electrodes to the neurons which triggered his movement. The man was told to move a cursor on a computer screen by thinking about moving one of the limbs but not actually moving it. He was able to spell out a word by moving the cursor and then clicking on the appropriate letter by thinking about moving each of the limbs. Of course this was time consuming but it has uses beyond imagination that were spelled out in the show. That doesn't interest us right now. The important part is thinking about moving a limb or a muscle causes the neural pathway to fire in a way intended to make that move. Thinking about moving fires your nerves for moving.
We've been over the concept of motor memory and how that impacts a player's game before. Everything in sport is related to proper motor memory including not only the movement of muscles in a proper way but also the firing of nerves. The concept of use it or lose it tells us that if we were to remain stationery for a very long period of time, we would lose some of our muscular ability through atrophe and through inactivity of our neurons. Further, use of neurons and muscles causes the growth of surrounding tissue and makes making any particular movement easier the next time.
Let's say that active muscle fiber 1 is surrounded by inactive fibers numbered 2 to 10. When we use fiber 1, the surrounding fibers are activated in a manner meant to replace 1, if it should fail. In the case of muscle fibers, we actually do from time to time burn one out and the ones surrounding it come to life to replace it. I'm not sure of the ratios or precisely how this works but the concept is identical to this: Fiber 1 dies and fibers 2-10 are activated. Then later, our work kills off fibers 2-10 and fibers 11-100 are activated to replace them. Essentially, we replace used up fibers with ever increasing numbers of back-ups.
In the motor memory environment, when swinging a bat or making a throw, we could initially activate any of muscle fibers 1-A through 1-Z instead of fiber number 1, if we somehow make a mistaken move. That would result eventually in fiber number, say, 1-G dying off and being replaced by fibers 2-G through 10-G, and so on. We would, in essence build up the muscles to do something incorrectly. We hold the potential to reinforce good muscle fibers or bad ones for making a particular mechanical move.
With respect to nerves, neurons number 1 through 10 are each potential pathways for some sort of action. When we fire one particular nerve, that action causes the myelin sheath - the fatty tissue surrounding nerves to get larger. With every succeeding firing of the nerve, the sheath grows more massive. The more massive the sheath, the better the conductivity of the neuron. In other words, if the "correct" pathway is used more frequently than the incorrect one, it becomes more reactive, it becomes more functional and quicker. The same is true for the incorrect pathway. If we use it too much, it becomes stronger than the "correct" pathway. We hold the potential to reinforce good neural pathways or bad ones for making a particular mechanical move.
These are the reasons why it is so important to learn proper mechanics and to practice them frequently. When we learn a proper mechanic and then make it a part of us, we make it not only easier to properly re-perform it, but also less easy to do the wrong thing in the future. The neurons supporting proper movement are more developed and conductive so they tend to be the first choice of a pathway. The right muscle fibers are built up to perform the task and can override wrong muscle fibers efforts to, uh, muscle in on the action.
This concept is at the heart of the grace and smooth movement we see whenever we observe great athletes. Some people come by some of these motor-neuron actions naturally but most people come by most of them via practice - through repeated deliberate firings of the right neurons. Certainly there are some genetics at work but just as certainly, nurture is at least as important as nature. Even a natural born great athlete can be completely lethargic, inactive, uncoordinated, if he or she doesn't use his or her "gifts." The less naturally gifted person can accomplish great things through proper mechanics by building up the right neuro-muscular pathways.
And this ties into visualization because thinking about firing the "right" neurons actually causes them to fire. If a human being could be a complete blank slate, never having moved or fired their neuro-muscular system for making a throw before, and that person were taught to throw completely correctly - to fire only the right neurons and use only the precisely correct muscular fibers for some period, the neurons would become so conductive and the muscle fibers so relatively built up that she would never be able to throw wrong. Performing visualization alone - firing the neurons but not moving the muscles - makes the right movement easier. This is the concept we try to employ in practice sessions and it is the concept we should employ via visualization exercises.
The way I came by visualization was to picture a particular situation requiring a particular movement. Football was my sport at the time and the movement I was interested in was the tackle of a ball carrier. As I obsessed about the circumstance, I began to "be there" in soul and mind, if not in body. My senses felt my presence on the field. I saw (hence the term visualization) the runner moving to get away from me. I felt the ground at my feet and began to run (in my head) to make contact. I experienced everything about the potential event in my head long before it might happen and completed the tackle using proper technique. I did this over and over again. Later, during a real game, I made such a tackle. I remember the coaches talking among themselves and saying something like "I never knew he was such a good tackler." At that point, not having any understanding of what I had done, not knowing that this was called visualization, not understanding that there was a direct correlation between the exercise and my success on the field, I was still hooked. Before my next game and the one after that, I visualized and was successful as a result.
A long time later, I began mistakenly visualizing some failures. I had no idea that this had any impact whatsoever on my performance. I still didn't know what the technique was called nor that it had any real impact on play. I began to have this visualization "nightmare" in which I reached the quarterback right after he released the ball. And then, that happened in reality too. But that's a lesson we'll get to a little later.
I remember in college that I was working very hard and obtaining very good grades. I found myself a mentor in the form of a priest who was teaching my required philosophy class. He taught me a great deal about philosophy. He also taught me a great deal about visualization which aided me immeasurably in terms of school performance.
This priest noticed that I worked incredibly hard, probably too hard. I always read everything about twice as many times as everyone else. I often performed my homework twice. I sometimes went to both sessions of a particular course in order to witness the lecture twice. By the time the exam came around, I was often able to teach the course and easily aced the test. This priest, this professor, told me that I didn't need to do that, that I was wasting my time. He strongly encouraged me to work a little less hard and start working on visualizing success. He told me that once I read a work, I could recall it if, rather than reading it again, I allowed myself to recall it. He asked me if I knew anything about visualization and then taught me about it. That's when I learned that what I had been doing all along had a name! And that's when I stopped working quite so hard yet received the same grades for my efforts.
When we are very young softball players, we go to some sort of instructional clinic and learn to throw or hit or perhaps pitch. The instructor tells us something about what we'll be doing. Then perhaps she demonstrates it. Next she breaks it down to smaller parts and teaches one of them. We perform the skill and receive correction. Afterwards we are told to practice these moves. In the next session, the instructor goes over the moves from the prior session and evaluates our progress. She gets a frown on her face as she realizes we did not do our homework. She tries to correct our mistakes, encourages us to practice, and then moves on to the next skill. The next sessions go similarly. At some point, the instructor is likely to observe someone doing the skills properly and will generally give that person more attention. She recognizes that this kid has been practicing and that's the kid she is going to try to encourage even more.
There is no question that the key to learning a mechanical skill is repetition. If we have the time, opportunity and place to work on the skills we most recently learned, it would be an excellent idea to follow through with practice. In that manner, we teach the neuro-muscular pathways to perform the skills properly and we become a better player. If we do not have the opportunity or will to practice, we still get some benefit out of the clinic but not nearly as much as the kid who leaves and works on the skills. That's just the way the world turns.
If in addition to performing a skill for an additional half hour or so of practice, we try visualization as a means of learning the physical skill, certainly we don't use the same muscles but we do activate the neural pathways. We get at least part of the benefit of practicing. If there is some way in which we can actually act out some of these skills, though without a ball for throwing or a bat for swinging, we still get the benefit of activating the pathways and using some of the muscles. And as we do this, it becomes increasingly easier to reperform the desired mechanical skill in the proper way.
The same thing works for visualization - that is, trying visualization makes you better at doing it. So, now I'm going to try to teach you how.
To begin with, your brain and body need to be relaxed. I recommend finding a place where you will not be interrupted. If you are interrupted during a visualization, you must star anew. That's aggravating so try first to find someplace lonely.
The next thing you want to do is get into a comfortable position. You may be in this position for a while so make sure you are not going to move around a lot.
Now start taking some deep, relaxing breaths. In and out. In and out. Focus only on your breathing.
Now, gradually picture your breathing self somewhere else, someplace off in the distance. It's a ballpark. Well, what do you know about that?
Engage your senses gradually. Smell the turf. Smell the scents coming from the snackbar adjacent to the field. Feel the early morning cool air which is beginning to be heated up by the sun which is rising behind your back. Feel the rays of sunshine on your neck. Did you remember to put on sunscreen before you left the house for the fields?
Smell the dirt, feel the sun, hear the sounds around you. Kids are doing drills, stretching, etc. Off in the distance a game has started. The girls are doing cheers. The umpire just yelled "STRIKE." Somebody just hit a ball but the shortstop fielded it and threw her out at first.
Somebody from your team has arrived so you pick up your equipment bag and head for the dugout. You clip your bag to the fence and take out your glove. "Do you have a ball? Want to warm up?"
You go to the outfield and begin throwing. Work hard to make a good throw. Use proper mechanics. When the return throw is offline, move your feet to make the catch. Hop quickly into a good position and make a strong, accurate return throw.
Other girls have arrived and one of the coaches wants you to take some swings now. You walk back quickly to your bag, put your glove in, and take out your bat and helmet. You take about ten swings at the stick and move over to the soft-toss station another coach has set up. Your swing was very good. You used proper mechanics just like your hitting coach showed you. Then when you swung at the soft-toss you made solid connection on every ball. Everything felt light and easy.
The girls are all here now. Blue just walked up and your coach is talking to them and the other manager at home plate. "We're up first ladies." You know you're hitting third so you get your gloves on, fix your hair and put your helmet on before going behind the dugout to take some swings. You watch the pitcher. She's fast but nothing you haven't seen before. You can hit her. It smells like somebody is cooking bacon at the snackbar. You'll go there after the game. You take a couple swings and hear the ump call' "ball four," the first batter walks.
You go over to the on-deck circle and watch while your number two hitter takes her at-bat. She watches ball one, fouls off two and is in a 1-2 hole before watching 3 consecutive balls and walking. Two runners on and you;re coming to bat. I hope she finds the plate - I don't feel like walking, I want to hit. Her first pitch is off the plate and you take it for a ball. meanshile, your two runners have moved up abnd they're now at second and third. You don't want to walk so you get yourself ready in case she throws anything close.
The next pitch seems to be coming right down the middle so you begin your swing which is as nice as it was during warm-ups. You rip that ball deep into left center and leg out a double. Two runs in, still nobody out.
Exercise over!!!
That is how you engage in visualization. You begin with a quiet, out of the way place you won't be interrupted. You relax and then start fantasizing a complete picture filled with stimulation of your senses, smells of grass the snackbar, the air; sounds of others around you and the game in general; any other sensations you usually associate with playing softball. Then you start picturing yourself performing skills in a manner which represents the best mechanical practices you know. This is very important, especially when visualizing, you do not want to perform skills perfunctorily, carelessly. If anything, you want to perform the skills with the absolute best mechanics you know. Go slowly if you must but in all cases do the skills the way you want to do them.
If there is a player or demonstrator who did the skill you are visualizing particularly well, picture that person doing it. Then picture yourself doing it. You can start with an external image - you are watching yourself doing the skill pefectly - but you want to eventually see it first hand. This is a mistake in visualization that many make. You can see yourself externally doing the skill but you need to internalize it, make it firsthand. watch yourself do it from outside but then see it as you are doing it and making all the right moves.
You can start visualization with some very simple skills like swinging the bat, fielding a grounder right at you, throwing a pitch right down the middle. But I want you to progress to more advanced skills right afterwards. Get that tough grounder up the middle. Make an unreal catch on a throw to the base you are covering and come down making the tag. paint that outside corner. Hit that really tough pitch far into the corner. Run out some extra-base hits, not just singles. throw that change-up or curveball you've been working on. Do the swing mechanics just right and really hit the ball hard.
Visualization, like all skills, is something you are going to have to work on. the first time you do it, get as far as you can. The second time, get farther along. Then, perhaps one day, you can play an entire game in your head. You don't need to include the actual entire game but just the parts which relate to you individually. It shouldn't take you all that long.
As you progress with this exercise, you should more and more easily lapse into the self-hypnotic state. You should be able to conjure up the smells and sounds more and more easily. Visualization gets easier every time you try it. You should need less and less solitude. Eventually you can accomplish it even in the car ride to the game despite the fact that your father is playing his favorite AC/DC CD on the car stereo. Eventually, you will find that you can visualize an at-bat right in the on-deck circle and that's where I'd like you to take it.
What I mean is when we start visualizing, it is best to have optimum conditions. You are secluded and protected from being interrupted. You have time and opportunity to get into a relaxed state. You can take your time to build the mental image. But eventually, you'll be able to do this anytime, anyplace you want to. And when you get that good, I'm going to want you to try it out right before your at-bats, right before you actually make a pitch.
Keep in mind that given what I told you at the start, part of what we are trying to accomplish is to do skills right, with proper mechanics. So when you see others pe4rform skills well, you want to take special note of it and incorporate it into your own visualization exercises. if you are lucky enough to attend a professional or high level college game, watch the players closely and pick out something you want to emulate. Then try this out in your home or in the car on the way home. If you're playing a tournament and some kid makes a spectacular play do the same thing.
When you visualize, always move from the small to the big. Always start out somewhat slowly with a small element of the mechanical skill and then move from there to the bigger picture. You do not jump immediately to hitting the ball over the fence. First you take a very good swing. Then you hit the ball hard. Then you might hit that homerun.
