All About Fastpitch Softball Blog

To avoid disastrous consequences down the road, here are a few coaching must do’s for pre-season. I am sharing this from experience by the way.

1. Clearly Layout Your Expectations Up Front
This is often easier said than done. But it’s very important that your entire coaching staff and team are all very clear on your expectations for the season. Laying out all the information up front will help you avoid tough questions and situations down the road. Not only that, things just go a lot smoother when everyone is well informed and well prepared for what lies ahead.  That’s why it’s so important that your coaching staff and your players know what “the plan” is from the beginning.

It’s also critical that your players (and parents, depending on what age level you coach) understand your expectations on issues such as: attendance, conduct in team settings, grades, communication if players are going to be absent or late, attitude, team policies, procedures, guidelines etc, etc, etc. Again, the clearer the guidelines are for everyone, the less headache you’ll have during the season.

2. Don’t think that once is enough
You’ll find that even though you’ve gone over an issue or guideline or policy once, you may have to go over it again. I know, it would be fabulous if everyone remembered every single word you’ve ever said.   It would be totally awesome if, after you said something once, your word would get branded into the minds of your team and they would remember it forever and ever and ever.  But that’s simply not the case.

Be reasonable. If you’re instilling a new idea, a new concept, a new policy, or you have new players on the team, or if you are a new coach to a team, it’s only right that you go over important issues, expectations, rules, and guidelines more than once. Just as you practice softball skills over and over and over again to help your players learn them and get better at them, some things you’ll have to go over more than once in order for your players to really “get it.”

3. Remember that change takes time
Coaching would be quite simple if players could make a permanent changes and adjustments immediately. However, with most things, that’s just not how it works. Change takes time. Change take practice. Surviving change often requires a lot of support and encouragement because change can be downright uncomfortable.

It’s usually very easy and quite tempting to go back to doing things the “old way” because the “old way” is comfortable and familiar. But if you keep doing the same ol’ thing, you’re going to keep getting the same ol’ result. So often times, in order to get BETTER, in order to improve, something’s gotta change.  But change can be scary and change can be hard and change can be very easy to give up on. So remember to be supportive while you keep pushing forward. Remember that players are probably not going to make a 180 degree turn over night (and neither would you). Be patient and remember that “today” is part of a bigger process, a bigger journey.

Technorati Tags: Coaching Softball, coaching tips

As you can imagine, I receive many questions about softball via e-mail…

• What bat should my daughter use?
• How should I run my team’s bunt coverage?
• What do I have to do to pitch faster?
• How do I handle this parent issue?
• What’s wrong with my daughter’s swing?

Believe it or not, I don’t actually know ALL the answers.  I know you’re shocked!  *wink*

It’s not only that, many of the questions, like the ones listed above require more information than what most people provide in one e-mail message.  Often times, the best answers or solutions for these issues come from discussing the exact situation at hand and receiving more than one suggestion.

Where can you get this type of help to get your biggest fastpitch softball questions answered?

The place to go is DiscussFastpitch.com.

It’s a great fastpitch forum that is regularly monitored so that you can get your questions answered on just about ANY fastpitch topic without having to sift through tournament/tryout spam and without fear of down right rude or harsh responses.  From coaching softball to being a softball parent, there’s a place for you to ask about the issue you need help with.

And yes, I drop in from time to time to chit chat or share my two cents.

Who knows?  There may already be a discussion going on about a topic you want to learn more about.  Take a moment to check it out – DiscussFastpitch.com.

See you there!

Technorati Tags: Coaching Softball, coaching tips, college recruiting tips, softball tips

One thing many, many coaches want to do is improve the effectiveness of their practices. Ideally, as coaches, we have a solid jam packed practice that has little down time  and lots of quality work being done by players.  So what are some of the ways you can make the most of your practices AND help them improve their game even more?

Here are 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Practice Sessions

1.  Schedule Your Practice Time: This is so important!  Always have a plan otherwise you’ll spend time in practice trying to figure out what to do.  This results in unproductive down time for the players and may stall the “momentum” you’ve got going.  Have a plan each day of what you want to work on, what drills you’ll use, and what equipment you’ll need to run them.

2.  Make it Game Like: Often times we ask our players to “practice how you play” and yet we give them very little “game like” situations in practice.  Too often practice situations are nothing like game situations (i.e. not having to run after you hit a ball, not having to keep track of your count when you’re in the box, having no baserunners when practicing defense, etc).  Look for ways to make your practices a little more game like so that your players are better prepared for game situations.

3.  Engage Your Players: Have discussions with your players!  Don’t just tell them what to do or tell them what they did wrong.  Ask them questions.  Have them identify problems and help each other fix them.  This is the only way they are going to develop a better understanding of the game and learn to think on their feet, a necessary skill for success at game time.

4.  Have a BIGGER Plan: Know what your striving for beyond today.  Have a plan of what you want to accomplish for the week, for the month, and even for the season.  This will help you figure out what to do on a day to day basis instead of just pulling skills out of the air to work on for “today.”  Having a bigger plan also allows you to plan a more solid progression to go through with your players, each day building upon the last vs being somewhat random.

5.  Work on the Mental Game Too: This is HUGE!  So many people will agree that the mental game is a big part of performance and yet so little time is spent on it in practice.  Give your players opportunities to work on the mental game in practice!

Bonus Tip: Have Fun! Always incorporate fun somewhere along the way.  Remember fun doesn’t always have to equal smiles and laughter.  :D

*****************************************************

Looking to win more games?

Make sure your offensive skills are up to par!

Learn to win the short game and get the MOST from your baserunners.

Get Dirty Fastpitch helps you sharpen your offensive tools so you
can score more runs and win more games!

Get the full scoop at GetDirtyFastpitch.com

*****************************************************

Technorati Tags: Coaching Softball, coaching tips, Softball Drills