Diamond Dialogues: Paige Halstead's Journey Beyond the Diamond

January 16, 2024

Welcome to another episode of "Beyond the Diamond with Coach D"! In today's insightful conversation, Coach D is joined by Paige Halstead, a former elite-level catcher, to discuss the intricate dynamics of the pitcher-catcher relationship and the essential skills that make a standout catcher. Paige shares her experiences from her time at UCLA, highlighting the importance of being a servant-hearted catcher.

The duo delves into the nuances of communication, mental training, and intentional team bonding, offering valuable advice for both coaches and players. Coach D seeks Paige's insights on helping catchers, especially beginners, navigate challenges such as throwdowns and body alignment. Paige emphasizes the significance of daily fundamentals, including framing, plyo ball work, and throwdown drills. The conversation takes an unexpected turn as they explore personal growth and getting comfortable with discomfort, drawing parallels between Paige's journey as a catcher and Coach D's foray into hip-hop classes.

The discussion wraps up with the crucial role of mobility and yoga in a catcher's performance, shedding light on an often overlooked aspect of training. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the catcher's world and uncover practical tips for coaches and players alike. Whether you're a softball enthusiast or a coach looking to enhance your players' skills, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge from two passionate individuals deeply connected to the game.

Join us on "Beyond the Diamond with Coach D" as we go beyond the basics and explore the untold stories and strategies that shape the world of softball. Don't forget to subscribe to my Insiders List on dr3fastpitch.com & follow me on Instagram & Facebook @dr3fastpitch

Episode Transcript

Welcome to Beyond The Diamond the podcast that goes far beyond the game I'm your host Danielle D Ruben and I'm
here to empower young women parents and coaches in the world of fast pitch softball as the owner and founder of dr3
fast pitch I'm passionate about bringing you inspiring stories valuable insights and expert advice to help you Excel both
on and off the field so whether you're a player looking to take your skills to the next level a parent supporting your
young athlete or a coach seeking to make a difference you're in the right place let's dive in and go beyond the diamond
together hello everyone thank you for coming to this week's episode of Beyond The Diamond I am here with guest speaker
Paige holstead who I am trying not to Fan girl over right now I've already had this conversation with her but I'm a big
fan of Paige she played at UCLA I remember watching her on TV growing up
and I'm just so happy to have her on here I got the pleasure of meeting her at the nfca convention
2023 and Louisville I almost said Texas and Louisville and when I met you it was
just amazing so thank you so much for being on here today of course no thank you for having me I'm excited to get
going on all this it's it's awesome yes and so I wanted to give if I can get my
PowerPoint to work here we go so I want to kind of talk about your background a little bit I mean you've gone through so
much and such an inspiration to all softball players not just catcher specific and I just want you to kind of
touch on a little bit of your journey leading into UCLA a little
bit oh gosh yeah recruited you me to go more into like the recruiting side of it
yeah so like just like when how old were you when you got recruited and what was kind of that process looking like for
you yes so I mean times were different back then um I mean I graduated high
school in 2015 so a lot of different rulings um were in place but for my
recruiting Journey um I actually went to a lot of different camps when I was
around oh my gosh like 8th grade seventh grade 8ighth grade um I started super
young I didn't even know like where I wanted to go or what college even was at that age um because I was so young um
but that was kind of the time of a lot of athletes getting recruited um so I
was I was pretty young when everything started to happen um I remember I went to UCLA Camp when I was in eighth grade
um and I fell in love with it um I was getting recruited by a lot of different colleges um and in that experience was a
little bit tough for me um just because I was super young and I I couldn't really you know it was hard for me to
see myself at a college at that age um and so that was a little bit hard to
deal with um but thankfully I had a great support system behind me with my parents um and brothers that helped me
through it so um definitely very young but I did did um commit basically I
vered my um end of my eighth grade year into my freshman year of high school to UCLA so um you know crazy chaoticness
with all the recruiting camps and calling coaches and you know being nervous to write emails and everything
um but yeah it was I was very young but it was definitely worth it um and I'm thankful for you know everything that
ucil has done for me um and I don't think I would go back and and change it so yeah
awesome and then like verbling at eighth grade I mean I just know some of these
listeners are their eyes are probably like popping out of their head right now and I heard I mean back in I graduated
high school 2016 and there were some girls verbling I mean I knew people verbing in eighth grade ninth grade and
I verballed beginning of my sophomore year but I mean times have changed for
sure do you yes and I know your journey was amazing there but like thinking back
like to today's world I mean do you think verbing that early is something that should be allowed again or do you
think like we do need to wait a little deeper in that process I mean how was that for you verbing so early yeah I
