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Since softball is a slow paced game, it is very easy to give augmented feedback. Augmented feedback is the information you receive from an external source. Depending on the situation, augmented feedback can be good or bad in addition to the intrinsic feedback we already get from our selves or seeing the result of our action. During practice for softball, I loved augmented feedback from my coach on the little things. It helped me become a much better player. But, once it was game time, any bit of augmented feedback interfered with my performance and made my overthink what I was doing. This kind of augmented feedback is called concurrent feedback. You receive the information from an outside source as you are going through the skill. Instead, it would've been better to receive terminal feedback, information given after the skill is over.

When it came to hitting, I was extremely impatient. So, when there was a slow pitcher or she threw a change-up there was very little chance I would hit it well on the first try. My coaches and teammates would constantly be cheering "wait for it," "move up in the box!" All of these different feedbacks while I was in the box only made me more anxious about my timing. I knew as soon as I started my swing that I was early and would have to slow my hands down to make contact. At Varsity level you (should) have enough experience and variable practice to be able to distinguish when you're body is doing something wrong or right through intrinsic feedback. Our brains tend to believe augmented feedback even when there is evidence that it is wrong and our intrinsic feedback is correct. Especially with softball, where slight movements matter when it comes to hitting a ball well, it is important to not give too much augmented feedback during games

This is a video of one of my high school homeruns. I wouldn't have been able to hit a homerun without augmented feedback during practices.

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She's right... no, left... no, right handed?

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She's right... no, left... no, right handed?

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Once in a while you will see a right handed hitter switch to left handed slapping during a game. When the right-handed athlete is very fast the coach may teach them how to slap. It is very difficult to get a fast slapper out. It's extremely beneficial to be able to slap hit and be able to normal hit right handed when you're down in the count (need a higher chance of making contact). It takes practice to be a great slapper because taking three steps towards the ball changes your timing instead of standing in one spot, like normal hitting. But, the ability to even go from right hand to left hand between pitches is an amazing skill to have.

Right handed athletes are able to switch to left handed slapping due to bilateral transfer. This is the idea that the information we learn with one hand/leg will transfer over to the other hand/leg. The more skilled you are with your right hand hitting, the better you would be slapping on your first try. This is, also, a positive transfer. The previous experience of right handed hitting is beneficial when switching to left hand.

Here is a video of a very good slapper.

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Sheridan Allen Softball: Slaps, Bunts, Steals- Volunteer State  4-22-16 series

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University of Tennessee commit, Fall 2016 2016 graduate Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin TN 2014 graduate Beech High School, Hendersonville, TN https://youtu.be/_cLA56oo_pw https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrduR7j50hedVNRj9kuUvlWKv1gixlMUd

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When it comes to sports particularly, speed and accuracy are definitely not a pair as a novice. Until you become an expert, and even a little bit when you are, your throws are heavily influenced by the time you take to execute them. During practice, or if you got a hard grounder in a game, you have plenty of time to execute the throw. This means you should have high accuracy, if you are skilled enough. But, as soon as you are in a rush to get the ball there your throw goes way over the 1st baseman's head. This is most visible during bunting situations. For a bunt, you have about 3 seconds to get to the ball and get the ball to first. Especially if you aren't ready for it, it's very difficult to have a quick throw from third. Because of this rush, less skilled players have many errors in accuracy.

This is representative of Fitt's Law. When someone performs a task more quickly, they, also, tend to perform it less accurately. This shows a trade-off between accuracy and speed. Most often, we like to favor accuracy. So, to do so, we perform the task more accurately and slow down our throw. It takes a lot of practice to have speed and accuracy together in Softball.

Below is one of my skills videos for college recruitment. Since it is not in a game situation, I am able to take my time with the throws and make accuracy count. But, as you can tell, depending on where the ball is, my speed increases and has slight affects on my accuracy.

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After playing for 8 years, I started coaching softball my sophomore year of high school. Being on Varsity, we had to at least coach our annual youth clinic. We could, also, coach the weekly summer camp. When I first started coaching it was for 6-8 year olds, mainly. At that age, the girls had very little skill. The skills that they were learning had become such a basic part of how I played. Because of this, it made it extremely difficult to teach them. I couldn't explain how to do any skills without showing them, moving their arms through the motion and hoping that was enough.

After doing a task for so long, your memory shifts from declarative to procedural. Declarative memory is the conscious thinking you're doing for a skill. It is the first step when learning a new skill. Most often, you have words associated to the movement because your coach is telling you how to do it. As time goes on and you master the skill, it is purely in your procedural memory. This is most commonly known as "muscle memory." It becomes automatic and unconscious. Your brain knows the motor controls for the task but it is only actions in your memory. So, how do you explain something that is unconscious?

The picture below shows me with my U8 group two years ago. I finally learned how to explain my actions and was their head coach for the summer.

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My Junior year of high school there was an ongoing debate about one freshman player. Fisher was amazing during tryouts and made Varsity as a freshman, which is very hard to do at Middleton. Our practices were fairly blocked until the end, when we would do live hitting or situations. When it comes to softball there's an obvious difference between those who are skilled in the task and those who understand the mental game. During our first game, Fisher could not get it together and made numerous errors in the outfield. We were in awe. How could someone be so good in practice and crumble in a game? Of course, she played in the next couple of games, it must've been nerves (we hoped). But, there was no improvement in live game situation. She was eventually moved down to JV. The next year, when she was a Sophomore, the same thing happened again and she was put on JV for a second time.

All of her previous softball practices must've been very blocked schedule. This means that you do all of your same skills at once, then move on to do another skill, etc. Without variability in practicing, she was unable to retain the information she learned. Also, because of the way practices were, she did not run into contextual interference. Contextual interference occurs when there is variability/randomization in practice. Contextual interference is the disruption in memory and performance as a result for the randomization. This makes you look worse in practice, but you are better in game performance. This is because your body learns better how to compare the different skills. For example, with hitting, you need to practice hitting all 9 zones randomly. The timing on your hands and placement of the bat are very different for each one and your body needs to be able to distinguish the difference so that you know what went wrong and can fix it during a game. During a game, you are unlikely to see more than one of the same pitches during an at bat. The irony of the situation is that she looked like one of the best during practice, but was the worst when it came to game performance. With the continuous, more serial, JV practices, she eventually became a much better, more consistent, player.

Below is a GIF of a player striking out in a game. I found it relevant because she may be an amazing hitter during practice, but she couldn't recognize that screw ball fast enough to hit it!