Embarrassing Mistakes, Patrick Murphy, and How to Muster Courage

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Embarrassing Mistakes, Patrick Murphy, and How to Muster Courage

Good things happen when you sit at the front of the class. I'm living proof of that.

When I was a kid growing up, adults and teachers would tout sitting in the front of the class as the holy grail of all serious learners. And it stood to reason that if you sit in the front of the class, you must pay close attention - as there is no one to hide behind and less opportunity to distract yourself without the teacher taking notice. And though I accepted this as truth, I didn't always like to sit in the front of the class. It's not always comfortable to make direct eye contact with the teacher or be "called on" more often, so I always thought the middle of the room was safer. But nonetheless, I knew that teachers wanted their best pupils to sit in the front of the class, and because I cared about being a great student, I embraced the uncomfortable and leaned in.

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Is It Time for Your "Battery" to Create a Code of Conduct?

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Is It Time for Your "Battery" to Create a Code of Conduct?

Knowing a team's rules can tell you a lot about their values. But just like setting goals, these values only matter if people follow them. Good teams make sure their members act according to these rules because it keeps the team culture healthy. When everyone feels confident and clear about how to conduct themselves and how teammates should, it’s easy to refer back to or coach people back to good behavior. I thought this idea should be brought into the parent/pitcher relationship. When I was younger, my dad and I did not get along when he caught for me.

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How Stats Are Changing How We Treat Teams

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How Stats Are Changing How We Treat Teams

The Practice Pro coaches and I worked with 13 teams in Pitching School this preseason. That means an organization reserves an entire class time, once per week for the entire session. What I like about this is that we have closer relationships with their team coaches, helping them progress faster. There is less confusion on 'my one coach said this, and my other coach said that, so now I'm confused and starting to get irritated.'

One of the team coaches wanted some information from me. She asked which pitchers had pitches that were...game ready, game dependent (depends on the day), not ready, but working on it.

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3 Ways to Know if You "Have" a Pitch

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3 Ways to Know if You "Have" a Pitch

As 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!

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How To Get Your Daughter To Practice

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How To Get Your Daughter To Practice

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.

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Will Illinois Ever Rule the Softball World? Master Indoor Practice First

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You know what they say about Chicago, “If you don’t like the weather, wait fifteen minutes.” Illinois is not known for it’s stellar summer sports, and we love to blame the weather. But sports are about overcoming obstacles, not using them as excuses. Our Big, Hairy, Audacious goal at Practice Pro is to make Illinois the powerhouse of pitching - with our pitchers competing on every team in the WCWS by 2035!

One way to do this is to make our obstacles our assets. Our cold weather could be one of our greatest assets as a Midwesterner. We do a lot of pitching into close nets in our basements. Pitching without a forty foot target or even “fake pitching” allows pitchers to throw with great fundamentals. You might have noticed that a pitcher can execute a fake pitch with perfect mechanics, but as soon as she gets the ball and tries to actually throw to a target - rotten they go. She reverts back to what is comfortable. She does what her neural pathways have been built for - incorrect mechanics.

If I could train a pitcher for a whole year into a close net without a target, I would. But 9-year-olds get fed up with that in about 10 minutes, unfortunately. So, if it’s freezing outside, and it’s very beneficial to not pitch a full distance, what are our options? If it’s snowy and fields are unusable, if indoor facilities are booked, if it costs $60 per hour to rent a cage, if parents don’t have time to organize and rent school gyms, what can we do?

Create your own practice facility at home! Check out what some creative folks have done to their basements below.

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If possible, set up a 7 foot net in your basement and pitch real balls into it. Add pieces of tape as targets onto different sections. Even if it’s not full distance, looking at different location varies your release point, improving “feel.” Some players have hung blankets from the ceiling to throw into. When ceilings are too short, they pitch from their knee to practice their arm circles. One pitcher rolled out a pitching matt in her dining room and just did fake pitches. I’ve seen a person attach a ball on a stick to the wall at different angles to practice movement pitch spins.

The second best ball-choice are compression balls, the third are any other type of ball. Lighter balls improve arm speed, heavier balls increase body awareness. Don’t throw full speed with a full pitch using balls over 9 oz. Some studies show the increased weight is not worth the (arm health) risk compared to the benefit. If you want to get stronger, lift weights, don’t throw heavier balls. If you want to get faster, get more of reps in.

Pitching into a net can get boring if you don’t challenge yourself and get creative. Based on what we learned during Covid, long winters, and feedback about practice struggles, we created and online practice club. We give you daily pitch-by-pitch practices that are fun and varied so pitchers will never get bored. If you forgot how to do a drill we’ve added short videos so pitchers of any age and experience level can follow along. We have practice groups for beginners all the way up to college-bound athletes. The best part is the motivation! We give out Practice Pro merch for those who complete their weekly practice.

If Illinois is going to be the pitching powerhouse of the country, we’ll have to overcome weather and space obstacles. We’ll have to show our toughness in a time when other parts of the country have sun, warmth, and space. We’ll have to be relentless in our pursuit of advancing our game!

7 Little Changes That'll Make a Big Difference With Your Mechanics

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7 Little Changes That'll Make a Big Difference With Your Mechanics

Have you plateaued on speed? If so, you’ve reached the point where every minute movement of the body becomes important.

