The Ohio Outlaws organization has come a long way from their first team in 2009. Warren Wolff has built a nationally recognized organization throughout the country. In eight years the organization has been built into 21 teams and over 100 athletes realizing their dreams by playing collegiate softball. With the blood, sweat, and tears of the Outlaws organization and along with a few others over the last eight years, they have changed the softball mindset about Midwest softball and brought the college coaches recruiting Midwest talent. The Ohio Outlaws Futures 14u Schmeiser is a team to keep an eye on this summer.
The Ohio Outlaws Futures 14u Schmeiser is a team to keep an eye on this summer. The Outlaws ’03 team did make a splash this Fall with adding seven new players to last year’s very successful team that did earn a berth to the USA Elite WFC Nationals. Those new players came from three other very successful Ohio softball organizations. This team had a strong run going 19-5 in the Fall as a first year 14u team; competing in some of the best showcases throughout the Midwest at DeMarini Fall Brawl, Ohio Thunder Fall Classic, USA Elite National Qualifier, and Scenic City Fall Showcase.
Outlaws Futures 14u Schmeiser is a young dynamic and competitive team with a great pitching staff. The Outlaws have RHP Alyssa Lavdis and LHP Lydia Spalding that racked up 106 strikeouts this fall. To go with the team’s pitching staff is the nice blend of hitting throughout the lineup one through nine. Their scoring productivity this Fall was due to the balance of six hitters, all of which hit above .400. The hitters that are making an impact on this first year 14u team are lead by Megan Kincer, Jessica Kincer, Emma Barnes, Madeleine Schmeiser, Ashley Shelton and Reece Hampton. Team chemistry shouldn’t be a problem for coach Schmeiser with his top two hitters being identical twin sisters Megan & Jessica. The team’s performance this Fall already has earned them a berth to the 2017 USA Elite WFC Nationals later this summer.
Brandon Pannell: What made you decide to go into coaching, what is your coaching philosophy, how important is winning?
Coach Schmeiser: Like most club level coaches I initially went into coaching because I had daughters who played the game and I wanted to put something special together in our area in Ohio. My oldest daughter had played with the Illinois Chill organization when she was recruited so I had been able to see how a successful organization went about its business in developing and attracting quality athletes, as well as getting their kids recruited. Fortunately, as my oldest daughter moved on to college and my time freed up to coach my youngest daughter, Warren Wolff had an opening at the 10u level with the Ohio Outlaws. I knew about his passion and desire to build that organization into a contender from top to bottom. I pitched my ideas to him and everything just seemed to fall into place from there. In terms of winning and how important it is to me, I would have to be honest and tell you that it is right up there at the top. There is not a player, coach or parent on this team that doesn’t know each and every time we step between the lines we play to win and we expect to win. We tell the girls that winning is a symptom of hard work and that if they put in the time, then they should expect to win. But by the same respect, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about our win-loss record at this age.
Brandon Pannell: Describe your off-season program for your team/organization?
Coach Schmeiser: We do not have an official “off-season program” for our girls but we do play an aggressive fall schedule. Starting in November we slow the game schedule down to about one tournament per month and ask the girls to step away from their softball specific training and focus on getting faster and stronger. Most of our girls either do cross-fit, speed/agility training programs or some combination of both. Many play other sports. They also focus on spending more quality time with their pitching/catching/hitting instructors than at other points in the season. Our team practices also slow down to 1-2 month throughout the winter and those, again, tend to focus more on speed and agility drills modified for softball athletes.
Brandon Pannell: What would you try to teach your players besides softball, how would you do that?
Coach Schmeiser: One thing that I hope my players would learn from me is to really try to find passion and enjoyment in all that they do. So many of these kids not only want to play softball at a high-level, but they want to attend high-level schools with high-level programs, have high-level jobs, etc… It can be overwhelming for them because so often the higher the stakes, the stronger the feeling of disappointment and failure when things don’t always go their way… which inevitably happens for all of us. I would hope that the way we run our business on the Outlaws Futures 14u Schmeiser, my kids really get in touch with why they love this game so much and learn to find enjoyment in the process of working hard and getting better. They say when you truly find a job you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. As coaches, we all know that when we put a team full of girls on the field with that kind of passion and love for softball the sky is the limit. I can only hope that eventually when this team logs its final out and they all move on to bigger and better things, they have learned to apply that same ethic to all the great things they will continue to do in life besides softball.
