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Aug, 2018

Finding the right competition

I have coached teams that win championships and who struggle to win games. I have coached a season where it took ten weeks to lose a game, followed by a dominating mercy ruling win in a doubleheader championship game. Only to play a fall season where the girls struggled to win one game.

I attribute the struggle to a couple of factors. Coaching and the competition the team plays are both big reasons. The team was made up of girls from an intermural season that had better than average skills and that wanted to play over the summer. The first challenge was to overcome the bad habits they developed from little to no coaching from the intermural season. These girls had a ton of raw talent, but no real knowledge of the game. Other than watching the Mets and Yankees on television.

We had a very rigorous practice schedule which helped speed up the process. I worked with parents who were willing to be engaged not just as ride chaperones but who were willing to assist me on the field as well. This not only engaged the kids but the parents as well. We all had skin in the game, which made the players be engaged more than they had been. After we were able to compete at a higher level on the practice field, they dominated the competition because they went from no preparation to over-preparation.

This leads us to the next issue. After our magical season came to a close we tried our hand at playing in the fall. The fall had a much higher level of competition that we were used to. The girls had never played in the fall before and were outside their comfort zone. All the practice in the world didn't matter at game-time. Distracted with school and playing most games from behind, mentally took them out of most games.

Because this team was a part of a local league I didn't have any say as to where we played and against whom. The girls had gotten too used to being dominate, which meant we weren't in the right place to start. Players at any age need to learn to overcome challenges. Unfortunately, that particular team was never really presented with any. They never struggled to overcome any challenge.

That is why we pride ourself on putting our teams up against good competition. Everything our teams get they earn the hard way. They put in a great amount of work to achieve their goals.

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