Keeping up with the game
A while back I wrote about the willingness to change. In that post I talked about how players have to be willing to change what they’re comfortable doing in order to get better.
That thought applies to coaches as well. The worst thing you can do as a coach is get stuck in how you do things to the point where you’re not open to things that could help you and your players get better. Your methods may have worked for you as a player, or in the past as a coach. But if there’s a better way to do things, you owe it to your players to be all over it.
That seems to make sense. Yet that’s not always what happens. There are all kinds of coaches who refuse to consider anything that might different from what they’ve always done, whether it’s skill-wise or strategic. For example, as a coach you may have always bunted your runners to second when they got on first. But if your opponents are aces at bunt coverage and are throwing out your lead runner, or the pitchers are getting your bunters to pop up all the time, you might just want to change your game plan.
So why won’t some people change? Sometimes it’s ego — they already know it all (they think) so nothing new could be worthwhile. For some, they don’t want to admit that what they used to teach was wrong. That’s a form of ego too, but it’s also a form of trying to maintain or protect a reputation. Some coaches believe they need to be infallible in order to be effective. That’s not true either, but it’s what they think.
Those who are willing to change, though, can give their players an edge. Change isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary.
One thing I’ve changed in the way I teach hitting is more emphasis on a weight shift forward. For years I followed the standard fastpitch canon that said take a short, soft stride, keep the weight back. But after exposure to the idea of getting the weight moving forward from several sources, and seeing for myself how great hitters do it, I started changing what I teach. It wasn’t that traumatic, for me or for my players. I simply showed them what I’d seen, and told them I thought it could make them better. They made the change with little resistance.
Change can be trying, but it’s worth the effort when you find something better. Question everything you know all the time. You and your players will ultimately benefit in the end.
The most-printed post
Had to share this with all of you. One of the things GoDaddy lets me do with this blog is check statistics such as how many page views articles have received and what browsers are being used. It also shows which posts have been printed the most.
So what are people into? Is it a particular view on hitting, or perhaps one of the how-tos on pitching? Nope. Almost always at the top of the list is a very old post about Buzz donuts — the donuts with added caffeine (as I recall). Guess it shows you where people’s minds are. 
Practice v. instruction
Just completed the ASA ACE certification test, first level. Passed it too, in case you were wondering. I know I railed a few weeks ago about people being forced to take it, but hey, you do what you gotta do.
It’s pretty simple, mostly common sense. If you’ve been dreading it, don’t. Many of you could probably take the test and pass it without first watching the video. It’s on a par with traffic school — an online program I know well, unfortunately.
There was one question, though, whose answer I disagree with. Actually it’s the phrasing of the question. The point they’re trying to make is instruct/talk less, let the players do more. I agree with that. But what they ask is will players learn more by practicing, or by instruction/talking? Or something to that effect. Their answer is by doing.
That’s not necessarily true. You can practice a long time and with great sincerity on doing things wrong, and become good at being bad. Kids who throw with their elbows below their shoulders get to be pretty good at it, but it’s not a skill that will take you very far. Seems to me that poor throwing mechanics make you easier to cut in tryouts. They usually mean you blow a play at a crucial time.
Before you can practice effectively, you need quality instruction. Otherwise, you’re like most guys driving. When we get lost, we’ll troll around for hours rather than ask for directions. Eventually we get to where we want to go, but sometimes we miss the party.
Great hitting video excerpt on YouTube
One of the problems that seems to come up a lot with hitting is that the folks who are teaching it often make it way over-complicated. They put in a lot of steps, get lost in a lot of minutae, and ultimately leave the hitter more confused than when he/she started.
This video excerpt on YouTube does a great job of simplifying the concept of what is often called rotational hitting — using the big muscles of the body to rotate the body, and ultimately the bat — into the ball to develop more power. Ken van Bogaert does a great job of explaining why you want to use this technique, how it works, and even provides a little info on some drills to help develop this type of swing.
What’s particularly interesting about it is Ken doesn’t use clips of steroid-enhanced athletes to make his points. You can find those all over the Internet. Instead, he shows young baseball players who are still in the learning phase. While their swings may not be perfect, you can see how over time they will be well ahead of other kids who don’t learn these techniques. After all, it’s one thing to teach the enormously gifted how to swing. It’s another to get the same type of results out of the average kid who’s on your team.
The clip is there to entice you to buy the full video. (Fair disclosure: I was a consultant on the video, although I receive no compensation as a result of it.) It’s worth the investment, especially if you’re struggling to learn all the terms and techniques that Mike Candrea, Sue Enquist, and many others are espousing. Ken keeps it nice and simple.
The players shown are all baseball players, but that’s ok. It’s the same swing. The principles apply just as well to softball. I know. I’ve used them myself for years.
Bill Hillhouse and the PCM
I admit I’m a little behind on my softball reading, but I just read a great article on Bill Hillhouse’s House of Pitching Web site. It’s a rant about what he calls the Pitching Coach Mafia (PCM) and how it’s ruining the chances of pitchers to have a great career. He couldn’t be more right on.