An important aspect to visualization is bringing as much actual experience, as much reality as you possibly can. If you've ever hit a ball really hard, made a great play, or thrown what you would call the perfect pitch, use these instances in your visualizations. And as you grown and grow, improve and improve some more, find new instances of great play with which to conjure up new visualizations.
Visualization will make you hit some balls really hard. When that happens, use the most recent hard hit in your next visualization. Repeat this often. With every great play or performance, incorporate these recent accomplisments in order to make your visualization more effective.
Stay away from bad experiences like swinging and missing, throwing too fat of a pitch, or making a bad play. we all do these things but there's absolutely no reason to harp on them. Visualization is the exclusive domain of positive experiences. You can take a called strike but let's leave that for 3-0 counts where you chose not to swing, where your objective was merely to watch the pitcher's delivery so you could hit the next pitch really hard.
Finally, one of the things I am after here is your personal confidence. Yes, I want to reinforce good mechanics by practicing in your head. Yes, I want you to gain focus by learning to concentrate better. But as much as anything else, I want your confidence as a ball player to grow and grow. Make all the usual plays but also make some good even great ones. Hit singles with nobody on but also drive in the winning run with a walk-off homerun or double. Visualize great things for yourself.
And along with your visualization, I want you to practice some affirmations. I want you to tell yourself, "I am a good ball player. I was a good player in the past but I'm much better today. I'm going to be a better ballplayer tomorrow, next week, next year. Eventually, I'm going to be one of the best around. I'm that good already and I'm constantly getting better. I just need to remember to practice harder each time while allowing myself to succeed. I just need to picture myself having success and winning. if I do these things, there's no stopping me. I'm going to be the very best I can be."Labels: coaching, mental toughness, parenting, practice, Visualization, work ethic
Permanent Link: Concepts Of Visualization
Growing Pains
by Dave
Monday, October 13, 2008
Oh my gosh, my little daughter has a disease, actually two of them! I thought maybe she was just a little hurt but now I've learned she has diseases! DISEASES!!
My younger child is one of "those" kids. She is very emotional. When she "loses it," it takes significant amounts of time to bring her back into human society. She gets pretty good grades in any subject requiring her to write or otherwise express herself in detail. She has a tendency to exaggerate and use extremely descriptive language about almost anything which moves her. Any kind of discussion of pain or discomfort can become an exercise in creative writing as she tries to bring her point across.
My older child is something of a stoic so when you think perhaps she might have some sort of injury, you have to bring out your best impression of Perry Mason and perform a cross examination, dragging everything out piece by piece. And you must always be prudent because 99 times out of 100, she feels much worse than she's willing to admit.
"I saw you flex your arm. Does it hurt?"
"A little"
"Where does it hurt?"
"I don't know. But it doesn't hurt bad so ... go away."
"OK. Tell me if it gets worse."
"Worse than what?"
"I don't know, just tell me if it keeps hurting."
Days later:
"Is your arm still hurting?"
"Yes, but you said to only tell you if it hurts worse and it doesn't."
"OK, let's go to the doctor. You're injured."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, my dear, you are and we're going."
With the younger child things are somewhat different. The conversation is more likely to go something like:
"Are you hurt?"
"Yes, very badly."
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere. I feel like I may die."
"How long has it been hurting you?"
"I think it started around the time I was born."
"Seriously, when did it start, how long has it been hurting you?"
"Seriously, about a year, maybe longer."
"Here, take a baby aspirin and it will go away."
We never hear another complaint about the life-threatening injury although another, unrelated terminal disease will usually crop up within a few months.
This is all very amusing to people not having to deal directly with my children. Anyone who has prolonged experience with them, particularly in sports, however usually quits coaching and never again wants to deal with anyone else's children. A few have survived the experience by realizing the older kid won't complain and the younger one will complain about virtually anything.
For example, when the older one was ten, she swung and struck a foul ball on a hard pitch into her face. She had to be removed from the game ... for an out after which she insisted on going back in. That can be a good quality but, for example, when she injured her shoulder pretty badly while pitching, she didn't let us know right away. After about 10 games, we noticed she was doing certain things like flexing her hand so we immediately went to the specialist who quickly made her take two months off.
Worse still is the younger one with all the real and imagined serious injuries. When she tells us her hand may fall off, our reaction is usually somewhat understated. So when she actually broke a finger on her pitching hand, we pretty much just told her to deal with the pain and get over it. "Shut up and pitch or we're quitting and you'll never play softball again. OK?" And the coaches have learned to not listen to her when she complains because the "injury" will go away if everyone ignores her.
Once upon a time, my younger, expressive daughter started complaining about knee and ankle pain. I let that go for perhaps several months because, well, you know, that's the way we deal with her. If we didn't react that way, she'd never be involved with softball. Actually, she'd never go to school, or set foot outside the hospital. We'd have to keep her in a bubble and inside that bubble, she'd be wrapped in bubble wrap. That's the reality. But this time was different.
As I said, she complained for a while and we didn't put much emphasis on her complaints. We wouldn't have done anything with this but one early spring scrimmage, I noticed her pitching speed dropped off quite a bit. Worse, she had altered her mechanics a bit for unknown reasons. I asked her about it and she, being mad at me for ignoring her for so long, wouldn't give me a straight answer. Then, at her next pitching practice, when her speed was still way off, we decided that it was time to seek medical attention.
We took her to an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed, gasp, two diseases! DISEASES! He told us she was suffering from both Osgood-Schlatter's and Sever's diseases.
By now, if you've been through similar experiences, you probably understand why I'm being so sarcastic about calling these conditions "diseases." If you have never had dealings with Osgood-Schlatter's or Sever's or, if you are just now encountering these two, you may not quite understand the reasons for the sarcasm. So, let's talk a little about these two.
First of all, as kids grow, the various parts of their bodies don't always grow precisely in lockstep. Bones tend to grow a bit faster than tendons. When kids use the tendons which are too short relative to the bones, the tendons exert a lot of force on the bones to which they are attached. This pulling on bones can be rather painful - you have more pain nerves in the bones than anywhere else. (My daughter's pain was very real and severe. Your child's pain is probably bad enough that you wouldn't be able to deal with it.)
Just about every kid gets what we used to call "growing pains" in which something has grown out of sync with something else, caused some pretty major pain, and limited activity. That's what, in essence, these "diseases" are, growing pains. They are more common in those engaged in athletic pursuits than they are in the wall flower types who stay in after the school day and don't run around much outside, let alone work out 4 times or more per week with some sort of sports team.
If your child is involved in sports, chances are pretty good that around the time of puberty, during some unusually drastic growth spurt, she will complain of pain in one or more of the joint areas. I've read several comments by people first encountering these diseases which suggests they are "major injuries" and that they are caused by excessive repetitive motion or pushing kids to their breaking point. Another frequent comment is the incidence is caused by girls playing sports when perhaps their bodies aren't made for it. Both of these are myths.
The simple truth is these syndromes and other related ones are caused by normal growth problems - bones outgrowing tendons. The pain becomes more evident because your athletic kid is using the joints which have the conditions. Use of the joint causes more pulling at the bones and, therefore, inflammation and pain. The condition has traditionally been diagnosed more in boys than girls because, going back 30 or more years, girls just did not participate in sports at the same rate as their male counterparts. But I haven't seen anything which suggests that girls playing sports get these problems more frequently than boys playing sports.
These are not injuries in the sense that other types of injuries are caused by doing something mechanically wrong. You can run, jump or throw perfectly and suffer "growth pain" requiring rest and/or other treatment. You do not have to "over do it" in order to "suffer" these diseases. The tendons are too short for the bones to which they are attached on millions of kids who never got up out of their chairs. The reason young athletes suffer more than inactive kids is not because their activity causes the diseases to occur. They suffer because their activity irritates the condition which is there regardless of activity.
Conversely, numerous kids do suffer from repetitive motion injuries because they do something mechanically wrong, because they over do something, or because some of their musculature is under-developed for the activity they are engaged in. A kid who throws wrong is going to develop an arm injury as soon as she finds herself throwing a lot. Some teams do over stress kids' bodies. Some kids, for whatever reason, do not develop certain muscles as much as others and learn about it the hard way.
It seems to me that mechanical flaws are the most dangerous sort of condition. A kid suffers pain in her joint because of something she does wrong. She gets a little rest with analgesics applied. Then she goes back to doing exactly what caused the pain to begin with. A second injury is inevitable. I think the most common sorts of cases of this involve throwing. I think I see more bad throwing mechanics than any other sort of mistake. And in softball, as you get older, you only do more throwing.
At 10U, games often involve a minimal amount of throws by anyone other than the pitcher. Games at higher levels can involve a fair amount of throwing but I believe this about doubles in 12U due to more aggressive base running and many more balls being put into play by the much more experienced batters. 14U is more so. At 16U and 18U, defense probably determiens the outcome of games more frequently than not and throwing is probably the element of the game which makes the biggest difference. Consequently, there is an ever increasing amount of throwing during practices as a girl moves up in age class.
I recall several very strong age group players who had poor throwing mechanics. They suffered only about as many sore arms as their peers during their teams' twice a week practice sessions. But once they arrived in high school and were going at it 6 days per week, their arms got really sore and never had the opportunity to recover. Usually such girls (and by the way, boys too) end up missing whole seasons or major parts of them while they rest their arms and get PT from medical professionals. If they persist in their poor mechanics, these injuries often resurface later on, assuming the kids ever return to the game. Often girls and boys will end their careers with some sort of major arm injury. I cannot begin to count the number of guys I know who made it to the minor leagues and then "blew out their arm."
There are many teams, often the best ones, particularly in youth level sports, which way over do the practice thing. I know of a 10U team which prohibited their players from being involved with any other major activities, had them practicing about 15 hours per week, and just generally over did the whole softball thing. I'm not fond of ever acknowledging excessive amounts of practice but I think it is fair that at 10U, no kid should be all that focused on a single activity. We'll have to save further analysis of this for another time but suffice it to say that nobody at 10 years of age is emotionally old enough to decide that all efforts from this point forward are targeted at a college scholarship in a top 25 NCAA program. Over doing practice can and often does lead to injuries which shorten or end careers.
Another common cause of sports related injuries involve muscles that ordinary people do not work sufficiently for the physical activity at hand. One kid I coached had a weakness in and around her shoulder joint which caused her to lose several weeeks to physical therapy. Once the problem was addressed and she had strengthened her shoulder, she never had a recurrence.
My older daughter began throwing some pitches which caused her to use parts of her shoulder which had really never been exercised before. She developed a cramping in some of our upper back muscles which required about a month off followed by a month of PT after which the problem did not return. These kinds of injuries can lead to major problems if they are not addressed but when they are addressed early and correctly, they are usually very much cured. Osgood's and Sever's are different.
Osgood Schlatters disease is named after two physicians, Osgood and Schlatter, the doctors who defined the syndrome or disease. It usually is diagnosed during a growth spurt occurring in pre-teen or teenage years. The too short patella tendon tugs at the shin bone causing inflammation and pain. Athletes get suddenly slower and look like they are running over hot coals or some sort of obstacle and they can't bend their knees like they normally do.
Sever's disease, also named for the doctor who defined it, occurs where the Achilles tendon attaches to the growth plate in the heels. My daughter appeared to be running over egg shells when she developed it. She could not land hard and then push off like she used to. She became a much slower runner, couldn't push off the rubber and, in fact, actually walked a little weird once this developed.
I have read all manner of prescribed treatment for Osgood's and Sever's. I am not in a position to offer recommendations on how to deal with it. My best advice is to seek competent medical advice, read up on the condition which assails your kid, and follow through with prescribed treatment until it goes away, and beyond that point. The most common treatments suggest rest and icing. I suppose those are necessary to calm down the pain as soon as possible. The length of rest depends and I have no guidelines to give you on this. Logic should dictate that rest should continue beyond the point at which pain disappears.
After resting, icing etc., there is some disagreement on what should be done next. Our doctor gave us several static stretches for each condition. The papers we were handed had more exercises than we could get my daughter to do. My wife and I sat down and read them over carefully. Where we thought perhaps some of it was redundant, we allowed our daughter to do a little less than what had been recommended. We also let her skip some exercises when they seemed to be too time-consuming and/or she did them with too much ease. The condition went away pretty rapidly and she was able to return to softball without again suffering major pain - she would occassionally experience mild recurrence which went away as soon as she did her stretches again.
In most people, these diseases disease go away on their own with rest and time. Osgood's and Sever's do not hang around for decades, causing pain for these kids as they race towards driving lessons, college, and careers. But that doesn;t mean they should be ignored or "played through." If you try to push through these "growing pains," the conditions will most likely worsen and become more difficult to treat. And when tendons pull repeatedly at bones, a lump can occur as bone grows at the point of stress. This can cause lots of problems. In short, athletes should always pay attention to their bodies when the bodies send them signals via pain. That's as true with Osgood's and Sever's as with other kinds of injuries. And sometimes these conditions, if completely ignored can last quite a bit longer - possibly into adulthood.
