Softball Coaching - The Game Has a Way of Humbling Us

This past weekend was the first tournament for the 14U team I coach. We'd spent a lot of time drilling, preparing, running game-like simulations, studying our playbook and otherwise getting ready. I was absolutely convinced we were ready to come out gangbusters.Then came the first game of pool play. I swear it seemed like my well-drilled team had been replaced by look-alike aliens who had never seen a fastpitch softball game in their lives. We couldn't hit (despite working on it all winter), we threw to the wrong base or at the wrong time, we missed easy fielding chances, it was just a disaster. Definitely not what I was expecting.And that's what's so humbling about our game. I've had a pretty good run with players I instructed individually the last few months. I heard glowing reports about their performance, saw their names in the newspaper, was proud of them for their post-season awards. Then the day I go out to coach my own team I wind up feeling like the worst coach in the world.The only consolation is knowing I'm not alone in that. I've spoken with Cindy Bristow about this phenomenon and she said she's felt the same thing. Cindy is a far more accomplished coach than I am (or ever will be) so to hear her say she once got to the point of feeling like she was a bad coach gives me some small measure of comfort.It can happen to all of us. We prepare our teams to the best of our ability, applying whatever store of knowledge we have to the situation. But still, it's the players who have to play the game. And when you're talking about adolescents who have a million things going on in their lives you just never know what will happen. It's a crapshoot.A phrase that's important for adult coaches to keep in mind is that children are not little adults. They don't think like we do, they don't have the same expectations or fears we do. They have all their own, and they differ with each player. Expecting your players to react to stimulae such as their first tournament of the season the same way you do can get you into trouble. It certainly did for me.I would classify that first game as horrible compared to the standards we set for ourselves. We only lost 4-3, but all four runs were given by us, not taken by our opponents. Worse yet, the hitting coach (me) who had helped so many other teams got pretty lonely in the third base coaches box since hardly anyone stopped by to visit.Seeing as how I have seven girls who just completed their high school seasons and several of those with at least some varsity experience, I found it particularly surprising we were struggling in a 14U tournament. But such is life.Was it frustrating? Sure. But that's what happens.The good news is we got better as we went along through the weekend. We went from not getting runners on base to leaving runners on base to eventually scoring more than a couple of runs. It's obvious we still have things to work on, but as the girls became more comfortable with each other things got better.Sports psychologist Jeff Janssen likes to talk about the four stages of team building — forming, storming, norming and performing. I thought we were ready to move into performing but I'd say now we're still in the norming stage. Given how short a summer season is I hope we get through it and into performing soon. Because the game is a lot more fun when you're performing.So keep that in mind as you coach throughout the years. Just when you think you've got it all figured out the game can come along and drop-kick you to the gut. It isn't fun, but it does help to keep you humble.