A new respect for coaching
July 22, 2008 | Softball
Uwbadgers.com talked to a few of the Badger softball players to see what they have been up to during the summer months. Some have been living in Madison, while others have returned to their hometowns. Some are playing softball, some are coaching softball and some are coaching other sports altogether. Some are working out on campus, while others are enjoying their summer relaxing.
Today we visit with Livi Abney, a sophomore to be from Lawrence, Kan. Last year Abney played in all 55 games as a true freshman batting .200 and was third on the team with 117 putouts.
Abney has been spending her summer back in Kansas working, coaching and working out as much as possible to keep herself ready for the upcoming softball season.
'Coaching has been a great experience this summer,' said Abney. 'I have grown to appreciate our coaching staff a lot more after seeing the sport from the other side. Being able to direct players and watch them improve and grow has been special.'
Abney has been coaching a high school Gold Team in Kansas City, Kan., that spends its weekends traveling the country playing in tournaments. The team receives a lot of exposure playing across the country and taking on plenty of other talented teams. Abney's team will be competing at the High School National Tournament this week in St. Louis, Mo. Abney talks about the amount of time and effort she invests into coaching and how enjoyable it is when your team plays up to its potential and is able to turn what you teach into success on the diamond.
'Coaching can be very frustrating at times,' said Abney. 'You have to have a lot of patience, and I can understand how tough it must be sometimes for our coaches when things don't go the way they should all the time.'
Even though she has enjoyed the way she has spent her summer, Abney, like the other players, are all getting the itch to get back to Madison together and start working towards next season.
'Coaching has made me really excited for this fall and the upcoming season, ' said Abney. 'I want to try even harder this year to keep improving and focusing on the instructions from the coaches while hopefully staying healthy helping the team as much as possible.'
Besides coaching the high school all-stars, Abney gives hitting and fielding lessons to groups of younger girls just starting the game of softball and does a little waitressing on the side.
