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CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY
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| From top, Wesley Wolverines sophomore #13 Utility Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA) and junior #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE). |
HOMEPAGE ● coaches ● Wesley West ● DuPont softball field ● visitor’s guide ● admissions ► news: ►roster ► schedule ► stats ► winter camp. To contact the team, please write Head Coach Juli Greep at Juli.Greep@wesley.edu; to contact this blog, please write WesleySoftball@gmail.com. Other than being a parent of a player, this blog has no association with Wesley College.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
"I AM DIII"
RIGHT ATTITUDE
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| From left, Wesley Wolverine senior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA) and junior #4 MI/OF Samantha Burns (Magnolia, DE). |
STUDIES-SPORT-LIFE BALANCE
Studies-sport-life balance
Why Division III promises
" L. Jay Lemons, the president of Susquehanna University, (writes)...
" If you read through President Lemons’s post, one thing you might notice is that he’s worried Division III schools actually aren’t maintaining a healthy school-sport-life balance for student-athletes:
great fit for student-athletes
CLICK HERE for the full story. Condensed here from a more in-depth article
" L. Jay Lemons, the president of Susquehanna University, (writes)...
"Division III, the largest grouping in the NCAA’s membership, aspires to be the purest form of intercollegiate athletic competition. As there are no athletic scholarships, all athletes compete for the love of sport. In fact, the Division III philosophy states that our colleges and universities place the highest priority on the overall quality of the educational experience and on successful completion of the student’s academic program..." Playing Division III athletics
doesn’t mean your financial aid will be hurt
" Academic, merit and need-based financial aid are always that DIII student-athletes are able to keep the cost of college down...
" Academic, merit and need-based financial aid are always that DIII student-athletes are able to keep the cost of college down...
" Division III athletic programs
aren’t less serious than other programs
" If you read through President Lemons’s post, one thing you might notice is that he’s worried Division III schools actually aren’t maintaining a healthy school-sport-life balance for student-athletes:
" We must recognize that our Division III student-athletes, and their parents, are increasingly products of that culture. In particular, the excesses of the culture affect expectations about athletics time commitments that are at odds with the DIII philosophy. We must resist and, when necessary, combat the mindset that “more is necessary,” or “more is better.” We must distinguish what the Division III competitive model has to offer and why, in the long run, it is superior to the troubling trend evolving in youth sports." ...it has to be all three (studies-sport-life balance)."
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
NCAA VIDEOS
TEAMMATE QUALITIES
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| From top, Wesley Wolverines sophomore #13 Utility Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA), senior #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE), junior #4 MI/OF Samantha Burns (Magnolia, DE), senior #12 P Lindsay Siok (Milford, DE). |
Sunday, November 27, 2016
VIDEO: PHYSIO BALL TAG
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| From top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines senior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA), freshman #2 3B/SS Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL), freshman #6 P/UT Allison Mills (Leonardtown, MD), senior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE), sophomore #13 Utility Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA). |
ATHLETES NEED SLEEP
Sleep helps athletes
perform at their best
"While you sleep, your mind doesn’t stop. Your brain takes the memories it remembers and reorganizes and reconstructs them. You can strengthen your memory ability by going through a process of practicing your skills while you are sleeping. This process is known as consolidation.
"Along with increasing your creativity, sleep increases your physical performance. It is crucial for athletes to achieve an adequate night’s sleep before their game days. Increasing your sleep can improve athletes’ sprint time and stamina, as well as decreasing their level of fatigue."
CLICK HERE for the full story headline "Why You Need That Nap – How Sleep Helps Athletes" posted at the NCSA Sports website.
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| Wesley Wolverine senior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE). |
Saturday, November 26, 2016
PLAN AHEAD
PLAN AHEAD THIS WINTER!
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8 GAMES NEXT SPRING 2017. Click here Fastpitch Dreams homepage. Click here for teams signed up so far.
