If you know the reason, or would like to take a guess, leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win a FREE Softball Performance DVD.  Winner will choose from one of the following…

• 4-Minute Dumbbell Workouts for Softball
• The Pitching Velocity System
• Breakthrough Speed and Agility for Softball
• Power Training for Softball
• Dynamic Warm-Up for Softball
• Bat Speed and Hitting Power System
• Softball Playground Workout

Hurry.  You must leave a comment with your guess today because I’m giving you the answer tomorrow.  Good luck! 

What?  You’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about.  What’s an 11% hole and what does it have to do with vision and softball?

Listen to this softball audio on vision and why it’s so key, then you’ll understand…

So what do you think?

Did this vision clip make you go, “Hmmm…?”

Do you see why vision is so key in daily motivation and in softball success?

Have you ever put yourself in an 11% hole?

Will you ever do it again?

Do you even have a vision for softball? Or is it time to get started on one?

What did you think about the thoughts I shared on vision? Do you agree? Have you even thought about this concept before?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think…

My first thought was that the idea was completely absurd.  Then I continued reading and found out that youth sports organizations around the country have been using silence as a tool for promoting a more positive atmosphere surrounding games.  They aren’t using it as a long term, permanent solution to obnoxious fans or overbearing parents, but more for sending a message or creating teachable moments on conduct for parents and fans!

The length of time that youth sports organizations ask spectators for silence varies.  Some require an entire weekend, while others ask for an hour or a quarter of the game.

Other ideas for curbing undesirable conduct include

• no-direction cheering: spectators are allowed to cheer, but can’t give directions such as “throw the ball” or “hit it deep.”  Phrases like “great hit” or “way to hustle” are acceptable.
• cheering for both sides: instead of asking parents for silence, encourage them to cheer for great plays on both teams
• assigned seating: separating spectators from people who are actually involved in the game or having parents sit away from the team

What do you think?  Have you ever participated in a silent game before?  Do you think a silent game would even be possible for in your league?  Is this a strategy you would use?  Do you have your own methods for keeping good sportsmanship a priority from the field to the dugout to the stands?

Leave a comment here to share your thoughts on this issue.  Can’t wait to hear from you!

Before you go off and read her story, I have to share something about Roz…

I had the pleasure of being her teammate for 1 year as a freshman at Kamehameha Schools. The one thing that has always stuck in my mind about Roz is how, on the first day of practice when the coach finally gave everyone the okay to jump into a position, Roz ran out and claimed 2nd base. Literally, she ran over there and said, “This is MY position.”

It was her senior year and the first time she finally got to start at her position. From day one, she went out and took ownership of it. Even though she wasn’t the fastest, or the most athletic, and certainly not the tallest (luv ya Roz) 2nd baseman you’ve ever seen, she played that position like a senior that year and helped lead us to a State Championship.

After she graduated, that position became mine.  Though I’d never played 2nd base before, I knew how to OWN it because Roz had shown me how.   Thanks sis! Now 2b is my favorite position.

I haven’t been in touch with Roz since that year until this week on facebook. 20 years later, within days of reconnecting, she’s been a source of inspiration in my life all over again with her story of survival over breast cancer. She is a Bobby Sox National Champion, a Hawaii High School State Champion, and I’m sure you’d agree a champion in life as well.

Read her story in today’s paper here

Don’t believe me?  Keep reading…

There ARE fundamental concepts that successful softball players have in common with successful daters (or people who are successful in the area of relationships).  Here are a few…

5 Things Successful Softball Players and Successful Daters Have in Common

• both wait for the perfect pitch before they swing
• both know how to let bad pitches go
• both are good at reading signals
• both make their opponent earn each base they get
• both are excellent at quickly reading the situation then effectively executing the appropriate action

Pretty cool huh?  Go ahead, share the link to this post on your facebook wall.  I know ya wanna

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkCUsfknvu8

But if you want to know one of the BEST ways to get your point across to your coach…keep reading…

Talk is cheap…

Actions speak louder than words…

If you want to send your coach a message, do it with your PERFORMANCE!

