Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast
Everything Fastpitch is a podcast hosted by Coach Tory Acheson and Coach Don McKinlay. Tory and Don are former college coaches that are now full time instructors and travel ball coaches. Since retiring form active collegiate coaching they have committed themselves to providing educational materials to the fastpitch community. This podcast is one of the resources they are providing. Their website has 500+ blog posts and they have a YouTube channel. All of these cover fastpitch softball from coaching and training beginner athletes up through college athletes. It is a great resource for players, parents and coaches. Whether it be training...
Moving up to a more competitive team challenges / End of Careers / Pro Fastpitch is in trouble
This week's Lineup
Warmup SegmentListener Question: Daughter moved up to a stronger team, but now wants to quit. Any advice? (@11:42)Paige's Power Play: Stop hoping for a bounce back from a mistake, take action (@17:23)A lot of player's are ending their careers and we can learn from them and put things in perspective (@20:45)Pro Fastpitch is in trouble, how can we help? (@28:57)Action Coach Tip: Noisy workplaces(@32:33)Support the Show.
We have to teach and practice base running
The coaches discuss the need for better base running decisions. Even at the collegiate level there are too many mistakes being made. We have to drill the players until they understand the game situation and the do's and don't's.
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Hitting Lineup / Importance of CPR and first aid / Quote from Geno Auriemma /
This week's lineup
Warmup SegmentListener Question: How to build hitting lineup? (@9:25)Paige's Power Play (@13:58)Interview about the importance of CPR and first aid. (@16:40)How a quote from Geno Auriemma applies to softball (@36:03)Action Coach Tip (@43:03)Support the Show.
Execute the skill, then reflect on the results
When learning/practicing skills there needs to be a reflection pause between reps for the athlete to evaluate what was right and what was wrong. If we just speed through reps, improving the skill takes more time.
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Fields in bad shape / No cut policy makes rosters huge / What to do with limited options to play
This week's lineup:
Warmup SegmentListener Question: Why are fields that school ball and travel ball use in such bad condition? (@11:15)Paige's Power Play: Failure Recovery (@18:19)In some areas the school ball teams have a no-cut policy and the roster size is too large. What do we think? (@20:43)Traveling long distances to play when there isn't high level options available locally. (@28:09)Communication and clear directions (@34:12)Support the Show.
Don't confuse the player because the adults have different opinions
Coaches, Instructors and Parents need to be consistent in the message they are sending to the players. A confused player is an inconsistent player. For the benefit of the player, everybody has to work together. The coaches discuss the relationship between players and coaches and instructors and parents.
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Catchers - Backup First Base / Don't Lose Games / Correct it, don't apologize
This week's Lineup
Catchers must back up first base (@0:39)More games are lost than won (@13:49)Quit saying "My Bad" (@26:39)Support the Show.
The Comfort Zone, Stretch Zone and Panic Zone
Players need to advance their skills by practicing skills that are out of their comfort zone but not into their panic zone. In this episode we discuss the three zones that people fall into when performing tasks. The comfort zone where we are totally comfortable. The stretch zone where we are being pushed beyond what we are comfortable with. And finally the panic zone where we are asked to perform a task that we are incapable of performing. The coaches give you advice on how to use this knowledge to make it easier to develop your players.
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How to manage bullying / Reaction time for hitters
A listener asks for some advice for bullying on a team whether this be physical, mental or isolating some players. This is a topic that all coaches should be on the watch for,
Training hitters for fast pitchers. Hitting is reaction time and there are some drills that we can do to help them.
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Teaching hitting through the ball
Hitting through the ball is a concept that a lot of players have trouble grasping. The coaches discuss what it means and some tips on how to improve your players hitting.
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