HS & Club Softball

Seven Innings: Tony Gunter Lady Lasers Blue 16U

Ohio Lady Lasers Blue 16U

The Ohio Lady Lasers are known as one of the top Programs on the East Coast. Tony Gunter serves as the head coach of the Lady Lasers Blue ‘00 team. His passion for teaching girls the game of softball matches his passion for helping his team reach their dream of being recruited by top college programs. Coach Gunter recently had a conversation with FPN’s Brandon Pannell.

Brandon Pannell:   What other sports coaches have been great influences in your life and why or how?

Tony Gunter

Tony Gunter

Coach Tony Gunter:   Mr. (Bill) Curry – he was my little league coach from age 10-12.  He outworked every coach in the area teaching the fundamentals of baseball.  When we couldn’t get a practice field we would go practice at his farm.  He was old school and very tough with little tolerance for laziness or inattention.  But we always knew where we stood and that he cared.  Our teams always won the league and competed very well outside our league.  His talented players went on to star in High School and beyond.  Although there were times I thought he was one mean SOB, I never stopped realizing how lucky I was to have had him as a coach.

Brandon Pannell:   What sports books or sports movies are your favorites and why?

Coach Tony Gunter:   Leo Durocher’s autobiography – Nice Guys Finish Last.  I read this book as a sophomore in high school and it made a lasting impression. Pride of the Yankees is still one of my favorite sports movies about Lou Gehrig.  What a great man.

Brandon Pannell:   Who is your greatest role model either personally or as a coach?

Coach Tony Gunter:   My dad.

Brandon Pannell:   What one word or phrase do you want people to associate with your name?

Coach Tony Gunter:   True to his word

Brandon Pannell:   How do you handle social media both personally and with respect to players on the team?

 Coach Tony Gunter:   I don’t have a Facebook or Instagram account but my wife and assistant coaches do and they keep eyes on our kids.  We have counseled our kids about the perils of social media and there has been a time or two I’ve heard about something a player posted that seemed inappropriate and it was addressed quickly.  In the past year, we haven’t had issues I feel our kids are focused on the right path.

Brandon Pannell:   How has coaching affected your life?

 Coach Tony Gunter:   Coaching is one of the most rewarding endeavors I have ever undertaken.  I am very blessed to be in a position career-wise where I have the time it takes to really be committed to coaching.  I am doubly blessed to have a very supportive wife Lisa who takes care of the back office stuff, managing the money, handling uniforms, spirit wear, and who also supports my efforts with the kids.  She is also a great set of eyes and ears on the sidelines she has a very keen eye for talent and attitudes – she often sees things I miss.  Time wise, it’s not just the lesson planning for practices, and practices and games.  I spend a lot of time helping players research schools and communicating with college coaches to help our players get recruited.  I also create our players’ skill and highlight videos.  Seeing those efforts pay off when coaches express interest in our players, ask them on unofficial visits, make scholarship offers, that is the ultimate reward.  We have two daughters, a senior and a freshman (the young one is on our team) who play softball and who want to play in college so our entire family is very involved.

Brandon Pannell:   Who are your role models in coaching and why?

Coach Tony Gunter:   This is tough for me because my role models were all baseball coaches.  It took me a while to figure out you have to take a somewhat different approach when coaching girls – especially during games.

Brandon Pannell:   Describe the organization of a typical practice.

Coach Tony Gunter:   Practice time for us is precious.  Some of our players live too far to get together on a school night, so we get a four-hour window on Sundays (those Sundays that we don’t have an event somewhere).  I am meticulous about creating a written lesson plan for every practice.  That means setting approximate start times for each skill or situation that we work on and notes on what we are trying to teach or improve upon.  I am also a strong believer in keeping the kids moving (minimal standing around time) and incorporating elements of conditioning into our practices.  This takes some creativity but at the end of the day our kids go home both completely worn out and filthy from head to toe.  Typically a player who is new to our team has a lot to say about her first practice with us and how it differs from what she had become accustomed to.

Brandon Pannell:   What other factors might influence a player making the team other than skill set and athletic ability?

Coach Tony Gunter:   Attitude and personality of both the player and her parents are big factors for us to consider.  I have passed on good players whose parents are known to be toxic.

Brandon Pannell:   What role do assistant coaches have on your team?

Coach Tony Gunter:   Both our assistant coaches are non-parent coaches who recently completed their college softball playing careers.  One was a pitcher (Kelsey Long) and the other was an All-American shortstop (Devan Boggs).  Their roles are crucial and they relate very well to our girls.  Both coaches provide individual instruction with our kids from time to time, they have input in our practice lesson plans, and they have input into our strategic game planning.  Both coaches have also helped reel me in at times and to understand from their perspective some to the outside influences these ladies are dealing with.  Things as a male I never experienced and so I think we have a real balance with our coaching staff.

Brandon Pannell:   Describe your off-season program for your team or organization?

