HIGHER
GROUND SOFTBALL NEWS
GETTING
BETTER EVERY DAY!
July - September, 2007 by Bobby Simpson
Contact Us Now to schedule a Customized Clinic or
Camp at your site
1. Getting Better Every Day: I found it in the airport in Atlanta and read it a few months ago. I loved the title and just had to see what it was all about. Yeah, another book that I read and the title of this one is What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. It’s written by executive coach Marshall Goldsmith and it matches up very well with two of my favorite books, If It Ain’t Broke…Break It and Hope Is Not A Method, which all remind us, like Arnold Toynbee, that “Nothing fails like success.” I actually like those two books better than this one, but let me share a few of the many solid items that Goldsmith’s book made me think about. For full value, read the whole thing yourself.
Ø Several of the people that gave written endorsements of the book had the tile of Chief Learning Officer for their company. Does your team, school, or organization have one of those? I like the simple message of that title.
Ø To get the best suggestions, practice “360-degree feedback” – up, down, and sideways in your group’s chain of command.
Ø As
a leader, be careful about initially suggesting changes to someone’s idea. By
improving the content of the idea by 5 percent, you could reduce someone’s
enthusiasm for the idea and commitment to the idea by 50 percent. Be careful to
not take away ownership of an idea.
Ø “When you start a sentence with ‘no,’ ‘but,’
‘however,’ or any variation thereof, no matter how friendly your tone or how
many cute mollifying phrases you throw in to acknowledge the other person’s
feelings, the message to the other person is You are wrong.”
Ø Improve your listening. “…when somebody makes
a suggestion or gives you ideas, you’re either going to learn more or learn
nothing. But you’re not going to learn less. Hearing people out does
not make you dumber.”
Ø All good listeners (1) think before they
speak, (2) listen with respect, and (3)
gauge their response by asking “Is it worth it?”
2. Some Opportunities To Consider – Make
Good Choices:
· We have scheduled a very special event for Malvern/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our second USA Elite Hitting Institute is scheduled there on October 5-7. The first was conducted in January in Atlanta and drew raves from the players and coaches that attended from as far away as Alaska and Colorado. It Is Not For Every Hitter, but if you are looking for outstanding elite hitting instruction, contact us or check the web site. Player and adult participation is limited. http://highergroundsoftball.com/clinics/USAElite07.htm.
·
Check with us about elite softball/baseball Vizual Edge sports vision training
at http://highergroundsoftball.com/visiontr.php.
If you have not yet
done this, you are missing an outstanding method for terrific improvement.
Whether you purchase from us or from Vizual Edge makes no difference,
but do get better visual information and gain the competitive edge that does
make a difference.
· A Customized Clinic For YOU: Higher Ground has provided instruction in almost every state in the United States, plus Argentina, Austria, Azores, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Zambia. Contact us to schedule one near you.
· Be sure to take a look at Softball Magazine. I have a regular article in each issue and you can find out more at leading bookstores or www.softballmag.com
3. Think About This: “Use success as a springboard, not as a pedestal”
Robert Kriegel, in If It Ain’t Broke…Break It
4. Get Off The Couch: When I
reached this point in writing this newsletter, I looked on my office
floor and bookshelves to see if I could find a book to look at for an idea. I
glanced at several and then grabbed On Golf, written by Jim Flick a
renowned gold instructor for over 40 years. I read it back in the spring of
1999, and it had a bunch of stuff underlined and highlighted. As I looked at
it, I realized I REALLY need to re-read it, so it’s going in my Read As Soon
As I Can Get To It stack. I rarely do this, but I am going to just retype
and quote what he says about comfort. It’s written about golf, but aptly
applies to softball, baseball, and much of life. I know Jack Stallings will
love it, for he taught me so much of the same philosophy long ago when I was a
young assistant baseball coach at Florida State. THANKS so much for the lesson.
“A lot of people will come to me and say they want to improve their game, and we’ll start working on some things, and they’ll tell me, ‘That doesn’t feel right. That feels strange. That feels uncomfortable.’
They’re absolutely right. If they’ve been playing golf with a posture that doesn’t let their arms and club swing freely, an alignment that bears little or no relationship to their target, and a grip that prevents them from bringing the club head squarely against the ball, then the things I ask them to do will not feel right. They will feel strange. And they will certainly feel uncomfortable.
A person derives comfort from the habit he already has. And if that’s the one habit you’ve got to get rid of to improve your golf swing, then you’ve got to feel awkward for a while. What makes change so tough in golf is that our most ingrained bad habits are the last to go and the first to come back.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can go out on the golf course and change your grip or your setup or your whatever at every tee. You don’t work on any major change while you’re on the golf course. You do it at the Training Ground. Changing an old habit requires a conscious thought process, and you’re not on the golf course to think about the different pieces and parts of your golf game. You’re out there to make a score.
