Oct 29, 2018 | Baseball, Other, Softball
Pop quiz. What was the title of Hall of Fame Major League Manager, Earl Weaver’s autobiography?
The answer: “It’s What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts.”
That bit of wisdom was good enough to guide the World Series Championship manager of the Baltimore Orioles, and it’s motivation for you to continue your own coaching education.
Whichever combination of training, from district, state, or region clinics; Little League University; or other live and online options, that you may choose, pursuing continuing education is crucial to your enjoyment and effectiveness as a coach.
Continuing education keeps the coaching experience fresh for you.
Baseball and softball are endlessly fascinating sports. The deeper and more nuanced your knowledge of the games, the more they fascinate. If you have the slightest twinge of burnout or a sense that your coaching has become a paint-by-numbers exercise, a coaching course or clinic will quickly remind you of what you love about the sport and why you started coaching in the first place.
Education can re-shape your view of your role as a coach.
The wide variety of courses and clinics available cover some combination of fundamental skills, game strategy and tactics, and sports psychology. The best ones not only impart that knowledge to you, but also teach you exactly how to pass that knowledge along to players.
Once you learn how to share knowledge, not just possess it, you can have major impact on your Little Leaguers®, both as players and as people. Empowered as an educator yourself, you gain the intrinsic reward of helping children. And, once those kids see you as a proven provider of baseball or softball information that helps them improve, they are that much more likely to listen to you about life lessons (which are even more rewarding to share than sports lessons).
You gain confidence.
Even if you take just a few tidbits from your continuing education, you now know that you know more than you did before. The fact that you went out of your way to improve will make you more decisive in practices and games and in building your team culture. That sense of confidence can exude leadership that goes a long way with players, their parents, fellow coaches, and even umpires.
You improve.
That may seem obvious as a reason to pursue continuing education. But let’s face it, plenty of people are satisfied with whatever level they have achieved and many others feel they cannot (or need not!) improve.
Nothing will invigorate your coaching like re-investing time and energy into being the best you can possibly be, and then seeing actual, measurable improvement in your coaching, in player performance, and in how you help players develop as people.
You demonstrate to players and their parents your commitment to improving.
That can’t help but rub off on your players. When they know you have worked to improve, they are more likely to work to improve. Parents who see you having that effect on their kids will become friends and allies for life, and more of your community will gain from the idea that “It’s What You Learn After You Know It All That Counts.”
Jul 2, 2018 | Other, Softball
If you want to be the best, you want to learn from the best.
This year, Be the Best brings you the best of the best in an unparalleled roster of softball speakers who hail from all fields of the game.
On deck is Lonni Alameda, Head Coach at Florida State, who comes bearing the school’s first-ever NCAA Championship crown and Heather Tarr of Washington who battled Alameda in the WCWS. John Rittman, who is developing Clemson’s first-ever softball program and Missy Lombardi who has recently been named Head Coach at Oregon after helping lead Oklahoma to more titles than there’s room to mention. There’s USA Softball professional player, Monica Abbott and Division III’s master of the game, John Tschida. Scott Whitlock, former head coach at Kennesaw State, wields his wit and wisdom, Larissa Anderson shares her journey from Hofstra to Mizzou and Lisa Navas of South Carolina brings two decades of coaching success to the plate. The inimitable Marty Tyson of the Corona Angels tells it like it is and everyone’s favorite husband and wife co-coaching team, Karen and Ralph Weekly round out the line-up..
Be the Best, founded by coaches for coaches, is the longest running convention of its kind in the country. The speakers’ accolades run deep and their passion deeper. They interweave their stories and skills in a way that hits home, leaving everyone in attendance with something that will help them become a better coach.
Don’t miss the best line-up ever!
Be the Best Softball Coaches’ Convention
Thursday, January 17 – Saturday, January 19
Crowne Plaza Cherry Hill
2349 W. Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
Jun 23, 2018 | Baseball, Softball
Is someone footing the bill for you?
One of the best things about Be the Best is that it’s so well-known and highly-regarded that employers, schools and organizations will often pay for you to attend this action-packed coaches’ convention.
And we, at Be the Best, have always vowed to keep the process as simple as possible for you.
If someone else is footing your bill, all you need to do is select PAY BY CHECK during check out. A Purchase Order Invoice will be generated and e-mailed to you immediately. You can then print it out and submit it to your organization for payment.
FROM NOW UNTIL JUNE 30, 2018
$99
JULY 1 – AUGUST 31, 2018
$119
SEPTEMBER 1 – OCTOBER 31, 2018
$129
NOVEMBER 1 – FIRST DAY OF CONVENTION
$139
PRICE AT DOOR
$159
Talk to your employer TODAY to secure your spot at everybody’s favorite baseball and softball coaches’ convention!