Your performance in practice, your performance in pre-game, your performance in game situations is much more likely to make an impression on your coach than anything you (or your parents) could say.  Make sure that the message you send with your performance is a consistently positive one and you’ll have a much better chance at getting the playing time you want.

There are 3 main things I love about this TCB ball…

3.  This ball cuts down on hitting/pre-game time and space needed – this means more reps in a shorter period of time

2.  This ball gives instant feedback - any time your players can see for themselves what they are doing wrong without you having to tell them just makes your life as a coach/parent easier and less stressful.  One problem with today’s bats and hitting off pitching machines or hitting regular balls off live toss is that a player can hit a ball badly and it may still look and “feel” just fine.  Then as a coach, when you try to correct, it you may get some resistance from your player because their end result was “good” and they felt no negative feedback during the swing or hit.  With this ball, unless you hit it right, it doesn’t look and it doesn’t feel right.  You instantly see that your hit wasn’t a solid one.  This leads me to the #1 thing I like about this ball…

1.  This ball is addicting - I was able to get in the cage and take some swings at this ball.  Because of the instant feedback, whenever I didn’t hit the ball well, the competitive “player” inside me just wanted to try again.  Then when I did hit it well it was just something I wanted to keep doing over and over and over again since the “good” hits look and feel so much better than your “bad” ones.  Seeing it happen right was cool!  Seeing it come off your bat poorly, just makes you want to have another chance.  So, the player in me liked it.  It was addicting.  I just wanted to keep trying to hit that ball and hit it well.

In my book, anything that…

• cuts down on time
• makes your practice more efficient
• gives players immediate feedback
• AND is something players enjoy and want to do…

that’s a pretty great thing.

So if you’d like to learn more about this hitting aid or buy some for your team/player, check out Total Control Sports OR if you are in California or Hawaii, call your sales rep directly (Howard) at (714) 293-3088.

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?

As for me, and I’m sure many others out there, I will be at the softball field. This weekend, my 3 daughters are all participating in Hawaii’s Bobby Sox State Tournament. Of course, less than 3 days away, and we still have no schedule. I still don’t understand why tournament schedules are set up so last minute. Why don’t the tournament people all get together the week before the tournament (instead of 1-2 days before) and set up the schedule so that parents and team members can do some planning? I guess we’re simply supposed to plan to be at the park all weekend from start to end; details not all that necessary, but will be provided later.

Anyway, while others are out bar-be-quing, beach going, firecracker popping/watching, and celebrating the 4th of July, my family and I will be at the park. Softball….the story of a lot of my life. But that’s just fine with me.

So – what are you doing this weekend?

I forgot how energetic young people can be. This team only used 2 pitchers (one of which was my daughter and she only pitched about half a game total) and 1 catcher. Yet at the end of the day on Saturday (in the 4th game) they were still showing enthusiasm and energy. The parents and coaches, of course, were quite tired.

It was definitely easier to play 4 games in one day back when I was playing than it is to coach or watch 4 games in one day now. I know, it probably has something to do with age right?

Anyway – great job to all the 12U teams that were in this weekend’s tournament!

Here’s a picture of my daughter (the little one) and her teammates in the Sunday game…still showing a little pep in their step….and, yes, my daughter’s hair is colored red……and blue (see bottom pic).

My daughter has to be the only pitcher on the face of this earth that I know of that purposefully rolls the ball she’s going to pitch on the ground when it’s wet (and not just once either). When play resumed, guess what happened. She walked the next batter on 5 pitches. *sigh*

I discussed this with her after the game and let her know that if the ball ever feels too slippery, she is allowed to ask the umpire for another ball. Of course, I also advised her that she probably shouldn’t roll grounders to her teammates to pass time if the ground is moist.

But first, there are the pictures…

Two sisters at the field early on a Saturday morning

Big smile from my 8-year-old

Hmmm…looks like my 6-year-old is giving signals LOL

When I got home from my game that day, my girls were already out of their uniform. I hadn’t seen it yet because they got it right before the game. So after I got home the both wanted to show my their uniform. My 8-year-old goes,

“Mom! You wanna see our jerseys?”

Before I could finish the word “Yes” she’s off and running to go get her jersey.

