I’m currently reading the book EntreLeadership
and I do believe that many of the principles shared in the book also applies to leading and running a softball team or program. One thing that struck me yesterday were the thoughts on vision. It’s not the first time I’ve thought of vision in relation to a team, but this book added some additional insight which got me thinking about it again.

Here’s what I picked up:

• First and foremost you need to actually have a vision for your team
• You must talk about your vision early and often
• You need to talk about your vision for your team 21 times before they really start “hearing” it
• You can’t talk about your vision “too much”
• Even after they “get it” you still need to restate it so that as your team or program grows and changes it continues to reflect that vision

With that said, do you have a vision for the team or program you lead?  Does your staff and your team know what that vision is?  Do they know what it means to be a part of the team?

Having a clear vision which is communicated to the team and coaching staff will ensure everyone understands:

• What it means to be a “insert your team nickname here”
• What is expected of team members and what they represent as part of the team
• What you are striving toward together
• Why your team chooses to do things the way we do
• That there is a bigger picture involved, not just decisions for “today”

The single biggest thing I realized after reading this part of the book was that most coaches don’t communicate or share their vision enough. They have it in their head.  They may mention it once or twice.  They may share it in bits and pieces, but in most cases they fail to saturate the team environment with it, then they wonder why team members don’t represent the team colors or the team name or the organization as a whole they feel it should be represented.

Most coaches don’t tie every job, biggest and smallest, to the team vision.  As a result, some things are seen as less important when they’re really not and team members fail to take pride in everything they do, they only do so in the things that feel important.

Having a vision is the start of influencing the “culture” or environment of your team. Sharing that vision is essential to cultivating that culture.  Mission statements clearly and succinctly communicate your vision to all team members.  However, mission statements are not something you can come up with in a matter of minutes or even within a few days.  The best mission statements are mulled over with input from the entire staff until it fully embodies your vision.  A good one will last for years and years and help keep you, your staff, and your program on track toward your ultimate goals.

There is value in knowing general recommendations for specific situations, so I’m not saying to throw the “textbook” out altogether. However, sticking with what “should” be done in every situation every time gets a) very boring and b) very predictable.  Neither is what you’re striving for is it?

When people ask me what should I call in “this” situation, I really can’t give them an answer.  I can give a general answer given general guidelines, but there is so much more to consider than the number of outs, the score, the count, and so on.

Honestly, in my opinion, making coaching calls comes down to doing the best you can with the information you have and trusting your gut (not only your head). Yes you will make the wrong call from time to time, but that happens to every coach.  It’s highly unlikely you will make every right call every single time regardless of the decision making method you choose.  So why not make the one you feel strongest about?

In any given situation there are various calls that could possibly give you an outcome you desire. There’s more than one way to skin the cat you’re after, in other words.

However, as a coach, you can only choose one option and have only a limited amount of time to make that choice.  I believe, the more you make the call your gut tells you to (after evaluating the situation the best you can with the information you have), the more you learn and the better you get at it.

Sometimes, even with a great call, the ball still doesn’t bounce your way.  Other times you simply blow a call.  Then there are times you make a call you shouldn’t have and it all works out just fine, or better.

Regardless of how things shake out, the bottom line is you need to…

• Do YOUR best in that time and place to make a decision based upon the information you DO have
• Make the call you can stand behind even if it doesn’t work out (aka go with your gut)
• Learn from the situation regardless of the outcome

So yes, you can study to your heart’s content, but in the end, make the call that’s really tugging at you, jumping up and down, waving it’s hands in the air, and calling out to you.  If it goes great, file that piece of information away for the future.  If it goes terribly, file that piece of information away for the future.

It’s when you have no method to your madness and just try things just for the heck of it (and on top of that don’t bother to learn from the situation either way) that you never make any real progress or get better at making the best softball coaching decisions for your team.

The last thing you want to be saying after a game is, “I knew I should’ve done this, but the ‘right’ call is _____, so I went with that.” You’ll just keep beating yourself up because you had a feeling you should make a certain call, but since it’s not what most people would do, you played it safe and made the more traditional call that people would expect.  That way you don’t get blamed for making a “bad” call since you made the “right” decision coaches are “supposed to” make.

I’d rather be able to look back at a decision and say, “I made the best choice I could in that time and place and really believed it would work, but today it didn’t.  Now I know X, Y, and Z and will make a better decision in the future.”

Any time something doesn’t work out, there will be people who will say you made a “bad call.”  That comes with the territory.  Like I said before, sometimes it’s not the call.  Sometimes things just don’t work out.  Newsflash: You can’t control outcomes! You can only control your process.  Did you make the best evaluation you could and make your best decision based upon that?  If so, you’re process what right.  Things just didn’t bounce your way.  That’s not in your control.

If not, then there was something in your process that wasn’t right.  Could be what information you gathered to make the decision.  Could be how you interpreted the information to make your decision.  Could just be your decision.

Whatever the case, instead of looking at the only the call itself, also remember to look at the process that led to the call. Sometimes there is something there that can be fixed for the future.  Other times, it just wasn’t meant to be.  Other times it was flat out a bad call.  You need to be able to look back, evaluate your process and see where you can get better.  Your learning needs to go beyond just the “textbook.”

Failing to understand the details of the situation your team is in can cost your team an important game, maybe even your tournament life.  The last thing you want to do is lose because of a simple and avoidable coaching error after your girls worked so hard to be in a position to win near the end of a game.

