As individuals, it is important for all of us to feel that we are winners and we can be winners in our own way.
In athletic contests, it is generally accepted that there will be a winner and a loser. If this was an exact science, we could assume that half the people who compete are winners and the other half losers. I think that it is quite evident that this is no the case.
“Being a winner” is an attitude – a state of mind and something we as individuals need to nurture and cultivate.
In order for you to understand where I am coming from, you should know that I have spent over 40 years as a player and coach of fastpitch softball. Twenty-seven of those years have come coaching in the high school ranks winning over 850 games. The last two years have been spent coaching fastpitch softball at the collegiate level. My overall coaching philosophy or methodology has been developed over this period of time and only those adjustments necessary to satisfy the current college environment have been made.
I have attempted to put together some of the things I feel have contributed to my success.
THINK LIKE A WINNER
I classify myself as a student of the game and strongly believe that spending 30 percent of your off-season thinking fastpitch softball is important to a coaches development. This 30 percent can consist of reading current softball periodicals, new books on softball, talking with other coaches, viewing instructional softball videos, attending softball coaches clinics and watching softball or baseball games.
- Always have time to listen to your players – I think that is an absolute necessity to be successful. The only problem that head coaches run into is that some players, because of their background, do not feel comfortable in trusting some of their feelings to the individual “who calls the shot.” This is where it is important to develop another “ear” inside your coaching staff. My assistant coach has been that “ear.” Don’t be afraid to ask your players their opinion and value their answer even though the final decision lies with you. Always answer their questions frankly and openly. Attempt to avoid making any questions or answers any more personal than absolutely necessary.
- Be organized, practices and games – Organization promotes confidence and disorganization creates doubt.
- Know your opponent – Knowledge is power; it allows you to prepare; it allows you to establish realistic goals; it fosters confidence.
- Be in control…..losing control means losing – Learning to concentrate develops memory of incidents, situations and events. You and your players must be in control in order to concentrate. I know some coaches who are good actors and are able to use a somewhat “out of control” performance to accomplish what they perceive as a need at that time.
- Learn how not to lose – A winning effort begins with preparing to win. This includes conditioning – conditioning won’t necessarily win games, but lack of it will lose games. If you beat me it means that I must get better. If I lose to you, it is because I failed to prepare.
- Coaches and players must be committed to giving a winning effort, win or lose – A winning effort does not always win. You’ve heard the phrase “games aren’t won; they’re lost” (untimely, critical mistakes which lose games, made by players who probably should have known better). Your players don’t know what they’re capable of achieving, whether individually or as a team. It is our job as coaches to assess athletic potential and we try to find ways to develop that potential to the fullest extent possible. “To err is human, to err repeatedly is stupid.”
- Adopt the “We must work harder than our opponents are working if (we want to catch up) or (we want to stay ahead), we cannot stand still philosophy. It is important that we be able to teach players to concentrate while giving an all-out effort physically. It takes concentration to increase your level of physical and mental toughness.
Always remember that the player is responsible only for those things that she has been taught thoroughly.
It is also our job as a coach to teach players to separate their performance from their self-worth.
- Sometimes a lose can be a win – In terms of what we expect from ourselves and from our players. Try to be realistic in your expectations. Set several goals in a potential loss so that you can celebrate with your scheduling so that you can give your team a real opportunity to win. Losing does nothing to teach us how to win. Losing can become as much of a habit as winning. Choose your battlefields wisely. Winning is a relative term normally used to describe the success of a team. It is easy for a coach to develop a healthy atmosphere on a winning team – the real challenge in coaching is teaching players how to cope with the tough times. Failure is a natural part of softball – the best hitters fail nearly 70 percent of the time.
BECOMING A WINNER
In “Becoming a Winner,” we find that a winning program provides an incentive for athletes to reach down deep and dig out a little extra. A winning program actually demands a positive response from its athletes.
The description of what makes up a player in a winning program is different from that of a losing program. Learning to win over your opponent in a fair, aggressive manner is not only important but is an absolute necessity.
A well-drilled, well-disciplined team will perform more effectively and be more consistent in its efforts than a team which is poorly prepared.
Player concentration is essential. Concentration can be taught through the use of drills that require thought plus execution of the skill. The ability to concentrate is both a learned trait and a habit; players can be taught to increase their intensity as well as the duration of their concentration.
Drills, not scrimmages, should be used to teach and practice skills. Scrimmages should be used as “fun” exercises that allow a player to demonstrate those skills which have been mastered and the degree to which those skills have been mastered. In a successful program, the coaches and the team members are constantly learning. They must adopt a philosophy of “We will not accept losing as inevitable.” We must indicate, to all concerned, that we are doing something to change our future.
Our players will not take a defeat seriously if we don’t. Part of this is sometimes referred to as enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the most important facet of coaching, even more important than technical knowledge. Many great coaches were very average athletes and some never played the sport they are coaching and yet they are very successful coaches.
“Team Pride,” is the foundation of every successful athletic program. Winning builds pride, hard work builds pride and commitment builds pride. Our enthusiasm and love for our sport shows in our faces and our body language.
Unfortunately, so does our indecision, lack of preparedness, or lack of interest in the sport. Our players will always be able to identify what is real and what is not.
Our coaching philosophy should be based on our beliefs, our environment, and our experiences. As a result, it will periodically undergo slight revisions as those things change. Our beliefs are basically affected by our successes, failure and the perceived needs of our program.
Any change in a coaching position means a change in environment and may require some modifications of our philosophy. In the educational setting, winning is always important, but always within the context of considerations such as discipline, academics, respect for opponents, and officials, etc. Coaching is not a “static” vocation, it is ever-changing.
It is necessary to not only have a coaching philosophy, but to continually update that philosophy. To paraphrase a recent country music hit, “You’ve go to stand for something, or you’ll fall for everything.”