Don’t Let the Coaches Get You Down

As a kid, I once faced a challenging situation. I had years of softball experience under my belt already and was recruited to play on a travel team. The coaches however severely underestimated my talents and blindly sat me on the bench the entire season letting me go whole tournaments with just a couple at bats or just a few innings seen touching the grass in the outfield. I maintained my composure the whole season hoping to see more action but never did. Through time, I consistently showed my teamwork ethic, focus on the sport, and a humbled attitude towards the game. Eventually, I earned the coaches recognition as being a great athlete and became a starter. Years later, these same coaches now admit I’m one of their favorite past players to come through. I am even more humbled today knowing that as a child I faced such a difficult situation with dignity and still to this day hold respect from the people that I had to work so hard to earn it from.

To girls now playing the sport, never give up. Never let someone underestimate you and if they do take your time to prove them wrong. In the end, it’s an amazing feeling to completely change the assumptions someone has made upon you.

“If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” – A League if Their Own

1996 Olympic Hero Moves to a Tiny Town with Big Dreams

Dot Richardson, two time Olympian has moved to Lynchburg, Va to become the head softball coach at Liberty University.  Richardson is taking over for Paul Wetmore who has been with the softball program since 1994.  Wetmore finished his coaching career with a 547-617-1 record.  Now Liberty plans to take the program to a new level by striving to become national ranked and update the facilities. Richardson was recently interviewed by LU and explained she has three goals planned out:

1. Continue the Christ centered focus in the softball program.

2. Make the program more competitive and become nationally ranked.

3. Improve the softball budget to update facilities.

To watch the “Getting to Know Dot Richardson” interview, go to this link : http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=10854&TeamID=2

This is Richardson’s first official collegiate coaching position.  She brings along with her an entire coaching staff which includes her husband, Bob Pinto, and Paige Cassady.  Pinto has over 30 years of softball experience stretching from high school to professional levels.  Cassady has been hired on to be the pitching coach. Cassady brings along several years of collegiate pitching experience from inside and outside the circle.

Left – Bob Pinto
Middle – Dot Richardson
Right – Paige Cassady

Along with Richardson’s three main goals, she mentions several attributing goals in her interview.  Richardson hopes to help the female athletes in the softball program to reach their full potential as an athlete.  Not everyone can be the best player on the field but she plans to help each player reach at their own individual highest level that is obtainable.  Richardson also hopes to give these players the ability to impact others off the field when they graduate from LU. These might be the last years these players play the sport, so they need to be able to empower others once the game is over.

So what does this mean to the softball community in Lynchburg?  Having such highly experienced and well-known softball figures in the community will greatly impact softball in Lynchburg.  Richardson has been receiving hundreds of emails from interested high schoolers who want to play at Liberty.  As a result, many of these players will end up getting involved with the nearby high school softball programs, travel softball teams, and even slowpitch leagues.  Having these influencers will improve the local softball player’s skill levels and hopefully bring even more players into the system.  Bringing Dot Richardson on board to the softball program at LU is a win not only for the university, but as well for the community.

Currently, LU’s softball field conditions are not very impressive.  The field looks like a generic high school field and does not match up to other university’s facilities.  Plans to update the field are in the works.  Luckily, LU has just updated that baseball field.  This upgrade will give Liberty a sample to go by when building the new softball field. The plan is to make the softball field a miniature version of the new baseball field.  Below are pictures of both the new Liberty baseball field and the current softball field; which will be upgraded soon!

LU Baseball Field

LU Softball Field

Photo credit: http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=10867&CoachID=792&TeamID=2 and http://www.dailycommercial.com/sports/article_7ccc94bf-094b-5203-a679-7e9f2824b505.html