If you’ve ever wanted an easy to use chart to help you figure out what softball coaching strategies to use in time limit games, you’re in luck.  Such a chart actually does exist!

This Softball Time Management Chart was shared by Don McKay at BellaOnline.

It gives you softball coaching strategies for…

• drop dead
• no new inning
• when you’re the visiting team
• when you’re the home team
• when you’re ahead
• when you’re behind
• when you’re at bat
• and when you’re on defense!

Talk about thorough!  I love it.

But I do have one note for Mr. McKay: one situation you did forget was the no new inning after 1 hr 15 with a drop dead at 1hr 30 min.

I’m dead serious!

Am I the only one who thinks it’s SO weird to have BOTH in effect during one softball game.  Does anyone else run tournaments like that or is it just Hawaii???  I really want to know. 

Click on the Chart Below to see the Full Version

One thing I learned as a softball coach is that placing hope on the wrong things or the wrong people is a bad, bad idea.  This is true not only in softball, but in life.  It’s like when thousands and thousands of people though the government and mortgage companies were going to help them out with the loan modification program.

Almost ALL of those applications got denied and many of the ones that went through didn’t work anyway.  Thousands of Americans thought they would get much needed help.  Instead, they were strung out and denied.  Or they did get their loan modified, but still ended up losing their home even after modification.

That is an example of placing hope in the wrong place, on the wrong things or people.  It stinks.  You get kicked in the teeth.

When you misplace your hope, prepare to get messed over.

In softball, this happens when coaches place hope in just Plan A or in players who lack a track record of reliability.

You’ve probably seen it before.  The coach who has one strategy of attack and when that doesn’t work on a particular day, he has nothing to fall back on as a Plan B.  He mistakenly pinned all his hope on one strategy that, contrary to what he believed, is not the best strategy for every single situation or team you can possibly face in a season.

Maybe you’ve also seen coaches misplace their hope on the wrong person.  The Princess Diva All-Star that…

• doesn’t work hard in practice
• shows up late and doesn’t think anything of it
• only gives 100% when she wants to or when she feels like it or when it’s convenient for her
• acts as if it’s everyone or everything else’s fault when she struggles (the sun, the rain, the umpire, the catcher that called the wrong pitch, etc)
• never owns up to any of her errors, mistakes, or faults

This is NOT the type of player you want to place all your team’s hope on.

Instead, choose players who will, regardless of the situation, dig in and give it their best shot.

Players who pick and choose when to be on time and when to try hard are going to be inconsistent in their performance because they are inconsistent in their approach and training.

Often times they will only try hard in drills they think are fun and slack or go through the motions in drills they don’t like doing.  This inconsistency in their training will lead to inconsistency in performance.

Not only that, trying hard only when they like what’s going on often equates to trying hard only when things are going well in the game.  For goodness sakes, that’s the easy part.  Anyone that can be upbeat, energetic, motivated, positive, confident and full of hustle when things are going great.

It’s the players who can do that no matter what that gives your team championship character and championship opportunities.  These players can play their game and perform at a solid level whether they’re in a situation they like or not, whether they’re in a situation that’s easy or not.

If a player can’t even make it a point to give their best in a practice drill just because they don’t like it or it gets too challenging is NOT going to be the one you can rely on during “big time” game situations or when your team gets behind or faces any other kind of adversity.

These players often make excuses for poor performance…

• The ball is wet today, I can’t pitch like this
• The sun is in my face, I can’t catch like this.
• The wind is drying my contacts out, I can’t field like this.
• The dirt is too soft in the batter’s box, I can’t hit like this.
• The dirt is too hard on the field, I can’t run and slide like this.
• The mound is crooked, I can’t pitch this.
• The umpire is inconsistent, I can’t hit like this.
• My rubberband isn’t holding my hair back…you get the idea.

Some of those might sound silly, but this type of excuse making is often evident in players who only give their best when they feel like it, who only follow team rules when they feel like it, who only hustle when it’s convenient for them.  They’re not what I hear Coach Heather Tarr refer to as “true athletes.”

Look for players who enthusiastically dig in to any challenge and give everything they got no matter what.  These players, no matter what you throw at them, just jump in and do it.  Whether the situation or task is hard or weird or uncomfortable, they will do their best to get the job done.  Whether people around them think they can or they can’t, it doesn’t matter, they are going to give it their best shot!

Players like this, who give everything they have day in and day out, are the ones you know you can count on!  These are the ones you place your hope in to go out there and play ball!  THESE are the players you put in key roles, not the ones you have to “hope” will show up and feel like playing on game day.

I have to admit. I see this all the time at youth softball practices. Coaches who are more concerned with the outcome of a play in practice vs the process.

Example? Trying watching a youth softball team practice turning a double play. More often than not you’ll probably see coaches satisfied when the ball is fielded sure handedly, thrown to 2nd, thrown to 1st, then thrown back home.

As long as the ball makes it through all those stages and back to the catcher everything is good and the coach is happy.

But what about how the ball was fielded? Did that person do a good job with footwork while fielding and throwing? Did they transition the ball well and get it to 2nd as quickly as they could? Did they make the catch as easy as possible for the person covering 2nd? Or did they use poor fielding and throwing technique and footwork? Did they make the catch and “turn” at 2nd difficult?

