A Little Wiggling and a Lot More Webbing...

I began wading through my texts last night and discovered a few things. First, I have been overlooking my own knowledge of and experience with softball as a valuable tool. These assets plays a key role in this inquiry. In order to effectively search a topic, one must, "know quite a bit about the subject" (DiBianco 3). Otherwise, how can you know exactly where to begin? I realize that "quite a bit" is a relative term but it makes sense. You have to know a bit about any topic before you begin the process of inquiry. You may be researching a disease that you have never heard of, but at least you know that it is a disease and that can help guide your search tremendously. You are more likely to begin with medical resources and branch out from there. But I digress. Back to softball...



As I mentioned, I have been overlooking my own extensive experience with and knowledge of the game of softball. As I began looking through the books I checked out I realized that I knew many of the drills that were described. This is fortunate, because the directions and photos were not always clear. I immediately discarded Focused for Fastpitch because it dealt more with the mental aspect of the game and gave tips for keeping players focused during games, nutrition facts, and other things of that nature. I am more interested in the drills necessary to run a practice.



A second thing I realized is that much of the decision about what drills to include in a practice depend on a number of factors. First, what level is the team? Second, is this one of the first practices of the season or are we in the postseason? Are we running a practice that is between a series of games? Have I been working with these girls for several years or is this my first experience with this group? As a result I have decided, for simplicity's sake and my own novice status as a coach, that I will be designing a tryout plan. After all, when I do begin coaching this is the first thing I will have to do.



It looks like it is back to the books and the web for tryout resources. I was able to use a number of the drills in the books as tryout drills; however, I would like to find out what I will need to look for in players. I will also need to find out how to score and rank players.







Resources :

DiBianco, Phyllis. "Teaching Information Literacy Skills in the Age of Search, Click, Copy, and Paste." Information Searcher 14.4 (2004): 1-7.

Solomon, Gloria and Andrea Becker. Focused for Fastpitch: 80 Drills to Play and Stay Sharp. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc., 2004.

Webbing...

I began my "webbing" about a week and a half ago. This stage of the process involves creating and planning a search strategy, identifying types of information I will need, and selecting resources in various formats (Lamb). This is akin to the "location and access" step in Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz's Big 6 model (http://big6.com/). Basically, I need to figure out from where I will gather my information. So far I have checked out several books from the IUPUI University library:

Focused for Fastpitch: 80 Drills to Play and Stay Sharp
The Softball Drill Book: Over 175 Drills for Individual and Team Play
The Softball Coaching Bible
Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully

I have also identified some websites that may be of some help:

http://www.fastpitchsoftball.com/
www.mycoachonline.com/softball
http://www.allexperts.com/ (they have a softball section)

Today I will examine these sources to see what kind of information is presented. Perhaps I will gain some insight on exactly what kind of practice plan I will be designing (tryouts, pre-season, post-season, etc.). I will also hopefully be able to figure out what other kinds of information I need.




Resources:

AllExperts. 28 January 2008. 29 January 2008. <http://en.allexperts.com/q/Softball-2562/>.

Big 6: An Information Problem-Solving Process. Eds. Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz. 22 January 2008. Big 6 Associates, LLC. 26 January 2008. <http://big6.com/>.

FastPitch Softball. 2 July 2007. 29 January 2008. <http://www.fastpitchsoftball.com/>.

Lamb, Annette. "8 Ws of Information Literacy." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/ws.htm.

MyCoachOnline. Internet Broadcasting Corporation, Inc. 29 January 2008. <http://www.mycoachonline.com/Softball/index.lasso>.

National Fastpitch Coaches Association. The Softball Coaching Bible. Ed. Jacquie Joseph. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Solomon, Gloria and Andrea Becker. Focused for Fastpitch: 80 Drills to Play and Stay Sharp. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc., 2004.

Veroni, Kathy J. Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc., 1998.

Walker, Kirk (ed). The Softball Drill Book: Over 175 Drills for Individual and Team Play. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc., 2007.

