Softball Blog Rundown: The Best Blogs for Parents and Team Culture

Last updated on July 19, 2023

You can find the first in our series of Softball Blog rundowns here, where we feature the best blogs for practical playing tips.

parents watching their kids play baseball

As parents, we all want the best for our kids. This desire, obviously, extends to the softball field. The softball community is as much of a family as that of any other sport, both because of the fewer options girls have to compete in athletics and because of the elite nature of the competitions. Parents and coaches tend to rally around each other and their players, and they usually have the players’ best interests at heart.

This sense of community should naturally translate to the playing field, but it sadly often does not. From parents in the stands berating players for errors, to personality clashes inside the fences, otherwise good teams often fail to reach their potential, thanks in large part to poor chemistry in the dugout. Thankfully, blogs such as those in this brief list exist to help parents, players and coaches develop winning relationships.

Softball Journey

softball journey blog

http://softballjourney.com/

This informative blog contains tips and advice from travel ball coach and softball parent Greg Cruthers from his nearly two decades of involvement in fastpitch softball. While the blog certainly contains valuable instructional information, as one would expect from a coach, the parental advice and information sets this blog apart from the rest. Parents considering involvement in travel ball will definitely want to peruse this site.

Cruthers has obviously experienced many extremes in his years spent coaching his daughters and bringing them through the fastpitch game. His talks on the economic costs of raising an elite softball player have the potential to ease families’ transitions from recreational ball to traveling. And, for those parents hoping a daughter will transition to college softball, Cruthers offers the insight of his experience with his youngest daughter in NCAA ball. Though it is not often updated, this blog offers a real-world view into softball life that few others deliver.

Life in the Fastpitch Lane

life in the fastpitch lane

https://fastpitchlane.softballsuccess.com/

In addition to instruction and tips, travel ball coach Ken Krause provides insights into the fastpitch softball experience. Use the side bar to narrow the categories of articles to your specific needs. The sections on the mental side of the game, the parents’ side and the team-building side have a tremendous ability to help those hoping to institute a culture of success on a softball team.

As blogs go, the Fastpitch Lane is easily navigable and chock full of interesting and useful content. Krause is an authority on fastpitch softball, but is not authoritarian. He regularly contributes to other reputable publications in the sport, and his style is informing in a caring way that coaxes rather than instructs. This blog is regularly updated with new material, with a new article posted about every week or two.

Softball is for Girls

softballisforgirls

https://softballisforgirls.com/

Softball is for Girls is a great softball blog in general, but it excels in the team-building department. Fastpitch coaches looking for strategies that work to build team chemistry can get lost in the information laid bare in this blog. Players interested in learning what they can do to develop skills that will make them a better leader on a team will also find valuable information.

Softball is for Girls also has a great section of articles for softball parents. The articles in this category are often grouped with those from the “Coaches’ Corner,” exemplifying the fact that the issues that affect both groups of adults involved in the game affect them equally. The site might not seem very intuitive at first, but the search bar is useful, and each article has category tags beneath it to help you find similar content. There is a wealth of content on this blog, and new content appears regularly.

I Love to Watch You Play

i love to watch you play

http://ilovetowatchyouplay.com/

While not specifically for softball, the blog at I Love to Watch You Play covers a broad array of information sports parents will find invaluable. From game-day nutrition to college recruiting, the information contained within the articles of this blog will help parents of softball players make sense of the confounding world of youth sports. Even former athletes-turned-parents will glean useful tidbits from the articles, but inexperienced parents will likely get the most help from this blog.

Fastpitch TV

fastpitchtv

https://fastpitch.tv/

This is a popular blog in softball circles, and for good reason. The articles are informative and span a broad range of topics, and the information is both authoritative and exhaustive. The team-building articles, like much of the information on Fastpitch TV, deliver tactics that coaches, players and parents can all work to institute when they want to institute a culture of success. The parents’ section is not quite as exhaustive, but there the information it contains is valuable.

The articles on Fastpitch TV are not easy to isolate by subject, but the search function is useful. Simply punch “team” into the search bar, for example, and a plethora of team-building articles will appear. Multiple articles are uploaded in a typical week, making this a go-to for those immersed in softball life.


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