HIGHER
GROUND SOFTBALL NEWS
GETTING
BETTER EVERY DAY!
October -December, 2007 by Bobby Simpson
Contact Us Now to schedule a Customized Softball Clinic or Camp at your site
1. Getting Better Every Day: On July 3, I sent my Thought For Tuesday to several thousand people on our mailing list and I discussed how some crabs will pull other crabs back into the barrel when they try to climb out. It was a story about accepting mediocrity rather then striving to reach higher levels.
One day later, on July 4, Cindy
Bristow responded to the July 3 Thought. She and I have done tons of
things together with ASA and ISF, including selecting and coaching the first
Greek National Softball Team back in 2001. Her message said, “I was watching the movie Annapolis where
the star is in all kinds of trouble and losing all but one of his roommates. He
finally asked his roommate, ‘why are you still here, when I’m always in
trouble?’ His roommate answers – ‘because you’re my Mississippi…as long as
you’re in trouble they don’t notice me.’ According to him, Arkansas would be
the worst state in the nation if it weren’t for Mississippi, so his
always-in-trouble roommate was his Mississippi…”
Cindy
said that the obvious message was that “many players and teams find
Mississippi’s so they aren’t the worst? Instead of challenging themselves and
playing up, or finding better competition, they search for their Mississippi.”
She then challenged me to turn that negative message loose and find a positive
one. I promised her I’d do that and I’ve put if off for about four months, so
today I have started writing in an effort to get the positive juices flowing.
Right now, I am really not sure what’s coming next, but I am getting started
since I know that’s the best way to ever finish. And, I sure don’t want to
admit that I couldn’t do it. So, I am going to list a few positive
possibilities for you to consider.
·
The
roommate knows something about the mental skill of reframing. Even
though he may use it to stay mediocre, he is learning to take a negative
situation (being 49th out of 50) and reframe it. That same skill is
critical in achieving success and he may apply it better in the future.
·
The star
learned that even when you are in all kinds of trouble, there is still hope.
There is very likely someone out there who is willing to help.
·
By
shifting focus somewhere else, we can often make the situation better. I
remember a very wise story told by our high school coach baseball coach when I
was in about the 7th or 8th grade. While playing minor
league baseball, he was the catcher for Preacher Roe, who went on to many
successful years on the mound with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Fans used to really
give Preacher Roe fits and he was easily distracted, which made him much more
hittable. Our coach, Pig Davis (who also played college football with Bear
Bryant), would run by the bleachers after an at-bat and intentionally yell
disrespectfully at the fans. They foolishly would then start to yell at him
throughout the game. He caused them to shift their verbal abuse away from Roe
and direct it to him, allowing Roe to pitch much better. This scene from Annapolis
reminds us of the value of shifting.
·
This
story also illustrates the value of one. The person in trouble still had
one more roommate, one more chance to make it work. The roommate had one state
worst than his. Too often, people quit when one more step, one more practice,
one more game, one more try would be the one that turned the tide and allowed
them to succeed. Too many people quit too soon…One can be a BIG number.
·
Finally,
for now, we see the value of higher level questioning. The struggling
cadet asked his roommate “why…?” That is a powerful word that leads
directly or indirectly to an increase in knowledge and hopefully wisdom that
allows us to effectively use that knowledge. It was the most common word used
when I worked for the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy about 35 years ago.
Everything traditional about the game of baseball was being challenged as the
staff searched for anything that could lead to improvement. Far too often
today, people just clone things and are scared to challenge traditional
thinking in our game. These men asked why and started a dialogue that
appeared to primarily contain a negative message, but it would eventually lead
to success by the end of the movie.
A
few minutes ago, I really did not know where I was headed with this item. As I
kept reading Cindy’s email, I felt somewhat like I was back in school trying to
interpret something that Shakespeare had written. I actually feel much better
now than I did in college or even a few minutes ago. I believe that I’ve shared
some positive items that were wrapped up inside negative camouflage. I know I
enjoyed the challenge of trying to find the positive nuggets. Now that we’ve
started, maybe some more will come to mind as we all search for good stuff inside
bad stuff.
Thanks
Cindy…as always, I have learned from our exchange.
2. Some Opportunities To Consider – Make Good
Choices:
· Hopefully you know about www.winningsoftballonline.com set up by Dan Sawyer. All of the original Higher Ground instructional softball DVD’s are online and you can view them any time you like by buying a six month or one year subscription. You can even get a Higher Ground discount with a one-year subscription. Just use our discount code 58AB40. Give it a look, watch the FREE footage, and subscribe NOW. Additional material will be available soon and you can learn at your leisure from top softball instructors. Get started NOW and tell others.
·
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. YOU can benefit from the
same visual training program being used by many of the top college softball
team and professional baseball teams. Start NOW!
· A Customized Softball Clinic For YOU: Higher Ground has provided softball 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 a softball clinic near you.
· Be sure to take a look at Softball Magazine. I have a regular softball instructional article in each issue and you can find out more at leading bookstores or www.softballmag.com
3. Think About This: “The person who never makes a mistake works for someone who
did.” Hector Laing
4. You Choose: Each semester, I have high school Algebra students look at a photo entitled Choices that appeared on the back cover of a past issue of Reader’s Digest. I ask them to write ten lines or more about how to make better choices. A young lady named Kaval Momin had recently moved to the United States from India and she wrote the following insightful comments. She was just learning the English language and some words may be a little out of order or not spelled correctly, but its combination of simplicity and depth has fantastic applications for us as coaches, players, or just plain everyday people. With her permission, I share it with you and I know you’ll find it valuable in your effort to make better choices.
