Hawaii Pitching Clinic Around the Corner

My kids are back in school and the summer is coming to an end. That means Fastpitch Festival will be here before you know it as well as the Hawaii Bill Hillhouse Pitching clinic.

The latest information for the pitching clinic is at http://allaboutfastpitch.com/Bill2008.html.

I'm still looking for a good location for the Saturday dates. I do have a field reserved, but I would like to get a spot closer to town. I have been in touch with a few people about other options and once I have finalized my decision on the Saturday locations, I will let you know.

In the mean time, people have already begun to send in their registration for the clinic. Registration forms are available here.

The cost is $35 for participating pitchers.

ANYONE who wants to come and watch (coaches, parents, players, pitchers) may come for FREE. Please encourage anyone you know who has questions or wants to learn more about pitching pitching to come to the clinic. Contact me with any questions you may have.

See you there!

Connect With Other Fastpitch People & Me!

Come join me and connect with other fastpitch softball people around the world!

I just started up a new fastpitch community and would LOVE to see you there. Come and share your fastpitch photos (and see photos from others), announce your fastpitch events (or find out what's going on in your area), talk with other fastpitch players, coaches, parents, leave comments for others, make friends, and more.

No cost to join. Looking forward to seeing you at Fastpitch World.

Click Here to sign up for free.

Fastpitch Festival Date Set

Just wanted to give you a heads up on the progress of the inaugural Fastpitch Festival (online event). The dates for the event have been set and Fastpitch Festival 2008 will run over the course of one week from August 25th - August 31.

Some people have already been posting their input, but the event hasn't even started yet!

That's okay, just remember to go back DURING the event and post your feedback, your opinions, your thoughts on the different categories of the event.

2008 Fastpitch Festival Categories include:

• Favorite Coaching Gadget
• Favorite Footwear
• Favorite Headwear
• Favorite Fastpitch Field/Complex
• Favorite Fastpitch Images'
• and more...

During the week of the event, softball players, parents, coaches, and fans can stop by at www.FastpitchFestival.com and leave their feedback, thoughts, and comments in each category.

Each response left in a particular category, gives the Fastpitch Festival participant an entry in to a prize drawing for the category they contributed to. Contribute to as many categories as you want as many times as you want during the week of August 25 - August 31 to increase your chance at winning the prize packs donated by our 2008 Fastpitch Festival sponsors.

So mark your calendars and bookmark the site so that you can attend and participate in the event!

From Then 'Till Now

Just this evening I had a number of thoughts come to mind about how things have changed in the past 20 years. My daughter is playing in Bobby Sox tournaments as I did 20 years ago. She's also playing ASA, but we gave Bobby Sox try this year and that's primarily what's bringing about all these thoughts on change.

Of course, Bobby Sox, in and of itself is one of the major things that crossed my mind. Bobby Sox is nothing like what it used to be. In Hawaii, from a league that had a number of different associations with multiple teams per age division per association to a league with where just 3 districts participate locally. It's just much smaller than it used to be and the age divisions and minimum play rules have changed a little bit too.

Now-days ASA is a huge deal. When I was growing up, I had never really even heard of ASA until I was older. Yet 20 years later, my 7-year-old has played ASA for 3 seasons already.

Okay, I just realized, this post is going to make me feel old...LOL.

...but I'll go on...

Tonight I saw a base bag for the first time in a looooooong, long time. I remember having to help our coaches put away bases after every practice. We had to get all those bases with straps and pegs into that big duffle with the pin that secured the top portion of the bag shut. I don't think my daughters would even know what to look for if you told them to go get the bag for the bases.

Then there's the face mask requirement. I've gotten so used to seeing young ladies play with face masks that, now, when I see a player without one it looks so "dangerous." Yet, when the face mask became mandatory for batting helmets in youth leagues, I was right there with the girls feeling all the frustration of having to switch over. I was glad that change hadn't been made when I was playing because I really wouldn't have wanted to hit with a mask on. As a mother though, I'm so glad my girls are wearing one.

We can't forget those racer back jerseys so many players love. There was none of that around when I was playing. Even playing in a sleeveless jersey was a stretch for my imagination. When I saw all the teams coming out with the racer back jerseys and shorts, I seriously began to think that, one day, girls would be playing softball in those skimpy volleyball-type uniforms.

