Author Archives: Ken Krause
Leaning into the drop ball
One of the adjustments normally recommended for throwing a drop ball is to shorten the stride so you can lean out over the front of it. This sets up a somewhat downhill angle that helps get the ball to break downward. There are certainly those who say you shouldn’t change the stride length or body angle when throwing different pitches, but the truth is for most of the world these small adjustments make it possible to get the proper movement.
Getting the proper lean, however, is tougher than it might seem. Often times instead of leaning out the pitcher will bend at the waist. She feels like she is forward and over the front foot, but really her weight is more centered. A cue I’ve found that works is to tell the pitcher to look down at her T-shirt. If there’s something written on it, tell her to get the first word or words out over her front foot.
The effect is to help her get her upper chest out over the front. If she does that it will set up the proper angle. Then (if she hits the release point) she will be able to get the sharp downward break.
Getting the proper lean, however, is tougher than it might seem. Often times instead of leaning out the pitcher will bend at the waist. She feels like she is forward and over the front foot, but really her weight is more centered. A cue I’ve found that works is to tell the pitcher to look down at her T-shirt. If there’s something written on it, tell her to get the first word or words out over her front foot.
The effect is to help her get her upper chest out over the front. If she does that it will set up the proper angle. Then (if she hits the release point) she will be able to get the sharp downward break.
How legends get formed
Heard this one the other day and I just had to share. My friend and fellow coach Rich was talking to someone he knows the other day, and that person was telling him about their top pitcher. He was talking about how well she is doing, and in particular how she is throwing 63 mph.
Rich found that amusing as did I, because the pitcher being referred to is one of my students, and I had just gunned her with my Jugs gun around 54-56 consistently. She hit 57 once if I recall correctly. I’ve done this long enough to know that pitchers don’t increase speed by seven mph in a week, no matter how pumped up they are.
I actually spoke to the girl and her dad about it and found out where the 63 mph figure came from. It was off a Glove Radar. I think those are great little devices — I used to own one before the part that holds the lacing in place broke — if used properly. They’re good for getting approximate readings, and for comparing against itself. But you can’t take it for gospel.
It’s very easy to get a false reading, especially if you move the glove toward the ball as it comes in. Like any Doppler radar, it depends on sending out a signal, having the signal bounce back, and comparing the times. If you move the glove toward the ball you close the distance the ball has to travel and change the timing.
The dad and the girl laughed when they heard the story. They hadn’t put much stock in the reading at the time, and still don’t. But obviously others do.
Rich theorizes that people like to have their kids associated with top-level players, so saying your daughter plays on a team with a pitcher throwing 63 mph certainly fits that bill. There’s nothing nasty about it. It’s more a case of being willing to believe in something you want to believe. But the more these things get repeated, the more they become legend.
Hopefully it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. She certainly has the ability and the desire to get there. But she’s not quite there yet. Still, it’s funny to see how legends get started.
Rich found that amusing as did I, because the pitcher being referred to is one of my students, and I had just gunned her with my Jugs gun around 54-56 consistently. She hit 57 once if I recall correctly. I’ve done this long enough to know that pitchers don’t increase speed by seven mph in a week, no matter how pumped up they are.
I actually spoke to the girl and her dad about it and found out where the 63 mph figure came from. It was off a Glove Radar. I think those are great little devices — I used to own one before the part that holds the lacing in place broke — if used properly. They’re good for getting approximate readings, and for comparing against itself. But you can’t take it for gospel.
It’s very easy to get a false reading, especially if you move the glove toward the ball as it comes in. Like any Doppler radar, it depends on sending out a signal, having the signal bounce back, and comparing the times. If you move the glove toward the ball you close the distance the ball has to travel and change the timing.
The dad and the girl laughed when they heard the story. They hadn’t put much stock in the reading at the time, and still don’t. But obviously others do.
Rich theorizes that people like to have their kids associated with top-level players, so saying your daughter plays on a team with a pitcher throwing 63 mph certainly fits that bill. There’s nothing nasty about it. It’s more a case of being willing to believe in something you want to believe. But the more these things get repeated, the more they become legend.
Hopefully it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. She certainly has the ability and the desire to get there. But she’s not quite there yet. Still, it’s funny to see how legends get started.
Making the curve ball work
This one applies to the “cut underneath the ball” type of curve. It’s a little cue that has been helping my pitching students learn the pitch faster. It seems to be the key to success.
