Uno Mas!

This will be my last post for the semester and I'll try to make it short...unlike the rest of my posts. I'm also gonna try to switch it up and not write about anything softball related but I am going stick with sports! So have any of you been watch the NBA playoffs?? The Suns swept the Spurs and it couldn't be sweeter! I'm a third generation Phoenix Suns fan and the playoffs for me have been extremely frustrating over the past several years. The Spurs have been our Achilles Heel and to be honest I can't stand them! They play dirty and in my opinion have never deserved to move on against us. I was watching the game last night at my grandparents house during dinner for Mother's Day. Everyone was cheering and yelling at the TV throughout the entire game and when the game was finally over we were ecstatic! One thing though...what the heck is up with Tim Duncan elbowing Stevie in the face?!? Some people are saying it wasn't intentional but I beg to differ! Tim Duncan never does anything like that unintentionally. All he has to do is put that puppy dog face on and say, "I didn't do it." LAME! Why do the Spurs always have to pick on Steve Nash?? They're always beating up on him. But I think Steve is OK (even though his eye was black and blue and swollen shut!) and the best part is we WON! SUNS WIN! I don't know if any of you are Suns fans but we were due! This is going to be our year! You just wait and watch! Lakers beware! We're in it to win it this year!

I'm Graduating!!!

Yaaaaa!!!! Finally!! I have just about completed my undergraduate degree! It's been a loooong road of 7 years since I first started college right out of high school but I have certainly learned a lot! I definitely did not go the conventional route and graduate in 4 years but the path I have taken to get done was well worth the wait. I started it all off at Mesa Community College while I was playing softball with their program. College ball turned out to be way more work than I ever wanted it to be. It wasn't fun anymore and I was taking the game too seriously. Once I was done with my two years at MCC I made a random switch to Kansas State University. As random as it was, it was probably one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I have lived in my little bubble of Tempe, Arizona my entire life and haven't experienced too much in the way of diversity. Moving to Kansas was a complete culture shock but I loved every minute of it!! I met some of my closest friends while I was going to school there and we still talk and see each other regularly. After my short 1 year stint at K-State I moved back home to try and finish things up at my true home ASU!!! I have been a Sun Devil since the day I was born! There was no way I was gonna have a choice because my grandpa coached here and my dad went to school and played here. I was destined to be a Sun Devil at some point in time and now I'm finally graduating!!! I was worried for a long time that taking 7 years to graduate would be an embarassment....but now that I'm finally done I couldn't be more excited. What does it matter that I took 7 years to finish? The fact is I FINISHED! There are a lot of people in our society that start college and don't finish or don't even go at all! However, now that I'm done I still don't know what it is that I want to do. Obviously coaching and being involved with softball is my passion...but I'm not sure how to make that a profession. The only way to ever get paid enough to make it a profession is to coach at the collegiate level and I need a lot more experience to make it that far. So for now I'll just find whatever job I can get my hands on and hope that I'll have the opportunity to keep coaching somewhere. Even if I can't continue to coach I'll still be playing ball a minimum of 4 days a week! I love it! I have my womens and coed tournament teams and a handful of leagues that I'm supposed to play in. This will keep me pretty busy over the summer while trying to find a J-O-B! Any suggestions?!?!? I hope I haven't bored too many of you with these blog entries. I've now realized every blog I write is a freakin NOVEL compared to some other posts people are putting up. So for that I apologize. When I start typing I get a little carried away. Thanks for listening and congrats to any of you who are also graduating this May! GO DEVILS!!!

Final Reflections on the Varsity Team

After the JV season was over, I was asked to stay on and work the Varsity team through playoffs. Working with the Varsity team has not been my cup of tea this year. It's tough to come work with a team you haven't been with all season because they have their own routine and way of doing things which was completely different than anything I would have done. To get into the playoffs at the end of the season you have to be one of the top 16 teams. Our Varsity squad at Corona barely squeaked in at the last minute at the No.15 seed. Our first game in the playoffs was against the No.2 seed Red Mtn. a team we haven't been able to beat in the regular season. Going into that first game, I feel guilty for saying this, I didn't think we would be able to pull off the win. Much to my surprise we played lights out with a final score of 4-0. Our next game we faced No.7 seed Mtn. Ridge. We had the lead for most of the game but in the 5th inning the score went from 4-2 to 4-5. Giving up those three runs in the 5th was frustrating but the girls didn't seem to be too bothered by it. In the 7th inning we started to rally back. We got girls in scoring position on 2nd and 3rd base but were unable to score any of our runners and the final score was 4-5. That loss was a huge blow to the girls. It's really important to try and stay in the winner's bracket in playoffs because if you can make it all the way to the Pool B championship game the other team from the losers bracket has to beat you twice to move on to the State Championship game. With our team taking a loss to Mtn. Ridge it moved us to the loser's bracket matching us up against the No.3 seed Basha. This is another team we weren't able to beat all season. Basha is in our conference so we get to face them multiple times during the regular season. This game played out much like I thought the Red Mtn. game would have, we lost with a score of 8-2. The season is now over for all teams in the Corona del Sol softball program. Varsity finished with a regular season record of 8-10 and a playoff record of 1-2. This was not the best season Varsity has ever had and I think a lot of it had to do with a lack of team chemistry. They have so much talent but for whatever reason just couldn't get along. This was the complete opposite of the JV team I worked with all season long. JV went 16-2 with a team batting average of .490! Hopefully next season some of my JV girls will move up to the Varsity team and things will be different. Only time will tell....

