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  1. Rick M

    A Pawn in Game of Life

    DD’s HS coach requested a meeting with me a few days ago. She’s a 16U RHP, decent player. She’s on varsity, but has been playing almost exclusively with JV. He informed me that DD’s travel ball team is not competitive enough, and that he has secured her a spot on his preferred travel team. She...
  2. Rick M

    Umps are safe for now

    So I got trial access to Google Bard, their new AI client. I immediately started asking softball rules and training questions. This is the response I got when I asked if an outfielder should catch a foul ball with a runner on third and less than two outs: Not too strong a grasp on the rules...
  3. Rick M

    SmallRig Sale

    Amazon is having a one-day sale on the SmallRig clamp that’s pretty ideal for streaming camera mounts. I have a Linkspyder and FenceClip, but this little guy has bailed me out in a few weird field conditions: Limited-time deal: SmallRig Super Clamp https://a.co/d/0Sp6P2E Sent from my iPhone...
  4. Rick M

    Injury Study

    Just saw this small study that was done about fastpitch pitchers and cumulative injuries. Some of the numbers are pretty eye-opening. The authors of the study seem to be advocating for baseball-style pitch counts, although they acknowledge their limited sample size and the need for further...
  5. Rick M

    Great Recruiting Thread

    Twitter’s not dead yet! Just came across this really terrific thread posted by a baseball coach about how to approach emailing target programs: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  6. Rick M

    College Camp Catchers

    We’re currently reviewing a few options for prospect camps over this winter. For pitching sessions, many say that you must bring your own catcher. Do camps expect an actual catcher in gear, or do they just need a parent on a bucket for the pitcher to throw to? If it’s the former, and you’ve...
  7. Rick M

    Softball Twitter

    In the last few years, Twitter has become a central tool for college recruiting. I personally know two players who committed this fall whose only interaction with their coaches has been through Twitter. I’ve heard similar stories here on DFP. I’ve been encouraging players on my team to set up...
  8. Rick M

    The Hard-Nosed Player

    I have a player on the 16U team that I’m an AC on that is every coach’s dream. She plays hard and gives 100% in every practice, every game. She doesn’t have a low gear, just a competitive all-out type of player. The problem is, it’s catching up to her. In the last year, she’s suffered multiple...
  9. Rick M

    Development

    Now that it’s tryout season, one of the main pieces of advice you see over and over is to look for a team that emphasizes ‘development.’ But what are we talking about when we say ‘development’? At the 8U-12U level I think it mostly means working on fundamentals and getting plenty of reps and...
  10. Rick M

    New NCAA Rules Coming?

    Interesting article that lays out many of the changes that the NCAA is considering over the next year: https://www.si.com/college/2022/04/27/ncaa-new-transformation-committee-changes Of particular interest to softball, they are looking at lifting the cap on the number of scholarships available...
  11. Rick M

    GC & Mevo RTMP

    Does anyone pre-set their Mevo with the GameChanger stream key and URL in advance of the game? I usually do it right before I go live, but with school ball there’s security shooing people away from the backstop and I definitely feel like I shouldn’t be there. I’d like to mount my camera fast...
  12. Rick M

    Gasso on NIL

    Interesting piece about OU coach Patty Gasso discussing the NCAA’s new Name Image Likeness policy: https://www.si.com/college/oklahoma/softball/patty-gasso-nil-could-be-to-blame-for-oklahoma-still-missing-the-little-things This may have come up already in regards to football and basketball...
  13. Rick M

    ESPN TV Schedule

    ESPN released their 2022 television schedule today. They will be doing a Thursday night ‘Game of the Week’ until early May. The full rundown: https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2022/02/espns-industry-leading-collegiate-softball-schedule-to-offer-more-than-2000-regular-season-games/...
  14. Rick M

    A Tale of Two Teams

    DD has had a busy spring, and her performance has left me perplexed as to where she should be playing when the fall rolls around. In a nutshell: she is absolutely dominating in school ball and rec, and has been lost playing club. Her 14B club team has been really uncompetitive, losing every...
  15. Rick M

    Rip-It Acquires Ringor

    Some equipment news to share: Rip-It has acquired Ringor: https://ringor.com/blog/ringor-joins-the-ripit-team/ I’ve never been especially impressed with Rip-It gear, and DD swears by her Ringors. But this should open Ringor up to new retail markets. Hopefully they don’t change the shoe, but...
  16. Rick M

    D1 Walk-ons

    As I posted in an earlier thread, DD is a solid softball player but probably not scholarship material. She is going to choose a college based on academics first. Lately she has expressed an interest in pursuing a sports management program. I know through some contacts that I have that students...
  17. Rick M

    To Showcase or Not?

    I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but DD is a second-year 14U and we’re starting to think about 16U and beyond. She plays for a large org now, and the 16’s and 18’s are “Showcase” teams, meaning they do a lot of travel and play more showcases than tournaments. This feels like a bit of a...
  18. Rick M

    Streaming - Mevo and General

    First a general question/suggestion for the mods: should there be a separate streaming forum? I’ve found streaming topics in general, product review, and college forums. Maybe one place for streaming topics would be helpful, and it is kind of it’s own topic that doesn’t fit exactly into other...
  19. Rick M

    Offseason Rest

    It’s been a regular part of DD’s offseason routine to take off between Thanksgiving and New Year’s and not throw at all. Give her arm an extended break for rest and recovery. This year, due to Covid, she’s pitched a total of 50 innings with two tournaments left (she’ll probably finish around...
  20. Rick M

    Old School pics

    The Staten Island Advance just published a story about some of the best HS softball pitchers in New York City from the 1980’s. It’s got some great still action shots from the time. So many of them threw the ball just above their shoe laces! Anyway, good for a smile during this time of no...
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