Hawaii HS Fastpitch Regular Season

Hawaii's high school fastpitch season begins this Wednesday for public schools on the island of O'ahu (OIA). The rollercoaster begins! Hopefully it's not a rollercoaster, but I have a feeling it will be. But I don't mind because rollercoasters are exciting and fun for the most part (except for when they make your stomach turn). :)

Best wishes to all the schools in the state ~ have a great year and don't forget to enjoy the game. The season will be over before you know it!

Fastpitch Interview - 2005 WAC Freshman of the Year

Our December Fastpitch Interview will be with 2005 WAC Freshman of the Year, Kaulana Gould, from the University of Hawaii. (See article here)

Fastpitch Members will have this interview sent directly to them via e-mail prior to it being posted on the site. Non-Members be on the look out for this interview ~ it should be posted to www.AllAboutFastpitch.com during the first half of December.

If you'd like to sign up for a Free Fastpitch Membership, visit www.AllAboutFastpitch.com and fill out the form on the right hand side of the screen.

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish all AllAboutFastpitch.com visitors a Happy Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful weekend. Don't shop too hard on Friday. :)

Our high school season begins next Wednesday ~ whew, I knew it was going to start moving fast. Before we know it the season will be over! It's certainly exciting, but our team is still trying to find it's groove together. Hopefully, things fall into place sooner than later. Either way, we'll have some fun!

Team Building Article Posted

As I was browsing the internet I came across an interesting article about team building. I obtained permission from the author to share it with AllAboutFastpitch.com visitors. This article shares information on what defines a sports team as well as factors that affect team building. According to the author, this article should be helpful to players and coaches alike.

Take a peek at Building a Sports Team or see our full list of articles on our Articles Page.

Fastpitch Priorities

We're in a pre-season high school tournament this week. Last night most of our seniors missed the last two games we had because they had senior luau to go to. We all gave them a hard time about it ~ "where's your priorities? You can eat Lau Lau later ~ we have some games to play!" LOL ~ well, our underclassmen did a great job and won both games. So we finished on top of our pool and start elimination play today. Our first game today is at 4:00...and I have a wedding to go to! Auuggghhhhh ~ I so want to go to the game, but I already told my friend that I'd be at her wedding. Plus, she lives off island so it's not like I get to see her a lot. So now I'm in a situation in which I'll miss games. It's only pre-season, but it's a good size tournament and the girls are playing so well it's exciting to watch. I don't want to miss it!

Anyway ~ I called the head coach this morning and let him know that I will, in fact, go to the wedding. But, I told him to tell the players to win the first game so that I can be there at the 7:30 game. If they lose that first game they'll play right after at 5:45 and I'll miss both, but if they win that first one, I'll be able to make the second! I'll be at my friend's wedding awaiting the phone call with the news on that first game....then I'll know whether I'll be leaving to go to the field or staying at the wedding to eat more food.

Fastpitch Rookie Skit Night

Rookie Skit Night is so much fun! On our pre-season trip to Maui, my husband asked if we were going to have the newbies go through skit night. We hadn't planned to, but when the returnees caught wind of the idea, they loved it. They came up with a theme for the new players. Originally, it was supposed to be a competition between 2 or more groups of new players to see who could come up with the best skit. But, the rookies changed the rules and all did something together.

At first we were disappointed that they weren't doing it as a competition. Then we saw their performance. It was awesome! They really went all out. It was impressive because they only had one day to prepare and practice. It was definitely something we'll all remember. My stomach was aching from all the laughing I did.

If you are on a team or coach a team that has rookies/newbies and returnees/veterans, Rookie Skit Night is a cool thing to do! The players that did the skit this year want to, as vets, do another skit next year and challenge next year's rookies. We thought they'd be happy to have it over with and be glad that they don't need to go through it again. I guess we thought wrong. They obviously had a lot of fun with it.

Fastpitch Flex/DP explained

The whole Flex/DP thing can be extremely confusing!!! As a coach, it pays to understand it. There's a great article at FastSports that explains the DP/Flex ~ parents, this may be of interest to you as well. As a parent, I like to be informed and know what's going on. So if you're unsure about how the Flex/DP works visit http://www.fastsports.com/tips/tip25/index.shtml.

Fastpitch Players - Grades MATTER!

What is it about grades that some high school student-athletes just don't seem to get? Grades have a significant impact on your future in the sport. Take care of business in the classroom. College coaches DO CARE about how your perform academically; not just athletically.

Parents, make sure your child is on track to be able to get in to college! If you don't know what to do, work with the school's guidance counselor. They should be able to point you in the right direction.

Just remember ~ grades DO matter. Get the job done on and off the field.

If you haven't seen it at www.allaboutfastpitch.com/CollegeTips.html, I'm saying it here.
GRADES MATTER!