Is Your Team Working Hard or Getting Better?

Originally Published in: Fastpitch Delivery

Provided by: NFCA

Is your team working hard or are they getting better?

This might seem like a strange question. We all know that hard work is a key ingredient to getting better. So "if hard work can do it" then why are players not getting better as quickly as they would like, or even maybe getting worse?

Today we live in a now generation. Players want to see instant results. They have a coach for everything: hitting, pitching, running, defense, life, nutrition, high school and travel ball. Players are playing more organized games than ever before in the history of our sport, yet are they daily getting better? I hear all the time about how hard a player works, yet they seem like the same player they were a year ago. So,for all of this hard work and time and money spent, are they actually getting better?

There seems to be a very common and discouraging misunderstanding among players in today's game. They think by simply completing enough repetitions, by simply attending enough lessons and by wearing the right team's uniform they will be good softball players. Unfortunately, none of this is true. Think about this, everyone starts going to school around the age of five, they attend school five days a week for the next 13 years of their life, but when the time comes to graduate not everyone is in the same place in their education. Why is that?

I know there are many reasons for this, but the bottom line is that some students obtained all of the education that was offered; they made a conscious effort, a deliberate effort to take in and then apply the information that was provided. Some simply attended school. The same principle applies to softball.

Some players come to practice and take deliberate repetitions. They take their time to do it right, while others simply attend practice. They all "worked" the same amount of time, and all would say they worked hard, but some will leave better and some will just leave.

So how can we as coaches help them get better each day? Here are a few things that I have found helpful: The first is to have them talk more about softball than we do. I love to talk about softball, especially pitching. I can go on for hours. The problem is, me knowing about pitching and being able to talk about pitching simply means that I am employable as a pitching coach, and therefore I don't have to live in my car.

It does not mean that the pitchers I coach will be any good at all. They have to know how to pitch. Ask players tons of questions. Ask them what they think will fix the problem, ask them why they think things are not working.

Encourage players to come with new ideas of things that will help their performance. The more they know the better they will play, but also the more ownership they will take in their performance.

The second thing I have found is that getting better can look very different for each player. Some players will need to talk a lot about their skill. They need to ask questions and want a clear understanding of what needs to be adjusted before they start to work on the skill. Some players need to simply work through it by doing. Both will get better, but will work on the skill very differently.

Taking the time to see how players need to work to get better will save a lot of frustration on both coach and player. It might also mean that practice will have to look different as well.

The third is to set performance goals, not repetition goals. If your team is slow turning double plays doing 100 of them may or may not make them better or faster. Being required to turn 25 in a certain time, regardless of how many it takes will require them to problem solve, make adjustments, communicate and find ways to do the job.

The first will give them an endurance mindset of just getting through and working hard. The second will require them to be intentional and engage in the process.

The last is a bit of a trip back to sandlot days. As I said earlier, players play more organized games than ever before. Make games up during practice that require players to perform the skills they have been working on that day.

Have them play each other, have them compete for less conditioning, have them compete for who has to pick up equipment. The stakes really don't matter, but the key is to require them to perform the skill.

The game can look a lot like a softball game or not like a softball game at all. The key is they have to put their skill to the test. They need to see if their skill will stand the test. The results will show them very quickly if they improved the skill they were working on or if they simply completed repetitions.

As coaches we all want players who work hard, we just have to help them get better as well.