Strength and Conditioning

At HW we have our own strength and conditioning coach who works wonders. The past couple days I have been working on team building and trying to get the girls to come out of their shells a little bit, but I hadn't quite gotten the point across the way I wanted to. I shared this with Coach Tremello and he hopped right on board with an idea to bring the girls together. He handed them a very challenging work out and basically said sink or swim as a team.

The girls had to run an 800 around the track, do 100 squats, push ups, and sit ups, and then run another 800. I figured that this workout could go one if two ways. The girls could quit the team, or they could push through and excel. 

I'm so excited and feeling rejuvenated to say that my entire group of players rose to the challenge and succeeded. They sweated profusely together, supported each other, and a few girls even ran an extra lap to make sure that some freshmen finished. This is what I love about softball, teammates making each other better. 

After the workout we had training in the cages. Batting practice was fantastic and at the end we played a game where everyone gets one strike to hit a line drive or a hard ground ball or else they are out. We do this in rounds until there is only one batter standing. During the game my players were competing but also cheering and really into the game. I saw some new girls get hits I didn't think they were capable of yet and we were having real fun!

It is an awesome feeling to have a day that could have ended poorly because of a tough practice, end with smiling and enjoying our sport. I think the girls were genuinely proud if themselves for completing the workout. I know I was and I am looking forward to our practices getting better and better from here on out. 

Go HWSB!

(Pronounced H-Dub-S-B)