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From top, left-to-right, Wesley
Wolverines
senior
#12 P
Lindsay
Siok
(Milford,
DE), senior #18 C
Nina Marcano
(Middletown, DE), junior #99 OF
Lauren Hoffman
(Middletown, DE), senior #42 INF
Devin Mackay
(Bangor, PA), senior #17
OF Casey Beall (Severn, MD), senior #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE). |
SEPARATE YOURSELF
SEPARATE YOURSELF
FROM THE PACK
"Most athletes don't really aim for the top because they think there is too much competition.
"So they set 'achievable' goals.
"Problem is, there is a lot more competition for achievable goals than lofty ones.
"And of the few athletes who DO shoot for the top, most are not willing to do the intense physical and mental training needed to get there.
"That's why separating yourself from the field is much easier than you think. All you need to do is aim high and pay the price to get there.
"The catch?
"You must pay full price, and you must pay it in advance."
-- Lisa Lane Brown
FROM THE PACK
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| Wesley Wolverine junior #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE) |
"So they set 'achievable' goals.
"Problem is, there is a lot more competition for achievable goals than lofty ones.
"And of the few athletes who DO shoot for the top, most are not willing to do the intense physical and mental training needed to get there.
"That's why separating yourself from the field is much easier than you think. All you need to do is aim high and pay the price to get there.
"The catch?
"You must pay full price, and you must pay it in advance."
-- Lisa Lane Brown
Friday, November 25, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
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| It is a week for the college fastpitch player to count her blessings, not the least of which is the wonderful game of softball played for the first time 129 years ago on Thanksgiving Day!
Left-to-right, TOP ROW: Wesley Wolverines freshman #16 C/INF
Autumn Walinski (Fallston, MD), sophomore #13 Utility Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA), freshman #11 catcher Alyssa Zimmerman (Hagerstown, MD), sophomore #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE), junior #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE), freshman #11 C Alyssa Zimmerman (Hagerstown, MD), junior #4 MI/OF Samantha Burns (Magnolia, DE), freshman #2 3B/SS Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL); BOTTOM ROW: senior #12 P Lindsay Siok (Milford, DE), senior #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE), senior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA), senior #17 OF Casey Beall (Severn, MD), senior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE). Not pictured, two-sport athlete: freshman #6 P/UT Allison Mills (Leonardtown, MD).
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How a boxing glove started it all!
Game of softball born
on Thanksgiving Day!
The first game of what would become the sport of softball was played 128 years ago on Thanksgiving Day, 1887.
This Thanksgiving Day "softball" game actually was a hastily configured baseball contest, which pitted Yale versus Harvard alumni inside Chicago's Farragut Boat Club.
1887: HOW IT HAPPENED…
A Yale alumnus mischievously threw a boxing glove at a Harvard buddy just after a telegram arrived announcing that Yale had bested Harvard in the annual holiday football game. The Harvard fellow grabbed a broom handle and swung at the boxing glove, while reporter George Hancock, who was part of the group, yelled out “Play ball!”
Suddenly a new game was born with Hancock even writing down the day's rules for posterity.
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| George Hancock and Chicago's Farragut Boat Club, 1887 |
1889: OUTDOOR FIELD...
In 1889 the game moved outdoors. Minneapolis fireman Lewis Rober marked up the first field and set seven innings as the game's official length.
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First photo of a softball team, Chicago, 1897 |
By this time, the ball had become a small medicine ball -- 16 inches in circumference -- with a bat two inches thick! Rober changed that. His version of the contest used a ball that was more modern in appearance, now 12 inches wide.
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Louis Rober's team named “The Kittens” that kept a Minneapolis fire company crew in top fit shape. |
These games, whether played with a 16" 0r 12" ball were known variously as “indoor baseball”, “cabbage ball”, “mush ball”, “kitten ball”, “pumpkin ball”, “diamond ball”, etc. They began to draw as many as 3,000 fans.
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| The early game was played indoors and outdoors with a ball the size of a small medicine ball and a bat two inches thick. |
1895: WOMEN ENTER THE GAME
The first women’s "softball" team (still termed "kitten ball" or“girls' indoor base-ball”) was formed at Chicago’s West Division High School. The young ladies were not able to play competitively until 1899 when they finally hired a coach. They eventually claimed the Cook County championship!
