Big Hoss: How many years have you been running a tournament team?
Matt Hetherwick: I am relatively new the scene as a tourney coach. This is just my second year running a tournament team. I coached league teams over the past 12 years, but that doesn't even compare to what is required to run a tourney team.
Big Hoss: What do you find the most difficult part of running a younger/inexperience tournament team?
MH: There are a few things, but I think the most difficult is getting expectations set correctly. With the younger/inexperienced guys it takes a bit for everyone to understand their role as a member of the team. The next most difficult part is getting consistent play weekend over weekend from all of the guys.
Big Hoss: What was the biggest lesson you learned from last year to help you prepare for this year to be more ready to compete?
There were a lot of lessons! We progressed well after the second half of the season. I mentioned a couple of big lessons earlier in this conversation too. Its getting guys to understand their role and to be prepared to play each week. Last year I don't think I did enough talking to the role players for them to understand what I expected out of them.
Big Hoss: Last year you guys seem to take a break from the LPA scene and did more of the E-Rec route and ended up winning E-Rec States, how do you think that helped your guys confident toward then end of last year rolling into this year? And would you recommend that route for new teams to the tournament scene?
MH: The break from LPA was designed from the get go for the team. We wanted the guys to get some experience playing in the bigger events while trying to not crush their confidence. Winning E-Rec States was tremendous for us. There were a couple of other teams there that had top 10 showings at LPA during the year, so I think that really gave us a huge amount of confidence. That confidence showed when we played at Worlds and finished 2 - 2.
Some may argue that its "trial by fire", but I think that a team with little to no experience in tourney ball should look at the E-Rec route. Unfortunately I don't think there is much opportunity this year though, as I've only seen a couple of tournaments scheduled. It seems like E has become so competitive over the past few years that some teams may just decide to give up playing after paying $250/tourney to just go 0 - 2.
MH: The main goal was to have a good time playing ball on the weekends. In my mind you have to be competitive to have fun. We knew it wasn't going to happen overnight, so we set a plan in place as I mentioned to get guys some experience and confidence. This year we made a few changes to the roster that will help us become more competitive and we hope to surprise some teams. We plan to play in a few more of the larger tournaments out at LPA, starting with Spring States at the end of the month and then a couple of NITs and a World qualifier before the big 3 tourneys of the year. In terms of a 3 year plan, I guess to some degree it is there, because like I said most inexperienced teams aren't competitive out of the gate.
Big Hoss: What was your goals when first starting putting together the Michigan Assassins? What are your goals as a team this year? And we here a lot about a 3 year plan, do you guys have any sort of plan like that?
Big Hoss: With you guys being mostly from the West Side, a lot of us East Side teams don't get to see you guys play a whole lot and I am not sure if many people know about your Lights Out Sports business you have out there, would you like to explain what it is and what you guys do?
MH: Lights Out Sports was started by a couple of guys on the team, Nate Cummings and Sean Ryan. It is an apparel company that sells a range of things such as partial sub dye jerseys, batting gloves, hats, sweatshirts, t-shirts, etc. They've also done more specialized things such a batting jackets and towels. Nate does the design work himself. You can see some examples of the work at www.LightsOutSports.Net and www.twwdapparel.com. You can reach them by email at nate@lightsoutsports.net or sean@lightsoutsports.net.
Big Hoss: How did you guys come up with your team name? and where you part of the Hail Storm Softball that finished the year in 09?
Big Hoss: How did you guys come up with your team name? and where you part of the Hail Storm Softball that finished the year in 09?
MH: We didn't put too much thought into the team name. We were already playing under the name Assassins Softball for league ball, so we carried that over to our tournament team.
I personally was not a part of the Hail Storm Softball team in '09. A few of the guys were however.
Big Hoss: I know you lost a couple of guys to Pure Divine in C, how do you think that will effect your team performance and overall chemistry?
MH: Obviously losing some guys will have some effect, but I don't think from a chemistry stand point we will be affected that much. The guys that moved up are very supportive and continue to be around to help us out. We basically brought back our core guys and added two new faces this year that played with other teams last season. From a performance stand point, we will need to have some guys step up and fill their new roles as key members of our lineup. They basically got a chance to learn from those that have moved up to play for Pure Divine.
Big Hoss: There is a lot of teams that have a player-coach and teams that just have a coach, I know when I first started in tournament ball I was a player-coach until I realized it was easier for me to do just one or the other. Which are you? What do you find beneficial in it? and what do you find difficult in it?
MH: I'm a player coach still. It is difficult, which is why I have limited my playing time and moved myself to AH/Catcher. Last year I was in the OF a couple of times and playing 2B at other times. I recognized that I had to focus too much on what I was doing versus what we were doing. Moving myself behind the plate (or to AH) gives me the opportunity to focus on the team.
Big Hoss: Alright Matt, I appreciate you taking the time and answering some of the questions that I had for you and your team.
Please check out Lights Out Sports and Support Michigan Assassins fundraiser the weekend of May 7th, they have been out to the East Side plenty of times and supported many teams.
Expect a busy end of the week here with the Big Hoss Report, looks like the weather will hold off and we will be having our first "Big" tournament of the year at LPA. (knock on wood). Still have 2 more Pre Season Predictions to come up before the weekend and of course you will have predictions coming your way from a few different people this weekend. Monday or Tuesday will be the first official "Big Hoss Rankings" as well. Hope to see everyone at Liberty this weekend, everyone have fun and BE SAFE!
Big Hoss
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