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On behalf of the Amateur Softball Association, welcome to the March issue of the ACE Coach monthly email from ASA Director of Coaching Education and and two-time Olympic Coach Mike Candrea: Candrea on Coaching. As a youth sports coach, you naturally want to prepare your team to win as many games as possible, and as a Responsible Coach, you want to prepare your players to win off the field, too. The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program is proud to bring you this series in which Coach Candrea will provide you with coaching tips and resources that you can use for the betterment of your youth softball team.
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March 16, 2009
Volume I, Issue 3
Building Consistency in Your Performance
Consistency is a habit formed by repeated acts. Consistent behavior will get you consistent performance. We have heard many times over that softball is a game of monotonous repetition of fundamental skills. Coaches and players alike always enjoy learning new drills that add variety and freshness to our teaching methods. It is important that we understand how drills affect our ability to perform the necessary skills of the game with consistency and how our behavior affects our ability to perform those skills in game situations.
Why is repetition so important? My first area of building consistency in simple terms is: repetition creates muscle memory. This muscle memory will give us the best chance to execute necessary movements with consistency and more importantly without thinking. As an avid golfer, I know how difficult it is to repeat my swing and the ball is not even moving. Imagine the challenge we have in our game to build consistency with all the variables we have to deal with. Whether you are building a pitcher or hitter in our game, the ability to repeat the same movement is the difference between good and great! As coaches, we must make sure our athletes understand the movement they are executing and that proper technique is always applied in practice situations. Quality repetitions vs. quantity repetitions!
Making mistakes on the field and using those opportunities as teachable moments are key in our young athletes growth, as a player, but more importantly, as a person. Responsible Sports has an acronym for another coach teaching tool, called E.L.M. which stands for Effort, Learning and Mistakes. This principle is built on giving 100% effort, constantly learning, and bouncing back from mistakes. By moving your team's focus off their scoreboard results and on to their effort, you'll have happier, more self- confident players, and the wins will come.
Go to ResponsibleSports.com to learn more.
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This brings me to the second area of building consistency in performance - Consistent behavior! The game we play is a very difficult game and we tend to make it more difficult by the behavior we choose when we lose track of the process. How many times do you see a player always fighting themselves because of the inability to deal with the failure this great game brings at times. They are constantly on a roller coaster and can never achieve consistency in their performance. As coaches, parents or players, we cannot underestimate the power of choice. We have a choice as to how we respond to a situation and it is our job to teach young people that failure is a part of the process. Just ask Tiger Woods, Thomas Edison or Michael Jordan the number of failures they learned from before reaching greatness in their careers. I have used an acronym with our players to give them a plan to build consistency. The acronym is P.A.R. This stands for Preparation, Action and Response. In our game, we have control over certain things and these are three areas that cannot be underestimated. If we can bring a consistent behavior to our preparation, actions and response to our actions, we will finally understand how the great players have brought consistency to their games. This is not only a great approach to building success on the field, but also a great formula for success in life.
"After watching Greg Maddux for [many] years, I've to come to appreciate his consistency in performances, the consistency in his work between games, the consistency in his thought processes, the consistency in the excellence of his innings, his games. It is amazing to watch. It just never varies."
Bobby Cox
Manager - Atlanta Braves
A Fact of the Game:
Consistent Behavior = Consistent Performance
Until next month,
Coach Candrea
ASA Softball is proud to partner with Liberty Mutual Insurance to bring the youth softball community the Responsible SportsTM program, dedicated to championing and celebrating responsibility in youth sports. We believe that some of the most influential individuals in young people's lives are parents and coaches. Visit ResponsibleSports.com to learn more.
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