Tag Archives: softball parent

Softball Parents Poll: Skills or Wins?

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Not long ago there were a couple of posts up at SoftballPerformance.com talking about “Soft or Hard“ and “Good vs Successful.” Both posts were quite thought provoking and got the wheels turning in my head. What’s more important? From a coaching standpoint, tons of arguments can be made for each side as well as for a mix or balance of each.

BUT, from a parent perspective…

What’s more important?
If you had to choose one or the other which would you choose?
Or if you had to say that one was primary and the other secondary, which way would you go?
If you knew one team guaranteed a winning season, but not necessarily a lot of progress for your daughter and the other guaranteed improvement for your daughter, but maybe not a championship type record – which would you choose for her?

What’s more important to you?

a) that your daughter be on a winning team
b) that your daughter improve her skills as a player/person

Leave a comment here and share your thoughts!  I, of course, have my own thoughts as a softball parent, but I am interested in hearing what you think too!

$1 Webinar and Important College Information

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The webinar with important college recruiting information is now ready for you. AND, in the spirit of the holiday season, I’m giving it to you for the super low price of $1. No joke, no strings – just $1.
http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/1dollarwebinar.html

Check it out, then come back here and let me know what you think.

http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/1dollarwebinar.html

See you there!


Lots of Great Information for Parents

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Just in case you’ve never had a chance to check it out yet, I wanted to let you know about a few things going on over at Fastpitch Parents. I’ve recently found so many great articles and resources for youth sports parents that I decided to slowly but surely share them all with you over at www.FastpitchParents.com.

Recently, I posted articles about:

and so much more including how to help your child set goals, avoiding common post-game mistakes, sports specialization, youth sports psychology guidelines, etc, etc, etc

Like I said, there is quite a bit of great information there for you to consume and digest and help your daughter be the best she can be.

Check it out at www.FastpitchParents.com and don’t forget to share the articles you like with the “Share” button at the bottom of the articles!


Sports Specialization and Injuries

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Many parents and coaches fall into the trap of believing that kids have to concentrate on only one sport to keep up with the best. I do suppose there are a few situations where that may be true and they are mentioned in an article I read about youth athletes.

However, playing more than one sport has it’s benefits, even for those striving for that college scholarship. College coaches love “athletes” and being able to play more than one sport shows that you have the coordination, speed, and agility to do more than just play first base. Playing mulitple sports may also help prevent overuse injuries as well. Overuse injuries has risen substantially in the past 15 years.

Do not make the mistake of pushing your players/child(ren) too hard too often. Playing too hard too often can cause some serious damage and, in some cases, end softball careers far before college is even a reality. Click here to read the article that will tell you just how much overuse injuries have risen in the past 15 years.


Winning is Over-Rated

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You’ve probably heard the saying, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the ONLY thing.” Honestly, I’ve never cared much for it. It may sound good as a “slogan” and it may be motivating to some and look cool on t-shirts and stuff. But the truth is, it’s totally and completely FALSE.  You may or may not agree with me, but in my world, that saying just never really connected with me for a number of reasons. I was reminded of why I feel this way over the course of this softball year.

IF winning truly was everything OR the “only” thing then, technically, there would be no gripes and no grumbles when a championship was won.  Everyone that had anything to do with the championship team (parent, fan, player, coach) would be utterly and completely happy and overjoyed if winning really was the ONLY thing. No one on a championship team would ever have any sort of ill feeling or complaint about anything related to the team or the season or the coaching or the players or the organization as a whole if winning was the ONLY thing. But that’s simply not the case.

Even when a team wins a championship there are times when players or parents are not completely happy and satisfied with how the season/tournament went. Why?  No, it’s not because they’re cry babies (although some may be).  It’s usually because they are HUMAN and because THERE IS MORE TO THIS GAME, TO THIS EXPERIENCE, THAN WINNING!

Don’t get me wrong. Winning is great! Championships are awesome!  Any time I step on the field I’m out there to out-do my opponent and come out on top. But these things are not the end all/be all of participating in this sport. 

I’m sure you’ll run into coaches or parents or players who’ve had “successful” seasons tainted by something that happened during the season (the way a situation was handled, the way the players were treated, the way the coaches acted, the lack or organization of the season, etc, etc, etc).  You will probably also meet people from time to time who will tell you that they’ve experienced a higher level of enjoyment and fulfillment in seasons where their record wasn’t necessarily the best. If winning where “everything” OR the “only thing” that wouldn’t be possible, it would never be true. But it is. Maybe not always, but it certainly is true and does happen on occasion…….because in this game, in any sport, in life….winning is NOT everything NOR is it the only thing.

When all is said and done, I wouldn’t want people to remember me only for the championships I’ve been a part of, but hopefully also for positive qualities like integrity, honesty, determination, inspiration, etc.  In fact, if they could know me for either championships OR those positive qualities – I would want them to remember me for having those positive qualities. If I had to choose between being known as a coach with those positive qualities and no championships OR a coach with championships and but little integrity, little honesty, and little inspiration – I don’t think I have to tell you which scenario I’d choose. What a shame it would be to be known for a championship or two and nothing else.

Winning isn’t everything nor is it the only thing.  However, many have reminded me that while winning isn’t everything, expecting to win and striving for perfection is.

