SOFTBALL COACH IS BACK

SOFTBALL COACH IS BACK!

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YES AFTER A BUSY JANUARY COACHING 40 GAMES IN 20 DAYS ITS NOW TIME FOR A DIFFERENT ROLE.

     In the past week I have taken on the convenor role for the ACT's highschool girls softball program and today we had 16 teams compete with top 4 teams from year 7/8 and year 9/10 will advance to the finals on march 14.

      The competition was of a much higher calibre than i expected but when we did a pitching catching demonstration with our best ACT pitcher and catcher they were spell bound with the speed and movement of the ball. They replied in the way i hoped they would by asking how they could learn to pitch a ball like that.

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      Campbell High School proved beyond a doubt that a good pitcher wins ball games, and with ACT's top junior pitcher going to that School, they allowed only 4 runs and came away with 4 convincing wins. They were the only undefeated team in the competition and will be very hard to beat in the Grand Finals.

After two games hungry and lining up for something to eat

    In the meantime i am putting my selectors hat on, and looking through statistics, as we are down to the final 14 months, before we challenge for the Mens World Softball Championships. I will be off to Perth for a week and getting the right players to fit into a world champion team will be my goal.

  Hope you enjoy this post and photos and i would enjoy your ratings and comments

Article credit: Bob Harrow

Photo credit: Bob Harrow

COACHES WEEK 23 OF SOFTBALL BASEBALL

  FROM COACHING THE DIAMONDS TO WATCHING MEN'S SOFTBALL'S STAR RECRUIT PLAY BASEBALL WAS ONE OF MIXED EMOTIONS

      After the ladies awards dinner in Sydney, my selector and I headed to Canberra to watch our talented Aaron Whitefield try his hand at the u/19 Men's Baseball Championships. Aaron has been scouted and tested by the National Baseball League and excelled in all the tests. This was no surprise to the softball fraternity as he is rated the player with the best manner off and on the field showing the greatest potential of any young player.

      He has only played in 20 baseball games, so it would be a test to see if he could stand up and be counted with boy's that have played baseball all their life. With all the Pro Scouts in attendance and myself as chairman of selectors for softball what opinion would i have. Softballs opinions were justified as he led his home state of Queensland to be National Champions. In the grand finals he made some unbelievable defensive plays and was rewarded with the Golden Glove award of the tournament. His father who is a selector for me in softball was all smiles as 5 teams contacted him to say they were interested in signing him to a Pro Contract. This is when money talks.

      

 Back to reality in 2 days he's off to play softball in the u/19 National Championships which will be held at the Hawker International Softball Complex also in Canberra. He will be trying to cement his position to play in the World u/19 Championships for Australia which will be held in Canada this year in July.

      
 There is one big big difference softball will not be offering any money to play instead they will ask you for money to play for Australia. The last cost i heard was $8800.00 as the tournament is in the Yukon which is the far north of Canada.

        

WANT A CHALLENGE? 

Join me as i have consented to help Tasmania in the u/19 Championships. Tasmania is our smallest state and has the least number of players. There passion for the sport of softball is undeniable, but being so isolated they do not experience the competition, in there first game i was proud of them as the tournament favorites New South Wales only scored 7 runs. Tassie boys could not believe the speed of pitch's but still managed to get 2 hits. I am trying to work with their coach's who are just first year and for them its a big curve. In our next 4 games we have managed to score 6 runs and are starting to learn our positions, but pitchers lack the experience and are walking 10 batters per game. There desire has never been in doubt and today proved very exciting for them as they scored 6 runs in one game stole 4 bases and the pitchers issued only 3 walks. I was very proud of the team and the improvement they have shown. They may of lost 13 to 7 but they felt as if they had won. I was very proud of them.

      

 I will have a further report on Friday as the champions will be declared and will let you know the outcome of my never say die Tassie boys.

     
 In the meantime I hope you enjoy my post and please rate and categorize it. 

