In this episode of Weplay Podcasts, Lisa Cohn sits down with Australian sports psychologist Anthony Ross. Anthony conducted his research at the University of Queensland, and is also a former All-American tennis player. Anthony has spent the majority of his professional life studying how parents can affect the self-esteem of their children, especially in athletic situations. He offers some really great perspectives, and is definitely worth a listen for parents!

Just about everyone who has played a competitive sport has most likely be subjected to unjust politics surrounding the game. A little distraught by how players are selected on the all-star softball team from the recreational teams in his area, Weplay’s newest Coach of the Week, Brian Parson, made it his mission to never count out any player with the heart and desire for the sport of softball and formed a team of girls willing to put in the hard work and effort to become athletes of the diamond.

“I put 10 girls together of all shapes and sizes. Some were 12,13 and 14 year-olds and we went and played 16 and under travel ball,” Brian says. “We only had three girls that were actually 16 years-old. We finished our first season ranked No. 1 in points in USFA. That team was called LA WAATS.”

The LA WAATS softball girls have “gone on to bigger and better things”, Brian says and he has since organized the Sand Lot Sistas, a softball team out of DeRidder, LA that initially competed in the 10 and under age division and finished 50th out of 644 teams but moved up to the more competitive 12 and under age division six months early.

The Sand Lot Sistas are currently ranked 5th out of 494 teams in the 12 and under division in the nation (USFA), Brian says.

“The reason I coach is to pick girls that no one else gives a chance to shine, mold them, train them to succeed and build a team that works together on and off the field,” Brian says.

Brian has realized overtime that the way he was raised, has been a major inspiration for his coaching philosophy.

Growing up as the child of a single mom, money to play travel baseball was a luxury not available for Brian. He watched all of the kids who’s families had enough money to be on travel teams play knowing all the while he was just as talented, but financial troubles caused him limited baseball opportunities. Ever since this traumatic childhood experience Brian says he made a promise to himself that when he became a coach, no matter what “race, religion, or tax bracket” a child fell in, he would not deny a child the opportunity to play the sport they love.

“There are many great athletes out there that never get noticed because of lack of funds,” Brian says, “With the Sand Lot Sistas we love each other like brother and sister, we don't judge you by money and our favorite thing to do is play ball, but most of all it's to beat the teams that have fancy uniforms and a big buy in to get on their team.” 

This year the Sand Lot Sistas have been ruling the field. Five girls from the team tried out for their junior high softball teams and all of the girls are playing first team and have coaches impressed with their tremendous work ethic.

After three years of coaching, Brian has accumulated a stockpile of memories, but two memories in particular stand out in his coaching file.

The first memory is a more than satisfying comeback win while coaching the LA WAATS. The tournament had become an uphill battle through the loser’s bracket and the LA WAATS were down by seven in the final inning of the game. Player’s heads hung low, but coach Brian knew there was still a chance to win the game. He gave his players a quick pep talk and right then and there: “open up the gun show” became the team’s new motto. The gun show busted wide open and the LA WAATS came back winning the game 9 to 8.

Many softball dad’s usually end up spending Father’s Day away at a tournament since the date of this holiday falls right in the middle of prime softball season. A Father’s Day weekend softball tournament in Lake Charles with the Sand Lot Sistas, will always be a best coaching moment for Brian. His daughter was up to bat and smashed a two-run homer. While passing third base, Brian says his daughter looked at him and said, “Happy Father’s Day Dad!”

“Well, I’m not gonna lie,” Brian says “I pulled my sunglasses off my visor and busted up in tears.”

Brian will always be a coach at heart and jokes if there is life outside of coaching, “I'm an Arborist, I spend every waking moment thinking of ways to improve my team.”

Weplay is a great line of communication for a coach and Brian says it teaches his team to be responsible by checking the team page to see practice times, locations and any new updates. He also notes that posting to the team page is a lot more convenient than making 15 phone calls or sending out emails.

Coach Brian Parson’s Three Keys to Success 

1. Hard work through practice and conditioning!!

2. Educate yourself through books and seminars and form a network of coaches (be careful, make sure you can trust them to not steal your players).

3. Most of all, great parents can build a child. However, your parents must trust that you know what is best on the field.

Click here to nominate the next Coach of the Week!

Congratulations to our newest Call the Shot! winner, Luzianne, from Kansas. Her comment: Three Way Head Bunk Coming This Way!, was enough to earn her the title as well as 750 shiny new Weplay points. Way to go!

Our newest photo comes from us right from the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii. This past weekend, there was a professional surfing event at the world famous wave, the Banzai Pipeline. Here is Hawaii's Bruce Irons, possibly rethinking some career choices. It seems like he forgot something on this wave, what do you think? Anyway, you know the drill; leave a witty comment in the comments section, and you could be our newest Call the Shot! winner.

(Click the photo for full-size image) (Photo: Volcom)

via Loren Fogelman:
Can an athlete think too much? Well, yes and no. It depends on the time and place. Talk to any athlete whose under-performing. They will admit too many thoughts interfere with sports performance.

During high pressure moments of a competition, racing thoughts, critical thoughts or too many thoughts become a distraction. Thinking slows down response time. During those high pressure moments clutch players are not distracted by their own thoughts. Immediate, decisive action requires a quick response.

Whether you call it an inner sense, gut feeling, hunch, intuition, ESP it does not matter. They are one and the same. Even if you don’t believe in a sixth sense, you have one. You might as well develop it so you can use it to your advantage during crunch time.

The traditional approach to working through a challenge is to train harder, get stronger or build power. Many athletes don’t recognize the valuable resource already within them. It never occurs to them that they can tap into those abilities. What is the reason you don’t go with your intuition or those gut feelings? You never thought about it, you don’t believe in those things or do you tune it out?

Success driven athletes use whatever resources are available to them. It doesn’t matter whether it is a traditional approach to high performance, or not. Highly driven athletes are more interested in stepping out of the box of what is acceptable and pushing the envelope. Creativity and the willingness to take a risk are characteristics of winning athletes in all sports.

Combining physical training, ongoing education along with personal experiences, and intuition to foresee how things might play out is a valuable combination.

Intuition is not based upon linear, logical thinking. It is a subconscious process. It’s similar to viewing the situation from a bird’s eye view instead of a path. The focus is on the outcome, not on the steps to get there. It is a momentary gut feeling instead of a logical choice. Think about it too long and you are likely to talk yourself out of it since it lacks logic.

Athlete’s committed to high performance embrace the concept of deliberate practice. What does that mean? The plan is to continue improving your current skill set along with stretching your range of skills.

Click over to Women Talk Sports to read this article in its entirety.

Here's the latest video lesson from our friend Jennie Finch. As a mother, she knows the importance of having a wholesome family dinner. It helps to build family unity and togetherness. Remember, no cell phones or television at the table!