SACRIFICE!
BEWARE: (For Serious Athletes & Parents Only) This has been on my heart for a while now, and I am excited to share with my athletes and parents in this program. If you are currently not in the program, we hope you share this information with your athletes and others in this situation. Beware this could cause some sensitivity to those who aren’t prepared!
I have been asking a lot of the athletes lately, how their work ethic outside of lessons/team practices has been and the answers have been varying, but all boiling down to this one thing: “I DON’T HAVE TIME.” Those words are like cuss words to my ears. With all jokes aside, this is one of the many, but major reasons why we aren’t seeing our athletes prosper and stay in their continual successes. Over the spring/summer season we saw many successes in our athletes. They not only were growing and producing results at a rapid pace, but also doubled their stats. The reason why is because those were the peak seasons of the year! During those two seasons, patterns and muscle memory were being developed. A good work ethic was the only thing on their mind because they were in a non-stop playing mode. They worked their butts off by practicing and getting in a plethora of reps causing those batting averages to increase, saw more homeruns than ever, radar speeds increased, and those ERA percentages stayed down. So why is it that we aren’t seeing the same successes as we were in March, May, June, July, and even August?
The fall season just began and we are worried about our athletes. Were worried that after one to even two tournaments they haven’t hit the way they should or they aren’t bringing the heat on the mound the way you know they can, so you might be asking WHAT’S GOING ON? There can be many different reasons, but one I challenge you and your athlete to really consider, is “Has there been enough sacrifice?” During the fall season, you tend to see that your schedules are just as busy, but more times than not it’s not always filled with “just” softball the way the spring and summer season was. We have so much going on with our fall schedules including: school activities, homework, practice, tournaments and lessons and we figure because all this is going on, there really is no time for extra reps at home.
When talking to my athletes, they have made statements like “I don’t know why I’m not hitting”, “I was doing good and now I’m not”, “I’m making adjustments, but not seeing results” so as a coach I become bothered by those statements, however, I then pose the next obvious question to them…HAVE YOU BEEN PRACTICING (outside of lessons and team practice), the answer usually boils down to I DON’T HAVE TIME! We can’t expect to see results manifest when we don’t put in the same work or amount of reps that we were doing during the spring and summer season. I have been telling the girls lately, that we have two options at this point:
Option #1) Accept & appreciate the results you have been getting
or
Option #2) Sacrifice and put in more work to get the results you want
A lot of my athletes are in different activities which have taken up some of their time that they could be spending on their softball reps, but like our Pastor says there is 24 hours in a day which is plenty of time to get stuff done. We have got to remember that if they are in these activities they cannot let their guard down; when they know that at the end of the day a softball scholarship opportunity is what they are aiming for. By NO means, am I saying DON’T PLAY OTHER SPORTS AND HOMEWORK CAN WAIT, but we must understand that there are other times that our athletes can find to get their extra reps and workouts in. Now this one might sting a little for them, but what about in the MORNING! If they do not have any practice for their extra-curricular activity in the morning, then it wouldn’t hurt for them to wake up a little earlier before school and get the reps in. The benefits that can come from that are: they will have gotten the work-out in for the day, they will be live and awake for school, and they will be succeeding at their tournaments and producing results faster than what they have been. Now that’s good news!
We have got to remember that in the spring and summer season patterns and muscle memory were being developed on a day to day basis, and if we somehow find the time/sacrifice ourselves to keep those patterns going we would never be in slumps; we would never struggle another day in our life. As athletes we won’t risk losing confidence from not producing, and we would stay consistent. As athletes we have got to continue to fill ourselves with the right techniques and keep the continual patterns going. The reason why athletes get out of shape and take so long to get back it into is because they stopped doing their daily routine; somehow-someway their pattern changed.
FOR THE PARENTS:
Now if your child has been doing all they can such as: going to lessons, working out daily, putting in extra work at home or with other coaches; then be supportive and most importantly be patient… their BLESSING IS ON THE WAY! After two tournaments, the funk is off and they will soon enough shine. Kids need to feel that they have support otherwise they shut down. Try to consider that they aren’t trying to purposely upset you in fact, as quiet as its kept, they are trying harder and harder to please you, their coaches, their lesson coaches and trying not to go down in the lineup or be removed from the mound. There is a constant worry in their head and what we should be doing is giving them a little more credit. Softball is 99 percent mental and your kids are blowing it because they are walking on eggshells 3 times as much as now than they were during the spring and summer season. There is no pressure to them when they are on fire, the pressure hits 5 to 10 times harder because now more is at stake. It’s frustrating for you as a parent, but seriously how much more for your child! The sooner you relax and be supportive, the faster the results will come. Unfortunately, softball has a way of bringing you more down when your already down, but let them fight through their struggles and be a supporter rather than another coach bringing them down even more. Stay strong parents, their results are on the way!