Wondering...

I am moving on to the next W, which is "Wondering". The task here is one of questioning. I need to find a purpose, question my techniques, brainstorm, find a focus, and narrow my topic (Lamb). I would like to focus my project on something pertinent and useful. I want to be able to use my final product in the future. I looked at my previous options and immediately eliminated fashion and the AAGPBL. While I do currently work in fashion, I am not really excited about looking into its history. The AAGPBL, while interesting, does not really excite me as much as it did a few days ago. This left me with England and softball coaching techniques and practices. While I do want to visit England someday it will probably not happen for some time. I am much more interested in softball coaching. Even though it will take me awhile to finish this degree and get into a school setting (and thus a coaching setting), I could potentially coach a team without working in a school system (a summer team or as an assistant coach for a school). I will explore coaching techniques and drills, and my final product will be a full week's practice plan. I will plan ways to fill out five two-hour time slots (one per day) will effective skillwork and drills.


On to the brainstorming. What kinds of drills will I need to consider?

I need to incorporate both defensive and offensive drills.

A few questions:

How many defensive vs. offensive drills should I consider?

How much time should I allot for individual defensive positions' drills versus drills that incorporate the entire team's defense as a unit?

Where is my team at this point in the season? Am I making practice plans for the first week of practice, the middle of the season, or the postseason?

What kinds of hitting drills are most important? How much time should be spent on repetitive drills versus live hitting (i.e., against a pitcher)?

How long should each drill last?

Which drills are going to give me the most? That is, which will incorporate as much as possible?

I have my work cut out for me. I picked up a few books from the IUPUI library on my way to another class tonight. I will look through these and search some Internet sources and hopefully gain a better understanding of what it takes to make a practice plan.

Resources:


Lamb, Annette. "8 Ws of Information Literacy." http://virtualinquiry.com/inquiry/ws.htm.

Watching...

In the 8 W's model presented in class, developed by Dr. Lamb, the first step is Watching. Watching entails becoming more "in tune" with the world around you and observing your surroundings. It brings meaning to the project. As I begin this project I have an infinite number of topics to explore. Where do I begin? I sat down awhile ago and jotted down a few topics that I might be interested in exploring further.

-England. This may be a bit broad, but I have been thinking recently that I need to learn more about places outside of the U.S. I have never been out of the country and would love to travel as soon as I have a real job and more income than I make with my retail position! I have always been fascinated by England. I am not sure if it is the accents or what I have seen in movies and in magazines: the pubs, castles, and tiny cars that drive on the left side of the road. At any rate, I would love to visit the country someday and some background information would certainly be helpful.

-Fashion. I took a retail sales position at the Nordstrom in Indianapolis to pay the bills while I am going to graduate school. While I thought this would just get me by until I have my degree and can find a school media position, I have become fascinated with fashion. I would love to look at the history of fashion and explore related careers - what are the odds that some fashion corporation needs a librarian?

-Softball coaching techniques. This was actually sparked by the arrival of my Spring 2008 copy of Direct Sports, which is a catalog of baseball and softball gear. I played softball from the age of seven through my junior year of college. I would ultimately like to coach at the high school level when I am a media specialist. As I flipped through the catalog I was amazed by the number of training tools available for coaches and players. I found myself wondering which would be the best and how to incorporate all the cool gadgets into a practice. I would love to research coaching philosophies and techniques to learn about new drills and ideas to make my (hypothetical, at this point) players better.

-The All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League. As you can tell, I was a bit of a jock back in my day (I say that as though it was so long ago). My all-time favorite movie is A League of Their Own. In case you are not familiar, the movie follows the athletic career of two sisters who play in the AAGPBL during World War II. I would love to do more research about the league to see how exactly it was run and discuss its implications for America during WWII.

That is it for now. I am not sure which topic to choose; I think I will take some time to "wonder" and conjure up some questions about each topic to get a better idea of which would be the best. Any input is more than welcome!