If you’re in the former group, congratulations. Glad to hear it, although this article probably won’t be of much interest to you. If you’re in the other group, though, you have a lot to think about in the next few weeks (or days).
Where you go likely will depend on your situation and what you want out of the game. If you’re a starter but just unhappy with the coaching, or with some of your teammates, or some other general aspect of the team, you may just be looking for a change of scenery. But if you feel like you haven’t been getting a fair opportunity, you may have to make some tough decisions.

One of the toughest is to leave a team that consistently has a winning record. Winning is fun, no question about it. As Nuke Laloosh would say, it’s more fun than losing. There’s a chance, especially if you move to a team that is just forming, that you will suffer more losses than you’re used to.

So at that point you have to make a decision — would I rather play and maybe lose, or sit and win? It sounds like a no-brainer but it’s really not. Our society is very win-oriented, and losing more than you’re used to can get to you after a while. You have to be strong to accept the idea that playing is better than not playing, no matter what the outcome.

Or there’s the situation of moving to a team where you’ll feel more challenged. Perhaps you have one of those coaches who likes to win, and thus plays at a “comfortable” level instead of stretching the team, even now and then. You know that in order to develop your game you need to play tougher competition. But again, that might mean you lose more than you’re used to. Can you accept that?
Can you accept making more outs than you have in the past while you face better pitching? It’s easy to say yes while you’re sitting at home watching TV or listening to music, but something else entirely when you’re walking back to the bench after your second K of the game.

There are all kinds of scenarios like that. It ultimately comes down to what you want for your career. For some people, getting the trophy is most important. Nothing wrong with that. It’ll be nice to look back on someday.
But for others, it’s about developing their game. If that’s you, and you’re not getting the opportunity where you are now, perhaps it’s time for a change. Just be sure you know what you’re getting yourself into, and that you’re able to handle the bad as well as the good.

Anyway, that’s the way I see it.
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At that point, just when she needs a hug and a Lifesaver candy, she instead gets the dagger eyes from the coach/parent who expected her to do better in that tough situation. “She’s a better player than that,” you think. “She knew the game was on the line and she choked. Arrrgggghhh!” Yes, that’s true. She is, and she did. She knows it. She definitely knows it. And what she needs is a parent to tell her everything will be ok, the sun will come up tomorrow and the world will keep on spinning. But if you’re too busy being the Coach, you may forget to tell her that. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: kids are not short adults. (It’s not an original statement to me, by the way, but I think it’s an apt description.) They react to adversity differently than we do. And they react to approval, or lack of it, differently than we do too. It’s important to keep that in mind, especially since they may hear both their coach and their parent saying something to them in the same breath.

It’s not just about games, either. While you may have dreams of your daughter playing in the WCWS, her dreams for her career may be different. You have to remember it’s her career and react appropriately. I remember one warm, sunny Easter Sunday suggesting to my oldest daughter that we go out and pitch after breakfast. Her reaction: “It’s Easter!” To her it was a holiday, and that meant it was a no softball zone. I knew she could use the practice, and that it would help her get better, which meant her team (which I coached) would win more. But she was having none of it. It’s not that she didn’t want to win, but it wasn’t as all-consuming to her as it was to me. At that point I had to step back and be a parent who supports his daughter in HER quest instead of basing her life on MY priorities.

In the post-holiday glow, do a little self-evaluation. If you are coaching your own daughter (or your son for that matter, because it’s the same on that side), ask yourself whether you’re treating your child as your child or as a player. Give it some real thought. Then ask your daughter. The answer may surprise you. Your daughter will be your player for only a few short years, but she will be your daughter for your whole life. Keep that in mind and you will find the whole relationship goes a lot more smoothly.

Let’s start with the obvious: a grown man is much stronger than a young girl. Not just in the upper body, but in every aspect. Take the strongest 12 year old girl you’ve ever seen and put her in a cage match with a 28 year old male professional athlete, and the girl is going to lose. Badly. So expecting a 12 year old girl to have the exact same swing mechanics, including the explosiveness, of a 28 year old MLB player is not very realistic.

Another obvious difference is age. The 28 year old MLB player has most likely been swinging a bat for longer than the 12 year old girl has been alive. In fact, he was probably reasonably accomplished by the time she was born. And he was four years older than she is now. With all that extra time to devote he SHOULD be better. Then there’s the access to training. Hopefully the 12 year old girl has a knowledgeable hitting coach who is helping her on her journey to becoming a feared hitter. The MLB player also has a hitting coach, and probably one with a pretty good track record of developing high-level players on a consistent basis.