Arizona State Parks Are Closing :(

I'm not sure if any of you reading this have heard, but almost half of the Arizona State Parks are going to be closed in the next month because the State is lacking funds to keep them open. I'm a native to Arizona and I love the outdoors! For many years I have visited several of the Arizona State Parks and there is so much that they can offer to visitors. Hiking, camping, boating, swimming, horseback riding, mountain biking, off-roading, and one of my favorites fishing. These parks also provide many educational opportunities in addition to preserving much of Arizona's history. Here are some quick facts about the State Parks here in Arizona:

Although there are 31 parks total, only 27 State Parks are currently open to the public

2.5 million visitors use the State Parks annually

1,386 official camping sites ranging from primitive to large RV sized areas and 13 of the parks have electric hook-up sites

58 miles of hiking/walking trails within the parks

9 swimming areas and 10 fishing areas

10 museums and 25 visitor centers

It makes me really sad to think that a majority of the State Parks will soon be closed. They have provided me and many other visitors with some great memories. I've been on field trips to the Arboretum with my elementary school classes and I've been fishing on many of the rivers that run through these parks. These parks need to stay open to the public because it helps make Arizona rich and diverse. The State Parks are also a big attraction for people visiting here from out of state. I'm not sure why more people haven't taken a stronger interest in finding ways to keep these parks open. Fortunately some parks will become privatized through various organizations in order to keep them open, but other parks will not be so lucky. I know that not everyone loves the outdoors as much as I do but it's still worth checking out what these places have to offer. I know that I can get tired of life in a busy city and sometimes I just need to escape and get away from it all for a weekend. Well these parks are a great way to do that and I will continue to help support our State Parks year after year. If you want to read more about our State Parks and the situation you can visit these websites:

www.azstateparks.com

www.arizonastateparksfoundation.org

Who do you admire as a leader?

There are a couple of different leaders that come to mind when I think about those I admire in leadership positions. The first and most important that comes to mind is my grandfather, Frank Kush. He was a head football coach for many years at ASU and also with a couple of professional football teams. Growing up around him I’ve received many lectures about life and self-leadership. Accountability, responsibility and keeping my priorities straight are some of the ideas that have stuck with me over the years even though they’re not always easy to adhere to. My grandfather was an exceptional leader that was and still is highly respected. I admire my grandfather because he had a vision and was able to move his followers towards that vision. Relating to our discussion question this week, I would classify his leadership style in more of a traditional view. In regards to his players, he was very strict in practice and games and the players understood that when you were told to do something you did it. Otherwise, there were always consequences that ensued insubordination. This style in comparison to today’s views on leadership may seem archaic. However, what he did as a coach worked and it worked very well. To quickly contrast, my grandfather also took a lot of pride in listening to his assistant coaches. He understood that the success of the team and how good he was as a coach depended on the competency of his coaching staff. I admire my grandfather for being ahead of the game by not allowing himself to be corrupt with power. Listening to those you work with is an extremely important factor in an organization’s success and overall effectiveness of the leader or leaders. Other reasons I admire my grandfather are the multitude of characteristics that make for a great leader which include: integrity, determination, good work ethics, sociability, knowledge and experience. These are only a few of the traits or characteristics employed by my grandfather, but they are important and are the ways I try to emulate my practices as a leader. I have learned so much from my grandfather as a leader. His success is a direct derivative of putting into practice good leadership styles and characteristics. I also learned from my grandfather that knowledge through experience in invaluable. He never learned about leadership in a classroom, rather he learned through his own reflections on the experiences he has had in his life and it takes years to develop these concepts simply through life experiences. I’m hoping to apply these concepts to my own practices so that I may experiment with what works and what doesn’t work. Coupled with drawing upon the knowledge of past leaders I look forward to the wealth of knowledge I will accumulate.

Final Reflections on the JV Team

Well this season for the JV team flew by! I can remember the first week of practice thinking how the end of the season seemed so far away. Thinking back on what expectations I had for the team and how I thought the season would go it is interesting to see where it all ended up. I was nervous for the amount of girls we had on the team and getting everyone some playing time. I also was impressed with the amount of talent I had on the team this year. When it all started I was uneasy about the situation with the other JV coach. We didn't end things too well last year and I wasn't sure if the negativity was going to carry over from last year or if we could just let it be water under the bridge. There were some girls on the team this year I knew would produce a lot of results and there were others I didn't expect to do well at all. In addition to all of that I honestly thought this team would go undefeated this year.

Now that the season is over some of the things I expected happened and others situations I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. First off, our team did not go undefeated but we finished with an amazing record of 16-2. I was a little bummed that we took two loses for the season but overall I'm very pleased with the record. Even though at one point we had 18 players on the team, we still managed to get everyone some playing time. It wasn't easy to get everyone in the game all the time but we did our best. Some of the girls that I knew would be key players for our team this year produced results and even exceeded what I thought they would be capable of. Other girls that I didn't expect much out of surprised me constantly. It's amazing how much a little positive encouragement and telling a kid that you believe in them will do. One of the other great parts about this season was the fact that the other coach and I got along really well for 99% of the season. He and I have different coaching styles that are on opposite ends of the spectrum. I'm really intense and he's extremely laid back. I knew at the start of this season that we had to find a middle ground somewhere otherwise we would have struggled all season. With the leadership classes I've been taking I realized that I needed to tone my approach down to better match his and I had some pretty good ideas on how to do that. I believe that opposites attract and can work very well together if mixed properly. We worked really well this year and I think we both gave a little to find the middle ground. What was weird though is that neither of us ever talked about the situation, it just sort of worked out. He at times this year was a little more intense and pushed the girls harder than he usually did and I was a lot more laid back and let the little things that used to make me mad slide. It feels really rewarding that through applying some of the knowledge I acquired in the classroom about leadership I was better able to make the situation work for me, the other coach and the rest of the team. This was one of the best teams I have had the privilege of working with. I learned a lot from this season about coaching and leadership. The self reflecting I have done this year has been a great way for me to learn more about myself. I'm not sure where I'll go from here because now that I'm graduating from college I'll have to get a "real" job and I'm not sure that it will allow me to continue to coach at the high school level. If that ends up being the case I'm glad I had the opportunity to work with the girls on the JV team at this high school. It has been an experience I will never forget.

Leadership Qualities...What do you bring to the table?

