Having an appreciation for the game involves understanding it’s historical past. John Thorn, historian and baseball author, investigates the games past in “Baseball In The Garden Of Eden”
A great read to help set the mood while traveling from tournament to tournament this summer.
1. EXPECTATIONS
Does your expectations match the coaches? The following should be clear:
• Parent/player/coach relationship during games and practices
• Team expectations
• Individual expectations
• Bench and player etiquette
2. EQUIPMENT & UNIFORM
Create a sense of responsibility and understanding of:
• Care of expensive equipment
• Correct glove and bat size
• How to correctly use equipment
• Know the purpose of different types of equipment
3. THE BIG PICTURE & THE RULES
Develop an overall understanding of how and why the game is played in a certain way:
• Learn the league’s rules
4. PLAYING FIELD
Tour the field with the team explaining the big picture. Review:
• The bases
• Chalk lines
• Playing positions, including outfield
• Bench/dugout & equipment placement
5. DYNAMIC WARM-UP
Develop understanding in order to, not only reduce injuries, but to increase overall athleticism.
• Review techniques
6. SAFETY
Players need to be aware of what’s going on:
• Review safety rules
• Paying attention
• Proper defensive body position and glove work
7. THE ATHLETIC “READY” POSITION
Balance is needed for leverage. Leverage needed for power and speed:
• Practice being in the correct position to play ball
• Learn to anticipate what will be happening next in the game
• Practice fielding grounders
8. CATCHER
Extra practice time is needed to play this position – too many details to cover in this post. Seek professional coaching.
9. PITCHER
Extra practice time is needed to eventually play this position – too many details to cover in this post. Seek professional coaching.
10. EFFORT (HUSTLE)
Life-long character building starts here:
• 100% dedication
• Positive attitude
• Playing with the intent to win
• Develop purposeful and speedy body motion
11. RUNNING
Review the proper mechanics of running the bases:
• Home to 1st
• 1st to 2nd
• 2nd to 3rd
• 3rd to Home
12. THROWING
• proper arm mechanics of throwing the baseball
• hitting a target
13. HITTING (eventually bunting)
• tee drills
• stance
• breaking down the swing
• weight transfer
My daughter was lost in laughter and friendship with her team. To any fastpitch parent it’s moments like these that make all the work, time and expense worth it. We know they are happy. That’s all most of us care about.
Later in the evening, after our gloves were put away for the night, I asked her if she still liked playing fastpitch (I check every few weeks-she is only 11). I was happy to hear her answer with a resounding “yes”.
I reminded her she was part of something special and that fastpitch stood for many different things – and, when mastered, would not only help her with her game but with life itself.
Using the letters that spell fastpitch, we worked on the following acrostic together:
FASTPITCH
F = fearless
“I am not afraid to stand on the mound 40 feet away from a batter and listen to chanting and cheering.”
(she probably won’t rattle during an interview or while giving a speech)
A = attitude
“I know I can do it. I want to do it.”
(homework pressure does not stand a chance)
S = speed
“It’s not too fast for me.”
(success is not just the willingness to keep up, but to get ahead)
T = tenacity
“I can pitch the whole game.”
(less likely to give up and walk away from problems)
P = power
“I hit the ball farther in gym class than any boy, and throw harder too.”
(I don’t need a shotgun because she will alienate all potential suiters!)
I = intelligence
“I know the signs, both hitting and pitching.”
(seeing the big picture while paying attention to details will help her strategize in school and in her career)
T = tireless
“We practiced today, we have a clinic tomorrow, we have a double header the next day…”
(employers look for dedication, perseverance and loyalty)
There is what seems to be a lot of concern on whether or not you should have your child specialize in a sport at a young age. The story being told over and over again is that parents are selecting a sport for their children to specialize in at an early age in order to earn a scholarship.
That seems odd to me because it’s pretty much common knowledge that scholarships are far and few in between – and even when awarded, are basically worthless as far as covering any expenses. A simple google search or school inquiry can inform you of this research.
It is also stated that the child won’t receive the basic fundamentals an athlete should have.