We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on leading the elbow, and getting it in front of the hip. It’s that getting it in front of the hip thing that has been the key.
When the elbow gets in front, it sets up the proper angle to cut not only under the ball but across the body from right to left. It helps get better side spin on the ball.
When the elbow stays on the side, or behind the hip, it tends to make the ball go straight. You may get the correct spin on the ball, but it won’t get the right to left angle that will help it break.
When you get in front of the hip, though, and get the hand underneath the ball of course, you can get the nice, tight side spin that leads to great ball movement. It’s a thing of beauty.
We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on leading the elbow, and getting it in front of the hip. It’s that getting it in front of the hip thing that has been the key.
When the elbow gets in front, it sets up the proper angle to cut not only under the ball but across the body from right to left. It helps get better side spin on the ball.
When the elbow stays on the side, or behind the hip, it tends to make the ball go straight. You may get the correct spin on the ball, but it won’t get the right to left angle that will help it break.
When you get in front of the hip, though, and get the hand underneath the ball of course, you can get the nice, tight side spin that leads to great ball movement. It’s a thing of beauty.
Keeping your head in
Sometimes in athletics there is a tendency to look at the symptom and assume it’s the disease. This is especially true with ballistic movements such as hitting.
A common statement coaches will make to hitters is “you’re pulling your head out.” This statement is usually made after the hitter swings and misses. What the coach sees is that head did not stay pointed in the direction of the hitting zone, but rather wound up looking out toward the pitcher, or perhaps even at the shortstop (for a right handed batter). The conclusion that’s drawn is because the eyes moved away the hitter didn’t see the ball well enough, which causes the miss.
It seems logicial. I know I used to say that to hitters as well. But if you talk to or read the research of the vision experts, they’ll all tell you that early recognition is the key to success in endeavors such as hitting. Most will also say that hitters don’t see the ball in the last 10 feet of travel either — certainly not unless they have followed a vision training program specifically designed to improve the ability to track the ball. So if the typical good hitter isn’t able to see the ball in the last 10 feet of its travel to the plate, what difference does keeping your head in on it make?
The answer is, it doesn’t make any difference at all as far as seeing the pitch. But that doesn’t mean the head coming out isn’t a valuable cue. It’s just not the one we tend to think. Instead, it’s a symptom of something else going on — the front shoulder pulling off the ball early instead of being “knocked” out of the way by the back shoulder driving through.
Try it. Getting in a batting stance and start going through a slow-motion swing. Let your front shoulder pull out on its own as soon as you start to swing. Now look where your head is. It followed right along. The symptom is the head pulling out, but the cause is the front shoulder, probably driven by an arm swing when it occurs in real time.
Now try that same slow motion swing, but keep the front side in until the back shoulder forces it out of the way. Your head will stay “in” longer, and you’ll more than likely wind up looking at the ground in front of or close to you. Odds are you wouldn’t see the ball any better. But you’re now in a better position to attack the ball. And when you’re in a better position to attack the ball you’re much more likely to hit it.
The next time you see a hitter pulling her head out, forget about the eyes. Look instead at what the upper body is doing to see whether the arms, shoulders, and head are working together as a unit, and if that unit is working with the lower body to create great swing mechanics. You’ll be much more likely to be treating the disease rather than the symptom.
A common statement coaches will make to hitters is “you’re pulling your head out.” This statement is usually made after the hitter swings and misses. What the coach sees is that head did not stay pointed in the direction of the hitting zone, but rather wound up looking out toward the pitcher, or perhaps even at the shortstop (for a right handed batter). The conclusion that’s drawn is because the eyes moved away the hitter didn’t see the ball well enough, which causes the miss.
It seems logicial. I know I used to say that to hitters as well. But if you talk to or read the research of the vision experts, they’ll all tell you that early recognition is the key to success in endeavors such as hitting. Most will also say that hitters don’t see the ball in the last 10 feet of travel either — certainly not unless they have followed a vision training program specifically designed to improve the ability to track the ball. So if the typical good hitter isn’t able to see the ball in the last 10 feet of its travel to the plate, what difference does keeping your head in on it make?
