Swing Level….or NOT!

For anyone who has a pitcher whose screwball either isn’t breaking enough, or else it’s acting more like a riseball, try this.

Have her enter the release point with her thumb facing forward. This will really help ensure her hand is in the proper position to complete the snap properly by keeping her hand inside the ball at the release point – which simply means she will keep her hand between her body and the ball throughout the release point.

Too many pitchers enter the screwball with their thumbs sideways which really limits the amount of twist and therefore, spin and movement the pitcher can get on the ball.

Coaching requires a lot of quick thinking and creativity. When faced with a problem sometimes simply stepping back and getting a different perspective will allow you to find a better solution. There is a great a great fable about how two different countries solved the issue of writing notes while in space.

The tale goes like this….When NASA first started sending astronauts into space they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and over $12 billion developing a pen that would write in zero gravity, upside down, on almost any surface including glass, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Russians simply used a pencil.

There are always multiple ways to solve a problem.

If your players are struggling making the backhand play have them try angling back slightly on their approach to give them more time for the hard hit balls to the backhand side. This prevents the ball from getting past the fielder before she can get into position.

To help your players be much more accurate with their throws teach your players to always point the instep of their throwing-side foot (right foot for righthanded throwers and left foot for lefthanded throwers) at their target as they begin to throw. This really makes it easier for the thrower’s hips and shoulders to turn allowing the ball to stay in line to the target.

Knowing when to run and when to hold up is an important skill when running bases. To help your players better know when to run to the next base, either on their lead-offs or on extra base hits, try these simple but very effective tips:

When to Lead Off – have your runners leave the base when the heel of the pitcher’s pivot foot leaves the ground.

When to Run on Balls Hit to Outfield – if the outfielder turns her back and runs then the baserunner runs (without tagging up)!

To help your bunters keep from bunting the ball too hard or else pushing the bottom of the ball and popping up, try this. Teach your players to Reach Early and Catch Late. This means when your player turns into her bunting position (whatever type of bunt she’s doing), she’ll reach Out with her hands and the bat early and then catch, or give with the ball, late.

This helps her soften the bunt. What most bunters do is just the opposite. They bunt early, meaning they have their hands and the bat in close to their body when they first turn to bunt, and then catch late, meaning they try to get soft at the very last minute. Reverse the two by reaching early and catching Late and watch your bunting success improve!

The first out of a double play is THE most important out! To help make sure your players execute more successful double plays have your players practice feeding the ball at an upward angle toward the player that’s receiving the ball so she can make the catch and throw faster and easier.

To help your slappers have more bat control tell them to move their hands forward as they move their back foot forward. This will allow them to keep their hands and the bat in front of their body when contacting the ball in order to prevent having a slow bat – and making it easier to hit more fair balls.

Being a Responsible Coach

It is mind boggling to think about the number of people we have given the title of “coach” to over the years in the various levels of sports. Coaching a team can be a life changing experience for any parent who has a child in youth sports, or sports enthusiast and an even greater experience for the many young people they touch through the trials and tribulations of a sport season. There have been many outstanding coaches who have given the time, energy, expertise and leadership that have made a tremendous impact on the development of our youth. What a great opportunity and responsibility we have to influence so many young people during a time in their development as athletes and, more importantly, as people. Some of my most influential mentors who helped shape me into who I am today were coaches throughout my youth. 

We cannot argue that the foundation of our character is built by our own parents, although for many young people, it is their coaches that provide them with the moments and experiences that ultimately make a difference in their development as adults. I can look back today at the coaches that I had in elementary school, Little League, high school, and other various leagues that I participated in up through my college career. I can remember every name, and more importantly, what kind of influence they had on my life. That is a very powerful statement and it proves the point that Responsible Coaching can have a tremendous influence in shaping the character of our youth. I was influenced so well that I chose to coach as a profession. To this day, I continue to thank the coaches in my life for the guidance, discipline, encouragement and knowledge they’ve instilled in me over the years.

When we make the choice of becoming a coach, it is imperative that we understand some simple guidelines that have been proven over the years to provide the proper environment for our youth to develop their athletic skills, but more importantly, the skills they will need to be successful in life. These principles are the foundation of the Responsible Coaching coursework on ResponsibleSports.com.