If you think your kid might be experiencing "growing pains," if she's in that age span during which the onset of puberty is right around the corner, if she has recently begun spurting up, and she begins to complain about joint pain, get some medical attention. Your primary care doctor may not give you the best advice on how to deal with this. An ortho specialist is probably a better idea. And take their advice to heart. Rest means rest. No, she cannot just be strapped into a bed for two days, go out and play 6 tournament games this weekend and then return to bed. Icing relieves joint pain but it alone is not enough. The same is true for analgesics. Most likely your daughter is going to need prolonged rest, icing, analgesics, some sort of stretching regimen, and then she can be back to her old self. Right now is fall and, while you are playing every weekend, it is a great time for rest. You may think to yourself that she really needs to be at practice and games now in order to make the starting lineup. but if this persists and maybe gets a little worse, she may miss a lot more games in the spring.Labels: injuries, parenting
Permanent Link: Growing Pains
Old/New School Stretching
by Dave
Friday, September 05, 2008
I recall the bygone years of my participation in youth sports somewhat fondly but sometimes the bad things about those days pop into my head. There were those times when I nearly passed out from dehydration at hot football practices, the various injuries from different sports due to improper stretching, and the year long sore arm. Lots of our approaches in sports have changed over the years. Many have not. Some of the mistakes from the past are probably repeated frequently because the approaches have been perpetuated by those who do not bother reading up on changes suggested by scientific research. Some of the approaches remain because no researcher has looked into them enough. There are more "old wives tales" utilized in sports than there are in probably any other specific aspect of life. But coaches and parents need to keep up to date, understand changes, and use a little common sense or risk injuries, sometimes serious ones.
I have two old football stories regarding antiquated thinking. When I began playing football, we were encouraged to not drink a lot of water before practice because it will cause cramping. How stupid was that? This idiotic approach was compounded during practice by the absolute refusal of coaches to permit any real drinking of water while workouts were underway regardless of the temperature, humidity, or intensity of drills. I've seen kids go down under these circumstances. I never went down myself but there were times when I nearly passed out.
When I was a 13 year old 8th grader, I played Pee Wee football which had a weight limit of 125 pounds. I weighed 135 after a summer of Forest Gump activity, running to friends houses so we could run to someplace where we could play sports all day long. Two of my friends were of similar weight. But we were the best players on that team and the coaches needed us. So they made us wear sweatsuits and multiple clothing layers beneath those to every practice. We were refused any water, encouraged to exist on celery and carrots - but not fruit. They worked us until our bodies registered just this side of 125 at weigh ins before games. Then, after making weight (or negotiations between coaches to permit this 129 kid to play if our two 126s could), we were actively discouraged from eating anything or drinking any water before game time so we wouldn't "cramp up."
Later, in high school, where no weight limits were involved, all of us were still denied water. The "trainer" did wheel out a contraption which was rumored to hold water. But players were discouraged from doing more than wetting their mouths - take a quick squirt and then spit it out. If a player was seen standing around the water for too long, coaches would freak out and demand he move away. If a player was repeatedly found near the water, he was forced to run laps to burn off any excess water and teach him a lesson. The result was 100 kids on the brink of dehydration every so often glancing at this octopus-shaped thing holding a few gallons of 90-100 degree, dirty, germ-infested, plastic-flavored water, while not even entertaining the thought of taking a drink from it.
I guess that octopus held about 3-5 gallons of water. After a two hour practice in the late August, early September sun, it was usually still half to three quarters full. The "trainer" would pick up from the ground some hose at the side of the building and add a little more dirt, some bacteria from the ground, and a few gallons of hot water which was previously standing inside the house, in the sun.
Today, it is pretty clear that athletes need to hydrate well before any activity and then replace all fluids which are lost during the activity. Experts tell us to drink fluids the night before and then continue up to a half hour before the activity. Then they encourage us to continue drinking during the activity. Finally, they note that when we allow ourselves to get even slightly dehydrated, our performance levels drop. Further, because water gets quickly absorbed, and cold water actually helps the body to cool down properly, drinking that dirt soup at 90-100 degrees is not helpful. So, everything my football coaches told me and my teammates with respect to water drinking was wrong. Nowadays, some far better trained fellow calls himself trainer and brings cool sports drinks to the practice and game field. Nobody screams at the big kid hanging around by those drinks. There is some yelling but it often sounds more like "hey, stupid, hydrate yourself." Times have changed.
One thing my old football coaches did seem to have an accidental handle on was that of stretching. No, we didn't do much of what I have recently come to call "static stretching" in which muscles are stretched to a point of elongation, before pain causes one to stop, held there for some pre-determined length of time, usually 10-20 seconds, rested and then stretched again. Rather, we performed what I recently have come to call "dynamic stretching."
Dynamic stretching, broadly defined, involves no pull, hold for ten, rest, repeat sequence. Rather, it involves performing movements that mimick athletic movements like running with very high knees, lunges, crab walks, rolling shoulders, and performing other actions that are a part and parcel of the movements one will make during actual athletic competition. Dynamic stretching warms up specific muscles, increases their range when compared to that found at resting, and encourages blood flow to the appropriate muscles.
In my football days, we performed jumping jacks, squat thrusts, push-ups, light agility drills involving accentuated movements of the legs and arms, boiuncing up and down while jumping slightly into the air and reaching high with our hands, sideways burst running while extended our arms in a repeated push-up like move, and many other "exercises" which were intended to accomplish essentially the same objectives we see today discussed as "dynamic stretching." At the end of a series of exercises, each of us was usually lightly sweating and we felt very loose. I do not recall a single kid ever getting a pulled muscle or experiencing significant joint pain during those football days.
Today I understand a little bit better why that is. Today, the information I receive from sports training experts like Marc Dagenais tells me that the things we did before full football practice are preferable to the "static stretching" I was instructed to perform in other sports. To my knowledge, there is no information out there today which recommends static stretching over dynamic stretching immediately prior to engaging in athletic activity.
But back in the day, many coaches in many sports, as well as gym teachers in school, often required static stretching before all activities. In particular, I had a swimming coach who was a huge proponent of static stretching. He was brought in to coach our YMCA team because they wanted to take things up a notch and compete on a national level. He was a serious-minded man, if not the brightest bulb in the Universe. He understood that he had certain limitations and, as a result, brought in a woman who had won Olympic hardware to help us train. But when it came to stretching, he was absolutely certain he had a handle on that aspect.
This coach forced us to arrive at the pool about a half hour before practice began in order to complete a full compliment of static stretching exercises. First we received a lengthy instruction on which exercises to perform. Then he supervised us to make sure everyone knew how to do these exercises properly. Then he encouraged us before every practiuce to do our stretches. He was very big on personal responsibility, one of his strongest suits, and after these early stages, he informed us that it was as much our duty as athletes to perform stretching before every practice as it was to give our all during the practice itself.
One of this coach's weakest points was his coaching approach. He worked on the principle that if I want you to do something you are not doing, or not doing properly in my judgment, I will belittle you until you have no other choice but to do it my way. I didn't care much for static stretching and I could not feel the benefit in my body. I was accustomed to dynamic stretching and sometimes I reverted back to that. This coach would call me out on the pool deck and belittle me in front of my peers. He would make fun of my "football exercises" and then tell me I was failing in my personal obligation to my teammates because I did not properly perform the entire repertoire of static stretches he had recommended. Of course, I complied. I also began to sneer at those ridiculous "football exercises" I had been performing. And then I began to have shoulder problems which continue to this day! But I never equated these events. I carried my lessons in static stretching with my until very recently.
To be quite honest, I considered myself to be rather knowledgeable on the subject of stretching. I recall a girl I coached just this past year who frequently had stiffness in her arm and shoulder before practice. I taught her a regimen of static stretches I wanted her to perform several times a day and then, especially, right before practices. She never performed these on her own time but did do them right before we began our sessions. When I next see her, I am going to make sure her parents understand that this is precisely the wrong approach.
At some point, I got curious about what was meant by static and dynamic stretching and began to read up on it. It now becomes pretty clear to me that my swim coach was wrong, the football coaches right, and what I have been carrying around with me for all these years as an adult needs some revision. I came to this conclusion after reading several articles by sports experts and then noticing the way Olympic and other athletes at high levels prepare right before competition.
If you watched the Olympians in action, you probably witnessed many dynamic stretching exercises performed by them. For example, the track stars would take a short jog on the track while pumping their knees and arms very high and fairly hard. Swimming phenom Michael Phelps was never seen right before races performing static stretches - stretch, aided by a trainer, hold, rest, stretch. Rather his pre-competition movements were rapid stretches, ending with a flapping of his arms to increase blood flow into his shoulders.
If you ever watch football in the last few minutes before a game begins, you see the players running along the sidelines similar to what I described above. Field goal kickers do perform some of what appears to be static stretches along the sidelines before that game winning kick but they do not hold positions for ten seconds. Rather they seem to do these movements far more "dynamically" and hold for two seconds or less. Then they kick into the air. Appear to do some more conventional stretches but only holding for a couple seconds, and then kick again.
Baseball players in the on-deck circle also often perform what can be called dynamic stretches. They pick up a couple bats or some weighted rod, swing lightly to loosen up their wrists, and then take a couple "practice swings" in which they over-accentuate their actual swing. They very slightly over extend certain limbs, get the blood flowing, and prepare for the very dunamic movement they will make shortly, when their turn at-bat comes. They do not stretch, hold for ten, rest and then stretch again.
Relief pitchers can often be seen getting ready to throw in the bullpen by performing dynamic stretches. They stretch quickly, flex, make abrupt motions, and then start throwing in an exaggerated way before settling into normal pitches. When a pinch runner enters a game, most often, you will see them perform conventional static stretches while holding for only a few seconds. Then they will run down a sideline while accentuating the more demanding aspect of running, similar to what you see track stars do. Infielders replacing someone in the later innings also perform what can best be described as dynamic stretching.
I guess I fell into a trap all the years I witnessed athletes performing dynamic stretches. I just assumed these people were short on time, had no time for proper stretching - or didn't know how to do it, and/or just did the best they could under the circumstances. I was wrong. They are most likely doing what they do with a specific purpose in mind. They have very expensive and skilled trainers advising them on how to avoid injury.
Please understand that I am no trainer and have received no formal education, let alone degrees, in this discipline. I am merely an ex-athlete, a parent of players, and a coach who pays attention to what I see before me. I read a ton about anything when I have serious questions about what I am observing. I rely on the experts and you should too. I am not advocating that all of you start performing dynamic stretching immediately. I am encouraging you to start asking questions of trainers, read everything you can get your hands on, and make up your own mind about this.
Also, please understand that I am not jumping on some bandwagon or getting up on a soapbox from which I encourage everyone to sneer at static stretching. I believe these exercises have an important place in athletic training. There does not seem to be any question that both static and dynamic stretching hold benefits to athletes. The problem is, they are each typically used the wrong way.
Static stretching is something an athlete should do when he or she is not about to engage in some other sort of training such as a throwing, running, fielding or batting drill. These exercises in which muscles are elongated, held in stretched position, rest, repeat, are very good ways to increase range of motion and flexibility. If you perform the ole standby, "toe touches," your hamstring flexibility will increase over time. The same is true of static stretches for every significant softball muscle in your body. Flexibility is very important in this sport. I think engaging in things like yoga or other flexibility-related organized activity can help any athlete improve her performance. I am not a newly minted anti-static-stretching fanatic. But I do discourage you from performing static stretches right before practice or games - as my swim coach required us to do before practice and races. At those times, I do believe dynamic stretching is better.
Please finish this article not so much armed with new information but rather with an active intellectual curiosity to learn more about the benefits and potential harm of dynamic and static stretching. I send you forth to the internet, library, bookstores, and to your local strength, conditioning trainers, armed with questions you need answered. OK, GO!
Follow-up:
Recognizing that some folks need a little help locating things on the web, I will add the following links for your use:
1) a good video demonstrating some dynamic leg stretching exercises
2) a pretty good list of some dynamic warm-up drills in pdf format
3) some dynamic warm-up exercises with illustrations from the US Tennis Association (Yes, I know sport-specific stretching is important but many of these exercises are standard for softball)
4) If you see anything with a great softball-specific dynamic stretching routine involving the upper portions of the body, please send the link to me and I'll post it here if I like it.Labels: coaching, parenting, practice, pre-season preparation
Permanent Link: Old/New School Stretching
And ... The Music Stops
by Dave
Thursday, August 28, 2008
These are anxious days, and not merely because school is about to begin. For many, it has already begun. Where I am, girls have been trying out for teams over the past month. It is like a giant game of musical chairs. But the music just stopped.
No, all the chairs have not been taken. As in any game of musical chairs, 80% of the players sit down immediately. Then there is a scuffle as a few fight over possession of some seats. Then a bunch of girls, not having found seats yet, stand up, look around and realize there are still several left unoccupied. They glance, calculate the opportunity, then sprint for one while remembering other unoccupied ones in case they don't win this one. This secondary shuffle ends with several more seats taken, the recognition that a few weren't sought after, and another sprint by the remaining standers for the last couple of seats. Finally, it is all over and somebody has lost, one player has not found a seat. Now its time for round two of the game!
Round two involves players who don't like their seats getting up while those who do can remain in theirs. Then there is the fight to occupy desired places, the secondary scuffle to sit anywhere and not be eliminated, etc.
