10 Things Most People Don't Know About Joan Joyce

10 Things Most People Don't Know About Joan Joyce

Joan Joyce - Not just the best female pitcher in fast-pitch softball history, but the best female athlete who ever lived.

If you have ever seen the likes of Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, or Yukiko Ueno on the mound, it may be hard to believe that a woman who is over double their age was once a better and more accomplished pitcher. And what’s more, she did it with a slingshot delivery - not a windmill motion.

Who is this incredible softball pitcher, you ask? It is none other than the recently deceased Joan Joyce, 81 year old Head Softball Coach of Florida Atlantic University, where she resided at the helm for 28 years while also coaching Women’s golf for much of that time. You also may have heard of the Brakettes. Joan Joyce put them on the map.

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8 Ways You Can Build Pitching Staff Unity

8 Ways You Can Build Pitching Staff Unity

In order for a player to want to change for her team, or at least live up to her existing role, she needs to be encouraged. There are a bunch of ways to get her excited about the role that she has or the role she wants to accomplish. These are some ideas I have learned from college, travel, and high school coaches I have met along the way. 


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How to Prevent the Downward Spiral

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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Top Reasons People Succeed Without the Win

Top Reasons People Succeed Without the Win

In our lives, there are very few things that can fit everyone’s definition of fun.

Some people LOVE amusement parks while others loathe the thought of steep drops and fast coasters. Some people love risky adventures like sky diving, bungee jumping, parasailing, and zip lining while others think these activities are horrifying. Some people think an evening snuggled in front of the TV with a bag of popcorn is the perfect Friday night while others would call that kind of weekend boring.

Are “things” just fun or not fun? Or is personal perspective the denominator? I would argue that a person’s mindset determines fun more than any other predictor. So how does this apply to practicing pitching and performing during pressure filled games? I believe: Everything.

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St. Peters Brings Down Kentucky! The Little Engine That Could.

St. Peters Brings Down Kentucky! The Little Engine That Could.

The Little Engine that Could, so he did!

Most of us learn the story of The Little Engine that Could from a young age. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” Making his way up a steep mountain with hardly any steam left to get to the top, it took a mindset that Yoda from Star Wars teaches us: “Do or do not. There is no ‘try’.” The power of the human mind can be extraordinary. At its best, it leaves no room for failure or excuses. When the mind meets the will and becomes singular in their focus, achieving even the most unlikely of goals becomes more than just possible, but probable. Ted Lasso says, “BELIEVE,” and Yoda says, “DO.” The combination of those two entities is magical. Just ask that Little Engine who finally made it to the Top.

And for you sports fans out there, another “Little Engine” made history last night in the men’s basketball March Madness playoff games. Did you fill out a bracket? If so, it is likely that this little miracle team just unraveled some of your predictions.

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5 People You Oughta Spend Time With

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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Forget One-size-Fits-all: 2 Strategies You Need to Jump On

Forget One-size-Fits-all: 2 Strategies You Need to Jump On

There are two very powerful schools of thought for how pitchers ought to attack the strike zone to be successful.

  1. Attack the strike zone directly

  2. Paint corners and live in the rivers

How can both be correct when they are in direct contradiction to one another? Which option ought pitchers pay heed?

To get to the bottom of this question, since I work with all of you at lessons instead of games, I went back to all of my notes from previous pitching conventions where I was able to listen to philosophies on pitch calling from the elite coaches in our game: Lonnie Alameda (Florida State), Larissa Anderson (Missouri), Beth Torina (LSU), Missy Lombardi (Oregon), Karen Weekly (Tennessee), and Stephanie VanBracklr (Alabama) just to name a few.

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Signs You're a Movement Master

Signs You're a Movement Master

For years, nothing has “wowed” the crowds quite like a fastball coming in at 70mph+. There is no doubt that a pitch thrown that hard (by the likes of Monica Abbott, Rachel Garcia, and Montana Fouts for example) will turn the heads of every Power 5 collegiate program in the nation. If you also have total control over the location of that 70 mph+ pitch, like Abbott, Garcia, and Fouts do, you have the potential to be one of the elite. But there are VERY few pitchers who will ever be able to hit 70+. So the new kid in school that is garnering all of the attention is “the movement pitcher.” And not just any movement pitcher, the one who amasses swings and misses with regularity. And creating true movement on a pitch (that will cause many hitters to swing and miss) is a skill that any pitcher can learn.

I want you to read that last sentence again: “Creating true movement on a pitch (that will cause many hitters to swing and miss) is a skill that any pitcher can learn. “

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Can't Throw a Strike? Try This.

Can't Throw a Strike? Try This.

If you're wondering why your pitchers keep throwing inside or why so many players are charging the mound on her, a bad arm circle is likely the culprit. 

Poor accuracy most commonly comes from an arm circle that is off-line and varies every time.  To be a consistently accurate pitcher mechanics must be exactly the same pitch after pitch.  You can accomplish this by building a simple easily-repeatable motion (come to lessons) and then try to duplicate it outside of games (practice).

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Let's Talk Pitching With A College Coach!

Let's Talk Pitching With A College Coach!

If you have followed some of my blog articles in the past, you may remember that my cousin Erica, Head Coach at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, is also a former high school and collegiate pitcher like myself. She and I have a lot of great conversations, especially surrounding pitching: development, fundamentals, coaching, training, recruiting. Erica was interviewed by NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) Director of Education, Joanna Lane

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How To Be Obsessed With Your Little League

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

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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14 Common Misconceptions About Pitching - Part 3 of 3

14 Common Misconceptions About Pitching - Part 3 of 3

In the last 10 years, only one team in the DI WCWS had pitchers from Illinois on it. As far as high school competition, the IHSA used to have a state bracket in which the winner of the city tournament went directly downstate. Unfortunately, the city schools lost too many games by too much of a margin, so they began to mix the city conference with the near suburbs to make the championships more competitive. The city's conference is improving though, with Marist winning 3 state championships since 2010 and a few schools sending players to university with softball scholarships.


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14 Common Misconceptions About Pitching - Part 2

14 Common Misconceptions About Pitching - Part 2

If I don’t get to pitch on my current team I’m probably not a good pitcher. I will quit pitching.


Coach Andrea tells a great story about not getting to pitch on her high school team. They had an outstanding pitcher who ended up getting a D1 scholarship. Consequently, Coach Andrea never got mound time on her high school team. When the yearly team awards came out, she won “best outfielder.”

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14 Common Misconceptions About Pitching

14 Common Misconceptions About Pitching

Slow it down to get a strike, pitching lessons are only for serious pitchers, and you have to master a fastball first.

These are concepts which most beginners believe to be true - but many are simple misconceptions. So much of windmill pitching is counter-intuitive. The culture of pitching in Illinois is misunderstood.

Here are 14 things that are not true about softball pitching.


  1. Lessons (learning to pitch) are only for serious pitchers.

A parent thinks his or her daughter simply needs to throw more strikes. If she slows down and focuses, she’ll get better, they think. First, focus on accuracy, and she can speed up as she gets better.

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Do You Have A Clueless Coach?

Do You Have A Clueless Coach?

I’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.

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More Survival Tips for Parent Catchers

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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Become a Movement Pitch Expert by Doing This

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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