I think that one quality I bring to leadership is confidence. As a leader I think it is important to be confident in what you are doing because it would otherwise be difficult to follow someone who is lacking confidence. As a leader in the softball world I also think that I bring experience, which is something that makes me confident as a coach. I’ve been playing softball for 18 years or so and I there is a lot I can offer as a coach because I’ve been in a lot of the same situations the girls are in now. Another quality I think I bring to leadership is my ability to communicate with those I am working with. I try my best to be a good listener and I’m always asking the girls how they are doing or what their thoughts and opinions are on a situation. I like to be open as a leader and tell the girls exactly what is happening and why rather than telling them something they want to hear. My drive to openly communicate with the girls I work with has served me quite well in developing coach/player relations. I think it has built respect and trust between the kids and myself. Honesty and integrity are another set of qualities I think I bring to leadership. I have been put in difficult situations before where I could have taken a short cut and lied or done something that would be considered unethical but every time I’ve been put in those situations I simply cannot take the easy way out. I’m a true believer in karma and I’m always telling people, “That’s bad juju, don’t do it. Otherwise It will come back 3-fold and bite you in the rear!” As a leader I think I have many qualities that I bring to the table. Therefore I’ll talk about one more, influence. I would like to think that I am an influential leader and that I have the ability to motivate others to work hard, stay positive and be respectful. As a coach I want to be able to make a difference in the lives of those I work with.

I find that I am regularly encouraged to exercise my leadership qualities that I previously listed. Most of my encouragement does not come directly. Rather it comes in the form of positive results. Although on occassion I do get positive feedback from other coaches or even teachers that I work with on the softball field and in the classroom. It’s always nice to hear back from my peers rather than my subordinates on how I’m doing as a leader because it makes me feel that I’m going in the right direction. Ever since I’ve been enrolled in my leadership courses I’ve tried to do a lot of self-reflection so that I can become a better coach. The other coach I work with on the JV team has pointed out to me a couple times this year the improvements he has seen in me as a coach over the past year and that he thinks I’ve been doing a great job. The encouragement I have received has been great but I have also experienced my fair share of discouragement. The softball program I’m currently working with hasn’t changed since I was involved in the program as a player in high school. In my opinion the program has become stagnant and is in need of some serious changes. The problem is that everytime I bring up a suggestion or an idea I’m shot down and told, “well this is how things have always been done and that is how it is going to continue to work.” It’s extremely discouraging and leaves me feeling like I can’t collaborate with the other coaches on bringing new ideas to the program.

Some of the qualities that I would like to further develop is having the ability to stand up for what I believe in. Again with the softball program I work with I think there are a lot of changes that need to be made. I usually only voice my opinion to the other JV and Freshman coaches. For some reason I’m afraid to approach the Varsity Head Coach. I’m not a big fan of confrontation and I don’t want to bring up a subject and cause problems. I don’t want to lose my position as a coach witht he program but I’m unfortunately becoming so frustrated with the situation that I’m to the point that I don’t care if I lose my position as a coach. I’d much rather voice my opinion in a respectful manner and however the Varsity coach takes it is up to her. In addition to working on standing up for what I believe in, I also need to devolop my time management skills. This is an area I’m severely deficient in and it has proven to be my kryptonite with school. I’m a terrible procrastinator and I know in the professional world that procrastination and poor time management skills will not get me very far at all.

Our Catchers...

On the JV team this year we have three catchers. When I was playing fastpitch growing up this was my favorite position. Now that I'm a coach if I'm not working with our hitters I much prefer to work with our catchers. Unfortunately this is a position that can easily be neglected in practices and I see it happen to our team regularly. It's frustrating for me because I used to be a catcher and I know what it feels like to be looked over in practice.

There are several things that catchers really need to work on in practices in order to really advance their skills. Blocking is a skill that a lot of young catchers need to develop as soon as possible. In game situations it is important for the catchers to keep the ball in front of them at all times otherwise you risk a runner stealing a base and errors only equal runs. A lot of catchers when they first start learning how to block they have a difficult time with the concept of kicking your feet back and smothering the ball. I tried to work on this with our girls throughout the season but I haven't seen much improvement from the girls who struggle with this. Another part of catching is framing a pitch. Sometimes I feel framing a pitch is more important than blocking a ball in the dirt. The reason I think framing is more important is because it can really help a pitcher in many different ways. If a catcher can frame a pitch just right and sell the pitch to the umpire it will help keep the pitch count low for the pitcher. One of the games this season we actually had an umpire tell one of our catchers who struggles with framing that she needed to do a better job at "sticking" the ball. This catcher in particular will catch the ball but she lets her glove travel even after the ball has hit the glove.

It was interesting to have three catchers on the team this year because each one of them had a strength where the other had a weakness. One girl did a great job at framing pitches, another girl was great at blocking and the other has a great arm when throwing down to second base. If I could combine all of the girls skills into one catcher you would have a stud of a catcher! Unfortunately that can't happen and it's up to me to develop their skills. I wish I had more time to work with the catchers during the season but there just isn't enough time. Again it's hard to work with the catchers in practice and they easily get looked over. So far we only had four or five practices where the catchers could spend some time with me working on catching skills. I hope that as the years continue I can see these kids grow. Each of them has the potential to play for Varsity but I'm afraid it's going to come down to politics. It's not really a fair system but I really don't know how to change it. As an assistant coach you don't really get much say in what happens with the teams regardless of what my opinion is. Hopefully in the off season the girls will be able to work on their skills and come back next season with a vengeance.

This Is Why I Coach...

