Tag Archives: softball coaching tips

Textbook Shmextbook – There’s More You Need to Learn From

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softball coaching tips textbookIf you always make the textbook call as a coach you will never catch your opponent by surprise.  You will likely get outcoached by your opponent because you make it easy to anticipate your moves and appropriately prepare, plan, and/or counter them.

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.”

Softball Coaching Tips for Time Limit Games

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With summer softball tournaments coming up, time limits play a big part in the game.  I’m sure you’ve seen coaches make critical time management errors in tournament games.  Poor decisions as a coach really can make the difference between a win and a loss for your team.  It’s absolutely imperative that you understand the implications of the different kinds of time limits used in the games you play.

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

time management and strategy chart for time limit softball games

Softball Coaching Tips – Are You Misplacing Your Hope?

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softball coaching tips - hope

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.

Process vs Results – Don’t Get This Wrong!

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softball coaching tips - process focus

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.

Softball Coaching Tips – Choices and Consequences

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softball coaching choicesOne thing I’m really picky about as a coach is seeing players make good choices.  I’m not only talking about where to throw the ball, but about how they approach the game and the small decisions they make on a daily basis.

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.

Most Popular Softball Video of 2010

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I know it’s a bit late to be doing “Best of 2010″ announcements, but better late than never. :)

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

Softball Coaching Tips – Beware of Free Advice

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I think free advice comes with the territory when it comes to softball coaching.  Sometimes it seems that everyone and their mother has an opinion – literally.  One word of caution when taking free advice…sometimes it’s worth what you paid for it.  Nothing.

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.