Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast

We need to evaluate our level of play in a game and place the winning and losing in its proper perspective. The coaches discuss the possible outcomes of a game and help you understand what you need to look at beside the score board.

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This weeks lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question:  Is there a shortage of pitchers? Every team posting tryouts is looking for pitchers. (@09:47)
• Big changes in the world of college athletics. (@17:20)
• Keeping your field nice and whose job is it. (@39:26)
• Value of live pitching versus coach pitching. (@54:39)

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The cornerstone of the game is the ability to throw and catch. One of the mistakes we make is playing catch or having a coach play a position and use our range and size to give the player a false sense of accomplishment. To get more accurate throws, adults need to reduce their size and ability to more represent players the size and ability of those we are training. We discuss some methods to accomplish this and we know that it is effective.

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This weeks lineup:

• Warmup Segment:
• Listener Question: My daughter is moving up to the 12" ball. Does she need a different glove? (@10:12)
• Paige's Power Play (@15:47)
• Now that kids are going back to school, this is a good time to make an assessment of your past year and where you need to make improvements. Then make a plan for  development in the coming year. (@21:41)
• Keep the "fun" in fundamentals. Practice can be boring so you have to come up with a plan to work on the fundamentals and make it fun and exciting. (@36:50)
• Softball - Stay Classy. Making any type of comments that are negative for the opposing team is totally unwarranted and shows no class. (@44:33)

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The greatest challenge for hitters is pitch recognition. What better way for them to gain experience than spending time catching pitchers. They should be able to work up to being able to catch without knowing what pitch is coming. Listen to our thoughts on how to incorporate this into your practice routine.

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This Weeks Lineup:

• Warmup Segment:
• Listener Question: My daughter is 13 and plays on a 14U team. Her team will be moving up to 16U next year. Should she find a new 14U team or move up with her current team? (@9:32)
• Paige's Power Play (@14:43)
• The impact of the NIL and Transfer Portal putting the "I" in team. (@18:30)
• Olympics (@36:22)
• To improve your team let them see and witness the next level of play. (@48:31)

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An unpracticed skill is getting up when a play forces us to the ground. 
On offensive if we dive for a ball and catch it, obviously we need to get up quickly to make a play. If we miss it, we are suppose to be in a secondary position.  Get up and get there.
If we are a base runner either diving back to a base or sliding into a base, we need to get up quickly in case there is a chance to advance. The worse thing we can do is immediately ask for time while on the ground. The umpire granting time makes the ball dead. If the defender still has the ball, there is a chance they will make a bad throw. We can't advance while time is called. 
This can be practiced.

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This Weeks Lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: My daughter hits a lot of singles and has a good batting average, but does not hit with any power. (@13:21)
• Paige's Power Play (@22:08)
• Proper Hitting Preparation. The coaches discuss the 4 deep preparation of hitters getting ready for an at-bat.(@25:45)
• Player's attitudes and influences. We need to be aware of what influences our player's attitudes. We either can help or harm. (@42:23)
• Coaches, work on your game. We expect players to work on their skills. Coaches you need to work on your game also. (@53:32)

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We discuss the fact that many catchers are way too far back of the hitter. Move them up where they can perform better. The further back you are opens the door to making the pitcher, catcher and umpire have a harder time. When you are close, breaking balls are easier to catch. Low balls don't hit the ground. Umpires get a better read. And the pitcher has a tighter zone to throw into.

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This Week's Lineup:

• Warmup Segment
• Listener Question: My daughter just played her last travel ball tournament forever.  I am really depressed about it. What can I do? (@11:24)
• Paige's Power Play (@:15:34)
• Part 2 of our interview with Justin McCleod. We cover the Transfer Portal,  NIL, etc. (@20:41)
• Wrap up of the end of the summer season. Make sure we are preparing ourselves to finish well. (@38:32)
• Coaches - wrap up the summer season and then take a break and decompress. (@45:41)

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