Depressed Production

Is it possible that one of the most dynamic offenses in baseball can be shut out in five out of eight games? If you asked me a week or two ago, I would've said no way. However, that shows what I know. My beloved Phillies have been shut out and even when they did win with Roy Halladay's perfect game, it was only by a score of 1-0. How did this happen? Honestly, I really have no idea, but I think that they will be able to get it together. Look at that lineup, how will they not start hitting again?

Now that I brought up Roy Halladay, do you realize that the Phillies have not had a no-hitter since 2003? Back when Kevin Millwood did it, the Phillies were totally different than they are now. That was back in the day of Rheal Cormier, David Bell, and Jim Thome. Chase Utley was still on the bench behind Placido Polanco, and Ryan Howard was still nothing more than a hot prospect. There are only four players left from that roster: Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Madson, Utley, and Polanco (although he did leave in between). Whatever happened to the days where you played your career with a team unless you were traded? I guess we benefited from the system well as we have had more success since that year than in the 100 years previous, but I still kind of wish that you could see the same people year after year don the same uniform as either love them or hate them for 15 or 20 years. Now, you can have players like Johnny Damon for example be loved as a Red Sox outfielder and then sign as a free agent with the Yankees. So, do Red Sox fans love him because of the few years he spent in Boston or condemn him as a traitor?

Well, I don't have an answer to that question. However, here is something I do have an answer for. If you are from Central Vermont, you probably read the Times Argus. If you have been reading the Times Argus for the past couple of days, you will know that they are running a vote called The Best of the Best. One of the categories concerns your favorite Vermont blog. You probably see where I'm going with this. If you could go to www.TimesArgus.com/best and follow the directions, please put down Perpetual Blogging Co. for number 150 Favorite Vermont Blog. However, you don't only get my appreciation; just for filling the form out, the Times Argus is entering everybody into a drawing for a chance to win $500! It takes about 15 to 30 inutes, so tell everyone to check me out and vote for me if they like it!
Photo by ShironekoEuro on Flickr

Pole Vaulting!

I think that today would be an appropriate day to discuss track since it is somewhat on my mind right now. I had been to three or four meets before this year, but I have been to so many more now that they are very enjoyable. There's something cool about going out to a field at night and knowing that you will be there for about four hours before everything is said and done. That being said though, when you have final exams the next day it's not quite as much fun, but now I can enjoy summer vacation as well as nights without homework.

Fortunately, through this season I have developed a love of the pole vault. It may just be because my sister pole vaults and so I have watched it a lot recently. However, there is something exciting about watching people jump up on poles and catapult themselves over a bar that is usually over 10 feet for boys and 7 for girls. Yesterday, at the New England Championship Qualifying Meet, two guys broke records by going 13'7" while a girl’s record was broken at 10 feet.

Sadly, I will only see one or two more pole vault competitions this year, but it was fun while it lasted!

Photo by znarled on Flickr

French Fun

As I was watching the French Open coverage yesterday, it struck me about how good these players are. When you watch Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal totally dominate a match, it doesn't mean that their opponent is bad. In fact, it is quite the contrary. Their opponents are really good compared to what you and I might see where we go down to the Barre City tennis courts on a nice warm summer night. It just shows how amazing guys like Federer are and how much talent you really need to become a tennis pro. This doesn't only apply to tennis though. Whenever somebody is good enough to be at the elite level, even if he or she is the worst player on that circuit, he or she is still a very talented player.

Another thing I noticed about the French Open was the fact that life on clay can be a bit of an adventure. I love how there is no bounce to the court. It makes the drop shot insanely effective, but it also slows down the play. That's good because we have DirecTV, so we about have five channels of extra tennis coverage beyond ESPN2. The problem with these channels is that ESPN2 obviously has the best announcers. Nevertheless, you can still enjoy the matches but don't expect the most exhilarating coverage you have ever heard.
Photo by StuSeeger on Flickr

Try to Get Published!

Hey everyone, before I write on Fiction Friday, I hope that some of you are speed writers. I just found out about this today, and luckily I already had a story written to enter. ESPN the Magazine is running a contest until June 1 requesting entries of sports fiction for potential publication in either ESPN the Magazine or Stymie, a journal of sports and literature. Here's the link to the flyer, and happy writing if you want to enter it with me! Now, on to my own writing today.

