Just before the start of the 2025 spring season, 猫咪社区 Softball’s Assistant Coach Marina Rhodes reflected on the team’s journey and shared her insights for the upcoming year. Now in her fourth year as Assistant Coach, Marina has grown alongside the senior class, witnessing the team’s transformation from a roster of just 11 players with three wins in 2022 to a roster of 20 players and 21 wins in 2024. After a successful 2024 season, which included numerous association awards, leader board statistics, and a championship appearance, the 2025 roster has settled at 15 players.
Coach Marina offers valuable perspectives on the team’s outlook for the months ahead.
Coach Rhodes (RJB Sports, 2023)
Coach Marina first highlights the importance of on-field communication as a key focus for the team this season. She notes that past confusion stemmed from a lack of team comfortability with plays across the field, but as they’ve grown more comfortable over the past few seasons, their communication has improved significantly. To build on this progress, she plans to emphasize softball IQ, situational awareness, and confidence in practice. With a smaller roster, Coach Marina stresses the need for heightened in-game focus to maintain success. “With a smaller team, we’re going to need everyone to be ready at any time,” she says, underscoring the significance of engagement from both active players and those on the bench. Despite the smaller numbers, Marina is confident the team will rise to the occasion and step up into the roles that the graduating seniors left behind.
Coach Marina emphasizes the importance of strengthening the team’s bond and “making sure that everyone is comfortable with each other on the field so that it translates really nicely to trusting each other on the field.” She believes that building trust and comfort beyond softball will result in better teamwork on the field. The team spent the off-season focused on bonding activities and small group workouts with the goal of strengthening their relationships. By rotating partners during warm-ups in practice, they will learn more about each other and build more potent chemistry as they head into the spring season.
Every one of us is capable of making plays in the field, getting hits, and contributing to the game positively,” says Coach Marina.
Clearly, she has complete confidence in her players’ physical abilities, both defensively and offensively. She places greater focus on mental skills for the team’s success. Marina believes building mental toughness and improving the ability to bounce back from mistakes will be crucial for the 2025 season. She highlights the need for maintaining a positive, team-oriented mindset, picking each other up, and focusing on what they can control to strengthen the team’s cohesion and competitiveness.
Lastly, Marina expresses her excitement about the team’s potential, specifically in witnessing the “passing of the baton.” “The senior class is the first class since COVID that has gotten to play all four seasons, so they have gotten a lot of playing experience and knowledge to pass down to the other classes.” She looks forward to seeing the first- and second-year students grow, become leaders, and find their place within the team to maintain the team vision. She describes how “the senior class and junior class have really built up the team culture and expectations,” and she’s hopeful that the standards, mindset, and ideals of collective success will keep the team strong for years to come. “I think they have built something outstanding,” she concludes, confident that this season will showcase the results of that growth.