My 6-year-old runs after her while she yells out, “Oh yeah! You wanna see our jerseys? They’re so (now I’m waiting for her to say cool! or awesome! or something, but she says) preeettyyy!” *sigh*

I have a feeling that one will be choosing a bat based on color and appearance some time in the future. LOL

Just a few weeks back I mentioned a few Sue Enquist Video clips. In one of them she talks about how preparing for a game helps take away anxiety and nervousness. I had just talked to the high school players I coach about this topic not long ago as well. So I found it quite interesting when, on the way to school on Friday morning (the day before my daughters first games), out of the blue my 6-year-old says,

“Mom, I’m not ready.”

“Not ready for what?” I ask her (we weren’t even on the subject of softball, we were just listening to music, riding in the car).

“For my game tomorrow,” she says.

I didn’t know what to say. My first thought was that it was obviously bugging her if she was thinking about it when we weren’t even in a softball setting. Then I immediately began wondering what it was that was making her feel like she wasn’t ready. I just couldn’t imagine what would be going through a 6-year-old’s mind to make her think that she wasn’t prepared enough for her first game of the season.

All I could think of to tell her was that she’d been doing lots of practicing in all these weeks leading and that I was sure she would do fine. I was just surprised that she would give any thought to whether or not she was “ready.”

She ended up doing quite well though. She played outfield so she didn’t have any action on defense, but out of the 3 times she went up to bat she got on base twice. I have no idea if she got on on actual hits or on errors because I wasn’t able to make the game since I had a game of my own. My husband was there, but he didn’t exactly give me all those types of details. He said she was 2-3, but he’s not exactly a “real” scorekeeper and I don’t even know if he knows all the rules about how to figure out hitting stats and such. I imagine there was some kind of error along the way in at least one of those plays, but it doesn’t really matter. My husband did take a bunch of pictures for me so that I could “see” some of that day so I was happy about that.

This weekend, my game doesn’t overlap with theirs so I’ll be able to watch be there this time. I can’t wait!

We’re looking at September 20-21 for the clinic sessions (2 – 2 1/2 hours) and the following Saturday (27th) for small group sessions. Just like last time, in order to attend a small group session, you MUST attend a clinic session first.

I’m not quite sure on location yet, but we’re looking at the CORP again and possibly another field in town. Ideally we’ll be able to do CORP one day and the town field another day to make it easier for pitchers from different parts of the island to attend a session.

Most likely will run something similar to what we did two years ago. Clinic sessions will be offered by age group. One session will be for ages 10-12, another will be for 13-15, and the last for ages 16+. We’ll run those 3 sessions on Saturday (20th) and if you can’t make the Saturday date, we’ll run them again on Sunday (21st).

Clinic sessions will be limited to 10-12 girls EACH. This is part of why we are running it for two days because 10-12 spots per age group will fill up FAST. So one session of 10-12 girls will be available on Saturday and another will be available on Sunday. Last time we had 14-16 per session and that was too much. This year, we’re only allowing 10-12 per session so that your pitcher will get more attention during the clinic and get more out of it. Also remember, all pitchers MUST bring their own catcher.

As we get closer and closer to the clinic I will provide additional information (finalized location and pricing). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the clinic. All clinic sessions will be FREE for ANY coaches or parents that want to attend. Bill’s demonstrations during his clinics are very cool, so please come by if you have the chance. There is no charge to anyone who wants to come to see the demonstration and instruction. Only the pitchers that actually go out onto the field and go through drills and get instruction from Bill pay the clinic fee.

Cost to the pitchers will probably be about $40 to attend a 2-hour clinic session in the appropriate age group on the 20th OR 21st. Small group sessions (27th) are one hour long and Bill will work with just your group (up to 4 pitchers) for that full hour. These sessions will probably be about $140. Small group sessions will be VERY limited as we will only run them on one day, so once we finalize location and start taking applications, please don’t wait too long.

Learn more about Bill Hillhouse at www.houseofpitching.com.

I’m also getting Tom Hanson’s new book, Who Will Do What By When, which is a great book for anyone trying to lead a team, whether on the field or in an office. I’m actually getting a few extra copies of this one so that the other coaches I work with can read it too.

