Hi everyone,
Yes I agree the last font was a little hard to read, so I have simply cut and pasted it with a font that is a little easier to read...can't go past good old Arial. Nice name for a baby girl too I think :-)
Latest news coming soon :-)
D
Have you ever felt elation that could not be put into words? You can keep your drugs, uppers and downers, because nothing can possibly compare to this feeling.
Yesterday it was confirmed that I will be heading to the United States of America for the 2011 season to be an assistant coach for the softball program at Longwood University in Virginia. For this opportunity I would like to thank Coach Riley and everyone in the background at Longwood that I am yet to meet or converse with. I cannot wait to meet you all.
Please take the time to check out the Longwood Softball program at:
http://www.longwoodlancers.com/index.aspx?path=sball
You may also want to take a tour of the University at:
http://www.longwood.edu/
So how did this happen? Well I began playing softball way back when I was 13. I was already playing a lot of sport back then, particularly cricket and Aussie Rules Football. After having some difficulties with my back, I was taken to an Orthopedic surgeon who stated that although I had no injuries at that time, if I didn't slow down I wouldn't be able to walk by the time I was 19. So I chose to sit out footy because although I loved it, I loved playing cricket more.
So being the athlete that I was, I continued looking for a winter sport. One day mum came home from an indoor cricket game and said to me "I play with a lady whose husband is a boys softball coach. Why don't you go down there and give it a go?" I had played a lot of tee-ball as a kid and really enjoyed it. But in true 13 year old boy style I stated "there is no way in the world you are going to get me to play that girls game". Although I made this sweeping ridiculous statement that I would go on to hear over and over in various forms from friends and foes alike over the years, I did remember going to see my tee-ball coach play several times and found myself enamoured with the pitchers. There was something mesmerising about the way they moved and threw the ball (I still get this feeling watching good pitchers by the way). But stupidly, I thought that was only for girls!
So anyway, mum continued to work on me and used the old Jedi mind trick (guilt) to get me to go on down to the first game. She told me the team was short and if I didn't go they wouldn't be able to play. Now, as I am older and am more savvy on the ways of the Jedi (i.e., I have completed a psychology degree), I now know that I owed this team nothing and such guilt had no place for me. But I also realise that the real reason I didn't go down was that I was shy and I didn't want to look stupid playing a game I knew very little about. I also now know this to be the anxiety caused by expectations and extrinsic motivations.
So I was taken down to the first game and ended up playing first base that day. It is now simple to say, I never looked back. This is a perfect example from sports psychology how we motivate kids to play sport by giving them the opportunity to have a go. The child has never played a particular sport before so they know little about the game and therefore the motivation for the child is that of their parents alone and perhaps a little of the child not wanting to disappoint the parent (this is extrinsic motivation). But this is necessary to get the child involved. What is hoped is that there is then a transition from going down because the parents want them to, to the child deciding that they really like the activity and take on a motivation for them self to play because they enjoy it for their own reasons. This is then called intrinsic motivation and exactly what you are looking for in an athlete. They play the sport because they love it, for their own personal reasons and rewards. This is exactly what happened to me when I was introduced to softball. So to mum for 'making' me go down that day....thank you!
From there that old hypnosis that happened when I watched those pitches as a young man took over and I was pitching by the end of my first season. I would say the actual pitching motion came very easy and naturally to me, as I think it does for anyone who goes on to be a pitcher of note. But what did not come easy was working towards becoming as good as the great pitchers. This took a lot of work, to learn how to throw certain pitches and gain speed. But as I did with my cricket I asked a lot of people, watched a lot of great pitchers and practiced practiced practiced. I ate, breathed and slept it in winter and I was the same with cricket in summer.
So from the age of 14 I was picked in the state under 15's cricket team and then onto the state under 17's cricket teams as well as the Dennis Lillee state fast bowler squad. Meanwhile in winter I was picked in the State Under 19 men's softball squad at the age of 16. So two state squad's and I knew picking one over the other was going to be tough. In the end it was made easy for me. I made the softball team to play in Perth and not the Cricket team. Not making the cricket team was a very tough time and disappointment was heavy with me. But I don't think it really compared to that of my dad's. Dad was a great athlete when he was a child particularly in cricket, however he came from a pretty tough upbringing where his parents did not support his talent at all and he subsequently missed out on a lot of big opportunities. As cricket was his big love, I am sure he would have liked me to succeed where he was not allowed to. We hear a lot about parents living vicariously through their children however this doesn't apply here as my dad simply wanted me to have the opportunities he was never allowed to. The rest was up to me...oh and some selectors who had different opinions to me and my family about my cricket talents.