In addition, the MLB player has access to millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, facilities, video programs, and recordings of his at-bats against every pitcher in the league, a really nice weight training facility with its own strength and conditioning coach, and so on. If she’s lucky, the 12 year old girl’s coach or parent records her swing now and then and reviews it on his/her laptop. Maybe she has a few game swings available on video, and a membership to the local health club. If she’s really serious she may be working with a trainer or following one of Marc’s workouts, but it’s not quite the same.

Finally, there’s a really good chance that our 28 year old MLB player has superior DNA to that 12 year old girl — which is the reason he is playing major league baseball in the first place. Some people are simply more athletic than others, just like some people are taller than others. That doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, but it’s certainly a nice head start. Coupled with everything else it’s a huge advantage for the MLB player over the local 12 year old softball player.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s good to look at the model swings, pitchers, etc. to see what the best in the world do. That is how we learn, and it’s a great way to point our own players/children down the right path. But you can also get too caught up in it, expecting more than a young player is capable of producing. Keep in mind that kids are still developing all throughout their teen years. Their bodies, change, their minds change, everything about them changes. So it’s important to keep what you see and what you want them to do in perspective.

It’s also important to remember that even the best mechanics don’t guarantee success. As I’ve said before, there are no style points in softball. You don’t lose a base on a home run for having an ugly swing, and having a great technical swing doesn’t automatically mean you’ll hit the ball. Still, the closer you can get to ideal (without getting in your own way mentally) the more likely you are to experience success.

So yes, look at those models on the Discuss Fast pitch Forum, watch the World Series, DVR the WCWS or the Softball World Cup when it’s on and learn all that you can. But keep in mind there are other factors going on and you’ll keep from driving yourself — and your players/kids — crazy.
Anyway, that’s the way I see it.
I’m eager to hear your comments…

Coaches usually have extremely good bat control in a controlled environment (they aren’t facing moving pitches thrown at them) because they spend all their time doing hitting balls to different players all over the field -basically doing fungo. Athletes should definitely spend more time doing “fungo-type” drills to increase bat control.

However, one of the best drills that I’ve found to quickly increase bat control and that mimics facing a real pitchers is to is to play “pepper” with a pitching machine. Assuming your regular hitting stance, your goal is to hit a nice slow grounder to different location (left, center, right) a full but controlled swing (that includes the follow-through too!).
You should swing at 75% of your maximum speed. The key isn’t to hit with power but to hit the ball to the desired location at a moderate speed. I often tell my athletes to imagine they are hitting a grounder to an 8-year-old girl. Thinking about that puts you in the right mindset where you know you have to hit the ball not too hard and to the desired location.

Again – make sure you use a full swing and that you follow-through. No half swing. The key is the speed at which you swing and how swing so that the ball does what you wants. This is a tough drill – especially at first. You are very likely to find yourself not being able to do it at all at first. However, with a bit of work and focus, it doesn’t take that much time to master. And once you master it, you will have much better bat control and be a much better hitter.

One of the things as a coach and an instructor that I realized a long time ago is that anyone can look good when everything is going there way. But how you react when you are in the batter’s box and the umpire made that strike call even though the ball bounced is what really separates the average players from the great players. What I’ve found is that average players allow the “happenings” around them to determine their “happiness.” While the players with the ability to win long term, and throughout life, are able to maintain control of the 6” between their ears despite the circumstances around them going against them.

That’s so profound right. Just follow that advice and all the weeds in your life will turn to roses. Well on paper everything sounds profound, but when you are a 14 year old girl like my student Jessie how does that work when you are in a big tournament and the coach benches you 2 games in a row for no fault of your own, 2 tournaments in a row. How do you control that 6” between your ears then? That’s kind of where the “rubber hits the road” as they say.

Back to what I was writing … Average players tend to react to negative situations in a way that disables them from contributing in a positive way for the team, and often carry those situations with them for several innings if not all the way home with them and sometimes throughout their entire life.

While players that control the 6” between their ears by realizing that the umpire, the coach, their parents, their teammates, other coaches, other players all have one thing in a common; they are human. Humans make mistakes. Humans let you down. Humans tell you one thing, but do another. If you accept in your mind that others will make mistakes, just like yourself, then when they do it isn’t quite so hard to accept/handle.

softball hitting Softball Tips: Control Your AttitudeBack to Jessie … final game to get into the championship and she finds herself on the bench. End of the game, 2 players on base and the coach calls her in to pinch hit. She could pout right? “Sit me on the bench and now you want me to hit? Well I don’t care if YOU lose the game or now this will teach you.” She could have done that. But what she did was wait for her pitch, no I’m not going to tell you what her pitch is because you might play her at ASA Nationals, and drives the snot out of it and helps her team win the game. Surely now she’s earned her way into the lineup for the championship game.

