Boys, Take a Lesson from the Girls

I have just recently moved to the northern New Jersey area from the Philadelphia area. With this relocation, I began instructing at a new facility up here in New Jersey. My first assignment at the new facility was helping out with a rotating group of high school girls softball players. The group size ranges from roughly 8 to 15 girls depending on the day with sessions lasting for one hour at a time.

I want to preface the message of this post by saying that I have worked with softball players ages 8 to 18 in the past, but primarily on an individual basis on fielding and hitting. This is the first time in my instructing career that I am working with a "team" of softball players at once. I'm beginning to get the hang of working with the group. The concepts are all the same from baseball to softball, but the speed and size of the softball field make the intrinsics of the sport remarkably different.

Regardless of all the little nuances, the games are still the same in principality. The team who can hit, field, pitch, and run the bases the best is going to come out on top more often than not. With that being said, I want to get into the message of this post.

"Boys, Take a Lesson from the Girls" is a title that is meant to pay homage to a generalization I have come to realize about softball girls. The generalization is that softball girls LISTEN !!! As an instructor, the greatest skill we could ask for out of a player that comes to us for lessons is that they LISTEN. I'd rather work with a kid ( boy or girl ) who has zero athletic ability and/or talent but LISTENS than a kid with all the talent in the world but tunes me out the whole lesson. The kid who LISTENS is going to enjoy the lesson more, improve the most, and of course the instructor is going to enjoy the lesson as well. Again , this is a generalization. I know for a fact that there are boys out there who do a great job of listening ( I have instructed some of them in the past ). I am just blown away by the vast majority of softball girls who LISTEN. Maybe I've just gotten lucky with who I've worked with, but the point remains that LISTENING is an incredibly valuable thing to both the player and the instructor.

There are thousands of instructors out there right now passing on priceless amounts of knowledge to young athletes and a lot of it never gets absorbed. As a former professional baseball player, I can assure you that talent can only take you so far. So as the title says, "Boys, take a lesson from the Girls" and start to LISTEN. Find an instructor with experience and knowledge and set your mind on focus for 30 minutes to an hour, you'll be amazed at what you learn.

DISCLAIMER - not all boys are bad listeners and not all girls are good listeners. the title of this post was based on a generalization realized through experience. the purpose of this post is to inform young athletes ( boys or girls ) of the importance of listening when it comes to coaching / instruction from a qualified source.

Until next time, cold weather just means you have to find somewhere inside to PLAY BALL !!!