What about the “turn” at 2nd? Did the person covering 2nd approach the bag properly? Were they set up on the base right? Did they use the most efficient and effective footwork to get the out and quickly get rid of the ball to 1st base?

Then there’s the first baseman or the person covering 1st. Did they stretch to the ball correctly?

Was there good communication between the players on the play?

…and so on and so on and so on.

Too many coaches disregard all these components of a good double play.  Their only concerns are that the hit ball is not missed and that the thrown balls are not thrown wildly away. All they care about is that the bases were touched and the ball makes it back home – in other words, the result.

But what is that teaching the players? Are they practicing it right? Are they practicing it right consistently? Are they even close to getting both outs? Are there things they could do better? Or are they just practicing how to turn a double play incorrectly and inefficiently?

None of these things get addressed most times I watch a practice.

I know, I know. Taking the time to correct and refine ALL of that would take so long. Yes, it’s true that you may only get about half the amount of double play reps if you take the time to actually coach all that.  So what?! I’d much rather have 10 quality reps than 20 poorly or incorrectly done reps!

I also see this “Results over Process” mistake with hard throwing players. By the time I get to coach players they are 14, 15, 16 years old. Many have been playing since they were 8 or younger. They’ve been throwing the way they throw for a long time, and yet I see many, especially the hard throwing ones, who have poor throwing mechanics. They don’t get the most out of their body with the throwing motion they use. Most barely use their legs and rely on just their arm.

Since hard throwing players have a these nice strong throws, it seems most coaches during their youth ignored the fact that they weren’t throwing with the best mechanics. Coaches see a nice hard throw and which ends up in the catching vicinity of the person receiving the ball and that’s all they care about. The end result of the throw was good, so why “fix” anything?

Why? Because that’s your job as a coach! To help players get better even if they are already the best on their team or the best in the league for that matter.  There is always room for improvement.  You do your players a great disservice of you don’t help them get better despite how “good” they already are.

Allowing hard throwing players to continue using poor mechanics…

• wastes a players energy. Proper throwing mechanics are efficient allowing for maximum output with minimal effort. This is super important on long tournament weekends or over the course of a long season!
• makes them slower defensively than those who use efficient mechanics. The point on defense is to get the ball to your target in the shortest possible time frame (not with the highest possible velocity) in order to get more outs.
• puts unnecessary strain on their arm.
• reduces their arm’s effectiveness over the course of the season.
• shaves time off the longevity of this cannon arm over the course of this player’s career.

Like I said…disservice.

Focus on process over results – how they threw the ball, not where it ended up or how fast it was going when it got there – and you will avoid this issue.

Process Over Results
It’s not whether you get the ball here or not, it’s HOW you made the throw.
It’s not whether you came to practice or not, it’s HOW you trained while you were there.
It’s not whether you ran your sprints or not, it’s HOW you ran them.

Is the point simply to complete the task or complete it well?

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s HOW you play the game.

You cannot always control the outcome of a performance. You can choose a good pitch and hit a ball well, but you cannot completely control whether you get hit or not. Someone on the other end may make an unbelievable catch and steal your hit. It doesn’t mean you did a bad job. You just couldn’t control the outcome of your good hit. All you can control is your performance.

• Did you give it your all?
• Did you do your best on that given day?
• Did you do what you trained to do to the best of your ability?

Have you ever walked away from a win with a less than satisfied feeling? Have you ever walked away from a win disappointed and bothered by your personal performance in it?

In contrast, have you ever walked away after a loss without anything to be ashamed? Have you ever walked away from a loss feeling proud that you did all you could do and simply came up short on that day against a worthy opponent? Have you ever come away from a loss more deeply respected by your teammates, your opponent, your coach, your family and your fans?

Was it the score or the result of the game that allowed you to hold your head high after a loss vs stew with dissatisfaction after a win?

The score or the result of the game is ultimately NOT the most important factor in how positive the experience was for you. It was about the PROCESS!

Funny thing is, mistakenly emphasizing results, results, results typially don’t get you to the results you want.

Focus on quality process, on best effort in the process, on best attitude about/in/regarding the process…that’s what usually gets you results you want.

Good results are a BYPRODUCT of excellence in your process (in your HOW)!

Good results are not “the point” – good results are what happen when you really truly get the point.

Many people have theories on how lineups should be made. There are general rules of thumb that many coaches follow. For example:

• lead off hitters general have good on base percentages and speed
• hitters in the 2 slot are typically decent bunters with speed as well
• 3-4-5 tend to have more power than hitters in the first 2 spots in the lineup
• etc, etc, etc

However, coaching softball isn’t as simple as going “by the numbers.” If the ultimate lineup was based upon basic hitting stats, there would be formulas out there by which to create the best possible hitting lineup for a team, but there aren’t. At least not that I know of!  I don’t know of any software program or softball calculator where you plug in your team stats and have it spit out your “dream” lineup.  (If you know of one, please shoot me an email and let me in on this secret weapon!)

Then again, that would take a lot of the fun out of coaching wouldn’t it.  Then “anyone” could make head coaching decisions regarding playing time so long as they know how to do math or work the software.

Can you imagine if the ultimate defensive lineup was based on basic fielding stats as well, how on earth would you reconcile a player who has a wonderful fielding percentage and an abysmal batting average?  The computer software would probably spit out two completely different lineups if you entered both hitting and fielding statistics and had it compute “strongest” lineups based upon defensive stats and another based upon offensive stats!  Then what would you do?