But No! Championship game starts against one of her best friends and she finds herself on the bench again. After the coach had previously apologized for having done that in the past and said he would do a better job of remembering who sat which games.

Back to what I was writing … Average players bring their baggage from the past onto the field with them. The players that want to be their best, the players that want to win are able to leave that baggage at home because they realize they can’t play with all of it draped on their back.

Winners are separated from others …

* Not by the score
* Not by the amount of RBI’s they generate
* Not by the number of strike outs they ring up
* Not by who wins the biggest trophy

Winners are separated from others by the way they control their effort and their attitude.

Whether you are a parent, a coach or a player there are a million things that you have absolutely no control over no matter how much you try. Close your eyes for a few minutes and think through several recent really bad situations.

How did you react? Did you let the umpire, your parents, your coach, your teammates, the other team, your boss, your colleagues control the 6” between your ears or were you able to control of your effort and your attitude despite everything going against you.

Back to Jessie … Championship game. Late innings. Score 0 to 0. Coach once again calls upon her in a crucial situation and asks her to bunt. Ouch! How’s that going to work? She’s got to be furious. She’s got to want to kill the ball and prove something to her coach and her best friend. Yeah NO! That’s not how Jessie rolls. She lays down a perfect bunt and not only moves the runners into scoring position, she gets on herself. Next girl delivers the game winning hit and she is now a champion. Or was she already a champion for controlling the only 2 things which she could control; Her Effort and Her Attitude?

Then came the first game of pool play. I swear it seemed like my well-drilled team had been replaced by look-alike aliens who had never seen a fastpitch softball game in their lives. We couldn’t hit (despite working on it all winter), we threw to the wrong base or at the wrong time, we missed easy fielding chances, it was just a disaster. Definitely not what I was expecting.

And that’s what’s so humbling about our game. I’ve had a pretty good run with players I instructed individually the last few months. I heard glowing reports about their performance, saw their names in the newspaper, was proud of them for their post-season awards. Then the day I go out to coach my own team I wind up feeling like the worst coach in the world.

The only consolation is knowing I’m not alone in that. I’ve spoken with Cindy Bristow about this phenomenon and she said she’s felt the same thing. Cindy is a far more accomplished coach than I am (or ever will be) so to hear her say she once got to the point of feeling like she was a bad coach gives me some small measure of comfort.

It can happen to all of us. We prepare our teams to the best of our ability, applying whatever store of knowledge we have to the situation. But still, it’s the players who have to play the game. And when you’re talking about adolescents who have a million things going on in their lives you just never know what will happen. It’s a crapshoot.

A phrase that’s important for adult coaches to keep in mind is that children are not little adults. They don’t think like we do, they don’t have the same expectations or fears we do. They have all their own, and they differ with each player. Expecting your players to react to stimulae such as their first tournament of the season the same way you do can get you into trouble. It certainly did for me.

I would classify that first game as horrible compared to the standards we set for ourselves. We only lost 4-3, but all four runs were given by us, not taken by our opponents. Worse yet, the hitting coach (me) who had helped so many other teams got pretty lonely in the third base coaches box since hardly anyone stopped by to visit.

Seeing as how I have seven girls who just completed their high school seasons and several of those with at least some varsity experience, I found it particularly surprising we were struggling in a 14U tournament. But such is life.

Was it frustrating? Sure. But that’s what happens.

The good news is we got better as we went along through the weekend. We went from not getting runners on base to leaving runners on base to eventually scoring more than a couple of runs. It’s obvious we still have things to work on, but as the girls became more comfortable with each other things got better.

Sports psychologist Jeff Janssen likes to talk about the four stages of team building — forming, storming, norming and performing. I thought we were ready to move into performing but I’d say now we’re still in the norming stage. Given how short a summer season is I hope we get through it and into performing soon. Because the game is a lot more fun when you’re performing.

So keep that in mind as you coach throughout the years. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out the game can come along and drop-kick you to the gut. It isn’t fun, but it does help to keep you humble.

I know I see that in action all the time. Walking through a facility or along a field I will see teams diligently running drills or working on techniques that essentially have them practicing to lose. Even though they may have best of intentions.

