Patty Gasso has been the head softball coach at OU for over 28 seasons. She has molded the OU softball program into a national power and permanently placed herself among the elite college softball coaches in the country.
She was asked, “What advice would you have for players who want to play at your level, and what do I need to do if I want to play at your level?”
She said, “I want to feel like you make me enjoy watching you play. What does that look like? To me, hustle, being a great teammate, real inspiration, real energy, and real excitement. There has to be something behind you that makes be me go, okay, this is fun to watch.”
She then said, “Be a gamer. The way you walk, move, look, talk to your teammates - I watch it all. I see you hit 3 times. How am I supposed to evaluate that? I just watch everything else that she’s doing. Be all in.
“I’m just taking notes on watching you and what you’re doing in the dugout, I watch you when the game is over and how you go up to your parents. I’m watching the kind of person that you are if I can’t see what it looks like as a player on the field.”
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1 - What is your biggest takeaway from the video?
2 - What would a college coach say about you if they watched you practice or play? Would they see real joy and excitement?
3 - What kind of teammate would they see you being?
4 - What kind of PERSON would they be seeing in you?