If you commit yourself to a major swing change to help your game, you are committing yourself to making something unfamiliar become familiar, that is, to creating a new habit. That requires an investment of patience, determination, and time. And it requires acceptance of the fact that, until that new habit takes hold, you’re not going to feel as comfortable as you would like.
I look people right in the eye and say, ‘I don’t care whether you’re comfortable or not, but I really, really care if you are correct.’
Comfort is based on where you are coming from. To get better in golf, you need to be more interested in where you are going – and willing to accept being uncomfortable for a while in order to get there.”
5. New Mass Email Plans: In revising our communication with you, we have decided on a new schedule for regular emailed items. We hope that you find this timely and informative, without us overloading you. We want to stay in touch, offer you consistent helpful material, but not bombard you so much or with such long items that you get frustrated or fed up. Thanks for being part of our group of very valued softball enthusiasts.
v A Thought For Tuesday – Every Tuesday
v Dates To Remember – First Thursday of each month
v Getting Better Every Day Newsletter – Quarterly
v Special Notices – Sent by state, region, nationally, or internationally as needed
6.
Another Thought Very Much Worth Thinking About: “They
will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like
clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.” Psalm 102:26 NIV
7. Just A Little More + Dates To Remember (March,
2007 – January, 2008)
· CONGRATULATIONS: Eileen Schmidt, a frequent instructor at Higher Ground clinics and camps was named Head Coach at the University of Virginia. Ellen McNair (Class of 2008), a fine young lady on our Higher Ground International Player Advisory Board, has received a scholarship to continue her softball career at Penn State University. Seems like yesterday when she traveled as a very young girl from the Florida Panhandle to her first basic skills camp in Macon, Georgia. We’ve seen a lot of her at advanced events since then and we are extremely happy for her and her family. Jay Miller, Higher Ground clinic and video instructor, guided the USA Junior National Team to the Gold Medal in the ISF Junior World Championship this summer in Holland. Suzy Brazney, who demonstrated catching skills in the Higher Ground DVD by Kathy Van Wyk, served as an assistant.
· Many web sites have added a link to Higher Ground. Please add http://www.highergroundsoftball.com to your site’s links so others can learn more about the opportunities we provide. THANKS for helping us help others.
· Check our web site for past issues of the newsletter
2007-2008 HIGHER GROUND DATES TO
REMEMBER
08-16-07
2007
·
March 31-April 1 – Customized Clinic – San Jacinto, CA
·
May 15-21 – ISF Olympic Solidarity Clinic - Zambia/Africa
·
June 11-13 – Day Camps – Dublin, GA
·
June 11-13 – Day Camps – Ocoee/Orlando, FL
·
June 17-22 – SUPER/SELECT Camp For Advanced & Elite Skills – Columbus,
GA
·
June 23 – Customized Clinic – Albany, GA
·
June 29-July 1 – Day Camp – Bethel, ME
·
July 8-12 – Team Camp – Tifton, GA
·
July 13 – All Skills Clinic – Tifton, GA
·
July 15-19 – Team
Camp – Anderson, SC
·
July 15-19 – Team Camp – Covington/Atlanta, GA
·
July 19 – Champion Sports Events Recruiting Camp – Columbus, GA
·
September 1-2 – Annual Higher Ground Fall Clinic – Jacksonville, FL –
Simpson, Chenita Rogers-Edwards, Terri Knecht, Sonya Wilmoth, University of
North Florida Staff & Players
·
October 5-7 – USA
Elite Hitting Institute – Malvern/Philadelphia, PA – Simpson, Dionna
Harris (Olympian), Greg Riddoch (Former MLB manager)
·
November
9 - Champion Sports Events Recruiting Camp – Dalton, GA –
Simpson, Tina Whitlock, others TBA
2008
·
January 12-13 – 17th Annual Higher Ground Central
Florida Winter Clinic – Ocoee/Orlando, FL – Staff TBA
·
Jan/Feb – 7th Annual SUPER CLINIC For Advanced & Elite
Skills – Atlanta, GA - TBA
·
January 26-27 – Customized Clinic – Wewahitchka, FL –
Simpson, Greg Riddoch, others TBA
The
International Softball Federation, International Sports Group, the United
States Air Force, and many international federations have used Higher Ground services.
Higher Ground has conducted activities in approximately forty states, plus
Argentina, Austria, Azores, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, England,
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Philippines,
Puerto Rico, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Zambia. In
addition, Sports Illustrated for Women recognized Higher
Ground as the top softball camp program in America. We can help you achieve
skills needed at the highest levels of the game or get you started with basic
skills.
HIGHER GROUND is in the process of scheduling many
more clinics & camps
Contact us if you
would like to schedule a clinic or camp in your area
Please check our web site at www.highergroundsoftball.com
Office 229-386-9770 Cell 229-392-4048