New Pitching Coach Terese Gober

GameSpeed would like to welcome our new Head Pitching Coach Terese Gober! She brings national and international playing experience to the academy. She worked in the starting pitching rotation for the Florida State University softball team for four years, 2006-2010. After graduating from Florida State and finishing her stellar career with the FSU softball team in 2010, She took her talents over to Germany where she played for the Mannheim Tornados.

While playing for the Tornados, Terese led the team to a 4th place finish in the 2010 European Cup for Softball, which was the highest finish in the history of the program.  In the spring of 2011 Terese  became an assistant softball coach for the Wildcats at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola. Terese completed her Bachelor of Science degree at FSU in Sport Management in May 2010 and has a minor in Communications.

She has worked numerous FSU camps and clinics throughout her fours years in school and after her softball career at FSU was complete. Terese is excited to be back in Tallahassee and looking forward to working with players who are passionate about softball!



MORE INFORMATION
If you would like to schedule a pitching lesson or BP please email Terese at tgober8@gmail.com.  Terese will also be joining GameSpeed Camps and Clinics If you would like to read more about Terese please go to http://www.gamespeedsoftball.com/locations/tallahassee/instructors.

Anna Martin

Anna Martin is a Tallahassee native you recently competed in the ESPN Premiere Championship in California a couple of weeks ago. Anna played with the East Cobb Bullets from Atlanta, Ga. She wrote a blip about her time there in Cali and her experience playing in one of the top tournaments for softball.


"I was lucky enough to go to California for the week to play some good softball. California was amazing, it had awesome weather to play in, no humidity :) You don't realize how much different softball is on the West Coast, there is a lot of talent there. We got to play some of the best talent in Gold ball. Premier is a huge tournament in Gold softball, you see some of the biggest college coaches walking around recruiting players! It definitely was a week I'll never forget!"

Its important to take a break.

With everyone coming back from nationals and school starting up just around the corner, its important to take a break. So many times I have talked with parents and players who think they or their daughters do not need a break from training because they think they will get out of "softball shape." Our bodies need a break sometimes from training. Its unhealthy to go 24/7 365 days a year training for softball.  I sacrificed a lot of dances, sleep overs, lake time, and just general hang out time to go play softball. It paid off for me in the end but I look back now and their were times when I did not have to sacrifice that time to be a great ball player.

I did take some time off though. Since I am from Oklahoma our school ball runs through the fall so, as soon as I stepped off the plane from nationals I went straight to the ball park to go put on my high school team's jersey and play some more ball. A little nuts I know but I love softball :). However, when November would come around I shut my body down. I usually didn't pick up a ball or bat between November to January. I would swing and throw a little, but it was only once a week. I gave my body a good break. I always always continued to run and work out in the weight room. That was one thing I never stopped doing. But there were times I just laid the game down. I enjoyed time with high school friends, worked VERY hard on my grades, which I encourage all of you to do and went to a couple of dances and just acted normal for a bit. But when spring time came around again I was gone.

My training fired up again and my high school friends didn't see much of me. So, for many of you coming back from nationals take at least 2 weeks off from ball. Although, If you can keep it up in the weight room and take a jog around the neighborhood do so. Go hang out with high school friends and start prepping yourself for grades and your ACTs and SATs. You have to have that to go play so better get on it. I know you probably have tryout right around the corner but trust me you will be okay if you took some time off. It might just make you a little more sharper. Keep up the grades and have some fun these next couple of weeks :)

Getting better one swing at a time

Every Monday I teach hitting at the FSU batting cages. It has been a great experience to work with the young ladies that come out to the camp. I have seen the girls become better hitters and enjoy the game of softball so much more. As much as I am teaching these ladies about softball and hitting, they are actually teaching me and allowing me to work on my coaching. They bring back great memories of when I was their age playing softball and how I was so eager to learn more about the game. I remember how hard I had to work and that nothing was easy when it came to learning about hitting. We have one more session of our hitting boot camp and I am excited to see these girls play in the fall and use their new abilities in games.  I love seeing them smile when their swing finally comes together and they get one solid hit after the other. I am so proud of these girls and the 2 hours of work they put in every Monday and throughout the week. This is why I love coaching because these girls teach me more about life and what its like to love the game all over again. I love to see them get better one swing at a time.