Biggest Fan, Hardest Critic!!!

I have made a philosophy decision to be my kid's "Biggest Fan and Hardest Critic".  (Remember, I believe it is about the journey and not the destination)  I have enormous "street cred" with my kids because I have often predicted their results with amazing success.  I know how hard they can work.  Until now, early 2012, I have spent most of my sports time with Alex, and Maddie fast approaching.  Natalie has spent most of the time with Andrew and his baseball activities.

Don't read this the wrong way...  but I always thought it was worthless to be constantly positive, because its the failures that make you stronger.  If you fail 70% of the time you make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Working to improve is the "fun" I have in the relationship with my kids and their sports activities...  If they were "GREAT" I wouldn't have any reason to pitch to them after work...  I realize it sounds like I am an Ogor...  but probably not explaining well...  if you strike out three times, looking, I will tell you that you didn't have a good game...  I will also be ready to go to a park, or the lit tennis courts (Alex :-)) to work with you... as I am writing, and reading, I think I am digging a bigger whole...

Well, I just started Asst Coaching on Andrew's team...  and to be fair to him he wasn't use to my "coaching"...  I also believe games are a great place to learn...  we had a few rough first games...  Tom Hanks said it best...  "there is no crying in baseball"...  we have spend a dozen times pitching in the front of the house and continued going to fields to hit...  he is getting better...

Tonight, Andrew's team played a really good team...  Andrew pitched and threw well...  he gave up 12 runs in the first inning without an out...  I said, without and out...  infinity ERA...  he threw hard, threw strikes...  probably didn't get as many calls as he should and had a few errors behind him...  on the books it was his worst pitching performance EVER...  actually, may be the worst pitching performance in the history of baseball...  BUT, he DID FANTASTIC!!!  I was really impressed with how he kept throwing strikes...  he never showed emotion...  never made mental errors...  and when he was pulled after 50 pitches, he made all three outs at first base...  I was VERY PROUD of him...

The best thing about baseball is that there is always another game...

The Eye of the Camera

Maddie and I went to a pitching coach last Friday afternoon.  He suggested some "tweaks" to Maddie's mechanics to produce more speed.  He flies in from Erie, PA about once a month for a weekend full of lessons.  I liked him, he had a sense of humor.  Everything he suggested is something I knew was "fixable" but put it more in the Maddie Style bucket instead of Mechanic requirement.  

The comparison below isn't completely fair.  The left side is with the mechanic tweaks and the right side is from a couple months ago.  I tried to find similar angles, but the right side was taken with a camera and the left side an iPhone.

First comparison...  he stopped the hands over head and has Maddie using her legs to push toward home...  he wants her momentum going toward home and views the hands over head as unneeded use of energy... I like the momentum to home...  it also makes it easier to do "walk-ups"...

Second comparison...  she is more angled toward home and appears to be "pushing" more...  big difference is where her glove hand is...

Third comparison...  ALMOST the same...  he does not like the glove hand toward third...  and neither do I...  but Maddie DOES :-) ...  we will keep working on that...  takes away some energy...

Fourth comparison...  almost the same...  

Maddie pitched 17 1/3 innings in a 6 GG 16U tournament in Keller this weekend.  Her 14U Texas Glory Adkins team won 4 out of 6...  Maddie's best pitching game was against a team down from Oklahoma with sophomore and junior players...  they were big...  we lost giving up 1 earned run, but kept them off-balance, had her fair share of strike outs and managed to get 6 innings in the 1 hour and 15 minute time limit...  the game moved along...

Maddie came in the last game with the bases loaded and two outs winning by 2 runs...  she couldn't find the plate in warm-ups and then proceeded to throw three straight strikes to strike out the batter (looking)...

It is amazing what cameras can do these days...

When I was in High School...

When I was in high school I am pretty sure they kept stats on napkins, and until someone has blew their nose the stats were pretty accurate.  Another invention that I had thought about but was too late to the patent office was the stat keeping App Game Changer and iScore.