Obviously, creating an effective softball lineup is more than just filling in the blanks based upon past results.  If you base your lineup solely upon stats, you fail to consider the conditions under which those stats were generated.  For example, some coaches talk about “protecting” hitters throughout the lineup.  For example, if you don’t “protect” your biggest power hitter, she may not have the RBI stats you think she should simply because opponents opt to walk her and pitch to the next batter instead.  So if your #4 has weak RBI stats, it may not be because she’s a poor RBI hitter.  It could be because of the “conditions” under which she hits.  Place this same hitter in a spot before another hitting threat and you may see her RBI stat increase.

Another reason coaching softball is not math…
Math is great. I love math. It was actually one of my favorite subjects in school. Yes, I was a bit of a nerd. But math that normal people like you and I can do does NOT factor in any human element into the equation. Let’s face it, when we create a softball lineup, we are dealing with human beings.  Any human being that is breathing, especially one going through the first few decades of their life, is undergoing change, transition, or progress.  Human beings are not static individuals who never evolve.  What a player did yesterday or last week or last month is NOT today’s reality.  The benefit a particular player provided your team last week or last month may not necessarily be what your team needs today.  All these variables factor in to the lineup you write for this game.

Yes, past performances give you the information you need as a coach to make informed decisions.  Numbers are great at showing quantifiable facts so that you have something to “lean on” besides your memory or a “feeling.”  I’m not dissing the math altogether or saying you should never use stats as part of a your decision making process, just that stats and numbers are only part of the equation when it comes to putting together your strongest starting lineup for this game.

Besides, if math and numbers were the ultimate way to figure out who the best is, there wouldn’t be so much controversy surrounding the BCS system in college football.

We now have the registration form ready for you to view, print, or save to your computer.

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Crystl will do a coach/parent clinic on Friday night (August 5th) then a 2-day player clinic which will include BOTH offense and defense on Saturday and Sunday (August 6th & 7th).

Cost for the coach/parent clinic is $40.

Cost for the 2-day player clinic is $99 (includes both days).

Register to reserve your spot in this first ever Crystl Bustos clinic.

One thing you cannot control is how your negative vibe impacts others.  It can be one look, one word, or one action that we put out and can never get back.

While you may be able to drop it, move on and play your game, you have NO control over how others are affected by it.

One distraction from you may be enough to knock someone else’s performance just a bit off kilter and bring down their overall performance.  If you have that affect on most of the teammates who were around you when you put that vibe out, impact is exponential!

On game day especially, do your best to make sure your actions, words, decisions, etc are HELPING your team performance their best!

Athletes like to be in a particular mindset or “groove” as they go into competition.  Disrupting that “mojo” of any of your teammates before a game or during a game is not a good idea.

If you’ve ever run track or run for competition, you know how critical breaking stride or losing your form for just a split second can be.  I know because it happened to me before.  I was just ahead of another sprinter and for just a moment, I lost my form.  I did get it back, but in just that moment, she went from just behind me to just in front of me.

After I regained my stride and form, I did close some of the gap, but not enough to pass her by again.  That’s how I see disruption from inside the team environment/mojo before a game.  It might be a “small” thing that just throws the team off balance just a little, but it can be enough to alter the outcome.

So the challenge for game day is to make sure your impact on teammates and on the team is positive and improves performance!

photo credit: softball team

A player that lifts her teammates to a higher level and helps them quickly recover from mistakes is more valuable than a player who has a stronger arm or bat but doesn’t know how to be a source from which her teammates gain confidence, positivity, and power from.

That post received 53 “likes” within days. That’s the highest yet!

Have you had the opportunity to be on a team with a player like this? Or maybe just observe one on another team?

Players with decent softball skill and this exceptional softball attitude are so much more valuable to a team than a player that has superior softball skills but no further reach.

What do I mean by reach? Dr. Tom Hanson once wrote an article that I wish I could find right now. He was talking about Derek Jeter and about how, when you’re in the room with him, you can just feel his confidence.

His confidence just flows out of him into his surroundings, and therefore, to the people around him as well.

Some players have this effect. Their enthusiasm, confidence, and positive attitude spills over into anything near them.

Other players, while highly talented, do not have this effect.

It’s like everything is bottled up inside them. They perform great, but no none of their teammates can feed off them or “get their juice.”  There’s nothing flowing out of them into their surroundings to feed off of.

While these players may perform at a high level, they do not elevate the game of those around them.

Real MVPs however…

• effectively uplift their teammates
• elevate the game of those around them
• are a source of confidence, strength, resilience, and positivity that others can draw from
• make the game easier and more enjoyable to play
• draw so much enjoyment from simply playing the game their positive “can-do” attitude becomes infectious

Some people refer to this as the “it” factor.  For MVP’s, whatever “it” is…

IT’s in their words and how they say it
IT’s in their every action and every move
IT’s not only when things are going well, but ALL the time
IT’s simply part of who they are

When they infect the rest of the team with their confidence and belief in the team, their team is practically unstoppable!

Seriously, when a team is unified under a common blanket of confidence – watch out!

A player that can bring that to the table every game, to me, brings so much more value than one that can hit a homerun in every game.

What do you think?

Since this topic of “Enough” seems to keep popping up, I decided to post something about it on the AAF Facebook Page.

