Monthly Archives: June 2023
Keep Hitting Toned and Tight Instead of Flabby
A few weeks back I had a hitting student who was having a little trouble getting her bat to the ball most effectively despite her best efforts. She wasn’t hitting badly, but I knew she had more in her.
So, I told her she needed to keep her swing toned and tight instead of letting it go flabby. While that may sound like a rather vague instruction she knew instantly what I meant, made the adjustment, and started hitting bombs.
I have since used it with several other students and it always produces the desired results. It’s a language the kids can understand. But what does it really mean?
Basically, it refers to being efficient. A flabby swing is one where there is a lot of extraneous movement either at certain points or throughout the swing.
One example of flabbiness in a swing is over-loading the body overall or even just the hands. Pushing back over the back leg, or lifting the hands way up and/or back before bringing them forward is inefficient.
Casting the hands out away from the body as you start to turn is another example. That movement will make the swing take too long to execute, and disconnecting the hands from the shoulders prematurely will cause a lot of the potential energy to leak out before it can be turned into kinetic energy at impact.
In a toned and tight swing, the body load will go into the back leg instead of over it. I refer to that as “bouncing off” the back leg.
That will be a quick, easy movement designed to break inertia instead of trying to make it a power generator. The power generation comes with the turn.
If the hands pull too far back up and/or back, you’ve created a longer path to the ball that will make it harder to be on-time. You’ve also made it more likely that you will try to generate too much of the power from the shoulders instead of letting the lower body drive the swing.
In a toned and tight swing, the hands will stay close to the back shoulder (I call it “in the bubble”) until the lower body has turned about 45 degrees. By that point you will have a better idea of where the ball will be when it enters the hitting zone AND you will have a shorter path to get there.
A toned and tight swing will also let the lower body/core provide the bulk of the power while the upper body rides that wave for most of the swing. That’s important, because when you try to generate too much power from the upper body you end up giving up control of the bat.
A lower body/core-driven swing makes it far easier to direct the bat where you want it to go. Why? Because you haven’t generated early momentum with the bat that is going to carry it to a particular area before you’re sure of what area you need to take the bat to.
Instead, you can use the largest muscles in the body, which incidentally can do little to nothing to influence where the bat goes, to create power, while letting the parts that are closest to the bat guide its path more fluidly – and directly.
The result is a more effortless swing that efficiently delivers power more precisely to where it needs to go, creating more and better hits that will help the hitter raise her batting average (BA), on-base percentage (OBP), slugging percentage (SLG), and on base plus slugging percentage(OPS).
Can you say all that without the toned and tight v flabby descriptor? Sure. I certainly have.
But all the technical talk may not resonate as well. If, however, you tell her what you want and then add the idea of making the swing toned and tight it seems to get through better. At least in my experience.
So if you have a hitter who is struggling a little to get her swing more efficient, give this one a try. It just might work for you too.
Photo by Scott Webb on Pexels.com
Remember: Those Players You’re Criticizing Are Real People
This year’s (2023 for future readers) Women’s College World Series (WCWS) was another huge score for the sport. The TV coverage overall drew an average of 1.1 million viewers per game, up 6% over last year according to Sports Business Journal, while the championship game peaked with 2.3 million viewers.
What tremendous visibility for our sport! Yet as it grows in popularity there is an unfortunate, unintended consequence that comes with it: an marked in increase in harsh and just downright mean comments about the 18 to 22 year old women who play the game.
You see, with the size of the spectacle comes an increased dissociation of the player we see from the human being she is. When you don’t think of the player as a real person, it’s easy to criticize her based on the observer’s impossibly high expectations of perfection.
In other words, the standards that are often applied to highly paid professional athletes with years of experience are now being used to measure the performance and value of young women who are just beginning to come of age. That doesn’t feel right to me.
Yet it’s not just these high-level college players who are feeling the sting of these harsh and sometimes even troll-level comments, often delivered by people who never picked up a ball and competed themselves. They’re also being directed at lower-level college, high school and even younger players in social media and softball-related forums and websites.
