Who's Passion is it.........

No matter where you live Fast pitch softball has become a year round sport, even in the coldest states in the dead of winter you'll find young athletes training at some indoor facility for the up coming season. You'll find young pitchers learning the basics, and seasoned pitchers refining their location and rotation. The same can be said for the young, as well as the experienced hitter, you'll find them working on the tee learning their swing or working on a small section of their swing to get it fine tuned.

It takes a lot of passion and desire for these young athletes to dedicate this amount of time, effort and energy to the sport of fastpitch softball, but is it really their passion? Who really wants it more the athlete or the parent? These questions are really targeted towards the younger players, the kids between 8 and 16, clearly the college kids who are doing this understand that its required, but does the same hold true for the middle school aged kids?  Are they showing this dedication  to the sport of fastpitch softball because its their passion or is it the passion and desire of the parent?

This past fall I noticed a very talented hitting instructor working with a young hitter,  he was trying to get her to go through the basics, and while his patience was phnominal the young hitter seemed as though she would much rather be at home updating her My Space page. After the lesson I asked if it was just a bad night and he replied "no this is what I see from her each week, but they keep coming back."

Hopefully this is more the exception than the rule, but I think the question is a fair one and worth at least thinking about. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic, join us at the softball clinic forum (talk.thesoftballclinic.com) and chime in.

Of course as coaches who love softball we truly endorse any kid who has the desire to get better, however we equally endorse picking up a book or a basketball and enjoy just being a kid. Often this break is what motivates these young athletes to greater improvement. Like my grandma use to say "absence makes the heart grow fonder." If you see your young athlete burning out give'em a break and let them recharge their softball batteries, they'll be better for it.


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