Home News Softball Article
Questions? Call us! 1-800-645-3226

Softball News

April 06, 2016

GETTING TO KNOW: ANNIE VAN WETZINGA, NIKE SOFTBALL CAMP DIRECTOR.

Van Wetzinga

Directing NIKE Softball Camp at Metropolitan State University Denver is Annie Van Wetzinga. Coach Van Wetzinga has been the Head Coach at Metro State since the 2014-15 season. She started her career as a Head Coach in 2008 at Colorado Mines, in her first season, she led the Roadrunners to the best turnaround in RMAC history, the team rose 11 spots to finish fourth in 2014 with a 33-17 overall, going on to win the RMAC tournament. In her three years in Colorado, her teams finished in the top 10 in NCAA Division II batting average twice and top 10 in five other offensive categories, including No. 2 in doubles in 2009. Coach Van Wetzinga again quickly turned around the Peacocks at Upper Iowa. In her third season in 2013, UIU had its best record since joining NCAA Division II. Coach Van Wetzinga coached 19 academic all-NSIC players and six all-conference players, including an NSIC freshman of the year. An Iowa native Van Wetzinga played four seasons at Central College in Pella, Iowa, leading her team to the NCAA Division III national championship game in 2001 as a senior and earning National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III catcher of the year honors as well. She was twice named All-America and was a four-time all-region selection while serving as team captain. Nike Softball Camp at Metro State University presents campers with the opportunity to experience an elite training environment to improve fielding and hitting skills. Our fastpitch day camp in Colorado is the ideal location for any prospect looking to cultivate team spirit and develop long lasting friendships!

GETTING TO KNOW OUR DIRECTORS.

First and Last Name: Annie Van Wetzinga: Director of Nike Softball Camp

Location you direct:  Metropolitan State University Denver

How long have you been coaching softball?  This is my 9th year as a collegiate head coach, been coaching a total of 14 years between high school, NCAA DI, NAIA, and NCAA DII

How long have you been directing the Nike Softball Camp? This will be my 3rd year

Why did you start coaching softball? I love the sport and being able to teach and watch others grow and compete in a game I love

Favorite Camp Drill or Activity at Camp? My favorites are the camper’s favorites because everyone is having fun: slip and slide sliding practice and live games

What is the key to an incredible camp experience for you? Focusing on fun and teaching fundamentals…hopefully, every camper leaves with a positive experience and having learned/improved upon some aspect of the game

Your perfect camper on Day #1 arrives with what qualities? The willingness to participate and try all of the new drills being taught and most importantly a great attitude!

Which college or pro Coach do you admire and why? There are two that come to mind…Carol Hutchins from Michigan and Pat Murphy from Alabama. I admire Coach Hutch because she is definitely one of the pioneers of college softball and the reason why the game has grown. She brings a level of intensity and passion to the game that not a lot of young female athletes get exposed to and I think that helps make the athletes that play for her stronger, more accountable people.

I like Coach Murphy because he exhibits great joy, positivity, and also passion for the game when he is coaching. I think it helps build a strong connection to his players and allows the players to have a lot of fun while playing together.

Which college or pro player do you make it a point to watch play? Yadier Molina from the St. Louis Cardinals. I’m a huge Cardinal fan and a former catcher as well. Yadier is SO good at every aspect of the position from handling the pitching staff and all the different personalities that go along with that to being one of the best throwing catchers in the game. You have to sit and watch him consistently to really appreciate how good he is and how valuable he is to his team.

What message would you like parents to understand prior to camp? Please send your daughter to this camp only if SHE WANTS to attend the camp. It has nothing to do with ability level. We want campers who WANT to be at camp. No matter the age level or ability level, the camp is enjoyable when we have campers who bring a good attitude and are ready to participate!

Coaching Tip:

Base Running Drill: Our program emphasizes base running quite a bit. It is something we work on and drill especially early in the season and in the fall. We'll have the players split up between the three bases. Have someone at the pitching rubber to give a motion for leadoff or even a full pitch to a catcher. The first step is to emphasize an aggressive and on time leadoff (we use the rocker step) especially at 1st and 2nd base. At 3rd base, we tell them it should be a shorter lead in foul territory. The 2nd base should be the largest. When we talk about being “on time”, their movement should start when the pitcher is at 12 o’clock or just passed that in her motion, so their back foot will be coming off the base just as the pitcher reaches her release point. Once we go through drill the appropriate leadoff at each base with a pitcher’s motion, we then add reading the pitch into the catcher. If the ball is in the dirt or bobbled by the catcher, we have set ourselves up with the aggressive leadoff for our runners at 1st and 2nd to take the next base. We tell whoever is playing the role of the pitcher and the catcher to occasionally throw a pitch in the dirt or to bobble it so our players can practice getting that immediate read and being aggressive with taking the base. The last part of the drill will be dive backs to the base. Since we are taking aggressive leads, we know that some teams may try to pick off plays. We tell our runners at 1st and 2nd to get a slight drop step to the base and go to the back corner so they are harder to tag in this situation. To drill this aspect of base running, we will then tell whoever is playing the catcher, to occasionally hop out of the squat and act like they are going to pick a runner off. As soon as our runners read that quick hop up and movement towards the throw motion, they are told to dive back to the base appropriately.

These are all very small details of base running but we strongly believe that it sets up to take extra bases on teams and for our players to get comfortable and good at reading the pitch, the catcher and diving back to bases when necessary.  It’s a very simple drill and set up that does not take long at all to incorporate into your practices.

 

For more information on the camps this summer:

https://www.ussportscamps.com/softball/nike/metropolitan-state-university/

Share This
Filter News by Sport

Find a camp near you:

Select your sport and get into camp!
If you need more assistance, just give us a call
at 1-800-645-3226 we would be happy to help!

close