Joe Oken stood on the top step of the dugout watching his pitcher warm-up and infield take some grounders. He thought they looked pretty good, but it was hard to tell with baseball. Baseball is by far the most fickle sport. Some days you could throw a no-hitter, and some days you couldn't get anybody out. That was part of the reason he loved it, but there was more than that. How many other jobs give you an excuse to sit outside in the warm Georgia spring and watch a game being played that you were too old to play but still loved. He was 65 and recently retired from his job at the plant, but he could not retire from baseball. He had been coaching this team for 40 years at St. John's High School, he was now coaching kids of the kids he had started coaching in the 70s. That was kind of weird, he thought, but he really didn't worry too much about it. If you have something you love and the relationship is mutually beneficial, why bother leaving? He had taken the team to the state tournament 15 times and even had two state championships from the late 80s and early 90s. He would never forget that team; they could do everything well. Now, at the start of a new season, he was hoping to rekindle this magic that he hadn't felt on the field for a long time.
Photo by jdn on Flickr

Youth Coaching

Think about all that you need to learn when you enter kindergarten. Everything is new, and everything is probably different than it was at your home. You need to learn how to do math, write basic letters and read them, and do it all within a schedule that you probably never had before; no one cares when you want to stop building with blocks and watch TV at home. In a somewhat similar way, this is similar to beginning to play any sport. There are now rules and different skills you need to learn in order to be successful. Also, like basic letterwriting or 1+1, the fundamentals are incredibly basic, but if you do not have them, you will not be able to succeed a higher level. Think about trying to do algebra without 1+1; it is the same as trying to play football without proper tackling form or hockey without any puck control. This is why youth coaching is so important; if the fundamentals are not in place at an early age, they will still need to be developed when other kids at the same age are advancing to much more technical and usually more effective skills. Youth coaches are usually parent volunteers, but they deserve so much more credit than they get; without them, our youth sports programs and consequently our higher-level programs would all fall apart.
Photo by Chase N on Flickr

Development

Yesterday I told you that at those websites I listed would help you learn something. So, now it's my turn to prove that these websites helped me learn something.

Of course, we all know that the fundamentals are the most important thing to nail first. Why bother with any sophisticated strategy if your team doesn't even have the skills to execute it? However, once you develop this relatively basic area, there are a few ways you can take your team and each player individually. One way to develop athletes is to specialize whereas other coaches prefer to develop more well-rounded athletes who will not excel in any area but be proficient in all of them.

Both systems have their benefits, and that's what I'm going to look at right now. Specializing is what I feel needs to be done eventually. However, if you do it at a young age, what happens if the players develop differently as they get older? Some kids might be really short until high school, but they could hit a growth spurt and all of a sudden be better suited for the post. What do you do then? This is a pitfall of early specialization. It is not bad to have tall people who have skills like a guard, but it is a problem when a guy stops growing at five foot eight and all he knows is how to play the post. So, I think you eventually need to specialize, but make sure you're absolutely sure about what position that player will be best suited for in the long run, not just right now.

Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr

No Break for Athletes

There is no off-season. I never used to think about it when I was younger and watching various high school teams. However, as I went to high school and now see some athletes at UVM, I realized that playing a sport at a competitive level, even just a Vermont high school, requires off-season training. I don't mean to belittle Vermont high schools; but there are fewer kids competing for roster spots, so you have a higher percentage chance of being on the team. Since right now is the off-season for basketball players, I thought that I would compile a list of links to some of my favorite basketball websites for any players who need to improve, coaches who want them to improve, or fans like myself who just like to learn about basketball.
• http://www.guidetocoachingbasketball.com/
This one is especially good for younger teams as some of the information is pretty simple. However, there is a ton of information on it.
• http://www.coachesclipboard.net/
I love all of the play diagrams on this website. Also, the animation is a major plus. You can pay for more features, but the free version is good for me.
• http://www.hoopsu.com/
Another one of my favorites, but I think that whatever they lack in amount of content they make up in quality.
• http://www.coachlikeapro.com/
Slightly older website just by looking at it, but they do have some decent stuff about strength training and plyometrics.
• http://www.akcoach.com/
Sort of a differently formatted website, but there are plenty of ideas here for everyone.

I hope you like these sites, but just reading them alone won't help. Get out there, play, and get ready to dominate next year!

Photo by laffy4k on Flickr