This also seems odd to me given the fact that well-managed fastpitch organizations schedule clinics outside of team practices. These clinics focus on the players working on dynamic warm-up routines, strength and speed conditioning, balance and coordination drills – along with mobility and endurance exercises that would benefit any young athlete playing any sport. Clinics do build the athletic foundation that folks think are lost on single-sport players.
Fastpitch Softball workout
It’s more likely that the culture and economics of sports and sport training has changed over the years to include programs that start kids of at an early age. “If you don’t get your child signed up early, they will have a difficult time getting accepted into the program when they are older,” is a common statement delivered to parents by a lot of club travel team managers.
And for the most part, it’s true. As long as the player is contributing, improving and helping the organization win, they are going to be loyal to that player and her family. It would be difficult to “walk on” and displace a tenured athlete. The older they get, the more difficult it is. I think parents find themselves “forced” to specialize early on for this reason alone.
However, is it not possible that the child likes just one sport?
We have to consider that some kids don’t want to play anything but fastpitch softball. I have made every other sport possible available to my kid, and she has no interest in anything else. I could easily have been “Basketball Coach Dad” or “Swim Team Dad” or “Soccer Dad” (okay, maybe not “Soccer Dad” – no offense “Moms”).
So, what do you do if your child only wants to play fastpitch softball because she loves it, identifies with it and excels at it? Do you really believe they can’t compete with the best because they aren’t diversified and also playing on the basketball team?
Do you force your kid to not specialize because the “research” shows that those who don’t specialize will do better later at specializing in a sport? That even sounds suspect.
It’s one thing as a parent to not expose and encourage your child to try multiple sports, but it’s entirely different to force them to play more than one sport if their heart and soul belongs to just one.
I have seen it far too often, a young athlete, just going through the motions on the ball field because his or her parents want them to be involved in every sport possible – forcing them to be “well-rounded” in their athletic experience. The parents are justifying their child’s unhappiness by believing in the end they will be better athletes.
They may be better-experienced athletes in a general sense of having a playing resume with variety, but they are hardly ever better softball players. Sure, there is the exception, but the reality is most of the time they simply don’t have enough time to focus and practice on improving specific skills. It’s also common to see that their goals are scattered, ever changing and usually not their own.
Partially committed athletes that are involved with several sports on several teams often short themselves, their coaches and all of their teammates. This is due to overlapping personal time commitments, scheduling conflicts and often reporting injuries suffered while playing other sports that they are only partially familiar with for all the reasons stated above.
All of this can lead to parental stress that will, in-turn, lead to child stress.
Stress causes athletic burnout and failure faster than anything else that I can imagine.
Don’t you just love that question?!
It’s easy for any of us to have the thought that motivation is lacking in our young players from time to time.
It’s easy to think that they aren’t working as hard as the other players, even though that’s probably not the case.
In my experience, when a player is involved with something they like, motivation is not what’s missing from the equation when you find they are not working on isolated drills. Especially in the “tween” years.
Most of the time we confuse other responsibilities and obstacles our kids face in daily life with thoughts of they might be losing interest in a sport, or not working hard enough to be competing at the highest level of their ability.
Remember that being motivated does not mean that your young athlete will love everything about doing drill work. It’s disciplined, hard work.
Case in point: my daughter (now on an 11u tournament team) loves team clinics, lessons and practices. She approaches them the same as she does a game. She likes to practice and work on skills with me, as they usually will involve some kind of competition between us – or we make up pretend-game situations and work on skills in a way that stays fun and fresh.
She, however, did not like to work on drills by herself. She would occasionally do them, but she did not enjoy doing them alone. She wanted (and still would prefer) someone to at least watch her do them. Getting her to practice on her own was a real chore.
Early on I could not help but wonder if she was motivated to play at such a competitive level. Why would she not do her drills without nagging? Didn’t she realize 3 dozen kids or so would love to have her spot on the roster?
I started asking questions. Here’s how it went:
“Do you like to play softball?” She answered, “Yes!”