Coaching is a privilege and great coaches have to wear many hats. The most successful coaches have the teaching skills of an educator, the training expertise of a physiologist, the administrative leadership of a business executive and the counseling wisdom of a psychologist. But the most important role you play in youth sports is to teach character. Coaching for character is helping your players know the right thing to do and then helping them to do it right!

Guidelines to coaches for teaching character:

1.) Respectful

Of the game and to its rules and traditions 

Of your opponents 

Of the officials 

In victory and defeat 

Responsible Coaches conduct themselves by a code, which Responsible Sports and Positive Coaching Alliance call "Honoring the Game." To remember the components of this code, remind yourself and your players that Honoring the Game means respecting the sport's ROOTS. The acronym ROOTS helps remind us that we must respect Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, and Self. Learn more about Honoring the Game and ROOTS.

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2.) Responsible

Prepare yourself to do your best 

Be punctual for practices and games 

Be self-disciplined 

Be cooperative with your teammates 

Our society tends to put scoreboard results ahead of everything else. Responsible Coaches care about the scoreboard, but they care even more deeply about instilling a "Mastery Approach" in their athletes. A simple way to remember the three keys to the Mastery Approach is another Responsible Sports and Positive Coaching Alliance acronym, ELM, where ELM stands for Effort, Learning and Mistakes.

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3.) Caring

Help your teammates play better 

Support teammates – Encourage vs. Discourage! 

Be generous with praises; stingy with criticism 

Play for the team, not yourself 

Responsible Coaches keep players' “Emotional Tanks” full. Responsible Sports and Positive Coaching Alliance refer to a person's “Emotional Tank” like a car's gas tank. When it's full we can go anywhere we want to, when it's empty we can't go at all. Players with full “Emotional Tanks” give Responsible Coaches some distinct advantages like being more coachable, more optimistic and better able to handle adversity. See a youth softball coach in action with her team as the players fill the “Emotional Tanks” of their teammates in the video “Softball Buddy System.”

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4.) Honest

Play by the spirit of the rules 

Be loyal to your team 

Make good choices on and off the field 

Admit to your own mistakes 

Jessica Mendoza talks about how she learned to overcome mistakes as a youth softball player and how her softball lessons have carried over into life lessons in the video “Handling a Mistake.”

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5.) Be Fair

Treat other players as you wish to be treated 

Be fair to all players, including those who are different 

Give all players an opportunity to grow & succeed 

Play to win within the rules 

In Coach Candrea’s “Player Development” video, he talks about getting kids to understand how to handle failure, and how that moves right into teachable life-long lessons.

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6.) Be a Good Citizen

Be a good role model 

Strive for excellence 

Give back to softball 

Encourage teammates to be good citizens 

One way to demonstrate to your players to strive for excellence and how to act as good citizens is by Coaching Beyond the X’s and O’s. Responsible Coaches, beyond the X's and O's, teach athletes life lessons in persistence, teamwork, sacrifice, effort, empathy, discipline, leadership and overcoming adversity. 

Until next month,

Coach Candrea 

Raising Confidence in a PlayerNo one would question the importance of confidence in determining success. In the game of softball, it is quite obvious that all the physical talent you may possess will not always be the key factor in performing on the field. It takes confidence in using that talent that will take your performance to the next level. There are many examples of the average player that seems to perform above our expectations due to the fact that there self-confidence propels them to the top of their game. This is the reason why coaches and parents are always wondering what they can do to create confident players.We must all realize that confidence is tied closely with performance or our ability to be competent at the required skills of the game. Although I am always gaining insight from sports psychology, I have realized that pep talks, handbooks, audio tapes etc. are not the ultimate answer to our pursuit of a more confident player. The confident player comes from our ability to increase their performance, make them feel the connection with the team, and learn to control the controllable!Building Confidence In this video, Coach Candrea shares his thoughts on the role of a coach to build a kid's confidence.Watch now >>

Improving performance comes from developing and mastering the skills of the game. We have all heard that softball is a game of fundamental skills and even at the college level, we spend large amounts of our time developing the ability for our players to play catch. The foundation for our game is catching and throwing, yet we have not done a very good job of teaching those skills. As a coach or parent, getting your kid involved in a program that has a foundation of teaching the skills vs. winning games can pay dividends down the road. If we can stress to our players that these skills can be acquired and we as teachers must be able to break down the skill into parts that can be understood and able to be performed by the player properly. Simply, our ability to provide step by step learning is essential to mastering the skill. Our sport gets caught up in repetition but that repetition needs to be done correctly to develop proper skill development. 