think you know you can go both ways I think um you know I was very young and I
think that the rulings that are in place now are a lot better because it gives girls a lot more time to kind of think
and figure out where you see yourself the next four years um and you're a little bit more mature in that decision-
making as well so um for me again I wouldn't go back and change it but I
think if I had you know a little bit more time um I would be a little bit more mature and be like okay like um not
saying that I wasn't confident but I was just so young you know and I think that
um girls nowadays are a lot more confident in their decision and they kind of understand okay I'm going to
major in this because you know back then I was in eighth grade grade I didn't even know what a major was you know I
didn't I didn't know what I wanted to be for the rest of my life I didn't really go into the decision- making process of
like okay yeah I'm going to major in this it was more of like oh I love UCLA I love the softball program um you know
obviously the academics are amazing but at that age like you don't really you can't really foresee that you know so um
I think today's rulings are a huge Plus for girls just because they can kind of
understand the university as a whole instead of just the athletic program you know for sure and then even also I mean
just with bodies developing I mean I know you had to got to get stronger and grow more from eth grade till 12th grade
I mean how yes how big of a jump was that for you as far as because I mean
you're how tall oh gosh like 61 61 and I
just being such a tall catcher I mean I just always love that about you but
being in eighth grade did you were you super tall at that point I mean do you think your height had something to do
with also being able to excel in your athletic skills at that young of an age
still yeah so I think um I mean you know as an athlete sometimes you can't really
see yourself if that makes sense um it was really hard for me to kind of realize the skill set that I had and
what I looked like to college coaches um but I definitely I wasn't um you know at
my fullest potential potential when I committed you know so um I think for me
there was when I actually when I verbal there was a lot of stories of girls verbling so early and then decommitting
because they either didn't um put in the work or they just kind of like um you
know it just it kind of you get a little bit complacent um and for me that was
like my biggest fear and I didn't want that to happen to me so I think once I verbal I like took it up a notch because
I wanted to be that impact player and you know earn it in a way um and so yeah
I think actually when I was recruited I was recruited as a shortstop utility player I wasn't even recruited as a
catcher yeah so I think um you know for me I really had to focus on all
different skill sets um as an athlete and then when I W in there my freshman year they were like we need you to catch
and I was like okay thank goodness I've been working on catching you know so um I think it just you know verbling that
early definitely gave me an idea of like okay this is how I need to train this is
what they're doing up at the University um so it definitely gave me that like cushion of knowing how to train um but
yeah I think it's it's tough for girls to kind of um I don't know verbal that
early and and you know have that much time to be like okay how am I going to train how am I going to stick to this
plan you know so um that was kind of like my biggest fear of verbing and then decommitting later on you know well
thank you for wearing that and that's so cool I did not know that you were verbal as a shortstop utility turned AER um so
were you were assumed that you did catch in travel ball or did you just learn to catch at UCLA yeah so I actually didn't
even start catching until I was basically in in high school or taking it seriously then so um yeah I actually I
had like baseball instructors and everything when I was catching so um yeah that was that was definitely a talk
when I was there but I was excited just to even get to play so um it it was a crazy Journey for sure no that's awesome
and so now fading into your journey at UCLA I mean what are some highlights of just playing under one of the best
coaches in the nation and one of the best schools in the nation I mean I
would love to hear some of your highlights of just being at UCLA I mean like that just like that's a dream for
me like being able to play at a school like that like what are some of your biggest oh gosh I have so many um but I
think um I think the person that I grew into is definitely my biggest accomplishment um I definitely wouldn't
be here today without the coaches and the teammates that I had surrounding me at the time um I mean my class that I
was with they they're all amazing and I think you know we're still friends today so um I just think the highlights that I
have they focus more on the person that you are instead of the athlete that you are um which is very rare to find I feel
like in universities um and yeah I just I feel like I've I've grown as a person and I'm
still connected to them today um which is huge you know as an alumni um but
yeah I think I mean obviously getting to play in the national championship game my senior year was like my career
highlight for for everything um it definitely made everything worth it the recruiting process travel ball all the
you know good days bad days that made everything worth it and it's such a a surreal feeling to have that experience
with the teammates that you know you've been with for four years so I think that's definitely one of my my career
highlights for sure um but just UCLA overall as a university is is absolutely
amazing and it's definitely made me the person that I am today so no well I love
