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After moving to California in 1964 from Hawaii,
Howard played baseball and then switched to fastpitch softball in 1967.
Howard retired from playing the game in 1990, but his love of the game
kept him coaching girls softball.
Howard
considered himself to be an average player with a position in the outfield, but
also gained infield experience from time to time. It was this situation that caused
Howard to try and improve his techniques in order to do a better job
when pressed into infield action. The outcome of this is the style of
aggressive fielding that Howard has been teaching for the past 18 years. |
Howard started coaching softball with his own travel team in 1987 and kept that team until 1992.
After a 2 year break, he continued to coach travel ball until 1996 .
Howard's coaching experience also included a stint of High School softball, where
he was the infield coach at Mater Dei High School where Doug Meyers was the Head Coach.
Both of Howard's daughters received the experience of playing College
Softball while under Athletic Scholarships. His daughter Terri played at the University of Notre Dame, while
Dawn played for Stanford University. Many of the girls he has coached and attended his lessons
are now playing at different colleges, a few have managed to excel well enough to play on the Olympic and Jr. Olympic Teams. Nina Lindenberg,
played for Howard for 5 years and was named to the Women's Pro League All Star Team.
Upon retiring from the coaching scene, Howard started giving defensive lessons locally. His defensive clinics have grown from once a week to
three times a week while still having a waiting list of players to start. From local clinics, he is now being called across the country to
conduct clinics. Howard feels that his ability to break down the
different defensive techniques, and the logical explanations, has made him a standout in the defensive area of the game.
Howard's coaching accomplishments include:
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2 Southern California
State Championships
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1 ASA National Championship.
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A Top 10 finish, 3 out of 3 times at Nationals.
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1 - 16 & Under ASA Southern California Championship 1992
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1 - 16 & Under ASA Nationals 9th Place 1992
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1 - 14 & Under ASA Southern California Championship 1995
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1 - 14 & Under ASA National Championship 1995
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1 - 16 & Under ASA Nationals 3rd Place 1996
If Howard
were to start a team again he states,
"I would definitely
start with defense and finish with offense. Too many games are lost due to an
unbalanced defense where holes in the defense can easily be found by the
opposition. Too many outs are lost by 'one step' because the defense was
too slow. The worst is that many of these 'lost outs' were very easy plays and eventually led to the loss of the game. In many situations,
the players have a tendency to make the plays much harder than they really are. Players must learn the
logic in fielding and to simplify the plays."
Why You
Should View Howard's Tapes...
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Players viewing
Howard's tapes will be able to fully understand the techniques being
used and reinforced through several drills that are demonstrated in each tape that they
can work with on the ball field.
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Coaches and parents that work with their kids will be able to
understand and explain different defensive fielding and throwing techniques. By knowing what is possible at the older levels, the young
kids can be slowly introduced to the style, but most of all, many bad
habits will be stopped before they can start.
The days of a coach
hitting grounders again and again (without an explanation to help) until the
player fields it, is over. Now is the time to be able to explain and help, which along with repetition does wonders. These are advanced
techniques that Howard uses and has been very successful with.
Howard is one of the very few that teaches how much the body weight, position, and momentum will
help players with their defensive skills. Too many players try to do everything with the strength
of their arms, instead of using quickness and the body to help make plays.
A good coach will always be open for new ideas and techniques. A coach may not accept everything another says, but by selectively using
information, the coach will continue to grow and be of more help to the kids.
Coaches are there to basically help kids, so lets help! SOFTBALL SKILLS .COM
8504 E. Timberline Drive
#104
Anaheim Hills, CA 92808
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