A Point-by-Point Guide to High School: From the Coaches
/When I tried out for my high school softball team I simply showed up on the prescribed date and time. I carried my spikes and glove in my hand. I did what I was told. I observed the skills of the other girls and measured myself against them. What chance do I have? How hard are the coaches making me work? Do I like this? Are the girls nice?
Never once did I think bigger than than my personal comfort or what the coaches were going to think of me. I didn’t ponder what characteristics made up a good team or what I could do to be a leader.
In hindsight I wish I would have. To those of you who are reading this, whether you are in 5th grade, trying out for high school, or going to college next year, I’d suggest thinking of your upcoming tryouts in a bigger-picture sort of way.
A couple of years ago during a covid-zoom meeting, Practice Pro had the opportunity to interview the Whitney Young Head Coach, Mike Hinrichs and the Ridgewood Head Coach, Ken Jurasz,about how they’ve built their program, what they expect of players, and how to buy in.
Coach Hinrichs has been coaching at Whitney Young High School since the 08-09 season. He led the team to win a city title and beat OPRF to win the Class 4A Sectional in 2019, which was the first sectional win in the program’s history. In 2016, he led the team to beating Lane Tech (7-2) and ending their 9 year streak of winning the City Championship. His current coaching record is 235 wins and 100 losses.
Coach Ken is an ex-marine and firefighter with 21 years of fast pitch softball coaching under his belt. In 2021 led Ridgewood High School to 4th place in the IHSA State Final. He previously coached at Guerin Prep High School in River Grove as well as the Lady Tigers travel softball team. He coached the 2016 IL State Champion Little League Senior Division Team. In 2018, he was the Assistant Head Coach at Triton College. He currently is the head varsity coach at Ridgewood high school, as well as a hitting instructor.
What are good questions to ask your coach before tryouts to show you care?
Coach Hinrichs: Ask something that leads me to believe you are a hard worker. You wouldn’t ask, “when do you guys start strength training- fall or spring?” Instead, you’d know that it’s year-round. Tryouts are the first time someone will see you and hopefully not last time they see you. Leave a good impression.
Coach Ken: Always look your coach in the eye when you are talking to him. Make sure you talk to them, with confidence. You could ask “What is our offseason program? What type of weight lifting are we doing? Is there speed and conditioning training?” You’ll also stand out if you show up to summer camp.
How does weight training fit in with your program?
Coach Ken: I love 3-sport athletes because they understand how to be athletic. If you are not doing other sports in the fall and winter, I’ll ask you will be in the weight room. I need you to be athletic and coordinated.
Coach Hinrichs: I take a very aggressive approach in preparation to the 2020 campaign because a lot of girls are playing in college. We have 6 a.m. lifts twice per week in phases. First, we break the body in. Then we add weight in second phase and also establish one rep maxes.
Last season we made up for lack of speed with strength because our players would hit the ball over the fence. This was built by very simple, traditional weight lifting techniques like squats, dead lift, bench with short reps and high intensity. It builds a mental confidence.
Also, we pitchers are pushed the hardest. We have pitchers do extra core development and grip strength.
What are your practices like?
Coach Ken: Our practices start off with stretching, calisthenics. We do push ups throughout practice. However, we don’t use exercise as a punishment, but a consequence of an error. It helps you get stronger.
I would rather miss a little bit of hitting and throwing as long as we get our workouts in. This is what separates you from other teams - it’s the stronger/faster team. Strength, conditioning and endurance is the separator between a championship team and a team that is knocked out in regionals.
How good, exactly, do your pitchers have to be with regards to accuracy and movement on your team?
Coach Ken: Pitching is an art. I want you to hit the spots that I call to work the batter - then you’ll learn how to do it on your own. I want no walks and accuracy is key.
Coach Hinrichs: Last year we went 31-5. The five losses were all with four or more walks in a game. We cannot be walking batters.
What is your pet peeve?
Coach Ken: Mental errors and not being prepared. Punctuality and communicating with coaches.
Coach Hinrichs: It’s great to have a tool belt full of pitchers, but if there is no actual movement or speed change it’s my pet peeve. I’d rather have a pitcher with 2 maybe 3 movement pitches, than 6 different pitches that don’t work
Thank you Coach Ken and Coach Hinrichs!