After the popularity of the racer back came the emergence of those little black velcro things that scrunch up the shoulder or back of the jersey. I don't even know what they're called and I've been searching can't find them online without knowing what the proper term for them are. If you know what they're called, please post a comment here and fill in the blank for me. I'm sure it'll come to me later, but if you get to it before me, please, post it in a comment here.

Oh yes, and we can't forget....Under Armour! I used to wear those 3/4 sleeve undershirts and think it was so cool. But now, it's all about the even "cooler" (and more expensive) Under Armour that the players HAVE to have. I don't even know if my daughters realize that Under Armour was unheard of when I was their age. Eeek!

And, of course, the bats! Gosh, I can only imagine what kind of stats I could have had if we had today's bat technology when I was playing! My hands certainly wouldn't have stung as much that's for sure...and I probably would have had more than 1 home-run per year in high school. Maybe some of those hard hit grounders would have made it through the infield. Whenever I see a young lady hit a towering line shot, I always think of how fun it would have been to use that type of high performance bat during my career.

Anyway - those are just a few of the things that come to mind tonight as I think about what has changed since I was playing as my daughters are now. Other things include offensive/defensive strategy, pitching technique, attitudes of players, perspective and philosophy on strength training/conditioning/stretching, the whole "travel ball" concept, and I'm sure there's more, but I'll stop there because all that's getting a little too serious for me. We could probably get into all kinds of good discussions along those lines. But back to the "lighter" side of this topic...What else do you have to add?

Have You Ever Taken Away Softball?

If you are a softball parent, have you ever taken away softball as punishment? I have just made that choice for the first time in my life. It's one that I never expected to make.

But the bottom line is...softball is a privilege. It's an "extracurricular" activity, which to me, means that "responsibilities" should be taken care of first and foremost before an individual gets to participate.

Two of my daughters have just had their summer softball season ended because they could not play by my rules at home and take care of their responsibilities. This was not a consequence that came out of the blue. They had been told before, that if they didn't abide by certain rules and take care of specific responsibilities at home, they would not be allowed to continue their season. Today, it got to the point where I decided to follow through with that consequence for their actions and behavior.

I've seen other parents do the same thing from time to time. When it wasn't my child and I didn't know the whole story, I often questioned whether or not that punishment was the best choice. I guess my thinking was that, "Well, what is that girl going to do in her afternoons now? Sit around the house?"

Now in this situation, I feel it is a good decision - AND it's opened my mind to acknowledge that other parents may also be making a good, if not the best choice, in that time and place when they make that same decision.

Also, in my house, there is PLENTY to do (and I will be around to see it's done) during the hours that are now "open" because they won't be continuing their summer season. My girls will NOT be watching tv or playing on the computer or anything else for a while. I have many things here that I could use their help with and we've already started. My house is going to look better than it has all year.

So....if you're a softball parent, have you ever taken away softball as a consequence? How do you think it went?

If you are a player, have you ever had softball taken away from you as a punishment? How did you feel about it and did it change your attitude at all?

Fun Softball Picture

I just learned about a FUN new thing I can do with Twitter. If you're not following me on twitter yet, it's easy and free to set up a twitter account of your own so that you can follow me and get AAF updates.

• Just go to Twitter.com
• Set up a free account
• Go to my page at www.twitter.com/staciemahoe
• Click on the "follow" button near my picture

That's it! Once you're following me, you'll get my twitter updates any time you log in to your account OR you can have updates sent to your mobile phone (see the "mobile set up" link on the right side of the page when you're logged in)

Anyway - back on topic. I just found out a very easy way to share pictures using twitter. I love taking pictures and sharing them. Sooooo, of course, I put up a fun softball picture on my twitter page. I can also share pictures directly from my phone if I take any cool ones while I'm out and about.

That's one of the things I LOVE about twitter, it's super easy for me to update even when I'm not at home. Plus there's no pressure to write something perfect or long because there is a limit to the number of characters I can use in any one update that I post. So it's all just short, sweet, and to the point thoughts and information being jotted down. I think that character limit is part of why so many people love twitter. It doesn't take much time to do updates nor does it take much time to read what others are saying.

If you DO set up a twitter account and start following me, send me a "direct message" to let me know you are following me from AAF and I'll be sure to follow you too so that I can see what you have to say OR see any responses you may have to my posts. Once you have an account and go to my page and follow me, you should also see a "direct message" link on the right side of the screen so that you can let me know you're and AAF follower.

