AUSSIE BOB WEEK TWO OF SOFTBALL COACHING
I had a little tear in my eye as i said goodbye to my 3 Singapore softball players. We travelled three and a half hours from Canberra to Sydney via Murrays buslines and at the departure gate i said good bye as they headed for gate 58 and Singapore airlines.
For boy's 14 they were the most courteous and mature players i have worked with. They were ready for the big test a gameon saturday which started my week off with admiration and pride. They played against u/17 boys and were so delighted when their new found skill's of pitching kicked in and struck out some good hitters. In the game they also showed good hitting skills.
Sunday was a new day and new experience for the boys as we introduced my son Laing to them who was a specalist coach with two of our under 19 Australia world championship teams. Laing came armed with a program called coach's eye and started the boys on another chapter of their pitching career "how to throw a rise ball". It is the hardest pitch to throw and can take three or four years to master the proper spin. Laing was able to demonstrate and show the boys exactly what they needed to do with the coaches eye.
Sunday was also a day of surpries a tall gentleman and his daughter were standing on the sidelines watching the boy's pitch. Would you believe he was from Singapore and to top that he went to the same Raffles School as a student and became a teacher there for eight years. My grandson mathew then informed me that his daughter would like to learn to pitch.
Dian had never pitched before was eleven years old and said her teacher wanted her to pitch and they had their first game in three weeks time. I said we better start right now on the basics as i know it can take three weeks just to break down one skill and there's four parts to teaching beginners.
Would you believe it was the most rewarding twenty minutes i have spent in a long time. Dian not only got the concept of the windmill pitch using her wrist elbow and arm but was ready to start using her legs to get the power of the pitch. Asmonday is a holiday in Australia everyone decided they wanted to come back and pitch some more. It was now time for some fun as thee boys all headed to the go kart track for the first time. Questicon was the next port of call and that evening we saw the delight in their eyes as they descirbed their day and the many crashs they had. Now talk about dedication these boys are on school holidays, but still did two hours of homework.
Monday i could not wait to get to the oval and work with my new pitcher as Laing was again going to work with the boys and two other local recruits. First of all for those of you who don't know what an oval is its a huge oval field where they play aussie rules football and cricket. Nearly every oval has a cricket pitch in the middle. Dian showed up with so much desire to pitch my enthusiasm reached a new height. We started on the use of the legs for pitchers and in fifteen minutes she had this mastered, and was ready to put the first windmill pitch in flight. I will not forget the pride and surprise in her eye's when the first pitch went straight to the catcher. Dian threw a lot more pitch's to the catcher and i can't wait for the next session. The boys are sure getting on to the rise ball and today will be a test for there accuracy. I told them if they didn't get fifty percent strikes they would have to miss the go karts. That did it they threw sixty percent strikes and the rise ball was starting to work.
Tuesday was a big day we started pitching and then went through all the basics of hitting. From there it was into our softball accademy where we're preparing our player's in hope of making our national team. The boys were thrilled to participate and even had a smile on there face after doing hill sprints for twenty minutes. For me it was then home to prepare a list for my Aussie Steelers squad which will compete in the world championship's in 2015 in Saskatoon Canada.
Wednesday it rained but we managed to go to Jerrabomberra public School and did a baserunning and hitting clinic with there under twelve boys team. That evening i had a coach's planning meeting along with one final interview to finalize all our state coach's for the upcoming season.
Thursday would be there final day for the three boys. We crammed as much into one day as possible, first of all a visit to the dinosaur mueseum. This was very life like and saw some great prehistoric mammals. From there we visited the Australian Institute of Sport. This is where all our top athelete's train and prepare for world competition. All good things must cone to an end so it was back to the softball centre for their final training session. I put them to the test of hitting targets and throwing different pitch's as the catcher called them. They went home with a excellent report card as they hit seventy percent of targets with the drop changeup and occasionally the rise ball hitting the target. We finalized there stay with a good hitting and bunting session and then they took part in the there final accademy session.
Friday my wife sue wished them well and with a lump in our throat we said goodbye to three boys who came as strangers but left as part of our family. We packed the car and off to the bus station.
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