The door is open, c'mon in.

I won't lie: I've been avoiding this post a little. (Even moreso, I've been avoiding the posts I need to make to the team's website.) Last weekend just wasn't our weekend, with the exception of that last game on Sunday, during which the girls played 80 minutes of solid softball. That was the first game I could really walk away (after taking a really long, deep breath) and say, "either way, we FOUGHT for it from start to finish." It's not the best feeling in the world when you still walk away with an "L," but it's not, by any means, a bad feeling. Anyway, on we go with the post...


Seeing as it's already Thursday evening, I've had plenty of time since we ended on Sunday to stew over every strikeout, chew on every error, brood over every bad call, redesign every defense I put on the field, etc., etc., etc. And, trust me, I did my fair share of that over the last few days. Heck, I've been doing a lot of that over the last six months. It's no surprise that I'm my own worst critic. One thing I never let myself do, though, is let the criticism stay negative. Let's face it: no one wants to hear criticism, because it's rough and it hurts and a lot of times it's true (which makes it even rougher and more hurtful). On the other hand, criticism can be our best friend...sometimes...when it's delivered properly...when we can use it to learn from our mistakes and strengthen our weaknesses. Let's take a second to look at the meaning of--to criticize, if you will--"criticism":

Criticism

[krit-uh-siz-uhm]

–noun

1. the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.
2. the act of passing severe judgment; censure; faultfinding.
3. the act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the quality of a literary or artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit, dramatic production, etc.
4. a critical comment, article, or essay; critique.
5. any of various methods of studying texts or documents forthe purpose of dating or reconstructing them, evaluatingtheir authenticity, analyzing their content or style, etc.:historical criticism; literary criticism.
6. investigation of the text, origin, etc., of literary documents,esp. Biblical ones: textual criticism.

Let's go ahead and eliminate options 5 and 6, since--for once in my life--I'm not analyzing a text. (Oh, the life of an English major.) And, though my girls (and myself) can be pretty "dramatic" at times, we can also eliminate option 3. What's that leave us with? (And, please, no criticisms of the dangling preposition...)


Criticism: the act of passing judgment (sometimes severe) or finding fault in the merit of anything, sometimes through a comment, article or essay. 


Now, what's so wrong with finding fault in something? If you're just out to hurt someone--what we can call "malicious criticism" here--then...well...A LOT. But if you're out to help someone--what many teachers, coaches, leaders and parents call "constructive criticism"--then NOTHING. The thing I love best about true constructive criticism is the advice that goes with it; I love hearing, "[some thing] is wrong, but if you do [some other thing] then you can make right." I love it even more when I get a reason for how that "[some thing]" is wrong, and a reason for why that "[some other thing]" is right. I love it MOST when you get instructions on how to do that "[some other thing]" right. For example...

Most young/inexperienced catchers will take 2-3 small steps between the time they catch the pitch and the time they throw the ball down to a base. (It's an old habit from all those years of coaches telling them to "set their feet" before they make a throw in the infield or outfield, but catching is nothing like playing infield or outfield.) Now, I could just tell them "that's wrong, take fewer steps." But what does that do for them? ("Nothing," is the appropriate response to my hypothetical question...should you still be reading this blog.) Instead, I explain--and most times SHOW--how much time they lose: If the runner has only 60 feet to run and she can leave when the pitch is released from the pitcher's hand, that runner already has a 5- or 6-step lead on the throwdown from the catcher. Especially if they're stealing second (a longer throw for the catcher), those 5 or 6 steps the runner already has can make a huge difference. Adding 2 or 3 steps between the time the ball leaves the pitcher's hand and the time the ball reaches second base just gives the runner 2 or 3 extra steps to reaching the base safely. Even if the catcher has a gun (like mine do), you never want to be in the habit of adding 2 or 3 steps to that runner's lead....What if the runner is particularly fast? What if the ball is in the dirt and you have to block it first? What if the pitch is a change-up or offspeed?

The key to catching and throwdowns is staying compact, keeping your body tight. Catch first, then use your glove to turn your whole body: bring the glove to your throwing-side ear (where it meets your throwing hand); by the time you place your front foot down, you should already be in your throwing motion; use your glove-side arm to pull your glove-side shoulder down as you release the ball. Re-read that. How many "steps" take place?

If you said, "one." You're right. It comes right after you bring your glove to your hear and right before you release the ball. Now that runner still only has the 5 or 6 steps on the catcher, which isn't that many in the long run...err, 60-foot run...when the catcher's got a rocket-launcher for an arm.  <<Watch Ashley Holcombe, USA Catcher, demonstrate proper throwdown technique...if you don't believe me.>>

So, right there. That's a constructive criticism that I give to all my catchers--and you, my faithful blog sufferer reader. It's a wrong and a reason, followed up with a right, a reason and a how-to. I even added that super video (courtesy of Easton) to reinforce the how-to. Sounds easy to do, right? (The catching thing and the constructive criticism thing.) It's not...at least, not for everyone. It takes time and it takes practice. But I've got the time, if you've got the practice.


"Baaaaaah, where is this blog actually going," you wonder? "It surely can't all be about how critical Coach Stephanie/Steph/Derry" is of herself! I'm not even a catcher, what do I care about the right throwing techniques?!"


Well, I've faced my fair share of criticism in the last few weeks--both internal and external--just as we all will from time to time. The internal criticism is fine and dandy. I know how to turn my "we did [this] all wrong!s" and "what was I thinking?s" into "we're going to work on [this]es" and "next time, I'll do [that]s." I can deal with the internal criticism on my own, because it's in my control. The external criticism is a little different, though, because it's out of my control.


