Our Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal!
How the Sessions are Different
I've been talking to a lot of high school softball coaches lately, asking them what they look for in players. Naturally, I expected answers about talent—velocity, great movement, accuracy, maybe a devastating change-up.
And yes, coaches like all of those things. It turns out coaches are, in fact, fans of good softball players. But one thing keeps coming up that is much less exciting: Show up early and know how to get yourself ready.
Your coach doesn't want to hunt you down and say, "Where are your bands?" She doesn't want to remind you that perhaps now, five minutes before you're supposed to pitch, would be an excellent time to begin throwing.
I explain quickly, "Not exactly. I suggest you tell the coach that you know you can get the next girl out so give me another chance!" Although I understand Emma's logic, that players think they are helping the team by removing their poor-performing selves from the game, I explain several different concepts. You only fail when you give up. You always have to believe that the next pitch is going to be a great one. A good attitude regardless of the circumstance raises performance. And finally, it’s your coach's decision on who should be put in or taken out, not yours - even if she asks.
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I hear it all the time, “Is there some kind of trick that I can use during a game to prevent me from going into a downward spiral?” It’s frustrating (and even more confusing) to start off well and then lose this “groove” later in the game.
While at first it seems sometimes coaches over-analyze what could have happened…”she got tired”, “she lost it mentally”, “she stopped performing her mechanics properly,” and so on, at second thought, I believe this is an under-analysis or a faulty analysis without proper work on the back end to diagnose issues and adjust practice accordingly. In order to identify the issue take a cue from college teams. They are always recording a huge amount of stats throughout the games. For them, there is no “guessing” when it comes to the issues they face during game time. They try to make it as objective, and therefore easy, as possible to make decisions.