Tips to Make You Seem Smart

If you are a you-tube-softball-researcher, you’ll find a great deal of resources online. However, you’ll probably find too much amazing information. Some seem to contradict each other and others won’t help you decide what’s important. Is this appropriate for a college-bound pitcher? Should my beginner do this? Luckily, you have a real-live pitching coach here to help you sort through the helpful and the harmful.

A while back I made this list of helpful tips and interesting facts for pitchers. I compiled it after attending various National Fastpitch Coaches Association conferences. They either answer questions I’ve personally had, or touched on things I never thought about. These tips will instantly make you more knowledgeable about the softball landscape as a whole. When you start your coach-improvement journey, keep these in mind. Here they are again, tips to make you seem smart from the bleachers.

1. Cindy Bristow of Softball Excellence emphasizes the importance of the grip. Did you ever notice that when a pitcher throws a curve ball it accidentally slides out of her hand and goes straight instead of actually curving? To solve this problem a pitcher should slide her thumbs up on the ball and put extra pressure on her fingertips and thumb equally. Voila!


2. Focus on the love of the work. If you talk to the coach for your kids, carry their bags, and practice with them 100% of the time, then what is your pitcher doing?  In this scenario your game really isn't hers, is it? If pitchers learn to take responsibility they will love the sport to it’s fullest.

3. Many college coaches are recruiting most of their players from camps, not tournaments. 


4. A lot of college coaches recruit families, not players.  They need cooperative parents and are attracted to players who come from well-developed travel programs because they, and their parents, have been groomed on how to conduct themselves.


5. The biggest problem college coaches see with pitchers, and other players for that matter, is that they have no idea how to deal with failure and are not tough. 


6. The legendary retired Hofstra coach, Bill Edwards, sees sports as important because it teaches kids what the classroom can’t. Things like toughness, physical discomfort, and teamwork are only a few of the things you don’t get in a classroom. 


7. Cat Osterman didn't really have a change going into college.


8. When teaching a player, you need to have a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative feedback for optimal results. If you go above 11:1, they perceive you as insincere.

9. Create a “gathering routine.” A gathering routine is a routine you execute after something bad happens.

10. Parents need to ask their kids, "How do you want me to be? Come to every game? Catch for you pitching? Don't give you tips when you are up to bat?" Then do it!