“Just throw strikes”. We hear this too often. Baseball and softball are quite different, but recently I went to a huge 12U baseball tournament. I heard the opponents exhorting their pitchers to throw strikes. I watched the team we were following blast 5-6 homeruns per game. Eventually our team found itself in very elite company, …
Tools have very specific uses. The wrong tool in the wrong hands can do far more harm than good. Inexperienced or poorly trained pitching coaches want quick fixes. A tool promises results and they blindly give it a try, never realizing that there can be very harmful side effects. Having been involved in pitching for …
Grab the wrong softball pitching tool and your next call may be to the surgeon. Read More »
If your kid has big dreams, you need to show her that you are behind her. I see far too many parents believing that they can “nag her to the top”. Be there, be enthusiastic, and know when to be quiet. Let her drive the bus. Be ready to get out and change a tire …
Three different students, three very different movements to start their takeoff. There are very subtle differences and you may not identify them immediately. What is the point? Every student will be very individual. If she has too much hip mobility, we need to work within certain parameters. If her hips allow her to be very …
What you don’t know CAN hurt you. Each year I help a couple of hundred new kids recover from injury from around the country. Just because you are healthy now does not mean that will last. Here are some important points.1-Most pitchers do not get hurt until they are strong enough to hurt themselves. You …
…won’t always get you to the next level. The greatest advice I can give you is this. You do not get “do overs”. Help her do it right the first time. Do not wait to see if the things she is doing at this level will take her to the next level. Focus on two …
Parents often come with great questions, but three of them might surprise you… not the question itself, but the answers. Here we go. 1-How can I get my daughter to…….(you can fill in the blank)? Wrong question. It is up to her, not you. It is her game, her goals, and her desire. Inspire her, …
Putting Your Teem First Yes, we know the word team is spelled incorrectly. It is not an important word in many circles these days so we didn’t bother making corrections. It is so overlooked that many people only think of the color of uniform when we say team. If you are missing the concept of …
Are you making pitching far more complicated and confusing than it should be? Yesterday I worked with a new kid, an experienced pitcher who came with a list of issues, including dragging on the side of the foot, leaning, stepping across a theoretical powerline, and a back leg that gets stuck. I told her that …
The bruised elbow in the photo is common among new students, but is not hard to fix. Watching an SEC game about a month ago, the announcers spoke of a pitcher who had a “freak injury”. They did not identify the injury, but a quick look at her next pitch clearly showed the issue. It …
A lot of coaches want pitchers to hide the ball. Is that important? It can be, but it may depend on the pitcher. Let’s ask questions that nobody is asking. 1-If you look at pitching stats historically, most of the greatest pitchers did not hide the ball, but took full backswings. But, they had great …
The sky came crashing down. One of my most promising students, it was around 9th grade that Courtney began feeling extremely weak. She fainted frequently. For almost a year specialists studied her symptoms, making little progress. Finally, POTS was diagnosed, with such severity that she would face serious challenges in everyday life. Softball was not …
As a pitcher the sky was the limit for Courtney Walton of southern Virginia. Read More »
Lessons we learned from the College World Series and the playoffs leading up to the event. That is the subject today, and there were many. We asked our Certified Instructors to list the things they learned that could help you. Share these with your favorite pitcher. Adrienne Walker-Chery, near Atlanta, had a couple of great …
Recent news has shined a light on a dark place in which many athletes live. What you do not know can hurt someone you love. The warning signs can be incredibly difficult to detect and, in almost every case, athletes who struggle mightily or even take their own lives seem to be in a great …
What coaches and parents must know about suicide and mental health issues Read More »
