16 Things You Should Know About High School Softball

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16 Things You Should Know About High School Softball

This week we were able to do something we’ve never done before - start a speaker panel series! The stay-at-home order has surprisingly benefited our pitching school in many ways, including making it easy to host events and bring in speakers. When travel times are minimal, schedules are clear, and facility spaces are free we become ultra-flexible! We will continue to host these learning experiences for our pitching school so take advantage of this unique time.

What do they wish they would have known? What made them great pitchers? What were failures that they overcame? I took the top 20 lessons learned from these great athletes and made it easy for you to digest here.

You’ll hear from Julia Youman ‘20 OPRF and IHSA State Champion, Mackenzie Janes ‘20 Jones Prep and 4-year Varsity Letter winner, and Molly Murray ‘19 Lane Tech Conference CHamp and Sectional Runner-up.

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A Point-by-Point Guide to High School: From the Coaches

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A Point-by-Point Guide to High School: From the Coaches

When I tried out for my high school softball team I simply showed up on the prescribed date and time. I carried my spikes and glove in my hand. I did what I was told. I observed the skills of the other girls and measured myself against them. What chance do I have? How hard are the coaches making me work? Do I like this? Are the girls nice?

Never once did I think bigger than that. I didn’t think about winning a championship. I didn’t ponder what made a good team, or what I could do to be a good leader. In hindsight I wish I would have. To those of you who are reading this, I’d suggest thinking of these things. Whether you are in 5th grade, going to college next year, or in high school, the following will be valuable.

We had the opportunity to interview the Whitney Young Coach, Mike Hinrichs and the Ridgewood Coach, Ken Juarasz about how they’ve built their program, what they expect of players, and how to buy in.

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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 Beginner's Guide to Seasonality

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A Beginner's Guide to Seasonality

Has your daughter ever been afraid to change something in her motion because it will mess up her accuracy for the upcoming game? Well, she should be concerned because there are only certain times of the year when she should or should not be majorly altering her fundamentals. Last week we talked about how to break down practices and seasonality. This week I will give you examples of fun games and challenges to include in your seasonal practice.

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What's Holding Back Your Movement Pitches?

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What's Holding Back Your Movement Pitches?

Making the ball move is one thing, but making it move with late break is a whole separate animal. “Late break” means that your pitch travels straight and then changes direction very close to the hitter. About ten feet is about the standard for excellence.

You need to be able to know the truth. Was that lake break? Or was it gradually moving to one side? You don’t want to wait to find out in a game. If you haven’t seen too many pitches that actually break before, you might be judging incorrectly. You need feedback.

If your breaking balls gradually move from one side to the other, rather than late break, it is because one of the following problems:

1. Not enough rotation on your ball
2. Incorrect axis - the ball is not rotating on the correct plane
3. Incorrect body position/release point - your arm trajectory is going the opposite way of the intended ball movement.

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How Not to Develop Pitchers

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How Not to Develop Pitchers

It's not about winning, it's about HOW you win and challenging yourself.  Even if her team would have lost the lesson stands strong. Coach Hanning was preparing Jennie to reach her potential, an Olympian and NCAA National Champion, not a summer ball tournament champ.

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Learn Movement Pitches Before You are 12 Years Old

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Learn Movement Pitches Before You are 12 Years Old

As 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.

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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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How Long Should You Rest For?

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How Long Should You Rest For?

Werner has the following suggestions on pitch count. She is much more conservative than Bristow. In a perfect world, with exceptions for weekend tourneys, she believes the following pitch counts would be the best, when possible.

10U - 60 per day with one full day rest after each of these days. A pitch includes anything where your arm is spinning. 60 every other day equals 240 pitches per week.
12U - 70 per day, every other day (280/wk)
14U - 80 per day, every other day (320/wk)
16 - 90 per day, every other day (360/wk)
18 and older - 100 per day, every other day (400/wk)

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Build a Pitching Staff - Not a Hierarchy

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Build a Pitching Staff - Not a Hierarchy

If you are coaching a team with more than one pitcher (hint, hint that's you) you're going to need to develop your group as a staff, not just as individuals waiting their turn. When you create depth you'll get the most out of each pitcher, teach teamwork, and be able to overcome the day when your number one pitcher and sole hope is struggling. I said when, not if.

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Things to Consider Before You Try Out

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Things to Consider Before You Try Out

Are 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.

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9 Signs You Need Help With Mechanics

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9 Signs You Need Help With Mechanics

Think back to your last golf round. What type of player are you? Are you praying that you'll hit your next shot in the air, or are you calculating the difference between the 5 and 6 iron? Are you just trying keep up with the rest of your group, or are you visualizing the angle of your draw?

These questions show a clear difference in competency level. One person is competing while the other is focused on skill development, without knowing what skill needs to be developed. She just knows she has to get the ball over there, with no idea how.

Without mechanical competence, your daughter's only thoughts will be, “Please throw a strike and don’t embarrass myself!” as opposed to, “I’m going to strike this girl out with a low fastball then and outside change.” Unfortunately, pitchers will go through this thought process their whole career unless they learn and practice. As a young player, I received instruction on how to pitch, but did not practice. So my “worried” thinking went all the way through the end of high school. Not until college did I put the work into grooving my mechanics.

So, in an effort to help girls of all levels learn to actually “play” softball, here is a list of 9 circumstances when you know your daughter needs mechanical help.

  1. You think your daughter can pitch without learning how to do it.

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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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This Stat Makes Game Days Way Better

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This Stat Makes Game Days Way Better

I 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.

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5 Things Pitchers Need to Be Great

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5 Things Pitchers Need to Be Great

As the DI NCAA Softball Championship tournament begins, you’ll see amazing pitchers firing the ball the upper 60’s, low 70’s with extreme movement and devastating change of speed. How do they get to this level? Each began where many of you are today and slowly put in the work to be great. Here are five things it takes for you to do the same.

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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 People You Oughta Spend Time With

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5 People You Oughta Spend Time With

Jim Rohn is one of my favorite motivational speakers. Aside from his exceptional rags to riches story of working his way up from a store clerk to a mentor for self-improvement greats like Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield, he is an extremely quotable person, perfect for coaching. As a pitching instructor, I only have one hour per week to make an impact on the way players think and act, so I have to it right Plus, we instructors like to hear ourselves talk quite a bit, so Jim is inspiring me to improve on being succinct.

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How To Be Obsessed With Your Little League

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How To Be Obsessed With Your Little League

No 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.

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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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More Survival Tips for Parent Catchers

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More Survival Tips for Parent Catchers

The most successful pitchers have involved parents. This can be tricky, because that means you’ll have to put a high percentage of effort as well. That’s why I call it a partnership. It’s best if you both decide to take on the challenge together.

If you want to give her the opportunity to reach her full potential, you'll have to catch for her - a lot. Here are a few catching techniques to get you through the times when you don't quite feel like getting out there with her.

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