“Do you want to play softball?” She answered, “Yes!”
I asked, “Why?”
She answered, “Well because…” (I edited out the “like” that came before “well”)
I asked, “Like, well because, why?” (I have to tease her about the use of the word “like”)
“Because it’s awesome!”, she said.
“It is?” I asked.
“Yeah, and the team is cool, and we have a lot of fun!”
“You have a lot of fun training, practicing and playing games every weekend of almost the entire summer?” I asked.
“Yes!” “I want to do it!”
Then I hit her with…
“Why don’t you want to work on your drills alone?”
She answered quickly, “Nobody to try to beat!”
With that exchange I learned that she is indeed motivated. Motivation for her, at this point, is fueled by competition. She likes how it feels. She thrives on it. When I thought about it, she is that way with everything. She can’t even color without turning it into a competition to see who did the best job – often employing family members to judge the final picture. It’s okay with her (kinda) if she loses these type of friendly competitions,but the point remains that she is happy as long as the activity is indeed a competition.
Below are six factors that should be top of mind when assessing young player motivation and while creating a motivational atmosphere:
Okay, In conclusion, we all know that the only way you can be motivated by competition is if you really believe you have a chance to win! Being part of something special, like a team victory, motivates a player to repeat the experience. Wanting to have the experience again has helped keep my daughter (for the most part) stay motivated to work on her drills.
This book has been out for a couple years and the author, Geoff Colvin, wrote the book with the business professional in mind. If you read between the lines it’s easy to see how a lot of the content relates to athletes as well.
A good read, I recommend it!
It’s back to school for our kids and while mine are still to young for advanced chemistry classes my daughter sure got a taste of what chemistry meant to her 10u ball club.
After starting the season loosing the first two games, the girls “chemistry” kicked in and they started playing for each other instead of “with” each other.
It was a great season not only because they never lost another game, it was great because the girls really played as a team. They always picked each other up, cheered for each other and came through for each other when it really counted.
They experienced “chemistry”.
What do you need to do to foster good chemistry? Unlike the “chemistry” you take in school, team “chemistry” is not really learned. The coaches, parents and players need to make it happen. You need to create an environment that will allow it to happen. That’s why you need like minded people on and around the team. You need players that understand what role they play and how they can make a positive impact. You need coaches with a vision for success and you need parents that can help reinforce the coaches message and support the program.
But most of all, you need time.
Nothing but time gives the players (and parents/coaches) a chance to learn about each other and share experiences with each other. Whatever can be done to find ways for the girls to interact with each other on the field and off the field will help them build a relationship with each other.
Why chemistry?
Guest Post by Janis Meredith
Hitting that bright yellow softball is not as easy as it looks. Any softball player will tell you that there is more to hitting that just swinging away. With proper mechanics, a player can improve her batting average and hopefully minimize strike-outs.
Being a good sports parent is not as easy as it looks either. It takes more than just cheering on the sidelines. There are certain “mechanics” that can help you avoid striking out as a sports parent.
My husband, who’s coached softball for 10 years, gives his players 3 tips to help them when they step up to bat, tips that he hopes will help them get on base and not strike out.
Those same tips can also help you avoid sports parenting strike-outs.
First, he tells his girls, “Have a ritual to relax”.
In sports, the mental game is huge. Most great athletes have a ritual that helps them focus. A tennis player may adjust racquet strings in between shots even though the strings don’t need adjusting. A football kicker may take a deep breath and stretch his neck side to side before the snap. A batter might swing a heavy bat. A softball hitter may tap the base.
Rituals provide a sense of stability and help us stay focused on our goals.
Do you have “rituals” to help you relax as a sports parent? Give it a try. It might help you relax and focus on what is important. Bring a water bottle, sit in the same location, chew on sunflower seeds.Say a prayer. Familiar habits that will help you relax.
When we relax, we are less likely to get uptight about bad calls, coaching issues, and our child’s performance.
Next, he instructs them, “Say yes, yes, yes”.
