You know warm-ups are important. I see two major mistakes being done all the time in softball regarding warm-ups. MISTAKE #1 – Using An Old School, Traditional Warm-Up You see, traditional (or “old school”) warm-ups, you know the warm-ups where you run a lap or two around the field and then you sit down in … Read more
If you are serious about building yourself up for next season, your off-season training involve doing skills training (hitting, pitching, fielding, etc.), sports conditioning and maybe some form of mental/vision training. At times, life gets in the way (vacations, exams or homework, bad weather, general fatigue, sickness, family function, etc.) and we may have weeks … 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
Not long ago, I wrote about how cell phones (texting, talking, email, etc.) can be negatively impact a player’s focus, social interaction within a group environment, and even lead to rudeness and direspect sometimes. Are Cell Phones Negatively Affecting You and your Team? Kids aren’t only addicted to cell phones, they are also addicted to … Read more
It’s the Thanksgiving break in the US. Notice the word “break”. At some point, the body always need a break to “recover and regenerate”. It could also be said that you need to “relax and re-energize”. No matter how you say it – it’s the fact that you do it that counts. You see, the … Read more
Tonight, while driving back from practice, I was listening to my voice messages on my cool new iPhone. One of the messages was from one of the elite members of my Softball Peak Performance Club. Since I had about 30 minutes of driving to do. I decided to call him back right away. Personal phone … Read more
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
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