There’s “smart” and then there’s “Kevin Shelton smart,” like getting an undergrad degree in Nuclear Engineering and a Masters in Information Systems before going to work in a Navy submarine.

Yes, that’s someone you respect for his education, but I also like Kevin’s core mission in softball of not just producing good softball players, but, more importantly, developing excellent young people who are leaders and solid citizens.

Kevin has been with the Glory for 14 years and saw the last of his three softball-playing daughters, Kathy, finish up at Baylor a year ago.

Last summer, his 18U team finished tied for 3^rd at PGF Nationals and though they were knocked out early this year, his team did look impressive at the So Cal A’s Invitational before winning it all at the Colorado Fireworks tournament.

I caught up with Coach Shelton today and asked him five questions about his organization and the bigger scope of softball. His belief of what is damaging softball is interesting, one you’ll definitely want to check out!

 

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FullCountSoftball.com: You just finished tryouts and now are heading back into the fall season… where is the Glory organization at this point in size and also philosophy?
Kevin Shelton: We have 21 teams and it looks like we’ll have 310 to 320 players, it changes literally every day. They’re mostly located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area which is big—it’s 60 miles from Dallas to Forth Worth. All but three of the teams are essentially based in the DFW area, the other three are located closer to Longview which is about 2-2 ½ hours to the east of Dallas. I’d expect over time we’d have teams from other cities in Texas, but we’re not going outside the state.

As an organization we’re on solid ground with good teams in every age level and when I say “good” I mean quality people. We want the teams to win, sure, but initially we’re concerned with having good people, attracting the right players and coaches and playing the right way. It’s important that our teams have the right mentality and temperament and buy in to what we do. Our focus is helping young ladies become good leaders and productive citizens. In the end it’s about having good values and learning to do things the right way and I believe if you do it this way you can also win softball games.

 

FCS.com: You’ve played literally from coast to coast this year… how do you see softball in Texas comparing with the rest of the nation?
KS: We feel in Texas we’re the second best state after California, although Arizona, Florida and Georgia might argue with that! There are quality clubs here and I was actually on a conference call yesterday with other big clubs in the state talking about how we can help each other get ready for big tournaments and playing at a higher level of competition on a regular basis. We want to be able to go out to California and play the So Cal A’s, for example, and be more competitive.

In the big picture, a lot of consolidation has taken place, but there’s still confusion and chaos in the market player as this is a very dynamic group of individuals—the players, parents and coaches—with people continually coming and going. There have been some good steady influences like KC Jackson (Impact Gold), Scott Smith (Texas Bombers) and David McCorkle (Aces Express Gold) who have been very consistent and steady hands in the game, but there’s still a fair amount of chaos bubbling under the service and we have to manage that, but it doesn’t help the game.

Overall, our Texas teams didn’t have a good showing at PGF this summer, although elsewhere we did well at events like TCS and the So Cal A’s Invitational so we all do see the need to concentrate our efforts. It’s not really different than it was 10 years ago, maybe it’s more business-like, but in the end it’s kids and families creating teams to try and compete. There are the same issues of trying to manage expectations in a dynamic market place. Our job is to manage those changing conditions so we all get going in the right direction.

 

FCS.com: With school back in session, what are you doing with your teams right now?
KS: We participate in volunteer workouts that we call our SOTA’s, which are taken from the football OTA’s or “organized team activities.” Our joke is we call it “SOTA” for Semi-Organized Training Activities.” They are held every Tuesday evening for three hours. On average 50 players show up but last night, we only had 22 because of the start of school. All the teams have players and coaches show up and we coach the coaches and kids. On Wednesdays, we do pretty much the same thing, hitting inside and we ill have 40 kids up there. I have a cage where I work with younger kids ages 7-9 while Ed works on conditioning and different parts of hitting. I then work with my players who show up from 9-10 pm. We feel we are connected to our program in this way.

 

FCS.com: What do you feel is the biggest issue impacting softball today?
KS: I believe the biggest problem in softball, in the short and long term, is what I call “The Race to 43 Feet.” I think I’m a singular voice in saying we’re killing the sport by having players rush to pitch from 43 feet at such a young age. It pretty much killed men’s softball and the women’s sport is in trouble because we have less pitching and it’s a growing problem. Every college coach I talk to I beat the drum on this but I don’t think they see it because they don’t have visibility, they don’t watch 12U and the young pitchers who struggle to jump from shorter to longer distances. Those who have been there before and witnessed this, like I did, and saw the change to 43 see the absolute difference. The problem is it’s diluting pitching and at each distance huge numbers of pitchers drop off. It doesn’t affect the big (club) programs as much or even the colleges because they can scoop up the one or two good pitchers and still be competitive.

Today if I’m a 10U pitcher I throw from 35 feet with a smaller ball. The next year if I’m 11 years old, I’m at 12U now and I move to 40 feet and a bigger ball. Then, two years later at 13 years old I’m back to 43 feet and playing 14U. In the old days you went 35 feet, then 40 feet but never moved to 43 feet. There’s absolutely no reason for this at 10U and 12U right now, especially when need the maximum number of athletes, but we end up shrinking the pitching pool when we go from 35 to 43 feet. We do that and we hurt the mechanics or the players get injured and end up quitting. At age 13 or 14, more quit as they struggle with mechanics, get hurt or think it’s too much effort. The “Race to 43 Feet “is killing our sport. I’ve seen the transition to this first-hand and strongly feel the biggest danger in our sport is moving pitchers to 43 feet too fast. Like club, colleges can get their one or two stars who can do it, but we’re killing ourselves because we’re not going to have as many pitchers at the lower levels. In my mind there’s no ideal solution until people respond but I think it will be too late by then.

 

FCS.com: On a happy note, what keeps you going? What do you love about being a coach?
KS: When our kids graduate from college, that’s gratifying. You see kids giving back to the sport, that’s gratifying. Going to Whitney Canion’s wedding last Saturday night, even just getting the invitation… that was satisfying. Being in softball and coaching—besides raising my own kids—is the most productive way I know to have a positive impact on as many kids as possible.