Go check out the fun softball pic I put up though....www.twitter.com/staciemahoe

Practice Canceled, Look on the Bright Side

Softball practice for my daughter got canceled today...during the summer, in Hawaii, on the dry side of the island - go figure. It is, what it is, and we're making the MOST of it! Plus, breaks are good every now and then.

This practice cancellation is giving us time to watch a BluRay movie we bought over the weekend together as a family. It's also giving me a chance to prepare a home cooked meal for my family! That's rare these days with everything we have going on, but I'm looking forward to eating Beef Stew on this day of canceled practice!

It can definitely be a challenge to stay on top of things nutritionally during the busy softball season. I don't know about you, but I find our family relying on fast food and take out much more during season. Because eating healthy can be tough during season, I'm working on putting together a resource that answers the most frequently asked fastpitch nutrition questions AND gives you simple tips on how to improve your game with better nutrition. Soooo, if you have ANY questions about nutrition, please post a comment here so that I can cover them in the nutrition resource I'm working on.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this new resource and will certainly tell you when it's ready. In the mean time, you may also want to check out Fastpitch Juicing which offers Simple Juicing Solutions for Busy Fastpitch Softball People. Enjoy your dinner!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Grass?

After watching many games over the course of a couple of tournament weekends this summer, I saw something that interests and annoys me at the same time.

What is it?

Middle infielders who are afraid of the big bad grass behind them.

This just drives me bonkers. Some of them seem to have an aversion for going after bloopers that take them away from the safety of the infield dirt onto that plush green outfield grass. Being a middle infielder myself, I just don't understand why some of them don't want to just go after any ball they can get.

Seeing this issue brings a couple of things to mind:

This IS something that needs to be worked on in practice: even infielders need to practice tracking fly balls and pop ups.

Setting up priorities really helps: making it clear whose ball it is when both the infielder and the outfielder are going for it would help when this situation is cause because the infielder doesn't want to run in to the outfielder. The infielders need to have confidence that that ball IS there's unless they hear the outfielder call them off. The outfielder needs to know that when they call for the ball, the infielder WILL back off and give them free reign to charge that ball hard. This also is something that needs to be practiced in practice so that it works during a live situation.

The ones that do it right are so much more impressive: the simple ability for middle infielders to go after any ball and even make a catch deep into the outfield grass makes them look sooooooo much more impressive than the ones that look completely unsure of themselves once they have to take a few steps back. Working on this simple skill can make you, as a middle infielder, look so much better at your position. So if this is something you're weak at, it's a simple area to improve upon. If it's not, keep going after that ball and catching everything you can!

Don't Throw Hard

"Don't throw hard. Just throw strikes."

Eek! I cringe when I heard coaches or fathers saying these words to their young (or maybe even not so young) pitchers. I know I'm guilty of it sometimes too. Well, not the "Don't throw hard" part, but the part when I see a pitcher trying to hard to be too "fine" and I just want the ball in the zone because I know the batter isn't going to do much, I catch myself saying something to the effect of just having the pitcher get the ball over the plate.

But I do NOT tell a pitcher to slow down in order to gain more accuracy.

So many times I hear young pitchers being told to slow the ball down and not throw hard in exchange for strikes. More often than not what I end up seeing is this young pitcher begin to throw both slow AND wild. So she just went from having 1 issue (not throwing accurately) to having 2 issues (not throwing accurately AND not throwing with any speed/power).

How often to you hear coaches telling their infielders, "Don't throw hard, just get the ball to the 1st baseman's chest." I don't know, maybe you hear something like that on occasion. I personally can't think of a time I've heard that though. If we don't use this "logic" for throwing overhand, why do so many insist upon using it for throwing underhand, for pitching?

I know some young pitchers try to "aim" the ball on their own. My 8-year-old does this. She starts of throwing nice and strong. Sometimes she's a little off - the ball is the right height, but off left or right OR the ball is straight, but too high or too low. These are very minor "problems." Yet, she will try to slow down to gain more accuracy. It NEVER works. She still throws off the plate, sometimes even worse than when she was going all out, and her ball has very little on it.