I see it with hitting a lot. I like hitting stations as much as the next coach, but they can do as much harm as good if they’re not set up or supervised properly.

Now, if you have older players whom you’ve worked with for awhile you can probably have them work the stations without someone being with them every minute. But for younger players it often doesn’t work as well.

I will see young players putting no effort into hitting off a tee because they think it’s for babies. So they just sort of knock the ball off instead of working on elements of their swings.

Soft toss is another one that can be problematic. Players will toss arcing balls to one another, which creates all sorts of problems in the swing that will have to corrected later.

But it’s not just hitting. You can see it in throwing, when players just push or lob the ball to one another while chattering away. You see it in the way they catch or field, just going through the motions instead of working on technique. They figure as long as they get the ball, or get it to wherever it needs to go next, they’ve done their jobs. But then, when they really need the better skills, those skills aren’t there — because they haven’t developed them.

Pitchers can really develop issues through misguided practice sessions. A typical question pitching coaches get asked is “How many pitches should my daughter throw each sessions, and how many times a week should she throw?”

There is no definitive answer to this question because it really depends. Would you rather have your daughter throw 50 good pitches or 100 sloppy ones? Would you rather have her working halfway every day or diligently twice a week?

I know which I’d prefer. Ideally she’d practice hard several times a week, but not every kid is wired that way. Better to have her practicing to improve her skills a little than practicing to get worse a lot. Because whatever she practices she will achieve.

There is no doubt in my mind that practice makes permanent. So keep that in mind as you watch your daughter or your team during a practice session, and ask yourself “Are they practicing to win, or to lose?” Because it does make a difference.

Anyway, that’s the way I see it.
Agree or disagree?
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The newly installed coach gathered the high school age girls together and announced, “If any of you are here for fun, you’re in the wrong place.”

Forgive me, but at what point did playing softball cease to be about having fun? When did winning a softball game, tournament or even national championship become so all-fired important that fun is no longer a part of the equation?

Every study that’s ever been done about youth sports shows that the #1 reason kids sign up for a sport is to have fun. Those same studies also show that the number #1 reason they quit playing is because the game is no longer fun for them.

There’s nothing wrong with taking the game seriously and working hard to do your best. There’s nothing wrong with drilling hard and practicing (or playing) all-out. Those are good things. But working hard and having don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

One of my favorite baseball movies is Mr. Baseball, starring Tom Selleck. In it, Selleck is a MLB player who is struggling, and ultimately gets traded to a team in Japan, where he runs into the typical tough but wise manager.

In many ways Selleck’s character is an overgrown kid, but he has a great perspective on one important aspect. When the Japanese team is all uptight because of the manager, he points out that “Baseball is a game, and games are supposed to be fun.”

He also points out that no one starts into baseball because they want to work. They want to play. That’s why it’s called “playing” baseball.

The same applies to softball, of course. While coaches (and parents) may be focused solely on wins, the players are often more about the total experience.

Yes, in the words of Nuke Lalush, winning is more fun than losing. But if you’re winning all the time and being miserable about it, sooner or later those players are going to find somewhere else to be than that team — and maybe something else to do than play softball.

Winning is great. Getting scholarships to help pay for school is great. Striving to be part of something bigger than yourself is great. But are any of them worth being unhappy all season (or career) long?

My advice to players and parents is this: if anyone tells you that if you’re joining a team for fun you’re in the wrong place, take their advice and leave. Life is too short to take something that should be enjoyable and make it awful.

If you won’t take my advice, then listen to the words of the King of rock and roll himself — Elvis Presley — who once said, “If it ain’t fun, the King don’t do it.” That’s why Elvis was and always will be the King.

Beware of False Qualifications

The other day I was hanging around a training facility where I don’t normally teach. I was waiting for a co-worker from my day (real) job, who was bringing his son and daughter there for me to help them with their hitting.

Since I arrived a little early and the place was sparsely populated, I dropped my stuff off by a bench and wandered over to a bulletin board area. Among the items they had were photos of their baseball and softball instructors with a little description of the background of each.

As I looked at the softball instructor descriptions I saw an interesting phrase. It said the instructor I was looking at was “Hitting, pitching and fielding certified.”

Hmmmph, I thought. That’s interesting. I wasn’t aware that there was a national standards board with a test you could take to become “certified” in various skills.

I know soccer has a coach’s licensing system that goes worldwide. I know martial arts instructors have to pass a rigorous series of tests based on long-established and standardized teachings to become certified. But softball?

Of course, there is no such thing. What I’m guessing it meant is that someone at the facility gives them the ok, and then they’re certified there. But it points up one of those things that unwary parents have to be careful of.

