File PhotoValdosta State head softball coach Thomas Macera looks on during a game.

VALDOSTA –– Valdosta State softball is focusing on the basics this summer. 

Camp season has worked its way across most VSU sports this summer and softball is no exception. 

Rather than having a single-week camp that might overcrowd coaching and player attention, the team decided to stretch their camp over four weeks. 

This method is designed to give individualized attention to campers –– and thus far it has achieved its goal. 

“We’re just big fundamental people,” head coach Thomas Macera said. “We just want to break everything down. We just break everything down as small as we can and try to teach the small things to people. In a lot of camps you go to they teach a lot of big pieces. We actually have smaller groups and we only bring in so many at a time. We have more time to break stuff down and teach these kids the small fundamentals of the game.” 

With the smaller groups, Macera and assistant coach Shelby Hill are able to fix mechanics for each player. 

The individual attention makes better players. The individual attention also creates teaching moments where players can learn about softball. Those teaching moments help the players grow and understand in the long run. 

“If you go to camp and there is 400 people there the coaches can’t sit there and break every little thing down for each kid which we can,” Macera said. “I just want a kid to walk out of here just having a little knowledge of the game. We try to tell them these are the fundamentals that you need to use and here’s why and here’s how they work. So they get a better understanding than if someone was just barking orders out there.” 

The coaching that players receive is the same that VSU softball players receive.

The same coaching that has led to multiple Gulf South Conference championships, four South Regional championships and a National Championship in 2012. 

“I don’t care if you are nine or 19, I don’t know a different way to teach,” Macera said. “I use the same drills that I do with my college team. I only know one way to teach hitting or the fundamentals of fielding or throwing. I don’t change it. I don’t want to dumb it down so to speak. I want these kids to learn the right way the first time. We really show them. We show them videos and show them that’s how the pros do it. That’s how the best players in the world do it. That’s what we teach and we just want these kids to understand these basic fundamentals when they leave here and give them a good base of what to do.” 

The fundamentals can help players break bad habits and form good ones.

Something as simple as changing your stance or how you position your body over the plate can turn a fly ball into a home run. 

For Macera, that’s the most rewarding part of a camp.  

“What gets me out of bed in the morning is when you get a kid that comes out here and they’ve never hit a home run in their life –– it’s not all about home runs –– but it takes really good hitting mechanics and really good timing to hit balls long,” Macera said. “We’ve had plenty of kids come this year and they’ve never hit a single ball out in their life and they leave here bombing balls. That is what’s rewarding to me. To take a kid who is hitting a ball 180 feet and by Wednesday that 180 foot ball is now a home run. Because that creates more doubles and home runs for that kid and more extra bases. She is just a better player.”

The camp concludes today with a final session from 9 a.m. to noon.