Everything Fastpitch - The Podcast · Tory Acheson & Don McKinlay

Balancing Multi-Sport Athletes / Measuring Player Development / Coaching to win vs coaching not to lose

October 1, 2025·31 min·2 clips

A coach allows players to pick up with other teams, but now they're missing practices—what happens when loyalty clashes with flexibility?

Coach Torrey carries this one by himself. Episode 390 centers on team obligations, player development, and the line between coaching not to lose and making strategic choices to win. The first problem is the messy one. A coach lets players pick up with other teams, then watches those players miss team practices and events. Torrey turns it into a calendar check for coaches who say they support well-rounded kids but still toss in last-second practices or tournaments. Schedules matter more than slogans. If a player already has a soccer game on Saturday, a surprise softball practice puts the family in a bind the coach helped create. Teams that really want well-rounded athletes have to leave room for both commitments, not just praise the idea when it suits them. He ties that flexibility to long-term health: less burnout, fewer injuries, and fewer problems later. The cleanup topic moves into tracking player development and knowing what coaches can actually measure. This is a coach's episode. The action coaching tip draws on recent football talk about playing not to lose versus coaching to win. The sponsor reads remain part of the package, with Elite Sporting Goods, EAS, Action Coach, Patreon, and the usual email prompts around the edges. The clip lands on flexibility. Torrey sounds like a coach telling other coaches that the calendar counts, because every surprise demand shows families what the program values.

As heard by us

A practical episode about flexibility, player development, and coaching with intent.

This episode stays close to the practical side of fastpitch. It looks at players who split time across teams or sports, how to judge real development, and how coaching choices shape what happens on the field.

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Why you'd press play

If you're juggling practices, pickups, and player development, this one speaks your language.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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