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First women’s softball team, West Division High School, Chicago, circa 1900. |
1926: SOFTBALL GETS ITS NAME...
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An old 16 inch ball |
1931: FIRST TRAVEL TEAM...
The first travel team formed in 1931. It was a squad entirely of men, 75 years-of-age and older, taking the field in business-suit-like uniforms (wearing ties and bowties), who called themselves Kids and Kubs.
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| Kids and Kubs, St. Petersburg, FL, 1933 |
1933: ASA FORMED…
Newspaper reporter Leo Fischer and sporting goods salesman Michael Pauley brought the game to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, where 55 teams participated before 350,000 fans who watched different contests of men's and women's slow and fastpitch.
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Quaskies Kittenball Team of Quasqueton, Iowa, 1934 |
The ASA – Amateur Softball Association – was founded that fall (1933) by Fischer and Pauley. Softball had arrived!
SOFTBALL 2016: Today, ASA registers over 245,000 softball teams, embracing more than 3.5 million softball players around the country.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
TOMORROW'S STRENGTH
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| From top, Wesley Wolverines senior #17 OF Casey Beall (Severn, MD) and senior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA). |
BUILDING CONFIDENCE
Most of us are pessimistic
Three deadly mistakes
that can crush confidence
Greatly condensed from the full article titled "3 Deadly Mental Mistakes Athletes Make That Cause Them To Lose Confidence and Fail" by Lisa Lane Brown posted at The Courage to Win.
"In my research and personal experience, I’ve found that most athletes are making 3 deadly mental mistakes that cause them to fail.
"#1: Not Knowing How to Defeat Your “DEMON STRESSOR”
"... (that's) anything that bothers you in competition – a mistake, a bad start, a negative comment from a coach – you name it...
Three deadly mistakes
that can crush confidence
Greatly condensed from the full article titled "3 Deadly Mental Mistakes Athletes Make That Cause Them To Lose Confidence and Fail" by Lisa Lane Brown posted at The Courage to Win.
"In my research and personal experience, I’ve found that most athletes are making 3 deadly mental mistakes that cause them to fail.
"#1: Not Knowing How to Defeat Your “DEMON STRESSOR”
"... (that's) anything that bothers you in competition – a mistake, a bad start, a negative comment from a coach – you name it...
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| Wesley Wolverine junior #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE). |
"Such events only become a “stressor” if they trigger STRESS (fear) in you.
"What fear, you ask?
"Fear that you’ll fail.
"Whenever a DEMON STRESSOR shows up, it scratches your invisible wound – your fear – and creates stress in you.
"#2: PRESSING
(Fight Mode)
"... when you become stressed out, you have a strong impulse to try and CONTROL everything: your confidence, your performance, and winning.
"This leads to PRESSING.
"When you press, you over-try...
"Instead of trusting your body’s natural genius, you interfere with (and sabotage) your performance.
"...more you PRESS, the worse you perform, and more you lose confidence.
"#3: FOLDING (Flight mode)
"FOLDING is an attempt to flee stress by under-trying. You become passive and flat. Rather than attack your event aggressively, you lay back.
"You stay inside your comfort zone...
"This is called pessimism, or the tendency to think the worst will happen.
"Psychologists have actually proven that most of us are pessimistic most of the time...
"The truth is human beings are not built to persist. We are built for instant gratification. If we try to succeed but encounter setbacks, we tend to give up and FOLD.
"FOLDING sabotages you because to excel and win, you need to be aggressive.
"What next?
"Sadly, even superstar athletes can fall victim to PRESSING or FOLDING when their Demon Stressor shows up, which in turn causes them to lose their confidence. If you want to perform your best in big events, figuring out what your Demon Stressor is and defeating it is a MUST...
"Why not me?
"Why Not Me? comes from Mark Tewksbury, one of the finest swimmers in the history of the sport...
"Before the race, he said to himself, “Someone has to win this race. Why not me?”
