East Ridge Athletic Association

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by Tom Nemo, East Ridge Varsity Head Softball Coach
ERAA Coach and Player Development Director

So what makes athletes like Jenny Finch so successful? I believe it’s passion and DEDICATION! You’ve got to want to be the best, and let that passion drive your priorities. Young athletes today have a plethora of activities to juggle: school studies, miscellaneous club participation, jobs and most of all – their friendships. All of these are important but a dedicated athlete will choose to make the time for and put the sweat and tears into the hard work it takes to develop great softball skills.  The skilled athletes continue to prepare themselves year round by participating in practices and clinics in the off-season.

I know every East Ridge Softball player has the potential to be a GREAT athlete. Here’s what I suggest for achieving that greatness:

• FIND A PARTNER OR PARENT TO PRACTICE WITH – parents this is an opportunity for quality time and esteem building with your daughter. Spend a few days of quality time each week at the batting cages, throwing in a gym or other facility. (We have plenty of facilities available – see me if you would like more information)
• Utilize the high school weight room. Get to know the strength and conditioning coach!
• Do some tee work, soft toss and work on the mechanics of your swing. Some players attend clinics to prepare for the start of their softball season. Work on the things that YOU need to improve on.
• It’s critical that pitchers put in more practice time than position players. Pitchers must throw AT LEAST 3 TIMES PER WEEK. Have a routine and follow it. Work on form/mechanics, spins and various pitches.
• MOST PITCHERS DO HAVE A PITCHING COACH. If you don’t have one, please contact me.
  

I am passionate about softball and am dedicated to helping the Raptor players climb to greatness. ERAA  Softball has a great Winter Softball Clinic starting January 15, 2012. I look forward to seeing you there!

Cottage Grove’s own Afton Murray is the new ERHS Assistant Softball Coach. Afton brings both teaching and athletic experience to the table with a Master’s Degree in Education, as a former softball player from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and as a volunteer pitching coach at Northern State University.

Afton is currently a full-time teacher at Pullman Elementary School in St. Paul Park and the Assistant Softball Coach at East Ridge High School. In the last several years, she has been directing several pitching, fielding, and hitting clinics and individual pitching lessons. Afton is available to ERAA Softball athletes in 8^th grade or younger for individual pitching lessons at an hourly fee of $40. Group rates vary. Inquiries about individual lessons are welcome! 

ERAA Softball  has purchased and installed hitting cages, pitching machines and nets at the Heartland Credit Union in Inver Grove Heights, a short 6 mile drive from ERHS.  Kathy Harrington, ERAA Secretary and mother of Brooke,  is president of this branch and has allowed ERAA softball to install two full size hitting/pitching nets in the basement of her building.  Steve Kovacs and Bob Harrington installed and set-up the cages and room to make it all work.  A huge thank you to Steve and Bob!!  Teams will be able to use this facility with their coaches in the off-season for hitting and pitching practices.  This facility will be free to all ERAA softball teams.  This is another way that the ERAA Softball Board is working to improve the development of our players.

ERAA softball is pleased to announce that Tom Nemo and Cliff Charpentier will coach the 2012 16U-A fastpitch team.  Tryouts will be held on Oct. 1 and 2 at the East Ridge Varsity and JV Fields.  If you have any questions please contact Allan Bohlke or Art Plautz.

Coach Nemo has been involved with fastpitch softball for the past 20 years. He started with the Tartan fastpitch summer program in 1991 where he was president for 3 years as well as a coach for 5 years. He was named head varsity softball coach at Tartan High School in January of 1999. He was there until 2006 and compiled a 107-54 record.  He was the assistant coach at North St. Paul from 2007-2010. NSP won the state AAA championship his first year there and finished runner-up the past 2 seasons.

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Coach Charpentier is very competitive, though he believes he - even more so - is a ‘people' person.  The gratitude he gets from coaching is not only in the wins and success on the field it's also in the relationships he has gained with the players and parents he shared his coaching journey with.  This is very important to him.  If asked, he believes the players he has coached would remember some of the nice successes they had on the field but more importantly he believes they would remember the work and fun on how they got there.
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Woodbury Field Closure Information

Tri-County Fastpitch League
Summer Softball

MN Metro Fastpitch League
Fall Softball site

Fast Sports
Fastpitch softball in formation: Clinics, Tournaments, News about fastpitch softball in Minnesota

Hitting tip:  Just before you get into the box, clear your mind and remind yourself to focus just on the ball. Once in the box, don’t think just hit!
 
Hitting tip: If you have two strikes, raise your hands up 2-3” inches more so you can attack down thru the top of the ball.

 Throwing tip: Practice throwing a small football.  If you can make it spiral correctly then your arm motion and wrist snap is right for throwing a softball.  
 
Throwing tip: Make sure you do really long toss as part of the routine when practicing your throwing. This really strengthens your arm.