This is an overly simplistic view of reality. The truth is much more complicated than any silly game analogy. The softball environment is a human endeavor and whenever many humans get involved in anything, chaos rules.
I can't say what it looks like where you are. My only window onto most of the country comes via e-mails folks send to me. Apparently every place is different depending on softball population density, the popularity of the sport, available facilities, coaches, organizations and teams, and several other considerations. In some places, there are a few (maybe just one) elite programs and a bunch of secondary ones, possibly several layers.
The tryouts for elite programs are usually well attended and highly competitive. Those for lesser ones, much less so. Everywhere, parents and players look for situations which fit their circumstances, hopes and goals. And the environment is almost always in motion.
Sometimes there are mass defections (including coaches) from one elite program to another. Sometimes elite teams break apart and send their members out into the game with several players landing here, a few more there, a coach or two leaving the game entirely, one or more ending up in a new place. It seems as if things are always rather untidy and someone always gets hurt. But that's life!
It would be easy to proclaim that these things always go in cycles. I'm not convinced yet that this is the case. There are trends to be sure but I doubt any of us will be involved with the sport long enough to recognize actual cycles of growth and contraction. The best we can do is examine the current situation and move towards a seat so as to not be shut out.
I suppose that in the beginning of time, there were a couple elite programs out there and everybody who desired to really play the game pursued them. The best players found slots and many people were left without a place at the table.
Enough of these people got together to form new programs whose desire was to show the elite ones they can compete with them. Some of these new programs succeeded and entered the elite fray. Of course, this increased the number of tryouts and spread the talent pool thinner than it would have been otherwise. But more girls got to play at a relatively high level. More girls obtained better training than their rec programs provided, and did so during periods when softball was not typically and generally available, during the fall and winter months.
Many other teams failed to play at a level competitive with the old and new elite teams. Sometimes these groups stayed together over multiple years, improved and joined the upper ranks. Sometimes, perhaps more frequently, these teams split up and their members went their ways, sometimes qualifying for one of the old or new elite teams, and sometimes having to join lesser skilled ones.
Sometimes, a remnant of the old roster for a team failing to compete with the elite ones was left behind. They sought new talent to add to their core. Perhaps one or more of the old players on the old team were unhappy with the coaching, the schedule, or the results and decided to found their own new, aspiring team. This sort of thing is good for the softball industry as more slots are available for girls who are unable to make the elite teams, more uniforms are needed, more equipment is purchased, and more composite bats are sold. But this sort of trend further confuses the landscape.
As more and more teams form and aspire to "show" the elite teams they can compete with them, the talent pool gets stretched and stretched until several elite programs can no longer field the sort of team they once were able to. A couple top players are no longer willing to drive an hour each way for practices 3 times a week. Maybe these girls want to play with the girls from their own current or future high school so that team can be competitive. Perhaps a parent or two believe they know more about the game than last year's coaching crew and want to head out on their own. Some girls want to get more time in the circle, behind the plate, etc. Rather than just give up on pitching, catching, etc. because they are fifth on their elite team's depth chart, they move on to teams which need them as a number one.
So it goes, year after year, until eventually, the number of players and teams no longer fit together. To draw a weak analogy, the softball environment becomes like a jigsaw puzzle box which is missing some pieces and contains some from another puzzle or two. Say there are 125 girls for 10 teams, made up of 12 players each, one year. The next year there are 127 girls and 12 teams. Many teams are going to have one or two open roster spots, a couple teams may have to fold and many girls left with no team, or maybe several teams are going to dip into the pool of rec players and attempt to suck up several girls who don't really aspire to play against the best possible competition.
The next year it gets even more messy. A few more girls enter the scene. A few of the ex-rec players decide they want to stay in travel. There are now 159 players available to fill roster spots on 19 teams.
Maybe the elite teams can fill their rosters and maybe they can't because Sara is not satisfied with playing only two thirds of the innings or with pitching in the number 3 role. She wants to be an ace, or her parents want her to be. They can pull in five friends from rec, including a catcher, advertise tryouts, get a few bona fide travel players, and hopefully pull this thing together. They didn't like that coach anyway.
As the numbers in this thing get really large in terms of girls and teams, things get more and more complicated, messy, and sometimes ugly. Elite programs find they can field elite teams at just a few age groups. Their 10s, 12s, or 14s are really bad and not indicative of the sort of teams they typically put onto the field. Whole, intact teams leave organizations and join others over money, facilities, or one of many other possible reasons.
Organizations which once fielded complete arrays of high caliber teams find they have gaps in various age groups. Two years ago they had two teams in every age group, last year they had one in the 16s, one in the 14s, nothing in the 12s and two in the 10s. This year they have no 10s, one 12, no 14s and two 16s. Tryouts for their 18s were sparsely attended and they've only pulled together 8 qualified kids. They are going to form up in the hope that girls from other programs will contact them during the winter or that some of the 8-member team will be able to convince a few high school players to join.
During the winter, a few kids or their parents decide this is not what they wanted. Maybe the coach told them it was going to be OK to miss Wednesday practices for flute lessons when they committed. Then he kept harrassing them about trying to make one every once in a while. Maybe the coach told the parents that the group would practice twice a week from October to March and then he or she realized that the group does not have adequate financing for such facilities and cut it back to one per week from December to March. Maybe the group of kids who everyone thought was joining this team was not the actual final group because some of the better kids joined other teams and several lesser skilled kids were used to fill in the roster. Ever heard or said this one: "Some of the better players seem to be missing from this practice, scrimmage, tournament? But we've got 12 kids, so who is missing?" I remember talking to someone at a scrimmage who told me the several good pitchers are missing today. When I pointed out that 13 kids were and wondered how many they carried on their roster (16?), the answer was a blank stare.
Maybe this team was supposed to be an older 14 team but when the final roster was set, there were 2 x 12s, 6 x 13s and 4 x 14s with one or two of the girls playing their first year of travel! Maybe the coaches turned out to be completely disorganized or underqualified. Maybe that good coach at tryouts was never planning on coaching this team. Maybe he was very patient and calm at tryouts and turned out to have anger management issues in real practices and you don't wish to find out if he is able to control himself during games.
Whatever the reason and the possibilities are endless, the fact is kids end up leaving teams, joining others, or leaving the sport altogether every year, after rosters have been "set." And a few kids who were actually ready for travel during fall tryouts never realized teams were forming up then. They contact organizations, teams, coaches begging for a tryout. They come to an indoor workout, get asked to join the team and then refuse to commit just yet! Nothing seems to be all that settled during the fall and sometimes teams fall apart during the winter months. Everything is always fluid.
It occurs to me that there is no neat conclusion to all of this. It is a mess and it never gets any cleaner. Yes a few girls will advance, move onto elite teams (ASA Gold and others) and stay where they are for years to come. The rest of us have to hack our ways through an ever growing jungle of confusion. We will invariably commit to teams and then learn the roster consists of 7 or 3, besides us, that the coach has left to join another team because that team has sought out his daughter, that the coaching is not quite what we thought it would be, the workout schedule is too heavy or too light, the facilities are too far and practices are scheduled so as to make the driving more difficult, practices are all scheduled at the same time as flute or pitching lessons, our daughters don't fit into the social fabric of the team we joined because she is at the young end of the age span, isn't as good as the other girls or maybe is older than most or by far the best player, or for whatever reason imaginable.
This confusion, anarchy and chaos is probably the last thing any of us needs. We have other worries including academics, finances, a sick relative, other commitments, etc. Softball was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to fit neatly into the rest of our lives notwithstanding the rigors of an intense tournament schedule. It was supposed to be something which it seems no longer to be. Yes, practicing and playing were always work but this ridiculous game of musical chairs was never supposed to be part of the equation. The only way off this crazy treadmill is to just get off it completely. And, after all is said and done, all we really want is for our daughters to go and play some games. If we stay in the game, they will. So the best we can hope to do is do the best we can hope to do.
Best of luck to you. Please take a seat ... NOW!Labels: parenting, youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: And ... The Music Stops
More Numbers
by Dave
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
For those of you looking to kill time via anything having any relation to the sport of softball, you may want to peruse the results from some of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Administered and Endorsed Recruitment Camps. Just pick a camp that has already taken place and then take a look at "Camp Quick Links," go down a bit and click on "2008 Camp Results." There are other interesting pieces of information accessible here aside from the results. Enjoy!
Several camps have not yet taken place and, as such, have no results posted. In these instances, the names of participants are usually listed. If you want to spy on your friends and neighbors to see exactly who may aspire to a college softball scholarship, take a look! Actually, that's a joke. What is interesting about the lists of participants is the graduation years. This is a good way to understand what aged girls usually participate in case you are contemplating applying for acceptance to a camp.
There are few 2012s, a few more 2011s, many more 10s and 9s signed up for one camp I looked at. In my many perusals over the years I do not think I have seen very many girls at these camps who are just going into their freshman years in the upcoming school year. Those are a relative rarity and for good reason. As soon as they set foot onto a high school campus, they are untouchable to college coaches. They'll mature and ripen into prospects late in their sophomore years, become approachable July 1 after their junior years, and while there is a lot of buzz about those early "verbals," I suppose one must really be a standout, approach the coach on their own, or otherwise catch the attention of a coach to attain that kind of status. What I mean is college coaches, to my knowledge, don't jump out from underneath their radar guns (reading 67!) at recruitment camps, walk by next year's freshmen, and pretend to drop their business cards and piles of papers detailing their programs' attributes. A little birdy tells me that there are other ways to skin that cat.
Another piece of information concerns the teams these girls play for. Lots of times I hear from people looking to find a team which can garner their kid some exposure to college coaches. The list of teams who have players at the NFCA camps doesn't really provide that information but it does show you some teams which might be a bit more serious about the college recruitment process. I believe all of these camps conduct a tournament in addition to the recruitment camp so you can cull out which of the teams with participants don't play the tournament. From there you can supplement this limited information by looking at which of these teams play some of the more serious showcases. This should give you at least a snapshot of teams from your area which may be of interest to you.
I suppose some of the more important figures folks might be interested in viewing are pitchers' pitch speeds, catchers' pop times, and all players' throwing and running speeds. The available stats vary depending on whether you look at administered or endorsed Camps. The administered camps list 20 yard dash results under the SPARQ testing results. Some of the endorsed camps list results for times from home to first. I don't have much knowledge regarding SPARQ but from what I can tell, the 20 yard dash does not resemble the home to first runs. I say that because there are few sub-3 20 yard SPARQ runs and many sub-3 times to first.
One of the things I like to do with data like this is pull it out of the charts and combine multiple camps results for a particular position, like catcher, and then post it into an Excel spreadsheet which allows me to manipulate the data. Once everything is pulled into a single spreadsheet program, you can sort the data fields by listing pop times, throwing speed, etc. by fastest to slowest. You can determine an average for all participants, pull out the fastest and slowest 10% (or whatever) and then see how that impacts averages, or a whole host of other numbers crunches just to see where your kid stacks up.
In case working with spreadsheets is beyond your capabilities or just plain bores you, there are other pieces of information which the NFCA publishes, not having anything to do with the camps, which can provide some of what you are looking for. For instance, there is a PDF page in the "Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Recruiting Camp Results" which answers the question: "How do my daughter's results compare to that of a NCAA Division I athlete?" But I'm not entirely sure I trust the information provided therein.
The pitching speed range for Div I athletes looks like this:
66 & above Excellent
63 - 65 Good
59 - 62 Average
58 & below Needs Work
To me, this is not all that valid or valuable. I've watched a lot of college games and I'd have to say "66 & above" may very well be excellent but it is also quite rare. The past couple of years I would hazard to guess that there were but a handful of pitchers whose top speeds in games were recorded at or above 66. Those few were not merely "Div I athletes" but athletes at elite Div I programs. It may not be commonly discussed but there are actually run of the mill and even some very weak "Div I programs." Those kinds of programs do not always attract the sort of pitcher who records 66 and up. Besides, there are effective pitchers who never get close to that speed but who have superior location and great movement.
Additionally, while the chart lists 63-65 as "good," I'd have to say that at least in my limited experience, it is a bit better than merely good. if you watched any of the ASA Gold national championships last year on TV, you saw very effective pitchers throw in this range and below. Some of them had already signed or received verbal commitments to top Div I programs. Can you imagine someone approaching you and noting that your or your daughter's recorded speed of 65 after her junior year of high school is "pretty good, keep working and maybe one day you'll be excellent, you're a pretty good little pitcher, keep working hard and maybe, if you're lucky, you might get into a mediocre Div I program."
I don't dispute that 59-62 is average though I haven't crunched the numbers or seen where anyone else has. I do believe I've seen a number of Div I pitchers who seldom hit 59. These girls usually have movement and command on their side, not to mention good mental toughness and loads of experience pitching high level games. 58 and below probably does "need work." But, on the whole, I'd say this chart could use some work. Not that many high school aged pitchers throw at or above 59.
