Updates!!

Hello Bluebirds!


The coaching staff is very happy and impressed with the turnout for the fitness and skill training. We are seeing the girls really make some strides in a short period of time. The girls seem to really be focusing and learning. Off season training is not glamorous and the reward is far off in the distance, but keep encouraging them and help us convince them that it will pay off! The season will be here before you know it!


Reminder! We have our first Saturday practice TOMORROW! (Dec 1st). The weather is expected to be beautiful for DECEMBER! We will be outside for the entire 2 hours and working on defensive skills. Please make sure the girls are there by 10:45. We need them stretched and ready to go by 11am.

We have a tricky schedule coming up for the next couple weeks. Please stay close to your email over the next month. Gym time in the dead of winter is hard to get and we will need to remain flexible through that time.

See ya tomorrow!!!!



Go Birds!

Practice Update

Hello everyone,


There seemed to be a little confusion on the upcoming schedule. Hopefully this helps!



Tonight (Monday, November 19) – 6-8 in the small gym. We will be doing assessments for the girls that are signing up for the fitness program. The rest of the girls still need to be there tonight as we will also be having the skills training simultaneously. We will go outside tonight! Dress warm.

Thursday (Nov 22nd) – No practice! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Saturday (Nov 24th) – No practice



Starting Monday, Nov 26th, this will be our schedule going forward.

Mondays – small gym

6-7pm – Fitness Training (only the girls that signed up need to attend)

645-8pm – Skill training (for everyone)



Thursdays – small gym

6-7pm – Fitness Training (only the girls that signed up need to attend)

645-8pm – Skill training (for everyone)



Saturdays – small gym

11-1pm – Skill training (for everyone)



Please let me know if you have any questions.

Fitness Training and Other Notes

Thursday, November 15th. Skills training in small gym from 6-7:30.

Fitness Assessments will start on Monday. We plan to get all assessments completed. Will still have our regular practice on Monday.
I have received payments from some of you. Please remember to bring payments and permission slip in by the assessment on Monday night.

Here’s the fee structure:

Assessment fee: $25 (this covers the initial tests, ongoing test, analysis, measurements and results at the end of the sessions.)

Training: $30 per month. (3 months of training) Dec, Jan, Feb.

You can pay all at once or month by month.


Upcoming Schedule:

Next Week:

Monday – 6-8 in Small Gym (Skill Training and fitness assessments for those who are interested)

Starting: Monday, November 26th

Mondays

Fitness – 6-7pm

Skill – 6:45-8pm

Thursdays

Fitness – 6-7pm

Skill – 6:45-8pm

Saturdays

Skill – 11-1pm

Thursday Skill Training

It’s supposed to be a decent day tomorrow (Thursday) and I have confirmed that we can get on the football field for a portion of the practice. I want to make sure the girls bring the appropriate clothing for being outside. Practice will be from 6-7:30 tomorrow.




ALSO
There was some confusion on what the girls should bring to practice. I said all they’d need is gloves. Sorry, I meant that as the “minimum”. They should bring anything they have to perform any fundamentals of the game. Glove, bat (if they have one. No need to buy one if you don’t. We have plenty), batting gloves, etc. That’s my fault!
As for batting gloves, I would recommend getting the girls batting gloves now, if they don’t have them. We will be doing a lot of swinging of the bat. Many were complaining about stinging and blisters already. We have a long way to go! The gloves will help both things. They don’t have to be expensive. I just want to make sure they are all getting the most out of the hitting and sometimes the stinging and blister divert attention away from learning.



Fitness Training Reminder:
Anyone signing up for fitness training, please remember along with the monthly charge, there will be an assessment fee also. That will be $25. I mentioned this at the “Meet the Coaches” meeting, but I have not talked about it since then. The assessment is an important part of the process. It will give us and you metrics on your daughter’s improvements and help her understand where she needs to work harder. Without measurements, you don’t get the full benefit of the program and you can’t see the results of their hard work. The assessment will be an initial benchmarking of key drills and workouts. We will gather the data as a benchmark. Then the girls will be tested periodically and the results recorded. There is time and analysis that goes into determining the results. Thus the reason for the assessment fee.

Bluebird Notes!

We had a good first session last night! The girls were very focused! They did a great job.

A few notes:

Training
Training Thursday will be from 6-7:30. This will be our time going forward. We can get enough done in that time and get them out of there a little earlier. I just ask that they are there, stretched and ready to go right at 6. If girls have their own bats, they are welcome to bring them to any of the skills training. Also, I told the girls to keep sweats in their bags or lockers at school. Anytime over the winter that we can get outside on the turf, we will. If we have a winter like last year, that could be pretty often. I won’t make them freeze, but we can’t be afraid of a little cool weather!

Checks for the fitness training should be made out to Mehgan Sebastian. I haven’t told folks this and I owed this to a few parents that asked last night. Fitness training will start in a couple weeks.

Videos
From time to time, I will run across videos to share with the girls. This is something the girls will be able to view at home and maybe try to incorporate it into their skills. Most of these will be things we are teaching them or examples of elite players doing the right things. I want the girls to look at them and study what’s going on in the videos. A picture is worth a 1000 words!


Here’s an instructional video on throwing. Even if your daughter has a good arm today, these fundamentals can help with accuracy and velocity. We talked a little about this last night. This is a baseball video, but translates to softball.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=baseball+throwing+mechanics&view=detail&mid=EDE2A1CE522A873D6C7FEDE2A1CE522A873D6C7F&first=0

JV coach
We are still looking to fill the JV coach. Please help us spread the word. We are diligently looking for qualified candidates!





Strut your feathers!

Go Birds!

Skills Training starts tonight!

We will be in the small gym tonight from 6-8. Please be sure to bring a glove and drink. For now, Skills training will be Monday's and Thursday from 6-8 in the small gym.

I will also have forms for signing up for the fitness training we are offering the team. Please make sure to see me if you are interested.

Also, we will need to make sure all the girls have physical forms filled out from their doctors. I would like to get these taken care of asap. If you already have one on file at Highlands, you can disregard this note. If you do not, please see me for the form. I will try to have them available tonight.

Fitness training will start in a few weeks. We are in the process of ordering new fitness equipment and will start the sessions immediately upon its arrival.


Strut your feathers!!!
Go Birds!!!!