Now consider that according to the National Institute of Mental Health, the human brain doesn’t finish developing until a person is in their mid-to-late 20s. (And for the people I’m talking about in this post it may never fully develop.)
What that means is you have unthinking people lobbing terrible comments at adolescents and young adults whose brains may not be equipped to handle them. It may not feel personal to the stranger making the comment – after all, these are just images on a screen or random players on a field to them – but it can feel VERY personal to those on the receiving end.
Consider the college player who makes an error at a critical time that contributes to a loss that knocks her team out of the WCWS. (It doesn’t cause the loss because in the course of the game there were plenty of opportunities to make that error meaningless, but happening when it does puts it in the spotlight).
She feels bad enough about it already. But then someone she doesn’t know has to go and call her out in a way that is rude and classless to make him/herself look smart or superior.
What the commentor doesn’t know is this young woman may already be suffering from significant self-doubt or even full-on Imposter Syndrome. That comment might be enough to put her over the edge to where it affects more than her ability to play softball.
Because underneath the uniform is a real human being with a real story and real feelings of her own. She didn’t mean to make the error, she worked really hard on her game so she wouldn’t make that error, but sometimes it still occurs.
Some of these rude commentators like to get even more personal about it because it makes them feel big. They’ll go into a public forum and paraphrase a line from the Mighty Ducks 2, saying a player with a larger body size would have caught that pop-up if it was a cheeseburger.
They may think they’re being funny, but to an athlete already dealing with body or other self-image issues, these types of hurtful comments can be devastating.
It’s not that they’re snowflakes, because in the course of their day they are likely dealing with a lot of pressure from all sides and handling it well. But we all have chinks in our armor, and that’s one that can end up ripping a pretty big hole if the player already has a negative self-image.
Look, everyone has a story, and even if you see a profile on ESPN you’re not getting the whole story. Just the part of it everyone wants to highlight. Like a duck on the water it may look calm on top, but underneath there’s a lot of churning going on.
Before you choose to criticize or comment on a player in a harsh way, stop and think. Is this the way I’d want someone talking about me, or my wife, daughter, sister, etc.?
Remember that all those players you’re watching aren’t just images in a video game. They’re real, live human beings with real, live feelings and all their own personal stuff they’re going through.
If you feel the need, criticize the play but not the player. It’s simply the right thing to do.
Internet troll graphic: Simplicius (talk · contribs); derivative work by odder, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Downside of Being a Multi-Sport Athlete
There are many benefits to being a multi-sport athlete, as has been detailed here as well as in numerous articles and athlete-driven promos across the Internet. The cross-training, the different styles of coaching, the different atmospheres, etc. all contribute to making a well-rounded athlete who can compete more effectively.
The old-school types in particular love to talk about all the great things that come with participating in multiple sports, and how they did it and it made them better all the way around.
But there’s a very definite downside in today’s world, especially if you want to compete at a high level. The downside is the time commitment required and its effect on the athlete’s physical and mental state.
You see, back in the “good old days” of multi-sport athletes each sport had a season. You played volleyball or ran cross country or did whatever in the fall. When that season was over it closed out and the athlete moved on to basketball or swimming or whatever in the winter. Then came softball or track or another sport, which was separated from everything else.
Today, however, every sport seems to be 24 x 7 x 365. A typical day will see an athlete attend a game for a school sport in one season as well as a practice for another sport that is out of season. Throw in lessons, speed and agility sessions, weightlifting classes – not to mention school/homework and possibly work for the older players – and it’s amazing these players can stand upright much less participate in so many activities.
In the summer they don’t have school to contend with, but often they have two or even three full-blown teams in different sports running at once along with the other activities. No rest for the wicked, eh?
What it often means is athletes who are never 100% healthy or energized. Instead, they are doing the best they can each day, but not necessarily the best they’re capable of.
What’s the solution? The ideal situation would be setting up a system where the governing bodies of various sports get together to set priorities.