that and again being able to play for a national championship your senior year it's just kind of like that full circle moment of everything coming together so
that's just so awesome thank you so since you CLA and
you graduated what year uh 2019 so 2019 played Four
yearsa when did you play for Team USA oh goodness um so I actually it was
my sophomore year in college um sophomore junior year and then I
actually played a little bit actually I think freshman Year too and in college so I was um younger when I played for
Team USA um but yeah that was also another incredible experience I never
thought that I would have too so and with that I mean that was under Mike
kandrea was the coach of the team at the time correct no so um oh my
gosh coach Erikson coach Ericson and Coach Ritman um and then Coach dos too
from LSU were the coaches okay and then that was not during Olympic times was it that no so
that was um actually I finished with them right before they got into the Olympics so I was on the Olympic team um
but never actually got to go to the Olympics but it's it was still such a great experience no I love that awesome
and then you were going so from UCLA played at u USA um the Olympic
team during your time at UCLA and then you got into the pro league when did that start what team did you end up
playing for them yes so um I actually played for athletes unlimited which is
based out of Chicago um and it was their first year um and it was actually during
covid so I got the opportunity to play with them and it was a short and season so it was only six weeks long um but the
setup was amazing and they're just an incredible organization and I you know feel very honored to even be able to
play with them because they have such amazing athletes there and you know the culture that they bring is incredible
too so that was a that was really cool experience and I'm so happy that we
finally have like Pro just taken to a new level I feel like athletes it is
like just a new level I loved watching the games this past year um I got into them a little bit more and just I just
think that's so awesome it's giving girls more of an opportunity after college um to fight for something to
play and compete which is just amazing so that's so awesome that you team thank
you yeah no it's it's incredible what they're doing and it's just it just keeps growing too um and I see it more
and more every year on ESPN and you know that's something that's very crucial for
our younger generation to look up to you know because there is something outside of college and it gives them an
opportunity to connect with other softball players and you know kind of build a legacy there at athletes
unlimited so it's it's great what they're doing for sure it's not other softball players it's the best of the
best softball players like that's what literally like the best best the country coming together playing together
switching teams I mean the whole thing just amazing um yeah and so now outside
I mean will you be going back do you PL have plans to be going back to play for athletes unlimited oh man um you know
put you on the spot sorry no it's okay I don't know I I really don't know I think
right now um being with Allstar that's kind of my my next chapter um you know
you always have that feeling of wanting to go back and play um just because I know you can relate to this too we're
just so passionate about the game um but I think you know I'm 26 so I think my
time is done um but I think I'm just kind of focusing on giving back to the game and and doing as much as I can
support and help the growth of softball in general so yes no and I love and
again I feel the same way if I could go back I would part of me is like I got one year of Eligibility left in college
that's not happen in to for that um but like you we're starting our own we have
our own businesses trying to grow the game me pitching you catching and I'd love for you to just kind of talk about
Allstar a little bit oh yeah thank you um I actually so I'm partnered with
allar now I've been with them for about two and a half years um which is another surreal opportunity that you know I'm
just grateful for St be on this platform um but yeah I I partnered with them
about two and a half years ago and we've been been in the works of creating my own line of gear it's called the PHX
gear um and we've been designing it creating it and testing it on Amazing athletes and it's finally launched this
past September so it's been super cool just to see the impact of it um and all the amazing feedback we've gotten about
the gear um again like we have it in universities and it's like it's so crazy for me to um you know even see my gear
in action it's something I can't even explain you know so um I'm just super
grateful to be with Allstar they're a great company and you know what they do over there is is something that I want
to be aligned with so it's just it's amazing to see for sure and then with
Allstar I know it's gear are you also doing like clinics and lessons with that
company or is that something you do on your own or what's that Journey look like for you yeah so specifically with
Allstar is just my catching gear and then my glove with them um and then I have my my own catching business on this
side um but I'm based in Southern California so I do a lot of lessons clinics camps um all the things
so sweet no I love it all right well thank you sharing about your background
a little bit we're gonna kind of switch gears into pitcher catcher relationship
tips and this is something where you and I can bounce off of each other a lot but
being able to I mean I want to relate this more towards your like the Women's
College World Series National Championship your senior year like thinking back around that time prepare
mentally trying to prepare your pitchers mentally you trying to prepare at the end of the day catchers and I'd love to