Every time our players successfully interact with others, their confidence grows. Some of the greatest things about our sport are the number of opportunities to become a member of a group or team, to learn leadership and team skills and to feel that you belong to something that is bigger than yourself. I have found in today's culture, we must encourage our players to display their leadership skills and put them in team building exercises to show the importance of belonging! This is not something that comes naturally for most but when they see the importance of each link in the chain, they finally realize the importance of their full participation each day. I took my team this year to an airbase and had them spend 22 hours with a drill sergeant in their face, learning how to march in formation, participate in a flag ceremony, going through the obstacle course, eating rations, and constantly being challenged to focus on the task at hand. Our leadership increased and our team work has become very exciting!The final element of developing confidence is to control the controllable! It is very hard to feel confident when you are totally out of control and you have no control over the things around you. In the game of softball, I ask my players to control their attitude, effort and most importantly today - FOCUS! The greatest players in the game have a knack of keeping the game simple, staying positive, and most of all they show tremendous emotional stability. Yes, we all will be challenged to learn in life that everyone has the opportunity to fly off the handle in certain situations and lose control. The successful and confident players understand when they are getting into the Yellow and return to the Green vs. heading into the Red. Our ability to demand these skills daily from our athletes will help them achieve the confidence they need to play the game. As a parent, you can help your child by giving them that quiet confidence regarding their ability to play the game. After you have done your best in preparing your child, it is time to relax and watch them enjoy their experience.Until next month,

Coach Candrea

From Rick Asher 9/6/2012

Venom Parents & Players-

Some of our players may take hitting instruction from people that teach

rotational vs. linear/rotational hitting.  I personally teach

linear/rotational or Right View Pro.  Many of the college coaches teach

this style of hitting now days.  One myth is that there is a difference

between a baseball & softball swing.  Not true.  The Right View Pro style

of hitting is developed by Major League Athletes.  Taught by college

coaches such as Sue Enquist and Mike Candrea.

Go to youtube and type in Mike Candrea's name and he has many video clips

out there talking about the parts of the swing.

I am attaching a basic right handed hitter hitting lesson.  I push hard to

teach the verbage so that when we talk about the adjustments the player

needs to make they understand what part of the swing we refer to.  I also

included an outline of one of the hitting clinics i conducted in 2010.  We

will use a similiar format for the 10's and 12's this year.  I will have

more advanced clinics for the older girls.

A player must remember these 5 basic principles:

1-  Be Ready - the hitter starts the load into the hitting position when

the pitcher begins movement.

2-  Be early vs. being late - the hitter needs to ensure the front foot is

down to provide maximum leverage and explosion to contact.

3-  Look inside and adjust away - it is almost impossible to look outside

and adjust to the inside pitch.  The bathead needs to be release early into

the hitting zone on an inside pitch.

4-  Prepare for fastball and adjust to the change up or slower pitch

5-  Prepare for high and adjust to low - this is especially true for

fastpitch softball players.

My favorite quote is "We are what we repeatedly do, therefore, excellence

is not an act, but a habit."

Our focus is to teach the correct fundamentals and practice them over &

over again until there is muscle memory.

Fielding will be next weeks focus

Thanks

Coach Rick

 October 23, 2012

Volume II, Issue 32

Self-Improvement

Coaches, I have always found this time of the year to be energizing and a

great time to focus on self-improvement. Your improvement whether it be

grasping a better understanding of teaching the skills and strategies of the

game, picking up better ways to organize your training sessions - we are

never too old or smart to broaden our knowledge and teaching skills. After

all, your players will be the benefactors of your efforts.