Now that I am a coach, I have taken my experiences and lessons learned as a player to share with the girls I work with. One of the main reasons I coach is so that I can share my wisdom and pass on my knowledge in all aspects of the game. To me it’s not just teaching mechanics, it’s about teaching life experiences. The very same politics and drama that I experienced as a player still exist today. Last year I was working with a club team called the Chandler Sting. They were an 18u team that had girls from the ages of 15 to 18. Working with this group of girls was extremely challenging due to the attitudes of some players. However, there were a select few that were hard workers and shared my passion of the game. My time with this team was only the fall and winter seasons before last years spring school season started. After last years school season, I decided not to return to the club team due to conflicts with the other coaches. That being said, one of the players from that club team that was a great kid to work with came to me asking a favor. When I met with her to help her out I asked how her school season went. She said that it went well but that she was quitting and would not be returning for her senior year. I then sat her down to talk with her about my experiences when I was in high school. I experienced a lot of the same problems she was describing and I actually didn't play my senior year. I urged her not to quit because looking back on it now, three months of my life is a minor blip in my existence. I would give almost anything to go back and change my decision of quitting the team. I told this girl that she needed to stick it out because her hard work and efforts would be worth while in the end regardless of whatever politics she may be battling. I tried to make this conversation as heart felt as possible because I would hate to see all of her talent go to waste.

It’s now almost a year later and I haven’t seen or talked to this girl since that conversation. I received a text message at the beginning of this season that said, “I just got home from my first day of try-outs. I almost didn’t go but I rememberd what you said to me last year about not quitting. I wanted to thank you for your encouragement because without it I might not be where I am now.” This was by far the proudest moment I have ever experienced as a leader. To know that the experiences and advice I gave to one of my former players stuck with her and influenced her life in a positive way makes all of my efforts worth while. All I want to do as a coach is be a positive influence on those I work with. I had many influential coaches growing up and now it’s my turn to pass on the favor. At the end of try-outs week I received another text message from the same girl. She said that she had made the varsity team and will be able to play her senior year in high school. I was touched that this girl had remembered what I said to her and that she wanted to contact me to inform me of her situation. I hope that as I continue coaching and leading those I work with I will continue to make a difference in their lives.

The Anti-Monster Job Search Webinar

Well I just attended my first webinar and I'm glad I did one. It was extremely convenient that I could attend a career workshop from my home. I have to say that I'm a feeling a little bit of information overload. Since this workshop was at night and it's the end of the semester I was the only person that joined the webinar, which was cool because I could work one on one with the host. However, there was still a lot of information covered and because it was all new to me it was hard to keep up. The experience as a whole was very enlightening but it also made me realize how much I don't know about finding a job. One thing I heard tonight that I keep hearing from everyone is that finding a job is all about networking. There's another webinar series that is titled Dynamic Networking and I really want to attend one just because tonight made me realize that much more how important it is to network.

A couple of things I learned from the webinar tonight other than I need to know how to network is that Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com really aren't all that helpful when trying to find a job. I think it's only 20% of the companies that exist post job on one of those popular job search sites. The other 80% can be found through other search methods that were discussed in the presentation. There were some really helpful tips for me to get started with. First I need to do some self assessment so that I can then figure out what kind of industry I want to even go into. My major is general studies with a certificate in leadership and ethics. I'm really not sure what I can even do with that type of a degree and it makes me feel a little bit uneasy. Either way, this workshop gave some links to some sites that I can do some free self assessments and I may even try to go to the career services center on campus and work with them on self assessment. Once I get the self assessment done I need to figure out what industry I want to go into and then follow a series of steps that help you find jobs that exist and most people don't know about. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on the e-mail I'm supposed to receive that has all the info from the presentation. In it is a worksheet that breaks down the process of finding a job. After attending this workshop I feel a little bit more optimistic about finding a job. It gave me somewhere to start which is something I didn't have. Hopefully with this workshop and some more research I plan on doing, I'll be able to find a job without too much complication.

Learning How to be a Leader

I have enjoyed all of the classes about leadership that I have taken to date. Since I am a coach I have the perfect opportunity to continuously practice what I am learning about leadership. Through this journal and the journals I wrote in other classes I have been able to reflect on my actions as a leader and develop my skills. I am finding that as I self reflect more regularly I am able to control my actions so that they benefit me in whatever situation I face. I now see how my actions effect those that I work with. Just the other day in a game our head JV coach made a change in the line up putting a different catcher in the field. I was not happy about the situation because he put our worst catcher in. It was a close game and our pitcher started to do poorly because of the change. It’s a little tough to explain but in the game of softball or baseball, changing a catcher on a pitcher in the middle of a game can completely throw off the rhythm and that is exactly what happened. Soon after the catching change our pitcher was getting hit by every opposing player. We then had to make a pitching change. After the pitching change I went to our head coach and I told him that I thought it was a dumb move and I wanted to change it back because I was afraid the new catcher was going to cost us the game. The head JV coach was irritated with what I was saying to him and told me that he hasn’t heard anything so negative come out of my mouth all season long and that I needed to stop. In previous seasons I might have sat there and argued with him instead of keeping quiet. Instead I decided to take his words to heart and I thought about the situation. I made the decision to talk with our catcher and feed her with positive and encouraging words. To my surprise the catcher was able to maintain for the rest of the game assisting the new pitcher and we ended up winning the game.

Thinking back on the situation I’m glad that I was able to step back and reflect on what was happening at the time. I could have very easily worn my emotions on my sleeve and let the whole team know how pissed off I was about what was happening. I think that my choice to stay positive is a direct effect of the leadership classes I have been taking. I hope to continue to learn about leadership through books, coaching clinics and self reflection or keeping a journal on my experiences. Knowing more about leadership can help me be successful in my future career or other endeavors because it will give me the tools to help others when working in teams whether it is in the office or on the softball field. Knowing how to interact with others and finding ways to bring the best out of them will hopefully make me stand out amongst many others. I think that if I can find a way to stand out in a positive manner it will help me climb to the top. Unfortunately I think there are many managers or coaches that do not fully understand leadership. I think a true leader brings out the best in others so that the team or organization can be at its best. There are many “leaders” out there that are only in the game for their own self advancement and do not really care about the team. I think the most successful leaders in our world are those that truly care about the cause they work for and those they work with.

