No matter what sport Hawke's Bay senior men's softball captain Luke Herrick has a crack at, the approach is the same.
Herrick is relaxed as and more often than not pretty successful. Before giving golf away last year to focus more on family commitments he got down to a two handicap as a member of the Hawke's Bay club.
The father of three has played premier football as a goalie or striker for the Hibernian and Western Rangers clubs. Last winter he played division three rugby for MAC.
"You've got to be relaxed. If you are all up tight you make errors and one error usually leads to another," Herrick, 31, explained.
"It's the same in any sport ... you have to be in the right frame of mind."
His relaxed and composed approach should prove valuable when he captains Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Hawke's Bay for the first time at this week's National Fastpitch Championship tournament which begins at Fraser Park in Lower Hutt on Thursday and continues until Sunday.
"It's an honour to be captain but I don't see myself as a captain. I prefer to be seen as one of the boys helping each other achieve our goals," Herrick said.
Like Hawke's Bay head coach Mel England, Herrick, has made no secret of the fact their team is travelling south tomorrow with the aim of achieving a top four finish in the nine-team men's segment of the tournament.
"If everything clicks it's definitely realistic. If we execute our plays defensively and offensively we should be right," Herrick said.
"Our big man in the middle [pitcher Regan Manley]is good enough to play for the Black Sox. This means he is good enough to contain most teams ... it's up to the rest of us to score some runs and help him out defensively.
"You make the top four and you've got a chance of playing in one of the two televised games on Sunday ... that would be awesome for the Bay," Herrick suggested.
He pointed out Southern Pride, Hutt Valley, North Harbour, Japan Universities and Counties-Manukau/Waikato have been targeted as must-win games by the Bay outfit.
"If we can beat one of the big guns that would be a big buzz," Herrick said referring to defending champions Canterbury, last year's runners-up Wellington and Auckland.
As part of his relaxed approach Herrick never looks upon a game as Hawke's Bay versus Wellington or Hawke's Bay versus Canterbury. "To me a game is just nine players against another nine. They all eat, s ... and sleep the same as us. If we do the basics right we will beat them ... basics win games," Herrick said.
The former St John's College 1st XI cricket team player got roped into his school's softball team by multiple national title-winning coach Tom Makea snr when they were short of players, and, in his own words "never looked back". Herrick will play first base for the Bay. It was only a couple of seasons ago he was regarded as one of the best outfielders in the province.
"I would love to go back to the outfield but an injured right shoulder restricts my throwing ... it will require an operation before too long," Herrick explained.
A forklift driver with Ardagh Group in Hastings, Herrick, is keen to continue playing for Hawke's Bay as long as his body and wife, Hawke's Bay hockey representative Shannel Tamati, allows. He has already established himself as a more than handy coach with the same relaxed approach he uses for playing and coached the Hawke's Bay under-17 girls to first place at their Central Region tournament and the Bay's under-15 boys to fourth place at their nationals.
"I also coach age group teams at Flaxmere ... it's good to be able to give the kids an option for summer," Herrick explained.
"I've had some top coaches with the likes of Tom [Makea], Mel [England], Chubb [Tangaroa] and Kevin [Gettins] ... now it's my turn to pass on stuff I've learnt off them to the next generation of players."
A national title winner with the Wellington under-19s as a player, it may not be too long before Herrick has another title for his CV. In the meantime he'll be happy with a top four finish this week.