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Get Out Of Your Lawn Chair!
by Dave
Monday, May 15, 2006
Is there anything as difficult as sitting in your lawn chair ... looking at your daughter's number ... on the back of her jersey ... as she runs away from you ... to retrieve the ball ... which got past her ... and should have been a routine single ... had she not completely missed it?
Why yes! There is something worse than that! What's worse is being your daughter ... running away from everyone on the field ... wishing you could crawl into a hole in the ground ... or perhaps get a broken bone trying to catch the linedrive you just missed ... running as fast as you can ... knowing that 50, 100 or more people are staring at the number on your back ... while you run after that ball .. and the girl who hit it, along with her three friends who were on base at the time, circle the bases ... and there is no way you're going to be able to get the ball in time to stop her ... from scoring the opponents fourth run to take the 4 - 3 lead from your team ... in the bottom of the fifth, or sixth or whatever the heck inning it is ... and if only you had a little practice, this might not be happening.
I often proclaim that you are seriously remiss in your duties as parent, if you do not go out and play catch regularly with your softball playing child. Nothing improves hand-eye coordination better than a little regular game of catch. The same is true of hitting - regular batting practice is what makes decent hitters into good ones. But what is often overlooked by parents is the value of outfield practice.
You can teach a girl to catch. You can teach her to run. You can even teach her to catch while running. But in order to learn to judge a hit ball in the outfield, you need to experience a lot of hit balls. I'm not writing today to discuss the correct mechanics for playing a fly ball, linedrive or outfield groundball. What I'm writing about is learning judgment in the outfield through experience. The only way to learn it is to have lots of balls hit to you. If your daughter is going to be playing some outfield, it behooves you to get yourself a bucket of balls and head out to a local field for some practice.
If you're getting my message and planning on following through, here are some random thoughts about it. Bring some water - you're gonna need it. Hitting fly balls is not effortless. Dress appropriately. You're gonna break a sweat. Wear light clothing suitable to athletic exertion. Wear a baseball or golf cap. You'll need to shade your eyes. Put on a little sunblock. If you go out during the heat of the day for more than a few minutes, you'll likely get burned.
Get yourself a bucket of balls. If you have to constantly chase balls thrown in from the outfield, you are going to get worn out faster than your daughter will. Choose your bat wisely. Don't go for the 33 inch (- 8) bat you bought your young hitter. You'll thank me for that one when you CAN get out of bed in the morning. Choose a good light bat. You ought to be able to do alright with a 31 inch, 21 ounce bat. For the enterprising, get yourself a softball fungo bat. SoftballJunk has a number of fungo bats available for purchase at decent prices. Fungo bats are generally lighter than ordinary ones and make it relatively easy to hit pops, flyballs and linedrives.
When you hit balls to your daughter, you have to be able to judge her ability as well as your own. Unless you were a minor league ball player, you probably can't hit the ball to the point of danger if your daughter is 11 or 12. If she's younger than that, I suggest you try starting softly and then hit harder and harder until you feel you are just beneath her abilities. Let her tell you what she can handle. If your daughter is 11 or 12 and a decent player, hit away! She can handle it!
You might wonder where you should hit them. It really doesn't matter. You should strive to spray the ball all over the place. Hit some hard ground balls through the infield. Hit some linedrives within close range of her in the air. Hit some over her head. Much of the value of shagging fly balls is seeing the trajectory. Knowing that you have to go back on a long fly means having experienced a few over your head. Similarly, knowing that a linedrive during a game is going to land in front of you involves having experienced a volume of them beforehand.
Every so often take a break to get a drink. You're getting over-heated and so is your daughter. While you two are sitting on the bench enjoying a drink, you have a real opportunity to bond with your kid. Enjoy these moments. They don't last forever. While you are sitting around drinking some water, discuss some of those plays. Let her tell you how she felt chasing that ball. Teach her to understand that you don't expect her to catch every ball but you do expect her try. You expect her to learn how to judge them and make an effort to get as close as possible. Tell her about a fly ball you once missed - didn't we all miss at least one at some time? Maybe you could explain to her how that one that got past her and cost her team that game was really your fault because you were too dumb to realize she could use a little practice like this. Maybe tell her about a time you remember this major leaguer completely misjudging a flyball and costing his team the game. Don't let her believe, for even a moment, that anybody always correctly judges flyballs.