The Stanford softball coach tells his hitters to think, “yes, yes, yes.” As they watch the ball leave the pitcher’s hand, they should assume that every ball is a strike.
In life, that’s called assuming the best or thinking positive.
I’m not very good at thinking positive. I’m often too quick to think the worst and cloak my negativity with the excuse that “I’m being realistic.”
Have you ever dreaded going to your kid’s game because you expected the worst to happen, after the last game when things didn’t go well? How often are you quick to point out mistakes made by the team instead of the good stuff? Do you ever start a season with a negative opinion of the coach before you’ve given him a chance?
It’s time for sports parents to start saying yes, yes, yes and be positive-thinking examples for our kids. It could be contagious.
Last, he tells them, “Be ready to adjust”.
Even as hitters are thinking yes, they are prepared to say no. In the 1.4 seconds it takes for the softball to travel from the pitcher’s hand to home plate, they must watch the ball until the last instant and be ready to not swing if it is a ball. That’s major mind adjustment.
In the same way that athletes learn to quickly adjust during a game, sports parents can also learn to adjust, because everything won’t always go the way you think it should.
Maybe the coach asked your child to play a new position this year, when you were counting on the old one. Perhaps your kid is not getting the playing time you were hoping for. Or at the last minute, your child decides they don’t want to play the sport you love to watch them play.
One of our parenting jobs is learning to adjust to the curve balls of life, and at the same time helping our kids grow stronger as they adjust.
Sports provides an excellent opportunity for our kids and us to grow in character. And when your child ends the season victorious in character, you will know that you not only avoided striking out, you got yourself a sports parenting home run.
The “zone” is something that you hear about athletes being “in” all the time, but what does it mean? What does it mean to your young players? How do you teach them the way to get there?
Some parents try to teach the meaning by waiting until game day and then screaming “pay attention!!” through a fence. This “technique” most likely will have little positive effect on the player – plus, while paying attention is extremely important, it’s even more important to understand all mental and physical elements of the drills, practices and game day rituals to be able to get in the “zone”.
The “zone” is the result of a player’s routine, built on mental and physical attributes that are specific in nature to each athlete. It’s the place where superstitions in the game are born! You have all heard the stories about pro players that have certain rituals they engage in before each contest…well, these are nothing more than routines that help them either get in or stay in the zone!
So how do you teach it then? For me, I needed a way to visually show young kids what the “zone” was.
I created a poster that divided up words relating to mental and physical preparedness and shows a very simple visual that helps explain to young athletes why routine is so important.
It also points out the enemies of mental and physical preparation.
The following words and definitions are what I use with my kids to teach them how to mentally prepare to play. We will discuss these along with the physical aspect more in-depth in later postings.
Click below to see the chart.
Frame of mind: Getting mentally ready to play in a competitive arena. Starting to block out all other daily distractions.
Visualization: Like playing a video in your mind, it’s picturing exactly the way you would like to play with “close-up shots” and “replays” of your desired actions covering all possibilities. See it happen before you make it happen.
“Look of the leader”: When you look the part, you feel the part and are in a better mental place to act on it. Always prepare in team practice jersey or team colors.
Motivation: Motivation must be honest in nature to “fuel” your internal engine. It’s always based on goals you have set but can be kicked into “turbo” by daily scenarios. Always play with a purpose in mind.
Focus: Pinpointed concentration on a specific element of the practice or the game.
Intensity: Strong energetic understanding in the program and its purpose, yourself and your goals, all leading to body language and performance that is stoic in nature.
Confidence: Feeling certain about the actions of learned abilities.
Concentration: Excited level of engagement in the drill or game.
Trust: Believing that even when things aren’t going as planned, you know they will turn around with continued hard work. Real trust in yourself starts with believing good things are possible, even eminent.
Mental toughness: The unwillingness to allow negative/distracting attitudes/elements into your head.
Awareness: Controlling events due to heightened understanding of your ever changing surroundings.
Goals in mind: Every action should be a rung on the ladder to reaching your goal. Don’t waste energy on anything else.
Hustle: Hustle is a state of being before it’s a form of action.