As an aside, I feel the need to mention two things lest I get a bunch of e-mails "informing" me of some facts. Yes, I do know that pitchers in college throw from 43 feet while kids in high school and younger levels of youth softball throw from 40. This should not have any effect on the top recorded speed of any pitch. Obviously, when throwing longer distances, the ending speed of the pitch will be sloser. That is, a single pitch will record a slower speed when it is say 43 feet from the pitcher than it will when it is 40 feet from her. The pitch's top speed, however, is the same whether it is thrown from 40 or 43. If you do not understand that, please do not write to me for a clarification. I can't help you understand this.
Additionally, the way radar works, the gun (assuming you have a good one) will register a more accurate reading if it is pointed on the same line as the pitch. If the catcher were to hold a gun instead of a mitt and the pitch were to come in and hit the gun directly, the reading should be very accurate - though perhaps the gun would be broken! If the radar gun were held by somebody in the on-deck circle, the reading would be relatively inaccurate. That's because of the Cosine Effect which is "called this because the measured speed is directly related to the cosine of the angle between the radar gun and the target's direction of travel." If you want a more accurate reading of your daughter's pitch speed, stand behind the catcher and use a good gun. Don't sit in the stands and get discouraged because she is pitching too slow. Don't stand to the side and measure your daughter's overhand throwing speed from a point not pretty much in a direct line with the throw.
It often amazes me how many people don't understand the Cosine Effect. In fact, it is apparent to me that many, many people have never heard the term. I have been to many tournaments including showcases and watched as somebody, sitting 10 or more feet to the side of the direct pitch line, lifts the gun and takes a reading. You can imagine the lower echelon college coach doing this, looking at the gun and thinking to his or herself, "gee whiz, just 62, that's only average, I'm not interested in her."
So, be careful to not be concerned about getting speed measurements of pitches only at 43 feet, checking speeds from a "safe distance" from the line of the pitch, and/or spending too much time getting stressed out because your poorly taken measurements don't stack up well enough with the recruitment camp crowd or the NFCA's chart of typical Div I pitchers!
I can't say that I've ever timed pop times for some of the best catchers I've seen either in college or high school (or anywhere else for that matter). But if you compare pops at the recruitment camps with the NFCA chart, I do believe that while there are a few 1.8s, precious few are below that mark. And, interestingly, one girl who threw beneath a 1.8 pop also threw one try above 2.0. Her overhand throwing speed was 58 mph which happens to just barely make the mark of "good" found at another location on the NFCA's chart. I cannot judge this girl's prospects because for all I know she could be an 8th grader. She might have had a stomach virus or a bout of insomnia the night before the camp. But the important thing is that there is not a lockstep correlation between throwing speed and pop times. Using the chart, you might come to the conclusion that your throwing speed is so good, anybody would be nuts not to pick you for the Olympic team. Or, alternately, you might conclude that whikle your pop time is better than anybody else, your throwing speed is just average so you might just as well join the chess team and give up this stupid softball dream.
I saw one catcher who threw successively 1.72, 1.78 and 1.65. Those are some great figures. But I've never seen this no-name player catch a game. I can't say if her overall catching mechanics are good, if she is a good, average or poor receiver, if she blocks pitches in the dirt well, etc. I don't know if she can hit. I don't know if she can run to first in under 5 seconds. I expect a kid with that much throwing talent probably has the whole thing together but there's no way to be sure. Besides, while dry pop times are one measure, there's no way to tell if she tenses up too much in games, especially big important ones. That's not even to mention that she might stand, after hours of traction, at no more than 5 feet tall or maybe weigh less than 100 pounds. She may be a gifted 5 foot 11 athlete who plays better under real competitive pressures but whose school grades average around C+ in relatively remedial or basic courses. Pop times are a valuable measure but, as always, just one of many considerations.
The average pop for a Div I catcher may very well be in the range of 1.91-2.00 but I question the usefulness of some straight-A high school honors student freshman (just beyond puberty, who starts varsity, hits the heck out of the ball in competitive Gold games, calls pitches for the all-America, 67-mph-throwing pitcher on her elite travel team, and rarely suffers a PB) using this chart to get discouraged because her still youthful, muscularly-undeveloped arm throws only 57 and her dry pop times come in around 2.05.
Anyways, that's my rant for the day. I get so many questions about numbers that I thought I'd direct everyone to places where I would ordinarily obtain my understanding of them. It is easy to get discouraged by looking at the NFCA's chart. It is also possible to get unwarrantedly optimistic based merely on pitch, running or throwing speeds. These things represent a measurement. They, in and of themselves, should not encourage or discourage anyone.Labels: catching, coaching, college, parenting, pitching, players
Permanent Link: More Numbers
Versatile!
by Dave
Friday, July 11, 2008
Does it occur to anyone that Andrea Duran, a slapper, hits a fair number of home runs? Does it occur to anyone that Jessica Mendoza, possibly the best overall hitter in the game today, is equally comfortable dragging, slapping one to the outfield corners, or drilling one well over the fence? Have you seen Crystl Bustos play third? She has a rocket arm and lightening quick response to balls hit at her. By the way, she may not get down to first in 2.6, but she is NOT a slow runner by most human standards. Jennie Finch knows her way around the bat rack - she is a very good hitter. One of the elements of this game which differentiates it from baseball is the versatility of its top players. Ignore that at your own risk.
I once knew a girl who was a true peanut. She was smaller than girls two years younger. She was a quick runner so her parents decided to turn her into a slapper because "she was never going to hit the ball out of the infield." They followed this approach to the exclusion of any other kind of hitting. She's startiung to grow now and her strength is on the upswing. She may not ever be tall but she is probably going to be around average height once her body gets in gear.
There was a girl who, at the age of ten, was a "better athlete" than any of the girls in her rec league. She was good enough to play with the older girls and often did just that. By rec league standards, she was a good fielder with speed and a strong arm. She often played short, even when playing with older girls. Her parents saw her exclusively as an infielder even going so far as to exclude from consideration any travel teams on which she was not guaranteed starting time at short or another suitable infield position. Yet, anyone who watched her recognized that her throwing mechanics were not well suited to infield play and her instincts in the outfield were among the very best around - that is, best around travel circles, not merely in the rec league. In short she was a "B" infielder and an "A" outfielder.
My kid claims she wants to play second base. She has voiced some desires to see more time at 2B on the team I coach. But her load up on throws is a bit long for an infielder. She has a quick release when compared to her peers. But I can see that her throwing mechanics will be better suited to outfield if she is unable to change them. I've tried to correct this and perhaps we will one day but, you know, she's a very good outfielder who threw three people out at first in this her first year of seeing considerable time in right.
My other kid says she wants to play third. But when no action comes her way over say ten pitches, it is apparent to me that her attention wanes. We've talked about this but I have yet to see any improvement. She is a very good 3B on balls hit in front of her and her arm is suited to oplaying the position. But aside from the attention thing (which scares the heck out of me), she doesn't move laterally all the well on liners. She moves well to her left but her quick movements to the right are at or below average for all players and not as quick as they need to be at third. She can play outfield well enough. She's also not bad around 2B but hates the position.
We have a girl on this year's team who is an overall very good player. In the fall, we used her as a catcher. She was outstanding at the position. But she insists that she never again wants to go behind the plate. We used her some at first because she is tall, long in the arm, and scoops just about anything out of the dirt. It is pretty difficult to throw anything over her head and anything to either side is usually easy for her to get to. Once a throw pulled her off the bag and she quickly jumped off, caught it and tagged the runner before she made the bag. Nobody had ever taught her to do this. Her instincts fot her there. On another play, our infielder held a very fast runner at third and then made the play to first. The runner at third broke immediately to home. Everybody in the place froze. Nobody on the team, including coaches, found the voice to yell "throw it home." This girl made a great catch, pivoted immediately and threw the kid out by about three steps. Her throw, under pressure was about a foot off the ground, and a half foot off the plate. The catcher had only to make the catch and the tag was applied for her. This girl doesn't like first and would prefer to play third where her reactions are not quite as stellar.
We had a girl who insisted her one and only position was third. She was pretty good at it. But we needed a SS. This 3B was one of the fastest and quickest kids on the team, knew the game well, and could make any play required of a shortstop. We put her out at short one scrimmage game and she did quite well. But after that experience, she told us that she much prefers third. "That's my position." Anyone could see that this girl had the potential to be an "A" shortstop, anyone except her school and rec team coaches. Those folks had pigeon-holed her into the role of third baseman. It took everything I learned in the Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends and Influence People" class I took in my late teens to finally convinve this kid to stick to short with us and play third wherever else she played.
I like girls to be happy in the positions they play. It is a cardinal rule of fastpitch softball that girls. particularly those just entering puberty, must be happy to play ball (the corollary being that boys must play ball to be happy). I don;t want kids out there moping around, cursing their assigned positions. That can be dangerous or a formula for losing and creating disharmony on a team. At the same time, I thoroughly believ that versatility is critical to a player's success in softball.
Many parents have approached me at various times to object to my playing kids at more than one, often more than two, different positions. They would like to know who is playing and hitting where in the line-up the same way they know their favorite professional team. Manny Ramirez never plays SS. Sabathia never is in the lineup as DH. Pudge Rodriquez isn't an outfielder. A-Rod doesn't play third base. Whoops, I messed up there. That last comment is a bit dated.
The parents really get upset when I place a kid at say 2B and she fails to cover first on a bunt. They let me know that "She doesn't know that position. She has never played there before. She doesn't know that she has to cover first on bunts." I like to respond to that oft-recited rant, "now she has and does."
Many very successful teams follow a principle of one player, one position, or, in the case of pitchers and catchers in particular, one kid, one primary position and one secondary one. In this manner, they have kids who "know their position." They avoid circumstances in which the girl out at second isn't playing the position for the first time and then fails to get over to cover first on a bunt. They avoid situations in which the LF doesn't know where to stand on back-ups. They are coordinated and their kids know what to do with the ball when it comes to their one position. But those kids lack verstility and often don;t have well-rounded senses of the game. They get on a team where there is a better SS, 3B, etc., find themselves trying to learn something new, and struggling in the field to learn this "new position."
I've told you before that I was a catcher who found himself on a team with another catcher who would go on to have a fairly long major league career. I had a stick so they put me in the outfield. But I was lucky because the team ahd a coach who had played outfield in the minors and he taught me how to do it. I had played outfield for exactly one inning to that point in my career. I had no idea where to begin. Had this guy not been there to school me, my bat and I would have spent that season getting acquainted wiuth the bench.
Jessica Mendoza tells the story of how she became an outfielder. She went to Stanford on an athletic scholarship and when she got there found the team already had a sophomore All-America playing her position. Stacey Nuveman tells of how much of her early career involved playing exclusively SS. I'd be willing to bet that very few Div I college players played their predominant college position when they were 12, maybe even 14 or 15. Doesn't Cat Osterman say that she began pitching at 12?
It occurs to me that several pitchers I know were also pigeon-holed in their youth. One girl was pretty slow so her parents focused on her movement pitches rather than speed. I remember her 11 year old year. She was the smallest kid on the team. She threw maybe 40 mph with a tail-wind. I saw her yesterday. She is easily 5 feet 10 inches tall with very long arms and will possibly reach 6 feet within the year, right as she enters her freshman year of high school. She's about ready to give up pitching however because she gets tagged pretty good. She throws too slow for top level competition. her mechanics are wrong and her parents still believe the secret to her success is the movement pitches. (Don't take me wrong here - movement and location are critical but anybody can hit a 45 mph curve if it comes anywhere near the plate.)
Another pitcher I know was very fast at young ages. Now I'd say she has slightly below average speed. But her movement pitches are great and she has wonderful command. That's thanks to her parents and pitching coaches' recognition that she was not going to be particularly long or bulky as she aged. Early on the focus was to be well rounded. If she maintained speed, fine. In that event, she would be a fast pitcher with great control and movement. She's happens to be an outstanding infielder and, for that matter, outfielder. She also hits the stuffing out of the ball. This kid can play anywhere and does because nobody would ever leave her bat out of the lineup.
I watched some very young team play a tournament recently. They had a very good 10 year old pitcher. But she was kind of small. You could see her parents pacing the sideline as she pitched her way through every game that team played. Her stamina was as big as her parents were small and nervous. She pitched 3 games a day without any apparent drop-off in her performance. She played no other position. To be quite honest, I've seen better pitchers at the same age. This kid is supposed to be a plow horse when it comes to practicing and perhaps that will make all the difference for her. But to me, she is getting such a narrow experience that I believe it is harming her. She'd be better served to pitch on or one and a half games, at least on Saturdays and see some action at other positions. Perhaps her team would suffer as a result. Right now the kid suffers though nobody seems to be aware of that.
If you read this blog much, you have undoubtedly noticed I have a penchant for criticizing the "rotational" style of hitting. Today I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I don;t actually think it is wrong. What I think is wrong is teaching young kids to hit with the hip-trigger method in order to have them record extra-base-hits and homeruns in youth travel ball. What really gets up my ire is when I hear all those myths promulgated in the name of convincing everyone that rotational is the preferred method of hitting, is what all the colleges teach, and is what the Olympic softball players use. Another part of the myth is that all the big name sluggers in MLB use rotational hitting mechanics.
