Does Bouncing A Basketball Help When You Throw Poo

Welcome!

Sorry in advance as this is my first blog post ever. I‘m sure my grammar is 😬 but I just wanted a place to basically word vomit my thoughts on sports and catching. I spend about 12 hours a week in the car driving to and from my facility so I’m always in that training frame of mind. What a perfect time to knock the first one out at 35,000 feet. Heading to Duluth, MN to work with the College of St. Scholastica catchers as well as catch a few innings of UMD softball scrimmage Saturday morning. Crazy to think Kelly Swank is a junior in college. I remember the days of working out of the random field in a HOA neighborhood and getting threatened for trespassing by the male version of Karen. 😂

Last weekend I traveled back to Ohio for some family time as well as the workshop in Erlanger, Kentucky. First and foremost, the workshop went off without much of a hiccup. Great space and plenty of help both with my dad and one of my former in-house catchers being my in-person demonstrator. It was a pleasant reunion for sure. My dad getting to see me work in-person and spending some time together just being around the game. Callie just committed to WPI (2022 National Runner-Ups in D3) recently and will be with Amy Smith who is an assistant coach on staff. Amy was one of my first catchers ever I started working with… I believe 2012/2013 when she was a freshmen in High School. Back in the day it was called Cox Softball Training not Dominate The Dish. She attended the University of Massachusetts and graduated with her Masters Degree this past year. She was I believe 3-time Team Captain as well as all A-10 honors both athletic and academically. Sorry but tons of connections being connected this past weekend. Warmed my heart and soul abit.

Anyways, I wanted to talk about the conversations I had with some catchers this past weekend as well as some of the posts that I see in social media about multi-sport athletes. Now for clarity, I did play basketball and was the high school mascot. Technically it’s considered cheerleading so I was a 8-time letter winner in high school. Tried out for volleyball and got cut my freshmen and sophomore year. Soccer in high school wasn’t really a thing where I went to school and lets be real… I don’t run. I graduated high school in 2007 and accepted a scholarship to play at an NAIA school called Indiana Institute of Technology. I had only really participated in travel ball for 2 years and played JV my freshmen and sophomore year. I would call myself lucky as I was in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. My dad was the head coach of the travel ball team and got the flyer in the mail about a showcase in Toledo, Ohio. I was a hard hitting and throwing lefty with size that was a catcher. These days I don’t think athletes are that lucky… why? Social media, rankings, franchising travel organizations, private coaches, access to data, and etc.

All of these things bring me to my main thought of the blog. We constantly see the narrative push for multi-sport athletes. Mike Trout did this… Christian McCaffery did this… Round 1 NFL draft picks X percentage did at-least 2 sports… the list goes on. Don’t get me wrong that’s awesome they had those experiences and possibly translated certain skills over to their main sport of choice but here is the reality… your 13-17 year old ball player is not a professional athlete. Those people listed above are part of the 0.0005% (Yes I made that up but its insanely low) Reality must set in at some point especially entering that benchmark of September 1st of their junior year. Why September 1st? Well we have made it out to be this national holiday that D1 coaches can talk to athletes.

This weekend I specially talked to 2 catchers that one was a senior and one was a junior. Both play another sport which is very common for northern states. One plays volleyball and the other plays basketball. I get it when the winter sets in and it becomes hard to play games. I grew up in Northwest Ohio. One day, it’s 55 degrees outside and the next its 15 out with a -10 wind chill especially in February. I’d say a majority put the cleats away and trade them in for some high-tops. We started having discussions about what can we do to prepare ourselves better and even market ourselves better. End of the day, coaches want consistency and execution. Yes, it’s cool that you scored 10 points but if you can’t defensively and offensively execute at your position (catcher) does it really matter? I would say the main concrete metric that coaches have for catchers is arm strength. Pocket Radar solves that problem. Pop Times will always be skewed by a stopwatch and the human eye but 60 behind the plate will always be 60 behind the plate. Arm strength will open opportunities as you now have created more value for yourself with the possibly of position change. Here’s the thing about it… it takes time and a big commitment to build that. Stretching, mobility, weight room, throwing warm-up, throwing routine, drill work, cool down, and recovery. Now that’s add offense into the mix. Can’t expect to hit in the garage all winter off the tee once a week and be ready for 63 with a ton of vertical break. Coach doesn’t care that you can do left handed layups if you can adjust to a dropball pitcher during conference play with regionals on the line.