What do you think?  Leave me a comment below and share your thoughts.
*NOTE: Yes, you may reprint this article.  Simply credit the author (Stacie Mahoe) and provide an active link (if posted online) either back to this post or to www.AllAboutFastpitch.com.

How to Stand Out at Tryouts

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I have to admit, tryouts don’t happen here in Hawaii like they do on the mainland US at this time of year.  Most girls only have to tryout for school teams.  I’ve only had to tryout for a team twice in my entire lifetime.  Once for our intermediate school team and once for my varsity high school team.  That’s about it.  There aren’t a lot of travel/ASA teams that hold “tryouts.”  The tryouts we hold for school teams don’t seem to be as big a deal or as intimidating as travel ball tryouts happening around this time in the mainland US.  Plus for school ball we get to hang on to girls for over a month and see them play in a number of preseason game situations before we ever have to make a decision.  So players have much more opportunity to show what they’re made of and coaches have a lot more time to evaluate than in the typical “travel ball” situation.  

Because of this, I don’t usually have a lot of input to contribute when coaches or players ask for tips for tryouts.  Lucky for you, I’m not the ONLY softball “go-to” on the internet.
Marc over at Softball Performance has just put together an awesome new resource for players who want to make a HUGE impression at tryouts.  
If it’s that time of year for you and you want to have a game plan for standing out in the crowd at your tryouts, Marc tells you how to:
  • Be super confident and perform when it counts
  • Crush the ball when you have a chance to show off your hitting
  • What coaches are looking for when they evaluate players
  • Exactly what to eat so your body can perform at it’s best
  • Deliver your best tryout performance ever
  • and a whole bunch more
Imagine how you’ll feel when the coach selects YOU to be on the team!  Get prepared because you know what they say, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Make sure you’re READY for your tryouts.  Be the head-turning player coaches can’t help but remember.  The blue print for your tryout success all laid out for you – get it HERE.

From Then ‘Till Now

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Just this evening I had a number of thoughts come to mind about how things have changed in the past 20 years. My daughter is playing in Bobby Sox tournaments as I did 20 years ago. She’s also playing ASA, but we gave Bobby Sox try this year and that’s primarily what’s bringing about all these thoughts on change.

Of course, Bobby Sox, in and of itself is one of the major things that crossed my mind. Bobby Sox is nothing like what it used to be. In Hawaii, from a league that had a number of different associations with multiple teams per age division per association to a league with where just 3 districts participate locally. It’s just much smaller than it used to be and the age divisions and minimum play rules have changed a little bit too.

Now-days ASA is a huge deal. When I was growing up, I had never really even heard of ASA until I was older. Yet 20 years later, my 7-year-old has played ASA for 3 seasons already.

Okay, I just realized, this post is going to make me feel old…LOL.

…but I’ll go on…

Tonight I saw a base bag for the first time in a looooooong, long time. I remember having to help our coaches put away bases after every practice. We had to get all those bases with straps and pegs into that big duffle with the pin that secured the top portion of the bag shut. I don’t think my daughters would even know what to look for if you told them to go get the bag for the bases.

Then there’s the face mask requirement. I’ve gotten so used to seeing young ladies play with face masks that, now, when I see a player without one it looks so “dangerous.” Yet, when the face mask became mandatory for batting helmets in youth leagues, I was right there with the girls feeling all the frustration of having to switch over. I was glad that change hadn’t been made when I was playing because I really wouldn’t have wanted to hit with a mask on. As a mother though, I’m so glad my girls are wearing one.

We can’t forget those racer back jerseys so many players love. There was none of that around when I was playing. Even playing in a sleeveless jersey was a stretch for my imagination. When I saw all the teams coming out with the racer back jerseys and shorts, I seriously began to think that, one day, girls would be playing softball in those skimpy volleyball-type uniforms.

After the popularity of the racer back came the emergence of those little black velcro things that scrunch up the shoulder or back of the jersey. I don’t even know what they’re called and I’ve been searching can’t find them online without knowing what the proper term for them are. If you know what they’re called, please post a comment here and fill in the blank for me. I’m sure it’ll come to me later, but if you get to it before me, please, post it in a comment here.

Oh yes, and we can’t forget….Under Armour! I used to wear those 3/4 sleeve undershirts and think it was so cool. But now, it’s all about the even “cooler” (and more expensive) Under Armour that the players HAVE to have. I don’t even know if my daughters realize that Under Armour was unheard of when I was their age. Eeek!

And, of course, the bats! Gosh, I can only imagine what kind of stats I could have had if we had today’s bat technology when I was playing! My hands certainly wouldn’t have stung as much that’s for sure…and I probably would have had more than 1 home-run per year in high school. Maybe some of those hard hit grounders would have made it through the infield. Whenever I see a young lady hit a towering line shot, I always think of how fun it would have been to use that type of high performance bat during my career.

Anyway – those are just a few of the things that come to mind tonight as I think about what has changed since I was playing as my daughters are now. Other things include offensive/defensive strategy, pitching technique, attitudes of players, perspective and philosophy on strength training/conditioning/stretching, the whole “travel ball” concept, and I’m sure there’s more, but I’ll stop there because all that’s getting a little too serious for me. We could probably get into all kinds of good discussions along those lines. But back to the “lighter” side of this topic…What else do you have to add?