Life Is The
Sum Of All Our Choices
“Good choices make your life happy,
straight, enjoyable, valuable, and comfortable. Good choices makes successful
future/life. Good choices helps not just in school life, it’s also help in our
life (personal). Sometimes you make a bad choice and after you realized it is
too late to handle it. But you learn from your mistake. After all life is
learning. Next time you will make a better choice because you got experience.
We have two choices in here…first, good choices, and second, bad choices. If
you want to become successful in your life, you have to keep with a good
choices. And if you want a bad future you can keep with the bad choices. It all
depends on you. It is a choice – not chance that determines your destiny. It is
not a thing to be waited for; it is a change to be achieved. Good choices come
from experience and experience comes from bad choices. If you limit your
choices only to what seems possible or reasonable you disconnect yourself from
what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise. The biggest lie in the
choosing is ‘I can’t.’ That is simply not true. We can do anything we want. If
we don’t do something, it is because we have committed our time, energy, and
resources somewhere else. To choose is also to begins.”
When we recently filmed two videos in Los Angeles with Stacy Winsberg, her good friend Sheila Cornell-Douty provided the demonstrations. What a pleasure to see this outstanding athlete perform! Her work ethic matches what I once saw when I had the opportunity to watch Pete Rose, known as Mr. Hustle, work out one spring in Florida.
Sheila is the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist first baseman for USA Softball and exudes class in everything she does. Very busy with clinics, personal appearances, building a house with her husband, and getting ready for the World Championships in Japan, she took two days to help her friend Stacy and literally ran her guts out so that Stacy's two softball videos would have exceptional footage of the techniques and drills needed to help others run faster and move more quickly.
Sheila has exceptionally high standards and was never satisfied with anything but her best. If she slightly messed up during filming (which was not very often), she would always stop and say that it had to be shot again. No matter how tired she got, she was always willing to do it again to get it just right.
We also used three high school players in some of the drills and Sheila was wonderful with them, helping them feel comfortable in front of the camera and making the days very special for them.
Sheila Cornell-Douty is certainly one of the best players in the world. That is a given. But more importantly, Sheila Cornell-Douty is one of the classiest people I've met in the sport. It was a real pleasure to see her work ethic, her kindness, her expectation of excellence, her desire to make the game better, and her attitude toward people.
THANKS, Sheila. It was a terrific experience for all of us.
6. Another Thought Very Much Worth Thinking About: “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 NIV
7. Just A Little More (See Softball Clinic & Softball Camp
Schedule At End)
· CONGRATULATIONS: Ellen Macadam, former member of the Higher Ground International Player Advisory Board is now doing very well on the softball diamond and in the classroom in her first year at Harvard. We are very proud of Ellen for her academic and athletic achievements. Alice Ronchetti, an Italian softball player who is a current member of our PAB is now an exchange student at a high school in George West, Texas. We wish her much joy and success in this exciting experience. Jaime Wohlbach, a frequent instructor at Higher Ground softball clinics and camps, is the new Head Coach at Iona College in New York. I had the pleasure of coaching Jaime as a guest player for the British National Team when we won the gold medal in the 2004 Olympic Test Event in Athens, Greece. I know she will make a strong positive impact on the softball program at Iona. It was a terrific summer for Carie Dever-Boaz, who has been heavily involved in our softball clinics, softball camps, and softball instructional DVD’s. She was named NPF Manager of the Year when her Washington Glory team won the pro league championship. Carie is a terrific coach and person and we are very happy for her.
· I encourage you to add a link to Higher Ground Softball on your web site. Please add www.highergroundsoftball.com to your site links so others can learn more about opportunities we provide. THANKS for helping us help others.
· Check our web site frequently for items to help you Get Better Every Day.
2007-2008 HIGHER GROUND SOFTBALL CLINICS
& CAMPS
11-08-07: See www.highergroundsoftball.com
for additional information about softball clinics and softball camps, plus
exciting items like softball DVD’s and visual training.
2007
·
November
9 - Champion Sports Events Recruiting Camp – Dalton, GA –
Simpson, Tina Whitlock, Joe Guthrie, Kelly Murdock, Chenita Rogers-Edwards,
Michelle Ayling, others TBA
·
November
17-18 – Higher
Ground Winter Hitting Clinic – Arvada, CO – Simpson, Jim Polson, Wes Madrill
·
December
1 – Customized
Celebration: Women Athletes Supporting Women Athletes – Port St. Joe, FL - Simpson
2008
·
January 12-13 – 17th Annual Higher Ground Central
Florida Winter Clinic – Ocoee/Orlando, FL – Simpson, Tina Whitlock, Joe
Guthrie, Tanya Price, Mike Pace, Vicky Rogers.
·
Jan/Feb – 7th Annual SUPER CLINIC For Advanced & Elite
Skills – Site & Staff TBA
·
January 26-27 – Customized Clinic – Wewahitchka, FL –
Simpson, Greg Riddoch, Shawna Norris, others TBA
·
April 5-6 – 7th Annual Higher Ground-Dust Devils
Clinic – San
Jacinto, CA – Simpson, Sheila Cornell Douty (Olympian), Leah O’Brien-Amico
(Olympian), others TBA
·
June 9-11 – Day Camp – Cincinnati, OH – Simpson, others TBA
·
June 15-20 - SUPER/SELECT Camp For Advanced & Elite Skills –
Columbus, GA - Simpson, Karen Marr, Nancy Mark, Vicky Rogers, others TBA
·
June 27-29 – Day Camp – Bethel, ME – Simpson, others TBA
·
July 6-10 – Team Camp – Tifton, GA – Staff TBA
·
July 13-17 – Team Camp – Anderson, SC – Staff TBA
·
July 13-17 – Team
Camp – Covington/Atlanta, GA – Staff 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.
www.highergroundsoftball.com bsimpson@friendlycity.net
Office
229-386-9770 Cell
229-392-4048