CELESTE ON SOFTBALL

by Celeste Knierim

How to Produce Wins Before Your Team Walks Onto the Field part II

DRESS: I am a huge believer in team and personal pride. If you look sloppy, you usually play sloppy. It starts with the coaches. Think about the top coaches that you know, let's start with the top five coaches in Division I, for example. Check out their websites and tell me what you see. Are their coaches and players shirts tucked in or are they out? Are they standing up straight or slouching? Can you see any piercings or tattoos????? Are the coaches wearing sloppy basketball shorts down to their knees or dress shorts??? Collared shirts or T-shirts???

More and more coaches are dressing like the kids including the tattoos, piercings, long basketball shorts, and T-shirts vs. collared shirts and dress shorts. Look at the professionals in other jobs, too. Do you see professionals who are in prestigious positions looking sloppy? Then why should we? I was talking to one of our faithful vendors and she made the comment that young coaches are putting themselves in a box. Because of the way they look and act on and off the field, they will not rise to the top. They will stay in the box they have currently put themselves in because of their dress and actions. She may have a point if you look at the successful coaches and the way that they act and look.

Players will follow their coach's lead. If the coach demands that the team look sharp and act sharp, they will. If the coach sets the standards and sticks to them, the team will follow. You may get some static but it needs to be implemented, explained, and followed. Show them examples of teams when they play during the fall/pre-season and point out how the team looks and then watch how they play. Shortly, they will see it for themselves. They will buy into it if you do not waiver. Be fair but firm. You are the coach, not them and not their parents. Many of our players who have gone on to four year schools, come back to tell us that it just drives them crazy when their new teammates have their shirt untucked even at practice and especially if the coach allows it. It's all about pride, even in practice.

Here are some things that we demand of our players:

• Shirts are wrinkle free for games
• Every part of the uniform is on the way they were designed to be worn (visors are on properly, socks are up not pushed down, etc.)
• Uniforms are on correctly from the time we leave the bus for the game until we get back on the bus.
• If we are off the field on a plane, in a restaurant, in the stands, etc. we are courteous to everyone and quiet so that no one can look at us and frown.
• When we fly or go into a restaurant, we either wear nice clothes or our nice warm-ups. Yes, it costs money to get the nice warm-ups but it is money well spent when the players look professional.
• When we travel, we do not allow them to dress in gym shorts, T's, sloppy jeans, or sloppy sweats in any public facility. Comments made by others like "What a nice group of young ladies you have" mean a lot to us.
• When we practice, we make them tuck their shirts in just like in a game. We believe that you play like you practice, so we do everything in practice just like it was a game. They hustle, they are always busy, and they look sharp.

ATTITUDE: You cannot demand the players respect, you have to earn it. You have to set the guidelines for the team and then stick to them. I would not set a rule if you do not mean to abide by it. Players want direction and rules, they want to listen to someone who expects them to achieve.

Set the standards and expect them to reach them. Be consistent, be fair, know what you are talking about, be caring but firm, be organized (you have got to be one-step ahead of them), take charge (do not say, "OK, do you want to take infield now?). They will eat you alive if you are wishy-washy.

I believe that it is NOT OK:

• for them to be rude or say bad words
• to talk behind others backs
• to cause trouble on the team
• to think that they do not have to help with equipment
• to be late or miss practice except for a very good reason
• to be obnoxious to anyone

During the games, control their actions and what they say. When other teams are rude to us, it just pumps us up. We teach our players to respect all other teams but fear no one. We will not do anything to give the other team an advantage or any incentive to beat us. Do not allow any negative emotion on the field only positive. If the other team sees you scared, upset, pouting, or throwing things, then they know they have you down and they will probably win the game. NEVER SHOW THEM NEGATIVE EMOTION. On the other side, look for the fear in their eyes. When you can see the fear in their eyes and negative emotion in their dugout, pull your kids together and show them. Tell them to play harder because the other team fears them.

A lot of games are won before you step onto the field by the team's positive attitude and how the other team perceived it. A lot of teams can be intimidated by a very precise warm-up by your team with players looking sharp and hustling throughout the warm-up.

Remember this about troublemakers on the team: a coach can change a lot of kids and their attitudes positively but sometimes there will be a kid that just is not a fit for your team. This is a team sport and the team must go on. If one player is disrupting the whole team or taking the coach's attention away from the team, it is time to part ways and spend the time and energy on the players who want to learn and play the game the right way.