Recently somebody wrote something to me which included a reference to a piece of the rotational mechanic, wondered why I didn't focus on that, and criticized me for not talking more about it. When I replied, the complainer wrote me back repeating all the common myths about rotational hitting and had a link to one Olympian hitting in what appeared to be the rotational manner. I explained to him the error of his ways and I won't repeat all that again here. But suffice it to say that every truly great hitter is a rotational hitter (or appears to be one) on inside pitches and a linear hitter on outside opitches and balls up in the zone.
The Olympic team may very well teach roptational hitting mechanics but head coach Mike Candrea's hitting videos are pretty much all decidely linear in nature. Michele Smith's (she was a great hitter) advice on hitting is decidedly linear. All the major leaguers cited as rotational hitters are to a man disciples of Charley Lau, an anti-rotational voice. And if you examine tape on say Stacey Nuveman or Bustos, you will see them never let their hips fly open as the trigger to their swings unless somebody tries to jam them.
The link the fellow sent me involved a top hitter being jammed. She did look like a rotational hitter on that one. I sent back links to a dozen or more video clips which showed her to be more of a linear hitter than a rotational one and obviously demonstrating her versatility as a hitter.
The same feelings I have about rotational swing mechanics are true of slap hitting though I admit being totally in awe of what a slap hitter can accomplish in a softball game. It annoys me when I'm in the other dugout but I have to admit a grudging admiration for a girl who can chop a ball into the air and then reach first before the ball comes back to Earth.
Those circumstances are pretty rare. There aren't that many girls who can pull that off. Most slap hitters I see merely tap the ball into play. And they can't do much more than that because they have been doing only that since they were 9. The sickest feeling I get as a coach is looking at the on-deck circle and realizing our girl who can only slap is coming to the plate with the bases loaded and us trailing by a run with nobody available on the bench to hit for her. We've never won a game in those circumstances. If only the girl could pull a Mendoza and hit one hard down the line or drive one over the outfielder's heads, then things would be exciting! We have a slapper in the lineup who can drive the ball to all fields. She is always in the lineup. The one who merely dinks the ball into play is not.
A final area of consternation for me on this day is the big time, number 3 or 4 hitter who cannot lay down a bunt. I understand that on most teams, in most circumstances, you don;t want the kid who hits 5 or 600 with power to put one down. But it isn't difficult to imagine circumstances in which you might want her to do exactly that. I have interacted with coaches and parents who say, "We never want Sally to bunt. She's too good of a hitter for that." All I can say in response is "Mendoza."
Every kid who ever steps foot onto a softball diamond ought to learn to play every position on the field excluding one or two. Nobody should ever be limited to just one position. No youth team should play all of its games with one kid at a particular position, especially pitcher or catcher. It benefits everyone if every kid learns what is involved with most positions. The team benefits at times of injuries and illness. The kid benefits when, later in life, she wanst to stop pitching because she stops growing at 4 feet 11 or when her speed peaks at 53 mph. The all-star rec SS benefits by learning to play a little outfield, a little first and maybe seeing some action behind the plate. Our society is far too focused on specialization. Sure, most scientists aren't brauny enough to work a jackhammer. But that doesn't mean they should never leave their computers or laboratories.
Versatility is good.Labels: attitude, coaching, parenting, players, playing time
Permanent Link: Versatile!
The First? Fielder
by Dave
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Paul writes in to ask:My daughter, a pitcher, has some problems fielding her position defensively. She tends to have a panicked look when the ball is hit back to her and loses focus on what to do with it once in her glove. Part of this is fear of getting hit with an odd bounce and part is just lack of proper fielding technique. After that she needs to understand where her place is after a hit and she needs to move to a back up position. I don't want to teach her the wrong things but need to get her working on this.
Here is my response:
The very first thing I want to address to you is the "fear factor." Pitchers may develop a fear of balls being hit back at them, especially if they have a little scar shaped like laces on the ball or located where their broken nose or jaw was fixed. It's very tough to be so close to the gal with the stick in her hand. I strongly believe that every pitcher needs to be schooled on keeping the pitch away from the sweet spot on the bat, that is, to hit corners on every pitch. If you can paint corners, your fear of having a hotshot hit back at you should gradually diminish.
My personal belief is that in fastpitch softball, pitches should never be on the middle 8 inches of the plate. From 10 or 11 on, pitchers must be taught to work corners. Our game's ball is just too big and bright. 1 thorugh 9 of any team worth its salt can rip it when it is thrown down the midddle.
Some of us out here watch too much baseball on TV and fall in love with a 95 mph fastball thrown down the middle, challenging the hitter to catch up with it. That's baseball, not fastpitch softball. I am an advocate of teaching pitchers to throw hard before learning command. But even I have my limits. I don't particularly care whether your 11 year old can hit 55-60 on your coach's radar gun. If she throws that cheese down the middle, eventually she is going to find someone who can hit it and hit it hard. If the ball is in the center of the plate, chances are pretty good that the 60 mph pitch is going to come back at her at 94-98. And that may end your stud's pitching career regardless of how fast she can throw. Stay on the corners. It is extremely rare for a hitter to hit anything on the corners hard, straight back at the pitcher. That is the first thing you need to teach your pitcher in terms of defense.
(As an aside, to umpires who "require" the pitch right down the middle - who don't give corners, particularly when one team is beating another pretty badly, you must be ready to take personal responsibility for the broken noses, jaws and other body parts, the shortened careers, etc. which your approach has caused. I have seen so many umps change their zone or do other things to make the game move along or to provide the beaten down team with something, anything, to make them feel less bad. Just the other day, the field ump called our runner out when she was obviously safe in order to end the top of the first because we were up by 7 already. He pretty much admitted this to me. He noted to me that the other team was all 11s. So I told them we have 5x11s and 1x10 on the field with just 3 young 12s. I think he was a little surprised but not as surprised as he was when the other team scored 3 runs in the bottom half and then held us down in the top of the second before scoring again in their half. Umpires should never try to control games like that. That's what the time limit and run rules are for. And they shouldn't try to make pitchers throw down the middle unless they want somebody injured.)
A lot of how a pitcher does things defensively depends on her team's coaches and players. General fielding (balls back at her) is a matter of normal fielding mechanics, athleticism, repetition, and confidence. Let me try to develop this topic, give you some advice on what you can do, and try to list some of the issues which may vary from team to team and situation to situation.
A pitcher is in a difficult position defensively, standing about 35 feet from the plate after release. She needs to get immediately in some sort of defensive position after release. She needs to be in shape physically so that her reactions are good. And she needs to practice fielding mechanics the same way any other player does.
The first, most important step, is to get into a good ready position. That means low, balanced, and ready to move. In my opinion, she should not aspire to get quite as low with her glove as the third baseman whose glove should probably be just inches from the ground, if not actually touching it. There's not enough time for that anyway but it isn't necessarily the best defensive position for a pitcher. Most balls hit back at the pitcher are bouncing ones hit hard into the dirt. She should be low but not as low as 3B and her glove should be about knee high, in front of her, and open. Pitchers sometimes close their gloves hard or slap it into their thighs as they release the pitch. They need to be schooled to get it out in front, open and ready to make a play right after this.
Her knees need to be bent, feet even and about shoulder width apart. Her glove hand should be out in front of her. And her shoulders should be square with the plate. You can't do anything without a good ready position. You can't move equally well to either side if your feet aren't squared up. So your first goal should be to finish the pitch with a good ready position after release.
The second consideration is physical conditioning. If you want to react faster to balls hit back at you, being in the best physical shape is the pathway regardless of natural athletic ability. Kids who are in the best shape they can be will necessarily have shorter reaction times. A good off-season, or in, program of speed and agility is advisable for any softball player. The same is true of pitchers. While it is a given that everybody possesesses different athletic ability, engaging in a good speed/agility program can help anyone. It will also help a pitcher's pitching so I encourage you to pursue this.
Pitchers, like anyone else who walks onto a softball field need to be schooled in fielding mechanics. My guess is your daughter doesn't pitch every inning of every game she plays in. She could play many other positions. She should be schooled in fielding mechanics of all varities at this age in any event. If there are good fielding clinics near you, Kobata, etc., sign her up. Aside from this, I would hope your team's coaches work all the girls at fielding mechanics of all positions anyway. If they do not, you need to have her out fielding grounders, linedrives, etc. from all positions just for her own development. If you can get out once or twice a week to hit a half hour's worth of balls, that will definitely help her.
The next consideration is drills for fielding grounders from her position after release. Repetition is the key to sound fielding at any position and this does not exclude the pitcher. I recently saw a pretty good drill for doing this run at an OC Batbusters clinic. Basically, you put a girl at first, a catcher behind the plate, and the pitcher out in the circle. The pitcher pitches the ball like she would in a game and a coach immediately hits a grounder back at her. She fields it and throws to first. You can place fielders at each of the bases or have her throw home as you wish. Obviously the footwork on throws to each of the bases is different and should be practiced.
The coach should hit all sorts of balls to the pitcher. You want hard ones and soft ones, liners at her feet, bouncing balls to either side and so on. Coaches should do something like this in practice but if they don't, talk to them about a "drill I saw done" and describe this to them. You need to have other players to do this drill so it's best done at team practice.
Sometimes coaches will assemble an infield and hit balls to the various fielders including the girl standing around the pitcher's plate. This doesn't get the job done. Sometimes the coaches will have the pitcher mimick making a real pitch. This isn't enough either as she will go through the motion but make getting ready her primary goal. The pitcher needs to throw a pitch and then make a fielding play. And it is really so simple to do. There's no good reason not to spend 5-10 minutes on this at every or every other practice.
If you cannot convince your team to do my (really the OC Batbuster's) drill, I suggest modifying it at your local field. If you can't get somebody to catch or play the bases, use surrogates. A pop-up net will suffice for a catcher. Most fields have garbage cans standing around - move one over to cover first. And then hit away. This is certainly not optimal but do what you have to do to get this work in.
Additionally, there needs to be an understanding between the pitcher, the coaches, and all other infielders regarding what a pitcher's responsibility is on struck balls. My team uses a general rule of thumb which is a pitcher's responsibility for fielding a ball ends inside the circle. That is, she should not have to run outside the circle to field grounders and pop-ups. Bunts are the responsibility of the first and third basemen. There are obvious exceptions to this and the pitcher will end up fielding surprise drag bunts and other balls which do not fit neatly into my general rule of thumb - those will be practiced in the drill I discussed above.
In my experience, there's no need top tell a pitcher to go after balls. Usually she will naturally and reactively go after a lot of plays beyond her area of responsibility. But it is important to let her know that she has a team of four infielders behind her, excluding the catcher who generally will cover anything hit within a few feet of home, and she needs to develop judgment about what she can and cannot do better than the other fielders.
The corollary to this is, while a pitcher should not field a ball outside the circle, even if the ball is in the circle and another fielder can make the play, the pitcher needs to let them do that. This is really a pop-up rule. If a batter hits an infield pop-up with any real height to it, the pitcher should not usually make that play. If the ball is coming down in front of her, that is typically first or third's play. If the ball is coming down to her left at or beyond the circle, that's either 2B or SS's play. If the ball is right in the circle, the SS should take charge and call for it. In these cases, the pitcher should get out of the circle and away from the play, allowing her middle infielders to make it.
About a year ago I witnessed a play on which a pop-up was hit sky-high and came down about where the pitcher's plate is located. The pitcher stood there, hands high, watching the pop-up come down. I'm not sure whether I heard both the pitcher and SS call for it, or if nobody actually did. But in any event, the SS and P collided and the ball fell to the ground. By the way, the bases happened to be full and there were two outs at the time of the "major league pop-up." I don't recall how many runs scored but I think it was two. That left runners on second and third with still two outs. The next girl lined a single into the gap and both baserunners scored. That one simple play allowed four runs to score. And that was a Gold level game. The defensive team never recovered from those four runs.
I think sometimes we, as coaches, coach a little too much to the age group we have in front of us. In 10U ball, often the team has something like 3-5 good players, often including the girls who pitch. We encourage the pitcher to get to everything she can and make the play because it is a matter of winning and losing. At 12U, we should hope to have more than 3 players who can make routine plays every time but sometimes because of conditions beyond our control, we still encourage the pitcher to make every play she possibly can.
Even at 14U, I have heard coaches encourage pitchers to do similarly. I like to think of this as the "BNB principle" which is, the tendency to view the team like one would the Bad News Bears - a few good players who should be encouraged to jump in front of all those kids who "don't belong out there" and make every play they possibly can. But the question is, what does this practice do to the kid who continues to pitch into her later teens, perhaps even playing at the Gold level? What it does is set up the play on which an infield pop results in the pitcher running into another infielder, maybe getting hurt in the process, and allowing 4 runs that should never have seen the light of day to score.
So, in this discussion, what I'm saying to you is teach the pitcher to get out of the way on high pops, to field balls only within the circle, and let her infielders field the rest of them including ordinary bunts. That is true regardless of age level since every 10 year old is eventually going to be 18, God willing. She will naturely field some balls outside the circle anyway. She doesn't need to be told to do that. What she needs to hear is that her fielding responsibility should usually end at the pitcher's circle line. Teach good habits early. Don't subscribe to the BNB primciple.