6 Fall Ball Must-Have Training Threads

1. Under Armour Women’s Charged Cotton Storm Slub Pants – Cinched ankle design perfect for turning a normal pair of sweats into capris. Pants are also water resistant and has sweat wicking technology. Can be found at Under Armour, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Amazon.
2. Classic Baseball Style Long Sleeve Shirt – 10 different colors in in 7 different sizes for $2.50. Who can pass up that deal? Can be found at Boombah.com
3. Easton Women’s Turboslot III Fastpitch Batting Glove – Perfect for cold weather hitting due to the extra padding. Can be found at Softball.com
4. Women’s “Easton Pro” Low Rise Softball Pants with Piping – No more granny pants during practice ladies! Softball pants made for girls  who play in this century have finally been made. Can be found at allsportsuniforms.net
5. Mizuno Wave Rider Indoor Training Shoes – Indoor training is right around the corner. Why not train with the same pair Jennie Finch takes to the gym with her? Can be found at Zappos.com
6. Women’s Heatgear Sonic Long Sleeve – Sweat wicking and anit-microbial technology. Less chances for you to smell while training. Woot! Can be found at Under Armour and Amazon.

Training Cram Session before College Softball Tryouts

College is right around the corner.  For some softball players that means college tryouts are about to begin! Tryouts can be some of the toughest weeks you will ever go through in college; but will be well worth it once you make the team.  Here are a few training tips on what to focus on before heading off to college.

There are four main training categories for softball: Offense, Defense, Cardio, and Weight Training.

For normal training sessions, I would only do two categories per day and actually only train 3-5 times a week.  But for you, this is a cram session!  Expect to do a lot of running, throwing, and hitting during tryouts; so make that your training focus!  You may run the most you ever run all year during the first weeks of school.  Coaches like to implement lots of vigorous running workouts to test players, get players into shape, and to weed out the weak players.  For your next two weeks, I would recommend running as your main focus.  Make sure to include long distance 1-3 miles and short sprints in your workouts.

For long distance, run outside.  The tryouts are going to be outside so get used to the weather.  For sprints, focus a lot on running the bases.  It is almost guaranteed that you will be timed from home to first.  You may also be timed on home to second, home to third, and around the horn.  Even if you’re not timed, the coach may still just want to see your footwork on the bags; and therefore make you run them.

For weight training, I would not worry on this as much or at all.  Weight training will probably not be included during tryouts.  But, expect it to start immediately once you’ve made the team.  Each team usually has its own lifting regiment it follows, so you may never actually use my recommended lifts.  One again, I would not focus at all on this area before tryouts since it takes days for your body to bounce back after these lifts.  But for future use, here are some of the most beneficial lifts for softball training (Click on links to see videos on how to do the lifts):

• Weighted squats
• One legged squats and lunges
• Straight leg deadlift
• Pull-ups
• Box jumps
• Power clean
• Clean and jerks
• Ab Bridge
• Arm raises
• Dumbbell shoulder press
• Triceps Extensions
• Reverse pull-ups

Offense training:

Go to the batting cage, hit off the tee, hit softball toss, practice bunting, and take practice swings.  Get your body ready for swinging the bat at practices that can last four hours at times.  Hopefully, at this point you have your technique ready for tryouts. You just need to worry about swinging with endurance and being able to take a lot of consistent cuts.

Defensive training:

Similar to offensive training where you should have you techniques ready for tryouts at this point.  You also need to prepare your throwing arm for long enduring practices.  Find a throwing partner and get a lot of throws in before tryouts. Remember to throw short and long distance.  If you don’t have a partner, grab a bucket of balls, find a target, and throw to that.  You need to build endurance in your arm muscles.  If you are an infielder or catcher, you will also need to build some endurance for squatting.  Take lots of grounders, do timed wall squats, and get used to bending those legs!

After each workout, don’t forget to stretch!

What is the Beautifully Powerful Campaign Going On?

As I began researching for this softball focused blog, I kept coming across players saying #beautifullypowerful with shades of bright blues and purples flashing in images.  At first I ignored the colorful pictures and the girly saying thinking it had nothing to do with my beloved dirt, sweat, and blood stained oriented sport.  I grew up thinking girls should not wear pink, make up, or sparkles on the field. Camo, black uniforms, war paint, and dirt stains was the desired look. Proving that you were a tough threatening player to be reckoned with was the goal.  Seeing these girly pictures mentioning beauty had no correlation to softball to me.  I then started seeing more and more photos of girls wearing dresses, cleats, and war paint on softball fields.  Seeing the raw images of girls wearing dresses while contradicting these dresses with fierce war painted faces began to intrigue me.  What was this marketing campaign? Why are girls wearing prom dresses to dirt-covered fields and holding gloves and softball bats as if they were weapons?