Be the Best Baseball Coaches’ Convention
Thursday, January 10 – Saturday, January 12, 2019
Be the Best Softball Coaches’ Convention
Thursday, January 17 – Saturday, January 19, 2019
Crowne Plaza – 2349 W. Marlton Pike Cherry Hill, NJ
The hard-hitting coaches’ convention that adds FUN to the lineup.
Jun 18, 2018 | Guest Posts, Softball
There was a time when the local playground helped shape a generation.
There was a freedom to those times, since we could leave our houses on a sunny summer day and meet at the playground for a day-long “game.” There was no adult supervision and the primary goal for some of us was to just get in the game. The older kids owned the field, and they chose the teams. And you had to pay your dues until you grew up to be an older kid, and then you “owned” the field. There was a right of passage.
Today’s generation of softball players doesn’t have those memories. As long as they can remember, they’ve been going to organized practices where adults coordinated every move. Sure, they learned some skills, but did they really learn how to PLAY the game, how to LOVE the game, how to JUST WANT TO BE IN THE GAME?
As part of my coaching philosophy, I’ve tried to give my players a taste of those days and the lifelong lessons learned from the experience. I’ve developed a whole defensive system and philosophy that I call “The Playground Approach.” It teaches what softball used to be, and what it still should be today.
The players must learn to play freely, relaxed, and most importantly, how to figure things out for themselves. There are certain things in our game that cannot be orchestrated, and we have to teach our players the lessons that the playground taught us. We also have to teach them why we play this game.
Winning then becomes the bi-product of all those lifelong lessons that we’re trying to teach. Everything that happens in a game, happens in life. You’re going to face adversity, deal with failure, all of the intangibles that we should be teaching the player at a very early age. So, before we discuss how to implement this philosophy, let’s look at what the playground has taught us.
- Right of Passage. The older kids ruled the field.
- How To Choose Up Sides. I distinctly remember sitting on the fence in the fifth grade, and the 7th and 8th graders were picking the teams. All I wanted to do was get in the game. I was hoping they would choose me. I’m the youngest kid there and I’m the last one picked. I came flying off the fence, yelling “I’m in the game, I’m in the game.” My self-esteem was so high, because it wasn’t about being the last one picked; it was about being in the game.
- How To Umpire a Game. There were no adults around, so we had to figure out how to umpire. We had to decide whether the person was safe or out. We made the decisions.
- How To Make a Batting Order. We had to make our own batting order, but it wasn’t difficult. Everyone on the playground knew who was good, and there were no parents telling us their kids were the best. Nobody was trying to sell anything to anybody, because we knew who was good, and we tried to emulate and be like them. So you may be batting ninth and playing right field, or you were hitting third and playing shortstop. No one argued, because it was known. Sometimes kids can evaluate themselves better than the coaches can.
- How To Settle Disputes. Again, we had to settle disputes because the oldest and biggest kids ruled, and they were in charge. Right of passage.
- How To Create a New Game when Kids Went Home. We became very creative because when kids went home, we had to change the game to make it fair. Sometimes we self-hit, hit only to one field or created other games. We made up our own rules because we still wanted to play.
- How Much Fun We Had Because There Were No Adults Telling Us What To Do. We figured things out for ourselves. We became leaders. This is what created leaders of that generation.
- SOMETIMES WE WOULD EVEN WONDER WHO WON THE GAME—AND SOMETIMES IT WAS THE MOST COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT EVER CREATED. Sometimes we would play all day long and not even know or care who won the game. At other times, depending on the environment, it was the most competitive situation ever created. You learned how to be a competitor because you didn’t want to let your teammates down. You knew that if you wanted to get in the next game, you better play well, be your best.
On the playground, you just played. And, we learned that there’s no one fly ball or ground ball that’s any more important than the one you are about to play. If it’s a big rivalry game, a conference championship game, or a national championship game, the playground teaches us that it’s just another game. They are going to hit ground balls at us, and players just have to field, hit, catch, throw and run the bases, just like in any other game.
In our system of competitiveness, we cannot lose sight of how hard the players have worked to get to where they are. They lift weights, do all this running, and give up so much socially to be a part of a team. As coaches, we have to remind them that they are not entitled to play but they deserve this privilege because of the hard work they’ve put into it. They must remember how hard they’ve worked, so that when they get into the game, they live every moment, giving the game their best effort all the time.
I taught physical education in the New York school system for many years. The students used to call me “coach,” which was a great compliment. I wasn’t just a teacher, I was a coach. Today, I’d rather be called “teacher,” because every banker, lawyer and Indian chiefs who’s “coaching” his or her daughter’s team is called coach, whether they deserve the name or not.
On Long Island, back in the day, there were two summer teams; today, there’s 50. Everyone is playing, which is great for the sport, but are the majority of players being “coached” or “monitored”? In some cases, it’s almost better if the kids were playing on their own and learning from each other than from a parent who doesn’t really know how to coach.