Everyone's a critic. We've all been criticized and judged at one point or another in our lives, and we've all criticized or judged someone else at one point or another in our lives. From what you're wearing to how you drive to how much time you spend on Facebook at work to even the way you run your softball team, everyone's got a differing opinion. And that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their opinions. In fact, I openly welcome opinions; I call it my Open Door Policy, and it extends to players and parents (and blog readers!), alike. I prefer that the opinions are delivered as constructive criticism and I will certainly warn you that if you deliver criticism to me (constructive or not), you better be prepared to discuss it. Especially when it comes to my life, my blog and my team, I'm the head honcho. In the end, what I say goes...and don't for one second think I don't put a great deal of thought into what I "say" before it "goes." But I'm willing to hear your side of the story; maybe I can learn something from you, just like I hope to teach you something.


I don't know who you are. I could certainly take a guess based on what Google Analytics tells me--your IP address, your internet provider, the time of your visit, your location, how you found the blog, etc.--but I won't bother. So, if you've got constructive criticism for me, by god share it! Maybe (just maybe) you don't like how many parentheses I use. Maybe you don't like the fact that I posted this blog. Or maybe you don't like my theories on softball and coaching. Either way, you can comment here, you can email email me and you can even DM me on Twitter. All I ask is that you be open to hear all sides of the story...because, after all, EVERYONE's a critic and EVERYONE's got an opinion. :)


In the meantime, you can bet your bottom dollar that I've turned all my criticisms into learning experiences...and drills. 

The first gameday?

This could be the first time I post something on gameday. I guess you can chalk it off to the fact that we've never had a 4:30pm start-time before. Yes, 4:30pm. Start-time. 4:30pm.

What the heck am I supposed to do with my Saturday until then? It's like a sick tease. Here, have some Saturday...and then go work. Yay! At least I got to sleep in -- does 7:45am count as "sleeping in?"

Two games today and I think we're ready. I know we're all hyped. Bring it on!

Ok, Time for Plan B?

Well, it's Thursday evening so I've had plenty of time to "process" our weekend. Here's what I came up with:

• Hitting was better than ever.
• Fielding was pretty strong, though we lacked (again) on some of the routine plays.
• Out of about 20 innings, we played 17 spectacularly.
• Out of the 3 innings we didn't play spectacularly, 2 cost us 2 losses (1 each).
• Attitude is amazing when it's on.
• Attitude is amazing when my attitude is on.
• My attitude is on when the girls' attitude is on.
• "I'm getting better at fighting the future. (Some day you'll be fine.) Yes, I'll be just fine." << Click after you read the post.

You know...I don't know what else to say here. I could have made defensive changes that may have saved our games, but it's hard to make defensive changes in the middle of the inning. And, either way, we really lost the games on the little stuff like past balls, missed grounders, overthrow, blooper-hits that weren't fielded properly, etc.

One thing I did hear a lot of this weekend was: "what's the score?" I've got my different theories on this, too. First, I feel like the players deserve to know what they're up against -- and sometimes it can bolster them into giving more to fight back. But, on the other hand, I wonder, "what's it matter?" If the score's a lot to a little, they're likely to give up. If the scores a little to a little less, will they give up or get comfortable? Knowing my girls...well, knowing my girls, I think it's best to keep the score from them. I think that's what I'll do this weekend.

I know that this weekend will be tough. The competition seems like it will be more consistently solid this weekend. Last weekend, I think we faced some decent competition then went on to face a really tough competitor right after. That's a tough transition to make for the girls. Oddly enough, we started off all of our games very strong. It was like we just got too tired/downhearted to continue on during those tougher games -- which happened to be games #3 on Saturday and #2 on Sunday. I'd like to say I really understood it, but I don't. 

And, you know what? I just got a crazy idea to play a 4-man outfield with 3 girls. Hmmm...it's just crazy enough to work against the stronger offensive teams, and surely crazy enough to signal that it's time for bed.

One more day and then we take the field again. :)

It was good -- is that good enough for now?

My heart really wants me to blog about this weekend's tournament but my head keeps saying, "Wait. Process it first."

It was a whirlwind, that's for sure -- with ups and downs, highs and lows. I do need some more time to process it, before I can really find the words to say about it. I'll get around to that this week.

So, for now I'll just say that it was good. Great at times. Bad at times. And, in the end, it evened out to a straight "good." That has to be good enough for now. :-D

Here we go again :)

Seriously. I would like to know where October came from. Last time I checked, it was mid-May and I was preparing for my first tournament as a head coach. Bah!

Anyway. We're at a really good place right now. I'm not as nervous to post this entry -- at least, not as much as I was last time -- but I am anxious to see how my girls play this weekend. We've had a few really great practices under our belts since our last tournament, and everybody's feeling good.

We've got one girl on the injury list, but we've got 2 guest players helping us out this weekend. So, here I am on a Friday night, trying to figure out my plan for tomorrow. Good thing we don't play until noon tomorrow...

You have to admit that travel softball is different than any other sport. Not only do we play more than one/two games in a day, there are specific girls who can't play the same position for all those games. For example, I can't expect my catcher to catch all three games (plus play the 2+ games on Sunday); I can't ask my pitcher to pitch all three Saturday games, then come out and perform at the same level on Sunday.

Luckily, I've got a versatile group of girls. Many of them play more than two positions. In any other sport you'd worry about these girls becoming "jacks of all trades and masters of none" but that's not the way it goes in travel softball -- if you can't make yourself reliable in more than at least one position, you're liable to find yourself on the bench. A lot of my girls have made themselves reliable in more than one position. It's nice.

So with my line-ups penciled out now, I think I'll make my way to bed and sleep easy. Tomorrow (like any other day on the field) will be a big day for us, and I'm hopeful that we'll play our best and come out on top.