Pre-Season Trip

One of the coolest things about my involvement in sports has been traveling! I was thinking about it today and I have gone on about twice as many sports-related trips as personal trips. I'll add yet another sports trip next weekend. It was sort of a last minute thing, so our team didn't really have much time to fundraise ~ probably not a mistake we'll make again.

The high school team I coach travels to Maui for a few pre-season scrimmages. Nothing tournament style or real serious, but a fun team-bonding, get-some-playing-time-in trip. We'll just be going for a few days. We fly out on Thursday afternoon, play Friday and Saturday, and come back home on Sunday. Then we'll practice Monday, and go right into pool play on Tuesday for our first "serious" pre-season tournament.

I'm also excited because my husband and my son will be able to join us for the trip. None of my family members came along the last time we took a pre-season trip to Maui. Even though it was just for the weekend, I still missed them. I'm looking forward to having my husband and my 11 month old son with me for the weekend away. Of course my girls would love to be there too (I have 3 daughters), but we just aren't able to make it happen this time. We'll have to bring them along for the next trip ~ a trip when we have ample time to raise funds!

Anyway, once pre-season starts, things get moving pretty quickly. Our head coach always says "don't blink, the season will be over before you know it". From here on out, it's time to hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

Fastpitch Face Mask Required

This year our girls must wear helmets with a face masks (high school softball, Hawaii). Some of our girls hit with face masks before, but most haven't. This will be an adjustment we work on throughout pre-season. Right now, the girls hit with masks during tee work, soft toss, basically as much as possible. For one of our smaller girls, the bottom of the mask actually touches her shoulder when she gets into her batting stance.

Last year, we tried to have them practice with the masks since we knew they'd have to do it this year. Talk about grumbling! They just didn't want to do it.

"The bars get in the way"

"I can't see the ball!"

Well, this year, they have to deal with it. There hasn't been the same kind of resistance we got last year, but we still hear a few comments about what's tough about hitting with a face mask. Last week though, we had them hit off the machine for the first time. Most are doing just fine. If there were players that thought about using the mask as an excuse, they know they'll find themselves on the bench. Most of their teammates hit just fine, in fact, better than I was expecting....even with the mask. So us coaches already know, the mask is no excuse.

New Fastpitch Season - New Team

It's funny, every time we begin a new season I think I have an idea of what it's going to be like. Then we start try-outs and pre-season and nothing is what I thought it would be. This year I'm there have been quite a few surprises, but most of them good. I'm getting more and more excited about the upcoming season.

In the past years, we've had 2-3 standout players; the type that sort of carry the team. This year, I don't see that and I'm glad. It's hard to get everyone contributing and working together when you have those 2-3 players everyone relies on to make plays. The other players sort of just go through the motions and wait for the "play makers" to do their thing. I think we'll have a nice team effort this year ~ and that will certainly be fun to see! After all, when it comes down to the wire, you need the entire team to get the big win.

Forgot to take my own advice

I was worried about players having sore arms in this first week of handling the ball for high school softball. LOL ~ I should have taken my own advice and gotten some throwing work in myself. I didn't realized how much I'd be throwing during practice since we can't use bats yet. My arms was feeling a bit stiff earlier in the week. Now it feels better and it really wasn't that bad, but it was enough for me to think that I shouldn't have taken my own advice about getting your arm ready on your own time for handling the ball this week.

Search Box Added!

I'm excited to announce that you can now easily search our site with the brand new search box that was added to our home page! Find exactly the information you're looking for. Try it out at www.AllAboutFastpitch.com ~ it's right under the headline.

Fastpitch Interview Posted

Our very first fastpitch interview has been posted to AllAboutFastpitch.com. Peter Sprenkle's interview can be seen at http://interview.allaboutfastpitch.com/peter-sprenkle.html. Don't forget, next month, we're featuring Nancy Ellis, NHSACA's 2002 Coach of the Year. Enjoy!

How to be an Impact Player

My latest article has been added to AllAboutFastpitch.com. How to be an Impact Player can be read at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/impact-player.html. Enjoy!

*If you have a website that you'd like reprint this article on, contact me at allaboutfastpitch@hawaii.rr.com and I'll give you the details on how to do it for free. Also, visitors can reprint this article as a handout, however, the url of the article MUST BE included on the handout.

Hawaii Fastpitch Softball Starting!

Yippee! Monday, October 10th, is the first day we can get on the field with a ball and glove here in Hawaii for high school softball. I know the players are excited because they are tired of conditioning already. LOL ~ I know we'll probably have a bunch of them that come out throwing a zillion miles an hour after not taking our advice to work out on their own time to prepare their arm. The following Monday we can incorporate bats into practice and start taking BP. Can't wait to start a new season! It'll be fun, but I know we have our work cut out for us this year. The other teams in the league will certainly come out strong and be in top shape. Should be interesting to see how things unfold this year.

Fastpitch Pictures Added

One thing I always had people comment on was the need for more pictures at AllAboutFastpitch.com. So I finally added a few pictures to the home page! Of course, the only pictures I have are ones of my own kids. LOL ~ so if you have any great fastpitch softball pictures you think would make a great addition to AllAboutFastpitch.com ~ please comment here or e-mail me at AllAboutFastpitch@hawaii.rr.com. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!