As some of you know, I’ve worked at all levels of the game from the recreational 10U team all the way to the highest levels (college, international). To my knowledge, few people haves spent time at both extreme of the continuum and anywhere in between like I have. I can as easily relate to a 12U coach … Read more
As I told you 2 days ago, I spent the weekend doing professional development in Portland, Oregon. I took the NFCA Coaches College 402 course on advanced analysis of hitting and pitching with Kirk Walker, Margie Wright and Don Slaught. While I had previously been exposed to a lot of the course material, you still … Read more
They say that… ..the day you stop learning you die. ..coaches who stop going to clinics and courses and always seeking better ways of doing things should retire. …all the most successful people in society are lifelong learners and never stop learning. Well, since I am not anywhere close to dying or retiring and that … Read more
A few years ago, as a younger and less experienced coach, like most new coaches in softball, I wanted to win, win often, and win it all. That was at the recreational level and also in travel ball at the younger levels (12U, 14U, 16U). So my thinking was the following – practice super hard … Read more
Not long ago, I was observing a coach teach hitting. It was obvious he knew something or two about softball hitting. But he was really bad at teaching it. His players had a hard time applying what he was teaching. Here’s what he was doing. He kept telling his players about what they shouldn’t do … Read more
I started working with my team officially this weekend with our first practice yesterday. We have a good hitting team. And yesterday, I was introducing a few simple softball hitting concepts mostly about stance, rythm and loading/trigger/negative movements. I have one player who said “I can’t do it”. What? “I can’t do it. My body … Read more
It happens all the time – errors and mistakes. Softball is full of it. In fact, it’s a sport of errors. The team that makes the least usually wins. At the younger levels, teams don’t get beat, they beat themselves. Coaches and parents are in most cases very well-intented. They want to help their kid … Read more
Unlike sports like swimming, figure skating, tennis, or gymnastics, softball is a volunteer-driven sport. This means that most people involve in youth softball are volunteers and aren’t there for financial gains. In most cases, it’s actually costing them money. People get into coaching youth softball for various reasons. Some are former baseball or softball players … Read more