Brandon Pannell: What role do assistant coaches have on your team?
Coach Schmeiser: When I started coaching at a 10u level it was hard to get a group of assistants to buy into what myself and Warren wanted for all of the age groups across the board in our organization, and that was essentially to feature the best softball athletes in Ohio. What that meant for the younger age groups at that time was that we would have to start the process of bringing high-quality coaches into the organization with the ability and vision to really develop top-level talent at a grass roots level. On my team, we have been especially fortunate to have picked up two of the best assistant coaches out there in Becki Spalding and Lou Shelton. Becki came to us with experience coaching her local high school team, as well as experience with another well-recognized Ohio travel organization. She takes control of the pitchers and catchers. Being a former division 1 track and field athlete, Becki really brings a lot to the table in what she has to offer the young and aspiring players on our team. Coach Lou also came to us with years of travel coaching experience and a great knowledge of X’s and O’s, especially on the defensive side. Coach Lou’s primary responsibility on our team is to take control of the defense during games, as well as coach the bases. Both coaches (along with some key parent volunteers) really enable us to run some high-intensity, high-rep practices for the girls between games which are so important. We also have a player-assistant coach, Grace Schmeiser, who is currently a senior playing softball for the University of Detroit Mercy. Grace’s primary role on our team is to work with our infielders on skill development and also to promote players cheering and providing positive support for their teammates during games. She provides that crucial link to what’s going on inside the player’s heads that the more “seasoned’ coaches may not always see as clearly as she does.
Brandon Pannell: Do you consider yourself a micro or macro manager?
Coach Schmeiser: Unfortunately I can be a micro-manager to a fault. My new year’s resolution is to become much better at delegating and getting out of my assistant coaches way. This was definitely not a luxury we had in past years.
Brandon Pannell: How do you handle key players not in another sport routinely not attending practices?
Coach Schmeiser: Fortunately for us this is very seldom an issue. All players on every Outlaw team must sign a parent/player packet that outlines organizational expectations prior to the start of each season. One of the things addressed in that packet is an attendance policy. While there is some lenience with missing practices for other sports, there is a pretty high standard set from the beginning. Our players have all been great with honoring their commitments to our team.
Brandon Pannell: How do you work with the umpires? What is your philosophy on how you treat them?
Coach Schmeiser: My philosophy is that on game day the players, coaches, and umpires all have an important job to do. When the game is at its best, all parties involved should be much more concerned with doing their jobs to the best of their abilities and much less involved with what others are doing. While we are all relying on each other to do our jobs well, there is nothing more embarrassing than for a coach to continuously berate an umpire during a game for “bad calls” and then literally blow the game for his/her own team by making a critical in-game coaching blunder. That does not mean that I have not been vocal to the umps during games to hold them accountable, but it does mean there is a fine line that none of us should cross as coaches, and I try my best to stay on the right side of karma and of that line.
Brandon Pannell: Ever been tossed from a game?
Coach Schmeiser: Never!
Brandon Pannell: How do you score runs in softball? Offensive philosophy?
Coach Schmeiser: Keep it simple… get on and get home. On our team that means above all, bring a solid approach to the plate combined with alert and aggressive base running. These are two things that should be well defined for the players by the coaches and rehearsed often at practice. Actually developing a plan with your players for how to get on and get home is so much more effective than just telling them to “have a good approach” and to “be aggressive.” Rehearsing situations (counts, weak players in key positions, defensive tendencies, etc…) and base running cues (balls to the gap, balls to the left or the right, passed balls, etc…) during practice goes a long way to providing better run production than just leaving it up to the players to figure out for themselves.