Each sport would have a full-on season where they take the bulk of the time, while the others step back to a very limited level. For example, in the summer softball would have priority, and sports like basketball and volleyball would hold no tournaments on the weekends and perhaps be limited to a single practice each week. In fall a different sport would have priority and summer sports would be limited in the same way.
Of course, that’s never going to happen. The sports culture here in America is too tied to winning for any sport to take a back seat to others, even if it’s for the benefit of the athletes themselves.
The next best alternative is for parents to keep an eye on their athletes and set the priorities for them. Even if it makes them unhappy.
They and their athletes should figure out which sport is their priority and make that the focus of their efforts. They should then, in my opinion, treat any other sports as fill-ins.
Rather than playing club/travel for every sport, play it for one and then do the others for school or at a rec level.
Club/travel coaches can also help out by voluntarily limiting practices to once a week when out of season, with liberal policies if their players have to miss due to a conflict with the main sport.
This plan may not solve everything, but it’s a start.
The level of commitment required these days is just insane in my opinion. It’s time to change the culture.
We need to make it possible for athletes to receive the benefits of being multi-sport athletes without the detrimental effects. It will be better for them, better for their parents, and ultimately better for their teams too.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
What to Expect When You Become a Pitcher’s Parent
Sooooo…your daughter has decided that she wants to become a pitcher.
Congratulations to her! That’s a big step, especially given the importance of the position in fastpitch softball.
The value of a quality pitcher in softball is roughly the same as the value of a quality quarterback in football. While those roles differ, both can have a huge impact on whether the team wins or loses.
Because of all of that you are excited. You can’t wait to watch your wonderful, softball-loving daughter shine in the circle and feel the glow of admiration from coaches, teammates, and fans alike.
I know. I’ve been there – twice – and have seen those feelings in the eyes and body language of countless students.
But it’s not all sunshine and unicorns, even if your daughter is a tremendous athlete and a start in other aspects of the sport. So now that that decision has been made, let me clue you newbies in on what you’re in for going forward.
Parents of pitchers, current and past, be sure to chime in down in the comments about any aspects I’ve missed. It’s been a while for me.
The Time
You know that thing they call free time? Forget about it for the next 10-15 years, depending on how old your daughter is.
Because it’s a thing of the past.
Becoming even a decent pitcher takes a lot of work, i.e., many hours spent honing the craft. So while other parents gets to unwind at the end of a long, tough work day by collapsing on the couch, perhaps with an adult beverage or two, there is no such paradise waiting for you.
Instead, you will come home, change, maybe grab a quick bite, and then head out to a field, facility, and/or lesson so your daughter can get better. You see, pitching mechanics require a tremendous degree of precision and coordination to execute, and even the slightest variance can mean more walks than strikeouts, or too many hit-by-pitches, or too many balls left too fat in the zone resulting in big hits.
Not to mention there’s always another mile per hour or two to chase. So your “free time” will be spent sitting on a bucket and/or driving somewhere so your daughter has her best chance of succeeding.
The Nerves
Ever see a crowd sitting calmly watching a softball game? Everyone there is relaxed, chatting about the game or their lives, checking their phones for messages, maybe enjoying a snack or two on a lovely evening.
What you won’t see there is the current pitcher’s parent(s). That because the parent(s) are frantically pacing up and down the sidelines, or more likely somewhere behind the outfield fence, living and dying on every pitch.
Remember how I said in the beginning it’s a huge responsibility? As a pitcher’s parent you’re going to feel all the weight of that responsibility, probably much more than your daughter does, and you’re not going to be able to do a danged thing about it.
Except pace. And mumble to yourself. And question every pitch call from your coach as well as the umpire. Then pace some more.
You are basically trapped in a hell of your own making while you try to will your daughter to hit her spots, make the ball spin, or throw as hard in a game as she does in practice.
Eventually she will get there. But then you’ll just stalk up and down the sidelines or outfield fence and fret about the outcome of every pitch anyway. Because that’s what pitcher’s parents do.
