Coaches: Well Equipped Teams Look Intimidating

Whether you’re an athlete or a coach, no doubt you’re always needing new equipment and training clothes.

Coaches, please make sure your athletes all have matching bags – it looks so much more professional and intimidating when a team walks in and everything they’re wearing matches. Find a great place where they can print on useful promotional bags.

Towels are  needed by most athletes for either excess sweat or wiping off their piece of sports equipment.  Maybe not all of your athletes will need one, depending upon the sport, but certainly some will. It’s not a bad idea, as a coach, to carry a few of these yourself too.

Umbrellas are another one of those imprinted promotional products that can cause a stir from the other team when they see you walk on the field. Match them with your team’s colors and you have a winner in intimidation, as well as shading your team from the sun, keeping them fresh for competition.

Every single athlete needs to drink water when they’re practicing, playing or competing and you can very inexpensively provide them with team water bottles – as low as $1.20 a piece.

Of course, embroidered hats are a must for more sports, whether or not your athletes wear them to play or compete in. Keeping them cool and their face shaded will help them from getting overheated in between games or matches.

The key is, if it’s not “cool” or useable, don’t bother ordering them – they won’t be used.

However, you can instill pride and excitement in your team when you break out the new boxes of shirts, water bottles, hats and the like.

If you can swing it, do so – these are some of the things athletes remember their entire lives and keep on wearing and using long after they’ve finished playing that year.

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I hope you enjoyed this Coaches Corner on Championship Circle! Until next time…

Be a Cool Coach,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Be sure you get Subscribed to Championship Circle, so you don’t miss an update!

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Organize Your Team in a Snap

Are you frustrated as a coach trying to keep your team information, events, stats, fees, and schedules organized?

Are you a parent frustrated that you don’t know dates of games or practices?

Try TeamSnap – The simplest, easiest way to manage your team or group online.

Wow – What a concept!

A coach can manage a sports team all online, seamlessly and in one place.

Everyone knows when the practices, games, events and fundraisers are. No confusion…no excuses.

Also, parents or players can let you know the games and practices they’re available for or can’t make it out to…all at your fingertips.

Parents, coaches and players can post photos of their team and share them with everyone.

Even cooler is their stat tracking system for so many different sports – soccer, baseball, soccer, cricket, ultimate frisbee, football, hockey, volleyball, tennis, rugby, lacrosse, swimming, cheerleading, etc and the list goes on!

Also, even if you don’t play a sport and are a group that needs activities organized like a babysitting co-op, church group, sorority or whatever, this is a great place to start.

I’m so excited about this because we do quite a bit of coaching. It can be our one stop shop for organizing the team!

The stats tracking section is my very favorite part…So easy, so fabulous!

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I hope you enjoyed this Coaches Corner post on Championship Circle! Until next time…

Organize Your Team,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Be sure to Subscribe to Championship Circle for more helpful posts like these!

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Weight Lifting For Girls: 7 Tips

Weight lifting can help girls to dominate their sport.

You’ll notice here at Championship Circle that we use words like dominate your sport, because we do not come from the school of thought that it’s just cool to be on the team.

We want to help and train athletes to be better than they think they can be, we want to help and train athletes to be the best at their position, the best at their age, the best… period.

To get all they can out of them selves, smartly and safely.

Weight lifting for girls isn’t a whole lot different that than Read more

What’s New In Sports Team Fundraising?

A Championship Circle Sports FYI:

Tired of the typical car wash or bake sale for your team’s Group fundraisers?

We have been seeing some really neat stuff appearing at our doors with children from different sports teams and schools.

I was wondering where in the world you get that really cool fundraising products that will be easy to sell for the athletes on the team, that will really be profitable…

As usual, no question left unanswered, I searched it…

I found a really neat site, EZFund.com, that specializes in fundraising projects and they have great products to offer that are different than those typical, outdated ones teams usually have to resort to selling.

They have everything from gourmet beverages fundraisers (Starbuck’s-type), cheesecake, candles, pretzels, brownies, baking mixes, markers, team promotional material to even “Going Green” and starting a flower fundraiser…

Photo above: Cheerleaders…Do you have any idea how much gourmet coffee cheerleaders could sell with all that energy? LOL LOL LOL

So many possibilities that are all great fundraising ideas and are updated things…I especially liked the gourmet beverages one…I think that one would be a cinch to pull off…knowing how I love my Chai Tea Lattes and White Chocolate Mochas…LOL

Photo above: EZFunds.com Screenshot

Of course, for all of you who are still quite conservative and don’t like drastic changes to your fundraising plans, they still have products for you like
Read more

The Mind Of A Real Ace Athlete!

Being an ace athlete requires a mindset. You must believe in your heart and mind that you are meant to be an ace athlete.

This mindset will put a fiery enthusiasm in each of your training sessions and performances. You will not settle for mediocre results; you will aim for the best results. Armed with this mindset, you are not just aiming to win competitions. You are aiming for a generation of ace players.

Olympic athletes, especially from nationalistic countries like the U.S. and Russia (especially the former U.S.S.R.), have been training hard with the prestige of their country in mind. Olympic bets are out to compete for future generations.

Nationalistic countries often produce a succession of world class champions because they train not only to be real “ace” athletes and win for their countries, but they also aim to someday reproduce ace players of higher caliber.

Not all the international sports players are like-minded. Some athletes are near-sighted and they focus only on their present win. Once the medal is at hand, they go back to their countries and celebrate, and then retire.

On one hand, many international athletes can be branded as ace athletes. They start out young and train under a real master of the sport. They excel and beat their own excellent records, and finally come out champions. Then they themselves train others.

