"Coaching Girls Softball" by Kathy Strahan is a great resource for the first time coach. It does not just cover coaching the basic skills of the game, but also such topics as communication with players and parents. It has a great first aid section, and it is one of the few books I have found that covers a coach’s liabilities on the field – a subject about which few want to think but everyone should be aware.Chapters 2 and 3 are most interesting, as they discuss the physical, mental and emotion differences between boys and girls (and how that should affect your coaching style). As a converted baseball coach, I soon learned that needed to know more than "girls have cooties" to become an effective girls’ softball coach. "Coaching Girls Softball" delivers the best information I've yet seen on the subject of how girls differ from boys and has been invaluable to my own growth as coach.
There are several practical guides and lists within “Coaching Girls Softball” that also set this book apart from others, and make it an excellent reference for every coach. Even though I have been coaching for a while, I still use the “time commitment calendar checklist”, “first aid kit content list”, and “items to include in your parent letter guide”, among others, to help me prepare for each season.
Though written for the beginning coach, Kathy Strahan tends to draw from her college coaching/playing experience for specific examples in the book. This is effective most of the time, but I would have liked to have heard more "in-the-trenches" stories from her recreational league coaching/playing days since that is the target audience for the book. I think more recreational league memories would have made this book even more powerful and useful for the reader than it already is.
A novice coach could not do much better than starting with “Coaching Girls Softball” as their first reference book. Even experienced coaches will find this a great guide for season preparation.
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