And after you've finished with this outfield practice, plan to do another in the near-term future. Recognize that you will again be sitting there, watching her number on the back of her jersey as she runs after another game-costing home run one day. But that's OK because this opportunity to spend time with your daughter was priceless even if she never becomes even a decent outfielder.
Permanent Link: Get Out Of Your Lawn Chair!
 
Batting Practice Knee Injury!
by Dave
Monday, May 15, 2006
Steph wrote in to us about a season-ending injury received while taking batting practice:
She is a freshmen in high school and just made the varsity team. While taking BP, she dislocated her right knee cap. Her doctor told her it is a very common injury in softball. Her physical therapist concurred noting that there are important differences in leg anatomy between boys and girls. She says, "for girls this is extremely common because of the way our quadriceps muscles are built compared to guys. [The physical therapist] said that the quadriceps is divided into 4 small muscles, 3 long ones on the outer part and one small one on the inner part of the leg. For girls the longer outer muscles are so much stronger than that small interior muscle that they pull the knee cap outwards constantly grinding against the little cup the knee cap stays in, or the knee cap it self grinds away til one day even with the smallest aggravation pops it out of place. I was lucky because of how quickly it went back into place, I didn't need to have surgery. To prevent this in the future, I have to strengthen the small interior muscle without making the bigger, outer ones stronger. I need to exercise both legs so it doesn't happen to the other leg."
I wasn't able to locate a useful web site which discusses knee injuries specific to women or softball, or which discusses dislocated knee caps in softball. Nonetheless, I think it is at least worthy of mentioning. I don't know if what the doctors and therapists tell Steph is true but everything I have found suggests women do have less-developed thigh muscles (quadriceps) than men do and this could be an attributing factor to their overall higher frequency of knee injuries in sports. Women also tend to have greater flexibility of joints although I'm not sure if this could be a factor in Steph's injury.
Softball is a sport involving explosive strength. Softball players don't run 100 yard dashes, they run 20 yard ones. The act of throwing a ball, whether pitching or not, involves an explosive force. The same can be said of hitting. No matter what the softball skill is, frequent emphasis on building explosive force controls how we practice. Less attention is paid to overall conditioning.
In some sports, the lack of a good strength and conditioning program can actually hinder one's ability to compete. Soccer, lacrosse, and basketball obviously require a lot of running. As a result, athletes who play these sports condition themselves appropriately in terms of long-distance running. In softball, it is, I believe, a little easier to get by on the strength of one's hand-eye coordination or innate quick-twitch strength. Practice of certain skills is all important but strength and conditioning can be overlooked without significant deleterious effect. We throw every day. We take as much BP as we can find time and facility for. We shag countless flyballs, field countless grounders, and do other skill-based exercises, but perhaps we don't spend as much time strengthening isolated muscle groups as some other athletes do. The result can be a shortened game season due to injury or even a career-ending event which might have been avoided had certain exercises become part of our routine.
Please do not think for even a moment that I am saying softball players are soft, lazy or don't do enough working out. I doubt that most baseball players work half as hard as the typical softball player does. But I believe it is perhaps a little easier to succeed at softball without "being in shape" than it is basketball or soccer. I don't think enough time, money and effort is put into conditioning which does not have an immediate and direct impact on one's softball game.
I am of the opinion that if you are serious about this game, it is advisable to seek out professional guidance in crafting an off-season and in-season conditioning program. Your typical high school "trainer" is nothing more than a glorified gym teacher unless he or she has really studied anatomy and exercise, not just taken one three-credit course in it for a "C." I know it was a different day when I went to high school but I still have burned into my memory the day our football team's "trainer" told me to get dressed in full pads, ready for practice, before he would deign to even examine me. When he saw that my broken elbow had swollen to larger than the size of my leg, he decided I could get undressed and be excused from practice but even then he did nothing to help me get the pads or practice uniform off. High school trainers may have improved since my glory days but they haven't improved that much. My trainer is now athletic director at the school and I would like to have been a fly on the wall when he hired the school's new trainer! But I digress. My point is, if you or your daughter has become serious about softball, maybe it would be worth your while to spend a few bucks and a couple hours to consult with someone qualified to discuss training and conditioning.
