Tag Archives: Softball Performance

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!

Where Are You Using Your Chances?

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Players often ask coaches about “chances.”

  • Why don’t I have as many chances as her?
  • How come when I make a mistake in the game I get yanked but when so-and-so makes a
    similar mistake she still gets to play?
  • Can you give me another chance? I’ll get it next time.

Unfortunately, many players don’t realize that they already used up their “chances” in practice. You use them up by coming late, by leaving early, by not paying attention, by slacking off, by goofing around, by becoming a distraction etc, IN PRACTICE.

What is your coach supposed to do if he keeps giving you chances to do a good job in practice and you keep blowing it?

By the time game day comes you may be down to your “last chance” while “so-and-so” still has a bunch left because she didn’t use ‘em all up in practice.

Now I’m not saying this is always the case, but it does happen.  People on the outside will often look in and say the coach is “unfair” because the consequence for one player is different from another.  But “fair” doesn’t mean “same” and rarely do people outside the team (the coaching staff and players) fully understand the situation.

So before you complain that things aren’t fair, take a look at where you may be using up your “chances” with your coach.  Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has bad days, but make sure that yours don’t come purely from a poor attitude or lack of effort.

Adjustments Win Games

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I recently watched a softball game in which one team obviously amde better adjustments than their opponent.

It may seem like a bad thing when your opponent gets on base more often than you in the beginning of a game.  But if your team makes adjustments, you still have a good chance of coming out on top.

After all, what you’d love to see is your pitching becoming more and more effective against opposing batters while your hitters become more and more effective against opposing pitchers.  It can happen!

Two things that popped into my mind after watching that very scenario unfold before my very eyes:

  1. The team that makes the best adjustments usually wins.
  2. If your pitchers and hitters are becoming less effective as the game wears on, you’re in trouble – especially if the opposite is true for your opponent.

Remember, even if 4 innings are gone and you’re heading into the 5th, there’s still a lot of game left.  I know 5th inning sounds “late in the game.”  If you’re starting the 5th, then only 4 innings have been completed and, in a 7 inning game, that means there are still 3 innings left!  In fact, 42.85% of the game still lies ahead of you. It’s hardly “too late.”

Obviously, as coaches, the ideal situation involves pure domination of our opponent from the very start of a game all the way through to the last out.  In a perfect world this happens every game of the season.  In the real world we know that’s simply not the case.  So, if your team happens to get off to a bit of a slow start…

Keep the faith.  Make adjustments. Always remember that ultimately, how your game ends is far more important than how it begins.

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.

How to Get the Appreciation Back

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Do you remember back to a time when you hadn’t handled the ball for a while? Then when you finally got the chance to you really, REALLY looked forward to it?  You appreciated the opportunity you had to practice and play softball?

As I talked about in the Finish It post, this can often wear off as the season moves along…and that’s probably 100% normal.

But you know what’s really annoying as a coach and former player?  Continue reading →

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!

The Challenge is Not to Become…

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I swear, social media is so cool!  If you’re not a part of it yet, you’re totally missing out.  Just this weekend I heard something on the softball field that I thought was “status update worthy.”  So I wrote a tweet to share it with others.  Next thing you know, a coach sees it (Coach Meg) and turns it into a blog post.  I read her blog post and am now sharing a nugget from it with you! Isn’t that cool?

It all started with a word at the field that was shared with others.  Then someone else came along and offered to share the insight they got from it.  The insight they shared then lead to this blog post which I am now sharing with you.  That’s a lot of sharing going on, but that’s how we continue to learn and grow and gain insight into ideas or concepts we may not have thought of on our own.  Or sometimes these things just serve as a timely reminder of what we already know – and the internet and social media make it easier than ever to begin and continue this chain of sharing, learning, and growing with each other.

Anyway – on to what this post is really about – The Challenge!

You see, in Coach Meg’s post, I read a phrase that just jumped out at me…

The challenge is to not become complacent

The challenge is to not become complacent…

  • with your performance
  • with your training
  • with your mental approach
  • with your school work
  • with your interaction with your teammates
  • with your performance
  • with how you train
  • with how you perform
  • with what you’ve already accomplished
  • etc, etc, etc

That’s such a great line and one that applies to so many player and coaches in the game today.  It’s so easy to become complacent once we find something that “works” or once we accomplish a goal or once we see that we are one of the best amongst our immediate competition.  But complacency is the quickest path to repeating crisis or failure.  So, you may be on top now, but never ever let that stop you from moving forward or continuing to develop.

One thing is certain, once you reach the top, once you become a champion, you now have what everyone else wants. Some are fighting tooth and nail and are willing to do almost anything to get what you have.  If you choose complacency, if you think that now, since you’ve finally reached your goal, that you can relax.  Think again.  That “prize” you’ve earned and worked so hard for will be gone in an instant if you think for once second that there’s nothing else you need to do…that there’s no more to improve upon.  Whether it’s a championship, or an award, or a starting position, or a spot on the team – working for it and earning it does not entitle you to it forever.

You think getting to that point was tough – staying there is a whole ‘nother level!

Complacency is a very sneaky enemy.  The challenge is to not become complacent.