hear your opinion on this when I explain the role of a pitcher and a catcher the pitcher is the leader of the field but
the catcher is the mother and the mother is in charge of the and the mother and
like the mother's in charge of everyone like you can see all eight players in front of you and the control center
and that's a lot of responsibility like it it's a lot especially just handling a picture itself we're divas like I get it
like we're we're divas we all have our own little Styles and our own little routines and we expect our
okay we expect our catchers to kind of fall and I don't know if specs the right word like for me I always like training
my catcher like hey this is what works for me it might not work for her but this is how like I need these non-verbal
cues I need this body language like you tell me this and I know what I need to do you might have no idea what it is
pitching related but you see this give me this I can make an adjustment and
that's just so important to be able to like build that and have that connection and I would love to hear any tips that
you kind of learned maybe from like your freshman to senior year that really helped Elevate that pitcher catcher
relationship and how y'all maintained that in a game yeah um first of all I
love the mother and ology I think that was perfect use that for now on but it it's
so true because I mean I think freshman year um obviously going into college as
a freshman is kind of nerve-wracking in general um and being a catcher the first year um I was a very quiet and
softspoken person I still am um and I think I had to elevate my communication
um my freshman year in order to play so um you know going there as a very softspoken leader um that was kind of
difficult for me to adjust to if that makes sense um but I think from my
freshman year to my senior year what I really I I had to kind of hold myself accountable to getting outside of my box
and um understanding that it's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to um you
know have trouble with my communication if I yell the wrong bag or say the wrong play um and just really understand that
there are no mistakes um and kind of getting all that out in practice I think
that that really helped me and I owe a lot to my coach to my head coach um Kelly ano who was a catcher and she kind
of taught me you know that it is okay to yell the wrong bag but you just have to be confident in your decisions you know
and I think that's the biggest thing that I tell my lessons is that no matter what happens as long as you're confident
in the play that you're calling it's all going to be okay you know so um I think
communication wise I really had to hold myself accountable um you know and the
other thing is like being approachable right so with my picture catcher relationships I you know I had to catch
extra bullpens just to understand you know how do I how do I relate to my
picture a little bit more today if she's on an off day you know how do I if she's throwing a change up and it's a ball
like how do I respond to that how do I kind of help her in different ways um and kind of knowing how to approach
different personalities is what I worked on my whole career at UCLA so um I I
really take pride in my relationships with my pitch just because you know they're throwing a full game and they
like you really have to know as a catcher how to approach them in different situations so I think that's very crucial as a catcher is there so
like in a bullpen when you're learning your catcher or you're learning your pitchers you're learning the different spins as like the ball might break a
little different per pitcher um the rotation and all that so you're learning the physical side but when it comes to
the mental side I mean what are some tactics that you have observed like and
I'll give an example like for me when I'm working so I have two degree in special education so I'm very big on
like reading personalities and understanding okay I might not be able to word it this way to her and based on her body language like how I approach
her that way but coming from a catcher's perspective
I mean when did you have the relationships of when you'd be like hey I got to get in your face a little bit
more like get your head out of your butt verse hey like where are we going out to eat tonight like just trying to like change I mean what were
some situations that you might remember from UCLA or U or USA where you had to
have be like a little bit more Stern on your pitcher versus you had to be a little bit more relaxed and joking just
to calm her down a different way yes I have so many examples um I think I mean
obviously I had a lot of different um pictures and personalities but I did her
name is actually Megan fro and she is a stud pitcher and she is um you know very
motivated very like um needs to be hyped up and I think you know she was younger
than me so she came in after um so whenever I would catch her I had to be a little bit more heightened if that makes
sense um and kind of like hyper up in different situations because that's what worked for her and that's what made her
succeed U but on the other hand I had um another picture that was more of like if
she was in a stressful situation I had to say a joke you know I had to like call time and be like hey you know like
what exactly what you said what are we having for dinner tonight or like you know just to kind of take her mind off
of the situation at hand um and I think you know everybody's different and
everybody's going to deal with stressful situations differently um if it's getting hyped up it's taking your mind
off of it if it's um you know maybe when you're in The Dugout discuss like okay
what hitters are coming up how are we going to pitch them you know almost being prepared for that next step but
everybody's different and I think um you know that's the biggest thing as a catcher you have to kind of understand
