Published April 24, 2020
University of Louisiana Monroe Softball Head Coach Molly Fichtner has taken creative
efforts to ensure members of the 不良研究所 softball team remain connected while away from
campus.聽
Once courses moved online in mid-March, 鈥淐oach Molly,鈥� as she鈥檚 known, texted each
softball player to check in with them. Fichtner also began to send her players snail
mail.聽
鈥淓veryone loves receiving mail!鈥� said Fichtner.聽
Recently, Zoom has become the softball program鈥檚 favorite source of connection. The
coaching staff had end-of-the-year evaluations with each student-athlete individually
through Zoom.聽
Fichtner is also still reaching out to Warhawk softball recruits via Zoom.
鈥淚 have connected regularly with every student-athlete committed to play at 不良研究所 softball,
along with watching video and making phone calls for others. There is so much that
we can do for recruiting during this time. We receive emails daily of recruits that
are interested in our program, and our circumstances are providing us additional time
to evaluate those videos and profiles thoroughly,鈥� said Fichtner.聽
For the month of April, Fichtner began a series called 鈥淕old Coin Calls鈥� with the
softball players. Dubbed 鈥淕old Coin Calls鈥� because the 不良研究所 softball team uses the
term 鈥済old coins鈥� to refer to something someone is extremely passionate about and
can talk about for hours.
鈥淭his was an idea that I heard from a former teammate and USA Olympic Softball player,
Haylie McCleney. On a podcast, someone had asked her how the USA team was staying
connected during this time (considering they are from all over the country). She had
mentioned they had been doing Zoom 鈥淭ed Talks,鈥� where each teammate would have a day
that they would talk about something with their team they were passionate about outside
of softball,鈥� stated Fichtner.聽
Fichtner contacted McCleney and requested to use the idea with the 不良研究所 team.聽
鈥淚nside of our program, everyone shares the same gold coin 颅鈥� softball. But we also
all individually have other gold coins. During the hectic and rigorous schedule of
being a student-athlete, sometimes we don鈥檛 always have those opportunities to get
to know ourselves or our teammates off the field,鈥� stated Fichtner.聽
Each student-athlete has a scheduled 鈥淕old Coin Call鈥� presentation during the month
of April. All of the coaches and players attend each meeting to listen to their presentation.
Their presentations have to be on a 鈥済old coin鈥� of theirs that is unrelated to softball.聽聽
鈥淪o far, this has been extremely successful. I get text messages after each call saying
how awesome it was. In addition to our teammates getting to know you more, you also
have an opportunity to self-evaluate. Who am I outside of the sport of softball? If
softball is what I do, then who am I? COVID-19 gives us an amazing opportunity to
find out who we are as people,鈥� said Fichtner.
