Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast

Base running is an underutilized offensive weapon, We go over a base running checklist of how a base runner should react in certain situations. This is not something that can just be explained but must be practiced. A player with these skills can elevate her performance and make her a much more valuable asset for the team.

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This is the interview segment of the weekly podcast. It covers anxiety and other mental issues that young people experience. We felt it was important enough that instead of breaking it into 2 parts, we would post the complete interview as a separate podcast. It is an interview with Heather Murphy, LCSW. Heather is a former college softball player that experienced anxiety during her playing days. She works with parents of anxious teens but also specializes in working with high school and college students. She has a passion for helping student-athletes that struggle with anxiety. It's a great listen as the coaches and Heather talk about issues and how to help those struggling.

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This weeks episode has been split into 2 separate podcast downloads. This is the first part without an interview we did concerning anxiety and mental issues. We have our equipment tip of the week and  a listener question. We follow with what has unfortunately become our normal Corona update segment. Corona has far overshadowed softball news. We end up with a segment on pulling pitchers. When, how and what's best to develop a pitching staff.

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The outcome of each game can be put in one of four categories. You play well and win, you play well and lose, you play poorly and win or you play poorly and lose. Evaluating your games helps you develop a schedule that will help optimize your teams development. We discuss these game result aspects to help you know what to do for future games.

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Another episode packed with information for the fastpitch enthusiast. Listener question of how early can a player start lessons. Our mental tip of the week from Paige Tonz. And of course a discussion of the disruption of softball because of Corona. We have an interesting interview with Dr. Joe Rouw. He is a developmental optometrist who enjoys working in the field of optometric vision therapy and has an interest in working with athletes and sports vision training. We end with a discussion of calling pitches and letting your catchers and pitchers be involved.

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This weeks episode is covering conduct issues that a couple of our listeners have encountered in tournaments lately. Verbal abuse should not be tolerated by anyone at a softball tournament. Let alone young players. Threats of physical violence is off the chart. Coaches we have to set the standards for our team and be an example. And we have to do what is necessary to maintain those standards. Even if it means dismissing a good player from our team because of conduct of adults. It's unfortunate that we have to talk about this, but it is a real world problem and the solution has to start with the Head Coach.

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A listener asks a question for some guidelines to maximize Batting Practice. Latest Power Play from Paige Tonz. We have an interview with Steve Goody the CEO of Pocket Radar. He gives us an update of their product and how it can be used in the recruiting process as well as how it can be used in the development of hitters and pitchers of all ages. And we have our normal good and bad with the Corona guidelines. Based on some listener comments we discuss how much talking should go on at practices. Field Time is a precious commodity for most teams and it is frustrating for a lot of people to see it used with players standing around while listening to instructions from coaches. We feel that field practice should be maximized and any instruction should be short and to the point and get on with practicing execution.

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This week we discuss the lineup. The goal of the lineup is for the team to have the best chance to win. It is not as simple as putting players in positions or batting order based upon a set formula. It is all about synergy. The whole is better than the sum of the parts. The key to being successful is communication. Players (and parents) have to understand the strategy and buy in. Listen as the coaches talk about it and relate experiences they have had.

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Our listener question this week is about dealing with a shy player. Paige Tonz of pagetonz.com provides her tip of the week. An interview with Ryan Taylor of SoftballBound which is an app that provides detailed information about colleges for use in the recruiting process. We have our normal Corona impact discussion to update what is going on related to softball.Coach Tory wants to challenge ESPN's choice of the Greatest Softball Team with is own picks. And our coaching tip of the week discusses how to properly handle pickup players.

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I have learned one very important thing in the last couple of years, I wish I had started writing a blog when I was still coaching.

Why, you ask? 

I would be a much better coach than I was. I think I’ve learned more from writing these blogs than I’ve shared with the reader.

I was an all-time yeller and screamer! I came up when the idea was that great coaches were people like Bobby Knight and Vince Lombardi. Those coaching legends were very willing to get after a player and the volume was always turned up to “10.” It was always pretty easy for me to justify.

Another one of those old dog, new trick moments, for sure!

So what do I know now that I should have known then? There are a bunch of reasons why screaming and yelling doesn’t work. Listen to our thoughts.

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