RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Louis C. Simon, the creator of the Game Ready softball series and an entertainment industry veteran, started The League, a non-profit organizational collegiate softball summer league, in 2021 and continues to grow as it is entering its third season in Southern California.
Lou’s daughter, Madison, plays at Oregon State and he has coached all levels of travel softball. Today, he is still coaching softball at the high school his daughter attended, Beckman High in Irvine, Calif., which has won three league titles in a row including a 12-0 season in 2022.
The former collegiate baseball player is passionate about increasing positive awareness of fastpitch softball and tells Extra Inning Softball in this first-person account how he came to develop this on-going opportunity for college players to improve their games….
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It was the Spring of 2021 and I was looking onto the Oregon State University softball field from my hotel room, enjoying an open view of the gleaming sun over the entire field and, of course, waiting for the start of the game.
Just then, I received a phone call from a college softball coach friend asking my thoughts about having a summer softball league in California that would help our softball players mentally and psychologically get back out onto the field since most of the schools had not allowed athletic training or competition due to COVID.
As a former collegiate baseball player who has also coached softball for several years, the idea of starting a college-based softball league was something I had previously thought about.
As a matter of fact, the 18U travel team my daughter had played on—Athletics Mercado—competed against such a college-based team in Arizona. Also, there is a well-known summer league in Florida, too.
As we wrapped up our phone conversation, I agreed that these student-athletes needed our support and since softball is already a socially distant sport, this could be achieved in the short term.
I hung up the phone and thought to myself:
“I just said ‘yes’ to starting this thing although we are still in California lockdowns with major restrictions and no fields… and I need to do this in three months.”
Little did I know, that phone call would impact not just weeks and months, but years in my life going forward.
That same day, as my daughter and her teammates competed against their opponent, I observed the game from a different perspective.
Every player on those teams were good athletes—they were recruited because their coaches saw their athletic abilities and took the necessary steps to have them wear the uniform—so, instead of focusing on the game’s physical attributes, I began focusing on the mental process of the players.
This included everything from their walking out of the dugout to their entering the batter’s box… from heir at-bat—the type of pitches and pitch counts they’d swing at and whether they had an aggressive swing or passive swing—to their defensive play (aggressive or passive) and, of course, their behavioral patterns.
Working on films and TV series for the past 20-plus years, there’s a saying that comes to mind and is applicable to athletes as well:
“One can tell the story from the eyes of the performer.”
It’s no different for the athlete.
The determination and confidence can be seen in the athlete’s eyes no matter what sport they are a part of. What we think and how we think can be transferred to the game. The mental part of the physical game an athlete plays can, and is at times, more important than the physical attributes they bring to the game.
In movies, an actor studies the script and develops a character. The believability of an actor performing the scene can often be felt from the expression in the eyes and/or the gesture of the reactions that transfers to its audience. This determines whether we want to invest our time in this movie and if it’s going to take us on a rewarding emotional journey.
However, it’s one thing to discuss the competitive game on the field of play, but what about the athletes’ lives off the field? In the classroom? How good is their family life? Their relationships? Finances? Relationship with their coaches? The list goes on and on…
These are all real challenges and complications for a collegiate student-athlete and statistics have shown an increase in mental, behavioral and emotional health issues in the past year among teens and young adults.
For example, among college students, 29.1 percent have been diagnosed with anxiety and 23.6 percent have been diagnosed with depression (NCHA, 2021).
Softball is a great game to play and watch and TV networks such as ESPN, CBS and others, have taken notice of the athletic abilities of our student-athletes and the excitement of what these games bring to our video screens.
College administrations have recognized this as well and are starting to invest into the softball programs including the facilities, the coaches and the student-athletes.
The NIL’s (Name, Image and Likeness) have opened another door for our student-athletes and those college donors.
All these things are great opportunities, but let’s look at the flip side: increased visibility on the TV, building of athletic facilities, upgrading athletic facilities, the increase in coaches’ salaries, NIL agreements, team rankings, social media presence, rankings… they all come at a price.
