03 Jan Your New Softball Season Resolutions
Resolutions are about the future, growth, improvement, excitement and completion. We make them wanting to become better people – so let’s make them to become better coaches.
Discover 4 resolutions to help you through your New Softball Season!
I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. To me, they’re spur-of-the-moment wishes that don’t have any real desire behind them. They’re things that we wish would happen but that, for some reason, we aren’t committed enough to actually work to make happen. But, like most things in life that are common, people do them because, well, people do them.
And while I don’t like the popularity of resolutions, I do think the concept of aiming higher to improve yourself is certainly a worthwhile goal. So let’s focus in more on our coaching self and let’s think about the concept of resolutions for the new softball season.
Depending on where you live, or on what type of team you coach, you might be starting your new season this week, as most college softball teams are, or you might not be starting until May. Either way, to have a truly successful season takes planning and thought – both on the field as well as off.
No doubt you’ll spend time thinking about what equipment to get this season, what players or positions you need to improve, & maybe how you need to learn some new drills. But I want you to focus in deeper and think about how you’re going to improve YOU for this coming season. You’re the coach, the heartbeat of the team. Are you going to come back this year the same exact person you were last year and just expect your players to have gotten better? Or are you going to take some steps to improve yourself as a coach as both an example as well as a motivation for your players to improve as well.
No matter what your current situation, here are 4 New Softball Season Resolutions that you can make as a coach that will definitely make YOU better, and as a result, make your team better as well:
- Be Right Here, Right Now – while this sounds simple and almost ridiculous, it’s incredibly hard. Instead of staying focused on the past – past season, past errors, past games, past mistakes – be in the NOW, right here, right now! During games, fix the last mistake and then leave it, and then be right here right now. During practices, be present in the now! When your players are talking to you, be present right here right now! It’s an amazingly difficult thing to do because it requires so much attention. Your mind wants to go forward or backward, but neither of those places are now! Practice being present in more of your life and you’ll be amazed at the change that you’ll start to see!
- Be Your Best Self – This is related to #1 but goes a step beyond it. Being your best self means you’ve got to get enough sleep, eat right, keep your temper under control, enjoy things more. Do what is required of you to stay your best self instead of your worn down, bummed out, short-tempered self. Nobody wants that person (not even you) so do your best to stay aware of always being your best self. You’ll think clearer, make better decisions,and bring out the best in people around you.
- Avoid the Perfect Parasite – Too often we want things to be perfect, which of course they won’t be. But when things aren’t perfect we get mad. This anger at a lack of perfection means that we are slowly eating at ourselves. It’s as if we have a parasite inside of us that slowly eats away at us. The perfect parasite is avoidable, but if you catch it, it can destroy you. Avoid it by staying present and being your best self – I didn’t say your perfect self. Softball isn’t about being perfect; it’s about enjoying the game, getting better and if you’re lucky, being better than the other team. Perfect has nothing to do with it, so avoid catching the perfect parasite!
- Fit the Skill Into the Player – The last resolution to help you have a better season is to fit the skill into the player instead of trying to cram the player into the skill. In other words, study your players, how they learn or move or think and then work with them in their way to do skills better. Nobody wakes up in the morning trying to be horrible – so if they are then it’s our job as coaches to help them. Pay closer attention to each of your players and learn how to reach each of them. Sure, it takes time and isn’t easy – but we’re asking them to do things that take time and aren’t easy, right? Real coaching occurs when you have found how to fit the skill into the player instead of cramming the player into the skill. Become a student of your players more, instead of focusing so hard on learning more skills. If you never learned anything new skill, but learned more about how to get what you already know into more of your players you’d have a remarkably successful year.
Best of luck this season and thanks for making such a difference in the lives of your players!