"'Why not me?' is a beautiful thought. It is optimistic, confident, and relaxed. There is no PRESSING in this thought.
"When you stop pressing, you relax and have fun, and let your body lead.
"This puts you back in control, because you are not trying to control something (winning) that cannot be controlled.
"You are merely trying to encourage yourself, without pressure."
"What fear, you ask?
"Fear that you’ll fail.
"Whenever a DEMON STRESSOR shows up, it scratches your invisible wound – your fear – and creates stress in you.
"#2: PRESSING
(Fight Mode)
"... when you become stressed out, you have a strong impulse to try and CONTROL everything: your confidence, your performance, and winning.
"This leads to PRESSING.
"When you press, you over-try...
"Instead of trusting your body’s natural genius, you interfere with (and sabotage) your performance.
"...more you PRESS, the worse you perform, and more you lose confidence.
"#3: FOLDING (Flight mode)
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| Wesley Wolverine sophomore #13 Utility Ashley Royer (Lititz, PA). |
"FOLDING is an attempt to flee stress by under-trying. You become passive and flat. Rather than attack your event aggressively, you lay back.
"You stay inside your comfort zone...
"This is called pessimism, or the tendency to think the worst will happen.
"Psychologists have actually proven that most of us are pessimistic most of the time...
"The truth is human beings are not built to persist. We are built for instant gratification. If we try to succeed but encounter setbacks, we tend to give up and FOLD.
"FOLDING sabotages you because to excel and win, you need to be aggressive.
"What next?
"Sadly, even superstar athletes can fall victim to PRESSING or FOLDING when their Demon Stressor shows up, which in turn causes them to lose their confidence. If you want to perform your best in big events, figuring out what your Demon Stressor is and defeating it is a MUST...
"Why not me?
"Why Not Me? comes from Mark Tewksbury, one of the finest swimmers in the history of the sport...
"Before the race, he said to himself, “Someone has to win this race. Why not me?”
"'Why not me?' is a beautiful thought. It is optimistic, confident, and relaxed. There is no PRESSING in this thought.
"When you stop pressing, you relax and have fun, and let your body lead.
"This puts you back in control, because you are not trying to control something (winning) that cannot be controlled.
"You are merely trying to encourage yourself, without pressure."
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| Wesley Wolverine senior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE). |
MAKE THE DAYS COUNT
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| Wesley Wolverine senior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA). Ringor photo by Davee Blu Photography. |
Sunday, November 20, 2016
NEW SEA GULL FIELD
Salisbury
Softball Facebook page
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THE NEW SALISBURY UNIVERSITY SOFTBALL FIELD will be ready this coming 2017 season for the visiting Wesley Wolverines who will travel south on Route 13 to take on the Sea Gulls in a doubleheader, Wednesday, April 5. THE SOFTBALL DIAMOND IS PART OF A $10 MILLION RENOVATION of its athletics fields and facilities, separate from a new $19 million stadium! THE SALISBURY SEA GULLS ARE ALWAYS A TOUGH CONTEST on the Wolverine schedule. The team has appeared in the final game to determine the DIII NCAA National Championship nine times since 1998. |
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CLICK HERE FOR 186 PHOTOS OF
WOLVERINE PLAYERS/ CAMPERS
Above, from top, left-to-right, Wesley Wolverines sophomore #8 OF Megan DiRubbio (Smyrna, DE), freshman #2 3B/SS Karina Cardona (Cooper City, FL), freshman #6 P/UT Allison Mills (Leonardtown, MD), senior #9 P/OF Lily Engel (Dover, DE), senior #42 INF Devin Mackay (Bangor, PA), senior #12 P Lindsay Siok (Milford, DE), senior #18 C Nina Marcano (Middletown, DE), freshman #23 UT Brooke Retkowski (Baltimore, MD), junior #4 MI/OF Samantha Burns (Magnolia, DE), junior #99 OF Lauren Hoffman (Middletown, DE)
and senior #17 OF Casey Beall (Severn, MD).
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