I decided to find out. I quickly learned that the marketing campaign is being run by Louisville Slugger for fastpitch softball and the face of the campaign is two time Olympian Jessica Mendoza.  As I learned more about the campaign, the more I impressed I became.  I greatly admired how they made an outfielder the face rather than the typical pitcher.  Seeing other players on the field being represented and recognized is great change.   I found a few videos explaining the campaign.  The main point from the campaign is to be yourself because you are beautiful the way you are.  Jessica Mendoza intensely explains,

“Be yourself, be what you think is beautiful, not what others think is beautiful. What you see in the mirror is beauty. Softball is a game for every body type, therefore don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t dream and be that amazing player you want to be.  Anyone who works hard enough can become successful in the game.”

This message is very empowering. It is bringing young girls together and helping them learn that even if they are short, tall, have a lot of muscle, don’t have much muscle, that they can become a player like Jessica Mendoza on the field.  Nothing should stand in their way.  Girls are being reassured that they can be themselves, the dorky girl, the artsy girl, the girl with crazy hair are all beautiful in their own way.  It’s ok to be girly and play softball.  You can be contradicting just like the campaign.  You do not have to fit a stereotype.  As long as you are true to yourself, you will be great.

The campaign is wonderful. I plan to continue to follow it as long as it runs.  I even tried to contact Louisville Fastpitch to gain the brand wristbands for my softball playing nieces (with no luck).  I still hope the campaign continues to be a great success!

Below are videos and pictures of the campaign.

http://www.slugger.com/fastpitch-softball/ (Video)

Photo credit: twitter.com and pinterest.com

5 Items That Should Always Be in Your Bat Bag

 

1. Some type of hat, visor, or sunglasses to block the sun.  Hats are the best option because they can always be used to block not only the sun, but also rain from your eyes. Sunglasses are handy for catchers to block dirt from flying into your eyes while catching.
2. Sunscreen  – You may not play softball forever but skin care while playing the game could carry with you for the rest of your life.  Preferably choose a sport block.  Spray-on sunblock is also very handy for sharing with your team.
3. Water – Always remain hydrated.  Keep a bottle in your bag even if it’s empty.  You can usually find somewhere at a field to fill it with water if you are in desperate need to quench your thirst.
4. Medical Tape – Medical tape is useful for many reasons.  You can tape up an injury or us it to cover blisters or new sliding burns.  You can also use it to tape up a bat grip real quickly, for a short time, if yours becomes loose and considered illegal to use. 
5. Extra Pair of Socks – Keep an extra pair of socks in your bag to keep your feet dry and protected.  Morning games you will typically get a lot of dew on cleats while warming up.  Your feet can also get wet during rainstorms.  Holes in socks are also a pretty frequent occurrence in athletic socks, which can lead to blisters.  Make sure to bring an extra pair of socks if you don’t like wet feet or holes in your socks.

Photo credit: http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/baseballbags.html

http://www.mden.com/shopping/product.cgi?ADC910+2038

http://www.soap.com/p/coppertone-sport-lotion-spf-50-sunscreen-50538

http://laceymarie333.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-fashionhealth-favorites.html

http://www.homerunmonkey.com/homerun-under-armour-apparel-ua3625-recur-over-the-calf-womens-socks.html

1st Annual Danny Lansanah Celebrity Softball Game

The 1^st Annual Danny Lansanah Celebrity Softball Game was held in Harrisburg, PA on Saturday, July 13^th, 2013 at the Metro Bank Park.  The celebrity game was a charity event to help the Men of South East League Field Baseball League. “M.O.S.E.L.F. is a non-profit organization that caters to youth baseball throughout the entire Harrisburg area. T-ball, pony baseball, and senior baseball. M.O.S.E.L.F. provides services to some 450 children that participate in league programs, which encompass the North East, Boyer East, South East, and the Boys & Girls Club fields in Harrisburg. Youth Baseball in the city of Harrisburg had a void and M.O.S.E.L.F. filled this void for our community for over 20 years.”