um different personalities and and that helps you outside of softball too you know when you're in your career field I
think being a catcher has helped me so much in that in that way too so yeah
there's there's a lot of different things that you kind of have to um deal with as a catcher but I I wouldn't
change it for the world now at the college level you have the luxury of being able to see your teammates almost
every single day whether it's practice weights workout something in the travel ball world you might only see each other
once or twice a week at practice at most maybe and then on the weekends so how do you what's the tip that you have for
building that pitcher catcher relationship outside of being on the ball field yeah um I mean going to lunch
going to Coffee um I I know it sounds a little bit crazy but in college my coach
gave us like um a pitching chart so we would have to go over it with our pitchers every single day and be like
okay what pitch would you throw in this situation what are you comfortable throwing in this situation um even like
out outside of practice like talk for an hour and you know be with your pitcher and be like hey what do you feel comfort
able uh what pitches do you feel comfortable throwing today you know just I think outside conversations even if
you meet up at the mall or something um just to kind of get to know each other on a different level um and you know
that's going to obviously relate into the game as well if you kind of know how to approach each other um and you just
have to you have to be a student of the game as a catcher you know you really have to know um just different ways to
approach your pitcher and and understand okay if she's feeling down in a certain
day how am I going to hyper her up you know how am I going to help and you you are kind of like a servant heart as a
catcher you know you really have to um you just have to help you know and and that's the biggest thing that I I kind
of focused on when I was at UCLA is just helping in different ways and if it was
you know it doesn't even have to be my pitcher it can be my third baseman or first basement you know you really have to have that like servant heart and be
like okay how can I help this this girl today you know
so yes one of the tips that I give um and I
do some mentoring with coaches um I have a little mentorship people can do little lessons with me on that and one of the
topics that I had last week he was like okay I'm struggling pitchers three
pitchers only work good with like two catchers and the other one doesn't work with so and so and they only practice
once a week the girl live hours away sometimes they don't all show up and my advice I'd love to hear what yours would
be as well but my tip to him was these girls if you're not going to show up to practice it's a weekly Zoom call where
there's one coach kind of monitoring it and you have questions every single week and the girls are gonna for 15 minutes
you do the group call and then they break off into whether you know if these are the two starting pitcher I don't
like saying like starters and not starters when I talk Trav ball with my girls just to not get that in their head but I said something around the lines of
okay so you have the little group meeting first you're host you're telling them what the topics are you're telling who is talking to who today and that's
kind of your game plan of what's going on in the weekend and they have to answer XYZ questions and it's their
mental training practice I'm like if you're not gonna build that relationship at the field we have to find ways to
build that or it's just not going to connect and so for that yeah no 100% I I
agree with you and I think that's kind of the only way if they're not going to um be at practice you know I think um
any way that you can connect I mean in college we did like team bonding where we had to do like a military style um
you know workouts and it's just I think different ways um to just be present
with each other is just going to help your chemistry as a team overall so I think that's that's great advice um and
I I really think that's the only way if you know we can't connect on a field then there has to be something else and
you know if it's a zoom call if it's you know you guys just call each other like I think anything is anything like that
going to help you know it's just making it intentional because like like you said you have to be a student of the
game if you want to be elite you have to train Elite and you're the definition of elite right here so this stuff is second
nature I feel like for you I mean it just happens or you've learned it and you've gone through it but for some of
these girls like I give realistic checks with them I'm like hey if you want to be the best and you want to play it at UCLA
you want to play it in Alabama you want to play it in Oklahoma it's not just doing once a week it is being
intentional about what you're doing your communication your mental game on top of all the Reps and the physical game but
it's yes yeah learning all aspects and that's just the difference between a good player a great player and Elite
level player is that yeah intentionality yeah 100% I agree and I
think like you said it's not just the physical aspect like you can you can train however much you want to but it's
it's also the mental side you know and that's what I kind of struggle with in college is my confidence right but you
kind kind of have to be accountable and and work on it you know if if you want to get somewhere you're going to do it
but if you don't want to you're not going to do it you know so it's like um I think every Everything connects as as
an athlete you know and one of the things that you said and it just caught my attention I didn't interrupt you
