RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
You know we’re a fan of the writings of Dena Tyson-Slye, the accomplished Corona Angels club coach, daughter of coaching legend Marty Tyson and herself an All-American in 2007 at the Univ. of Washington.
We’ve run multiple blogs by Dena on the Extra Inning Softball site—the latest being last week on Player & Parent Energy—and the response from our readers has been overwhelmingly positive!
Now, just in time for Christmas and the holidays, Dena has released an e-book titled Focus Up! which chronicles her career in softball, her ups-and-downs and what ultimately helped her become an All-American player, coach and mother!
“I want as many players around the world to read this,” explains the author, “so I’m making it easily accessible.”
To order your online copy, click HERE!
What’s in the e-book?
It’s not expansive at just 25 pages, but it’s an entertaining, story-filled read with Dena’s casual and humorous voice that is sure to resonate with players, parents and coaches alike.
In the very first paragraph Dena explains why she wrote Focus Up!: “Not only will I talk about my path of becoming an All-American, but also the values I learned along the way that made me into the woman I am today.”
Dena chronicles her days as a youth pitcher in Corona, California and eventually becoming a star centerfielder with the OC Batbusters team that would have six future college All-Americans.
When it came time to be recruited, however, Dena recalls, “I didn’t end up at my dream school, but I ended up at the right school!”
And she explains the mistakes she made and why she became “only” a one-time All-American including how she struggled out of the gate at Washington and then what her father wrote to her that got Dena fired up and back on the right path again.
And so it goes through her career in a compelling read that pulls no punches and shows the struggles and triumphs it takes to make it in the competitive college softball scene capped off by what Dena did as a senior to elevate her game physically and emotionally.
My favorite lesson, though, comes at the very end when Dena realizes why she didn’t get recruited by her “dream school”… which didn’t have to do with the college, but with Dena herself!
Is it worth the $10 to purchase for your favorite softballer? Absolutely! The lessons that players old and young can learn from Dena’s journey are well worth the price-tag.
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball