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!
You are always trying to "get" your daughter to practice. After all, she said she wanted to be a pitcher, you are spending tons of money on lessons, she is super athletic and is going to be great!! Yet...she won't practice! You even set up the basement to look like an exact replica of the Rosemont Dome! You nag her, you try to reason with her by explaining all of the benefits of practicing. You feel you have given her all the tools humanly possible, but alas, there she remains comfy on the couch, TV remote in one hand, cell phone in the other.
Read MoreIf 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.
Read MoreUnless 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 MoreIf you are coaching a team you know how hard it is to evaluate a big group of pitchers at tryouts. First, there's never enough time. Second, it's impossible to tell how a pitcher will perform in games. Third, it's difficult not to get swept up in the lure of a pitcher who seems fast and can throw strikes. Will fast and down the middle be enough at your level?
Read MoreThe main indicator or arm speed is hand speed. Obviously, it's the only part of a pitcher's body that touches the ball and it has to be equally as fast as the speed she wishes to deliver it. If you follow even one pitching coach on social media besides me you’ll see the main topic discussed is something called “internal rotation.”
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 MoreIn our pitching school, we give away pins every session to a select few students. They say, “Commit to the Process.” To earn one, a pitcher must do any sort of pitching practice every single day between lessons to earn a star for her team. Then, over the span of a 10-week off-season, if she’s able to accumulate all 70 days of consistent work, she earns the pin. This is quite a feat, to say the least.
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 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 MoreNo one on her team could throw a strike so the games were very long and uneventful. A number of parents started asking me to instruct but I saw myself as an executive in the corporate world. Now, as a small business owner running a pitching school with over 160 students, I’m often to help little leagues find a way to make the quality of pitching better. If girls can pitch strikes, then the batters can hit, and the fielders can field.
Read MoreI’d like a make a plea for parent-coaches to attend coach’s clinics. Here are 6 reasons why:
Leverage: I you send 12 kids on your team to a one-hour pitching clinic the total cost at $50 per kid = $600!! Also add 12 hours of your players’ time. Or, you go to a defensive clinic for one hour at the total cost of $50, with no extra time for the kids. Teach them what you learned during regular practice hours.
The best pre-motions, or "take-aways" as I call them, are simple ones. Pitchers prepare themselves for success by performing a take-away that doesn't result in mistakes later in the delivery. When making up for a mechanical mistake during the motion, such as a crooked arm circle, the price she pays is a loss of speed.
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 More*As Published in Fastpitch Magazine
The stronger your reason for doing something the more likely you are to do it, especially for pitchers. Often students come to pitching lessons with vague goals. Young players might come because their parents want them to learn how to throw it over the plate so the games go faster. Experienced players come because they want to simply "get better."
I'd like to offer you a little help on figuring out your "why" for taking pitching lessons. That is, for going week after week, year after year, throwing game after a game, before practice, after practice, or even when you have a ton of school work. What are you doing here anyway?
Your pitching coach's job is to help you develop a repeatable motion as soon as possible.
I'd like to offer you a little help on figuring out your "why" for taking pitching lessons. That is, for going week after week, year after year, throwing game after a game, before practice, after practice, or even when you have a ton of school work. What are you doing here anyway?
Your pitching coach's job is to help you develop a repeatable motion as soon as possible.
Read More
Powered by Squarespace
