Finding Their Swag
October 24, 2014 | Softball
After a quick Google search, you'll find a Wikipedia page that defines swag as slang originating from the Scottish slang word swagger. The word was altered in the English language to mean the way one presents oneself.
This fall, the Carolina softball team made a point to work on its swag. Coach Papa and her staff emphasized the importance of having swag during the team's bonding trip to Myrtle Beach.
“A couple of things that we talked about were our core values, pride, passion and excellence, and under our pride we talk about having swag,” said Papa.
The longtime head coach claimed that having swag can be viewed in things as little as a batter's approach to the plate.
“You don't want to be running up there and getting in the box. You want to go up there and kind of have a presence. And when you get in the box you still want to have a good presence, great posture and it's the same thing with the pitchers on the mound.”
The group definitely showed its swag in the final game of their fall schedule against NCCU. Batters were tallying hits at will and the pitchers held the Eagles to one hit through the first four innings.
“I feel like this team itself has swag, and I think that a lot of it has to do with confidence” claimed senior catcher Amber Parrish. “Most of us are pretty confident in what we do and the positions that we play, so I think that swag comes out with having confidence.”
Along with working on finding their swag, the team is now embracing and celebrating the little things they have been working on, such as getting the bunt down and advancing the baserunner.
“It's not always about homeruns, but how we celebrate the little things” stated Papa. “You'll see the girls now they do a rams horns every time somebody does something, that's their signal that hey, we're celebrating the little things, which then translates to us having better energy in the dugout throughout the whole game.”
All you had to do was look into the dugout this fall and you could see that energy among the Tar Heel players. Every at bat, everyone was up on the fence, cheering on their teammate. In the field, encouragements were being thrown around left and right no matter what the scoreboard said.
“I know that we had a lot of good energy this fall, whether we had gotten down or not” recalled Parrish. “I know we were picking it back up or saw us cheering in the dugout no matter what.”
Celebrating things, positive energy, and swag are three elements that will hope to provide a new look to Carolina in the spring. The key now, according to Papa, is to continue to grow upon what they began this fall.
“Those are some intangibles, stuff you have to build within your team and if we can build that team structure, that team foundation to be stronger, that's going to resonate going forward in everyday what we do in our practices and on the field.”