People seems to like it well enough and some have asked if they can share it with others.  Of course, I have no problem with that, so long as you remember to mention where you got it from.

So feel free to share this Softball Quote of the Week with your team this week…

Whether you win or lose, you really won’t be much different, as a person, than you were 2 hours ago.

Never allow the scoreboard to dictate your self worth!

It’s a highly unreliable and completely irrelevant indicator of your true value as a human being.

Really, a couple of hours doesn’t completely change your life. Maybe you’ll learn a few lessons. Maybe it does give you a different perspective on things.

What you choose to do with your experience may very well change your life.

The win or the loss in and of itself does not do that.  You do. The win or the loss does not suddenly make you amazing if you weren’t before nor does it make you worth less than you were before.

Never tie your self worth to the outcome of your performance or of a game. Your true friends and your loved ones don’t love you any more or less because you did or did not hit a ball, because you did or did not make an error, or because you did or did not win a game.

Who you are as a person, as a human being, is not at all correlated with outcomes on the field.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t like to lose, but winning is not the ultimate pre-season goal for wise coaches.  Placing the win above all else in pre-season is short-sighted and likely detrimental to your team in the long run.

Pre-season is for training and for learning.

It’s foolish to primarily play your “strongest” 9 players during all your pre-season games just so you can win. 

The almighty W is NOT the most important thing in pre-season. 

Any fan of NFL football could tell you that.  There are professionals in the NFL that are getting paid big bucks and even they don’t focus on winning as the ultimate goal in pre-season.

Sticking with only your strongest 9 players in pre-season wastes opportunities to get your WHOLE team ready for regular season (the part that really counts).  Sticking with only your strongest 9 basically translates to putting all your eggs in one basket (and before the season even starts no less).

How are you supposed to know what your players can do in “game-like” situations THIS season unless you put them there?  Pre-season gives you an opportunity to find out, but you won’t ever know if you don’t take advantage of it.

Pre-season is the best time to…

• explore your personnel options
• formulate a solid “Plan B”
• see how your team responds to less than “ideal” situations and lineups
• get non-starters game reps so they aren’t shell shocked should you need them during the season
• give some “sleepers” the opportunity to show you what they can contribute
• see how “starters” work with “backups” in game-like situations
• let your players EARN their spot
• see how different players react under pressure (some elevate, some crumble)
• etc, etc, etc

However there’s no way to see all of that if you are hell bent on winning every game and only want to go with the current “best 9.”  Some players grow and get better under pressure, but if you never put them there, they never get that chance. 

Others show that they need work on their mental game, but you never know that if you don’t put them under game-like pressure.  Some personnel combinations work together better than others, but you never get to see that if you only try one combo.   Some players improve by leaps and bounds from season to season but if you base their playing time only upon the past and never give them a true shot THIS season, you may not discover this until much later, wasting valuable time for that player and the team.

Pre-season is for training and learning first, not only for players, but for coaches too.  Winning is second.

You don’t want to win pre-season.  Ideally, you use pre-season to get the team as ready as possible for the season, and eventually post season, when games really count.  Sometimes getting your team ready and winning don’t fall along the same path. 

During pre-season, be willing to sacrifice short term gain (a.k.a. the win) to better your team over the long haul. 

Do you really think, at the end of the season, anyone outside the team will even remember what games you won or didn’t win in the pre-season?  Even if they do remember, is that the part of the season that really matters? Yes, I admit, the W is cool, but I challenge you to use your pre-season opportunities more wisely than that!

photo credit: rabbit

The past week has been crazy to say the least.  Big challenges, lots of emotions, unexpected events and so much more.  I didn’t have much time to write, but I did take some notes.  Here is some of what I’ve been able to take away from this week of challenge and change…

1.  The LAST thing you need to be doing when standing up for something you believe in is worrying about what other people think – ESPECIALLY when those people have NO clue about what’s really going on.

Been there, done that, and slapped “stupid” across my own head for being foolish enough to take advice from uninformed/misinformed/under-in…formed “know-it-alls” (aka idiots). Lesson learned…not making that mistake twice.

2.  Don’t let the opinions of others pull you away from your core values. Especially if those people have never been anywhere near your shoes nor the path you’re on! Stand strong!

3.  Saddens me to see that some people think so little of themselves, when STRANGERS say, “You don’t deserve to have all that” they BELIEVE it!

4.  When you work your butt off for what you have & earn every bit of it, you have NO reason to feel guilty for having more than others.

5.  There’s no way things ever work out in your favor if you decide beforehand that you have no chance.

6.  After all the blood, sweat, & tears you put in to what you’re fighting for, you’re gonna let someone else tell you you can’t win before you even finish the battle? Give it your best shot! You’ll never win if you give up before you even try.

7.  Never EVER sacrifice your long term vision for short term gain or just because it’s the easier, less painful thing to do now. More often than not the easy choice now is NOT the best decision long term.

I think of it as Choosing Excellence Daily.

• Making it a point to be on time vs rolling in late.  One is choosing excellence, one is not.
• Coming out to the field and rocking in vs coming out and slacking.  One is choosing excellence, one is not.
• Choosing to abide by team rules vs trying to bend them as far as you can without getting caught.  One is choosing excellence, one is not.
• Choosing to care for your equipment and field vs using and abusing.  One is choosing excellence, one is not.
• Giving a great enthusiastic team yell at the end of practice vs taking it for granted and mumbling it.  One is choosing excellence, one is not.
• Hustling vs dragging yourself around on the field.  One is choosing excellence, one is not.