On the other hand, not all winners in international sports are ace athletes. They train hard for the present, even under masters, but lack foresight to live the philosophy of ace sportsmanship.

A mindset that carries the ace sportsman’s philosophy has the following foundational components:

A. You are not your own.

You are not in training, or competing, just to please your ego. It’s not just for some purpose; it’s for a corporate mission—others are in it with you. The “others” besides you are your master-father-trainer, his “sons” in training, the trainer who “fathered” your “father,” and your future “sons” who will be training under you. All of you are keeping up to maintain excellence and a reputation.

It’s actually a lineage. A founder up the line mastered the sport in a peculiar way. He became champion using a style of his own, and he had a secret formula for coming up with such a winning style. He had trained other selected few in this style, who also trained others. These others did likewise, and so on. You may find yourself somewhere down the line, and soon your turn to add to this lineage would come. Now, all of you in this lineage all fight for a common cause: To keep this peculiar style the champion of all styles.

It’s really a battle of styles. Filipinos have a different style of playing a game compared to how the Chinese, Japanese, or Thais do.

However, the style develops and evolves, takes new forms, and comes out better than before. Due to the philosophy of aiming to be better, the style becomes updated due to the changing needs of the real arena, the real sports field “out there.”

Hence, you will see that being an ace sportsman is really a corporate or joint task done individually by members of a particular lineage style. You can just watch the difference of how basketball was played by a team ten years ago, and then by new members of the same team ten years hence. You will also hear or read from sports commentators how boxers of a particular country take on a peculiar style and seem undefeated for a number of seasons, until another group of Read more

Future Coaches – A Real “Ace” Athlete’s Philosophy

The drive to bring out the champion in himself and in others separates the real “ace” athlete from mere athletic players. The philosophy is that,

“The kind of champions you raise up is dependent on the kind of champion you are.”

This philosophy ought to be in your heart and mind always to bring out the ace athlete in you. You must strive to be the best you can be so that what you produce later in others will be the same as, if not better than, you.

Hence, you must train for life. You must increase your level of excellence so as not to compromise the quality of the athletes you will train.

You may ask, “How can you excel in training and Read more

Softball Base Running Basics: Guidelines & Tips To Make It Easier

Base running in softball can, at times, be confusing especially to the beginner or novice. Sometimes, we just need a reminder!

When I was first learning how to run the bases, my father and I devised a simple chart with rules that I could study and memorize that would make base running less stressful and confusing to me. Actually, I came across it the other day in a box in my basement, and immediately remembered how this little chart changed my base running life!

Here it is:

Base Running Basics for Softball

* Please feel free to print this out, and use it for easy review.

Now, these are the basics that apply to most situations.

* Note: Please, always pay attention to what your coach wants you to do when you are on the bases. That is the entire reason they are out there on 1st & 3rd bases. They are there to direct you as a runner. Make sure you pay attention to the coach’s signals and zero in on their voice.

Some Other Miscellaneous Rules:

* Foul Fly or Line Drive: When there are less than 2 out, you must tag up on your base. You never know when you will be able to grab another base just because you tagged up. Again, listen to your coach.

* Tagging on 3rd Base: When you are tagging up on 3rd base when there are 0 or 1 out, you should not be trying to watch when the player catches the fly ball…Your coach does that. When you see that it is a fly ball, immediately go back to 3rd base and get yourself set up and zeroed in to run to home plate. You should be listening intently for your coach’s voice because they will tell you the precise moment to run like the wind, if they want you to take home.

* Know Your Outs!: When you are on base, with every pitch, you should have a game plan if it is a grounder or a fly ball, and have this etched in your mind, so that you won’t have to make a tougher split decision. Every situation is different depending upon which base you are on, and how many outs there are.

* Stuck on 1st Base: When you are on 1st base, many times, you are forced to run to 2nd, even if you don’t want to. If there is a grounder anywhere, you must go to 2nd base because you need to open up 1st base for the batter. If the play is at 2nd base on this hit, and you even remotely suspect that a double play to 1st will be attempted, be absolutely sure that you slide into 2nd base so that you don’t get hit in the face, or anywhere else. I’ve seen this happen too many times, and often they wind up a terrible injury. Protect your body!

* The 2 Out Absolute: Run Like Heck no matter which base you are on, and no matter where the ball goes. As soon as you hear the contact of the ball on the bat, just run as fast as you can to the next base, and listen to your coach for direction! This is the simplest rule. You never know when someone will drop a ball in the field, so never give up!

* You, The Batter: I am positive that you have heard this before, but it must be said over and over again…When you are batting and have hit the ball, no matter where the ball went, even if it is a foul ball, RUN RUN RUN to 1st base. Your coach will tell you if it was a foul if you don’t hear the umpire. DO NOT WATCH WHERE YOU HIT THE BALL!…Just RUN!

* Also, even if you think that a player will catch your line drive or fly ball, RUN RUN RUN! You never know when someone is going to drop a ball. There were many times I could make it almost to 2nd base before the player caught the ball (or Dropped It! That’s even better. Now you just got yourself at least a Double!) When doing this, just don’t overrun a runner ahead of you on base. You must stay behind them! You can greatly increase your chances if you keep running!

I have seen batters give up on a fly ball, and the fielder dropped the ball, and still threw them out on 1st base, simply because the batter gave up! Recruiters don’t take kindly to this type of error.

Without getting way too in depth, these basics should send you well on your way to home plate!

* Last Piece of Advice: Never Ever Give Up! Run As Fast As You Can!

Kimberly Edwards
Director

P.S. If you are looking for some more information on improving your softball skills, check out this helpful book chocked full of great drills and fundamentals which are essential to your success:

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