The answer is, it doesn’t make any difference at all as far as seeing the pitch. But that doesn’t mean the head coming out isn’t a valuable cue. It’s just not the one we tend to think. Instead, it’s a symptom of something else going on — the front shoulder pulling off the ball early instead of being “knocked” out of the way by the back shoulder driving through.
Try it. Getting in a batting stance and start going through a slow-motion swing. Let your front shoulder pull out on its own as soon as you start to swing. Now look where your head is. It followed right along. The symptom is the head pulling out, but the cause is the front shoulder, probably driven by an arm swing when it occurs in real time.
Now try that same slow motion swing, but keep the front side in until the back shoulder forces it out of the way. Your head will stay “in” longer, and you’ll more than likely wind up looking at the ground in front of or close to you. Odds are you wouldn’t see the ball any better. But you’re now in a better position to attack the ball. And when you’re in a better position to attack the ball you’re much more likely to hit it.
The next time you see a hitter pulling her head out, forget about the eyes. Look instead at what the upper body is doing to see whether the arms, shoulders, and head are working together as a unit, and if that unit is working with the lower body to create great swing mechanics. You’ll be much more likely to be treating the disease rather than the symptom.
Using your time efficiently
One of the concepts I’ve recently picked up is the idea of setting a standard and then training to that standard. It sounds simple, but it may not be what you think.
Often times we as coaches work on perfecting things that don’t require perfection. We want our players to be the best they possibly can be, so we relentlessly drill them, trying to push the envelope of what they can do. While there’s nothing wrong with trying to be the best, there is also a point of diminishing returns.
Here’s an example. On our team we set a standard of fielding ground balls in three seconds or less. The reason is that Division 1 colleges look for players who can run from home to first in three seconds. We figure if we complete the play from the time the bat hits the ball to the time the ball hits in the first baseman’s glove in three seconds or less we should be able to get most of the runners we face.
The revelation is that once we can execute to the standard there’s nothing to be gained by continuing to work to exceed that standard, i.e. to execute the same play in 2.5 seconds. There are plenty of other things to work on to prepare a softball team. Once you can meet the standard, it’s time to move on to the next thing.
The other thing is setting priorities. How much time have you spent working on the 6-4-3 (SS-2B-1
double play? The right answer should be not much. That’s a tough one to pull off with 60 foot bases. You need the right combination of things to go exactly right, e.g. a sharply hit ground ball to the SS and a pretty slow batter/runner. I’m not saying it’s impossible because I’ve seen it done. But the odds aren’t very good. So if you can pull that play off one time out of every 50 there’s a runner on first with fewer than two outs, it tells you that you shouldn’t spend more than 1/50th of your time working on it. If that. You’d be a lot better off working on plays you stand a much better chance of being able to complete with regularity.
There are only so many hours available to you to practice. The more time you spend on trying to exceed standards or on situations that don’t come up very often, the less time you have to spend on bringing other aspects of your game up to standard. It’s better to do a lot of things well than a few things great.
Often times we as coaches work on perfecting things that don’t require perfection. We want our players to be the best they possibly can be, so we relentlessly drill them, trying to push the envelope of what they can do. While there’s nothing wrong with trying to be the best, there is also a point of diminishing returns.
Here’s an example. On our team we set a standard of fielding ground balls in three seconds or less. The reason is that Division 1 colleges look for players who can run from home to first in three seconds. We figure if we complete the play from the time the bat hits the ball to the time the ball hits in the first baseman’s glove in three seconds or less we should be able to get most of the runners we face.
The revelation is that once we can execute to the standard there’s nothing to be gained by continuing to work to exceed that standard, i.e. to execute the same play in 2.5 seconds. There are plenty of other things to work on to prepare a softball team. Once you can meet the standard, it’s time to move on to the next thing.
The other thing is setting priorities. How much time have you spent working on the 6-4-3 (SS-2B-1
double play? The right answer should be not much. That’s a tough one to pull off with 60 foot bases. You need the right combination of things to go exactly right, e.g. a sharply hit ground ball to the SS and a pretty slow batter/runner. I’m not saying it’s impossible because I’ve seen it done. But the odds aren’t very good. So if you can pull that play off one time out of every 50 there’s a runner on first with fewer than two outs, it tells you that you shouldn’t spend more than 1/50th of your time working on it. If that. You’d be a lot better off working on plays you stand a much better chance of being able to complete with regularity.There are only so many hours available to you to practice. The more time you spend on trying to exceed standards or on situations that don’t come up very often, the less time you have to spend on bringing other aspects of your game up to standard. It’s better to do a lot of things well than a few things great.