earlier but you're more on the softspoken side and I'm completely the opposite I am loud outgoing I'll
embarrass myself say maybe too much I talk too much um so that being said just two different
personalities being able to mesh I mean what could someone who is a little bit
more outgoing and outspoken help with someone who is a little bit more on the
softer spok inside as far as the pitcher catcher relationship like what could I have done as a pitcher to potentially
make you more comfortable to get out of your shell a little bit more to give me the energy that I need as a pitcher yeah
um oh gosh I think I mean CU I had a picture that was kind of outgoing um I
think it's just kind of creating like a safe place and knowing that there are no mistakes you know there's because I see
a lot of that I see if like um if a catcher calls a a pitch that the pitcher doesn't like like there's some I
wouldn't say attitude but there's some like tension you know and to me it's like I actually never experienced that
with any of the pictures that I caught ever and I'm so grateful to say that um but I think it was because we were just
kind of in an understanding of like okay I'm learning and you're learning too and it's kind of like a safe place of like
there are no mistakes you know so um I also hated to feel like I was in the
wrong and I like I always felt guilty if I like called a pitch that got hit as a home run I was like oh my gosh that's on
me but I had such great pictures that were kind of like hey like it's okay you know there's that wasn't a mistake it
happened you know like like let's how are we going to respond to that so um I think like just understanding that it's
kind of a learning environment no no matter like what situation what game you're in you're constantly learning as
an as an athlete so I think that that would help and then before I jump into advice
for beginner catchers advice that you would give because with my big just personality and
when I do mental training sessions with girls I am doing one thing that I try to do
for myself is I'm trying to learn more personal types because I know like certain personality types respond to
certain things and so that's kind of what I'm doing in my mentorship Pro like for me learning and growing the game a
little bit more is diving deeper into personality types because one of the big advices that I give is I mean I always
say like be a beast be a dog like go out there like you said there's no mistakes like give it 100% effort 100% positive
attitude and your goal is to get 1% better that day and then you can go to bed feeling confident like if you don't
have to be the best but you're just trying to give it your all and have fun doing it all the time money and effort
we put into this like let's have some fun and just go out there and be crazy and that's just kind of the advice that I give a little bit but I love that when
you are a little bit more on the softspoken side I feel like I I guess what advice would you
give for you're trying to get out of your shell and you already said like how a picture can help you a little bit
but thoughts that go on in your head as far as like being able to communicate
not just with your teammate but to like yourself like things that you can say to yourself to help Empower you a little
bit more it might not be that be a dog let's go like that's how I talk to myself like how do you how would you
talk to yourself in a sense to either hype you up or boost you up or to get you out of like a little rut to put you
back up in that positive mental space yeah um if we're catching like or if we're talking about like catching
specifically um I it was really easy for me to feel embarrassed especially my
freshman year I remember oh my gosh um I don't know if you know Alexis Bennett
but she was our center fielder when I was a freshman and she um she was like
top dog like she was the one she was a beast um and she was kind of like the captain of the team and I remember being
there my freshman year and I my coach as a catcher made me try to communicate to
her and all the way in center field because I was so softspoken and uh I
remember being so embarrassed because she couldn't hear me and I had to say it like 10 different times um and I think
that kind of like that's embarrassing you know as as a a freshman catcher it's
like okay I'm supposed to be the leader but my center fielder can't hear me you know so I think that kind of like
flipped a switch in my mind um and again credit to my coach because I didn't feel
embarrassed any other time like that was the top embarrassment for me and I was like like you know what this is never
happen happening again to me um I'm going to be okay with feeling embarrassed and I'm going to almost like
over talk if that makes sense over communicate um and any chance that I got after that um I knew I knew I wanted to
play so I knew I had to kind of make a change and it was almost like I had to be comfortable being uncomfortable and I
say that a lot um but that's that's the only thing that kind of you know held me
accountable to my communication because I can't communicate on the field and nobody can hear me then how am I helping
my team you know and I think I just wanted to be the best catcher for my team in general and I needed to
communicate that was like my weakness um and once I kind of got that unlock it
was like it was different things that I kind of had to um go about showing my leadership as a catcher and it was like
okay if I can't communicate to my center fielder then I'm going to communicate to my third baseman and then she's going to go around the horn and communicate for
me um so there like there are different ways that I kind of had to incorporate um until I got to that point of okay you
know what I'm not going to care about any outside noise I'm just going to be as loud as I can and overc communicate
