PAWS CLIPBOARD
ON THIS PAGE YOU'LL FIND COOL STUFF AND GREAT INFORMATION JUST FOR PLAYERS, COACHES,
AND PARENTS. EMAIL ME WITH SOFTBALL STUFF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE OR ADD TO THIS PAGE.
HAVING A SUCCESSFUL TRYOUT
A lot of girls have difficulty with softball tryouts,
or any tryout. Even if you feel you’re not as good as the other players, it is still possible to get recognized by the
coach. In order to make the team(s) you want to be on, you MUST be prepared physically and mentally.
The first thing you need to do at a tryout is hustle!
No matter how many balls you miss or how many times you strike out, if you show the coach that you are willing to hustle
and try your very best, they might just take you for the heart you put into the game. A great attitude
may take you as far as great ability.
Get yourself physically prepared at least a month prior to the tryout.
If you aren’t in shape already, begin a conditioning program! Run, workout, play catch, go
to the batting cages, etc. Do everything you can to get yourself physically prepared to play softball.
In addition to attending private clinics, you should work on your mechanics (on your own) until they become second
nature. Most athletes fail at tryouts due to poor conditioning and not having good, basic mechanics.
The next step is to
get yourself mentally prepared. Imagine doing well at tryouts, catching every ball, making every throw,
and hitting every pitch. Just imagine yourself doing it all! The night before a tryout,
think about how you’re going to approach every situation the coach may use to test your skills. On the day of tryouts,
focus your mind and body on all the things you’ve imagined yourself doing. Eat well and bring a positive
mental attitude.
If you prepare yourself, train hard, hustle, and have a great attitude the coach will recognize your dedication
and you have a much better chance to pass the tryout and make the team. Study hard, work hard, and play
hard – it’s your attitude that counts!
Coach Paul
BREAKING IN AND CARING FOR YOUR GLOVE
Since the beginning of baseball and softball, if you asked ten different people the
best way to break in and condition your glove, you would most likely get ten different answers. Over the years I've
tried a few different ways and below is the best way I have found to break it in and keep it game ready.
You want
to treat your glove as you treat your skin. Don't use oil on your glove because it adds weight to it; shaving cream
contains alcohol which may dry it; and NEVER put your glove in an oven. I prefer to use Vaseline instead (any
petroleum jelly product will work). When you're applying the Vaseline, spread it all over the glove, EVERYWHERE,
even the laces (do not apply to the inside of the glove!). Wipe off the excess with a towel, stick a ball in the palm,
tie a rubber band or strap around it, place it in a plastic bag (the ones from the supermarket work great), and then
put some weight on it (try under your mattress). After a few days to a week, pull it out of the bag and wipe off the
excess again.
After conditioning your new glove, the absolute best way to break it in, is to
use it! Use it during practice and anytime you're playing catch. Once you have it just the way you like it, it is
time to bring it to its first game! When the season is over, or if you're taking a couple of weeks off, re-apply
the Vaseline, wipe it off, and place it in a bag until you're ready to use it again. Make sure to store it
in a cool place. Properly caring for your glove can make
a huge difference in the lifespan of your glove. Points to remember:
- Keep your
glove in a cool, dry place when it is not in use. Do not leave your glove where the heat could affect the leather (i.e. in
your bag in the trunk of the car – I know you’re out there!!).
- Treat your glove as you
would treat your skin (it is cow hide after all).
- If your glove gets wet, dry it with a towel and let
it air-dry. NEVER put it in the oven or near a heater as it may dry out the leather.
- Do not
over treat your glove! Once or twice each season is plenty.
- Keep the laces tight.
The glove manufacturer Nokona, recommends using petroleum jelly. Vaseline is oil based, but the advantage is a small
bit goes a long way because it spreads so easily. It helps preserve the leather, cleans it, and aids in
creating a seal to repel moisture. Just insure the Vaseline is wiped thoroughly from the glove.