There are many clinics around the country at this time of the year that can

provide you with all the knowledge you are willing to take in! I have always

found that at every clinic I attend, I always pick up better ways of teaching

the same skill, new ways to say the same thing, and new drills that create a

feel for muscle memory. I always feel that boost of energy and excitement for

bringing back to my team something new and refreshing. We all would agree

that we love players that are true students of the game and that opportunity

will only be as good as the information you as the coach can provide.

Teaching is an ongoing process of self-improvement!

For the parents, this is the time for a needed break from hours at the

ballpark during those summer months where you are constantly providing

transportation, financial support, and living each pitch with hopes of

success for your kid. This can also become a time to start planning for the

future, whether it be finding the right organization, thoughts about college,

or providing opportunities for your kid to master the skills of the game. In

any case, this is a time to provide support and encouragement while letting

your kid also be a kid. Too many times in today's athletic arena, kids are

sometimes forced to make full time commitments that often end in burnout and

a loss of passion to play the game as it was meant - For the Love of the

Game!!!

As we look for self-improvement, we must understand that passion will always

be the driving force and balancing the physical, mental, and emotional

demands on athletes must be a win - win for all. Coaches must be ready to

provide a healthy and caring environment, parents must support and encourage

during the process, and athletes must find a passion and love to improve and

enjoy the game!

Until next month,

Coach Candrea

Below is the Newsletter from Coach Candrea...Happy Thankgsiving!!

 

 

On behalf of the Amateur Softball Association, welcome to the November issue of the ACE Coach monthly email from ASA Director of Coaching Education and two-time Olympic Coach Mike Candrea: Candrea on Coaching. As a youth sports coach, you naturally want to prepare your team to win as many games as possible, and as a Responsible Coach, you want to prepare your players to win off the field, too. The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program is proud to bring you this series in which Coach Candrea will provide you with coaching tips and resources that you can use for the betterment of your youth softball team.

        November 15, 2012

Volume II, Issue 33

Thanksgiving!

As we enter the month of November, our thoughts begin to focus on that wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with family and friends, giving thanks for our freedoms and good health, or even a time to reflect upon our blessings as parents, coaches, and players who are hooked on the great game of softball. It has been a month that has allowed me to celebrate and reflect upon the real reasons we choose to compete and be a part of a team sport. I have had the privilege this month to reunite with our past Alumni that return for homecoming weekend and allow us to bridge the present players in our program with the players that have made history and paved the way for what we have today! We are very blessed to have 60+ former players come back each year to celebrate the friendships, championships, and the pride of representing a great university. This year we had a chance to honor our 1993 NCAA National Championship team as they celebrate their 20 year reunion. Hard to believe those 20 years has gone by but the friendships, stories, and pride is just like it happened yesterday. Being a part of a team is something special that will not be forgotten and will pay dividends down the road in the real world. It is always a highlight to see old friends and teammates reunite and listen to the memories and see the genuine friendship that resulted from being a member of a team.

November has also brought new life to our program as we welcome 5 new players that will join our team in 2013. Yes, the hard work and effort put forth by these young ladies and parents over the years have finally resulted in earning a scholarship and an opportunity to take their skills to a higher level. Along with that will be a greater demand on their physical, mental, and emotional skills as they have earned the right to enjoy the demands of college softball. For these parents, the time, money, and weekends have finally paid off and hopefully their personal growth will continue and enjoy a wonderful college experience. Congrats on mission accomplished!

I was also able to celebrate another couple of weddings this month as two former players will be tying the knot. What a great thrill for a coach to see their former players grow in the real world and celebrate the greatest sacrament of all - marriage. Weddings are also another reunion for teammates as they give us another opportunity to get together, share stories and memories, and celebrate the beginning of another future softball family. As we get older, we realize how often softball is the center of celebrations in life. We always look forward to the next wedding, birthday, or special occasion to celebrate past accomplishments with teammates. These are the real reasons we choose to be a member of a team - memories that will last a lifetime and friendships that become stronger as each year goes by. Special thanks go out to all the players, coaches, and parents that have become a part of the huge web that is created over the years of coaching this great sport. I almost forgot that we have brought some new players into this world as former players are having babies and at the same time we say good bye to many people that have followed the game and supported programs around the country.

As you can see, softball has a huge positive effect on many and we should always take the time to give thanks for our opportunity to play a game that build relationship that last a life time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next month,

 Coach Candrea