I managed to get an inside scoop of the charity event due to my college roommate, Shaniqua, playing in the game. Shaniqua was brave enough to face these mammoth size athletes ranging from 200-300 pounds of muscle, at only 53 feet away on the pitcher’s mound.  To me, this sounds like a death trap; but from the pictures, it appears that she has survived and is living well!  Shaniqua battled inside the circle for half the game before moving to outfield.  She even faced the man-of-the-hour, Danny Lansanah, pitching enough junk to strike him out.

Four other locals were also given the chance to play with the well renowned athletes.  Though out the game ten players played the field in locations they thought the ball would be hit.  Even after standing anywhere on the field, it was still impossible to catch some of the balls hit such as the home run hit by Aaron Berry. Below is a list of all the athletes who participated in the event and many pictures.

Celebrities that played include:

• Danny Lansanah – NFL Linebacker for the New York Jets
• Aaron Berry- Jets
• Adrian Robinson- Steelers
• Jordan Hill- Seahawks
• Morkeith Brown- Philadelphia Soul
• Chris Franklin- Harlem Globetrotters
• Gilbert Brown- Overseas B-Ball
• Lawrence Hamm- Overseas B-Ball (part of Under Armour)
• Robert McClain- Falcons
• Marcus Easley- Bills
• Kashif Moore- Steelers
• Evan Rodriguez- Dolphins
• Jack Crawford- Raiders
• Mark Harrison- Patriots
• Ryan Spadola- Jets
• Kendall Gaskins- Bills
• Brandon Copeland- Ravens
• Ellis Lankster- Jets
• Darrin Walls- Jets
• Arthur Moats- Bills
• Pharmacist- And 1 Street Baller
• Big Mike- And 1 Street Baller
• (And most importantly) My all-star roomie!

 

Interested in donating to the cause? Contact the event organizer at: http://lansanahcelebsoftballgame.eventbrite.com

Photo credit: twitter.com and Facebook.com

Jennie Finch Maybe Anything but Retired: The Olympic-distance Aquaphor NYC Triathlon Coverage

This past Sunday, on July 14^th, Jennie Finch, two-time softball Olympian, competed in the Olympic-distance Aquaphor New York City Triathlon.  The race included at 1500m swim through the Hudson River, a 40k bike race along Manhattan’s West Side highway, and a 10k run through Central Park. The race concluded in that order with over 3,000 athletes competing in the race.

Race Map

Even though this was Finch’s 3^rd triathlon experience, she is still learning the tricks of the trade.  She mentioned many times throughout her training that she has been focusing on her transitions throughout the race.

One of Finch’s main fears was for the open water swim.  The race would involve just short of a one-mile  open water swim all going in one direction across the fierce Hudson River.  Finch had a little hardship training for the swim due to living alligator country in Louisiana.  Training in local ponds and swimming holes were a bit nerve-racking since several fish or possibly gators kept touching her in the dark water!  Even after those close calls, Finch says the swimming portion of the triathlon has become her favorite part.

Finch at the Starting Line

Another focus for Finch was to maintain hydration during the race.  Finch packed lots of water.  She also packed many packs of Gu gel to get electrolytes and bursts of energy.

Finch Bike Training

Finch finished the race in 2 hours and 51 minutes and placed 34^th in her division.  Below is a video showing her sprinting through finish line. At the end, Finch’s son Ace begged her to not participate in anymore triathlons but we’ll see if this Olympian can stay seated on the bench.

Finch with Family After the Race

Final Race Times

Finch Crossing Finish Line Video

Find out more about Jennie Finch’s race? Visit her special in ESPN W. http://espn.go.com/espnw/athletes-life/article/9479549/espnw-olympic-softball-star-jennie-finch-finishes-aquaphor-new-york-city-triathlon-ahead-schedule

Event Website: http://www.nyctri.com/

Photo Credit: http://espn.go.com/espnw/search/finch/ and https://twitter.com/jfinch27

Japan Wins the 2013 World Cup of Softball!

Japan managed to breeze by the USA, not once but twice, during the World Cup of Softball. This was Japan’s first win since 2005 when the tournament first began. From 2006 to 2012, the USA has been the continuous victor, winning 6 World Cups.