I have kept up with the stats each game and the spray chart above is pretty accurate.  Of course, a couple HRs haven't landed yet so I am not sure where the dot will go (made me giggle to type it)...  Alex had 43 hits in 102 At Bats - both leading the team...  She doesn't beat many infield hits out...  and pretty sure no bunting...  only started to spray a bit in the last dozen games...

A Waypoint on the Journey

I have always said it was about the journey and not the destination, and I am grateful for every softball (baseball) related discussion I have been fortunate to have with my kids.  Competitive sports provides a phenomenal backdrop to real-life issues.

In 2005, I took my 4 year old son on a Father-Son trip to New York City.  Just a weekend trip. We toured Yankee Stadium and went to a Mets game.  That was the true beginning of our family ballpark outings.  Shortly after returning from that trip, my curly haired, dress wearing 8 year old daughter said she wanted to play softball.  Until then I hadn’t given it a second thought.

Alex played Coach pitch softball in FBSA, and struggled mightily. We hadn’t caught the “softball bug”, but I can still remember telling her… “if you connect with a pitch, just make sure you keep running because the ball is going to go a long way.”  The last game of the season she connected and hit a ball over the left fielder’s head for a home run.  I remember that day.

When we moved to Oakville, Ontario Alex played House League (recreational), then Select and then tried-out, and made the Oakville Angels travel softball team.  She was very overmatched early on, and I can remember a streak of 20+ at bats that were all strike outs. 

She was a perfect canvas, and beginning point for my “mechanics” education.  We spent a lot of time at batting cages, in the basement, in the back yard and at fields primarily working on her swing.  I always valued the journey more than the destination.

WOW!!! I have so many fond memories of the times I spent with Alex practicing, and playing softball.

Things I remember:

·         The car ride conversation is best place to talk to your child… “squirrel”
·         Natalie so observant that my kids “ball sports” are my hobby
·         Erie Sports every time we drove from Toronto to Cleveland
·         Family trips to Montreal, Pennsylvania, Chambersburg
·         Father – Daughter trips to Myrtle Beach, Buffalo, Pennsylvania, Napanee, Niagra Falls
·         Softball in Ontario – Oakville Angels and Brampton Blazers
·         Practice every night… practice in gyms…
·         Net and pitching machine in the basement
·         Playing softball in cold (30 degree) weather, Brampton & Port Perry
·         Bat lost in mail from EBAY
·         First Over the fence HR in Brampton
·         Staying in crappy hotels to be with the team 
·         Winter weekend afternoons at Playdium…  the STING of the bat
·         Catching
·         Playing catch in the outfield at Andrew’s provincial tournament when I realized you can catch anything I throw
·         Missing your first Varsity HR while traveling for work… seeing the second.

So, the point to my thought is that I am dealing with the reality that Alex isn’t going to play college softball…  which is OK… she is coming off an enormously successful sophomore season at Frisco High School, both in softball, but more importantly in scholastics.

What took me a while to realize is that the world has changed.  The only people who play competitive 16U/18U softball in the summer are players solely interested in showcase opportunities for playing softball in college.  I have never heard of most of the colleges where players are getting scholarships.  No one plays for fun anymore.  Alex and I have been talking that she will probably not play softball this summer.  I understand.  

I spent most of the last summer coaching, or watching Alex’s sister, Maddie, play softball.  I have had just as much fun on my different journey with Maddie as with Alex.  And as Yoda said “There is another”; he must have been talking about Andrew as our journey is just beginning.

For now, I am going to relish the memories and be a little sad at the same time.  It’s just too easy for Alex to finish school for the day and disappear into homework.  I miss me dragging her to a field or a batting cage...  probably OK for me to be a bit sad…  I have to grow up someday.

Happy Easter!

Coloring Easter Eggs

M for Maddie

Delivery from the Easter Bunny....Thanks Easter Bunny!

Lola, those aren't balls.

Hunting for Easter eggs

Candy....Breakfast of Champions