September 2010 Archives

As a member of the honors program, I have been required to start brainstorming ideas for my senior capstone project this semester, and so far my ideas have led me towards softball. (Of course)

The idea that Dr. Atherton and I came up with was to create an instructional book, including photographs, for parents and coaches of young girls just starting out in the sport. Coaching is one of my bigger interests for my future career, so I started by taking a look at some of the coaching books already out there and it sparked some interesting personal opinions.

One of the biggest flaws that I've seen in the coaching books that I have looked into is that, especially for younger children, there is really too much emphasis on technique and hardcore practice. Whatever happened to a little kid just having fun playing a sport? Granted, if they ever want to make it further than their little community leagues, they're going to have to put some time and effort into it. On the other side of the scale, however, sometimes kids need to experience other aspects of sports such as pure enjoyment. I can remember being a little girl and just itching to get out on the field for practice. It's a feeling that doesn't last forever, coming from experience, so it should be given some attention.

There are also topics like team-bonding that need to take prominence as well. For little kids, sports are a place where they get to meet some of their best friends and create memories with those children.

Yes, technical skills and discipline are important, but parents and coaches can't forget the reason why children are playing in the first place...to have fun!

Two weeks ago, it was 3:45 and practice was beginning just as all the other practices have in the past. We ran to the field, ran our warm-up laps, did agilities, and proceeded through our throwing progression. From there we did a drill called "ball-every-days," and went into our usual four corners drill after that.

But for some reason, on this particular day, we just weren't on our game. Balls were flying everywhere. Girls were dropping throws that were perfectly good and no one was focusing. Instead of sprinting to the next base, we somewhat leisurely jogged and halfheartedly shouted the numbers as we completed our throws. Our lack of effort did not go unnoticed, and all of a sudden, our practice came to a screeching halt. Coach didn't waste time in making sure that we understood that a lack of effort was unnacceptable, as she told us to spread out along the 3rd base line.

"Sprint to me," were her words, as we struggled to hustle as best as we could in the sweltering heat. We completed 6 of these sprints, and at that point Coach gave us another chance. All we had to do was show some effort...count with heart, sprint with eagerness, and think smart.

And we failed.

At that point, there was no turning back; Coach had given us our one and only second chance to turn things around and we failed. She described to us what we were to run next, and proceeded to drill us for the remaining hour and a half of practice. With no sympathy in her expression, Coach would repeat "Again," over and over again, until we were at the point where we were sure that we would either puke, pass out, or possibly even die. (This may seem like an exaggeration now, but at the time, I know I wasn't completely alone in my thinking!)

Now, if last year's team had been put through the same punishment, I doubt that the reaction would have been the same as it was two weeks ago. Last year's team would have complained and maybe even quit in defiance. We would have succumbed to the challenge. This year, we took it upon ourselves to do better. We didn't once question Coach as she continued to "torture" us, but we immediately blamed ourselves for our own misfortune. We trusted her and knew that she wouldn't have made us run for something that we didn't earn, and we respected that. This year's team understood that we were to blame, and that we needed to better if we wanted to succeed.

And in the past two weeks since that very day, not once have we given less than 110%.

Below are the citations for the different media that I remixed...

“Wee Willie Winkie.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 7 July 2010. Web. 20 September 2010.

 “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 16 September 2010. Web. 20 September 2010.

“Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 September 2010. Web. 20 September 2010.

“Girls and Boys Come Out to Play.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 26 June 2010. Web. 20 September 2010.

“Little Boy Blue.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 18 September 2010. Web. 20 September 2010.

“Rock-a-bye Baby.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21 September 2010. Web. 22 September 2010

 “Three Blind Mice.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 September 2010. Web. 22 September 2010.

Photo Courtesy of Beth Anne Swartzwelder

If you've already taken a look at my previous blog posts, you would probably be able to tell that this isn't the typical class blog. Of course, discussing books and articles discussed in class are important, but this class assignment was a little bit different. We were instead asked to blog about something that we are passionate about. For me, that topic was softball. My goal with this blog is to chronicle my team's journey throughout this season as we rebuild from last year, as well as discuss general softball topics that I come across over time. The following is a short portfolio that takes a look at what I have done with my blogging so far.