Ojos

Growing up playing softball my dad always used to say to me, "Ojos!" What he was trying to tell me was to keep my eye on the ball. Over the many years of playing softball I have realized the importance of watching the ball. It's pretty simple, how can you hit something if you can't see it? Today in practice we worked on vision training. This is something that many coaches do not see as a necessary drill for practices but in all reality it will absolutely improve your hitting.

There are several drills that you could use for vision training and I've seen and used most of them. One of the most basic drills you can do for your players is to buy about a dozen golf size wiffle balls and then take a 3/4 inch pvc pipe that is cut to the length of a bat. You could use just about anything for the bat like a broom stick or some people use what is called a quick stick. Quick stick is a bat developed by I believe Jenny Finch (not positive on who actually developed the idea) that is designed to develop quick hands. Either way the point of the drill is to use a really skinny bat and a really small ball. The idea is that both the bat and the ball are much smaller and you really have to focus on watching the ball hit the bat. It is important that when using this drill for the first time with your players that they slow their swing down so that they can focus on seeing the ball. As the players get used to the drill and become more successful at hitting the ball with a slow swing they can begin to speed up their swing.

Another vision training drill I learned about this year was take two color markers and write the numbers 0-9 on a bucket of balls. Then feed the balls through a pitching machine and have one of the girls stand in the batters box and try to see if they can tell what color the marker is and what number is written on the ball. Obviously the number should be written multiple times on the ball because the ball spins when pitched. I really like this drill because it trains the eyes to read the spin of the ball which will become important when hitting against a pitcher that has a great rise ball, drop ball, curve or screw ball. Any one of those pitches should have a significant break on it when pitched. The longer you can see the ball and read the spin the more likely you are to hit it. The eyes are controlled by muscles and muscles need training in order to function at an optimum level. Training your eyes to watch the ball is an extremely important part of the game that is frequently over looked.

It's Tough When a Kid's Hopes and Dreams are at Stake

I had a conversation recently with one of the pitchers on our JV team and her parents. This kid is extremely talented and has a lot of potential for growth in her softball skills. Her favorite position is pitching with shortstop and center field being her second and third choices. At the start of the season we gave this pitcher a lot of starts but unfortunately she could never finish a game in the beginning and we would have to bring in a different pitcher to finish the game. She has a lot of velocity on her pitches but she is lacking a lot of control. When watching her stand on the mound right before she lets a pitch go, it seems that she is lacking confidence. One thing you have to have in order to be a successful pitcher is confidence. Even though she has struggled throughout the majority of this season I continued to have faith that one day she would just find "it". I knew that there would be one day during a game that she would finally feel relaxed and feel confident while pitching. We gave her a start against our last match up with Dobson High School. She had a what I thought was a personal best game that day striking out 8 hitters and allowing only 2 runs scored. That was her first full game she has pitched in three years. The only other opportunity we have given her to pitch was against Mountain Pointe and because we have so many players she only got to pitch for 3 innings but I could tell that again she was feeling more confident than at the start of the season.

With that being said, when I spoke with this girl's parents they informed me that she wants to continue to pitch and that her ideal dream is to pitch for her favorite University. The particular University she wants to go to is a big contender in the NCAA for softball. Her parents then asked me what I think she needs to work on to get to the Varsity level in high school and then on to college ball. It took me a moment or two to collect my thoughts because I did not want to crush the dreams of this girl but at the same time I wanted to be as realistic as possible. I first said that she needs to work on hitting a lot more because if any player has a really strong bat most coaches will find a place for you in the line up. I also suggested that she continue to see her pitching coach on a weekly basis. The next step for her to take towards her dreams would be to find a club team to pitch for. The only way she is going to continue to grow as a pitcher is to get as many innings pitched as possible over the next year. The more games she plays in the more confident she will become. That's of course if she can find her control and develop her various pitches. As of right now she can throw a fastball and a change up. If she wants to take her game to the next level she needs to develop more pitches like a rise ball, drop ball, screw and curve. The other problem she is facing is that she is one of five sophomore pitchers in the program. There are also two freshman in the program this year, one was on JV and the other on Varsity. In addition to competing for playing time against 6 other pitchers this year, next year the program is anticipating two more freshman coming to the program that are likely to pitch on the JV and maybe even Varsity levels. All of which I tried to explain to the hopeful pitcher and that if she wants to continue to pursue pitching she has her work cut out for her. I tried to also reinforce the fact that I think she would make a stellar center fielder. She tracks the ball very well and she is by far the fastest girl on the JV squad and maybe in the top three in the entire program if not the absolute fastest. A great center fielder needs to have speed because they have a lot of ground to cover.

Situations like this are tough when dealing with the kids you are trying to caoch and their parents who are invested in their kid's future. I tried to be as blunt as I could about the situation without being completely discouraging. I wanted to make sure that she understood what she is up against before choosing to continue her dream. I want to support her as much as possible with out then becoming unrealistic. I want this kid to be successful in this sport and I'm not necessarily sure pitching will be her forte. But how else can you explain that to a kid who dreams of pitching for her favorite University? It's not easy...I wish her the best of luck and I hope that I can help her achieve her dream in one way or another.

STAR in the Employment Interview

I went to a career workshop today that was about what to expect on interviews. The lady who ran the workshop gave a lot of very important information that everyone should know when going to an interview. One of the biggest things that I learned from the workshop was how important it is to prepare before you go. She stressed that it is important to research information about the company because you might be asked questions to see what you know about what the company does and maybe if they have a mission statement. It is also important to be prepared to answer behavioral questions that are sometimes open-ended questions. She suggested using the STAR method in answering the questions. S - Situation T - Task A - Action R - Result....When asked a question like what would you do if you were in this situation or tell us about a time that you had to.....(fill in blank) and you should explain what the situation was, what the specific task was, what you did to accomplish the task and what the results of the actions were.