So I just remind her that she's not gaining much by trying to go slower. I ask her if the ball was going straighter (where she wanted it to) when she was throwing slow. She always says, "No." So she's beginning to realize that's not the answer. She's starting to correct the part of her motion that IS causing the inaccuracy (releasing too late or too early, not keeping her arm swing close to her body, not stepping toward the target, etc).

The results are much better with those kinds of adjustments than they are with "slowing down" to gain increase accuracy.

I talk a little more about this in the most recent Fastpitch Talk Radio episode. It's just a short episode and you can listen to it HERE.

Why Jump Ahead?

Now that summer softball season has begun here in Hawaii, I'm having a chance to see some coaches work with a new bunch of players. They are working with teams who added a bunch of players as older ones moved up, or they are working with entirely new teams who are in their first season together.

One thing I noticed is the tendency for coaches to want to "jump ahead" because games are right around the corner. For me, with a new team especially, some of the things I want the girls to know before the first game are how to field a ball, how to catch a ball, and how to throw a ball. After that, basic infield/outfield coverages, maybe bunt coverage, and how to relay the ball in from the outfield. On the offensive side, we'll probably just go over how to do a sacrifice bunt and go over just a few signals (probably take one, sacrifice, and steal). That's IT unless the girls are ready for more. Obviously I'm talking about younger age groups here where you actually have to teach how to catch and how to set up a relay and such. But even for older girls on more advanced teams, I still would go over this stuff in the beginning to get a feel for where the girls are at.

When I talk about how to field, how to throw, and how to catch, I believe that these basic mechanics should be gone over with EVERYONE in EVERY season. Sometimes you need to spend more time on it, other time the girls are doing things great and you can move on faster, but I still think it should be covered with the team as a whole.

Even with infield/outfield coverages or plays (i.e. where to throw the ball and who covers what base and when) I like to run the whole team through drills/exercises that cover these concepts. For example, I'll often have everyone take and outfield position and have them field/catch fly balls and throw to second, throw to third, and throw home. You never know who you'll need to play outfield and any given time and by putting everyone out there, you at least know you've given every person on your team some practice out there. A great infielder that never practices fly balls can do just horribly in the outfield if they ever have to play out there. This is part of why I like everyone to get some time out there every now and then. Plus it can help infielders get more comfortable tracking, and hopefully catching, those annoying bloopers that try to drop just over the infield.

When teaching relays, I always like to start out with simply setting up lines of girls and teaching them:

• which way to turn after the catch
• how to get rid of the ball quickly
• how to position their bodies before and after the throw/catch etc.

Then take it to the field and cover who is the cover for which plays before ever putting people into positions and hitting balls out for relay practice.

I think you get the idea of what I'm trying to say. I really believe it's much fairer to your players and much more effective to TEACH what you expect before just throwing the girls into the situation and trying to teach as you go.

I've seen coaches just put players in position, hit a ball outfield and tell the girls to "set up the relay." Half the time, I don't even know if the girls knew what that meant because they had never even done a relay before (this is at the 8U/10U level). Then while the ball is in the outfield they are telling the short stop, "You're the cut." I swear the girl was thinking, "What's a cut?" Because as I said, they had never practiced a relay, been taught a relay (what it is, how it's set up), nor did the coach ever go over who is the cuts are for the different outfield plays. This is what I'm talking about when I say coaches are "jumping ahead." All of that should have been introduced to the players before ever setting up a defense, hitting a ball past the outfielder, and asking the players to relay the ball home.

I understand the need and desire to practice these sorts of things before the first game comes around, but trying to teach it as you go just doesn't work as well. You still need to take the time to explain to each person what they are supposed to be doing. It's so much easier if you go over it first, explain and show the girls what's supposed to happen, let them try it AND THEN take it onto the field in a more "live" setting to practice the concept instead of jumping straight to the "live" situation and then stopping your practice each play to try to explain individually to each player what they are supposed to be doing and what is supposed to happen. Not only is this time consuming and possible confusing for the players, but they often times don't get "the whole picture" because usually the coach is only telling a particular player what their individual job is in the grand scheme of things when they try to instruct during the practice of the "whole enchilada." When you then try to put them in a different relay situation, you often have to go and do more explaining for that particular situation. It's much simpler and much more effective to cover all those basics first, then go into practicing the actual application of the skills and concept you're teaching.