The more meaningful things that I have learned so far deal with Twitter especially. I have never been a member of Twitter, thinking that it was only people who wanted to make sure millions of people knew what they were doing at any moment in time. I didn't realize that with the use of precise language and hashtags, Twitter can be used as a very intellectual space. As far as blogging goes, I've learned that there are no limits. It's nice to know that there is a place where I can write about whatever interests I have, and that this format can help me to find others with those same interests.

Some of the technical tools come in handy as well. I have learned how to use hashtags and links efficiently and easily. On another note, I also learned that wikipedia could possibly be used as a valid source. While I wouldn't cite it as a main source in a research paper, it's a good starting point. Pirating and copyright is a much bigger problem in our society than I first thought also. Stealing someone else's ideas can not only have personal complications, but some steep monetary consequences as well. I don't know yet if I can consider "mash-ups" art or not, but I've come to the conclusion that the line is very blurry when it comes to these ideas.

a. Interaction

Unfortunately, my blogs have yet to stir up some good discussion, but I did leave a significant comment on Kelly's blog where we have started up a conversation.

b. Depth

 In my entry about the second week of softball, I talked in depth about a lot of different events.

c. Discussion

On Kiley's blog, I posted a comment in response to what she said about Mike Comrie being signed to the Pens. As I said before, I also commented on Kelly's blog and we have continued our conversation.  

d. Outside Material

I found an article about the future of softball and referenced it in my blog post concerning the same topic.

e. Ethos

I thought my entry about our first encounters with our new coach established my writing style and ethos.

f. Convention

I felt that my use of paragraphing and a good title in my entry about our first week of softball showed my use of blogging conventions.

So, with a bit of a short lull in our softball fall season, I thought that I would switch it up just a little bit and talk about the bigger picture: the future of softball. 

Hopefully most of you are aware of the fact that softball had been previously eliminated from the last Olympic Games and has already been removed from the next two Olympics as well. This definitely came as a huge blow to those of us out there playing our hearts out in the hopes of one day fulfilling our girlhood dreams of competing at the Olympic level. We were never given official reasons for the sport's removal, but of course speculations have been made regarding why this was done. Most speculators believe the reason to be that USA softball has been much too dominant over other participating countries in past Olympics. This seems like a bogus accusation to me personally, because although the United States has won more than their share of gold medals, the Japanese continue to give our women a run for their money and have even beaten them out a couple of times for the title.

Whether the reasons are valid or not though, softball is still on the decline as far as popularity and support goes, as described by Holly Vietzke in her blog post on the Sports Law Blog. She mentions the retirement of Jennie Finch, one of the sport's most talented and beloved icons of our time. I was privileged enough to witness Jennie's final game (even though I could only watch it on television) in the World Cup of Softball. For me as a player, it was one of the most moving and touching retirements I've witnessed. It was heartbreaking to see a woman like Jennie, who my fellow teammates and I have admired since we were so young, step off of the field for the last time. As Holly Vietzke said, it brought about the sense that softball is nearing its end.

As a college softball player, I know that realistically I will never reach the Olympics or even professional softball. So what makes me upset is not the fact that the opportunities are diminishing for me, but that so many little girls won't even be able to have that dream. Why would a little girl want to play softball if there was no future for it? Vietzke mentions that even the World Cup of Softball now only has 3 countries participating. Three! It's discouraging to hear that some day there won't be anything to work for. There are so many college softball players out there good enough to make it to play at that level who will never get the chance and so many little girls who may never enter into the sport because it is falling by the wayside.

Check out Holly Vietzke's post and see what she has to say. Even though you may not have a connection to the game, think about the little girls out there with dreams of making it big in the softball world and find a way to support.

I never thought that at the age of 19, after playing softball for 14 or 15 years, I would be learning how to throw.

I don't mean this as a negative statement, I just literally never pictured myself here.

After our first day of practice with our new coach, it was obvious that we were in desperate need of some basic training. So, for an entire week, we started over, from the very beginning. With every new task we were learning, Coach described it as "This is how a Seton Hill softball player..." and she would fill in the blank. We started by learning simple, everyday things, such as how to come to practice, which meant running down the hill to the field if you were coming from class. It was a task that would normally cause embarrassment, but for us it was about pride. It was about showing that we wanted to be there, and we wouldn't settle for being the joke of the school.

