BYU softball started implementing a program called “Earning Your Y.”
This started back a few seasons ago with assistant coach Todd Judge. He is not with BYU anymore because he accepted a head coach offer with the Utah State Aggies. Judge had envisioned this idea for the team to become more cohesive and to have something to strive for throughout the season.
Every season, the athletes on the softball team need to “Earn Their Y.” This consists of living the standards of the team. Throughout the season, the athletes must maintain all of the team standards to earn the "Y." This season, junior Hailey Morrow was the second player to earn her "Y."
“We preach a lot about living a balanced lifestyle. That includes academics and doing well in school,” Morrow said.
Coach Gordon Eakin said the team's standards are not publicly available and that only those affiliated with the program know exactly what they are. They are standards that players and coaches will maintain on and off the field.
This season, they introduced a buddy system to the program. This means that every athlete has a partner that is supposed to hold them accountable throughout the season. After the players earn their "Y," they sign a puzzle in Eakin’s office to have something to showcase for it.
“It makes a player team-driven instead of a coach telling us what to do, and that’s what the best teams do," Morrow said. “It’s really the players who drive the team chemistry and that’s what makes a successful team.”
“Earning the Y” for the team has become more than just an award for someone on the team but has shown that the team has other goals that they are working on. Over the past 25 years, the team has evolved into a powerhouse in sport, which is now in the Big 12. The Cougars want more to stand for other than their sport.
“It is all driven to create the culture that we want. It is a culture tool … we want selfless players, we want to be all in with BYU and what BYU stands for,” Eakin said. “The process of 'Earning your Y' with the team standards creates the culture.”
According to Eakin, this has helped with the character development of the team, to know what playing for BYU and being a Cougar is all about. It helps keep the team accountable throughout the whole season, and then the whole process starts over next season.
“It makes us build good team chemistry, which is the best thing that we need, especially in the fall when we are leading up to a season,” Morrow said.
This is not the only activity that the softball team does to bond together. It also hangs out all the time outside of practice. The team is striving for strong and cohesive relationships on and off the field.
Eakin has given all of this credit to Judge, but the team has tweaked it and made changes here and there to fully accommodate to the current staff and team.
The Cougars start their preseason invitationals and tournaments on Feb. 6 and Big 12 play starts the first week of March.