Category Archives: Softball Performance

Softball Quote of the Week: Scoreboards, Value, and You

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enoughThis concept of “Enough” has come up several times in various areas of my life over the past several weeks.  One example was this great article over at SoftballPerformance.com which talks about this very concept.

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.

Softball Tips – Do You Need an Attitude Adjustment

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I read a post on twitter which inspired this little rant/softball tip on attitude. I can’t remember exactly what the tweet was, but it wasn’t even about sitting on the bench. However, when my brain gets a hold of an idea it often goes off in crazy softball tangents. This was one of those times.

Now if you’re connected with All About Fastpitch on Facebook, then you saw part of this. I realized this needed to develop into a full blown blog post when facebook wouldn’t post the status update as I originally wrote it because it was too long. lol

So here is the expanded version of my softball attitude tip/rant of the week…

I’m sorry, but if you think you can’t or don’t learn anything sitting on the bench you need an attitude adjustment.

Been there – learned tons because I CHOSE to. I made it a point to LEARN any chance I got whether it was in practice or on the bench in the game.

Heck there were even times when I was on the bench during PRACTICE due to injury. I still tried to learn anything and everything I could regardless of the situation I was in.

I made it a point to increase my contribution to the team in any way possible even though I couldn’t play!

Stop your whining. It’s not going to get you what you want.

Whether it’s sitting on the bench or a slump or a bruised knee or a wet field there will ALWAYS be something that challenges you. There will always be obstacles along the way.

Find a way to still be a positive impact on your team. You may not get the game winning hit or the make the game winning play, but this experience WILL serve you well in your future in softball and in life!

Get Out of Jail Free for Softball?

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You know how in Monopoly, you get to use the “Get Out of Jail Free” card to get youself out a jam?

Well, sometimes players need it in softball too!

Have you ever run across a player that wants to be too perfect?  Perfectionism in athletes can actually be detrimental because athletes that are perfectionist often:

  • are afraid to make mistakes
  • get upset over the littlest mistake
  • are often disappointed frustrated with their performance because it never measures up to perfection
  • are reasonably critical of themselves
  • expect too much of themselves

All of these things can put a dent in a your confidence. If you try to play this game without confidence, you’ll probably fail much more than you should and, on top of that, won’t find the game very enjoyable. Obviously if you get to that point, you’re in trouble!  Once this game is “no fun” its either time for serious changes or time to give it up.

SO – since you probably don’t want to get to that point, here’s a little trick Dr. Patrick Cohn, youth sports psychology expert, uses to help players who are perfectionists.

He suggests giving them 3 “Get Out of Jail Free” cards at the beginning of a game or practice.  If your player/child makes a mistake, they (mentally) use one of the cards to let go of the mistake and move on.  Being able to let a mistake go and keep moving forward is such a critical part of becoming the best softball player you can be.  Not only that, this is yet another skill that applies to all areas of life, not just to playing softball on the field.

What do you think?  Is this something you would try?  Do you think this can help you?

Softball Coaching Tips: Is Your Practice Too EASY?

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It’s easy to perform well when things are “just right,” when everything is going your way.  Your players have great, positive attitudes, they’re hustling, they’re encouraging each other, they’re cheering, and everything is fine and dandy.

But what happens when a call or two doesn’t go your way?  Or when one mistake leads to another?  Or when the playing conditions are less than desirable?  Or after you’ve been playing all weekend long and fatigue is starting to set in?  Or when your “best” players go down due to injury, health, or ineligibility issues?  How does your team react then?

Do they have the same approach? Do they remain upbeat and positive?  Or do they start to fall apart?  Do they start to press?  Do they start to get frustrated with themselves or each other?  Does your team fall apart or can your team still perform when things get tough?

I’ll admit, it’s not possible to re-create every challenging game-like situation in practice.  However if your team is never challenged in practice chances are they won’t be able to respond the way you want when challenge arises during the game.