At some point, accountability needs to be taken. I get the whole burn out scene as my facility is in Florida. 23 of the 26 girls I train just play softball. Thankfully, we have created strong relationships that we can have discussions on the work load management and when to put back. Some have even take some time off but then when ready they jump right back in. But here’s the thing especially for those that live in the north. Everyone talks about how they want to play college softball one day. Well you aren‘t just competiting against the girl next door, high school, county, or state. You are competiting in this pool that is full of nationwide talent. I pulled this from the NSCA site.

- During the 2018-2019 school year, there were about 362,038 high school softball players and about 31,729 college softball players. This means that about 8.4% of high school softball players end up competing in college across the NCAA Division I,Division II and Division III levels, as well as NAIA and NJCAA levels.

What is going to set you apart from the 91.6% that will go on to play softball at the collegiate level. As many of you know I work as a consultant for college programs all around the country. 3 of them are P5 (2 ACC and 1 SEC) I’m telling you for a fact they want BALLERS!!! Ballers of the softball caliber. They want the athletes that can throw the ball across the field at 65+, hit high level pitching 225 feet, slick Dominican Republic like glove work, basepath speed, and etc. Yeah, you’ll get the whole narrative of being a good teammate and having “mental toughness” but I’ll tell you what if you can measure up to what they have or want YOU WILL STAND OUT! Recruiting is nothing more than replacing the current players with players that can produce better. College athletics is nothing like your local recreation league. Money and job security are at stake. College athletics is a business at ALL levels no matter how you twist it. So my question is this… If you truly can look at yourself in mirror and say do I measure up at this level (Any college division) and say no or I have work to do… You should probably put the basketball down.

This is my career, passion, drive, and life. How everything panned out in my career as a softball player looking back now I would have skipped the open gyms and invested myself in the weight room. I would have focused solely on softball after my sophomore year. I WASN’T READY as a freshmen in college to make an impact. I was behind the 8-ball. Your competition is already there. She’s already hitting the metrics coaches seek, she’s invested in the academics, she’s doing the little things, her circle is investing in her and her preparation, and she’s made the commitment to dedicating herself to her “JOB”. How do we know? It’s all over social media through tweets, posts, and rankings. As a private catching coach, it’s my job to get these kids prepared for the next level. I go above and beyond the catching and throwing piece but not everyone is so lucky. Being a college athlete is a JOB. Just like any other JOB someone is always after you to take it away from you.

Last point before the pitchforks come after me... if your daughter is in middle school by all means play as much as you want. Let them have the ability to create an identity of what they want to become in this life. But when that clock of reality really starts ticking around the beginning of junior year, its time to really size yourself up and get a plan together. Even then that may be too late of a starting point especially if you have those “D1 or bust” dreams. Other side of the coin as well, if she's commited and wants to experience Senior Year by all means go for it. Just keep the injury factor in the back of your mind. Always exceptions to everything however it doesn't apply to many. All I ask before you want to go down the multi-sport avenue just know its very similar to multi-tasking. It’s great on the surface however your time and energy is being dispersed in many directions which could lead to average productivity. College coaches don’t want average. Employers don’t want average. Post-graduate schools don’t want average academics.

Hopefully this sparks some curiosity for you all! I’m hoping to do atleast one a month and get better at it as I do. If you have any topics you want me to dig into please let me know. If you like this then please share it, click the like button on social media, follow my social media handles, come to a workshop, or drop in at the facility in Tampa. Just hoping to continue spearheading catching at the forefront with honesty and feedback.

Enjoy!

Kirsten Cox