Working Hard

This is the time of year when every fastpitch coach, player and fan wonders; Why do I live here of all places? Why am I not living in Arizona? Many of you have had a cold or the flu, some of you came to practice feeling less than 100%. Drills are getting old. Outfielders are tired of running and playing infield. Will it ever warm up? Will we ever get outside? Of course it will, but it seems so far away now.

 The truth is that if you are going to be a better ballplayer this summer most of your improvement is happening right now. How you handle our efforts to make you a better ballplayer by working you hard in drills and picking apart your fielding, throwing, swing, etc. will determine how good you will be this summer. If you have decided, “I like myself just fine the way I am” you might get better by growing. Your batting average may get better because you hit the ball farther and harder. Then again the pitchers might get better, and someone else might hit a shot past you. What if you are wrong, what if you did need to improve skills, it is often too late to improve once the season begins. The focus in the summer is on putting the best team on the field. Those that work hard now reap the benefits in the summer.

 Over the many years I have been watching ballplayers grow, I can tell you two things for certain. One, there is a girl on each and every team who is going to surprise everyone. There is a girl that that is going to leap forward and become a great ballplayer. And at this time of the year NOBODY KNOWS WHO IT IS!

 This girl is working hard and listening closely every Sunday. She is thinking about softball and practicing at home, although I doubt she tells her teammates this. She knows her coach, parents and teammates cannot help with her attitude, as that is something that comes from within. She is trying to correct things she doesn’t do well. She knows where she stands on the team and doesn’t like it. She wants to bat first or third and she wants to play all of the time. And if you are the player coasting through the winter it might be your playing time she takes

 The second thing I am sure of is that the coaches will  know who she is, come summer.