We are watching student softball athletes between the ages of 17-22 for the most part do incredible things on the athletic field and, yet, we forget how young they truly are.
The questions remain…
- Are we doing what we can as a community to prepare our young athletes at a mental level to compete in the most intense competitive climate?
- From the city league to travel teams and club organizations… private coaches to the parents… does your player understand the requirements playing for a very competitive college athletic program?
- When the college playing experience is over, what has been gained and what was lost?
- Is your player at a college where they have the best chance to thrive and succeed in life?
These are just a few questions and the answers will vary from player to player.
So this brings us back to the idea of The League and it’s being “not just another summer league.”
The question was, following the observations of many college softball games and my conversation with my college softball coach friend, what could we do different that would better the student-athletes?
That difference, I believed was to focus on the players’ mental state of mind to build them up with confidence and increase the love they feel towards the game they play.
As for their physical skills, I wanted to focus on the expectations of the college coach and would often rely on their experiences with that player to provide us with feedback of what they wanted the athlete to focus on the summer months including high-end competition, mental strength building, physical rehab and community building.
Of course, it’s one thing to have a concept and another to execute the concept.
Yes, there were countless challenges to go with this new venture, from financial to personnel, and I heard the word “no” quite a bit or the words “I don’t have time to help.” Being in show business, the word “no” or your email not answered is nothing out of the ordinary, so you do what you teach as a coach: keep moving forward!
To the rescue came a friend of mine, Don Barbara and his wife, Corrie. These are friends whom I met during our daughters’ travel ball days with the Explosion club organization. They were both great and wanted the same thing as I did, to allow the game to be fun and a platform where the players could just play the game they fell in love with.
Don was a former minor league baseball player who also has a daughter playing college ball at San Diego State. He and Corrie also have the desire to see softball players succeed and thrive in life. Don would drive out early on Saturday mornings and late in the afternoon for weekday workouts. Those who live in So Cal know the freeways are not always so kind!
In the Summer of 2021, The League was born and games were played on the pristine turf field located on the private property of a high school in Irvine, with plenty of warm-up space, food locations and a short drive from toll roads and freeways.
More importantly, the players who participated found new friends, shared memories and the opportunity to build a new community. Most, if not all, remembered why they loved the game again.
In 2022 The League increased to four teams and increased the mental aspects of the game beginning with the names of the teams:
- Integrity
- Fearless
- Empowered
- Leadership
From the vision to the execution, nothing is easy, but with the support of our growing community of student-athletes, it makes it all worthwhile as we focus our attention on today’s young athletes building tomorrow’s future.
We have implemented speed training while continuing our weekday training. Although, there were many, many highlights from the season and some of these can be seen on our website GameReadyEnterprises.com.
To me one highlight stands out above the rest involves Diamond Lewis.
With her school filing bankruptcy, she had no place to go and, with her final year of eligibility and her degree waiting to complete, Diamond asked if I knew any school she could get into.
Without knowing or having seen her abilities, I told her we needed to evaluate her on the field and, depending on how she did, Don and I could put her name out, but that we could not make promises.
It didn’t take long for Don and me to see her potential offensively and defensively. More importantly, we were impressed by her mental desire to complete what she started several years ago.
Diamond had the passion to play and compete and would do anything to get one final chance. After a few weeks of playing and Diamond hitting home runs, making plays and running the bases aggressively, we found a home for Diamond at Westcliff University in Irvine, Calif., as she was awarded a well-deserved educational scholarship and the opportunity to continue playing softball.
Now, as we begin Season 3 in 2023, we shall see how it continues to grow.
After Season 2, many of the players asked to be on the same team for this coming summer and many others have begun inquiring and registering for 2023. We have some extra fun things planned for this year and are really looking forward to it.
It all begins on June 16th and will run through July 22nd with weekday workouts on Wednesdays and/or Thursdays and games on Saturdays and Sundays in the beautiful locations of Irvine, Long Beach and Fullerton, Calif.
For those interested in competing in The League, go to GameReadyEnterprises.com and fill out the registration form; someone will contact you about possible next steps.
— Lou Simon, The League