Another topic that was covered in the workshop was appropriate attire when attending an interview. The lady running the workshop suggested that men wear a business suit and tie and that women wear a skirted suit. Normally I would agree that wearing a suit is the appropriate attire for an interview. However, I strongly believe that it depends on the company and the job you are interviewing for. Several of the other students that attended the workshop were graphic design students. My sister is a graphic design student and the industry is very different than your typical business. One of the design students spoke up and tried to say that a skirted suit would be seen as too stuffy or uptight. One of the points brought up before this was how it is important to "fit" with the company. Wearing a skirted suit to many design firms would give the wrong first impression to a potential employer. Long story short, I was really frustrated with the lady who ran the workshop thinking that a skirted suit is the only outfit ever appropriate for any interview. I agree that you need to look very professional, clean cut and presentable when attending an interview because you only get one chance to make a first impression. I think it just depends on the company and the position you are interviewing for.

Overall the workshop was very informative and I was able to take away some new information that I never thought about. A good interview should be a conversation. Employers are not only looking for someone who meets the qualifications but someone who has a personality that fits with the company.

Comparing the Varsity team to the JV team

Our JV team practiced with the Varsity team this week. Even though it was a combined 32 girls on the field, that practice was much more efficient than any of the practices with just the JV team. I've heard comments from other girls that have been on JV in years past and from those that are on the team this year that even they thought the practice with Varsity was much better than any of the practices we have by ourselves. Although it was efficient, it was not as much fun for the girls. I was really confused when they told me that. Even though the kids were constantly doing something the drills were not particularly hard to do. So I tried to figure out what it was that made practice not fun. Eventually I started to realize that there is a different attitude on the Varsity team. A lot of the girls felt very uncomfortable because of the pressure they feel to be perfect. There's some kids on Varsity who are not the nicest teammates you could ask for and if you make a mistake they will take that and turn it on you making you feel you don't belong there. It makes me sad that this mentality exists on Varsity. It seems to be very exclusive on that team instead of inclusive. There is zero sense of unity and no one backs each other up. It seemed as if it was every athlete for themselves out there, which in my opinion is not a team. In a lot of my leadership classes I have been taking I have read about how exclusivity can break a team apart. It is extremely important to communicate and be willing to work with others on a team. We have told the girls this year several times that you don't have to like your teammates but you do have to respect them. On the JV team we haven't had much trouble with that at all. On the Varsity team it is a completely different story. Many of the kids who have to work their way up in the program never feel like they have a place on the Varsity team and because of that I have seen kids quit their junior or senior year because it just isn't fun anymore. Those kids that make the Varsity team as freshman are the ones who create this attitude of, "the rest of you aren't good enough to play with us." I wish I knew how to eliminate that as a coach. Granted I don't work with the Varsity team and I have no control over what happens on that team. However, one day I hope to become a head Varsity coach at some program and I'm sure I might run into this problem. I think that one way to fix the problem would be to work on team building outside of the softball field. Make the kids get to know each other on a more personal level. I'm not one hundred percent sure that would work but I think it might be a step in the right direction. For now, I'm just happy to have a great group of kids on the JV level.

How do you manage a team with 18 kids?

This season the JV team I coach has 18 players on our roster. It has been an extremely difficult task managing the team and making sure that everyone gets enough playing time. There are a few girls on the team that are exceptionally good at both defense and offense and they have received the most playing time this season. The majority of the team has split time pretty evenly and there are a few more that have played the least. Since the season is coming closer to an end we tried to get everyone into today's game. One player in particular has had a lot of playing time this season at third base. However, third base is not her preferred position. In the off-season on her club team she is primarily a catcher. On the JV team this year we have three catchers. The reason the girl I'm speaking of has played third base most of the year is because she is by far our best third baseman. Today was only the third game she has caught all season long. Her first game she did pretty well and then her second game for some odd reason she did not play to the best of her ability. When I watched this kid play today as a catcher, I was amazed and disappointed all at the same time. I was amazed at how fundamentally sound her catching skills are. The other two catchers that have played the most over the season really struggle with framing the ball and throwing the ball down to first, second or third. The girl who got to catch today does a phenomenal job at framing and throwing. There were multiple pitches thrown today that were not strikes but because of this girls ability to frame and sell a pitch to the umpire it really helped keep the pitch count down for our pitchers. She also threw three girls out today trying to steal second base. The reason I'm disappointed is because I did not give her a chance more often at catching. I felt absolutely terrible that she did not get more opportunities. Something else I noticed as she was playing in the game today was that she was making better contact with the ball when hitting and it gave her a lot more pop to her hits. In the beginning of the season she was hitting really well but as the season continued and she didn't hit as well as we thought she would I couldn't figure out why. I think now it is because she is more confident in her game while she is catching. Something I have experienced lately with my slow-pitch teams is that when I play in the outfield on my woman's team I hit around .750 and on my co-ed team I play a different position every inning and my average is .250. Thinking about this made me feel even worse about the situation because had she been playing at catcher all season long she would have been more successful with her hitting this season. I feel that as a coach I made a poor decision having her play third base more than catcher. After the game today I pulled her aside and spoke with her parents letting them know how much I believe in their daughter as a catcher, that she is by far the best catcher we have on the team and that I hope she doesn't give up on it. I also apologized to the kid for not giving her more chances to catch this season. Fortunately she is only a freshman this year and has three more years ahead of her in this program. If I'm lucky enough to work with the program next year and if I'm lucky enough to have her on JV I want to give her the time she deserves in games as a catcher. This is one of the many problems of having 18 kids on a roster! I wish I had more control over the team. I would have made sure we only had 14 kids max. If I had fewer kids on the team it would make it a lot easier to make sure everyone gets more playing time.

Team average is .457!