Good things take time
Saw something in Bobby Simpson’s Thoughts for Tuesday e-mail yesterday that I just had to share. Bobby is the owner of Higher Ground, and has served as a baseball and softball coach, most recently with the National team in Great Britain. He is also a fellow columnist in Softball Magazine.
In any case, Bobby likes to send out short e-mails on a variety of topics. Some are technical, but most are more of the inspirational or “think about this” type. Fair warning: Bobby is a religious sort and that definitely comes through in many of his materials. But he’s not obnoxious about it, so even if that kind of thing bothers you it shouldn’t get in the way of taking advantage of his knowledge.
This week he told the following story. I think it’s a tremendous perspective on what it takes to be successful, brilliant in its simplicity. Here it is:
“Our interim pastor told a terrific story a week ago and I want to share it with you because it applies to softball, baseball, other sports, business, math classes, and life in general. He said that a little boy in the western part of Africa gave a very beautiful shell to a missionary as an offering. Knowing that the shell came from a beach quite far from the village, the missionary said, ‘You had to walk 15-20 miles roundtrip to the beach to get this shell. That’s a very long walk.’ The little boy replied, ‘Long walk part of gift.’
“Too often, we want to get something valuable and not pay the price. We want ‘something for nothing.’ We want the free lunch, the magic pill, the drive-through, microwave, zappable success. We must realize that success normally comes from a sacrificial, long-walk journey and not from some instantized magic. Part of the talent or so-called gift that we see in skilled performance is the long walk to get there.”
That is unquestionably true. Every softball team goes into every season, every tournament, with the wish or “goal” of winning it all. But how many are willing to put in the long hours of boring, repetitious work to get there? How many coaches want their teams to win, but aren’t willing to invest the time to keep up with new developments in the sport, so they’re sure that what they’re teaching is what will take the team where it says it wants to go?
On some levels fastpitch softball is a complex, difficult to learn sport. But at its core it’s not that tough. If you can field a ground ball with 99.999% certainty of doing it cleanly and successfully you will be successful. If everyone on the team can do their jobs equally well, the team will be successful. What you have to know is that 99.999% certainty can only be achieved one way — through a focused effort to get there. It’s never a short jaunt. It’s a 15-20 mile walk. But in the end, you give yourself and your team a beautiful gift that will last a lifetime.
If you’d like to subscribe to Bobby Simpson’s newsletter, go to http://highergroundsoftball.com/newslet.php. I highly recommend it.
Finding your hits with both hands
Something I’ve been noticing lately is that many hitters seem to have a tendency to favor one hand over the other as they swing the bat. Some will be almost all bottom hand, while others are pretty much all top hand. Neither is good, but for different reasons.
If you’re using all bottom hand, the result is often hitting weakly to the opposite field — sort of like a golf slice. The bat head never gets delivered powerfully into the hitting zone, and the swing tends to come up short. You can also wind up being a “back slapper.”
On the other hand, going almost all top hand tends to make you push the bat into the hitting zone. You can pull the ball, but you don’t develop the kind of power you ought to have. You’ll also have a tendency to hit “around” the ball, pulling outside pitches that should be going to the opposite field.
The best hitters use both hands in a combination pull-push action. As the body rotates and the back shoulder begins coming around, start pulling the bottom hand in an arc. (Forget taking the knob of the bat to the ball. You don’t want to hit the ball with the knob; you want to hit it with the fat part.) This gets the bat accelerating into the hitting zone.
As the ball approaches, the top hand starts moving the head of the bat toward the ball. It fires through the hitting zone, going all the way through extension, and then finishes.
A good drill to learn to use the bottom hand is to fungo by holding the ball in the top hand, tossing it up, and then executing the swing. Starting the bat in the bottom hand tends to force more use of that hand, especially as the top hand usually struggles just to get onto the handle before the swing.
For the top hand/extension, take an old bat to an empty field. Then go through the swing, being sure to pull with the bottom hand first. As you bring the top hand through, try to throw it through the (imaginary) pitcher as far and as hard as you can. A few attempts at that and you’ll get the feeling for using the top hand.
Using the two hands in combination, and the proper sequence, will help those weak fly balls turn into fence busters, and those ground balls get through the infield instead of to it.