Which leads me back to the teacher part. Good coaches should be teachers first, and we should be able to teach every aspect of the game. Coaches need to be responsible for continually educating themselves and staying up to date with the latest coaching techniques. Afterall, we send public school teachers to get retrained and college professors go to seminars to learn the latest developments on their subject matter. Do we as coaches continually try to grow with the game, or do we feel “monitoring” is sufficient?
The playground taught us many things, and today’s coaches need to capture that playground mentality in their practices. The foundation for this freedom MUST be the teaching of individual techniques.
Coaches need to learn the correct techniques, especially when it comes to fundamentals. Within our system, we teach the fundamentals everyday. (See Hofstra Softball Fundamentals Everyday Drills). These are fundamentals that are common to every position — catch, throw, footwork — and we practice them everyday for 20 minutes. There are 42 things that we do everyday to make sure we are fundamentally sound.
Bill Edwards served as Hofstra University’s head softball coach from 1990 to 2014. His career spanned 1,350 games and led Hofstra to over a dozen NCAA tournament appearances. Edwards’ success as a coach was honored with a 2009 enshrinement in the NFCA Hall of Fame.
May 29, 2018 | Guest Posts, Softball
MYTHS
IF YOU DON’T PLAY DIVISION I, YOU HAVEN’T REALLY REACHED YOUR GOAL
No. Stop.
I am a Division I softball coach. It doesn’t mean I’m a better coach than my colleagues in Division II. It doesn’t mean that my wins and losses are more relevant than theirs, or that I’m higher on my climb up the ladder than them. Division II isn’t the JV version of Division I. It doesn’t work that way. And you haven’t come up short on your goal if you play ball at a school that competes in something other than NCAA Division I. Really. No matter where you play, you join a team that spends all year sweating and grinding together. Laughing together. Picking each other up and pushing each other further. Becoming a family. And when you win a championship and dogpile on home plate with that family…it doesn’t matter what Division you are. Winning is winning, and family is family, no matter what the Division.
IF YOU HAVEN’T COMMITTED BY JUNIOR YEAR, YOU’RE OUT OF LUCK
No.
Even the biggest Division I softball programs may have money available into your junior or senior year. As y’all are well-aware, players are committing at younger and younger ages. So, yes, it feels like you’re way behind when you see kids not yet in high school committed to a college. But those early commitments have created a trickle-down effect that make uncommitted juniors and seniors more desirable: There are plenty of kids who commit early and whose priorities change as they grow up, and the result is they decommit later into their high school career, leaving a hole in that particular college’s recruiting class, and opening up new opportunities for uncommitted athletes.
But on top of that, even without decommitments, many schools at all divisions still have money for juniors. We recognize the importance of watching someone grow in maturity, skill and strength before offering them a spot on our team. So if you’re currently a 2020 and you haven’t committed yet…take a deep breath. There are many opportunities still out there.
IF YOU DON’T THROW 60 MPH, YOU CANNOT PITCH AT THE DIVISION I LEVEL
No.
We face plenty of successful pitchers throughout our season that do not throw 60 MPH. Some pitching coaches or programs may want their pitchers to throw over a certain velocity. If that velocity is 60 MPH and you don’t throw that hard…well, then that’s not the program for you. But there are many Division I softball programs who have pitchers throwing under 60 MPH and finding a good deal of success. You don’t have to throw 60 MPH to play Division I softball.
YOU’RE TOO SMALL TO PLAY DIVISION I
No.
Have you heard of the University of Alabama? You may have seen them at the World Series. A few years ago they had an incredible third baseman named Kelley Montalvo who I’m not sure topped out at five feet tall. And that was at one of the best softball programs in the country! At the mid-major level, we see a lot of undersized players doing oversized things on the field. Some programs may want their players to be a certain size. If that size is bigger than you…well, then that’s not the program for you. But there are many Division I softball programs who have players considered small. You can be small in stature and play Division I softball.
TRUTHS
WE HAVE STOP WATCHES & RADAR GUNS
Be honest about your pop time, your home-to-first time, and your pitching velocity. We have stopwatches and we have radar guns, and we pull them out all the time to make sure we have an accurate read on your abilities.
EXAGGERATING YOUR POP TIME IS DIFFERENT THAN EXAGGERATING YOUR GPA
Speaking of honesty; we get a lot of emails with inaccurate pop times or home to first times. I’m not a fan of that, but I understand it. If ever you threw a 1.68 even though you typically throw about a 1.8, I understand you putting down your best ever time. And when we come see you play, like I said above, we’ll get our own read on that.
However, you cannot exaggerate your GPA. You cannot put your most recent semester’s GPA on your profile sheet and misrepresent it as your cumulative GPA. We need your real, cumulative GPA. This information is imperative for us to assess your ability to get into the school and, once here, to be successful academically. If you have a 2.8, you can’t round up; it doesn’t work that way.