If Tom Hanson sounds familiar, he is the co-author of Heads Up Baseball and he is also the guy that runs the Confidence website. He helps players and coaches get up to par with training for the mental aspect of the game. You can check out his website and sign up for his free newsletter at www.GetSoftballConfidence.com. He’s got some other cool freebies there as well (look for the “Free Stuff” link), like the 5-day course I just finished “5 Steps to Unstoppable Confidence.” Go check it out.

Again, this is something I truly feel every high school softball player and their parent and their coach NEEDS…unless, of course, the player does NOT want anything to do with softball at the college level. But if you took time to sign up to get these e-mails, chances are the players in your life want to go as far as they can OR you would like to help the players you know get as far as they can with this game and with their education. That said, I’ll cut to the chase. Get the college recruiting information you need from one of the best in the business, Dynamite Sports…

Get a FREE Preview – No Credit Card Information Required

Note: this login information will only be good for a LIMITED TIME, check it out as soon as possible!

Simply go to: http://www.thecoachescircle.com/school/112 and use the username and password provided on the page.

Forget the Preview, I need/want this ASAP!
Small schools, Travel Clubs, or Individual Teams save over 30% off the regular price for a full year of unlimited access to the ENTIRE system.

Word Doc Order Form: http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/DSOrder.doc

PDF file Order Form: http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/DSOrder.pdf

What’s this all about? View the Dynamite Sports Flyer
Word Doc Flyer: http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/DSFlyer.doc
PDF Flyer: http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/DSFlyer.pdf

Again, if you or the players you know have any inkling that they’d like to continue to play softball at the collegiate level, this is a MUST SEE program. I will, personally, be using this same program to help me give all of my kids the best chance at playing athletics in college if they decide that’s what they want to do. So in a year or two I will be starting with my oldest daughter (she’s in 6th grade now). Don’t wait until Junior or Senior year to begin preparing! If you’re working with Freshman or even current 8th graders who will be Freshman next year, you’re actually in the best position to make the most of what Dynamite Sports has to offer and help the players be the most prepared to get to that next level. If you are in that range of Junior/Senior year, there is still some very important information provided by this program. For example, if you’re wondering how to get your name out there to the schools you want to attend, this program tells you exactly how to do that. If you’re trying to figure out where to start as far as who to contact, this program tells you how to come up with a list of schools that would be a good fit for you so that your more focused in your efforts to connect with, not just any school, but the right school for you.

The three biggest mistakes I see people make in this college recruiting process is

1) Starting too late

2) Not being proactive enough….thinking that showcase tournaments and travel ball are all you need to do

3) Choosing the WRONG school

Learn how to avoid these 3 big mistakes and give the softball players you know the best chance at getting to a college that is a good fit for them. There’s no sense in going through all the stress that comes along with the college recruiting process only to have the player leave the school after a year or two OR spend 4-5 years in a place they can’t stand.

Order forms are available here:

Word Doc Order Form: http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/DSOrder.doc

PDF file Order Form: http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/DSOrder.pdf

At the very least, go take a look at the preview at http://www.thecoachescircle.com/school/112 – it won’t cost you anything but a few moments of your time.

But won’t my counselors do the college stuff for me?
To some extent, yes. I was fortunate enough to go to a high school where there were 3 counselors per class. Each one had less than 175 students to keep track of and work with. My counselor was the one who made sure I was registered with the NCAA Clearinghouse which was just starting up. She gave me the form to fill out and send in. Our counselors did a lot to help us get ready for college, including walking us through the application for the University of Hawaii. Line by line, they told us what to write in. But as good as they were, I was not given even HALF the information about the college recruiting process that I got from Dynamite Sports in that one 2-hour seminar.

I don’t know how it is in other parts of the country, but the public high schools in Hawaii have ONE College and Career Counselor for the whole student body. The high school I coach at has 600+ students in some classes. So that’s over 2000 students for one counselor to track. Don’t leave everything up to the counselors when there’s so much you can take control of yourself.

Check out the free preview today.

Have a great week!

Feinberg brings a passion for education, more than 15 years as an elite fast-pitch softball player, and 20 years as a softball and baseball coach to his new job. Learn more about Dave Feinberg at azstarnet.