12 Insightful Tips About Pitching
/This was originally posted in December 2019. It’s an oldie but goodie so I’m re-posting it! If you’ve been to pitching school anytime recently, you’ll notice I still talk about #3 and #7 frequently!
I had to opportunity to attend my 5th National Fastpitch Coaches Association convention at the beginning of this month. This year we went to Atlantic City. I learn a great deal of information about mechanics, team and staff building, the mental game, and - get this - even other positions besides pitching. But the best part is hanging out with my favorite coaches and talking about the game.
What I find most inspiring is that my coach-friends absolutely love what they do and are super intense about improving. When there are breaks in between seminars we talked about what we liked, didn’t like, and what were planning to adopt ourselves. They love a healthy debate and rarely get to talking about anything else. It’s not like other jobs I’ve had where everyone wishes they were back home or at the hotel bar. Everyone is excited to be there. How could you not? It’s one of the most rewarding jobs in the world.
In an effort to be festive, let's honor the 12 days of Christmas with the top 12 things I learned at convention.
When I refer to coaches let's also conceptually apply the lessons to parents. Most of our athlete’s parents are often playing the role of a coach whether on the field or on the bucket catching during practice.
The UCLA Bruins Coaching Staff spoke about their “special sauce” in winning a championship. They have a saying: “Bruins for Life.” Every Bruin treats each other like family. A big part of what they do is have the alumni come back for events and games and talk to the current players. Their ultimate goal is to guide women to be leaders in life. The staff constantly reminds them of this.
Also, they keep their practices efficient by making sure everyone is 100% mentally available. The team does something called “Burn Before Practice.” It’s a five minute pause before practice where everyone sits in silence. Each player mentally gets rid of the rest of the day and prepares for the hours ahead.
Trisha Ford from Arizona State discussed rise ball mechanics. If you lean back too much the spin tends to turn into a bullet spin, or a “u-fastball” as we call it at Practice Pro. If you have trouble not leaning back enough, try long throws because they help you learn to launch the ball upward. As tournaments progress, Coach Ford noticed the rise ball was the first pitch to deteriorate because pitchers need so much core strength to throw it (and hold the reverse posture position).
Kainoa Correa, from the Cleveland Indians, gave a detailed presentation on infield skills. He defined “athletic” or “looking athletic.” This was extremely interesting because as former athletes, coaches forget that we had to learn this at one point, it doesn’t come naturally. An athletic person hinges at the hip, has space between the feet indicated by the activity he or she is doing. Athletic people have a moment of weightlessness that is descending and timely. They are the best at reacting and are as light as possible.
Josie Henry of Case Western Reserve was originally a catcher. When one of her coaches told her she should try pitching, it really motivated her.
Kyla Holas, owner of More Than a Game, taught us about the curveball. She came with more of conceptual approach on how to throw this pitch. She said to think about ways in which you can dominate the outside of the ball with your fingers. Don’t forget, pitchers are trying to affect the ball, not their body. Most importantly, as coaches and parents, 90 percent of our jobs is to get our pitchers to think they are better than the batters.
Did you know that in 2019 100% of the Women's National (Baseball) Team League players came from NCAA softball?
Michelle Gascone from Northwestern talked about the four different types of changeups. The flip, turnover, shove, and drop/curve. At Practice Pro, we teach most players the turnover. Gascone lets her pitchers go out and fiddle a lot on their own. What makes the ball move? What does the ball do if I make my if my body do this? She believes athletes are not experimenting enough because of us rigid pitching coaches (Hey! Well, yeah that’s true, but that’s what practice is for….)
Kristen Bulter of Rutgers University said that they don’t practice pitch recognition as much as they practice strike zone awareness. She describes it as looking at the “sunsents, mountains and oceans”. See the big picture. Look through the pitchers to pick up tells, don’t look at the details.
Ken Erikson, Head Coach of the USA Women’s National (Softball) Team, told us that when girls are first learning hitting, it’s less about mechanics and more about getting them to understand space and time. If you want them to get better, roll the ball on the ground and let them hit. This changes hitting to a two-dimensional plane.
I had a mentor session where we had discussions with experienced college coaches. My table had great coaches from UConn, Georgetown, Wisconsin Eau-Clair, Michigan State, and Fairfield University. We asked about motivation. While most pitchers love being verbally inspired, you can also motivate them by measuring everything. Think up games, write everything down, and let them see how they get better every day.
Adrian Gregory from Texas Tech told us about ways to improve mental toughness. She tries to make practices harder than games in the following ways:
Increase pace
Create adversity
Set up unfair circumstances
Have winners/ losers
Experience failure to grow
Type up practices before hand and sends to players so they feel prepared.
Adrian Gregory also said that players of this generation like when coaches show humility. Players appreciate when coaches admit to themselves and their players their flaws. When coaches have accountability to themselves and their athletes, and model what is desired (i.e., hustle, kindness, toughness, and physical fitness), players respect their coaches.