The team now is 12-2 and it looks as if we'll finish the season strong over the next few weeks. I have been on edge lately when I'm at practices and games. Something I have tried my best to do this season is to not let the little things get to me so easily and just relax. The girls that have played under me before have even noticed and commented on my overall attitude on a daily basis with the team. They say I'm a lot more laid back this season and that it has been a lot more fun overall. Well, all of that started to slip this week. I have found that I'm on edge and my temper has been very short with them. In two of our games this week even though we run ruled both teams we were not as focused as I would have liked for us to be. Last night I thought a lot about how I can fix the situation and just enjoy the rest of the season. I need to keep in mind that this is only a JV softball team and the fact that we're 12-2 is amazing!! To top it off our team batting average is .457 and one of our players has 35 hits for 50 plate appearances which works out to be a batting average of .700!!! The rest of the girls range from .290 to .667! I really feel that I don't have anything to be upset about. I suppose my problem is that I expect the best, maybe even perfection because I feel the girls are capable of more than what they are doing which doesn't make sense because they're already AWESOME! I hope that I can continue the rest of the season with a positive attitude only. The girls really have worked hard and deserve to have fun, me being grumpy is not going to help them accomplish that. The question I now have for myself is where do we go from here? Part of me wants to scrimmage our varsity team. The varsity team is not doing well at all and I seriously think we could compete with them. Maybe we'll get lucky and the head varsity coach will agree to a scrimmage. I'll of course let you all know what happens if we get the opportunity. That's all for now!

Practicing with the JV Team

Today's practice with the JV team was a bit tough for me. It was probably the hottest it has been all season long which didn't really help the situation. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I coach at the high school I used to go to. Ever since I was a freshman at that high school (10 years ago) the JV team always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to practices. There are only two fields the softball program have to use. Varsity obviously gets their own practice field and then the JV and Freshman teams have to share a field. For some reason, the Freshman always get the playing field first and the JV team has to use whatever excess field space there is left over outside of the fences. Now that the season is half way over some of the things we do in practice are getting repetitive due to lack of resources. There are several equipment items that the JV and Freshman teams both need but we don't have. The unfortunate thing about it is we do a lot of fund raising and I can't figure out why we're lacking equipment when we have the money to buy it. It's really frustrating for me as a coach because the girls aren't getting the full benefit of practicing. It's also frustrating for me as an assistant coach because I feel that I have no say in what happens on or off the field with the team. I don't get to plan practices anymore, I don't get to say who I want on my team at the beginning of the season...I could sit here for awhile and list out several things to complain about the program. Now I know in my last post I said how fortunate I am as a coach to have the group of girls I'm working with and that still stands. But there are some other let's say "administrative" things that are completely out of my control and it drives me nuts! Point of the matter is I'm tired of being an assistant coach and I really want to find a program that will take me as a head coach. I feel that I have a lot to offer as a coach and that in the position I'm in now I'm unable to exercise any of my ideas, wants or needs as a coach. I know what I'm doing right now is whining but this is my fourth season with the program as a volunteer and I'm feeling that I need to move on to something else after this season is over. Those of you that are reading...Have you ever experienced a situation where there are things out of your control that you would do differently if you had say so? What did you do in those situations? I've tried my best this season to not let it get to me and today it all got to me. The girls were feeding off of my energy or lack there of and it wasn't good. I think the program needs change, it's been so stagnant ever since I was going to school there. I guess my other question to those of you reading...why do people fear change? That's all for now I guess. I would appreciate any advice or comments that you all may have. Thanks!

We're 8-2

So I'm terrible at blogging in case you haven't noticed. I hope I can make up the rest of these blogs by the end of the semester! EEK! Today's game was a lot of fun. We played Dobson High School and won with a score of 8-2. I just realized that the score was 8-2 and our record is now 8-2, weird! Anyways...today's game was a lot of fun because the girls who don't get a lot of playing time got to play all 7 innings. The girl who pitched had her first complete game today and she also had an in the park home run! The other girls who don't get to play a lot also did really well! I feel so fortunate to coach the team that I have. All of the girls get along great and we act like a team. The varsity team today played at the same location as we did and they didn't do as well. They have a lot of talent on the varsity team but for some reason they're struggling to pull together as a team.

Team chemistry is so important when trying to build a winning program. You could have a team full of all-stars and if the chemistry isn't there then it's not going to bring a championship. As a coach I still find it hard to understand where the chemistry comes from. I wish I could figure it out because I'm not always going to have teams that have chemistry. What do you do then? Like I already said, I feel fortunate to coach the group of girls I have this year. I've had so much fun with them and the other coach I work with.

We've now played 10 games this season and we have 8 more to go. I started this season thinking this team had the right stuff to go undefeated. However, as you can see, we've lost two games. Neither of which we should've lost. Our first loss came from Red Mountain with a final score of 1-3. Our second loss came from Gilbert with a score of 12-4. The Red Mountain game was tough because the pitcher we faced had a great rise ball. I tried my best to work with the kids during the game to make the necessary adjustments in order to hit the rise ball. Unfortunately the kids weren't able to make the adjustments and we lost. It was hard for the girls to take their first loss and I had to figure out as a coach how to deal with their psyche. They bounced back from the loss and won a couple more before we took our second loss to Gilbert. That game was way worse than the one against Red Mountain. The girls were bickering with each other and we didn't function as a team that day. After the game was over we huddled up as a team and I wanted to get feedback from the girls as to how they thought they did. It was really great to get some of the responses I got from them. They were all very candid because I made sure to let them know this is a safe time for you all to say what is on your mind. I think it really helped and the team has been a lot stronger ever since. Hopefully the rest of the season will go well so that we can finish strong. I guess that's all for now.

It's been awhile...but we're 4-0!!

So I've neglected my blogging duties here for awhile. I get so busy with my other classes and coaching that I keep forgetting to put some posts up! Hopefully I'll get another up here this week.

