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 »
Any great pitcher will tell you that great pitch calling can improve her game by 50-percent. Poor calling goes in the other direction. Few things in the game are as misunderstood by pitchers, catchers, and coaches. Fortunately, in our organization, we have some incredibly experienced Instructors, over 100 who have succeeded at every level of …
Why success does not mean free from struggles and what we can do to help. By now many of you have heard the tragic news about Stanford University soccer captain Katie Meyer’s passing from suicide. When I read about her untimely and tragic death, I immediately had a gut-wrenching feeling in my stomach. As a …
The Threat of Suicide Among High-Functioning Clients; Read More »
A few years ago I saw a high school pitcher end her season early. During a pre-season tournament that was not important, she pitched game after game with temperatures in the low-40’s and an icy wind. By the end of the tournament she was popping Ibuprofen, but the shoulder was already in big trouble. Let’s …
She needs to be understood. This one is for parents and coaches. The chances of a great 12U pitcher still going strong in college are almost zero. The chances of a great 18U pitcher being the number-1 pitcher at a good D1 school are very small. Four or five pitchers almost always watch one or …
