About Ken Krause
Ken Krause, CES, owner and lead instructor of Softball Success, has been coaching girls fastpitch softball for more than 20 years. He has coached teams from 10U to 18U with the Mundelein Thunder, Lake County Fastpitch and IOMT Castaways. He is currently a Four 
Star Master Coach with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), Elite Level certified pitching coach with High Performance Pitching, a certified Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and is certified by both the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) and American Sports Education Program (ASEP). Ken is a private instructor specializing in pitchers, hitters, and catchers. During the winter months he works out of area facilities including 5 Tool Baseball and Softball Academy in Vernon Hills, IL and Pro-Player Consultants in McHenry, IL; in the summer he can be found on outdoor fields all around the area. Ken has built a national reputation as a long-time contributing columnist to Softball Magazine, where he wrote Krause’s Korner. He is also the Administrator of the Discuss Fastpitch Forum, the most popular fastpitch discussion forum on the Internet, and owns Life in the Fastpitch Lane, one of the most-read fastpitch softball blogs on the Internet.
For information about lessons, please visit my Softball Success website or contact me directly at coachken@softballsuccess.com.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 
Dear Mr. Krause,
I’m the author of a recently published young adult novel Fast-Pitch Love, which combines girls softball with a teenage romance.
I’m hoping you or one of your associates will review the book for your Product Review section. Fast-Pitch Love reflects the two years I spent observing and interacting with central Ohio girls softball teams in both practice and competition. As a show of gratitude to them, I plan on donating my first three royalty checks (and perhaps more) to support their programs.
If you or someone else would be willing to review the book, I can provide a PDF copy at no cost. It probably won’t take more than a couple of days to finish it.
Thank you for considering my request.
Clay Cormany
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Hi Clay,
Sure, I will give it a read. You can email it to me at coachken@softballsuccess.com. Thanks for the opportunity to give it a look.
Ken
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Mr. Krause,
I have long ago given up fast pitch softball due to endless injuries (shoulder surgery as a pitcher) and am now just playing on different slow pitch leagues. Last year, on one of my co-ed teams, a male slammed the ball back up at me and I caught it, but as a result, it shattered a bone in my hand and also broke off the hook of the hamate. I had surgery Jan 5th and am now healed up for the most part. My season starts again in a month and practices start this week. I have no had a glove on since my surgery, and honestly I’m a little nervous about catching a ball again. What do you recommend to protect my hand and my incision area that is still tender, on my palm? I am not ready to give up softball yet and I am the pitcher on 3 different teams.
Thank you!
Sarah Lowery
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Please, Sarah, call me Ken. Sorry to hear about your injuries. Always sad when it takes you out of your favorite game. I’m glad you’ve been able to play slow pitch at least. Not quite the same, but better than nothing.
You might try using a glove insert designed for a catcher. Here’s a link to one I found; http://www.amazon.com/Champro-Baseball-Softball-Padded-Catchers/dp/B0089MCOQ4
As a cheaper alternative, you might also try inserting a kitchen sponge between the palm of your hand and your glove. That’s what a lot of old baseball catchers used to do. A Nerf ball can work as well – it will be thick enough to absorb some of the impact, yet pliable enough to fit in where you need it to.
Hope one of those options works out for you. Good luck, and let me know what you decide to use.
Ken
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Thank you. I was looking into the Shock Guard before. Do you think the padded glove or the Shock Guard would be better?
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I would probably go with the one I linked to above, depending on where your pain problems are. That one looks like it offers the most overall padding.
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I absolutely love how you give motivation through real life situations. You teach to not give up just because you are down and to rise to an occasion when necessary. I come here often to read your blog because i really enjoy it. Once again, thank you for inspiring.
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Thank you for the kind words. Glad you enjoy it.
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Ken, would you send me a personal e-mail so I can contact you. Thanks, John
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Hi Mr. Krause,
I am writing to you in reference to the organization I work for, Maccabi USA, a federally-recognized not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization with an extensive history of enriching Jewish lives through athletic, cultural and educational programs. We are currently recruiting Men’s & Women’s Softball Teams (ages 18-35) and Men’s Softball (ages 35+) for the 20th Maccabiah Games taking place Summer 2017 in Israel.
Would it be possible for you to help us publicize this recruitment on your website?
Thanks
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Hi Dakota,
Is the softball at the games fastpitch or slow pitch? Can you send me a little more information, or a link to more info?
Ken
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Hi Ken!
This is Amy Reyes from Mike Nikolich’s MKTG 470 class, and I just wanted to say great job on the content! Thank you for sharing your blog with our class and giving us the opportunity to learn by using it! It was nice to hear your speak to our class the other day.
Thank you!
Amy Reyes
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Hi Amy, Glad you’re enjoying the blog and the class assignment. I’m looking forward to seeing what y’all have come up with. Thanks for checking in.