When a pitcher first begins to learn, the speed piles on as she executes on basic fundamentals and becomes stronger. After the initial building phase we start to correct errors in lessons. One of the most common errors is a 'swimming” left arm. Luckily, it’s the easiest to change.

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You Did WHAT to Be Great??

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You Did WHAT to Be Great??

I want to be clear that there is a level above GREAT. That level is the ELITE level. And to be ELITE, you do have to possess certain innate qualities (talents). Sadly enough, most players with the ability to be ELITE will never get there because the extra effort it takes to get there is the same formula it takes to achieve GREATNESS, and not everyone “really” wants to do the work.

To measure GREATNESS more specifically, you will be in the top 10% of ALL pitchers at whatever level you compete at. ELITE is the top 1%. And to be clear, it takes an ELITE desire to become GREAT to actually achieve GREATNESS. This is the level I hope all of my students in pitching school are striving to attain.

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Golden Rules of Goal Setting

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Golden Rules of Goal Setting

I've grappled with the concept of S.M.A.R.T. goals, despite being a frequent teacher of it, as it often felt inadequate. The idea of a goal being both "reaching" and "attainable" seemed paradoxical. However, a few years ago, I stumbled upon a transformative solution. I began by crafting a S.M.A.R.T. goal—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Then I added a second, much bigger, long-term goal.

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Unlocking Team Culture: Innovative Ideas from the NFCA

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Unlocking Team Culture: Innovative Ideas from the NFCA

Last week I wrote about insights I gained about overhand and underhand throwing at the annual NFCA conference. At the conference, coaches are really eager for practical knowledge – the strategies and drills that make a real impact. They crave the kind of guidance that can be put to use immediately. However, I like to add in what's neglected - team culture building.

As Christian Conrad, the Assistant Coach at the University of Arizona, wisely put it, "Instill in your team members a sense of great self-worth, that each can be the most important on the battlefield at any given moment."

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What I Learned from Wasserman at the NFCA Conference

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What I Learned from Wasserman at the NFCA Conference

I want to share as much as possible with you, and there is too much for one post, so I’ll start with what applies to us most - the Wasserman High-Level Throwing program. We started this plyo-ball program for the first time during the offseason. Players experienced with pitching school completed the exercises every class, working on things like “separation,” “body awareness,” and “patterning.” I wanted to test this program and see how it went, then the plan was to go from there.

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3 Principles of Psychology You Can Use to Improve Your Mechanics

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3 Principles of Psychology You Can Use to Improve Your Mechanics

“Practice to get better.”

“Be mentally tough.”

Sometimes I take all the things I learned for the mental game of softball for granted. I think they are very obvious, but did you know they came from somewhere? Actual psychologists throughout history introduced and studied these concepts. They came to evidence-based conclusions about what works and what doesn’t. Their conclusions were so influential, in fact, that they were woven into the foundation of all our sports so much so that we don't even notice them!

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Undeniable Proof That You Need Spinning Pitches, Like Now

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Undeniable Proof That You Need Spinning Pitches, Like Now

In 2017 we were holding our summer camp in Forest Park on the soccer field turf. One of my uncle's students came. Uncle John has been a pitching coach for 30 years and taught me and many of the Practice Pro instructors how to pitch, along with probably thousands of other players from this area. He still coaches, and that year he sent one of his 9-year-olds to my camp. We had each player throw a few pitches at the beginning to see where they were at, and lo and behold this kid could pitch the drop, rise, curve and screw with perfect spin! They weren't moving, but having control over different rotations at that age was amazing to me. The body awareness and athleticism this girl had was incredible.

I had always taught 9 and 10 year old's how to spin movement pitches (from standing at the release position), and was able to get a few players to execute one or two of them. But seeing that young player at camp made me have more confidence in their potential and in myself as a coach. If Uncle John could teach it, so could I.

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5 Things You Should Correct: In Order of Importance

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5 Things You Should Correct: In Order of Importance

Do you ever think when looking at your player, “That looks funny, but I’m not sure how to correct it?” Or your watching your daughter pitch and you know about three mechanics pitchers are supposed to perform. You try to correct all three simultaneously and wonder why she can’t do it? How long will it take for her to change?

I’m writing this for beginner parents, mostly because parents of experienced pitchers have been attending lessons. They know exactly what their daughter needs practice, even if they don’t quite understand exactly why. I’d say the latter is a good-enough start.

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Get Pitching Power: Train Like a Track Athlete

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Get Pitching Power: Train Like a Track Athlete

From the age of birth through the age of 31, everyone told me I was a slow runner. My dad and uncle said I ran like I had a piano on my back. I’m pretty sure I stole less than 10 bases in 7 years. I didn’t even get enough momentum to slide. It was true, I wasn’t quick with my footwork.

The peculiar thing, though, was that when I was the ripe-old age of 31 I got a trainer who used to be a sprinter in college. In a short period of time he taught me how to run fast. Within a year I was able to run 3 one-mile repeats on the treadmill each under 6 minutes at 168 pounds, and could run multiple one-minute repeats at 14 mph. I was squatting double what I did in college and deadlifting close to 300 pounds. Twice I jumped up five stairs starting from both feet on the ground.

How could that be?

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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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