With this in mind, I certainly recognize that not all teams' coaches will agree with me. And you do have to get along with your team's coaches. But there are limits to what you as the pitcher's parent should tolerate. One of my kid's teams follows the BNB principle due to a certain lack of talent on the roster. For example, we have a first baseman who cannot field a bunt. To me, a first baseman who cannot field a bunt is similar to a slap-hitter who tends to pop the ball up. I call that person by a particular name which is "bench player." A first baseman who cannot field a bunt is not a first baseman.
The first baseman also cannot field a pop-up more than 5 feet in front of her, no matter how high it is hit. She sees her role on the defensive side of the equation as one in which her job is to get to the bag and then catch the throw from infielders. Anything that is too far to her right is left for the 2B to field because she just has to get to the bag.
I'm not a coach on that team. Actually the father of 1B is a coach. And he encourages this errant approach because he is far too steeped in baseball. He doesn't know anything about the FP game. So he has schooled the girl that her primary responsibility is covering the bag. And the other coaches feel there is nothing they can do about this. So, instead of correcting the mistaken approach to playing the position, they tell the pitcher to get everything to her left. This includes all bunts, every soft grounder, and pop-ups. They don't worry about the P colliding with the first baseman since she will see the ball is more than five feet in front of her and retreat to cover the bag.
(As an aside, the 1B also believes any throw that is not perfectly thrown is not her responsibility. If she cannot catch it without moving her feet, it isn't her responsibility. I've never heard her corrected for not pursuing the ball first and the bag second. I just don't understand how any coach or parent can allow a first baseman to continue to play the game at that position with such a wrong understanding of what her responsibilities are. But they do and maybe you've seen similar circumstances too. But to me, a team which follows this approach is a team we won't be playing with any longer.)
As far as backing up bases, etc., this often really depends on your team's approach. Some teams use the pitcher as the primary cutoff between other fielders and home. Some teams teach their first baseman to perform this function. Obviously, if the pitcher is the primary cutoff, she is not responsible for backing up bases. Her work is to get lined up between the catcher and the outfielder or infield cutoff between her and the outfield. My personal preference is for the 1B to be primary cutoff and the pitcher to be a base backup. I think at higher levels this is usually the case. But I don't want to go any further into the topic because I have seen a fairly wide amount of variation and regardless of what I said about the BNB principle or the lack of talent at other positions, the pitcher should perform base back up responsibilities in conformity with her team's practices. I'm not willing to be taken to task on this issue as I was with the other one.
Base backup responsibilities are not something you can handle within a vacuum. You need to have this covered in practice. Yes, I have seen teams which never handle cutoffs or base backups in practice and then scream at the pitcher for being out of position on base backups. This is wrong and maybe there is nothing we can do about it other than to have a discussion with coaches that these things need to be handled in practice.
Aside from this, I think the bottom line is, if the pitcher has base backup responsibilities, the coaches do not handle this in practice regardless of how much you implore them to do so, and you are frustrated about what to tell your pitcher daughter, here are my suggestions:
If the backstop is not a college one where there is considerable distance between it and homeplate, there is no purpose to trying to backup the catcher on plays at the plate. If the play is at home and nowhere else, the best you can do is pick a point to retrieve errant throws. I believe that is a point along the third baseline in foul ground. The first baseman should cover the area in front of home along that baseline. And the 3B should be covering her bag since, if there may be a play at home, there may also be a play at third.
If the backup seems to be most important at third but the fence and out of play are say 15-20 feet from the bag, again, I suggest about the same position though closer to third than home. This way if the ball gets away from the 3B towards home, she can retrieve it quickly. If the ball goes out of control up the line towards the outfield, the LF should get after those. If the LF is making the throw to third, the pitcher would need to be in foul ground along the baseline anyways to back up the throw. Otherwise the LF should be crashing in and handle everything up the line. Some coaches would have the pitcher positioned right behind third to prevent the bad throw from going out of play. But if the pitcher is just 10-15 feet behind the 3B, there is little chance she'll be able to make a play on anything the 3B can't get. I believe along the line in foul ground is the place to be.
On all other plays, where the ball is going to 1B, 2B or just in to some infielder, the pitcher, and everyone else for that matter, need to be aware that the ball may get away and be prepared to retrieve it quickly in such eventuality. Just as I want the first baseman to be wide awake and aware that a throw in to second on a basehit with nobody on may go astray, I want the pitcher to be watching any throw in that might get away. Everyone should backup every throw just as the 2B must backup all throwbacks to the pitcher with a runner on. Outfielders make mistakes just like anyone else, even on easy, no action plays. Everyone needs to be awake on every pitch, every play, every throw in.
As far as learning the situation on which a pitcher needs to back up home, if appropriate, third, etc., given that she is not the primary infield cutoff, I'm not sure what to tell you. Basically, this is dictated by game and inning situation which I'll get to in a minute. More importantly, the coaches need to explain to their pitchers where they want them on certain situations or during the actual play. The best teams conduct drills with this in mind, remind pitchers before the play develops, and then instruct them during the play. This is just like having a baserunner on first with one or no outs and telling them to watch linedrives. You've taught them this in practice, you tell them the situation when they are on first, and then you scream "BACK" when there is an actual linedrive. The same should be done defensively.
When, say, a ball is hit to the outfield and gets past the fielder, coaches should be instructing, for example, the SS to go out and get the cutoff. They also should be judging where the play is going to develop based on where the ball is coming to a rest, the apparent speed of the baserunner(s), etc. In doing this, if they want the pitcher to, for example, back up third, they should yell this to her. What should never happen is a situation in which the coach wants the pitcher to back up third, he or she never says anything (either in practice or before or during the play), and then when the right backup has not taken place, the coach rants and raves at the pitcher for failing to backup. That does happen but it is wrong.
Finally, it is an absolute that every player on the field needs to know the game and inning situation on every pitch and have some idea of what they will do if a ball is hit their way. The CF needs to be aware that she cannot merely soft toss the ball in to the 2B after a hit when there is a runner on second. She needs to know that there may very well be a play at home. Similarly, with runners on first and second, a pitcher needs to know that if a grounder is hit back to her, she is going to third with her throw. I don't need to go over all the possible situations. You ought to be able to handle this in practice if you are a coach or jot it down on paper and go over it with your daughter if you are the pitcher's parent.
The bottom line is, before throwing every pitch, a pitcher needs to check off in her mind where she will go with the ball if X happens. Sometimes, it can be difficult to do this with young kids. It is difficult but it still needs to be done. It is an important part of any player's development. You cannot move up to the next level if you do not think this game through on every pitch. It is as important as getting into a ready position or learning good fielding mechanics. If you have to stop and think after you field the ball, you're dead at least 75% of the time.
In closing, teach your daughter to get in a ready position after release. Do this whether you are conducting pitching practice or running specific drills. Improve her athleticism by engaging in speed/agility drills or by signing up for clinics which do this. Anything that improves her physical condition will improve her ability as a ballplayer and pitcher. Teach her good general defensive skills. She needs this anyway. She may decide to quit pitching in future years but still want to play ball anyways. Good defensive skills are a necessity for every player who wants to keep playing. Conduct drills specific to the pitcher position. I gave you one. Maybe you'll find others in your travels. But do something. Try to convince your team's coaches to conduct pitcher-specific fielding drills. If you are unsuccessful, conduct some on your own. The drills must involve throwing a real pitch and then fielding a ball and making a throw to a base. Teach your pitchers, whether you are a team coach or just a mild mannered parent, what the limits of their responsibilities are - in the process also teach the other fielders to take charge in the right circumstances. Teach your pitchers to think through game and inning situations before making the pitch. If you find yourself on a team which follows the BNB principle, get away from them. You are doing your daughter a disservice if you stay. And eventually, through lots of repetition, discussion, and learning, you should develop your pitchers' defensive skills.
Follow-up:
Tom writes in to discuss something for the pitcher which I'll include here and in another place I mention defensive drills for pitchers:
"One of the more important drills that I've seen involve teaching pitchers to defend themselves from batted balls. A fielded ball can result in an out and a missed ball can take out your pitcher for the season. The most effective practice that I have discovered uses the lite-flite Jugs ball. They look like softballs and throw like softballs but don't break anything. When the pitcher is in her workout, the coach throws lit-flites back at her to defend as she pitches to the catcher, starting easy and moving to more difficult. We work with her trying to deflect the ball with her glove and not using her throwing throwing hand. Pitchers tend to try to catch with the bare hand which can cause a season ending injury) We work with her to get into a defensive position as soon as possible after delivering the pitch. Again this is practiced with the emphasis on safety and NOT on making a play. I can get the next out but I can't replace an injured pitcher easily. This changes her focus and quite frankly her overall fielding improves as her confidence increases."Labels: coaching, defense, fielding, parenting, pitching
Permanent Link: The First? Fielder
Breaking Away
by Dave
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I think I receive as many questions having to do with attitude than just about anything else. Usually it goes something like "My daughter is a really good player. She is a pitcher who also plays ... She has always loved the game but now I have trouble getting her to practice. When I can get her to practice, she doesn't practice hard. I go out of my way to make myself available to go out to the fields and hit grounders and flyballs, to pitch her batting practice or take her to the cages, or to catch her pitching practice. We bite the bullet just to afford her regular lessons. She's a very good player but she could be better. I think maybe we are wasting our time, effort, and money to try to pound a round peg into a square hole. Can you offer any guidance or advice?" My reply is, "I wish I could help you with that but I can't. If you find someone who can, please give me their name and contact information."
Here is my situation: I have a couple daughters who pitch and are decent ballplayers. The older one has physical strength which could lead her to find a pretty good deal of success in this game. She has been provided some very good pitching instruction. As a result, she's a pretty good pitcher but hasn't been invited to play for Team USA yet. If I've ever given you the impression that she's the greatest thing since the yellow ball, I've misled you. She's good but she's not all that.
When she practices, she improves quite a bit. She has 6 good pitches if we include the fastball. Practicing gives her pretty darn good command. Practicing gives her better speed and movement too. If I could put the fire in her belly and make her want to practice every day, she would be a very good pitcher.
When she practices, she gets high on practicing. That is, when I get her to throw, she really enjoys it. Her mood improves immediately. She, the girl who doesn't bother to tell us when she gets a 100 on a school test or an A for the marking period, actually becomes talkative, smiles, wants to be friends again. She becomes more than a good pitcher during practices. She becomes a human being.
The trouble is the initial push to get her away from the computer, Wii and cellphone, is a very difficult push. We've tried everything in our dysfunctional arsenal, threatened to take away the electronics, threatened to stop playing travel ball, threatened to halt the pitching lessons, etc. We've searched and searched for anything we can find that will get her motivated to want to practice more, and with more effort, but nothing seems to work. The only way she'll practice is if I ask her to do it and then get mad when she wants to push it off until later. the only way I can get her to really work is to find something that motivates her like losing a game. But what motivates her today will not motivate her tomorrow. I have to keep looking and looking for things to get her to work really hard. She's become too comfortable with practicing at a certain level.
It isn't that she never practices, she does. In fact, she generally gets about a total of four sessions in per week. And long ago I made it clear that I would not answer questions like "how long are we going to throw for" or "how many more pitches do you want me to throw." We have a policy which is that if those questions are asked, practice is over right there on the spot.
The sessions usually last about an hour. I try to gauge the degree to which she is genuinely tired from pitching a lot of innings in games or from genuinely working hard at one of her physical training sessions. There are times when we go to our pitching dungeon with the idea that after one half hour we are done. Then there are times when I would like to have her pitch until she drops. Many times we go longer than I plan because we haven't finished working through all the pitches or because one pitch needs more today than usual. Since the initial discussions regarding her not asking me when this practice is over, she's pretty good about keeping on point throughout these workouts which average between 100 and 200 pitches. That's not the problem.
The way I view practicing for any sport is, I believe you must exert at least *95% of game effort in order to get better. There's nothing magical about *95%. It's really just a number I picked out of the air but I think you can understand what I'm saying. If you disagree with *95% or any other number I use here, change it. We don't disagree in principle. Our numbers are just out of sync.
Further, I believe that any practice which is done at let's say 75% to 95% is a holding pattern. You're not going to get better but you will keep the skills you currently have. Less than that level of effort and all you are doing is wasting time and fooling yourself. You've got to raise your level higher if you want to get even maintain your skills.
To me, the way to get really good is to find a way to bring your game level of effort to the practice session and to increase the number of practice sessions at which you bring your best effort. If your game effort is called a 200 and your practice effort 180, bringing your practice effort up to say 185 will result in your game level being made into maybe 210. If you were able to say bring it to 200 in practice sessions, your game would go up to 225. From there, if you could bring your practice to 225, your games would jump to 250. And so on.
Are you with me? Do you understand what I'm getting at?
Another point I want to make is when kids start out at some activity, everything is new and difficult. They have to expend full effort in order to do the thing right. In sports, maybe in everything, I follow what I call a "three year rule" which basically says, you make regular, routine improvements for the first three years you do something just by working at your skills, regardless of the real effort level. What I mean is, the first three years a kid tries pitching, goes to batting lessons, or just plays softball, she will improve regularly through ordinary effort. After about three years, she has become a pretty good player, and after that, the only way she's going to make real improvements is through bringing the effort level to practice sessions.
