Let's Be Professional

[softballperformance]

What I love about watching international teams and serious
college programs is their level of professionalism.

While it is getting better all the time, our sport is not
always considered like a "real" sport. It is often seen by
many people more like a fun activity that you practice
with out-of-shape friends at a camping while drinking beer!

So, when i watch top college programs or international teams
prepare seriously for a game and act with class and
professionalism - I love it.

I think that every organization, every coach, and every
player should act with class and professionalism.

What do I mean by that?

Many many things.

Show class on the field.

Prepare seriously for each game like elite athlete do.

Play the game hard. Take it seriously.

See yourself as a professional when you coach or compete.

Have the dugout neat and organized.

Stay focused and compete with all your hear (don't spend
the game talking to people in the bleachers).

No jeans on the field for coaches - wear team colors.

Say Please and Thank You.

Recognize contributions or efforts of others.

etc.

Here is an interesting article about how elite players are
taking pride in being role-models. I think you will
like it.

==> http://tinyurl.com/3c8kxg

Honor the sport - Be classy. Be professional. Be a role-model.


Marc Dagenais
"Your Softball Performance Coach"

[Cannonball]

Class never runs scared.
It is sure-footed and confident.
It can handle whatever comes along.

Class has a sense of humor.
It knows that a good laugh is the
best lubricant for oiling the
machinery of human relations.

Class never makes excuses.
It takes its lumps and
learns from past mistakes.

Class knows that good manners are
nothing more than a series of small
sacrifices and minor inconveniences.

Class bespeaks an aristocracy unrelated
To ancestors or money.
Some extremely wealthy people have no class.
Others who are struggling to make ends meet are
loaded with it.

Class is real.
You can’t fake it.
Class is comfortable in its own skin.
It never puts on airs.

Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down.
Class is already up and need not attempt to look better
by making others look worse.

Class can “walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk
with crowds and keep the common touch.”

Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class
because they are comfortable with themselves.

If you have class, you’ve got it made.
If you don’t have class, no matter what else you have,
it won’t make up for it.

Ann Landers

[coolstuff]

No jeans on the field for coaches - wear team colors.

I agree 100% with this! You can look like a coach or you can look like a dad that just got pulled out of the stands to coach 1st base. Most travel ball coaches are compensated very little, if at all, so why not buy coach's shirts for them? Or at least a team t-shirt.

[artomatic]

all good!
add:
1-follow the golden rule
2-act like you've been there