Jeffrey P. Shafer's Blog

Is there a difference coaching girls sports teams vs boys sports teams? Research I have conducted seems to indicate that there are similarities across the coaching spectrum that many (but not all) coaches agree upon:

1.     Girls differ in some ways emotionally than boys when they play team sports. 

2.     Girls compete differently than boys. 

3.     Girls should be coached differently in certain, but not all, areas of athletic performance.  

For coaches who perceive that there are or should be diff...

There is an accounting principle used by business to earmark the life cycle of materials and supplies that are kept in inventory, waiting to be processed into finished goods. This principle is called FIFO, first-in, first-out. It simply means that if a material or supply is, on a calendar basis, the first one of its kind placed in inventory, then it will be the first one taken off the shelf to be incorporated into a product for sale.

Think of it this way. During each MLB game, an average of 120 b...

Our Game was written not only to encourage girls and young women to follow their dreams of playing professional baseball, but also to show how the main character Maria, was able to sow and grow her own seeds of success.

What is success?  How do we know it when we see it — when we feel it?  Is it fleeting? Is it long lasting? Is it permanent?

Is the person who spends their entire life meditating on a mountaintop any more or less successful than a world leader? A self-made billionaire? A baseball pl...

Our Game is a fictional work about the first woman to play baseball for a professional MLB franchise. Girls playing baseball – crazy idea?  Sure, everyone has heard about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War 2 from A League of Their Own.  But today? No way. After all, boys play baseball and girls play softball.  It’s just the way things are. Not anymore!

Girls baseball is here and it’s growing. According to Baseball For All, a non-profit organization that supports ...