If you’re using all bottom hand, the result is often hitting weakly to the opposite field — sort of like a golf slice. The bat head never gets delivered powerfully into the hitting zone, and the swing tends to come up short. You can also wind up being a “back slapper.”
On the other hand, going almost all top hand tends to make you push the bat into the hitting zone. You can pull the ball, but you don’t develop the kind of power you ought to have. You’ll also have a tendency to hit “around” the ball, pulling outside pitches that should be going to the opposite field.
The best hitters use both hands in a combination pull-push action. As the body rotates and the back shoulder begins coming around, start pulling the bottom hand in an arc. (Forget taking the knob of the bat to the ball. You don’t want to hit the ball with the knob; you want to hit it with the fat part.) This gets the bat accelerating into the hitting zone.
As the ball approaches, the top hand starts moving the head of the bat toward the ball. It fires through the hitting zone, going all the way through extension, and then finishes.
A good drill to learn to use the bottom hand is to fungo by holding the ball in the top hand, tossing it up, and then executing the swing. Starting the bat in the bottom hand tends to force more use of that hand, especially as the top hand usually struggles just to get onto the handle before the swing.
For the top hand/extension, take an old bat to an empty field. Then go through the swing, being sure to pull with the bottom hand first. As you bring the top hand through, try to throw it through the (imaginary) pitcher as far and as hard as you can. A few attempts at that and you’ll get the feeling for using the top hand.
Using the two hands in combination, and the proper sequence, will help those weak fly balls turn into fence busters, and those ground balls get through the infield instead of to it.
Expert, textpert, keep it simple
For the past few days I’ve been e-mailing back and forth with Ken Van Bogaert, a hitting guru of some note. He has produced some of the best hitting videoson the market. More importantly, he is not content to stand pat with what he knew, and is always seeking to improve the programs. We were talking about a couple of finer points of hitting, things we have discovered produce results. I’ll get to some of that in a later post. But as we e-mailed, the discussion turned to many of the online experts and the maxim of KISS — keep it simple, stupid.
It is amazing to me how complicated some people make hitting, pitching, and other athletic movements. They get all caught up in the most minute details, pointing out every little movement they see (or think they see) made by top-level players. For the sake of this post we’ll refer to hitting since that’s what Ken and I discussed, but it applies elsewhere as well.
What you see a lot of is scientific or pseudo-scientific jargon that I suppose is meant to make the person saying or typing it sound smarter than everyone else. I suppose if you’re doing a scientific treatment breaking down all the elements of hitting it makes sense. But if your purpose is to learn how to teach someone how to hit, it’s very possible that all that extraneous information will just get in the way.
One of my favorites is the focus on “scapula loading.” It is often touted as an essential element of having a high-level swing. I find that amusing. I’ve taught a lot of hitters to be successful (within their willingness to work hard) and have never once used the term or concerned myself with scapula loading. To be honest, every time I try to think it through I have to look up where the scapula even is.
Hitters, especially youth players, have enough trouble just grasping the basic concepts of what you want them to do. The more complex you make it, the more difficult you make it to achieve the results you want. Ken and I agree that there are certain basic things you teach, and there are a whole lot of other things that just happen as a result of doing those basic things correctly and enthusiastically.
I use a basic three-step instruction to teach hitting: step-turn-swing. Those are the most core elements to a good swing. Do them in the right order and you’ll be well on your way to success. Within each of those steps there are other instructions, of course. For example, just prior to taking the step it helps to make a negative movement backwards. Once a student has the core ideas down, we add the negative movement in there as an enhancement. If I understand correctly, that’s when scapula loading would occur. But if they make a good negative movement — one that is designed to help them move into rotation faster and more powerfully — they’re going to load the scapula as a result of trying to make a quicker, more powerful movement.
Coaches who really want to help their players improve should make an effort to separate the necessary from the superfluous. The further you get from the concept of swinging the bat in a manner that allows it to make hard contact with the ball — and in language that simple — the more difficult you make it for your players to execute the skill under pressure.
In his book The Science of Hitting, Ted Williams provided a very practical method of talking about hitting. He didn’t get caught up in a lot of biological jargon or equations. He simply said “make these movements.” And Ted knew as much about hitting, even back then, as anyone ever has. We would all be wise to learn from his example, and keep it simple.
