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Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
DD has always been pretty quite on field, we have a player this year that yells out before every play.

I think her favorite line is ..

"Of 2, IF 1"

I am supprised she can talk the next day, she is a really good player.
 
Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
As they get older, I like to hear them communicating something meaningful relevant to the situation vs just stating the obvious, especially with no one on base.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
As they get older, I like to hear them communicating something meaningful relevant to the situation vs just stating the obvious, especially with no one on base.

Meaningless stuff is better then dead silence, as long as they are away from me.
 
Mar 7, 2012
144
0
PA
I personally love chatter, I always encourage it. The girls never really understood why I was always telling them to talk. During the winter one of the local college did a clinic with our girls their during the fielding portion their girls were cheering our girl on the whole time (good play, nice catch, good effort, etc..). Our very next practice one of the girls states "i get why you always ask us to talk, I felt a lot more confident when I had someone cheering me on the way"! They finally started chattering, next step I convinced them to do it in pre-game warm-ups (my reasoning was to get into our opponents heads) our girls started doing it in warm-ups and you'd be surprised how many coaches have told me their girls were scared to play our girls because they were intimidating and they were more focused on our girls warming up than warming up themselves. As I tell my girls softball is 75% mental
 
Mar 20, 2014
918
28
Northwest
DD's (18U) second baseman is a hoot! She is always talking on every play, turns around and interacts with the outfielders after every out (high five, shoots an arrow and dueling pistols) and is just full of enthusiasm. And she is really funny - she even gets the umpires to laugh sometimes. She keeps the team up if we are losing and keeps the energy level up even during our 100+ degree games. It is great!
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
I personally love chatter, I always encourage it. The girls never really understood why I was always telling them to talk. During the winter one of the local college did a clinic with our girls their during the fielding portion their girls were cheering our girl on the whole time (good play, nice catch, good effort, etc..). Our very next practice one of the girls states "i get why you always ask us to talk, I felt a lot more confident when I had someone cheering me on the way"! They finally started chattering, next step I convinced them to do it in pre-game warm-ups (my reasoning was to get into our opponents heads) our girls started doing it in warm-ups and you'd be surprised how many coaches have told me their girls were scared to play our girls because they were intimidating and they were more focused on our girls warming up than warming up themselves. As I tell my girls softball is 75% mental

I totally agree w/ you on how cheering and encouragement can pump up teammates, and the fact that the coach just needs to get the players to buy into that. It's not easy to coach it. My DD was on a 14U team a couple of years ago, and the coach was constantly getting the girls to chatter and calling for ''energy.'' It was kinda stressful and tiring to many of the players. They just didn't get it, and if it's artificial, it just doesn't work the same.

But now, she's on a team where all that comes second nature to the veteran players, and she's seen the results of it. She had a 13-pitch at-bat (walk) last week where her teammates were with her very vocally every step of the way. She was extremely focused and determined, not wanting to let them down. It can be a difference-maker.

I'll add though that I'm not a fan of cheering designed to intimidate or get in the other team's head. Maybe in college softball, where the outcome really matters and it's part of the culture, but in travel, I'm looking to play a certain level of competition for the purpose of development. If it were better to play a weakened opponent, might as well just play down.
 
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