If you are a fan of softball then you're going to love the Fastpitch tv show sponsored by Easton sports. Now the managers are more about softball than anyone in the planet. Your host Gary Leland.
Gary Leland: Hello, and welcome to the fastpitch tv show. If you're watching this on YouTube, facebook, myspace or another video sharing site, please check at our website its fastpitch.tv not .com, fastpitch.tv. It's the place to find our past episodes and the place to keep up our future episodes. I'd also like to take this opportunity and thank our sponsor Easton sports.
The truth is there is a difference, the difference is Easton. You can check out their website at EastonSoftball.com. Now, if you saw last week show, you saw my interview with Michael Bastian. Well, this week we have Michael back with this again, okay, I hope you enjoyed the interview last week with this week, but this week he's back with this again and he's going to show us how to give signals. So, if you're third based coach or if you always watching that third coach, you understand, what you're doing when they're doing all this stuff. Michael is going to explain what it is and how to do it. So, sit back and watch.
Michael Bastian: Hey, we're here today and I've been asked by fastpitch tv to talk a little about how I give signs and how we use visual signs in the game of Fastpitch Softball. The first thing I'd like to talk about is, in my experiences over 20 years of coaching on those two basic systems that I used. There is the indicator system where you have a part of your body that you touch that's called the indicator, which tells, the athlete tells the player that this information I'm giving to them now is important, pay attention.
The other system that's used as counting system where the coach will touch his or her body in certain places and the athlete has to count 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and how to use a numeric system to get to a certain number that means a certain type of play in the game. Now, I'll just be honest with you, I was terrible in math and I never used the counting system because I got confused with having account that many numbers and trying to think the game. So, I'll -- just to start off with the fans, I use the whole visual indicator system. To tell you a real simple story, I started in baseball like a lot of men do that end-up coaching fastpitch softball, playing fastpitch softball, and I was stopped by Dusty Baker the manager of the Cincinnati Reds a long time ago. His signs that were used by the dodgers and come to find out all through Major League Baseball a lot of the signs are same in Major League Baseball and I still use them today and simple signs like I shirt, across the chest, across the shirt is the still signs. The belt bunt across the belt, he sacrificed bunt. Hit and run, okay, he's flicking your legs like this in this action as what we use for hitting a run. I've a real simple take sign and this worked really well for me internationally. Right how, I worked to the Chinese if I make a fist that means do not swing where I punch you.
So, any close fist means that we got to take on. We have a simple sign like put the two fists together, it means swing and miss on purpose, okay, and not hit the ball, so it's still a simple type of take visually with the hands being closed.
Now, with all the signs I have again S shirts still across the chest to still be belt bunt, hit and run here, we also have a little more information Cookie Bunt or what we call Sneaky bunt for the fastpitch game or Slap bunt I actually tap and slap my head. But how we use the indicator? We use this in the world championships in Olympic Games. We have a part of the body that we touch, so I can be give it a whole set of decoy signs, which I have not touched my indictor, but I'll just tell my ears are usually the indictor; then I just use these recently in early international competition, but when I touch my ears that tells my players to pay attention and in the sequence of signs that I do after I touch my ears is what the hot play is. So, I can go through decoy signs, this means nothing, but as soon as I touch my ear, it could be either ear or both the ears and that's one of the key points I should talk about. Sometimes we have decoy signs or fake signs or fake indicators because people try the still signs all the time. The Japanese would video type me hour after, hour after, hour trying to still my signs because they knew that I was using a very simple set, but all I have to do is always change my indicator or may it could be my right ear or my left ear. So, just real simply for the young fans and the coaches and players out there, I have the whole set of decoy signs, but when I went to my ear or both ears that tells me now what's going beyond if went to my ear and I want to cross my chest and I closed with the fist, that would be a straight still take. If I went my ears with hand, I went to a straight still and apart my hands together, that was a straight still with the swing in the mist by the batter or example, I can go through my signs to decoy signs, go to my ear, touch my chin and give the take that means fake bunt take or if I just want to give them a Cookie bunt or they're doing Sneaky bunt and go through my decoy signs, that mean nothing. Touch my ear and give them a Cookie bunt.
We always have the close; a close when the signs are over is when they clap their hands. One of the key things you have to do when you're giving the signs, you have to make sure your players are looking at you and until you finish with the signs. If your players look at you, get the hot sign, look the away and you're still giving signs that's a real simple way for coaches to learn how to still signs because they know when the key point is coming. And just to share some more information I take a lot of stilling signs, everybody knows I think around the world if the kids squish the helmet or goes to the bill other cap or hits their cleats with their bat. A lot of times that means, coach I got the sign. So would try to be really, really sneaky and be intelligent they we're not given a way if we got a hot play on or if we have a play called so. A lot of it is the skill of how you get the signs, making sure your athletes not to take the signs, but again, I use the indicator system, which I can go with the ears; I've also used my wrist watch as an indicator. If I touch my wrist watch to try to have different set of indicators, I know some coaches change the indicator, maybe the first two innings I have one indicator then 3, 4, and 5 will have a different indictor and then the 6, 7 and it will change the indicator again, you just have to have a feel to understand if the other opponents, if the other coaches, the other team is getting an advantage by stilling your signs.
So, with that simple information I try to keep that simple I hope that's a little bit helpful for everyone out there trying to understand, how signs are used in fastpitch softball.
Gary Leland: I hope you enjoyed the show and I hope you learned something from Michael there. Michael, I want to say thanks for helping us out there on this week show. Hey, don't forget to check at our website like I said, fastpitch.tv to become the fan of the show at facebook.com/fastpitchtv, follows on twitter, twitter.com/fastpitchtv. Now, it's time to say you buy, so let's end it with a word from our sponsor Easton sports like we normally do and thanks for watching.
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