Hope you enjoy the photos and see if you see the difference in the Softball and the Baseball Fields.

 Aaron Whitefield and his proud dad John after receiving his golden glove award in u/19 National Baseball Championships. In 2 days time he will play in u/19 Softball Championships.

 

 Getting ready for grand final and compare this photo with the last photo tell me the difference

Closing ceremonies at Baseball Championships and all the awards at Narabundah Baseball Complex, Canberra

ACT getting ready for our Tassie Boys in The U/19 National Softball Championships.

Tassie boys stretching getting ready to play and its hard for a coach to know what to say when they are so outclassed, but they never quit trying.

Our pitcher 17 years old 6ft 7 and a size 18 shoe. He will one day pitch for Australia

Our softball field and the flags of the participating states

DIAMONDS START TO SPARKLE

DIAMONDS START TO SPARKLE

Posted by Robert Allan Harrow on January 8, 2014 at 8:08pm

DIAMONDS START TO SPARKLE

COACH HAS A SMILE AS DIAMONDS WIN 2 OF 4 IN NATIONAL SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

      What a relief the Diamonds put a complete effort in to defeat WA Flames 2-0 as Greta Ceccehtti pitched a 3 hitter and Diamond batters finally hit the ball and had 6 safe hits, on day 5. The powerful NSW Firestars took a little sparkle off the Diamonds as they had 9 hits and scored 7 runs.

       On day 6 the Canberra Diamonds knew they had to win 4 out of their last 5 games to make the playoffs. They took on the Victoria Titans, and Diamonds sparkled scoreing 6 runs in the first inning thanks to 4 walks and Diamonds had 3 hits in the inning to give them a big lead. They continued there hitting and scored 7 more runs to mercy the Titans 13-1. Aimee Merch was very strong in the pitching department as she allowed only 3 hit.

       With back to back games we took on the talented Queensland Heat. We played our best game of the tournament and won in every area except one and that was scoring runs. Diamonds had more hits, more runners on base, played their best defensive game but came up short on the score board 3-0 to the Heat.

        Diamonds now must win all remaining games and will play Western Australia Flames and South Australia Starz today. Both teams are also fighting for that final playoff spot.

 Hope you enjoy this post and have included some photos. Please leave a comment and i will be back tomorrow with an update.

Preparing and line marking the fields is done

after every game and takes 3 people 20 minutes to complete

1 drags and smooths infield while other 2

mark all the lines and whiten all the bases. 

Diamonds in dugout waiting for treatment on

their aching bodies by our physio Rowena.

Game over a happy group as we won one and lost one

WEEK 20

WEEK 20 OF THE SOFTBALL COACH

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN THE WEEK OF FINAL PREPARATION FOR THE CANBERRA DIAMONDS

      Tomorrow its a very early flight as we take off at 6 am and arrive in Sydney at 6.45. This will give us 3 hours to get to the international terminal and board the flying kangaroo {Quantas Airlines} to the land of the great white cloud better known as New Zealand. We will be just over 3 hours in the air before we touch down in Auckland. The diamonds have a 19 seater rented and we will cross Auckland right in peak traffic, and should reach North Harbour by 7 pm. By the time the bus is unloaded and the girls have checked into there  rooms, they will be put through 20 minutes of water aerobics at the nearby beach. Chilly but refreshing. 

      As the players are enjoying the chilly waters the coaches will be out grocery shopping so we can stalk all the rooms with food for 5 days. By doing it this way each girl will save $150 in food costs. To play in this event costs each player about $1500.00 dollars and thats what you call committment to your sport.

      Everyone is looking forward to the first game and questions go through my mind like do we all know the signals, have we got the right team to face our opponents. I have always been a firm believer that you never under estimate your opposition, and study them every chance you get. We take a special person to do this and along with myself design the game plan to give to the girls on how we think we're going to play the game. 

