Are You Sure You Want This Coaching Job?

Coaches face a number of challenges during the season, some of which can be greatly reduced by taking care of business before the season even gets rolling. In this video I talk about how making a few bad choices in the beginning of the season can give you more headaches than you bargained for.

Plus - stay with me until the end of the video and I'll let you in on a special deal.

AAF Live! October 15, 2008

Tomorrow we'll be running our 2nd AAF Live! event. I hope you can join us, but please note the CORRECTED TIME. The event will run from 7pm-8pm Eastern.

If you didn't get a chance to join in the last conversation, it was a lot of fun! It's a free, unscripted, real time discussion on fastpitch softball. At this point, I'm not even choosing the topics, we'll discuss whatever you want to bring to the table.

Even if you can't stay the full hour, drop by, let us know you're there and join in for a few minutes! Hope to "see" you tomorow.

Long Over Due

Hope you're having a great week! I'm just jotting down a quick note to let you know that All About Fastpitch finally has an affiliate program set up. Now you can easily refer your friends to AAF with the "copy and paste" links that are provided to you in the new affiliate center.

I was actually surprised to see people signing up already and I haven't even said anything about it yet. If you'd like more information on how to sign up (for free) and learn how it all works, Click Here to visit our Affiliate Sign-Up Page.

I also have another exciting announcement which I'm planning to make next week (it'll also be a unique opportunity for a select group of coaches). However, this opportunity will only be announced to our members. If you haven't already signed up for the Free Fastpitch Membership here at AAF, click here to join now. Then keep your eyes on your mailbox for more information on this rare opportunity. Again, it won't cost you a dime. Just make sure you're on our mailing list if you're interested.

Don't Assume They Know It

I think there's something that amazes me every time I watch a softball game. The other weekend it was my oldest daughter. No, she didn't amaze me with her unbelievable talent, LOL. It was something else. She was pitching that day. You know how sometimes during an umpire timeout the pitcher rolls grounders to her infield to keep them on their toes and keep them from getting bored? Well, I guess my daughter has seen other pitchers do this, so during a break in the action during her game, she rolled a grounder to each of her infielders. I know, not that amazing. But the thing was.....it was a rainy day. The ground was WET!

My daughter has to be the only pitcher on the face of this earth that I know of that purposefully rolls the ball she's going to pitch on the ground when it's wet (and not just once either). When play resumed, guess what happened. She walked the next batter on 5 pitches. *sigh*

I discussed this with her after the game and let her know that if the ball ever feels too slippery, she is allowed to ask the umpire for another ball. Of course, I also advised her that she probably shouldn't roll grounders to her teammates to pass time if the ground is moist.

New Article - Getting in "The Zone"

Hi, just dropping in really quick to let you know that I've put up a new article. This article talks about a way to help yourself get in "The Zone" for better softball performance. Click the link below to read this article...

Help Yourself Get in "The Zone"

If you haven't been to our Articles page in a while, go check it out. I've finally got a few new things up.

March - Big Month for AAF

Wow - March was an amazing month at AllAboutFastpitch.com! January 2007 was our previous BEST month for visitors with 7,986 unique visitors and 117,217 hits. However, March, just about blew that out of the water with 13,852 unique visitors and 199,828 hits! This is a great time of year for softball and I think that is reflected in the traffic coming to the site, but I know a lot of you tell others about the site and I really, really appreciate that.

I often get e-mails asking if it's okay to add our link to a team website and the answer is always "yes!" Also, if there are any articles at the site that you'd like to share either in hard copy or online, let me know and I'll give you the information on reprint/reusing the article. I do not charge for article reprints, so definitely contact me if that's something you'd like to do.

Thanks again for all the support and for spreading the word about AllAboutFastpitch.com! I hope to reach 15,000 unique visitors before the end of the year if not by the summer, so if there's something you like about the site don't forget to tell others about it.

Updates to the Site

I've been working on the site recently and have been doing a few updates. It seems that in the server crash, something happen to my Fastpitch Interview page. That link wasn't working so I re-did the whole page and it is now back up and running.

Also, we have secured our final Resident Expert. He was actually our Guest Expert for February's Column, but has accepted the final spot we had left to become a permanent feature on our column. The new Resident Expert is Coach Jerrad Hardin of ChampionshipFastpitch.com. Welcome Coach Hardin!

One more thing, if you haven't noticed yet, there is a new article up: 5 Things Coaches Don't Want to Hear. Go check it out on our Articles Page.

There are a few more updates to come and I will announce them in our newsletter. If you haven't signed up as a Fastpitch Member yet to receive the newsletter, but would like to receive updates and additional tips, please CLICK HERE to sign up.

I hope you had a great weekend ~ wishing you a wonderful week this week.

A Mother's Fear

My daughter loves playing the one position I never intended for her to play...pitcher. Why did I not intend for her to play there? Because I had to play there when no one else could and was never very good at it and never really liked it or looked forward to it. So I assumed the same would be true for her. However, my daughter loves it and she seems to be better at it than I was. So, she does get to pitch. This past Saturday, in 3 innings, she had 5 balls hit right back at her. Luckily, they were all weak grounders. But my biggest fear is that line shot back at her head or right at her chest. With the bats and balls nowadays it's such a scary thought. I've thought about having her wear a gameface mask. I don't think it's that big a deal right now, but when she gets older and girls actually hit those line shots up the middle, I may very well get one. I think the trick, though, will be getting her to wear it. I haven't seen anyone in Hawaii wear one so she may think I'm crazy to ask her to put it on. Plus, she's never seen a pitcher get knocked in the head before, so it's not something she's worried about.

Off to a Great Start in 2007!

Wow! I did something today that I haven't done for a while: check website stats. I have to say I was surprised, but very pleased. I have to send out a big THANKS to YOU for helping AllAboutFastpitch.com get off to a great start in 2007!

So far this month, the website has already received 61,361 hits as of end of the day on Jan. 17th! We're barely past the half way mark for the month. Compare that to November and December's numbers that were 70,986 and 60,775 respectively. That's right, AllAboutFastpitch.com has gotten more hits so far in January than in all of December!

Also, the record high for Fastpitch Member sign-ups was 138 for the month of March 2006. So far this month, 109. Definitely on track to smash the previous high of 138.

Obviously Nov/Dec is a slower time of year for softball, which was reflected in AAF website stats and I have to admit that I was getting a little discouraged. For the past few months, I kind of gave up checking web stats because what I was seeing wasn't very exciting. You have no idea how pumped up I was to see the difference this month!

Thank you so much for being a part of AllAboutFastpitch.com and for recommending us to others that you know. Now I know added effort I'm putting in to make 2007 a great year is worth it and is paying off. I'm seeing results and I thank you for supporting AAF!