We spent close to an hour only on stretching and warm-ups; a task that typically takes a half hour at most. It was one of the most rigorous warm-ups that we had ever experienced, and I found myself wondering how I would ever be able to play a doubleheader after barely surviving our warm-up! But as the days went on, we started to learn how to throw the right way, as if we were back in the 1st grade, and things started to fall into place.

Warm-ups continued to be difficult, but day by day it got just a little bit easier. Throwing, on the other hand, took a little bit longer to get a handle on. Coach explained it over and over to us, but it was evident that something just wasn't translating. We could break it down into steps, but putting it all together when we did four corners* just wasn't happening. At this point in our practice, we experienced for the first time in a very long while what it was like for a coach to stick with us and not give up on our team.

It wasn't making any sense to us, and we continued to throw and catch incorrectly, but not once did Coach yell at us. She didn't make us get on the line and start running until she said to stop, because she knew we could get it. All we needed was another explanation and some encouragement, not to be shouted at or berated like some of us may have experienced in the past. After a quick water break, where the coaches proceeded to tell dumb jokes in order to clear our minds for a moment, we returned to our positions on the field and started counting how many times we could catch or throw cleanly in a row.

To give you a tiny bit of background, in past years, I doubt we made it past 50 or 60 in a row on a perfect day. This time, we found ourselves unstoppable. Throw after throw we kept counting. 50, 51...75, 76...98, 99...and we reached 110 before we finally committed an error. 110. One hundred and ten perfect throws. I don't know if I have ever felt a greater sense of accomplishment than I felt in that one moment. Smiles instantly spread across everyone's faces, and the excitement was palpable. We felt like we could do anything.

The next day we attempted four corners again, and I will admit that we struggled in the beginning. But eventually, the numbers started to climb higher and higher. We were passing 110, 150, 170, and finally made it to 200. We watched our coach literally run onto the field cheering for us. We thought that 110 was great the day before, but 200? As a team, along with our coaches, we never even considered giving up. All of our hard work finally presented results. Once again, we felt on top of the world.

In past years, no one really took us seriously. Other teams in our conference didn't, and neither did our own fellow griffins. The softball team was a joke. Now, if another team or a SHU student would look down on that field and see us complete 200 perfect throws, we would be taken seriously. This spring we're going to intimidate teams and show them that we have what it takes.

*Four corners, for those of you who don't know, is a drill commonly used by softball teams. The players split up evenly at each base and throw to each consecutive base (home to first, first to second, second to third, and third back to home). After throwing, each player moves to the back of the line at their particular base and the next player takes their turn.

"Team first...Self second."

This was the motto presented to us by our new coach last Monday when we met in Admin for our first team meeting of the year. I know people say this all the time, but you literally could feel the excitement and the nervousness as we all entered into the room. Nobody knew what to expect, except that as a team, there was nowhere to move but forward. It was as if we were all freshmen again, everyone had a clean slate.

I won't get into the details of last year, but I will say that as both players and as a team, we struggled greatly. We were used to cliques and divisions, unfair advantages, and bad attitudes. It got to the point that no one wanted to be at practice or at games. We wanted to give up on the game that we have loved to play for as long as we can remember.

But, at the end of last season, we were told things were about to change, so we hung in there and all came back to play in the fall. Both eager and anxious, we entered into a new year when we stepped into that meeting. The past was no longer relevant, we only had a future.

We could tell that Coach was serious right from the beginning, when she handed out several sheets of paper that included a set of rules as well as offensive and defensive strategies for us to study in the upcoming weeks. She was strict and meant business, and that was exactly what we had wanted. It didn't matter that it was going to be hard and painful because we knew that she was there to make us better, and make all of the difficult practices worth it. We knew that with her guidance and a lot of effort from each one of us, we would win.

Coach started by having us work on our horrendous field, which I think was meant to bring us together as a team and to start to take pride in our facility, whether it was up to par or not. For 2 hours, we picked weeds, moved dirt, fixed up the mound, and improved the backstop. Manual labor. It wasn't something that we were all used to. I could hear some complaints here and there; some people didn't understand why we were doing this when our maintenance crew was meant to keep the field looking nice. But it was about taking pride in Seton Hill Softball. It was about not being ashamed to say that you were a member of the softball team, and earning respect. It was about becoming a real team.

And that was when I started to really buy in to what Coach was teaching.