It is amazing to me how complicated some people make hitting, pitching, and other athletic movements. They get all caught up in the most minute details, pointing out every little movement they see (or think they see) made by top-level players. For the sake of this post we’ll refer to hitting since that’s what Ken and I discussed, but it applies elsewhere as well.
What you see a lot of is scientific or pseudo-scientific jargon that I suppose is meant to make the person saying or typing it sound smarter than everyone else. I suppose if you’re doing a scientific treatment breaking down all the elements of hitting it makes sense. But if your purpose is to learn how to teach someone how to hit, it’s very possible that all that extraneous information will just get in the way.
One of my favorites is the focus on “scapula loading.” It is often touted as an essential element of having a high-level swing. I find that amusing. I’ve taught a lot of hitters to be successful (within their willingness to work hard) and have never once used the term or concerned myself with scapula loading. To be honest, every time I try to think it through I have to look up where the scapula even is.
Hitters, especially youth players, have enough trouble just grasping the basic concepts of what you want them to do. The more complex you make it, the more difficult you make it to achieve the results you want. Ken and I agree that there are certain basic things you teach, and there are a whole lot of other things that just happen as a result of doing those basic things correctly and enthusiastically.
I use a basic three-step instruction to teach hitting: step-turn-swing. Those are the most core elements to a good swing. Do them in the right order and you’ll be well on your way to success. Within each of those steps there are other instructions, of course. For example, just prior to taking the step it helps to make a negative movement backwards. Once a student has the core ideas down, we add the negative movement in there as an enhancement. If I understand correctly, that’s when scapula loading would occur. But if they make a good negative movement — one that is designed to help them move into rotation faster and more powerfully — they’re going to load the scapula as a result of trying to make a quicker, more powerful movement.
Coaches who really want to help their players improve should make an effort to separate the necessary from the superfluous. The further you get from the concept of swinging the bat in a manner that allows it to make hard contact with the ball — and in language that simple — the more difficult you make it for your players to execute the skill under pressure.
In his book The Science of Hitting, Ted Williams provided a very practical method of talking about hitting. He didn’t get caught up in a lot of biological jargon or equations. He simply said “make these movements.” And Ted knew as much about hitting, even back then, as anyone ever has. We would all be wise to learn from his example, and keep it simple.
The peel drop — It’s all in the butt
The more I work with pitchers the more it seems like the cues I use revolve around the butt. In an earlier post I talked about how driving the front knee out and up helps pull the butt (or in reality the center of gravity) forward, allowing a more powerful drive off the rubber than simply pushing off the back foot.
I will also explain need to keep the hips open until the arm passes (rather than slamming the door shut) by stating that in the war between butt and ball, butt always wins. It’s a more fun way of making the point that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, so if the butt is in the way the arm will have to go round it, causing the pitch to go somewhere it’s not supposed to go.
Now lately for the drop ball I’ve been explaining the release point by stating the hand needs to pass next to the butt rather than down at the thigh. If it comes past the butt (or hip) the pitch starts higher, allowing it to start as a strike rather than getting too low immediately.
Understand that I don’t necessarily teach the peel drop the same way as some other coaches. I’ve never much cared for the “slide the paper out” method. It seems unnatural and potentially dangerous to the shoulder to me. Just one man’s opinion. Instead, I like the elbow to drive down and the hand to flatten out so it’s palm down behind the leg/butt, like you’re trying to slap a hand back there. Then as the hand comes forward it goes somewhat over the ball, and when the wrist snaps it is adding that little extra bit of spin. If you use this method then bringing the hand past the butt makes sense.
Referring to the butt seems to be a good way of making the point and keeping it more fun. Butts are funny. Gotta go with what works.
I will also explain need to keep the hips open until the arm passes (rather than slamming the door shut) by stating that in the war between butt and ball, butt always wins. It’s a more fun way of making the point that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, so if the butt is in the way the arm will have to go round it, causing the pitch to go somewhere it’s not supposed to go.
Now lately for the drop ball I’ve been explaining the release point by stating the hand needs to pass next to the butt rather than down at the thigh. If it comes past the butt (or hip) the pitch starts higher, allowing it to start as a strike rather than getting too low immediately.