I think you get the idea.  I’m huge on players diligently doing small things well.  After all, if you can’t do the small things well, what makes you think you’ll be able to do the big things well?

It’s almost unfair to expect “big” things from yourself (or your team) when you’re not even training for those big things by taking good care of the little things first.

Choosing excellence can take you to some really great places.

The other option? The other option often leads you to places you don’t wanna be.  It’ll take you down roads I never want to see you travel.

Some coaches feel like consequences for these little things are a waste of time or they feel like they are doing players favors by letting them slide with less than their best in these small daily decisions.

Truth is, as coaches, we’re not doing our players ANY favors by allowing them to get by with poor decisions and still allowing them to reap the same rewards as if they’d made all the right ones.

One of the reasons I’m big on teaching good decision making through sports is so that hopefully, it creates good habits and translates into real life.

I’d rather dish out the consequences on the field and have players learn lessons there rather than let them slide and allow poor decision making to catch up with them “one day” (often in real life!).

In my eyes, the sooner you learn good decision making the better.  The sooner you learn that good choices often reap rewards and bad choices often bring about consequences the better!  It’s true many of us still need help and reminders with this, but anything we can do as coaches to help our players learn this very important life lesson is going to help them!

If they learn it “later” chances are they are learning it the “hard way” in real life where the stakes are often greater and the penalties far more severe.

• So what if they have to do a few sprints for showing up late?
• So what if they find their butt on the bench for a few innings because they made a poor choice?
• So what if they have to sit out an entire day of softball because they broke a rule?

It may seem like a big deal at the time, but those are small, small prices to pay compared to what the real world can dish out.

Help your players learn good decision making through sports.  Don’t be afraid to actually dish out consequences and hold your players accountable for their choices and actions.

What is that called? Oh yeah, discipline.  It doesn’t happen by itself.  You, as a coach, have to have the guts to implement it.  You don’t have to get all crazy and come up with hundreds of rules each with their own consequence.  But you do need to decide what’s important to you.  What kinds of decisions and actions are not allowed on your team and which ones are?  What are you going to do to hold your players accountable for their choices and actions?  Think about that.  Get input from your staff.  Decide, then be consistent with it.

Players are not dumb. They learn quick.  When they see good decisions -> good things happen; bad decisions -> bad things happen they’ll start making better decisions pretty quickly.

You know that phrase “No pain, no gain?” If players don’t feel the “pain” of their mistakes, chances are they won’t make the positive changes in that area.  After all, most of us agree that change is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and sometimes painful.  The only way we move toward making positive change is when the pain of staying where we’re at is greater than the pain of change. In other words, your current situation is so awful, change begins to look like the easy route!

People make changes when the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change.

Don’t take away your players’ opportunities to learn important life lessons through sports (aka withholding “pain”/consequences).  Doing so means they’re forced to learn it elsewhere, possibly in a much more painful environment like the real world.

That is a good idea of course and a natural inclination to have. The problem is that this is the very age when people start moving in different directions for a number if different reasons. Some are personal, some are logistical, some are actually softball related, and others just happen.

Many coaches and parents spend too much time getting upset over this inevitable change. They start getting all bent out of shape over the thought of bringing new girls into the mix…especially when “last year’s” team was successful.

I was recently asked for my thoughts on this very type of situation. Parents were getting concerned because 10 our of 12 girls from a successful 12U team moved up to 14U and now the coaches were looking at bringing in more girls.

Well, first of all 10 players on a 14U travel team isn’t going to be enough so the coaches DO have to bring more players into the team. How many? Tough to say! It’s easy to go with a smaller roster when there is a history if the players being committed and capable of showing up week after week. But if you’re bringing new players and families into the mix, you may be unsure of which ones will really truly be reliable.

It’s great to be able to have a roster of 12. However, if you happen to have an injury and an illness at the same time on a long tournament weekend, it leaves you in a challenging spot. A spot that not only makes things tougher for team success but also places higher risk on the health and safety of your players which should always come first! Carrying 14-16 players may be a better idea.

But What About Our Dream Team?
Coaches and players alike may not be completely comfortable with the idea of changing up this team too much. But at a certain point you really need to stop trying to force something that won’t happen and consider the other side of the coin…

It’s completely normal after a particularly successful season to want to do it all over again. You figure you can toe that same line to get there again. There’s only ONE problem.  Even if you have the same coaching staff and the same roster…

This year’s team is NOT last year’s team.

I’ll say it again… this. year’s. team…  is. NOT. last. year’s. team

1) Even if you had the EXACT same roster as “last year” it doesn’t mean you have the “same” team. It does NOT guarantee you the same results…especially if you’re moving up a division. The players on the team are a year older. They have another year of life experience under their belts. They have another year of softball experience under their belts. They have different things going on in school this year. Some have different friends. Some are more mature and more focused. Others are more distracted. All of these changes in the lives of the players change WHO they are this year compared to a year ago. That’s true for each and every one of them. That changes the team dynamic!