So the team I coach is now 4-0!! YAY! Three of our games were won due to a run rule or mercy rule. For those of you who are not familiar with softball, in high school after 5 innings of play if one team is ahead by at least 10 runs or more then the game is over. Normally softball games at all levels are played in 7 innings. We have a really solid team this year. I think I've said before that I feel comfortable starting any one of the 18-19 players that we have. Everyone can hit and play defense. Three of our girls have a 1.000 batting average on the season with somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 at bats. The only team that gave us any potential threat was a school from out in Gilbert. Through the 5th inning our team was down 4-0. The team was patient, persistent and kept their spirits high and we were able to come back and win 9-5 in the last 2 innings. It was by far the most fun game I've coached in a long time. Normally when a team gets down by 4 runs in a game it's difficult to keep a strong morale. However, this group of girls astonished me when they kept cheering for their team with smiles on their faces. They didn't let themselves get down and that game showed their true character. When facing adversity, you can either let it beat you or you can rise above and show how strong you are as an individual and as a team. The one thing I'm afraid of happening now that our team has shown what we're capable of is that they will let their egos get the best of them. I've started to see some laziness from some of our better players on team. We're lacking some discipline and we need to be more conditioned. This is an area I've struggled with the other coach for every year I've worked with him. Since I'm in school right now, my class schedule doesn't allow me to get to practice at the start on Tuesdays and Thursdays. How the girls start practice sets the tone for the rest of the time they are on the field. The way I see it, we're good, but we're not that good! We could be so much better than we are right now if I could get the team to be more disciplined. I'm trying to figure out now how I can accomplish this with the other coach. Our personalities are so incredibly different, he admits that he is more removed from the game than I am. As a coach I bring the intensity to the field and he's the happy-go-lucky fun coach. I guess it's kind of like a good cop/bad cop situation. It's not something I'm fond of being as a coach but I'm not there to make friends. I'm there to help the team achieve goals and that can only come from hard work. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I have a feeling the results of this predicament will be the same as it has been in previous years. It's quite frustrating and I would love to find a way to convince our other JV coach that our team needs to be more disciplined. Our job as coaches on the JV team is to get the kids ready to play for the Varsity team. As of now we are not accomplishing that goal if we stay on the same path. Since I'm not the head coach of this team it's difficult to put my ideas into action when the head coach doesn't see eye-to-eye with me on these issues. More on this later...for now, I need to get to practice!

Week 1 of Practice is Complete

The first week of practice for the JV team is now over. This past week I was able to evaluate the talent we'll have for the season. We have only two players that have returned from last years JV team. The rest were on the Freshman team last year and we also have a couple of current freshman playing for us. Our first game is coming up on Wednesday the 24th against Dobson High School at home. With our first game coming up so quickly, we have had a lot of information to cover over this past week. The other JV coach and I decided to stick to the basics for now. We worked on hitting pretty intensely while covering basic situations on defense like the double play and who will take the cut-off throw from our outfielders. For the most part, every one of our players looked really good this week in practice. We have 16 girls on our team which means that not everyone is going to get to play. The other coach and I have made it very clear to the girls that they need to come to practice everyday with a positive attitude and the will to work hard giving the team 110%. Any day that a player slacks off in practice is the day someone else will work harder than them and earn a starting position for games. While evalutating our talent on the team I've been running scenarios in my head of who might start because they have great defensive skills or because they have a strong bat. Just about everyone on our team can hit. I feel pretty confident that I can put together a starting line up with all 9 players averaging over .300 throughout the season. Last Thursday, I wrote out on a piece of paper the who I believe are our top 9 players. Coincidentally so did the other coach and we had the exact same starting 9 players with a couple of girls hitting in a different order. It was nice to know that the other coach and I are on the same page with who we want to play. It will be interesting to see how our first game plays out. I hope that our starting nine can produce results like we expect them too. If they don't, then one of the other 7 girls on the bench will be given the opportunity to step up and get the job done. I'll let you all know how our first game goes by the end of next week! Have a great week everyone! Thanks!

First Post, New Season!

Since this is my first post for this blog, I suppose I should tell a little about myself to let you know who I am. My name is Jenna Kush, I am 25 years old and I'm in my last semester for my undergraduate degree in general studies with a certificate in leadership and ethics at Arizona State University. I am a native to Tempe, Arizona and I absolutely love living here in the Valley of the Sun. While growing up here, I have constantly been surrounded by sports. My absolute favorite is softball/baseball because I've been playing for about 15 years now. Although I love softball, football is another favorite of mine and you will always find me at the Sun Devil football games in the fall. GO DEVILS! It may appear that I am a total sports junkie but that is not necessarily the case. I enjoy all kinds of music, art and movies, I love going to movies! I'll leave it at that for now and there will be more about me later.

Those of you that are reading this probably already know that this blog is being kept for the purposes of documenting my experiences in my internship, but I just in case someone reads this and isn't a part of this internship class, that is why I'm keeping this blog. For my internship I am working as an Assistant Softball Coach for the JV team at Corona del Sol High School. This entire past week was try-outs for the girls. It's always interesting during try-out week to see the new freshman faces coming into our program and to see who has improved since last year. I have to say that I am impressed with the amount of talent our program will have on all levels. Our Freshman team will be stacked as well as our JV team. The Varsity team on the other hand is in a precarious situation. A lot of the leaders and pitchers from last year's team have graduated which means that some of the younger girls are going to have to step up their game. Our oldest pitchers in our program are only sophomores. I've been following our Head Varsity Coach all week long to see how she is dealing with the situation on hand. She's an amazing coach and there is a lot I can learn from her. Unfortunately during the week of try-outs we as coaches are not allowed to "coach" or "instruct" and of the girls. Therefore, I don't have much else to report on this weeks events other than I'm excited for the upcoming season.

One last bit of information before I finish my first post. I consider myself to be a very open and down to earth person. I welcome any comments, questions, advice or even constructive criticism. I know that for the requirements of this class we are supposed to comment on each others blogs, but I just want it to be known that if you have anything to say please feel free to let me know what is on your mind. Your feedback will hopefully allow me to gain a better understanding of my experiences. Thanks and I hope you enjoy reading about what I'm doing over the next couple of months!