The Fighting with Your Daughter
Learning to pitch is a long, arduous process with many ups and downs. As a good parent you want to see your daughter succeed.
Unfortunately, she may not realize how much work it takes, and thus will want to live the same type of life as other girls her age. As if!
So the two of you will fight about whether she can go here or there, or whether she needs to practice first.
You will also fight about mechanics. Because you heard one thing at her last lesson and she heard another. Or you’ve been checking the Internet for advice again and want her to try whatever tip or trick you just learned.
You will fight about what happened during the game. Did she try hard enough? Did she give up too many walks? Why did she throw a changeup to a hitter who clearly couldn’t hit her faster pitches? Why didn’t she throw home to force the runner there instead of throwing to first base and letting the run score?
And so on, and so on.
Fathers and daughters in particular will fight, because that’s just natural in human dynamics. The good new is, as tough as it can be, better to be fighting about pitching than who she was with or what she was doing last night.
Oh, and if you are also her team coach as well as practice catcher, get ready for many storm clouds ahead. It’s gonna be a rough ride.
The Money
So, you thought softball was expensive before your daughter declared she wanted to be a pitcher? Those will quickly become the good old days.
It starts with lessons of course. They aren’t cheap, and they have to be done frequently to get anywhere. Like once a week or once every other week (for a longer period of time) if you want her to gain competence quickly.
You will also need the ubiquitous bucket to carry balls and a glove in, as well as to sit on during lessons (hence the term “bucket dad” or “bucket mom”). It’s not required, but unless you’re a former catcher or someone who does a lot of squats normally you’re probably going to appreciate it quickly.
Then, as your little pitcher gets better, you’re going to start needing to purchase special equipment. It starts with a catcher’s mitt because your hand can’t take it when she starts popping the glove.
Then, as she learns to throw changeups and drops, you’ll probably want a pair of shin guards, and maybe a paid of shoes with steel toes. As speed picks up and movement gets sharper, you’ll probably need a catcher’s helmet too, so at that point you may as well get a chest protector as well.
As she gets better she will be sought after by better teams that play more often and travel farther to do it. Now you’re looking at thousands more dollars for the summer alone.
Eventually what started out as a nice little diversion ends up costing as much as a decent boat. But that’s ok, because you won’t have time to enjoy a boat even if you bought one.
The Heartbreak
It’s hard to watch your child struggle at anything, much less fail. But softball is a game built on failure, and nowhere is it more painful than when your daughter is having a tough time pitching.
Sure, it’s hard to watch your daughter strike out too. But that probably only happens maybe two or three times a game. But if she’s throwing balls and hitting batters when she should be throwing strikes, or serving up meatballs like she’s working at Olive Garden, it can be devastating to her – and to you.
Basically, a pitcher’s parent tends to live and die on every pitch. Especially during a tight game or one against a major rival.
So you may find yourself dying dozens of times during a game, and even a hundred or more on the weekend. And that’s just you.
Seeing the pain on her face during or after the game is tough to take. Yet you’re probably going to have to live with that pain for a while until she gets more experienced. If you’re not ready it can come as quite a shock.
Worth It?
So yes, the struggle is real. Which begs the question, “Is it worth it?”
That’s a decision you’ll ultimately have to make. Maybe your daughter will try it, realize how hard it is (and/or how much work it really takes) and opt out.
That’s ok. The team needs a center fielder too.
But if it’s something she really wants to pursue, in my opinion the answer is yes. Because she will learn how to overcome obstacles galore and the two of you will spend plenty of quality time together (when you’re not arguing). Probably much more than you would have otherwise.
Not to mention there’s nothing like the joy in your daughter’s face when she strikes out her first batter, retires the side in a close game, pitches her to team to a championship, and earns an MVP medal or game ball for her outstanding performance.
So if one day your daughter announces that she would like to be a pitcher, it’s ok to celebrate. But be aware of what you’re getting into and strap yourself in.
Because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 