From Nokona: "We do not recommend neatsfoot oil, linseed
oil or silicon-type spray as these tend to close the pores of the leather, causing it to dry, harden, and become heavy over
an extended period of time and through repeated use. Petroleum jelly keeps the pores open and in effect, keeps the leather
"alive" while providing a softening condition. There are other cleaners and conditioners that are safe, especially
those scientifically developed for glove leather."
Coach Paul
Softball Conditioning
20 Reasons
Why You Must Do It
The
summer season has been over for a few weeks now. Tryouts are done or will soon be done. Just like A LOT of people at this time of the year, you might be thinking that getting fitter should be something
you should do in the next few months.
Yes, you definitely
should.
I've been designing softball-specific strength
and conditioning programs for teams and individual athletes for over 10 years now.
Let me tell you that while proper skills execution is the most important performance factor in our sport,
developing more strength, speed, and power can really help support the execution of these skills and improve a player's
game significantly.
While most players and coaches are aware
of that, many still don't take seriously enough.
They
know that getting in good shape by doing softball conditioning would help their game but somehow they don't give it enough
importance or focus.
Why is that? I believe that it's
mostly a mix of lack of timeand motivation but also not believing softball conditioning is important enough and not knowing
enough about it to realize the difference it can make.
In
other words, I think people know it can help them but aren't really conscious of all the great benefits it can really
bring to their game.
Here is a list of 20 reasons why you
MUST make softball conditioning an important part of your training if you want to become the best you can be and dominate
on the softball field.
When you follow a well-designed softball-specific
conditioning program that uses advanced training techniques and the best exercises for softball, you will...
1. Pitch faster and throw harder
2. Swing the bat harder and hit the ball further
3. Steal more bases
4.
Get better jumps off the bases
5. Explode
out of the batter's box
6. Run down more
balls in the field
7. Reach, stretch and
get more of those "oh-so-close" balls
8.
React faster
9. Have more stamina for long
games and tournaments
10. Stay healthy and
avoid injuries
11. Tolerate heat better and
perform when it's really hot
12. Practice
longer without being tired or losing your focus
13.
Be much more consistent and have less "ups and downs"
14.
Get it faster when learning or refining a skill because
of increased body awareness
15. Be much more confident and feel stronger
16. Be mentally tougher
17. Get more extra bases when running
18.
Develop an athletic body
19. Recover faster
between innings and games
20. Be more dominant
in all aspects of the game
Is that a
good enough list to include some form of softball-specific conditioning as part of your training?
It used to be that being in shape for softball was an edge on
your opponents but it isn't true anymore.
Today, you have
to be in great softball-specific shape to compete at the highest level. If you are out of shape, you are now at a disadvantage.
Softball conditioning is now an integral part of what serious and committed softball
players and teams do to get themselves ready to compete. The summer season has been over for a few weeks now. Tryouts are
done or will soon be done.
Coach Marc
Dagenais
Marc Dagenais, MHK, CSCS, is a Softball Peak Performance
Coach that helps softball players and teams hit with more power, run faster, throw harder, become mentally tougher and be
more dominant on the softball field.
THE TYPICAL
GIRLS FAST PITCH SOFTBALL PLAYER
(TGFPSP) is first and foremost somebody's little girl.
At one time, she looked cute as a button, dressed in pink with pony tails. (Visions of Alice
in Wonderland.) She played with dolls, helped mom bake cookies, and has probably earned a few bucks baby-sitting. She has
been, and always will be daddy's (mom's) little girl.
The TGFPSP still has all those little girl attributes. The only difference is now she looks
cute dressed in sliders and shorts. If she is wearing ribbons in her hair, they are team colors. She still bakes cookies ...
team bake sale. And she has probably earned a few bucks ... at the team car wash. Now she is, and always will be daddy's
(mom's) little second baseman. (insert position of choice)
The TGFPSP takes pride in how much dirt she can collect every weekend. Go to dinner on a
night that she is not playing and it takes an hour of primping to get ready, and she still feels self-conscious. Go after
a game and she'll walk right into a restaurant with a streak of dirt across her forehead, ratted hair, stained shirt and
brownish/white socks. Or brown toes with sandals! Let's EAT!