Some very wise coaches and elite athletes suggest that training should be harder, tougher, and more challenging than competition.  That way when game day comes, it seems “easy” in comparison.  Is that what you do? Are you preparing your team to perform under adverse conditions, under any circumstance that may occur?  Or is your practice and training too easy?

Here’s an excerpt from an article by Wayne Goldsmith, high performance expert which pretty much sums it all up…

Accept that all teams have to learn to win in tough conditions and prepare to deal with them better than your opposition.

Notice he didn’t say “your team” – he said ALL teams. Often times we use an unfortunate circumstance in our season as an excuse for poor performance, but that’s just a cop out. Do you really think that the best NEVER have a bad day, or calls go against them, or bad weather to deal with, or personality clashes aka drama?

I’m sure you’d agree that such a perfect team environment doesn’t exist. Every team has it’s ups and downs, it’s challenges and obstacles, but the ones that are best prepared to perform in spite of how tough it gets are usually the ones that come out on top.

Not only is “your best no matter what” a great skill to have on the softball field, but in life as well. Help your players learn to keep moving forward no matter what adversity they may face.  Not only will you probably win more games and maybe even a few championships, but your players will also carry invaluable life skill off the field and into the real world where stakes are much higher than a few statistics or a win-loss record.

Finish It!

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As the end of another softball season approaches, I am reminded of the challenge that lies in finishing stronger than you started. At the beginning of a season, there’s always so much excitement, so much anticipation, so much desire to come out each day and do your thing on the softball field.

But after months and month of coming out day after day, it’s not always easy to stay motivated and focused. It can be quite simple to start “going through the motions” and “check-out” mentally as you take your zillionth swing or throw of the season.

BUT - if you want to be the best you can be in this season, if you want to finish stronger than you started, (which is the point right), you really need to make a commitment to what you are doing. You need to make a commitment to put yourself “all-in” and push all the way through to the end and beyond – similarly to what I talked about in this baserunning post.

That’s why I think it’s so critical to be able to create a habit, the sooner the better, of doing the little things to perfection. Sometimes the long road ahead, or the long road that has already passed, make the entire journey too daunting to look at. It makes this ONE drill seem insignificant. In times like those, if you can simply go back to your simple habit of investing in each drill, in each rep – put your whole self in in each little segment of your training – just commit to that one moment, that one rep at a time…it can help you keep moving forward when the day-to-day starts to feel mundane. It can help keep you on track while to take a moment to rejuvenate and get the fire burning again.

If you can’t do that, if you don’t know how to keep doing at least those “little things” right, then that one “insignificant” drill or rep turns into two, or three. or simply turns into an entire day (what’s ONE practice right?). Then next thing you know, another day is “insignificant” and another and another until you’ve spent in entire week being sub-par, training at a level you’d never actually want to perform at and what good did you do yourself? Probably none at all, and in fact, you may have actually “hurt” yourself creating bad habits physically and/or mentally.

When it comes to staying “on track,” it’s also extremely important to set out with some “bigger” purpose. Something far more important to you than just one drill. Something that you are working toward and working for. Something that makes each drill and each rep and each day on the field worth it. If you’re lucky – just being there is reward enough. For some, that’s the way it is. The opportunity to go out there and do softball stuff is the highlight of any given day. For those people, motivation and focus is rarely a major issue.

But even the best, even the most determined sometimes get into those “moods” when they simply don’t feel like 100%. You know what? That’s human. It’s OKAY. Give yourself a break every now and then. Understand that it’s part of being an athlete. It’s something everyone goes through. Don’t waste time worrying about it. Acknowledge it, address it, and do what you need to do to refresh. You need it. It’s almost impossible to stay at full intensity ALL the time. You need to find ways to unwind, to relax, to refresh, and to rejuvenate mind, body, and spirit in order to perform the best you can.