Understand that I don’t necessarily teach the peel drop the same way as some other coaches. I’ve never much cared for the “slide the paper out” method. It seems unnatural and potentially dangerous to the shoulder to me. Just one man’s opinion. Instead, I like the elbow to drive down and the hand to flatten out so it’s palm down behind the leg/butt, like you’re trying to slap a hand back there. Then as the hand comes forward it goes somewhat over the ball, and when the wrist snaps it is adding that little extra bit of spin. If you use this method then bringing the hand past the butt makes sense.
Referring to the butt seems to be a good way of making the point and keeping it more fun. Butts are funny. Gotta go with what works.
The difference a caring coach can make.
This story actually goes back a number of years ago. And for once it’s not about me. 
Up until the time my son Adam hit high school (he’s 21 now) he was kind of a shy, quiet kid. He didn’t make friends easily, and he was definitely “his own person” meaning he didn’t try to conform to the norm. As such, when he would get onto sports teams where he didn’t know anyone he would tend to easy not to notice. He had some athletic ability — not a stud by any means but certainly not a complete incompetent either — but most times the coaches wouldn’t know, because they were focused on the kids who were more aggressive and seemed more interested.
This went on until the day he got on an AYSO soccer team coached by the father of his friend Kris. Kris’ dad Jim Bauernsmith had worked with the AYSO organization for a long time, and really believed in the principles they espoused. He also knew Adam from his hanging around the house, which helped.
From the first practice on, Jim brought Adam out of his shell, gave him confidence, and set expectations for him. Adam had more fun the three years he played for Jim than he had in a long time. And it spilled over into his other activities, including playing baseball.
Adam played a year of soccer in high school, but didn’t much care for it. He had no interest in playing baseball so we figured his sports career was over. His sophomore year, however, he discovered lacrosse and eventually went on to become a starter on his high school’s first-ever varsity lacrosse team. He played hard and played well, and was the kind of kid the coach wanted on the field all the time. That was a huge change for him.
I don’t think any of it would’ve happened without Jim, though. Jim’s taking a little extra time to work with a kid who just needed some encouragement had a huge impact on his life. Adam is now in ROTC at EIU and is in the Illinois National Guard. He is a self-assured, confident young man with both a good sense of humor and a sense of purpose.
How many times do coaches give up early on a kid because they think it will be too hard to make it work? There are all kinds of diamonds in the rough out there. But you have to be willing to look for them, and to bend down to pick them up, if you’re ever going to find them. Take a look at your own teams and see who needs that extra pat on the back or someone to believe in them. You never know how it will turn out for you.
Up until the time my son Adam hit high school (he’s 21 now) he was kind of a shy, quiet kid. He didn’t make friends easily, and he was definitely “his own person” meaning he didn’t try to conform to the norm. As such, when he would get onto sports teams where he didn’t know anyone he would tend to easy not to notice. He had some athletic ability — not a stud by any means but certainly not a complete incompetent either — but most times the coaches wouldn’t know, because they were focused on the kids who were more aggressive and seemed more interested.
This went on until the day he got on an AYSO soccer team coached by the father of his friend Kris. Kris’ dad Jim Bauernsmith had worked with the AYSO organization for a long time, and really believed in the principles they espoused. He also knew Adam from his hanging around the house, which helped.
From the first practice on, Jim brought Adam out of his shell, gave him confidence, and set expectations for him. Adam had more fun the three years he played for Jim than he had in a long time. And it spilled over into his other activities, including playing baseball.
Adam played a year of soccer in high school, but didn’t much care for it. He had no interest in playing baseball so we figured his sports career was over. His sophomore year, however, he discovered lacrosse and eventually went on to become a starter on his high school’s first-ever varsity lacrosse team. He played hard and played well, and was the kind of kid the coach wanted on the field all the time. That was a huge change for him.
I don’t think any of it would’ve happened without Jim, though. Jim’s taking a little extra time to work with a kid who just needed some encouragement had a huge impact on his life. Adam is now in ROTC at EIU and is in the Illinois National Guard. He is a self-assured, confident young man with both a good sense of humor and a sense of purpose.
How many times do coaches give up early on a kid because they think it will be too hard to make it work? There are all kinds of diamonds in the rough out there. But you have to be willing to look for them, and to bend down to pick them up, if you’re ever going to find them. Take a look at your own teams and see who needs that extra pat on the back or someone to believe in them. You never know how it will turn out for you.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 