The TGFPSP is ready and willing to play at the drop of a hat! If she can get
away with it, she will play on two teams. (In the same day no less) She has a huge wardrobe: plenty of tournament shirts and
shorts from all the teams she has played on. Her parents do her school shopping every weekend at the tournament T-shirt booth.
When you say, "wear something nice", she thinks it means a tournament shirt without dirt stains.
The TGFPSP needs to get an athletic scholarship.
Her parents have spent $100,000 on camps, private instruction, batting cages, gloves, bats, equipment, uniforms, player fees,
concession stands, travel and lodging. THEY'RE BROKE!!!
The TGFPSP is a fierce competitor, willing to stand in against a fast pitcher at close distance
that even pro baseball players would have trouble hitting! And she might be 5'2" and 100 lbs. soaking wet. She might
play first or third base at 20 feet from home plate, saying I dare you to bunt ... drive one down my throat!!!
The TGFPSP has more spirit than maybe any
other team sport. At least it sounds that way. Softball is the only sport where a girls ability to cheer sometimes effects
roster decisions. She can't bunt or hit, she is a liability in the field ... but she cheers constantly!
The TGFPSP is playing the game for all
the right reasons! SHE LOVES IT! She could hang out at the mall, stay home and watch TV, or spend her summers at the pool.
Instead she has a tight schedule with limited free time, hangs out on the practice field with a coach in her face, and spends
her summers getting baked on a 95 degree field with no shade. Maybe we should get some of our kids checked for IQ? :)
The TGFPSP has her priorities in order:
Tournaments, League Games, Team Practices, schoolwork, individual practice and batting cage, family, private softball instruction,
church, conditioning, softball camps, boys. (Maybe church comes before the batting cage.) At least on Sundays.
The TGFPSP is diligent and hardworking.
She knows you get out of something, what you put into it. She is not the type of kid to take the easy way out! She is competitive,
not willing to give up. She learns many valuable lesson during the course of her softball career, like:
- you can stay
at Holiday INN for $12 bucks a night if you are willing to go 4 to a room.
- hotels don't monitor pool usage, and you can go swimming
anytime, whether your a registered guest or not.
- Continental breakfast means: 3 bowls of cereal, bagel, 2 donuts and 4 glasses of OJ.
- Unlike the geographically challenged,
softball girls know how to get from home to every field in a 25 mile radius.
The TGFPSP has a lot of fun every
summer, enough to make her come back next year regardless of all the sacrifices, the money, the occasional bad coach, drinking
water that people have put their hands in, etc.
By John T.
THE
TYPICAL SOFTBALL COACH
While it can be very gratifying,
The Typical Softball Coach has one of the most thankless jobs in the world!
Don't try to call the Typical Softball Coaches house between 7-11 PM because he is already
on the phone and has someone else on call-waiting. You'll get a busy signal. Softball is the only subject that one man
will talk to another for 2 1/2 hours on the telephone. The coach spends about $32.50 per month on long distance calls related
to team business. If the phone rings one time: hang-up! It means that the coach is: A) At practice B) At a game C) At a league
meeting D) At the sporting goods store.
The
Typical Softball Coach lets his wife do all the grocery shopping. This is not because he is a chauvinist pig, it is because
he can't! You see, the coaches car is the mobile team equipment vehicle. Bats, balls, pitching machine etc. in the trunk.Spare
uniforms, first-aid kit, scorebooks etc. in the back seat. He may get the groceries, but only if he has a roof rack!
The Typical Softball Coach always is full of great expectations
for his team. Even when the team record is 3-23. He also usually has that inate ability to find those four examples of how
the team performed admirably during a 17-2 shellacking! Next years team always has a shot at Nationals. Sadly, but thankfully,
he believes the aforementioned.