COLLEGE COACHES TALK TO OTHER COLLEGE COACHES
We share information about you guys with each other. This happens a lot. If, for instance, a colleague of mine is looking for a 2020 catcher and I’m not, I’ll share info with them on players I know who might fit the bill. If we are at the same tournament, I’ll text that coach if I see a good catcher on the field I’m watching. I’ll send video. I might even ask the team’s recruiting coordinator about them. Yes, we are rivals on the field and we don’t share all the secrets to our trade…but college coaches are also a cooperative group. Recruiting is expansive and not only are we good at helping each other, but when one of you makes a great impression on us but we just don’t have the spot, we’re also good at trying to help you by passing your name along to each other.
SKILL & CHARACTER
I’ll take character over skill every day. I was given a really good piece of advice about recruiting “questionable” players that I will share with you. I was told that if I found an incredible athlete with questionable character, I could do one of two things: If I passed on them, they’d go to a rival school and might help beat my team once or twice a year. But if I brought them on with that questionable character, then that person could beat us every day for four years. Our culture is the backbone of our decision-making process, and because of that we care just as much about how you treat your teammates as how hard you can hit a ball.
With that said, here are some things we do to evaluate your character. We watch you in the dugout. We watch to see how you head out to your position. We watch to see how you react to your own successes and failures, and those of your teammates. We hear your conversations with teammates while we walk behind you heading to our next field. We see what you post on Twitter and what you retweet. We pay attention to how you interact with your coaches and your parents, because we’ll be spending four years with you. We have a program to grow. We have 18-20 players who are counting on us to bring in people who fit into our family and who contribute positively both on and off the field. And we take that responsibility seriously.
So there you have it. A couple myths and a couple truths about the recruiting process. The best advice I can give is to be honest with yourself about your abilities and about what constitutes a fit for you as it pertains to your softball & academic careers and to your overall well-being. And, lastly, I encourage you to focus on the pleasure of playing ball. I can’t imagine the pressure you must feel in the recruiting landscape today, and I hope that you don’t let the college coaches behind the fences eclipse the joy of the competition and camaraderie you have between the lines. Best of luck!
This article written by Valparaiso University’s Head Softball Coach, Kate Stake was previously published in Top Recruit Magazine.
Kate Stake has been Head Softball Coach at Valparaiso University since 2014. She led the team to the Horizon League Championship as well as a to a berth in the NCAA Tournament in her second year at the helm. Prior to arriving at Valpo, Stake spent two seasons on the coaching staff working under NFCA Hall of Fame head coach Bill Edwards, three seasons as assistant coach at the United States Military Academy and three years at Eastern Illinois. Stake earned a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Illinois State and a master’s in kinesiology and sports studies from Eastern Illinois.
May 24, 2018 | Guest Posts, Softball
What I’m looking for in Potential Prospects
#1 – Fierce Competitor, Self-Motivated, Self-Disciplined! I want to see someone compete on and off the field, in the batter’s box and in the class room. Someone who works hard on every play, dives, supports their teammates, carries their own bag, takes challenging courses in high school and wants to win.
#2 – Upside Potential. When you can teach every aspect of the game, you look at a future prospect and evaluate them and say, “how can I make this player better? Will she be just as good if not better than what I currently have on the team?” If the prospect has one of the 5 tools that is at the Division 1 level, (1-Running Speed, 2-Arm Strength, 3-Hit for Average, 4-Hit for Power, 5-Fielding), what is the potential of the other tools? If she has more than one of the five tools, then you must develop the other tools. If she has all five tools at the Division 1 level, then she’s a blue chip prospect.
#3 – I want a prospect to want to play for me and want to play for my university. I don’t want to have to sell a kid to come to my school. I want her to recruit me as much as I want to recruit her. Then I know she wants to be a part of our family and is making a decision for the right reasons. Not because someone else is telling her to, not because of the scholarship offer, not because of the conference. Because she wants this to be her home for the next four years and to be a part of our family for the rest of her life.
Larissa Anderson was named Head Softball Coach at University of Missouri after the 2018 season, having been Hofstra University’s Head Softball Coach since 2015. Before taking over at Hofstra, Anderson spent the previous 13 seasons on the university’s staff as an assistant; the last 10 as the associate head coach. She was just the sixth head coach in program history since 1980 and took over for Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Edwards, who helmed the program from 1990 through 2014.
Anderson led Hofstra to the Colonial Athletic Association championship and a NCAA Tournament berth in her first season as the program’s head coach in 2015, guiding Hofstra to a 38-14-1 record and a spot in the NCAA Gainesville Regional. She and her assistants were named the NFCA Northeast Region’s Coaching Staff of the Year. As a nationally-recognized coach, Anderson frequently speaks at camps and clinics across the country.