Ken
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Dear Mr. Krause,
I work for a company called Bat Bob. We sell customizable Mini Jerseys and Dugout Gear Hangers, which holds bats, gloves and helmets right on the dugout fence to keep dugouts safe and organized. Please feel free to see more on our website at http://www.batbob.com.
I am asking if you would like to write a review of the Dugout Gear Hanger. We believe this product will help protect softball and baseball player’s equipment by keeping it off the ground and safe on the dugout fence. Furthermore, it keeps dugouts organized and free from clutter while protecting players from loose equipment so they can focus on the game. In return we’d like to send your softball players free Dugout Gear Hangers with personalized Mini Jerseys.
Please send me an email if you are interested in working with us. I look forward to the opportunity to doing business with you.
Sincerely,
Jason van de Zande
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Hi Jason, Sorry I didn’t approve your comment earlier or reply. I saw it, then got caught up in something, then honestly forgot about it.
I don’t actually have a team, but I can check around with some of my coaching colleagues to see if one of their teams might like to test it out. Dugout organizers have been around for a few years, so how is your product different from similar products on the market today?
If you’re still interested in working with me let me know. Thanks!
Ken
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Hello Ken:
I respectfully ask you to view THE P.E.T. an innovative training tool for softball hitters. Please go to our website and view, thepetllc.com. This product was created by Mindy-Jenkins Danielson an 8x All-American and Pan Am gold medalist. We appreciate your input.
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Hi Bob,
I am actually looking at this through two lenses. There is the coaching lens of course. But my day job is in marketing and PR, so I’m looking at it from that standpoint as well.
I took a quick look at the video, but it didn’t really tell me what problem(s) you’re trying to solve. I’m guessing it’s ensuring hitters drive through the ball after contact. Is that correct? If so, I think you need to spell it out. I’m a hitting coach so easier for me to guess at what it does. The average parent or newbie coach may not know. Don’t assume they do. Explain the problem you’re trying to solve, why the mechanical issue causes problems in hitting, and why your product does a better job of solving it.
Since the video is on a GoFundMe page, I think you’re going to have to do a much better job of stating the problem and why the product solves it better than other methods. For example, it looks like I could go to Sports Authority or Toys R Us for that matter and buy some sort of floor-standing punching bag to do the same thing. What does the P.E.T. do that those won’t? Why shouldn’t I just throw a basketball on a tee or hang a tire to solve the same issue? If you want people to invest they’re going to need to see some advantages that are going to convince coaches and parents they need to buy it, even if they’re tried the other methods before.
You might want to go for a more personal story too. What motivated Mindy-Jenkins Danielson to invent this product? Did she have a personal hitting problem that it solved? What kind of results did she produce? Yes, I know about her recognition, but how did the P.E.T. help her to gain it? As a potential customer I could easily assume she is incredibly talented and therefore would have received that recognition anyway. So that’s not very convincing. If she didn’t really need something like this, what made her think it was needed? Again, what problem did she find?
Those would be the things I would look into if I were your marketing person. You need to tell a story, and tell me how my players/kids will benefit from the purchase. If you want to improve your funding, you need to show a market need and how you uniquely solve it. In other words, if I help you bring it to market what’s in it for me?
Ken
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I thank you for your comments. They were very cogent. This product has helped a number of ballplayers in the St. Louis area and we can’t wait to help ball players across the nation.
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Hi Ken,
My 15 year old daughter is a softball pitcher and recently told me she wants to join her high school bowling team. She would be bowling 4/7 days a week and in pitching lessons all winter One of the areas she is working on is to stop kicking her right leg out like she is bowling”. Those are her pitching coaches words. I think it would be the opposite muscle memory we are trying to enforce this winter. Do you think it would be a detriment?
Thanks,
Randee Theile
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Hi Randee,
Nice to hear from you. It’s tough to give a blanket answer to your question because every pitcher is different. There is definitely a risk her bowling might reinforce the issues that are affecting her pitching, but it really depends on her.
If she wants to pursue both, she is going to have to make sure that she separates the two sports mentally, and that her brain is engaged 100% while she is practicing pitching. She will need to be aware of what her body is doing in order to ensure the bowling doesn’t creep in on the pitching.
Since bowling requires bending and pitching requires you to be upright, that would be the most important separation to me. Without that, there will definitely be crossover. She will need to work extra hard to make sure she is vertical, with her shoulders locked in place from the top of the circle to release so she can drive her power directly at the plate instead of swinging it around.
I presume she is being given things to work on by her PC to help get rid of the bowler’s kick. She needs to work extra hard on those things. She may need to stand in her room while she’s listening to music, watching TV, reading, etc. and just practice going knee to knee until it becomes natural for her.
In the end, it’s all about how hard she’s willing to work, not just her body but her brain. You know her work ethic and focus. That should tell you whether it will work or not.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions, or want to discuss it further. Thanks for writing!
Ken
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