The
Typical Softball Coach never says: We're gonna suck next year. We are 3-23 and we're lucky we're not 0-26! If
we did'nt get to play so-and-so when half their team went to the wrong field, and if we didn't get that early season
forfiet, we'd be 1-25. He never says we got beat 17-2 because we stink, and our best player couldn't sit on thier
bench. You'll never hear the Typical Softball Coach say: "Next year I think we have a shot at going 10-40! Sadly,
but thankfully, the Typical Softball Coach has an overactive sub-concious that eliminates all fear of having the worst team
in the league.
The Typical Softball
Coach shows up at the field 2 1/2 hours before game time, because it rained earlier and he wants to make sure the field is
playable. Of course he told his secretary that he was going to visit a prospective account. On average the Typical Coach probably
gives 20-40 hours per week nine months out of the year to his team. And to think he has the nerve to play his daughter in
front of mine, when my daughter is better than his.
The
Typical Softball Coach is: A) Harder on his daughter than any other player. B) Softer on his daughter than any other player.
(It's 50-50) The Typical Daughter of a Softball Coach is: A) Fortunate to spend so much quality time with her dad. B)
Likely to shoot him before her player eligibility runs out. :)
The
Typical Softball Coach usually is the first to arrive and last to leave. This includes practices, games, tournaments, team
functions and probably wedding receptions.
The
Typical Softball Coach passes all his experience(s) from playing baseball to all the girls on his team. This mean that A)
Your daughter is being coached by a guy that hit .182 in Little League and never played anywhere but right field, or B) those
fortunate enough to truly have exceptional coaching built on years of successful diamond sports experience. Note: See team
record! :)
In all seriousness:
The Typical Softball Coach is not rated as much on his personal success as a baseball player, but more on his acquired knowledge
of the game, his communication skills and management ability etc. (His ability to get the most out of every player and the
team!)
The Typical Softball Coach
will: A) Teach your daughter many lessons far surpassing the game of softball and truly have an impact on her growth and future.
B) Be a living example of what kind of man is not marriage material. :)
Parents opinions of the Typical Softball Coach are: A) What a great guy, and good coach.
B) What a great guy, but he dosen't know diddly. C) Maybe if I pretend that I like him, he will let my 260 lb. daughter
play SS. D) He sucks! :)
The Typical
Softball Coach is a stickler for time: you must be at the field one hour prior to game time. Be back here in one hour and
37 minutes. We will meet at our normal place and caravan to the tournament, if you are not there by 6:15 AM, we will leave
without you. EXCEPTION: The Typical Softball Coach frequently says, "Post-game meeting behind the dug-out for five minutes.
If your team won that means a 10 minute meeting, if you lost that means 10 minutes plus 1 minute for each run the other team
scored more than you did. Add 5 minutes if your next game is out of town. Add 2 minutes for time to tell girls to listen.
Add 2 minutes for scorekeeper to find schedule for next game. Well, let's make this easy ... all five minute meetings
last 30 minutes, except late games when the meeting lasts until the parks crew shuts off the lights.
At the end of the season, the Typical Softball Coach gets
a plaque and modest gift for his 100's of hours of effort. He probably dosen't get a Christmas or Birthday card. No
letter of thanks. But rest assured, he will get a call from a disgruntled parent or two ... and it's part of the job.
The best of the best coaches, eliminate this by getting kids playing time when they can, by keeping the player and parents
informed of the girls status in advance, and by only keeping kids that are good enough to make his team!
When it's finally over, and this years team has played
its last game, the Typical Softball Coach usually gives one final speech. And more often than not, as he scans his charges
assembled as a team for the last time, his voice may crack, his eyes water up and you will finally know just how much the
girls on the team meant to him.
The
Typical Softball Coach is usually ... just a Dad, once in a while a Mom and that rarest of softball birds ... a non-parent.
Three Cheers to all you coaches
out there ... good and bad!
By
John T.