Finishing up a season strong, isn’t easy. That’s why only a few an do it and do it well. It’s easy at the beginning. It’s easy as you start getting to the “meat” of your season. But when all that’s done and you’ve been climbing and climbing all year long…now there are two directions you can go. You can keep pushing and continue reaching higher and higher – usually this is the tougher, more challenging road. OR you can let up, stop pushing, and find yourself sliding,. or maybe even rolling, down the hill or mountain you just climbed.

Which is it going to be? Can you stay focused? Can you re-commit? Can you, for just a fraction of the time you’ve already put in…keep moving forward and finish stronger than you started? Take it one step at a time…you can do it!

How to Get on Base More Often

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If you want to get on base more often, start by running shorter, not longer.

Often times when coaches want you to run through the base better, they make you run farther than 60 feet. But that may not be the best idea.

You see, it doesn’t really matter if your coach makes you run 80 feet instead of 60 feet. If you always train to slow down at the end, you will ALWAYS slow down before your target no matter how far or close it is.

Excellence is a habit – so get in the habit of sprinting THROUGH any marker, goal, base or cone that is set for you, whether it’s 6 feet away or 60 feet away.

This habit is what will help you “get through the bag” more consistently at 1st base, put more pressure on the defense and get safe more often!

If you’re a coach, instead of making your players run farther, try shortening the distance and challenge them to run all the way through. After all, if they can’t consistently “run through the bag” at 30 feet, how do they expect to do it at 60 feet? Often times pointing this out to them is enough to get them focused on doing it right.

As they get better and better running all the way through the shorter distance, start adding more distance until they are running through any target you give them.

Always expect your player’s best speed all the way through ANY sprint you do, whether it’s a short spring or a longer spring, whether it’s their first sprint or their last sprint of the day.  Notice I didn’t say “fastest” because the more your work them, they slower they may get, but they should always be giving their best – whatever it is they have at that time.  Make them do it again if they don’t do it right. Help them create the good habit of going hard and giving their best ALL the way through to the end and beyond, just like you want them to do in a game – not only for baserunning but in every area of play!

Softball Injuries: 17 Tips for Using Ice and Heat

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One thing you often see more and more of as the season wears on is injury.  Players have sore arms, sore shoulders, sore back, sore legs, etc, etc, etc.  Some people say to ice the injury, some say to use heat and it’s not always clear for the athlete when to use what.

So here are some basic tips and guidelines on using ice and/or heat for your softball injury:

  1. For Acute Injuries, where you feel pain shortly after the injury (sprain, fall, collision etc) – cold therapy with ice is the best immediate treatment to use.
  2. For Acute Injuries ice helps to reduce bleeding into tissue, reduce pain, reduce muscle spasms, reduce or prevent swelling
  3. For Chronic Injuries, ice is the best choice after a workout
  4. Do not use heat on acute injuries or on injuries that have inflammation or swelling because it can make imflammation and/or swelling worse
  5. Heat is good for sore, stiff, or nagging muscle/joint pain/injuries that do not have inflammation or swelling
  6. Heat is good to use on chronic injuries or pain before your workout/exercise
  7. It’s better NOT to ice a chronic injury before exercise
  8. Ice should be used on injuries less than 24 hours old or on injuries that continue to cause swelling
  9. Moist heat is the best (heating pads/moist towels) – make sure there are enough layers between your heating source and your skin
  10. Ice using something that conforms to your body (ice wraps, ice packs, frozen bag of veggies, etc)
  11. Do not put ice packs directly on skin
  12. Do not fall asleep with a heating pad on your injury!  Apply for no more than 30 minutes.
  13. You can ice an acute injury several times a day for up to 3 days
  14. There is little benefit to icing for longer than 20-30 minutes so do not leave ice on any longer than that
  15. Ice is also helpful when you re-aggravate a chronic injury
  16. If you are going to re-apply ice or heat, wait until your skin is completely back to normal in appearance
  17. When icing, check skin color after about 5 minutes.  If skin is bright pink or red, remove the ice pack!  If not, you can continue icing for another 5-10 minutes.