In closing, we wish Steph a very healthy and successful rebound from her injury. It is tough to be a freshman who makes it all the way to varsity and then ends her season with an injury. On the other hand, at least she has 3 more years of competing. Good luck to Steph for a softball career free of serious injury. And good luck to all of you for the same!
Followup posting:
Randy E. writes in regarding this post:
In addition to being a Collegiate Coach and Softball Instructor, I am a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist who works with both Baseball and Softball Players on their conditioning. Although I know female athletes are 2.5 to 8 times more likely to incur a knee injury, I have never heard of the type of knee injury occurring to a player as had happened to Steph, therefore, I would presume that it isn't that common an injury. It's not accurate to conclude that Athletic Trainers don't know what they're doing when it comes to conditioning. In fact, they have similar academic backgrounds as I do -- BS in Kinesiology. In some respects it would be accurate to presume that some, though not all, Physical Educators lack the requisite knowledge. As I also have a Health & Physical Education teaching certificate, I know that athletic conditioning, though covered, is not nearly as complete as it could be. But then again we have a lot of other areas to cover within the program majors that we must well versed at to teach on a daily basis. It would be extremely appropriate in this day and age for athletes to seek out sport conditioning professionals, not simply Personal Trainers, who have proper credentials (i.e. Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength & Conditioning Association or Performance Enhancement Specialist with the National Association of Sports Medicine; though there are others these are two of the best), and experience.
And the description of the Quadriceps muscles is partly correct. It does have 4 muscle (bellies); but there's one on the outside, one on the inside and two on the front of the thigh with one on top of the other.
Permanent Link: Batting Practice Knee Injury!
Field Of 64 Is Set
by Dave
Sunday, May 14, 2006
The NCAA Division I field of 64 is set. I don't know how much conference chamiponship tournament ball you watched this weekend. We've got a package of Fox Sports channels which carried ACC, SEC, Big 12, and other championship games. There were definitely some surprises as powerhouse Texas didn't get far in their tournament but they were ranked number 3 overall and look to survive their regional though three other teams will have something to say about that. NC State in only the school's third year of softball won the ACC and will make their debut in the NCAAs.
Does it surprise anyone that UCLA received the overall number 1 ranking? Can they pull off the championship which alluded them last year thanks to relative upstart Michigan and the bat of Samantha Findlay?
The PAC 10 placed seven teams which is not really a shocker. How many will survive regionals? How many will ultimately make the WCWS? I expect the Big 12 may have a say in that with their 6 teams providing excellent competition for all comers.
Resurgent LSU lost in the SEC finals but they look to make some noise this year. Then again, Monica Abbott and her Lady Vol teammates have that swagger about them. Neither Alabama nor Georgia would surprise anybody if they made it to the 8.
Hey what about defending champ, Michigan? They're ranked number 9 with a season which had a few rough spots but they return much of the heart of last year's championship team. I don't know about the rest of the Big 10 but there's no reason to write off the Wolverines. My favorite hitter, Samantha Findlay, had an "off" year with the sophomore jinx, carrying "only" a .315 batting average and knocking "only" 8 homeruns. But Michigan and every team ranked 16 and above will play only home games in the Regionals so you kind of have to expect them to compete for one of the final 8 spots and the super regionals.
All in all, this looks to be a wide open field with numerous outcomes possible. If you missed the conference tournaments and want to catch some of this action, ESPN2 will be carrying several regional games next Saturday. Super Regional coverage will be carried by ESPN. If you've got your own tournaments, maybe you ought to spend this week getting yourself set up with TiVo!
Permanent Link: Field Of 64 Is Set
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