Coach Tony Gunter:   In Ohio, I consider our “off season” to be from early November (after Scenic City Fall) to late February when tryouts for high school softball kick in.  During high school ball, players are prohibited from working out with their travel teams so we pick back up between mid-May to first of June (depending on how long each player’s high school team advances in the state playoffs).  That being understood we have done different things in the offseason over the years.  Last year we went to Diamond 9 in Florida in January went 6-2-1 and everyone had a great time.  Cost wise, we didn’t really get good value when it came to college exposure compared to what we do in the summer and fall so we cut that from this year’s budget.  First and foremost, we require a continuous four-week period of “no-throwing”.  This was a hard-learned lesson from the days when we went straight into an indoor league and really never shut down.  By late June I was dealing with multiple overuse injuries – usually the throwing shoulder so I learned the importance of downtime.  With all our kids being in high school now we are encouraging them to research winter college camps and to get out to them and take advantage of this time to check out schools and really build relationships with college coaches and so as a team, we do not have any events planned for this winter.

Brandon Pannell:   How do you handle key players not in another sport routinely not attending practices?

Coach Tony Gunter:   This isn’t really a problem our kids are really committed.  Now if we have a player who wants to attend a college softball camp that conflicts with practice the camp takes priority and we always excuse them from practice.

 Brandon Pannell:   What is your philosophy on discipline?

Coach Tony Gunter:   This depends on what the issue is.  Despite what others have written we are a bit old school and are firm believers in using PT at practice when the girls lose focus.  We let everyone know this upfront when they join the team and have never had a complaint.  Other issues are dealt with by way of counseling.  Generally, we handle this directly with the player but if problems continue we get the parents involved.  Knock on wood we have never had to remove a player from the team for disciplinary reasons.

Brandon Pannell:   How do you work with umpires? What is your philosophy on the way that you treat them?

Coach Tony Gunter:   My philosophy is to follow the Golden Rule.  I umpired a lot of games growing up as a teenager so I can relate to the job.  If I have an issue with a play I address it respectfully to the umpire who made the call, ask him or her to ask for help.  Sometimes I win, usually not but the players know I have their backs and they see the proper way to handle a disputed call.  Again, we get our parents to buy into this philosophy as well and it’s amazing the compliments we have gotten on the class our families put on display.  As much as possible I preach to our kids when it comes to the outcome of the game we must be the masters of our own destiny.

Brandon Pannell:   Ever been tossed from a game?  If so, what did you do and what did you learn from it?

Coach Tony Gunter:   No never.

Brandon Pannell:   How do you deal with multiple sports athletes missing practices for other sporting events?

Coach Tony Gunter:   Communication is key and we deal with it.  I understand kids have other things in their lives other than softball.

Brandon Pannell:   How do you deal with players and parents about concerns about playing time?

Coach Tony Gunter:   I am upfront and completely honest in establishing expectations for playing time.  I promise nothing and make it understood that this is something must be earned on a continual basis.

Brandon Pannell:   How would you assist and counsel your players that are being recruited to play in college?

Coach Tony Gunter:   There are several ways.  I create most of their recruiting videos myself.  When players tell me that they are interested in a certain school or attended a camp, I make a point to follow up with the coaching staff. It’s important to discern if there is real interest so our players aren’t wasting time and money only to learn they aren’t looking for their position in their class year, or that they think there may or may not be a fit for whatever reason.  As far as counseling, we have brought the players into the classroom and gone through how to research a college, find the coaching staff’s contact information, etc.  We have made Preparing to Play Softball At the Collegiate Level by Catharine Aradi and Winning State Softball by Steve Knight required reading for our kids and I think that has really helped them.  Then we gear our conversations around the things that are already understood from having read those books.

Brandon Pannell:   What would you try to teach your players besides softball?

Coach Tony Gunter:   A couple things come to mind.  First is the importance of preparation.  Second is the concept of resilience and persistence.  My favorite wins are those games where we spotted the other team 4 or 5 runs in the first inning then chipped away at the lead and ended up winning.  Not that I’m suggesting this is a strategy for winning games, but just the point that “okay, we made some mistakes and now we’re down against a good team.  There’s no such thing as a 5-run dinger so we need to chip away one at-bat at a time and retake this thing”.  Our kids know that we are always in the game regardless of the score.

Brandon Pannell:   How would you deal with players parents that complained about the head coach or the program?

Coach Tony Gunter:   I try to funnel that feedback directly through me.  Sometimes we can talk through issues and often there is a perception disconnect and when I explain our rationale, an understanding may be reached.  Other times we determine our program may not be the best fit and encourage them to research other options.  I’m not interested in trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

Brandon Pannell:   When your team encounters a problem, such as irritation with a teammate or a member of the coaching staff, how do you reach a good resolution?

Coach Tony Gunter:   Had an issue last year with a player who became jealous of a teammate who had surpassed her skill wise and was earning more playing time.  It got back to me that she was doing some mean things and trying to get other players to turn on her.  I addressed this issue in general terms with the entire team without naming names and my point was made, the problem went away.  This was toward the end of the season and at tryout time we didn’t return the player who was causing the problem.

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