Fastpitch Interview
Peter Sprenkle
Peter Sprenkle, developer of A Softball Coaches Tool Kit, took some time to sit down and chat about coaching, about the game, and about the resource he offers to other coaches. Enjoy!
How did you get involved with fast pitch softball?
A good way to answer some of these questions is to pass on the Author page from my book. Here it is:
Peter Sprenkle has been active in coaching youth sports in one capacity or another for over thirty years. He started as a coach in the Jesse Collyer Baseball/Softball League in Ossining, NY in 1975 when his daughter Linda, then eleven, signed up to play and her team did not have a coach. Starting out as a brand new coach his team won their first game 3-0 and he was hooked. Following two years in league administration, as well as coaching, Pete moved to Boulder, Colorado in the fall of 1977.
There was no girls softball program in the City of Boulder in 1978 so he traveled to a suburb and signed up to coach a team in that league. During that summer he also worked with the City of Boulder to help organize a four team league in Boulder. Following that season, in October 1978, he founded the Boulder Valley Girls Softball Association.
In the ensuing years Pete has worn many hats:
Coach at the “A”, “B” and “C” classifications in AFA/ASA/USSSA summer softball, working with 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U age groups. During that time his teams won eight state and four regional championships as well as numerous league and tournament championships with an overall record of over 1200 wins in almost 1700 games.
- President or Treasurer of the local softball organization - 1978-2000.
- Tournament Director of numerous tournaments.
- Many tournament committees, including four national tournaments
- Founder of the BVGSA Summer Softball Camp, Director for eight years
- Organizer of many softball skills clinics, summer camps and coaches clinics.
- Developer of four practice fields for Boulder Competitive Girls Softball
- President and Director of the Colorado Girls Softball Coaches Association
- Organizer of the Lady Warriors summer program in 1998
- High School softball coach 1998-2002
- Youth Tee Ball/Baseball coach 2003 – present
Pete is a 1957 graduate of the University of Miami, Florida and spent thirty five years working for the IBM Corporation. He retired in 1992 and now devotes much of his time to youth baseball. He is married with two daughters and three grandchildren.
What is your personal athletic background?
Baseball, Track and Cross Country in High School; Track in college. Plus, I played baseball every summer and then industrial league softball for a while when I was working.
Cool a fellow track athlete! Of course you were probably much better than I was seeing as how you ran in track in college. Out of curiosity, what events did you participate in?
I was in the 100, 220, 440 and mile relay - pretty average, but it was fun.
In your own personal opinion, what’s the best thing about fast pitch softball?
For the players it’s a chance to learn new skills, how to play together as a team and how to compete; for a coach, it is getting a group of kids to play together, as a team, play hard, and reach their ultimate potential while having fun.
What’s your current involvement in the game?
I am not presently coaching softball. I now coach my 8 yr old granddaughter in Baseball. If she continues to want to play it is likely that she will switch to Girls Softball and I will probably coach her in softball.
When coaching this younger age group, what do you feel are important things to emphasize or focus on?
FUNdamentals. Teaching the basics of the game is absolutely the #1 thing. But, keeping it fun is also critical. You can’t teach your team how to do a relay until they can catch and throw properly. So fundamentals are where it’s at. But for FUN we use contests during the practice.
I know this is a bit off topic, but I’ve been told that having grandchildren is better than having your own children. Would you agree with that?
Well, I love my two daughters, but with my 3 grand kids I get more time to do fun things with them, especially my granddaughter who lives 10 minutes away. One thing people say about grandchildren is that about the time you get tired their parents take them home.
I'm sure things weren’t always a smooth ride when you were working with your children, but I’m also thinking you probably don’t have any regrets about it. As someone who’s “been there and done that”, can you offer any advice to those of us who coach or may coach our own children?
You're right there were some tough moments, but as I've said many times, after the several years it took me to figure out how to relate to my daughter as a coach, not a dad, things were fine. The last several years were great and now my daughter is coaching her daughter in softball - 1st game last week and they won. But, interestingly enough there were a couple of tense moments early on for them. I think the big thing is to understand that it will be tough to separate your two roles parent/coach, but that when you do it will be a great experience. Interestingly enough in the four seasons I’ve coached my granddaughter I've never had one bad moment!