Bill is a somewhat controversial guy because he calls it like he sees it, and doesn’t mind it if people don’t like that. As I read the article, though, all I could think was “right on!” He is constantly crusading against some of the bad techniques that are being taught by various instructors who may mean well but shouldn’t be teaching.
One example Bill mentioned is locking the elbow while pitching. I have stood in gyms where kids I knew were taking lessons extended their arms out as far as they would go, locked their elbows, and pushed the ball through the circle. They tend not to continue pitching by the time they’re about 15. Other examples are “closing the door” (slamming the hips closed), exaggeration of the wrist snap, and slapping the leg with the glove. Ouch!
One I’d like to add to that list is touching the shoulder with the hand after the pitch. The reason given for doing it is to make sure the pitcher follows through. But she doesn’t really. A follow through involves bringing the elbow through, not just the hand. Trying to touch the shoulder with the hand is a proven way to develop elbow problems, and it will actually make you throw slower, not faster. It will also prevent you from learning other pitches.
In the article, Bill also talks about the folks who know nothing about hitting but teach it anyway — which is why this post is also classified under hitting. Things like slapping the back with the bat make no sense at all, yet enough girls do it that somebody has to be teaching it. Bill says he thinks the hitting problems are worse because while not everyone feels qualified to talk about pitching a softball, everyone thinks they know how to swing a bat.
Be sure to check out this article, as well as others on the site. He’s a great resource to tap into.
A bit of shameless self-promotion
Alright, this is my fourth attempt to get this posted. There seems to be some sort of problem with the link mechanism today. And being able to link is important since I’m referencing something on the outside.
In any case, something cool happened for me over the weekend. I was asked to be featured as a Softball Authority/Guest Coachon the National Forum on Girls’ Fastpitch Softball blog. It’s a pretty cool sight with a number of interesting articles — an offshoot of the Softball Institute. The post before mine was a Q and A with Jennie Finch, so I’m in good company.
As part of the post I contributed an article you may find intesting. Check it out when you get a chance, and be sure to poke around the rest of the site. It’s full of great information. For those with Digg and similar accounts, I sure wouldn’t object to getting a few Diggs too!
Some ideas are universal
Had dinner with my daughter Kimmie and her boyfriend Timmy (I’m not kidding) tonight. Timmy is a competitive paintball player who competed at the national level in 2007, so I’m assuming he’s pretty darned good.
While we were eating he mentioned that he had read one of my Softball Magazine articles — the most recent on making the most of what you have instead of fretting over what you don’t. He told me it had actually helped him in his approach to paintball.
You see, Timmy is short and rather slightly built. He said he would often wish he was taller so he could shoot over the barriers, and that it bothered him he wasn’t. After reading the article, though, he started thinking about it and realized he is very fast, and can move low to the ground — two assets in the level of paintball he plays. He said he’s learned to embrace those things, and not worry about the height thing.
Now, sure, he could’ve just been kissing the ass of the father of his girlfriend. But he seemed sincere. In any case, many of us spend a lot of time worrying about what we don’t have instead of working with what we do and creating opportunities with it. It was great to see an example of someone who took that advice to heart and used it to improve his game.
Strength of the arms v. the legs
Last week my friend (and former assistant) John Parssinen sent a link to an article from the NY Times (I think) that explained an important consideration in both hitting and pitching. The article was about some advice that new Cub Kosuke Fukudome was giving to players in the Japanese industrial league as part of his farewell tour.
He was talking about how important it is to use the legs instead of the arms alone. He was talking about hitting, but it applies to pitching and throwing as well. Fukudome told them to imagine someone told them to stand on their hands. How long do they think their arms would support them? Then he said think about standing on your legs. You can do that all day, because they’re much stronger.
Hitters develop more power when they get their legs and torsos involved than when they just swing with their arms. I’ve never understood why anyone would think arm swinging is a good idea, but there are still plenty of fastpitch coaches who teach it.
It’s even worse for pitchers. It frustrates me to watch an otherwise good pitcher throw all arm. Some can throw hard for a little while, but they tend to tire easily. The arms are just not made to carry that kind of load. Pitchers’ arms need to be fast and loose, not tight and muscled up. That’s not to say they don’t need to be strong – they do — but the arm’s strength is needed to transfer power, not create it. That’s basic physiology. At best they can only add to power over the long term.
One last thing to keep in mind: Fukudome was talking to a group of men. Men’s upper bodies are far stronger than women’s. So if men need to use their legs to create power, it’s even more important for women.
Take a cue from Fukudome. Use the strongest parts of the body to create power and you’ll throw/hit harder and last longer. That’s the way Nature planned it.
You can never hear this enough
Tonight at lessons two of my students were very excited. Both had pitched in a tournament over the weekend and couldn’t wait to tell me how they did.
They’re both very talented so I expected they would do well. But what really got them going was the success they had throwing the changeup. In each case they got several hitters with it. One even said she was striking girls out with it despite the fact that everyone was yelling to watch out for it. I reminded the other one that a couple of years ago when she was learning it she said she couldn’t do it. She sure can now!