2) The idea that you will be able to do the “same thing” with the “same team” and get the “same result” is delusional. You already saw in #1 how this is NOT the “same” team so as last year, so right off the bat the idea that you’re doing the same thing with the “same team” is erroneous.  Now let’s address doing the “same thing.” Let’s say you ran some new drills last year or incorporated new practice strategies that the girls really responded to or did some new workout/training program last year. Well, if you do that again this year, will it still be “new” to the girls? No because they already did it last year. It’s not going to have the EXACT same effect so it will not give you the EXACT same result. That’s what makes coaching fun…if each season was exactly the same if you ran the “same” drills with the “same” girls, softball would be awfully boring.

So if you feel like having the “same” team will guarantee success THIS season, you’re fooling yourself. Not only is your team NOT the “same” neither is your competition! The one thing you can count on in this world is that things WILL change. Having the “same” team may actually lull you into a false sense of security. Coaches, players, and parents all know success is possible. It’s already happened and sometimes an entire team environment and organization falls into the trap of expecting it to just happen again without pouring in the same “dirty work” and burning motivation.

3) Embrance the change.  As the title to this article states…the ONE constant you can count on is that things will change.  This is true in softball and in life.  Change in a team is an opportunity to learn to adapt and grow in spite of the changes in environment.  In real life, if you don’t keep up, you will get left behind.  In higher levels of softball, team personnel changes.  Starting lineups change.  Coaching staffs change.  Training environments change, etc, etc, etc.

If you shelter players from this aspect of the game and of life, they may not know how to deal with it when they get older and when the stakes are greater.

So if you can keep a team together, that’s cool.  But if a little change or a lot of change happens, stop beating your head up against a wall trying to stop it.  Stop wasting time and energy putting off the inevitable and wishing for something that’s just not going to happen.  Embrace the opportunity to grow even more, to develop more than just softball skills.  Yes, change is uncomfortable and there are some things about the new situation that may not be as good as what used to be.  BUT all new situations open up opportunities that would have never been avialable otherwise. Focus on that!

In case you haven’t seen this video, here’s the most popular softball video on my YouTube channel for 2010.  It’s about hitting and something I think too many coaches teach as a “must do” when it’s not something that you actually must do when hitting.

Let me know what you think…

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk7_xQJNwao

How can you tell?

Well one way you know to simply drop a piece of advice and never look back is when it goes against your core values and everything you believe in.  I don’t care who it comes from, this is NOT advice you use when you are coaching.  I’ve had people who told me, “I’ve been coaching longer than you’ve been alive” that I should have NEVER listened to!  For a while I thought they were right.  Forget that they had never coached teenage softball players in their life, I gave them the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe they had a point.  Who am I to think I know better than them when they are older than me and have so much coaching experience?

You know, I fell into that trap as a new parent too.  When I first became a mother I listened too much to other well meaning moms giving out their free advice.  They were older than me.  They had more kids than me.  They had more years of experience being a parent, so they must know more.  Right?

WRONG!

It might be true sometimes.  I do believe there are older, wiser, more experienced people you can learn from, but NOT when you receive advice that goes against everything you believe in.  When the very thought of it just feels wrong in every fiber of your being…

The truth about parenting is no one knows your child better than you.  Ultimately, YOU need to be able to live with the parenting choices you make and you won’t be able to if you are basing your decisions off things you don’t believe in just because other people said you should do it that way.  You have to find what’s right for your child and your family.

The same is true with coaching. If you are getting free advice from anyone and that advice does NOT line up with your value system, then don’t take it.  You don’t have to get in a debate with them on it, just disregard it once you’re out of the conversation.

You cannot effectively lead a team down a path you don’t don’t believe in. How can your team follow you when you don’t believe in the direction you’re headed?  Think they can’t tell?  Think again.  You have to stick with what’s right for your players and your team.  Assuming that you have some integrity and are not just an egotistical, selfish coach who is out there more for your own personal reputation than for the players that is.  But the fact that your are still reading this article is a pretty good indication that you are not that superficial.

Maybe these people offering up advice are well meaning, maybe not.  Maybe these people have had success elsewhere, maybe not.  But if they are not at your practice every single day, if they do not work with your players for hours every week, if they are not in each and every one of your staff meetings…do you really think they know your team better than you and your staff do?

I do believe that every now and then you’ll come across a free golden nugget that fits with your vision and your program.  If that’s the case, by all means, take it and run with it!

But just be aware that there are also times that free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it… n.o.t.h.i.n.g.

My uncle actually takes it a step further than that and he says that free advice often ends up COSTING you the most.  You know, he may be right.  I’ve had that happen too.  Free advice has cost me big at times.  Definitely something to be aware of!

Stand up for what you believe in or you will fall for anything.

Trying to be someone you’re not is a huge mistake that probably starts off with the right intentions, but in reality, causes a lot of problems.  This is a trap many softball coaches fall into and this Softball Coaching clip explains exactly why it’s a problem you should avoid.

Enjoy!

What do you think of this audio?

Did it make you think just a little?

Can you think of a softball coach who is making this mistake?

Are you making this mistake???

How “real” you’re really being on the field?

Please leave me a comment and share your thoughts! I’d love to hear from you.

http://www.facebook.com/allaboutfastpitch

If you’re on Facebook, a great way to keep up with All About Fastpitch and cool softball tips, is to go to the page and click “Like.” Once you do that…

1. you can keep in touch with me via posts on the page (leave comments or ask questions!)
2. you can see the latest AAF blog posts right there at Facebook
3. you will get updates from the page right in your timeline – keep up with friends, family, and AAF all in one place!