What are your thoughts on “positive coaching”?
It is probably the key to success. If the coach can be positive and get his/her players to be/think positive great things are possible. I believe that many of my teams exceeded their potential because we were able to develop a positive sense of confidence and beat teams who had more talent than we did.
I truly believe that attitude plays a crucial role in success or lack there of, but it’s also more difficult to coach than plain old skills and drills. What are some of the things you found helpful in developing a good attitude or a “positive sense of confidence” on your team?
I spent a lot of time on motivational things (sayings, signs, handouts, etc.). I emphasized the team aspect of the game always. I had each of my kids playing at least 3 positions so we got lots of experience - and confidence - with different kids at different positions, then if and when players were absent or hurt, we had choices on fill ins without having to put players in positions where they didn't feel confident. And of course winning does generate positiveness and we were lucky that we won a lot of the time. We always tried to get the players to be positive, confident and expect to win and that attitude can build on itself.
Motivational sayings and handouts are another tool that I like as well, hence the "inspirational quote" part of my site. I wasn't sure if other coaches might find it a bit corny, but I've found that players respond rather well to motivational handouts and/or exercises. Obviously, this is something that's worked for you as well.
Yes.
Judging by the amount of visits the "teamwork" page at my site gets, I'm guessing quite a few coaches are constantly looking for new ideas on how to get their team to work together better. What are some of the ways you've "emphasized the team aspect of the game"?
We constantly emphasized TEAM ……. We win or lose together. There is no I in team. A star can win any game; a team can win every game. We took a team picture at the first practice and gave everyone a copy. We had a team tee shirt with the team saying for the year, etc. And we used the motivational board with many sayings and passed out handouts every week. There are lots of these in the book.
What do you feel is the biggest challenge of being a coach?
Getting players to buy into the Team concept. This is getting harder and harder with so many parents pushing their daughter to be a star so she can get a college scholarship. I found that coaching HS was really tough because there just wasn’t time to build the team and of course you don’t get to pick your players which you do for a summer team.
What are some of your favorite resources or where do you go to continue to learn?
I actually have three favorite resources: (1) Other coaches. Just talking to other coaches about what they do and how they are successful you can pick up a ton of good information. And, most coaches love to share their successes; (2) Videos and books. There is more information available to coaches than they will ever be able to read and absorb. And, now the internet has become a great source of information. Just type “fast pitch softball” in a search engine and you’ll get so many hits you’ll never be able to look at them all; (3) Coaches clinics. I always tried to attend one or two a year. Another great source of information and an excellent chance to meet and talk to other coaches.
How did you come up with the idea of A Softball Coaches Toolkit?
I tend to be a heavy computer user (probably from working for IBM for 35 years) and every time I did a practice plan, drill, contest, motivational saying, etc I would put it into the computer. So after a while I had a large collection of material which I used with my teams. Then other coaches would ask me if they could use this or that and I kind of began to think I had something of value for other coaches. So, I thought about putting all the material together in a book form so that coaches could use whatever they found helpful. When I was very close to getting the book done I decided to include the “Tools” on a CD to make it easier for coaches to utilize the material. And now, 4 ½ years later it is still doing well.
A Softball Coaches Toolkit covers quite a bit of different aspects of the game, how long did it take you to develop it and did you get help from other people?
Most of the material I put together during the 13 years I coached a travel team based in Boulder plus the first couple of years I coached HS softball. The best way to give credit for help I received is from my Acknowledgements page.
If you could give just one piece of advice to softball players, what would it be?
Play softball because it’s fun and you enjoy it! Not because mom or dad wants you too, not because someone says you will get a scholarship, not because it’s the “Thing to Do”. If you love the game, you’ll play it well and good things will happen.
If you could give just one piece of advice to give coaches, what would it be?
It’s a little more than one thing but ….. I recommend that coaches be: Confident - believe in yourself and what you teach your players. Organized - plan your work and work your plan. When you are organized and in control, your players will see that and react accordingly. Prepared - make sure before you start a practice or game that you are prepared for all possibilities. Bad weather, a player missing or injured, equipment not available, the list is endless. The key is to be ready for all eventualities and then, when something happens, you will be able to handle it with little difficulty.
It's always cool to talk with others in the fastpitch community. Peter, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with us. We appreciate it!
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