Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast

This weeks lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: Is there a downside to playing second base? (@11:05)
• Paige's Power Play (@18:05)
• DR3 Fastpitch Pitching Question: Would you rather throw your best pitch no matter the hitter's strength or throw a weaker pitch to attack the hitter's weakness? (@21:42)
• Interview with Val Alston, author of "Confident, Calm, & Clutch: How to Build Confidence and Mental Toughness for Young Athletes Using Sports Psychology" She is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and a trained Health and Wellness Coach from the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy (FMCA).  (@35:19)
• Seeing more of the top college teams playing each other earlier in the season. The coaches discuss the challenges of creating a schedule, at any level, to balance your schedule for optimal season long performance. (@57:35)

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The coaches  reminisce about their beginning days when things were a lot different. Sometimes they mention the white ball era and they wanted to explain to the listeners what they were talking about.

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This Weeks Lineup

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: How do you know when it is time to move on to a new team? (@14:41)
• Paige's Power Play (@25:59)
• DR3Fastpitch Pitching Corner:  Are their exercises that should be avoided in the weight room? (@28:47)
• Percentage of players that did not find a new team through the 2022 Transfer Portal (@43:30)
• Work on Visual Skills (@56:27)
• Action Coach (1:16:44)

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This weeks discussion revolves around that players today do not respect their equipment and take care of it appropriately. Most types of equipment is discussed and the basics of taking care of it properly. Encourage your players to listen to this and help them understand that it is their responsibility.

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This weeks lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: His daughter has a choice to be a full time player on the JV team or a roll player on the varsity team. What do you think?  (@19:14)
• Paige's Power Play (@29:19)
• DR3Fastpitch Pitching Corner - What do you feel about the start back vs step back approach to pitching? (@35:17)
• Spending time looking for pitchers tipping off pitches. (@44:02)
• Observations from a softball parent whose daughter is at the end of her career. (@58:09)

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The coaches discuss helping to prepare players for that pressure situation of the last out of a game. It shouldn't be any different than any other out, but it is. It takes a collective effort of the player, parents, coaches and spectators to maintain a demeanor that makes it easier.

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This weeks lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: How do you decide on which camps to attend? (@19:30)
• Paige's Power Play (@28:14)
• DR3Fastpitch Pitching Corner (@32:38)
• Tips for players going on college visits. Make it easier to compare them over an extended time. (@43:50)
• If playing college softball is in your future, an important consideration is your major at that school and can you major in that field and still play softball. At some schools is is almost impossible to play softball and have a major that has classes that conflict with practices and games. (@53:14)
• Action Coach (@1:04:43)

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Coaches all say they want motivated players. The discussion today revolves around the fact that motivation is not a constant. What we really want are disciplined players that practice and play at a constant level no matter their level of motivation on a particular day. It takes motivation to get started, but discipline to stay the course.

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This weeks lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: My daughter is a left-handed catcher. Is that a negative? (@14:23)
• Paige's Power Play (@23:03)
• DR3 Fastpitch Pitching Corner (@26:44)
• Importance of Small Ball (@36:42)
• Understanding runner interference. A coach asked for some strategies for his base runners to avoid interfering with the fielder. (@45:39)
• Action Coach (@55:52)

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As Yogi Berra said, "You Can Observe A Lot By Watching". From birth we develop by imitating what we see. If we teach our players how to really "watch" good players, they will become better players. They should be watching all of the subtle things going  on with players not just following the ball. Seeing the total game is a skill that has to be learned and makes the game a classroom.

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