Let’s face it, pitching strikes isn’t easy. It often takes five to ten years for a player to develop the skills and strength needed to throw a ball over 60 mph with precision and movement. By avoiding the following mistakes, a pitcher can fast-track her journey to mastery.
DON’T...
Slow down your arm to pitch strikes.
Read MoreMost players have started their season already. Games will be testing your and your team’s abilities. They are an accumulation of all the work you’ve put in all winter. While the offseason was a time when you’ve learned new things, like improving your pitch repertoire or making big changes to your fundamentals, the in-season is all about performance.
Even though you’ll be learning a lot during the season, if you want to play and if you want to win, you’ll have to give the coach a reason to let you pitch. Giving chances in order to let the pitcher learn or see if she can handle pressure might be few and far between.
Read MoreAs soon as a player is able to throw with a good arm circle, has decent posture, and throws at her fullest effort she's ready to learn the change up and movement pitches.
Even 10 year-olds can learn movement pitches. If I were to wait until a pitcher perfected her fastball to teach her a curveball, we might be waiting until she is a high school or even college!
Unless you are a member of the Kobra Kai dojo, you understand that “winning isn’t everything.” But are you showing no mercy in our fall ball games in spite of that understanding?
Travel coaches struggle with getting the most out of their pitchers due to the lengthy schedule of the year-long season. Fall ball (especially because of the pandemic) is becoming more meaningful these days. It’s overwhelming when it seems like every single game is important. If coaches make their goal to win each tournament and each game with little regard as to how to get there, pitcher development can become stunted and players peak early or not at all.
I offer an alternative.
Read MoreAs a young pitcher you are faced with many logistical roadblocks that college pitchers don't face. You must find someone to drive you to practice or save up enough money for a new glove. You have the challenge of forming habits when many factors are out of your control, for example, not having enough time to warm up for a game because high school schedules are tight.
Read MoreShe unwittingly adds complexity to her motion, misdiagnosing the cause of poor accuracy, thus contributing more to superstitions than to good fundamentals. If you know anything about softball and baseball, you know that once a pitcher thinks luck is on her side, she’ll do anything to keep it.
Read MoreAs the season is underway pitchers everywhere stand on the mound hoping to throw a strike. There is a special group of pitchers that aren’t just hoping to throw strikes. Those are the ones you’ll be watching on TV. Right now top teams are battling for the NCAA World Series title. Those pitchers aren’t just hoping to throw strikes with a really quick fastball. They are fooling the batter by moving the ball almost every pitch.
Read MoreAre you trying out for a travel ball team this summer? Most tryouts are within the next month or so, and you’ll have to be prepared with questions before you commit. Too many parents and players sign up for a year-long obligation are left feeling dissatisfied with their choice, only because they didn’t know what things to consider before they tried out.
The first thing to do is have a discussion with your daughter. Share ideas with each other about what her long-term softball goals are. As you know, pitching requires a parent/player partnership. Your support and advice is imperative to your daughter's success. If you aren’t into it, she won’t have a chance of reaching her potential. You can get a good idea of her ambitions if she talks more about hanging out with friends than trying to get more playing time.
Read MoreI 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?
Read MoreI remember I loved checking my game stats when I pitched for Ithaca College. The sports information department would put up the box score with more information than ESPN does for the MLB! As soon as I got back to my dorm room after a game I'd hop on the computer and look up my ERA. My goal was to stay under 1.0. Being able to see the eb and flow every day really motivated me. The best softball pitchers at the time were under 1.0 ERA and I knew that if I could do that I'd be a great pitcher.
Read MoreI explain quickly, "Not exactly. I suggest you tell the coach that you know you can get the next girl out so give me another chance!" Although I understand Emma's logic, that players think they are helping the team by removing their poor-performing selves from the game, I explain several different concepts. You only fail when you give up. You always have to believe that the next pitch is going to be a great one. A good attitude regardless of the circumstance raises performance. And finally, it’s your coach's decision on who should be put in or taken out, not yours - even if she asks.
Read MoreTo 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.
Read MoreParents, if you’ve ever come to a big pitching clinic that we’ve put on, or been a part of pitching school, you know about all the work you have to put in to pitching. It turns out it’s not just your daughter who must put in all the effort. You have to be an athlete, too!
As an adult I find it interesting that I constantly re-learn what I am trying to teach young players. Mainly, the more we put into something, the more we get out.
Becoming a pitcher requires a strong partnership between players and their parents. This leadership position requires two hugely important commitments from you both - a physical commitment and an emotional commitment.
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:
Read MoreWhen I went to the NFCA conference I listened to a panel discussion featuring Cat Osterman (Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, 1000 Career NCAA strikeouts, ERA under 1.0) and she said something about hard work that I found interesting.
Read MoreEveryone needs consistent human support when attempting difficult physical activity. Before I got a personal trainer and started attending scheduled classes at the gym in 2014 I just wandered over to Lakeview YMCA 2 or 3 times a week and completed my old college lifting workout. That's right, I did my old college workout for ELEVEN years because I didn't know what I didn't know. Seemed like a totally awesome workout because it was totally awesome in college.
I know I’ve sent a similar blog about high school tryouts a couple of times, but I’ve revised it based on interviews I’ve recently done with coaches in Chicago and the suburbs. Tryouts are this week so I wanted to make sure to pass along to you what I’ve learned so far. Coaches had common themes with what they were looking for in you.
Read MoreOne take-away I got from her presentation explained the importance of the grip. Did you ever notice that when you throw a curve ball it slides out of your hand and goes straight? I know, it happens all the time! You need to slide your thumb up on the ball and put extra pressure on your fingertips and thumb equally. Voila!
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