Sue Enquist Retiring from UCLA Softball

Wow - According to ESPN, Sue Enquist will end her UCLA coaching duties beginning January 1st, 2007. Kelly Inouye-Perez will take over as the Bruin head softball coach. Lisa Fernandez, Gina Vecchione, and Natasha Watley will also assist on the staff.

But don't worry, Sue Enquist won't be far from UCLA Softball. She is taking a position as the director in the UCLA athletics external relations office.

Sue Enquist has done such as amazing job as the Head Coach at UCLA and she will be missed. It'll be strange not to see her coaching, but I think the new staff will do great job with the team and continue the softball excellence that UCLA is known for. Congratulations to Sue Enquist on an outstanding coaching career and best wishes to the new UCLA Softball coaching staff!

Resident Expert Column for October

Hey, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Next month in October, our featured resident expert is Cindy Bristow of SoftballExcellence.com. I just received an e-mail from Cindy this morning on what her column is about. I think it's great and one you won't want to miss. So check back with us in the month of October for the new Resident Expert Column by Cindy Bristow.

Fastpitch Members - I'll be sending out an e-mail this week (What's New for October) with more details on what the column will contain. If you're not already a Fastpitch Member but would like to be, please visit www.FreeFastpitchTips.com and sign up there.

Awesome Clinic in Chicago

I had the pleasure of being "introduced' to Rich Morford of www.FastpitchSupply.com. Rich is coordinating an awesome clinic in Illinois in the month of February. Of course, I haven't actually met him in person, just in cyberspace.

I don't know if you've heard but Bill Hillhouse, Howard Kobata, and Steve Englishbey have teamed up for 2007. These guys are the ones that will be at this coaches clinic in Illinois. If I could choose my number one pick for instructors on Pitching, Defense, and Hitting and put them all in one room for a clinic that I would LOVE to attend, it would be with these three gentlemen.

If you've been around AllAboutFastpitch.com, you know I interviewed both Bill and Howard. Bill is also a resident expert here and is on my page of pitching resources. Obviously, I think he's one of the best. It's his DVD I chose to get help from when my daughter wanted to learn how to pitch.

Howard comes very, very highly recommended as a defensive clinician from many in the softball community. For more information on him, visit his site at www.softballskills.com.

Then there's Steve E., who many have recommended for hitting instruction. He is the ONE guy I've been trying to get ahold of to get a video on hitting from. I haven't sought out any other hitting instruction video except his.

From what I understand, the clinic in Chicago is confirmed and is a "go." The date is February 17th, but the exact time and location has yet to be determined. As I know more, I'll certainly keep you informed. If you're a coach and you can make it to this clinic, I highly recommend you go. I'm even trying to find a way to get there even though airfare won't be cheap and I know I'll freeze in Chicago in the month of February, but that's how great I think this clinic is going to be.

Like I said, Rich Morford of FastpitchSupply.com is putting this clinic together. So I'll be in touch with both him and with Bill as details emerge and I will pass them on to you as soon as I have them.

Softball Players, I want to hear from you

If you are a player or a parent of a softball player - I'd like your help!

I want to know what softball players REALLY I think about the things coaches say and do.

I have a survey made up that you can simply fill in your answers to and send it to me via e-mail.

Anyone who participates will receive a free copy of the completed report I'm working on which will include a compilation of everything players sent in to me!

If you'd like to help, go to www.FastpitchTalkRadio.com/helpstacie.html
Copy and Paste the survey into an e-mail
answer the questions
then send them to me!

If you have any questions, just let me know.

Thank you so much - I'm excited to hear your thoughts!

Coaches - if you want a free copy of this report too, go to www.AllAboutFastpitch.com/PlayersThoughts.html to find out how you can get one.

New products in the works

I'm not adding to the site too much right now because I'm focusing on a few projects I have in the works. One is a freebie and two others will be for sale here at AllAboutFastpitch.com.

I'll give out more details as the products reach their completion.

I think you'll really like these, so that's why I'm taking my time with these to make sure they are the best they can be. I'll certainly be sure to let you know when they are ready.

That's about all I can say for right now.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Hillhouse Pitching Clinic almost full

If you are in Hawaii and are interested in attending the Bill Hillhouse Pitching Clinic, please get your registration in soon. This clinic is filling up quick and will probably be full before the October 7 registration deadline. The 9-11 year old session is already filled. The 12-15 year old session has just one spot left and the 16+ is more than half way full as well.

So please print out the registrations forms and get them sent in to secure your spot.

E-mail me if you have any questions: allaboutfastpitch@hawaii.rr.com.

Fastpitch Audios Ready - Listen Now

Hey, if you haven't had a chance to check out www.FastpitchTalkRadio.com yet, now is a good time. I've got about 5 Pre-Launch audios up and ready for you to listen to.

Click here to check out those recordings now.

The show is still on track to launch in October - most likely the second week.
If you have funny softball stories or great tips to share, we'd love to hear from you!

Just send your story, tip, or suggestion to info@fastpitchtalkradio.com.

Off to buy a whistle

Well, today is another day of conditioning for softball and I think we're going to have the girls do an indian run. That's the one when they run in a line and the back person sprints to the front.

So I'm off to the store to buy a whistle because I'm going to have the back person go on the whistle. Usually we use a softball that starts in the front of the line and gets tossed from one person to the next until it reaches the back. When the person in the back gets the ball, they sprint it back up to the front of the line and begin tossing the ball back again. Well, because it's the conditioning period, we can't use a softball. I'm sure I could find something else to toss, but since I'm going to need a whistle for another conditioning exercise, I'm going to just have them go on the whistle today. But first, I need to get a whistle!

Also, this is our first week of "split conditioning" - originally this time was slotted for weight training only. But due to the number of girls we have, there are just too many to take into the weight room at one time and keep it efficient. So, this week, we split the group (9th and 10th grade together and 11th and 12th together). I get the 11-12 out on the track for half an hour while 9-10 is in the weight room, then we switch. Basically, all 9-10 do in the weight room is a circuit - 11-12 since they go in during the second half of the workout and can stay until they are done, they are working more with free weights and medicine balls vs. just jumping on a circuit.

So I only have them on the track with me for 30 minutes, but that's okay. It's enough for me. I can do 10-15 minutes of warm up and have them really work for 15 minutes. That's a lot more than most would be doing if we were only weight training right now.

Softball Conditioning Story - Listen Now

I just recorded a short audio about a recent softball conditioning practice we had. Just wanted to share the story and also talk about "The Power of the Stop Watch" - It's not too long, go over and check it out at http://www.fastpitchtalkradio.com/index-091106.html - Click on the Listen Now button.

Upcoming Interview - Sarah Pauly

I'm pleased to announce that Sarah Pauly will be our featured interview guest for the month of October! As stated in a previous post, Sarah Pauly was named pitcher of the year for the National Pro Fastpitch League.

The interview should be posted to the site by mid-October.

USA National Team Wins World Championship

Wow! The USA Women's National Team rebounds from a 3-1 loss to Japan to win the ISF World Championship. Cat Osterman goes two games back to back as Team USA defeats Australia 5-1, then goes on to beat Japan in the Championship game by a score of 3-0.

Mendoza and Bustos provided two back to back homeruns in the championship game to score all 3 runs in the 6th inning. Osterman allowed just 1 hit and struck out 14.

Get the story at 2006 Softball

You can also read about it at www.softball.org.

Congratulations to our Women's National Softball Team!