Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast

This week's lineup

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: What is you reaction to this survey of parents on their expectation of playing softball? (@10:10)
• Paige's Power Play: How to stop worrying about what others think. (@17:50)
• "How do you coach in an environment where the players feel they owe you nothing and you owe them everything" Geno Auriemma  (@21:21)
• Maximizing your coaching staff. Do everything or spread the responsibilities? (@33:05)

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 Lots of teams talk about having team bonding activities. The coaches discuss whether these are important for teams and have a benefit. They talk about the challenges of planning them and the trade off with less practice time.

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This week's Lineup

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: Parent is worried about statement a coach is making. (@10:18)
• Paige's Power Play: How to help your daughter play with boldness. (@18:43)
• College Camp Strategy for a catcher (@21:50)
• Discussion of statement "My job is to find someone better than you, your job is to make sure I can't"(@31:53)
• Community Service (@41:06)

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Head coaches have to be a manager and can't take responsibility for every task. This is especially true in games. You cannot keep your finger on the pulse of the game and try to  look after everything else. You lose focus on the game if your worrying about the lineup, dugout, bullpens, substitutions, etc.

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This week's lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: Should paying team dues guarantee you a certain amount of playing time? (@13:00)
• Paige's Power Play: How to stop being her own worst enemy. (@15:53)
• College softball is an Equivalency sport. What does that mean? (@19:06)
• Suggestions to someone applying for a coaching position. A listener is applying for a high school coaching position and wanted some advice. (@30:00)
• Take time before the beginning of the season to have a plan for the seaason. (@35:24)

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Coaches, if you are working hard to get your team to perform and it isn't working we need to change something. We need to step back and take a look at what we are doing and make some adjustments. Our job is to determine why they aren't getting what we are teaching. It could be they just don't understand, don't have the skills or other factors. So, do something different.

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This week's lineup

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: Listener questions philosophy of not trying to hit ground balls. (@8:52)
• Paige's Power Play: Parent training (@22:25)
• Are we in a "changing of the guard" period in college sports? (@27:07)
• Should a player be comfortable when talking to the coach? (@41:01)
• People develop habits and their habits determine their success. (@47:34)

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To play the game successfully it takes practice and game experience. Coaches need to understand which skills are only learned in practice and skills that have to be learned in games. If we mix them up, players are going to be confused and make the wrong changes.

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This week's lineup

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question:  What is the role of a parent in determining the coachability of a player? (@11:02)
• Paige's Power Play: Parent Training (@15:13)
• Strong recommendation for a movie to help players. (@18:50)
• Aristotle Quote relating to sports: “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” (@27:05)
• Goals and word of the year (@33:28)

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Coaches have a strategy for a game that involves lineups, pitching and playing positions. Sometimes it just isn't working. Be willing to break from your strategy to adapt for what is working today.

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