13 More Minutes

Well, it seems as if it's been a while since my last post! Apologies for that. Between practices, tournaments, the Women's College World Series and...oh yeah, that thing they call work...I just haven't had time to breathe, let alone blog. Trust me, my referigerator is empty, I have no toilet paper at the house, and the dirty laundry stacks higher than I am tall.

Whereas I kept telling myself that this weekend would be different, that I'd get my life in order, it seems I underestimated my obsession with softball. My 16s have the weekend off, but our 14s played in Sterling. So, what did I do? I packed up my bags, stayed with a friend in Baltimore on Friday night and spent all Saturday on the ballfield with the 14s. And it was wonderful.

I've been working with the 14s longer than I have the 16s--since I started with them in the Fall last year--but yesterday was really good for me to bond with them. At practices, I'm the coach that makes the girls run and catches them when they start talking about anything other than softball; I'm the hard-ass, for lack of a better word. Needless to say, I didn't make many friends over the winter. But yesterday, there was no pressure for me...I was just there to "help out." I tracked pitches and carried equipment and just hung out. The girls got to see another side of me, and I think they liked it. Sure they had their fun with me, poking jokes and asking me ridiculous questions about my personal life, but they're 14 years old. What did I expect? And, of course, now they're all on a mission to find me a husband. Yaaaaaaaay. (Sarcasm.)

Seriously, though, it was good. A great day, in fact. They went 3-1 and are playing in their 3rd elimination game as I write this...Here's to hoping they're out there playing their A game!

Anyway. The 16s seem to be struggling lately. I thought the week break between our first and second tournament would be good for the girls to get their heads right and come out to the field fresh. I was wrong. Personal lives, on-field tiffs, and general "tude-iness" crushed us. We lost every game on our own. And, yes, I mean to say we lost every game. We went 0-3 in pool play, lost our elimination game on Sunday morning and then lost the consolation game on Sunday afternoon. 0-5. 0-5!!! That makes us 1-8 for the season so far. And, really -- REALLY -- I could be okay with it if the losses were good games. One of them was a great game, but a loss. I'll take that one...plus it was my fault we lost; and I've learned my lesson so no need to dwell on it (again). But the other 7 losses? We beat ourselves. In the first tournament we had 21 errors in 4 games. In the second tournament we had 26 errors in 5 games. That means we're averaging 5.2 errors per game. I'm not happy about that at all. Neither are the girls.

So, I gave the girls an option at our mandatory practice on Thursday night: they could do 26 "tasks" of my choice or they would be mine for 26 minutes (to do whatever I say). They chose 26 minutes and I think they chose correctly. We did 13 minutes of sprints and push-ups and crunches and more sprints on that Thursday night. We'll do the other 13 minutes today and I still need to figure out what we'll do.

I really don't like punishing errors like this, but I'm hoping this will help them hate it. My only fear is that, with all the tudes, it will just drag them down. You see, our real problem is that when an error is committed, the negativity skyrockets...so another error follows...then another...then they can't hit because they're so mad...then another tude comes around with the "I'm sick of her tude" attitude. Ack! It's really such a viscious cycle. So, my fear is that...if they know they'll run for errors, they'll be afraid to make plays...and, thus, make errors. But this is the chance I'll take. We've got to find a way through the error/tude fog; it's really the only thing that's holding us back from being an AMAZING TEAM. And when I say AMAZING, I mean AMAZING.

I think the other half of our troubles last weekend was the fact that we picked up 2 new girls. And we never even got to practice as a whole team with them...so, of course, there was bound to be an adjustment period. But we had 1 mandatory (and 1 voluntary) practice last week; we've got another mandatory today, plus a voluntary on Tuesday and one last mandatory on Thursday. So we've got good time to get settled and comfy with ourselves and our team (again). Let me say, though, that the 2 new girls have great potential and will really add to the team...when we all get comfy-cozy, that is. :-D

Anyway, 13 more minutes today and then we let it go and move forward fresh. We go to NSA States in Williamsburg next weekend and, as much as I don't like going to bed mad/disappointed, I really hate going to bed in a hotel room mad/disappointed. Haha.

I'll try to update again this week and I'll definitely take my computer with me to Williamsburg next weekend. Until then...have a great one! And please...if you've got any coaching suggestions, comment here on the blog or drop me a line at ourladyofthediamond@gmail.com ... and remember, you can always tweet me (@ladyothediamond).