LLWS - Congrats from the softball world

Congratulations to the boys from Ewa Beach and to the coaches and parents as well! We are so proud of you here in Hawaii. Awesome game ~ great character ~ great heart. That game was better than most MLB games I've seen. You guys are an unbelievable inspiration to us all! Congratulations again to the 2005 Little League World Series Champions!

Cool Personalized Baseball/Softball Gifts

I just came across a cool company called Engraved to Last. They offer cool personalized, laser engraved gifts that are absolutely perfect for baseball/softball fans, players, coaches, and other sports fans. It's always fun giving a gift with a personal touch and that's exactly what Engraved to Last gifts enable you to do. Unique, special, and reasonably priced, gifts from Engraved to Last are sure to please. Visit Engraved to Last today and start shopping for your next special occasion. Perfect for all occasions and all ages!

What's your strength?

I once coached a truly inexperienced high school softball player. This girl came to tryouts as a sophomore having never played organized softball before in her life. At the time, our high school was just a few years old and didn’t even have a senior class yet. All we had were freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. This gave us the chance to keep this player, who could barely catch or throw a ball, because she worked hard and possessed the attitude every coach wants in a player.

Though she didn’t get much playing time, she always worked hard in practice. During game she kept score and found ways to help out in whatever way possible.

By end of her senior season, she was, by far, the most improved player on the team and the clear team leader in both attitude and work ethic. Without a doubt, in every coach’s mind, she was the best in these areas. Arguably the worst player athletically that I have ever coached, found a way to led her team in something.

What are you the team leader in? If you don’t know, it’s time to take a good hard look at yourself and figure out what it is you do best. What’s your contribution? What's your role? Figure it out, then make it a point to excel far beyond anyone else that area.

Motivation!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I need a little motivation and inspiration in my life. The softball players I coach also benefit from reading inspirational articles. One of my favorite articles, "Attitude of Champions" comes from Mind Perk which also has other FREE "Self Improvement" articles available to read. "Attitude of Champions" is also featured on my Articles page at www.AllAboutFastpitch.com ~ it's a fun article which utilizes a Babe Ruth example to help illustrate the type of attitude it takes to be successful in athletics. I'm sure you also agree, that the same attitude which promotes success in sports, is the same attitude that also helps you be successful in life! Check out what Mind Perk has to offer and get MOTIVATED today!

Softball updates

Coaches' Corner ~ Well, with two more days of "mini camp" left, I realize our team is going to have to bust 'okole during conditioning! Some girls certainly demonstrate power, but not gracefulness. Can you say, "Agility Drills?". We've also got a couple who can stand to shed a couple pounds ~ my challenge: convince them to cut back on Starbucks. You know, maybe just twice a week instead of every day. They're going to look at me like I'm crazy! Like I said, conditioning should be interesting. Some smart players currently stay after school and work out on their own in preparation for conditioning. I'm sure they'll be glad they took that initiative. Ahhh, the journey of a new season begins. No matter what the outcome, I'm looking forward to an interesting ride.

Parent's Corner ~ DD participated in a 10U tournament this weekend. Unfortunately it conflicted with the LLWS so I didn't get to watch the Hawaii team play. But anyway ~ she got to watch and learn. DD actually got to run bases and stand in the outfield - eek! During her baserunning stint as a pinch runner, she advanced from 2nd to 3rd on a passed ball. The batter then hit into the 3rd out of the inning and stranded her on 3b. In the outfield, as stated earlier, she stood there. No balls came her way, but she over the course of the 3 day tournament and managed to obtain a nice tan in the process. She had fun and she learned new things ~ what more can a parent ask for? Plus, I got to consume 3 strawberry slushies with ice cream over the weekend ~ Yum Yum! Those things hit the spot on the hot Hawaiian days we spent at the field.

Webmaster Challenges ~ If only adding cool new content wasn't so time consuming! I love working on and updating my site, but boy does it take time with all the coding and what not. I tried a WYSIWYG editor, but goodness gracious, you end up with so many unnecessary tags that going through and hand editing the code seems to take just as long as hand coding it yourself the first time through. I'm sure there are easier ways to accomplish what I want, I just haven't figured them out yet. I did, however, add the cool new E-mail List feature to the site so that visitors can be notified when new tips, resources, or other content is added to the site. If you'd like to receive notifications, please request addition to our e-mail list by sending a message to allaboutfastpitch@hawaii.rr.com.
See you around and enjoy www.AllAboutFastpitch.com!

Softball Website updates

So I've done a ton of updates to my website and I'm really excited about it. I've got an interesting Fastpitch Softball pitching rubber POLL going on right on my home page at www.AllAboutFastpitch.com. I also have a "Special Feature" page of College Coach Recruiting Advice which contains information on college recruiting straight from the e-mails of actual college coaches. It ties in nicely with my page of FREE College Recruiting Tips for College-Bound Student-Athletes. I also revamped my Fastpitch Softball Products page and added a couple of cool resources to my Softball Drills page and my Coaching Tips page.

In the near future I hope to have an interview with Ernie Prker to add to the site. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask Mr. Parker for you, please e-mail the question to AllAboutFastpitch@hawaii.rr.com ~ then don't forget to check back to see if I was able to use your question during the interview!

In coaching news, we begin a pre-season "mini camp" open to all middle school and high school players that want the work-out. Most of the participating players are from our area, but we do have some that come from other parts of the island. It's a fun two week, basic softball skills camp that helps get players back into the swing of things. We also plan to have a college softball coach come out on the last day of the camp to do a mini clinic for the players. My 8-year-old daughter is also looking forward to doing some of the drills with the girls. It should be lots of fun!

Softball Sign-ups

Today at 4:15 we are meeting at the softball field for sign-ups for our high school team. I'm expecting a big turn out as we've had the past two years. So far we have no players from the class of 2007 on the varsity softball team ~ though I expect that we'll pick some up this year.

Looking at the tentative schedule for the upcoming softball season, it seems that we'll be starting regular season games about 2 weeks earlier than normal ~ beginning of December vs. middle of December. I'm not quite sure why that is or if that tentative schedule will become reality, but that's just one more thing to look forward to as we begin preparation for another high school season. I expect great things this season. Hopefully coming off a 2nd place finish last year will motivate our seniors to work hard and go further thant they did last year.

Personally, I really need to start exercising so that I can run and do drills with the girls come time for pre-season conditioning. My son turned 8 months yesterday and my return to pre-pregnancy weight and physical condition is long overdue. It's not that it's hard to find the time to exercise, it's just that when I find it, I'd much rather sit and rest than get up an exercise. KWIM?

The Hawaii Speed and Quickness clinics are done for the year, but will start back up again in January. I'll definitely be taking my oldest daughter back next year and try to attend more of the clinics. Like I said in the last post, she loves it! Not only that, she's getting better with her running technique so that's a plus.

Well ~ that's about it for now. I'll be back blogging later!