I’ve never had a fall season with so few games; we only played 19 of the 24 scheduled. I’ve had seasons during the spring, when you expect the rain, with more games. I was especially disappointed that we didn’t get to play, and parents didn’t get to watch, the Hancock Tournament. But we can’t be disappointed with the big picture, or the team picture above, which is, hands down, the best of the 40 high school teams I have now coached.
This year was particularly challenging because our JV
was so young, with 10 freshmen and only 3 sophomores. Our sophomores, Hannah
Love, Maggie Pool, and AnnaClaire Bryant, modeled the kind of leadership we
needed and we wouldn’t have been able to check off as many of our goals without
them. And there is no better place, when talking about leadership, to recognize the invaluable Roschan Rao who brought so much more than chips and dip to the party.
We have essentially the same goals every season.
1 - Create a culture of
winning √
2 - Develop players to be
ready to play at the varsity level. √
3 - Train players for
positions needed in the next year or two at the varsity level. √
4 - Train players in how
Webster plays softball, in terms of both skills and attitude. √
5 - Teach “Win with
class, lose with class.” √
6 - Develop a cohesive
team with a family feel and respect for teammates. √
7 - Encourage a
well-rounded student athlete with a sense of priorities. √
8 - Build softball skills
and knowledge in individual players. √
That’s
not the royal we, incidentally. We at Webster are blessed with a large coaching
staff that tries to model the concept of teamwork. We aren’t a varsity coaching
staff and a JV coaching staff; we’re just the Webster softball coaching staff.
We are lucky to be led by a head coach Bryan Gibson who has dedicated himself
to building a program respected around the area. Dave Knapp and Sam Pitlyk worked with the girls and we were lucky to have volunteer Coach Chris Fechtel, as well. My official assistant, Coach Leah Poe, has been a tremendous asset to the program, the girls, and me personally. If you were watching other dugouts, think how many JV teams showed up with just the head coach.
We
just talked to the girls today about redefining normal every year. That was
true this year, and will be true again next year, but we’re looking forward to
working with our returning players and adding new ones from the Class of 2019. But for now, let’s look backward and celebrate a successful 11-8
season with some stirring victories and individual highlights. As usual, we’re
posting the 2014 (unaudited) season stats, with the previous year’s included for comparison.
And, as always, thanks for the tremendous support we receive from the parents.
As a side note, I’m including a link to some articles on my personal blog that are softball related, although not necessarily to this team. Content warning: Because it’s my personal blog, other articles elsewhere on that blog’s (Don’t Get Berndt) pages contain personal (and occasionally political) opinions and observations that not everyone may like. I’m not intentionally provocative, but if you’re easily provoked, well, consider this fair warning! Finally, no matter how bad some may have thought I was, I contend I was still better than Mike Matheny. Just saying....
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