Commitment: If you are not committed, how can you expect your players to be committed? If you do not show them how much you want to succeed, why should they. If you are not committed to take care of and/or carry the equipment, why should they be committed? You have to set the standards and live those standards. You have to have pride in the program before they will have pride. You have to be convinced you can win before they will be convinced. Here's an example, I recently watched a practice of an area high school team and observed a coach who wants to be the varsity coach next year and is the JV coach for the first time this year. I watched him with the young players and his body language towards them was very negative and uninspiring. He would hit the ball with a lot of slow time in between hits to the players. If they would miss the ball, I could see his shoulders and head drop from across the field. How boring is that and there was no encouragement from the coach. There should be lots of encouragement from the coach, no lag time in between the hits, teaching of how to field the ball (toes in for quickness, hands out towards the batter, give a little hop before the ball is hit, etc.)

ENCOURAGE THE PLAYERS, DO NOT EMBARRASS THEM.

Be a mentor, not a punisher. I am not saying do not have any penalties or never raise your voice. You can challenge a player and make them better without belittling them in front on their teammates, parents or the other team, especially at the lower levels. You can be tough and demanding without being cruel. Every player has worth and every player should be treated equally. Again, with our low scholarship amount, we kept players on the team where other teams may not have taken that chance.

If you recognize the strengths of that player and try different things with them, something just may click in them to succeed. We have had numerous players who came with low right-handed batting averages that we switched over to the left side and used them as a slapper. A couple of them have become All-Americans and one held the school record for most base hits in one season for 10 years. We have had others who really were lacking the hitting and the defensive skills to start or play at our level. However, they became great pinch runners. We worked and worked with them on base running and sliding techniques so that they would have every advantage during the game. One of those young ladies was a very fast basketball player. We asked her to play softball and told her we wanted her to be a pinch runner because of her speed. Trust me; since she had no experience at all in softball, she wanted no part of playing defense or hitting. But at the 1999 NJCAA National Tournament, we were losing in the seventh by one run. We got a base hit and put her in as a pinch runner. She scored standing up on a double and we went on the win the game in the eighth inning.

Remember your stars are not above the rules. If you want great team unity and want players to respect each other on and off the field, you have to work at it all season. It helps to have off the field activities for them that are fun and team building, talk to your leaders, have jobs for everyone to do so that everyone feels that they are a vital part of the team. This includes your stars, they have to carry equipment also and do everything that the weakest player has to do for the team.

If you stay at motels with your team, have rooming lists and switch roommates on every trip. Yes, it takes work to rotate the combinations but it is worth it. It could stop any cliques on the team. Also, at the hotels, do not allow them to run up and down the hallways and slam doors or go to the breakfast room in their pajamas. That's all a part of the team pride aspect and having a professional attitude. In a college situation, the players stay together and never stay with their parents. In an ASA situation, that would be the ideal thing but I do not know about the team's situation with finances. But team unity could suffer when the players are always with the parents.

PARENTS: We have always included the parents in most of our events away from the field. We invite them to everything and encourage them to go on the trips.

To help them, we do the following:

• we always reserve enough rooms on the trips for them (they pay for their rooms upon arrival).
• the parents of every player receive an itinerary with phone numbers, motels, etc. and directions for each trip whether they are along on that trip or not.
• we always made sure the parents knew everything about the trips/games.
• we always had a great time with the parents and made them feel very welcomed.

With that said, my place is on the field, their place is in the stands and never the two shall meet.

They know that and their daughters know that. The parents are not coaches and will never have anything to do with that part of the team unless requested by us.

• No parents or friends are ever in the dugouts or around the dugouts during the games. They do not talk to the players during the games at all. If the players need something, we handle it.
• No players stay or ride with their parents on trips. The team eats together and the parents eat together.
• The parents know that I expect them to conduct themselves appropriately in the stands while, hopefully, cheering loudly for us. I really do not have many parents question my coaching probably because I explain things to them all of the time. I am always willing to explain to them WHAT and WHY we were doing what we were doing.>

I always had someone travel with us that was not a parent to help with doing the laundry and grocery shopping. If the parents wanted to help her, that was up to them but definitely did not equate to brownie points with me in regards to their daughter playing.

The coach can make or break the team before it walks onto the field, PLEASE be a positive coach who does the little things. It will pay off fo

Look for Cheleste's article next month.

Good Luck!