Pitchers tend to spend a lot of time in the gym. Sometimes they find it hard to focus, or to remember exactly why we’re doing it week after week. But after a weekend like they had I can tell you both girls were primed, up, and ready to work.
As an instructor there’s nothing better than hearing all the hard work paid off. It’s what keeps everyone going when there’s a foot of snow on the ground and summer seems a long ways away.
The three-legged stool
There is a fairly standard analogy in the business world called the “three-legged stool.” The basis of it is there are three elements that are important to whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, and all three must be both present and in balance. If you put too much or too little emphasis on any one area, or even two areas, the stool will not be stable and will not be able to fulfill its purpose.
In softball the three legs of the stool are physical skills, the mental game, and conditioning. You need all three to be successful.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the path that coaches follow. Many will over-emphasize one aspect to the detriment of the others.
Some will spend all their time working on physical skills. They will hit, field ground balls, chase fly balls, pitch, etc. until the cows come home. They may run a few random sprints at the end of the practice, but that’s about all they do. They won’t spend much time at all on the mental game — visualizing success, building confidence, controlling emotions. They may have success against lesser teams but they have a hard time winning the big games. Instead, they blame the field conditions, the umpires, the luck of the draw, or random events for their losses.
Then there are the conditioning fanatics. They read somewhere about the conditioning programs elite athletes go through and decide that they’re going to make their players elite athletes by following the same routine. Never mind that the elite athletes already had the skills before they got to the elite level, which is why strength, agility and conditioning makes such a difference. Of course, some coaches don’t know how to teach the skills, so they default to general conditioning drills and hope it will make the difference. It won’t. Conditioning may help you hit the ball an extra 20 feet, but first you have to be able to hit the ball at all. If you can’t do that, all the conditioning drills in the world won’t matter.
You rarely hear about coaches over-emphasizing the mental game. In fact, when you hear a mental game expert such as Jeff Janssen speak, you’ll hear that most coaches believe that confidence and a positive mental attitude are highly important to winning, yet they will spend very little time on it. That makes one of those legs very short.
If I were taking over a new team, and had limited time to get them ready, the first thing I would want to assess is their physical skills. Do they know how to throw, hit, field a ground ball, etc. If not, that’s where I would start. That’s kind of the survival level. I would also use that skill building time to start boosting confidence and an a believe that if we all do our jobs and work together we can have a successful season.
Once the skills were starting to come along, I’d start working with them on understanding the game better — what happens in various situations, how you make decisions, when to throw the ball and when to eat it, etc. We’d be moving from basic individual skills to using those skills in a team setting. That’s where I’d start introducing softball-specific conditioning. There are plenty of drills you can run, including those that combine two or more skills, that will help drive conditioning without sacrificing other aspects of the game. For example, you could have a player hit off a tee and run to first. A coach standing at first would say whether to run through the base or round it. If the player rounds it, the coach would say whether to continue or come back. If the player continues she goes hard and slides into second. Do that enough times and you’re building endurance, agility, and quick decision-making along with the physical skills of running through or rounding the base.
Should we get to the point where everyone on the team has built the skills and understands the game we could spend more team time on conditioning. At that point it could be the difference. Still, I’d probably expect more of that to be done away from the field than on it. Of course, at that point it would likely be a given that those athletes would understand the importance of training and would come to practice already in excellent physical condition.
Where coaches get themselves in trouble is when they do things out of order. They’ll focus on “brutal conditioning” first and foremost, then lament that they can’t hit. Of course they can’t — they haven’t emphasized it. What they miss is that softball is not a game like soccer or basketball where you can wear out the other team by running on them. There’s a lot of standing around in softball, and most plays are over in three to ten seconds. As my friend and fellow coach Rich says, on a home run you don’t get to keep running around the bases until the other team finds the ball.
Another thing they’ll do is push the skill level training beyond what the athletes can do, with no regard as to whether they are losing confidence in the process. Or they’ll believe they can berate players into executing the skills better. When was the last time you did something better because a boss yelled at you unmercifully while you tried to do it? It just doesn’t happen. Coaches ignore the mental state of their players at their own peril. Especially with girls. They have to feel good to play good. If you make them feel bad, don’t be surprised by the results.
Finally, coaches will separate conditioning from the other two legs — or use it solely as a punishment for infractions real and imagined. The right conditioning program can actually help build confidence and encourage competition. My preferrence is to include elements of speed and agility in skills drills, and then set up a competition at the end that has an element of fun. Last year our girls loved to see the agility ladders come out because they knew we were gong to have some sort of race or skills competition, and it would help end practice on a high. Sometimes those races involved running home-to-home while performing various drills. Separated from a context they would’ve brought groans. But because it was presented as an activity rather than a punishment the players pushed themselves to the limit to “win.” And that’s what conditioning is all about.
Again, it’s important to remember that the stool has three legs. The more uneven the stool becomes the harder it is to use it. Make any one leg too long and the stool falls over. Then it’s no good to anyone.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 