What Should I Do During Practice, Exactly?

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What Should I Do During Practice, Exactly?

Depending upon the season, the percentage break-down of maintenance, game prep and future practice differs. The closer a pitcher is  to the season, the more game prep and the less future learning she should do. The offseason is great for learning new things.

When you ask, “How much time do I spend teaching my daughter all of these new movement pitches when she can’t even throw a strike?” look to the chart below for the answer. Apply this formula to a day or week of practice, depending on how you like to schedule it out. 

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15 Savvy Ways to Watch the NCAA Playoffs

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15 Savvy Ways to Watch the NCAA Playoffs

The road to the Women’s College World Series is one of the most exciting events to watch on TV. Regionals start today, May 17th, showcasing the best athletes in the country as they execute incredible plays and engage in jaw-dropping, extra-inning games. This year, don't just sit passively. Actively analyze the games and apply what you observe to your own development. Visual learning can improve your skills simply by observing. It's an excellent way to relax while getting better at the same time. Girls with older sisters who pitch often have an advantage from watching their siblings play.

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Where Will Your Game Be One Year From Now?

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Where Will Your Game Be One Year From Now?

If you are thinking about taking on the position of pitcher with your daughter this note is for you!

Notice I use the phrase “taking on the position with” because learning to pitch is nothing less than a partnership between the two of you.

Becoming a pitcher is a special journey that takes a high level of commitment time-wise, financially, and emotionally. It can also be one of the most rewarding positions in all of sport! After reading this you will understand what to expect, have a road map for success, and motivation to help you persevere along the way.

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7 Terms Your Instructor Wishes You Knew About Pitching

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7 Terms Your Instructor Wishes You Knew About Pitching

If you haven’t already, you’ll come across these terms in your pitching journey. These terms explain 90% of the main mechanics you and your daughter will learn throughout the upcoming years. If you can accomplish these positions you will have become an advanced pitcher prepared to perform at the highest level. In Practice Pro terms, you’d be a Level 4 pitcher. You’d put yourself in a position to throw hard and execute all movement pitches, and deliver the ball in a consistent manner. Study up!

Stacked

  • At the point of release, if mechanics are performed to maximum efficiency and power, a pitcher's hand, ball, drag knee, and shoulder will line up. Here I am next to a beginner. This is what 90% of beginners look like, including players who never had formal instruction (Caitlyn’s much better now, I swear, I just couldn’t find her new video).

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How to Master Power in 4 Simple Drills

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How to Master Power in 4 Simple Drills

When learning, a lot of players look like this the pitcher on the right: leaning forward and her back leg has not moved towards the target by the time the ball is being released. When a pitcher throws “all arm”, this is what is happening mechanically. 

What’s more powerful, sprinting forward or jumping sideways? Just as a sprinter leaves the block, pitchers are sprinters leaving the mound. The fastest way to run to the finish line is forward, not sideways. 

If a pitcher can put herself in a good position at 3 o’clock (top pictures), she sets herself up for the rest of the motion. If not, it can be very difficult to correct her mistakes mid-pitch.

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A Productive Rant About Release Point

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A Productive Rant About Release Point

One of the least effective ways to help a pitcher develop better accuracy is to instruct them to "release sooner" or "release later." Her arm is moving too fast to make such small movements intentionally, especially for a young person who has little body awareness. Secondly, athletes respond better to “external cues” which are conveyed by relating their body to something outside of themselves, like a target in the distance, or the ground, or the sky.

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Why We Forget: How Our Mechanics Slip Away

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Why We Forget: How Our Mechanics Slip Away

I was working with my personal trainer, Mondale, on posterior chain strength. He explained the short circuit of exercises I was going to do, then told me to go ahead and start. I did the first one, then completely forgot the other two exercises and looked at him with an “uh-oh emoji, help” face. Was I not listening? Was it too much information for my brain that only got 5 hours of sleep?

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How to Prevent the Downward Spiral

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How to Prevent the Downward Spiral

I hear it all the time, “Is there some kind of trick that I can use during a game to prevent me from going into a downward spiral?” It’s frustrating (and even more confusing) to start off well and then lose this “groove” later in the game.