      We know we will face some very good teams, and we are looked upon as underdogs, but i think we will surprize a few teams, as we have our pitchers and catchers in peak form. Where i thought we would be weak in catching has been our most improved position, our pitching is very strong and Greta Checetti from Italy will do the bulk of the work. Our hitters are very good and after facing our u/19 boys on 2 occasions we know we will not face any pitchers who throw harder or faster.

     A picture or two of some of our players and please leave any comments you have. I will try and bring you a daily report from New Zealand on our progress. In the meantime you can follow me on http://bobharrow.blogspot.com 

 Ella watching closely for the coming pitch.

pitching and batting practice 

Gretta working with our up and coming catcher 

 The team raising funds with a BBQ to help offset our costs.

WEEK 19

WEEK 19 OF THE SOFTBALL COACH THE BIGGEST AND BEST WEEK OF THE COACH THIS WEEK WAS NOT ABOUT REWARDS BUT LOOKING TO THE FUTURE WITH THE SUCCESS AND TALENT I SAW OF SO MANY ATHELETES The past week not only consisted of lots of coaching but as FPSL president making sure every little detail was put in place for the skins tournament. Monday saw our b grade and c grade play there competition games. The "b" grade was a real test to get there players ready for the skins tournament on the week-end. Singapore represented by Raffles Institute arrived late Monday night and assured us they would have 40 players ready for coaching clinics on Tuesday. Tuesday was a big day; after all the greetings and introductions were finished five hours of practice began. Greta our Diamonds pitcher from Italy worked as a specialist pitching and catching coach for five days with the 4 girls who were sent over especially for this training. It was then time for our own Canberra Diamonds training and a lot of time went into our defence and signals to make sure we all were on the same page. Then it was final plans on everyone's duties for their fund raising at the skins tournament. The "a" grade men played there league games and you could see the extra intensity of all players as they prepared for 7 games in the skins tournament. A lot of our local players will be seeking selection on our mens national team. Wednesday was a big day for Singapore as we had three coach's come in and work on their hitting and bunting techniques. Laing Harrow our national coach took charge of this program along with Head coach Nelson from Raffles. It was a rare moment neither coach realized until they got talking. They both played in the World Series in the Philippines in 1996 against one another a rare coincidence. Andrew Kirkpatrick worked with the pitchers and gave them an insight into what it takes to become a world class pitcher. Thursday night was another double wham as the Diamonds had an extra training session which I could not attend as the "b" division of the skins started with Singapore and our local dragons opening the tournament. Friday, Saturday and Sunday saw a total of 82 softball games played with for champions crowned. Strikezone from Canberra won the prestigious skins tournament and over $3600.00 in prize money. Mounties from Sydney won the "b" division and collected their first prize pool of $1500.00. Now it was time to put my chairman of selectors hat on and keep an eye on all the talent as we want only the best players to represent Australia at the next Worlds which will be held in Canada in 2015. The Aussies got Talent Tournament was won by FPSL Kirkpatrick in the U/13s with FPSL Tanner the runners up. In u/15s FPSL Folkard won over the Scorpions from Sydney. All players who reached the finals received a medallion and the winners our annual plaque. There was not one boy who left the park without a smile on their face, known that they had done their best. This week is not just about selecting and coaching. Reality is, it is time to clean up and say thanks to the many volunteers and start to think about next year. A special thanks to Allison who keeps our website up to date and if you want to see all scores and follow our league log into fpsl.act.softball.org.au and enjoy a few photos. WEEK 19 OF THE SOFTBALL COACHSingapore arriving for there first coaching clinic. WEEK 19 OF THE SOFTBALL COACHThe finals underway with Strikezone defeating Storm 4-1 and winning a total of $3600.00 as they skinned a few teams. WEEK 19 OF THE SOFTBALL COACH Canberra diamonds served up some great homemade cakes which all the ladies made for there fund raising venture. WEEK 19 OF THE SOFTBALL COACHAdam Folkard rated the worlds best pitcher takes time out as he ices himself before the final game so he can talk and inspire more young players