It was at this stage I met a man very dear to my heart, Mr Reg Page. President of the WA Softball Association and Under 19's state coach. He went on to pick me in the softball team for the next 3 years and chose me as Vice Captain to my best mate Ricky Barker as we headed to Melbourne to win the Under 19 National Championship in 1992.
I then had a lot of trouble making the open men's team because there were some pretty damn good pitchers playing. All of which went on to play for Australia, something I never did and the only thing I never achieved in softball that I would have liked to have done. It was also around this time an earlier prophecy came to pass, my back did break down and I was diagnosed with 2 stress fractures in my fourth lumbar vertebra. This took a long time to diagnose and to heal. I think I began to go a little stir crazy.
Over the years I had my fair share of injuries. Torn hamstrings (from the tight back), 10cm tear in my right lat from pitching,various other tears, strains and sprains, tendonitis, a hernia operation, smashed finger nail that had to be removed and so no. Probably the best so far was when I was actually chosen (again by Reg Page) in the state open men's team. About 2 weeks before I was due to go, I broke both of my wrists in a state league game. I had a cast on both of my wrists for 6 weeks and had 8 off of work. I know what you are all thinking, and yes, it was hard. I hope you all have a mother who is so understanding!!!
So in 1995 I met a guy by the name of Bob Nydick. He was on an exchange program at the University of WA from Villanova University just out of Philadelphia. We talked a lot and one day he talked to me about the opportunities for me to play ball in the USA. Without much prompting, I saved my money and headed off to the USA in 1996 to play with Bob and his team. The rest as they say is history. Remind me to tell you all more about that year, but there was a special moment just before we won the Pennsylvania State Championship, a moment that Bob also recognised in his retirement letter from softball in December last year. From there I was identified by a big travel team and I returned to the USA for 4.5 months in 1997 to play in the USA ASA 'A' National championship team DC Tire in Minot ND. So at this point I had a USA and Australian National championship. I then continued to return to the USA every year until 2008 where I decided to call it a day. There are a lot of people to thank along the way.
For the last two years I have been working very hard on finishing my Honours in Psychology. When I finished in October 2010, I was very fortunate to continue my relationship with Mr John Crampton and had some great experiences getting back involved with this sport I love so much. My passion for the game was truly back and in spades. During the summer I worked with various NSW Women's state teams and began to hear about opportunities some Australians were getting in the USA to coach College softball. This truly pricked my attention.
The about 3 weeks ago while I was working with the U19 Women's team and my good friend and mentor Mr Barry Blanchard, he began encouraging me to look into this opportunity! So about 2 weeks ago while away from work and very sick, I had the thought of looking into it. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? I found the National Fastpitch Coaches Association website and then began the arduous task of emailing approximately 268 head softball coaches from every Division One College Softball program. A number got back to me with varying responses and I am grateful to those who took the time to respond to me.
However there was one school, Longwood University, who showed a big interest and after a number of emails backwards and forwards here I am, on the brink of heading back to the USA to once again be involved with this sport that has given me so much. I only hope my time with Longwood gives me the opportunity to give a little bit back to softball which is truly the greatest game on Earth. Certainly the most underrated sport on Earth. It is also no small thing to say that I hope that in going over to coach I can give a little bit back to the United States, a country that has given so much to me. I will write of my experience with America and its people at another time, however let me just recognise here that the American people that I have met have been extremely generous to me and if I began right now, there is no way I could pay back the generosity that I have received from some of the people I have met along the way. This also includes the affection shown me by two golden retrievers I met in Montvale NJ. It is also no small coincidence to say that one is named Toby (our family dog was named Toby at the time) and the other Sydney, named for the 2000 Olympic games.
This gets the background and the 'how the hell did this happen' out of the way and now I can can begin to work on the journey, which is the purpose of this blog. I intend it to be an online journal of my trip, so that I can share the journey with my family, friends and team mates. I also welcome anybody else who may want to share this awesome journey with me.
GO LONGWOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damien
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