The three year rule is not something I invented. It is something given to me by a coach when I was around 13. He said that whenever you do something new for three years, you will find yourself becoming very competent towards the end of the three years. You'll know your way around the block. You'll be able to discuss things involved in the activity. But you won;t get any better unless you drive yourself at that point and, at the same time, you'll also learn how to really dog it through workouts.
The three year rule is kind of a catch-22. You;ve earned a level of competence which provides you probably more enjoyment than you had at any time since you started. Now you need to turn it on, if you want to get better. But now you really now how to get through workouts without really putting anything out.
This is the point at which I find myself with my daughters. They've been doing this for longer than 3 years. But they know how to get through workouts without really pouring themselves into it. They have reached a plateau and the only way over it involves losing the dog it work ethic.
It's not just my kids. Every kid I have ever coached in any sport follows this pattern. The kid who is hardest to motivate is the kid who has been doing it for three or more years. You can try to push them but they don;t generally budge.
And it isn't anything to do with age. It doesn;t matter if I'm working with a kid aged 4 or 14. If this all is new to say a 14 year old, I have no problem pushing her to the next level. But give me a 9 year old who has been playing a sport for 3 years and I know there are going to be issues.
Just about any parent of a pitcher knows what I'm talking about. She used to do everything I told her and do it with a lot of effort. Now she gives me trouble about practicing her stuff and even when she does practice, the effort is just not there. She's not getting better, or at least not getting better at the rate I want to see.
Now, I don;t have any answers for the problem. I do believe I have identified it in a way which most people can understand. But I do not sit her with the idea that I have the answer which will solve everyone's problem of this nature. Instead, what I do believe I have are some tips which might help you break through the plateau.
First of all, think about how you were when you got to a similar point in some activity. It may not have been softball or baseball. It may not have been even sports related. But with something in your life, you most likely began it with no knowledge or skill set, worked at it for a couple years, attained a level of competence, and then got somewhat bored or lacked motivation to really improve yourself. Hopefully, at some point, you refound your mojo and got busy again. What I want you to do is get real introspective and try to remember how you were able to motivate yourself anew. Maybe it was some external event like a loss to a rival, a work raise somebody else got, or an inspirational speech you attended by someone in your field of endeavor. Maybe it was a realization which struck you like lightning. I do not know all the possible things which may have motivated you but I want you to figure that out.
Then think about times when you were unable to get out of a rut or overcome a plateau. What happened to your sense of self, your confidence, your life, when you sat at some point for a long time? How did your brain react to it? If you could avoid that in the future, would you? Was that enough to get you over the hump or was something else required.
Now picture your child and know that their mental makeup is not all that different from yours. Understand that, in an experiential sense, they don't know what you know. They do not fully appreciate that a superstar like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods routinely pushes themselves beyond their pain threshhold. They don't understand that Jordan brought his game to practices. They don't understand that when you sit still and take a break while you are firmly on some plateau, you may never be able to get off it.
One of the tricks I think which helps people overcome plateaus is interaction with others, particularly good motivators. This is the chief attribute of a really good coach, whether at the professional, collegiate, high school, or youth sports level. The really good coach is the one who thrives in circumstances in which their primary work involves motivating others.
We see this sort of person in Vince Lombardi or Bill Parcells in football, Phil Jackson, the late Jim Valvano, or Pat Summit in basketball, Sue Enquist or Mike Candrea in softball. These folks may be very knowledgeable in mechanical stuff, may really know their games and how to make their teams do great plays to win games. But more than anything else, they are outstanding motivators who not only can help their teams do the mechanical things but also teach their charges how to be motivated and what it takes to play at the highest levels.
You can disagree with me that these people are primarily motivators, if you like. But when they retire from their sports and want to do something else, more often than not what they end up doing is motivational speeches. And there is high demand for these folks to come talk to business people, government employees, etc. precisely because what they have to say in this regard is extremely valuable.
To take this a bit further, I think many of us fall into a parental trap with respect to our kids' sports careers. At early stages, we recognize that the kid needs instruction and practice. The kid most definitely does not recognize this. So we set to pushing our children to do some kind of practicing in the same way that we supervise them and make sure all their homework is done. They are too intellectually immature to take care of business or to recognize that if they skip a homework assignment or whatever, things are only going to get much more difficult. Young kids very seldom, if ever, are self-driven.
We raise these kids up from the time they can't pick up their heads to the day they start getting speeding tickets or sit down with some guy with 50 years experience to tell him how he should run his business ... at a $400 per hour rate. We teach them to walk and to speak, to eat with a spoon or fork, to keep their fingers our of electrical sockets, to not be afraid of flies, to swing a bat.
Other aspects of life have rights of passage which tell us when to pull back some, if not completely. High school graduation lets us know that our kid has arrived at the point at which he or she must get a job or head off to school in a place at which we can't adequately tell them how to deal with all the dangers they may encounter. Marriage tells moms they aren't the most important woman in a boy's life and dad's that they can no longer threaten to shoot the boy driving the car with your daughter riding in it if he goes one mph above the speed limit. Softball has no rights of passage at which it is abundantly clear for dad and mom to move away from the dugout for good and just let her take care of herself.
I've seen parents of 18 year olds say in sugar coated voices, "Here you go baby doll, her's your power bar and some water, now eat it and drink up, you don't want to faint." I've also seen parents of 8 year olds pull up to tournaments and say, "here's a jug of water, a sandwich and five dolalrs you can spend at the snack bar. If I'm not here at the end of your last game, call me on your cell phione and I'll be here within a half hour. Stay with coach Bob, if I'm not here. If he has to leave, stay at the snackbar." Someplace between these two extremes is the optimal time to let go some.
Understand that I'm trying to discuss how to get a kid 10 - 14 years old to overcome plateaus by being self-motivated and I've digressed into a discussion about when to stop treating your child like a, um, child. The reason I've gotten to this spot is because I think the two seemingly different things are related. It is their game and they are the ones who really do the practicing. If they are going to get better, they need to find motivation from within or without. We cannot give them that though we certainly can and do try. But in the end, they need to fucntion outside our purview and find their own motivation. Otherwise, we are truly living vicariously through our kids.
I think it is fair to say that every year at a number of colleges, some kids return home, relinquishing their scholarships in the process, and evirtually ending their careers because they are incapable of finding motivation within themselves to overcome some hurdle, some plateau. One thing a kid can get out of sports, if we let them, is a certain level of self-confidence and competence which prepares them for that inevitable time when they are going to be truly on their own. Eventually they are going to be on a job, working on a school project, or p-laying for some coach in a situation in which our input is not merely discouraged, but rather completely forbidden. At that point, the kid who has been coached completely by the parent, who has never learned to go out their on their own, is at a decided disadvantage.
So, where I have come to with this issue of how to get your darling daughter motivated to practice and pratice hard so she can improve and overcome a plateau, is teaching the kid to be self-motivated and self-sufficient, to break away from taking care of everything, to allow her to fail of her own lack of effort. It isn;t an easy thing to do. And we don;t just throw her into the swimming pool and hope that she learns to swim before she begins gulping water and falling like a stone to the bottom of the deep-end. We have to talk to her and explain what it is we are doing and what it is she should begin doing. Otherwise we fail as parents.
Once I was at a clinic with loads of kids of varying talent levels around. A very smart father of a very gifted ball player struck up a conversation with me. Somehow he brought the subject around to issues of coaching your kids. He said, "At some point you can't coach your kid any more. At some point, if she is to progress as a ballplayer, you have to let her be coached by other people. She needs to learn to deal with other people including some she has never met before. She needs to break away from you and that's hard to do. If she doesn't break away from you, she'll never grow up in this game. She knows that. &mnbsp; You know that. But its hard for her to do. And if you hinder the process or if you put up obstacles to her breaking away, she won't be able to do it. She doesn't want to hurt your feelings. You have to let her know that its OK, really OK."
So that's my advice piece for the day. Having trouble getting your kid to practice? Having trouble getting your kid to practice hard? Don't make her. Let her make herself work. All you can do is try to explain the way things work in the real world. That other kid over there, she works really hard at her game. If she continues to do it and you continue to sleep through your limited workouts, she is definitely going to get better than you. You have to decide for yourself how much or little you are going to practice. I'm here to catch for you anytime you want. But please don't waste my time.
*95% = Originally this number was posted at 75% but I got some pushback on that. please understand that the number is drawn out of thin air. It is a concrete, objective way of expressing something which is neither concrete nor susceptible to objective measurement.
We Americans are fond of saying that you have to give 110%. But, honestly, that's just not possible. If you have 100 of something to give, you might be able to give 100 but you are incapable of giving 110.
Further, I sincerely doubt that anyone ever gives 100% while doing anything. If you gave absolutely everything you had on say a pitch or in a run, at the end of the line, you should be collapsed. I don't mean you would be on the ground with a smile on your face, knowing that you gave everything you had. I mean, you would be on the ground in pain, trying with all your remaining might to stay alive. In truth, nobody ever gives anything near a real 100%. They simply give what the effort requires or something short of that.
Most of what I know about training comes from a completely unrelated sport, swimming. Back in my youth, baseball and softball players never worked nearly as hard as they do today. Runners, swimmers, wrestlers and others trained in a serious fashion using scientifically proven techniques. Now just about everybody does that.
In a swimming training regimen, you usually overwork for much of the season and then gradually come down in something called a taper in which you taper off the distance and work towards developing fast-twitch muscles. But say you swam 100 yards of some event in 50 seconds during a race. You might, for part of the practice, work a sequence of 10 times 100 yards in which you try to repeat your sprint at an average time of under one minute with 5 to 15 seconds between sprints. This is, to my knowledge, one of the ways in which sprinters in all types of sports work out. And to me, this represents a 75% effort level. That's really where the 75% came from.
I have gone ahead and changed 75% to 95% so as to avoid further push back. But I don't really mean 95%. The numbers are unimportant.
So, please don't get hung up on numbers. The concept is there is an effort level associated with games and a different one with practice. I don't care who you are, you just cannot get the adrenaline flowing in practice that you can in games. But the idea is to bring your practices to as close to your game level as possible. If you don't, if you learn to dog it, you will never see the amount of improvement you are seeking and this will make your practices mostly a waste of time, your own and that of whomever is coaching you.Labels: parenting, practice
Permanent Link: Breaking Away
Did Someone Order ...
by Dave
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I was at a Little League regular season baseball game this past weekend at one of the regional LL meccas, Toms River, NJ. You might think this was just a pleasant afternoon at the park but I take my job seriously. I was there observing in order to collect more material for my softball blog! I am a student of the game, after all. And that's a good thing because I saw something while I was there which is very relevant to girls fastpitch softball.
I was pretty impressed with the level of play in Toms River. There was one kid on the field who was easily bigger than any adult. Sometimes you see a kid like that and guess that his coordination hasn't caught up with his body yet. That wasn't the case with this kid. He was as coordinated and athletic as he was large. Luckily for the team he was playing against, he had used up his allotment of pitching for the week. He settled for playing first. I wasn't surprised to see the entire outfield standing on the warning track when this kid came to bat. I also wasn't surprised to see him walked frequently by a pretty savy pitcher!
Toms River has some excellent baseball in their town rec leagues. Anyone familiar with Little League knows a Toms River team has made it well into the tournament several times and won the whole shootin' match in 1998 with a 12-9 victory over Japan. Some of those players are just now trying to work their ways through professional baseball's minor leagues. Other towns nearby have produced MLB players too including former All-Star Al Leiter. Needless to say, the area takes its baseball rather seriously.
The game I watched was very exciting. It went to the fifth 1-0 with numerous good plays being made by several players. The pitching was well above anything I have personally seen in terms of 12 year olds. I have seen some good kids working out inside the Toms River indoor facility from time to time. But in general, the level of kids I see in my own town isn't even close to what comes out of Toms River in volumes, even just at that one game. I'm told the Leiter family may have something to do with that!
So the tension was pretty high. Runners on base were at a premium. Several attempted bunts didn't work out. Baserunners were caught stealing. Great plays were made in the field with runners in scoring position with two outs. It was a very well played game, played by focused kids. Then the unthinkable happened.
The unthinkable thing which turned the tide of this game did not involve any sort of play or error made by a stellar fielder. It did not involve a long ball by the big kid. It did not involve a pitcher getting wild or hitting a batter or any other thing you might possibly expect. What happened was one team suffered a mental breakdown. That breakdown resulted in several runs being scored by the opposition in one fateful inning.
I expect many did not know what had caused the breakdown. Coaches were dumfounded, having believed they had prepared this team well for the mental stresses of the game. They were shocked to watch their team fall to pieces because of an external stimulus they had not anticipated. Mental toughness be damned. This team had experienced the unthinkable. Billy's mom brought him a glazed pretzel from the snackbar!
Many present at the game that day did not notice the event. Billy was out of the game at this point. Few saw mom bring Billy the pretzel. Nobody saw him eat it ... except his teammates. I wouldn't have noticed this had I not been standing next to the dugout, talking with one of the team's coaches. There was only one way into that dugout and it was through me. Mom said, "can you please excuse me for a moment?" I replied, "sure" and got out of the way.
The pretzel looked and smelled extraordinary. The snackbar was just about 200 feet from where I was standing. I hadn't had lunch yet and a qu | |