Okay, now that we’ve explained that, let’s get back to the top softball tip of the week from facebook…

I really, really, really (did I say really) believe in the importance of allowing players to earn things they get. Doing so from day one snuffs out the sense of “entitlement” that can penetrate the team.

Players sometimes fall into this entitlement trap and start thinking that just because they show up, they deserve playing time, or they deserve to start, or they deserve to win.

One thing you’ll notice in this situation is the disproportionate amount of time players spend grumbling about playing time rather than actually working to EARN it!

That’s one of the obvious signs you have an entitlement problem.

To execute this softball tip of the week, you must make it clear from day one, through your words, through your actions, through your decisions, through your expectations, through your policies that there will be NO entitlement!

ALL of these areas have to be in line.  You cannot say one thing and do another.  You cannot make a team policy and only follow it when it’s convenient for you.  You cannot say that everyone must earn their position then “give away” starting roles with comments or references you make before the season even starts.

Ahhh, but that would require integrity on your part.  For some coaches, winning now is more important than doing the right thing.  Typically, this type of decision is made by coaches who look at the short term vs using long term vision.  Winning now becomes more important than teaching your players the important lesson that success does NOT come without hard work, discipline, and diligence.

What these coaches fail to recognize is that often times, sacrificing short term (aka today’s win), will often lead to the long term success you truly desire.  These short term sacrifices are not always easy to make.  In fact they can be downright tough to make, but keeping the big picture in mind makes today’s “tough call” a lot less complicated.

That’s why having a long term vision for your team or program is absolutely vital to your softball coaching success.

I also love the way life, business, and relationship lessons or principles often overlap with what we see, learn, teach, do, and have a chance to practice on the field.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen or heard concepts shared well outside the context of coaching softball and the first thing I think of is how it also applies to the game!

I ran into this again recently when I saw a tweet by Dave Ramsey, who will probably never really talk about softball because he is a personal finance/business leadership guy.  I’m not sure Dave Ramsey has any experience whatsoever with the game of fastpitch softball, but still I loved his tweet…

Now he was talking about business, but this totally applies to coaching softball!  Actually, it can apply to raising kids as well.

Our job, as softball coaches, is to equip our players with the tools they need to get the job done, think on their feet, and function well without us. On game day, there’s only so much we can do.  We cannot play the game for them, though I admit I’ve wanted to steal a jersey and jump into the game myself on a number of occasions.

The reality is that many key plays and decisions will be must by the players themselves in the heat of battle.

There is NO way you can instruct every move and every decision from the sideline, though I know there are probably times you wish you could.  There simply isn’t enough time for you to command every part of the game.  Some decisions on the field have to be formed and executed before your brain could ever get the message to your mouth to say the words.

Not only that, can you imagine how annoying it would be to play for someone who constantly barks from the sideline as if they have no faith and no trust in your ability to make plays and make decisions on your own?  That’s not the ideal situation to play in.

Like Dave says, “If you take…the time…to TEACH your team…”

Have you ever seen those coaches who don’t explain anything.  They are just commanders.  They command that players do this or do that and players have no idea why other than “Because coach said so.”

Teams coached in this manner will fall apart under pressure!

Coaching softball successfully requires that you TEACH your team so they understand why they are doing what you are asking.

This way, in game situations, they will be able to stand on their own two feet and make key decisions and plays without you.  Because the honest truth is, in the game, you CANNOT do it for them.  They must be able to think on their feet and make adjustments on the fly in order to be successful!

The same is obviously true with raising kids…eventually, they must be able to make great decisions without you.  I’ll admit, as a mom, I wish I could control every decision my children make.  They’d make less mistakes that way so there would be less stress and pain right?  But they’d also be useless on their own and probably lack any kind of self confidence as well.  Not a life I want for them.

How different is that from coaching a softball team?  If you want your team to be confident…If you want a team to be able to perform under any circumstances… you must give them the tools they need by teaching them they WHY, not just telling them what to do.

Coach Mark Mulvany from SoftballHittingOnline.com recently talked about reading pitch spin.  He coaches hitting both with baseball players and softball players.

I was surprised to hear which pitch he thought was tougher to read spin off of. Baseball or Softball.

What’s your guess?

He says that baseball spin is more obvious because the ball is smaller.  Smaller ball means more revolutions between release and contact, thus giving more “clues” that you can see.

Softball spin, however, can be a little tougher to read. That’s why Coach Mark uses a method he calls “Backdropping” to teach players of any age how to read the ball inside or outside.

Obviously this is a very useful tool because the sooner you can recognize pitch location, the earlier you can make your decision about whether or not to swing, the sooner you can identify the correct path to take to the ball, which all means you will have a better chance of not only hitting the ball, but hitting it well!

To watch the video where Coach Mark explains all this (which is interesting by the way, I will certainly have to get in a batter’s box to try it next time I’m at the field) you must be a member at SoftballHittingOnline.com.

Softball Hitting Online is a paid membership site, BUT Coach Mark is so confident you will love the hitting resources there that he allows you two full weeks to check out the site for free. Which means that you could be watching this video today.

If you’re already a member, simply click this link to watch.

If you’re not a member yet, go ahead and click on the link anyway…it will take you straight to the sign up page where you can join for free today and watch, not only this video, but a whole bunch of others which can help you become a feared hitter in the batter’s box.