admin Today was an interesting experience. I took my entire 16U team to a sports training facility in downtown Montreal to be assessed and screened by certified athletic trainers. It was not your traditional fitness testing. It was what we call a “functional assessment”. They are basically testing and screening the body to see if the … Read more
Coming back to coach at the 16U level is an interesting experience. I realize more than ever than kids today want results now. If it doesn’t work right away, it’s no good! Why is that? They are used to getting everything right away. They live in a world with… – Instant chat – Instant texting … Read more
I’m a firm believer is shifting the odds in your favor. Softball is somewhat of a complex game. Yet, to be successful, it comes back to accomplishing a few very simple things. Doing those simple things will “shift the odds in your favor.” What are these simple things? Here’s my top 10 list of rules … Read more
For those of you who don’t know, in addition to coaching softball, being a softball peak performance coach, I’ve also been teaching at the community college level for the past 10 years or so. I currently teach nutrition, sports conditioning, and weight training classes. I’ve also taught sports psychology and a few other fitness-related PE … Read more
One of the things I am doing with my new 16U team this fall is put all of my athletes through a functional assessment. I hear you: “What the heck is a functional assessment?” Let me give you an analogy. When you intend to buy a used car, before you pay for it, you take … Read more
It’s the off-season. It’s time to: 1) Rest and recover from last season. 2) Heal injuries. 3) Do conditioning to get faster, stronger, more powerful, andprevent injuries. 4) Work on fundamentals. In other words, it’s time to get better for next season! Often, people wonder – what should I do more of? In an ideal … Read more
One of the many questions that I get from softball players doing dynamic warm-ups for the first time is: “Is it normal that I’m sweating and feel like I am working out?” My answer is always: “Yes and No. Yes, because you aren’t use to the exercises yet and it’s working the muscles that needs … Read more
Yesterday, with my new team we played three games. I am certainly happy with our 3 wins. However, what I’m most happy about is the fact that I see my players learning and progressing. That’s my number one goal especially in the off-season. One of the concepts that I have really been emphasizing over the … Read more
Yesterday, I was telling you that I did a phone consultation with the coach of one of the best 18U Gold team in the USA. And during our discussion, we talked about the fact that doing home workout videos isn’t ideal for softball players. Following yesterday’s email, many reacted and sent us comments about the … Read more
Most coaches and athletes recognize that getting in shape plays a key role in achieving top performances at the elite level. For most, conditioning is conditioning. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you sweat a bit and get some muscle burn, you’re getting in shape and that’s all good! While it’s better … Read more