NPF Champion Chicago Bandits Coach Darrick Brown and All-Star Megan Wiggins will be in Hawaii the last weekend of January to work with local players and coaches at a 2-day clinic! Coach Brown and Megan will cover hitting, defense, and pitching on Saturday and Sunday, January 28th and 29th. Hope to see you there!

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Coach Darrick Brown
*Head Coach Chicago Bandits (National Pro Fastpitch)
*Led Chicago Bandits to 2011 NPF World Series Championship
*Owner/Lead Instructor at Brown’s Fastpitch Academy (Kalamazoo, MI)
*19 years instructing hitting/pitching/catching/fielding
*19 years coaching travel, high school, college, and professional levels
*22 years playing men’s fastpitch softball in Michigan and Indiana
*2011 Member of King and His Court
*One of the top hitting and pitching instructors in the sport today

NPF All-Star Megan Wiggins
*Outfielder Chicago Bandits (National Pro Fastpitch)
*Member of the 2011 NPF World Champions Chicago Bandits
*1st Team All NPF 2011
*4 year starter at University of Georgia
*3 time All SEC 1st Team
*Holds Georgia record with 121 extra base hits (61 2B, 14 3B, 46 HR)
*Career Stats at GA: .370 avg, 61 2B, 14 3B, 46 HR, 75 BB, 203 RBI’s
*One of the top young players in the sport today

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

I never understood why athletes get dismissed from job opportunities because they have “no work experience.”  I didn’t have a “real job” where I filled out tax forms and all that until after I was done playing softball.  Many employers seemed to look down on me because I had no “work experience” even though I had over a decade of experience in athletics.  Each time I got that vibe from an employer, the same thing ran through my mind, “I probably have more of the qualities that make a good employee than some of the candidates on your list that DO have a little part-time work experience under their belt, but have never played sports in their lives.”

Turns out I was right.  My employers often expressed how impressed they were with the kind of employee I was even though I hadn’t been in the workforce long.  I strongly believe the qualities that make me a good employee came from and were solidified by the training in my softball playing years.  Turns out, you really do learn valuable life lessons in sports!

Here are 10 Things Good Softball Players and Good Employees Have in Common

1. They know how to work well with others.
2. They don’t care if something is “not my job” if it has to be done, they find a way to help get it done!
3. They are the kind of person that others WANT to work with.
4. They understand the concept of working toward a common goal.
5. They know how to overcome adversity.  They don’t just give up all hope each time a challenge or obstacle comes up.
6. They take responsibility for their own performance instead of waiting for someone to make them strive for excellence.
7. They are capable of thinking on their feet and handle unexpected issues.  They don’t wait for someone to baby sit them through their every move.
8. They typically arrive early, not just “on time,” and are very rarely, if ever, late.  If they are going to be late, they conscientiously make sure their superior knows what’s going on before they were expected to arrive.
9. They diligently work on their craft and their effort is second to none.
10. They have a positive, can-do attitude!

What do you think?  Agree or disagree?

I think we can probably add even more to this list!  If you have suggestions, please leave a comment with your ideas below. 

My oldest daughter had her own bat when we was 10 years old.  At the time she had a brand spankin’ new RocketTech.  Obviously, she’s outgrown that bat, and now at 15, I just bought her another one.

Why did it take so long?

• There really wasn’t a bat on the market that we liked and she performed well with
• $300 is a LOT of money and is not something I’ll spend at the drop of a hat, so this was a well thought out purchase
• The last few years we had to pay big dentist bills for the kids so no one got a new bat!

Now she’s playing on a team where everyone has their own bats.  Well, most players have their own bats.  Because my daughter didn’t have her own bat, she always had to borrow someone else’s.  As a parent, I feel like it was a bit of an imposition for her to borrow other player’s personal bats that their parents had spent hundreds of dollars on.  Plus, if the person who owned the bat she usually borrows didn’t show up on a given practice or game day, that meant she had to ask to borrow someone else’s bat which usually didn’t have the same specs as the bat she usually used.

We finally go to the point where:

• we didn’t really want her to have to borrow all the time
• she was finally hitting pretty decently with a particular bat that she liked
• she was taking care of her grades and other responsibilities at home

So we bit the bullet and dropped about $300 on a bat.  Which one did we get?

As the title to this post and the picture above suggests, we picked up a Louisville Slugger TPS Xeno (-8). Most players here swing the -10, but the -8 actually swings pretty light for that weight and since my daughter is not as big as other players, she needs all the help she can get.

Things I like about this softball bat:

• first and foremost, DD loves it (both my 15yo and my 12yo) – it’s important that players are comfortable with the bat they use.
• second, it’s hot out of the wrapper – this bat doesn’t really need a break in period.
• third, it’s loud – makes your hit sound more impressive which can be a good thing if you’re trying to make a good impression for recruiting purposes. It can also leave an “Oh wow, that was a great hit” impression on the pitcher or defense which could *possibly* work in your favor when it comes to the mental game. In other words, the loud sound *might* provide some intimidation factor for you as a hitter.
• fourth, it looks cool – most male coaches say this doesn’t matter, but most players will tell you that it does (refer to first reason listed above).

Things I don’t care for:

• it cost $300 (lol) but most “good” bats do, so it’s not really a major factor when deciding between this bat and other popular softball bats.
• it’s loud – while that does provide some advantages listed above, it also alerts the defense to the hit. When you hear something like that, as a defender, you’re immediately on your toes and jarred into awareness of a solid hit.
• short life span? Now I haven’t measured or tested this at all. It’s just a perception I have from seeing this bat in action on other teams and with other players. While this bat IS hot out of the wrapper, it doesn’t seem to have as long a pop-life as other bats which make require a longer break-in period. In other words, while it comes to life faster, it also seems to die faster.