and see what happens you know so it's like you kind of just have to get outside of your box um and I know
sometimes it feels embarrassing or you just don't want to do it because you're kind of like in your own Zone um but for
me I really had to feel uncomfortable to get 1% better like you were saying so I
think that you know the embarrassment part for me I was I like I couldn't I
didn't want to feel that ever again you know and I kind of had a flip a switch and like you know what let's just do it
let's see what happens you know so I love that being comfortable with being uncomfortable like I say that literally
probably 30 times a day um and fun little fact and I think I don't know if
I launched this on the last podcast for something I'm doing that's uncomfortable so listeners I'm doing like hip-hop
classes that nobody knows about podcast but it's oneon-one hip-hop classes because I always say you got to get
comfortable with being uncomfortable I'm like I haven't done something in love that five years that's made me uncomfortable so I've done five sessions
so far and so that's thing that I'm doing in my personal life trying to get out of my comfort zone since I preach it
on a daily basis yeah that's so awesome and that's that's the type of stuff that we need to do you know because just it's
going to grow us as a person too you know so that that's so cool I need to start doing that pretty sure no I love I
mean it's awesome this it's just getting me out of my zone it's something that I'm like embarrassed to dance and I'm like you know what I'm embarrassed let's
go have fun and be embarrassed and take some lessons yeah you got to embrace who you are too you know it's like I think that
was the biggest thing that I was so um I guess shy um and you know I just I
needed to embrace who I was and I think that didn't really do that until my senior year of college and I wish I can
go back and you know work on it a little bit more but things happen for a reason and now now I preach that to everybody
that I train you know you have to kind of you just you have to get outside your box because life is is so short you know
so and that's something that getting outside of my box it's even now it's like I'm able to own my personality a
little bit more I'm able to own what I do and it's not I used to think like oh these classes are embarrassing like I'm
never going to talk about this on dr3 I'm never going to show anything I don't want anybody to know about these but I
mean after I had one this morning so after today I was like you know what like I'm owning it I'm having fun and
I'm failing and it's not pretty but I just tips that I give to my girls all the time yeah no that's awesome that's
so cool I love it well advice for beginner catchers and one thing that I
know we've briefly discussed a little bit is that there's the amount of catchers that I
know I mean I know just catchers that I played with growing gr up some of them never even took a catching lesson they did Catching lessons with Mom and Dad or
like from YouTube and they were still like the best like they were great in this area but I mean there's just not
enough catching coaches like there's not enough girls are not in enough lessons for catching I mean do you see that out
in California as much as I do here in Georgia yeah yeah I do I think it's definitely very limited um 100% And I
mean when I was growing up I was I took catching instructions from a baseball
guy you know because my brother played baseball and again there was like nobody that um I could find you know and and I
love the baseball style of catching and so that's how I kind of grew from there but um yeah I think it's very limited
100% And SO pitching parents ask me all the time like how often do I need to be
in lessons and my right away my answer is depends on how much money time and effort you want to put into this because
right there was weeks where I did three pitching lessons a week and that's expensive and there's weeks where I could only afford one or only do one but
it's putting that time it's being discipline even if I couldn't go to a lesson of still being able to put my
work in but I'm like pitching is its own sport within itself if you want to be an elite pitcher and an elite ball player
you have to do twice the work like sorry right I would put that catching if you
want to be an elite catcher and an elite ball player I mean you're putting more work in than like a center fielder Short
Stop in the sense of your training to be an overall softball player and just this
and crucial mother position yeah specifically I mean how often your
catchers to be training on the little details yeah I mean um I think same
thing as you you know I think there's something that they can work on every single day uh but again I'm I'm a
different type of mindset where when I was growing up I wanted to do that you know I didn't want to take any days off
um obviously unless we had games or anything like that but I truly think that you can get a little bit better
every single day um and with lessons what I do um I do like clinics and I do
one-on-one lessons but I think um for me even growing up I only did one lesson a
week um but I think nowadays at least like two just because I can track like
the progress that they're making too um but again like if if we can only do one
uh there's just there's something that you guys can still work on every day um even if you do only have one lesson a
week you know what would be those little fundies I call them fundies for pitching which is your SP daily your grip
strengthening daily what else do I have dry pitches so kind of like their daily fundies no matter what age they are it's
like spin work their grip training to strengthen their grip and their dry pitches to keep their body rhythmatic
within their motion I mean what would be maybe your three bundies for catchers