The final 2013 standings are shown below:

Gold Medal – Japan

Silver Medal – USA

Bronze Medal – Australia

The most valuable player, from my opinion, goes to Yukiko Ueno from Japan.  Ueno was fierce on the field; throwing fastballs averaging 72 mph.  Players appeared to struggle just getting the bat around in time to hit a pitch. This not surprising since Ueno is the fastest pitcher in the world; having been clocked at 75 mph.  To add even more to mix, Ueno was throwing not one but two different levels of off speed pitches.  Her off speeds came in at around 51 and 62 mph.  Ueno is considered a veteran on the field for Japan. At age 30, Ueno is the oldest and most decorated player on Team Japan.  Ueno’s experience has proven to be a great advantage.  She clearly has excellent control over every pitch, as she paints the strike zone with curves and drop-balls.  One of her most highly recognized wins is over Team USA in the 2008 Olympics.  Ueno not only pitched both games against Team USA in the 2013 World Cup but also pitched all 7 innings.

Interesting enough, this may have been a wished granted to Coach Erikson. “United States coach Ken Eriksen said that he hoped Japan used Ueno every game during its stay in Oklahoma City, including any and all against the United States. He was joking, but only in the sense that he knew Japan wouldn’t overburden its ace.”  The joke is now on him since Japan did pitch the ace and beat the USA team doing it.  Team USA has 12 rookies on the team.  This young team has learned a great deal facing such a competitive opponent. There is only room for improvement at this point in the game.

Team USA will be facing Japan again in the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International Championship in Surrey, B.C., Canada.  The teams are scheduled to play on July 17^th at 9pm.  Stay tuned to see if Japan decides to pitch Ueno again against Team USA!

Photo credit: http://asianwiki.com/Yukiko_Ueno and http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/90612

Japan wins the 2013 Junior Women’s World Championships!

Overview of the tournament

The JWWC was held in Ontario, Canada this year from July 1^st-7^th.  Sixteen countries came to the 19-U tournament which included; USA, Canada, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Puerto Rico, Great Britain, Korea, Venezuela, Japan, Australia, Brazil, China, Botswana, Netherlands, Singapore, and Mexico.  A total of seventy-three games were played in the tournament.  All games are available for viewing at http://www.sportscanada.tv/2013jwwc/index.php/broadcast-schedule.

All of the teams managed to make it to Canada except for Venezuela due to not being able get all the needed passports before the tournament began.

The USA played a solid eight games during the tournament.  After the USA defeated Japan once in the winner’s bracket, Japan came back with vengeance fighting their way to the gold medal game.  Japan managed to pull out a victory over undefeated USA in their ninth game in the tournament.

Gold Medal: Japan

Silver Medal: USA

Bronze Medal: Australia

How the USA Players are Chosen

Players are chosen by invitation to the USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Camp.  The players who accept the invite compete for the 17-18 open spots on the Junior Softball Women’s National Team to represent the United States.  This years’ junior team selection included 17 college freshmen all-stars from across the nation.  The roster can be found here http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/Team-USA/Junior-Women.

Tournament Future Impact

The tournament added great publicity for the softball community.  The tournament buzz was all over Twitter and Facebook with live updates.  Fans were able to easily keep up with the rain delays and even see and pictures of the field conditions.  The best live-streaming mechanism used was the live-scoring on http://www.jwwc2013.com.  Below is a picture of what the live-scoring looked like where fans can watch updates on all the games being played at once.

Hopefully, all of this new media coverage will help Baseball/Softball to be voted back into the 2020 Olympics!  The age that group played in the tournament include likely candidates to play in the Olympics if the sport is voted back in.  These girls can possibly become the new major faces of softball and be up there with softball idols such as Jennie Finch, Lisa Fernandez, and Jessica Mendoza.

Below Team USA tries to clean up the field during the final game so that they can play the last inning. Picture was found from a live update on Twitter.

Exciting Moments from the tournament

New Zealand performing game chant.

Interview with the coach of Team Japan. I love that he states that they came specifically to beat the US!

Photo credit: twitter.com