Saying an instructor is certified sounds very official and impressive. Yet it’s completely meaningless unless you know the standards on which the certification was based. It’s like saying someone played professional baseball, or is a former college player.

Lots of people played professional baseball at lots of levels. If you were paid to play, even if it was at a dollar amount below poverty level, you were a professional. If you played for the worst college in America with the worst coach ever, you still played in college.

What it doesn’t determine is whether the instructor knows doodly-squat. There are plenty of folks out there who were good players that have no idea how they did what they did. They just went out there and did it. So when it comes time to teach someone else, they do the same thing as everyone else. They either buy a book or a DVD and teach that, or they repeat whatever they happen to remember their old coaches saying.

Ultimately, what makes an instructor a good one isn’t whether they’re “certified” or have some other impressive-sounding credential. It’s whether he/she can teach your child how to improve her skills and succeed in the game.

How do you tell that? Ask to observe a lesson or two and see how the coach acts with students. Compare what he/she says to what you see top-level players doing. There are still plenty of folks out there teaching “old-school” (read: obsolete) techniques for various skills. And not all of them are old — nor are the old ones necessarily teaching what they did 20 years ago.

Another thing you’ll hear is to look at how their students have done. That one I’d take with a grain of salt. Rather than looking at their top players, try to find out how the kids with average ability have done under their tutelage. After all, a kid with tremendous athleticism and/or talent will probably succeed with or without that particular coach. It’s the ones who succeed while having only average ability who provide the best barometer for the difference that instructor and his/her teaching makes.

Be sure to ask questions. If you see someone is certified, ask by whom. You may find it’s not as impressive an accomplishment as you may think. The only thing that instructor may really be certified on is working the cash register.

Remember, with fastpitch softball anyone can hang out a shingle and declare themselves an instructor. I’ve seen plenty who haven’t a clue but manage to buffalo enough people to make a decent buck off of it. It really is a buyer beware situation.

Before you invest your hard-earned dollars in a path that will lead to nowhere, be sure to do your homework. Look at the results, not the hype, and you’ll find you get what you want — an opportunity for your daughter to succeed.

While there definitely are some bad drills, and some terrific drills, I find that most fall somewhere in between. Because the truth is it’s not the drill itself most of the time; it’s how you use it.

Take this hitting drill for example. A coach kneels in front of a player and soft tosses small objects at her. Could be wiffle golf balls, or corn kernels, or kidney beans, or some other small object. Is that a good or bad drill? Depends.

You see, if the hitter has good mechanics and uses them while executing it, it’s a good hitting drill. It can be very helpful in developing hand/eye coordination. But if the hitter has poor mechanics, trying to hit small objects will probably just make them worse.

In that case she’s practicing to fail not to succeed, because her measure of success is whether she hits the object, not whether she uses a good swing in doing it. Better to leave this drill behind until her mechanics are better.

There are lots of pitching drills — entire books are filled with them. Some are good, some are not so good, and again, some depend on who is doing them.

I’m not a big fan of anything that encourages a stiff arm or locked elbow. Yet that’s what I see when people try to over-complicate the arm circle and create too many “stages.”

One of the big ones is they start with the arm straight out behind them and throw from there. In order to hold up the ball they have to tighten up their arm, and they often push the ball instead of pulling it.

If you want to break down the circle, it’s better to do it only in a couple of spots, where you can get more of a free flow of the arm. Do it where everything can be balanced and relaxed and it will work. Put the arm under stress and you’re likely to get less than desireable results.

One of my least favorite drills overall is one where two players stand facing each other, anchor their feet in place, and throw back and forth by rotating their shoulders. What’s the problem with it?

There are two. First is that you’re supposed to use your feet when you catch and throw. A good throwing position has you sideways to your target, with the ankle bone of your back foot pointed at the target. Yet when the feet are locked in place you can’t get there, so you wind up throwing face-on — exactly what you will probably be trying to get away from in the next drill.

The other problem is you’re spending practice time working on a skill you will never, ever use. Think about it. What situation would have you standing face on to your target, with your feet not moving, just rotating your shoulders? You wouldn’t.

Those are rare, though. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then the quality of a drill is usually in the abilities of the player. If she can execute the drill with good mechanics, and the drill has a purpose, it’s a good drill. Same drill but with poor mechanics or reinforcing mistaken ideas about the game, not so much.

So if you’re going to use certain drills, especially those labeled advanced, do so carefully. Otherwise you could be doing more harm than good.