As my senior basketball season has come and gone, as bittersweet as that is, softball season is getting closer and closer! Our first official practice is coming up and I could not be more excited for what this season has to offer!

Weights is a big part of our sports programs; so, three times a week the players that do not have the advanced physical condition class go work on running technique, agility, or explosion then head to the weight room to build muscle and become better athletes. Since I have started lifting my speed and agility has gone up immensely and the weight I can lift has gone up as well, translating to my throwing being harder. This comes directly from learning how to use the ground for power and push through the ground to release the ball at a faster speed.

This season we started doing YOGA once a week! Yes, that means yoga for our whole team and it is awesome. The relaxation after a session is immense and it has really helped lower my stress of scholarships and school work. I believe my flexibility has also grown, which is much needed to be a catcher! The more we work on yoga, the more I wonder why I never tried it before. Although it can be hard and focus is one of the biggest parts of it; I believe it is helping our team by creating a sense of togetherness and focus that will translate to the field when we finally get to start playing.

We have open cages about two times per week where anyone who wants to get reps in, can! Our open cages are nearly full every time and our program is full of awesome athletes who have shown everyone what softball means to them. We fill the batting cage and softball tee’s every time we have an open cage and it has helped me prepare for the season extremely well. I will admit, not swinging a bat for a while due to volleyball and basketball is a little weird and hard to get back into but tee work does an insane job of helping.

There are so many drills that we have learned that can target certain portions of our swing and help us improve our batting average without completely changing the swing that is natural to us. As we rotate around in the cage we are able to see front toss from our coach which helps to time the pitches until we can get outside and start playing live!

As the season is creeping up on us we have started to go into detail about throwing technique. We learned how to properly warm up and get our arms loose through stretching, rolling, and strengthening our arms and wrist. We have so many new gadgets that are designed to keep athletes from being injured and we have been working on the off-season in hopes that our in-season bodies will be healthy. Soreness will of course be present, but the aching that some players get should not be there this year with the amount of work we are putting towards keeping everyone in good health!

Every Wednesday our pitchers and catchers have a workout designed specifically for them. We pair up with the baseball team’s pitchers and catchers and work on strengthening our legs and conditioning for the season. Being in shape before the season starts is a huge bonus; it means our bodies do not have to adjust to the demands catching and pitching takes when games start. This day also creates a special bond that is always needed between a pitcher and catcher. We are working together the whole game and without a bond our signs may not work because the amount of trust we have in each other could not compare to anything else on a softball field.

This time of the year is always a bit hard for three-sport athletes but I have never had more energy. The feeling of starting off my last high school season is sad, of course, but it is also a reason to leave everything on the field each day because I will never get these days back. Our girls’ teams have done amazing things this year and softball is on its way to creating a memory our players and fans will never forget. The amount of passion I have for the game is incredible and it truly has spread to the rest of the team to create an unstoppable force this season. The work we are putting in is going to pay off and we will be representing our school in a championship game this season.