All About Fastpitch Softball Blog

***************************************
QUICK ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our 21-Day Food Challenge starts tomorrow!
Are you in?  Check back tomorrow for details.

LAST DAY: Today is the last day to enter our 10 Commandments
Contest!  Submit your entry at the Fastpitch World Forums
**************************************

I’m afraid of the ball…Did I just say that? Well, not terrified of the ball like some people are, but I admit, I am more afraid of getting hit by a ground ball than I used to be. Why? Mostly because I know that I’m not as quick as I used to be. My reaction time is slower than it used to be. Let’s face it, I’m no longer training to actively compete as a softball player. I do not practice fielding ground balls on a daily basis and therefore, I know that my skills are a little rustier than they were 13+ years ago when I was training to be the best infielder I could be.

I’m not, however afraid of balls that are thrown at me. I’m still quite confident in my ability to catch a thrown ball and do that quite often, so it’s not something that worries me. But lack of that confidence is a common reason why young athletes are afraid of the ball. Not only is it a relatively hard object traveling toward them, but they lack the confidence in their ability to handle it. They do not believe they possess the adequate capability to safely deal with this hard moving ball that
is coming at them.

I know that if I were to practice and train to actively play softball again, my fear of the ball would all but disappear as I regained confidence in my skills. The same is true for young players. If they gain confidence in their own ability to adequately deal with and protect themselves from this ball that’s coming at them, they won’t be as terrified of the ball anymore.

Of course, that’s more easily said than done in some cases and there are specific things you can do to help them along the way. I’ll talk about that in another post, but first I wanted to know if you’ve ever personally dealt with this situation before (players being afraid of the ball).

• What triggered it in their case?
• What did you do to help them?
• How old are the players you work with?
• Is there anything in particular you’d like to know about helping players get over their fear of the ball?

This seems to be a topic that I get e-mailed about a lot lately, so I just wanted some of your thoughts on it in case you were also dealing with the same issue.

Leave me a comment and let me know.

————————————————

Bill Hillhouse Pitching Location Update

Location for the Bill Hillhouse 2-Day Pitching Clinic in Hawaii (Oct. 10-11) has been set at St.  Francis High School. Registrations are already coming in for the clinic and spaces are limited! For more information, print out the flyer at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/BH2009.pdf

Grab your registration form at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/BHR2009.pdf

Technorati Tags: batting, Defense, fear of the ball, pitching, Youth Softball

If you’re interested in what’s been going on at different ASA softball championship, here are some links you may want to check out.

Fantastic Fury Local softball teams finding ASA success

SD Fusion Has High Hopes For ASA Nationals

Heat rides wave into nationals

12-Under national fastpitch championship begins

Teams flock to Tracy for softball tourney

Renegades win ASA softball title

Belgrade wins Regional 16U softball tourney

Magic works magic in 12-U softball

ASA SOFTBALL STATE TOURNEY: Galesburg ousted, title game at 2 pm

Local 14U softball players going national next week

Technorati Tags: ASA Softball, softball t, softball tournament, Youth Softball

One of the things that really hit home for me while watching the Bobby Sox tournament a few weeks ago was the importance of planning for food!

I admit, the organization my daughters’ were playing for was excellent at making sure the girls had something to eat after their day was done. Both parents and kids had some great food to chow down after the games were done for the day which I thoroughly enjoyed!  However, I think we (parents included) could have done a better job at making sure our kids had “fuel” THROUGHOUT the day.

Why do I say that? Because my youngest daughter completely “ran out of gas” in the last game of the day. She was on the 8U team and had to be at the park at 9:00am because their first game was scheduled at 10:30. Not too bad. At least we didn’t have to wake up too early to make sure she had breakfast and everything before getting to the field (as opposed to the 6U team that had to be at the field at 6:45am! Yikes!!!).

So we all (our whole family) had breakfast before heading to the field which was great. But because my daughter’s 8U team was coming from the loser’s bracket, they weren’t going to have a short day unless they lost quick.

Well, they didn’t lose quick.

In fact, they won their first game and had to play again right after.  I’m not complaining because I love to see my kids play.  It just meant that there was NO time for going back to the team tent to eat.

They ended up winning that game too which forced an “if necessary.” Cool! Except for the fact that the “if necessary” game had to be played down the road at another park and the team had just an hour to get there. Again, not enough time to get all the girls under the team tent to sit and get some food in their bellies.

About half way through that 3rd game of the day, I noticed how hungry I was! You see, I my 3 daughters were playing in 3 different age divisions and, every other game, I was running back and forth between the 2 fields trying to catch at least parts of all my daughter’s games. Between going back and forth and trying to take pictures during the games, I never really stopped to grab food.  By the middle of that 3rd 8U game, I was starving (and I wasn’t even in the sun playing or coaching).

Yes, I was driving back and forth (in an air conditioned car), but the rest of my time was spent under a tent, in the shade with a camera in my hand…and I could sit down any time I wanted. I can only imagine what my daughter felt like after having been on the field for 3 straight games.

Right about the time I realized I was hungry I heard my daughter’s coach letting the players know who was going to go where on the next defense (there are minimum play rules in Bobby Sox). Then I heard my daughter ask one of the coaches if she’s going to stay in or go out. The coach told her that she was going to be playing the whole game.  She burst into tears (a strange reaction to getting an entire game of playing time right?).

Of course, the coach asked her what was wrong and she cried, “I’m tired.” The thought that immediately crossed my mind when I heard that was that she was probably starving too!

Of course, 3 games in and of itself can be pretty tough on an 8 year old, but I’m pretty sure part of her exhaustion was due to the fact that she hadn’t eaten much since breakfast that morning and it was already after 2:30pm. That’s a long time not to eat when your in the Hawaiian sun burning your energy playing softball game after softball game after softball game.

3 games in one day is already a lot for 8U, but throw in lack of “fuel” for the body and it becomes even tougher. I know many people’s first reaction to crying and taking yourself out of the game is not necessarily positive – what kind of softball player does that anyway?

But I have to admit, as a coach, I’d rather have a player tell me that they’re sub-par so I can put someone else in that is more fresh and ready, than go out there anyway, not feeling well and play terrible … AND risk getting seriously hurt or more sick.

Sometimes it’s just not smart to keep pushing. As and athlete, as a parent, and as a coach, we need to realize when that is…even though it can be a very tough line to define at times.

So, do you have a tournament food plan?

The best way to make sure you have “good” fuel for your players (not just packaged junk food) is to prepare ahead of time. It’s true you may end up with more than you need if your team loses sooner than expected, but it certainly beats not having enough – especially when the well being of our kids are at stake.

So that’s one of the things I learned during the tournament. There’s always something right? What did you learn at the last tournament you attended? Leave a comment below to share your tournament insight!

Technorati Tags: food, game day, health, nutrition, safety, softball tournament, Youth Softball