One good point I learned from Cindy Bristow is that it really helps to sit down and think about what you want to have covered before the first game of the season. What is it that you want your girls to know by then? Then what do you want them to know by the half way point of the season? Are you going to go over bunt coverage before run downs or the other way around? Make a list of all the things you want to go over defensively and offensively and then prioritize the list and make a plan of what you want the girls to learn and by when.

The point is that "jumping ahead" usually doesn't get you "ahead." It only causes you to have to go back and "re-do" the foundation because you didn't do it right the first time. I have an analogy from dog training which I'm doing a lot of right now, but I'll save that for another day. AND I remember reading something that fits well with this in Coaching the Mental Game, but I can't quite remember it right now, so I'll have to look it up and share that with you on another day as well.

Oh My Goodness I Had to Sew

I really think sewing is becoming a lost art. Who the heck sews anymore? I know there are people who still own sewing machines and do know how to sew, but I don't think nearly as many young ladies are taking up sewing class like they did in my mom's generation.

Thankfully, my mother was one that did learn how to sew (I know, right about now you're wondering what this has to do with softball, but hang in there). My mom even let me play (I wouldn't call what I did with the machine "sewing"...) with her sewing machine and she also showed my how to stitch a single line a stitches by hand. I at least know how to tie knots in the end of the thread so that they hold and I get the general idea of how to do simple stitches.

Okay, so what does sewing have to do with softball?

Well, those of you who've ever had experience with Bobby Sox softball knows about the patches that are required to be on the uniforms for tournament time. For those of you who don't - the league requires small embroidered patches to be sewn into the girls' uniforms. This year, it was just one square patch that had do be sewn onto the back of the girls' jerseys (top middle area).

This weekend, my 3 softball playing daughters are all playing in the Hawaii State Bobby Sox All Star Softball Tournament. So, that means they ALL needed to have patches sewn onto their jerseys. Thankfully, the coaches for my oldest daughter's team volunteered to take care of it for us. Whew! All we had to do was give them her jersey at practice the other day.

But coach for the team my 2 other daughters play on decided to give the parents the patches to sew onto the the jerseys. I got the two patches earlier this week, but here I am, the night before the tournament, and I just finished sewing the patches on to the jerseys.

Boy, what an experience for me! I didn't even have a needle and thread. I had to go to the local grocery store and pick up a sewing kit and a pack of needles! At least I knew enough about sewing to realize the needle in the sewing kits was NOT going to be very good for sewing through the thick embroidered patch I was working with.

All I have to say is, "Thanks Mom for doing this for me every year while I was growing up!" Of course, she probably took care of it 10 times faster than I did, but I think I did alright for a first try. The second one I did came out a little better than the first, but the first jersey is for my 7-year-old and it's a little big for her, so it's not like her jersey is going to be hanging nice and straight all the time. Hopefully no one will really be able to tell that her patch is not quite as centered and aligned as it should be. I'll let you know after I see her wear her jersey tomorrow. Maybe I'll even be able to post a few pictures. LOL

Oh, and that's not the only thing. I found out yesterday that this may not be the end of my softball related sewing experience....and it's my family's fault. I'll tell you all about it another day. For now, I need to get to sleep. We have a long tournament day ahead of us tomorrow. Have a Happy 4th of July!

Fastpitch Talk Radio - New Episode Ready

Yes, it's been quite a while, but there is finally a new episode up for Fastpitch Talk Radio. In this episode you'll hear a commonly asked pitching question (sent in by one of our listeners) and what my answer to that question is. Plus, find out what message this year's Women's College World Series reminded me of.

Go listen to the audio at www.FastpitchTalkRadio.com. See you there!

Celebrating the 4th

We have a long weekend ahead! How will you be celebrating the 4th?

As for me, and I'm sure many others out there, I will be at the softball field. This weekend, my 3 daughters are all participating in Hawaii's Bobby Sox State Tournament. Of course, less than 3 days away, and we still have no schedule. I still don't understand why tournament schedules are set up so last minute. Why don't the tournament people all get together the week before the tournament (instead of 1-2 days before) and set up the schedule so that parents and team members can do some planning? I guess we're simply supposed to plan to be at the park all weekend from start to end; details not all that necessary, but will be provided later.

Anyway, while others are out bar-be-quing, beach going, firecracker popping/watching, and celebrating the 4th of July, my family and I will be at the park. Softball....the story of a lot of my life. But that's just fine with me.

So - what are you doing this weekend?