While at first it seems sometimes coaches over-analyze what could have happened…”she got tired”, “she lost it mentally”, “she stopped performing her mechanics properly,” and so on, at second thought, I believe this is an under-analysis or a faulty analysis without proper work on the back end to diagnose issues and adjust practice accordingly. In order to identify the issue take a cue from college teams. They are always recording a huge amount of stats throughout the games. For them, there is no “guessing” when it comes to the issues they face during game time. They try to make it as objective, and therefore easy, as possible to make decisions.

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5 Ways To Harness Your Power

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5 Ways To Harness Your Power

Do you ever notice when a pitcher sometimes falls over forward after she pitches? She looks like she’s off balance. You’ll hear a coach yell out after every few balls, “Stand tall!”

This has to do with her stride and how she is failing to harness all of the power she created through her drive off of the mound. Harnessing your power with your stride is equally as important as gaining momentum. Strides are for resistance, balance, and accuracy. If, you want to gain velocity, you must practice a great stride.

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Become a Movement Pitch Expert by Doing This

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Become a Movement Pitch Expert by Doing This

For example, when throwing a rise ball, a pitcher must deliver the ball on the “upswing” of her arm circle, meaning a little bit later. To make it easier to get her palm underneath the ball and facing the sky, she must lean her body back towards second base at delivery. The reverse is true for a drop ball. She must lean forward to get her hand on top of the ball, palm facing downwards.

Once her body position and ball trajectory is correct, the Magnus Effect becomes relevant.

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What's the Best Follow-Through?

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What's the Best Follow-Through?

To moms and dads who obsess over YouTube pitching videos: I’ve been there to. You love the “forearm fire,” Bill Hillhouse, and Amanda Scarborough’s Power Drive.

Bill Hillhouse promotes a cross-bodied follow through to the opposite-side shoulder. Below I will clarify what he means when he talks about this and why I teach something else. The follow through others teach is a straight-arm one with the hand pointing to the target at the end. I call this the “hand-shake” follow-through. I teach most players to point their elbows, not hands, to the target, referred to as “hello elbow.” I’ll discuss each follow throughs and what they mean to your pitcher.

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Lessons from College Coaches

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Lessons from College Coaches

Overuse injuries make up 50% of all injuries in middle and high school. Three-sport athletes suffer less injuries than one-sport athletes. Plus, Dr. Middleton answered the common question, “Is the underhand pitching motion more natural that overhand, and as a result do less injuries occur?”

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How to Communicate More Clearly With Your Daughter

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How to Communicate More Clearly With Your Daughter

When it comes to coaching your daughter on pitching mechanics, I highly recommend it. Sometimes. As an observer of the parent-daughter relationships for a number of years, I’ve been trying to develop my philosophy on this, then somehow communicate it with a tactful touch. While debate rages about over-bearing parents or how much is too much, I still find pitching kind of an anomaly. Pitchers need their mom’s and dad’s more than every other position. Quite possibly, every other position in most sports. Is this just culture or is it absolutely necessary? I’ll leave that for another blog.

But for now, here are some helpful tips to support your daughter's success while making developing as a pitcher a great experience for you both:

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This Week's Top Lessons About Pitching

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This Week's Top Lessons About Pitching

Here are the top 8 lessons we’ve found the most helpful so far. We think they will help you, too!

Coach Carol Hutchins, Michigan Head Coach
She spoke about her conversation with another top-level NCAA coach. She said (and this is before she ever one her National Championship), “ ‘So you mean to tell me if you never win the National Championship you will never feel successful?’ He said firmly, ‘No, absolutely not.’ ‘And I thought, wow, I hope my success isn’t based on that or that would be awful. It’s about the relationships we have.’ ”

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Will Virtual Lessons Ever Rule the World?

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Will Virtual Lessons Ever Rule the World?

For parents and players trying to learn more about pitching, gathering all information from online sources can be overwhelming. As a result, it gets demotivating. Every coach says something different. The key is to ask, “What are my goals and what are my daughter’s goals?”, and “What methods of learning would fit our lifestyle best?”

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