yeah um I do a lot of like P ball work work um so weighted framing um I mean
just like dry transitions if depends on the age right so if we're throwing off of our knees we can do dry throwdowns
off our knees or um throwing off our feet same thing so just you know in
general um what I would do is is focus on framing every single day um just kind
of receiving and you know because once you get into a rhythm of it um it's just
going to make you that much better um but yeah I think framing um any any sort
of like um throwdowns that you can do is going to be huge for you just to stay consistent with it what's the hardest
mechanical aspect do you think is tougher for beginner catchers to grasp
would it be like blocking or framing or th the throwdowns I mean what do you what tendency do you see a little bit
more um I think throwdowns throwdowns for sure yeah and it depends because um
you know are they throwing on off their knees or their feet you know so I think that's something that in general what I
kind of help them with is get comfortable throwing off their feet and then we can kind of work into knee throwdowns just because you know that
that's very difficult to learn just in general um even for an advanced catcher so um those are definitely like the two
that are very hard for them to learn I feel like and is there any at home drills I know we can't really showcase a
drill right now but at home drills to maybe help with the knee Downs I mean like throwing and falling into a pillow
like I'm just guessing over here but it's yeah yeah 100% actually for me um
some drills that I do I always talk about like body alignment towards second base um the more consistent that they
are with their body um to the bag that they're throwing with the better their throws are going to be um so I actually
do um if they have a bat at home or a PVC pipe I have them put it like in
their elbows and they go through like their throwing motion obviously they can't throw um but just kind of like get
to their push off and if that bat or if that pipe is like aligned to second base so that means that their you know their
body's align so um I always try to focus on like the specific fundamentals because I feel like you have to have a
good foundation to kind of work from um so if they can start doing that um
that's just going to kind of create that that Foundation that we need in order to work work off of that no I love that and
then the last thing I want to just touch on I mean C catchers y'all got strong
glut strong legs I mean your lower half just squatting as much as y'all do how
important which I know it's important but as far I want to know more at the college level the mobility the hip
mobility stuff that you did on top of strength training I mean what's that balance yeah and that that's something
that is so it's so slept on in in my opinion you know and it's not very it's not really mentioned too much um but I
can I can tell you that the minute that I started to do yoga my performance as a
catcher got like 10 times better you know just because I wasn't having injuries because I was so um Mobile in
my body and I was you know I was consistent with stretching and yoga and
I can get lower in my Squat and I just felt like I was a lot more um powerful
in a way and I think that's something that um is not really mentioned especially in like the younger
generation of catchers um so I I'm I'm glad that you said that because it's not
really talked about too often but I think it's super important for sure you think one or two days a week they need
to be doing that more daily yeah I mean I would say daily not even gonna lie I
think I think that is like um you know just being consistent with it because the more you're consistent with it the
better you're going to get so I mean if you're going to start out with it probably two times a week but if you're
like an elite type of Catcher I would try to do something every single day you know yeah my watch is going off no
perfect okay well Paige thank you again so much for being on here today it's
been a pleasure having you on here honor um again so nice meeting you I hope we can plan a pitcher catcher Clinic
together I'd love to come out to call do one with you please do that'd be so fun
so we will chat about that now please let all the listeners know how they can get in contact with you or find you on
social media yes um I mean so my Instagram is just my name page Hallstead
and then I do have a website it's page Hallstead docomo form that has my email so if you
guys want to reach out to me you can click that um and I'll I'll get your emails and then the allstar name is it
just Allstar FP is that correct yes yep Allstar fast pitch y okay so if y'all
need catching gear catching gloves make sure look at Page's new line that's so
awesome that she has own line out again p thank you thank you so much for being on here and I'm looking forward to
chatting with you in the future yes thank you so much I appreciate it have so much fun of course thank you for
joining us on this episode of Beyond The Diamond connect with us on all social media platforms Twitter Facebook Tik Tok
and YouTube @ drr3 fast pitch but Instagram is my biggest platform where I post daily content for questions or
topic ideas visit our website drr fast pitch.com and submit the form on our homepage I would love to feature you on
our next episode remember you can find all of our episodes on Apple podcast Spotify and on our website dr3 fast
pitch.com stay tuned for more exciting discussions stories and insights in the world of fast pitch softball on the next
episode of Beyond The Diamond until then remember the only thing that matters is
the next pitch deep breath next pitch I will see you soon
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Diamond Dialogues: Paige Halstead's Journey Beyond the Diamond

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