The Most Influential People in the Softball Industry - With Guest Erica Hanrahan
/Hello Practice Pro Nation!
I am super honored and boundlessly excited to be connecting with you all through your brilliant training program, Practice-Pro. Abby Hanrahan is my intelligent, committed, and successful cousin who has built the ideal platform for us all to improve together. The #1 ingredient that makes Practice-Pro pitching school so much better than other models of sport training is YOU, Mom and Dad!
Over the last 37 years of my relationship with softball (as both a player and a coach), there is not a single piece of my experience that trumps the TIME spent with my father. We forged through thousands of hours of training together. It created the foundation of our adult lives together, and that life has been a host of full and vibrant experiences (some softball and many not), set in motion by softball: the joy, laughter, frustration, honesty, support, and motivation that was necessary for me to transform myself from the worst player on my 10 year old travel team to the pitcher who earned a college scholarship and became a coach herself.
What a beautiful gift that you’re giving to your daughter -and also yourself- in taking this softball journey together. From the car rides to catching on a bucket to the games on the weekend and the discussions at home, you’re doing something together that grows and is nourished with the more time that you spend doing it. The outcome is hardly the point- though there will be many of those that you’ll be able to hang your hats on too one day.
But because my dad is who he is, a passionate and curious man, who doesn’t fear the words “no,” or “can’t,” or “extra” - I grew up blessed with a life that set into motion my adulthood passion and joy that I have been lucky enough to call my career: coaching softball. Thank you, Dad! I look back in awe at what we did together -and subsequently, what I’ve been able to do BECAUSE of my dad’s example- and I am amazed.
When I grew up, 1987-1999 (from the age of 9 to the age of 21), my dad, a Private Eye, went and found the best coaches to train us both; I would be learning on the fly in real time, and my father would help me AND gather knowledge to teach all the future generations of pitchers who have come through him.
Do you know Mike White, current Head Coach at Texas? He was the first pitching coach my teammates and I worked with because my dad “found him,” sought his expertise, and brought him into a Downers Grove gym to train his kid and her friends. I understood through Coach White’s example (he pitched in that gym, showing us his elite ability) how velocity begins with using our legs properly, and what the meaning and purpose of “resistance” is in the pitching motion. I also observed from Coach White why a great rise ball is the king of all pitches. He was able to make that ball literally jump!
But from there, we met the ever-famous and extremely decorated Denny Throneburg (legend from Casey, IL), who taught us what a great arm circle looked like, how a productive follow through felt, the magic of a U fastball, and the similarity of throwing a peel drop ball to the best yoyo tricks of that day.
We tracked down Billy Owens, out in California, master of the art of the “off-speed” pitches. Not only did a change-up become my bread and butter for the rest of my career after those lessons with Billy, but the “clip” pitches (off-speed movement) that you may have heard of, were born.
To properly supplement my changeup, I needed a great movement pitch, which I eventually learned through the All-American from Ohio State University: Krinon Clark, who my dad cornered in a field out in Kansas City and convinced to come help his 14-and-under pitchers from Chicago. After her tutelage, I was able to throw a curve ball that took a left turn 5 feet from the hitting zone. I’ll never forget to turn a jar over in my hand, and use my fingers to unscrew the top. Voila- late break curve ball!
And while Jenny Finch was still in high school, and the softball world had not been turned upside down and then right side up again with her brand of softball, my father found the pitching coach who trained Jenny from youth: HER dear-old-dad, Doug Finch. There, we learned the value of biomechanics and a proper pitching motion: arm and shoulder health, consistency and accuracy, and a C-screw ball. Who knew that a screw ball could be thrown differently than a U fastball with a little more twist and turn?
Last, I want to give a shout out to my college softball coach for less than one semester, Tom Besser. He showed me that there was another way to throw a curve ball and a drop ball. I was stopped in my tracks. There was more than Denny Throneburg’s peel drop and Krinon Clark’s jar opening curve? Yes! You could turn that ball right over to make it dip and duck and dash. Thank you, Coach Tom.
Because of my father, and growing up in a life where we chased the best ways to pitch, we learned many great things from a multitude of wise wizards of pitching. It has served me and my players well over the ages because I understand that not every “body” has the same flexibility, balance, and journey to where we both stand together. Therefore, as a coach, I have learned that to help a person the most, you have to listen, observe, and then offer the right medicine. I am more of a pitching doctor than anything else. I can diagnose and offer the right “fix” to take a player from where she is at and help her get closer to where she is aiming to go. And I owe my vast toolbox of tricks to many knowledgeable pitching coaches - but mostly - I owe this gift to my dear old dad.
I am excited to help some of Practice-Pro Nation in the future months ahead, and I am also humbled to share my story with you over the next several weeks. Parents, keep enjoying these moments with your daughters, and daughters, cherish even the toughest times with your moms and dads. I have deep and meaningful relationships with several members of my family that I never would have had otherwise: Uncle Danny, Uncle Bobbo, Abby, Ashley, Molly, Laura, Jessica, Kimmy, Bonnie, Shawna, and of course - JTF (John the Father, my awesome dad). Doing softball together, especially our pitching journey, has been one of the greatest gifts I have been given in this life, and I bet it will be one of yours too!
This is Erica Hanrahan, signing off until next time when I tell you a little bit more about who I am, where I’ve been, and why I am here with you now.
