Why the NPF is struggling
I think I have a pretty good idea of why the NPF is struggling to stay alive. At a fastpitch pitching clinic I was conducting last night, I asked a total of 40 girls if they knew who Michele Smith is. Nothing but blank stares. Ok, I can understand that. Although I think she is awesome, her greatest visibility here in the US was when many of them were still in diapers.
Then I asked if they knew who Cat Osterman is. You know, the Cat who was a star in the last WCWS and who pitched the US to a title in the World Cup. Maybe three hands got raised.
These are two of the biggest names in the game, and there has been a lot of publicity surrounding Cat joining the Rockford Thunder. Yet none of the girls who ought to be looking up to her and bugging their parents to buy tickets to go see her knew who she was.
The NPF is doing what it can to try to build visibility, and most of the players have been very generous with their time through it all. Certainly a lot more than their male counterparts in baseball. Yet somehow there’s still a disconnect, even with the big stars. I’m not sure what the answer is. Maybe it’s a losing cause, i.e. maybe girls overall just aren’t that interested in being spectators at a sporting event, or don’t identify with female players the way boys do with male players.
In any case, someone smarter than me is going to have to figure out how to get young girls identifying with these players and desiring to go see them, or else professional softball will be going the way of Olympic softball in 2012.
The quality of high school softball
Allow me to open this discussion by stating that this is not a slam against any one school. If I wanted to do that I could certainly find sneakier and nastier ways to do that. No, instead this is more a general statement based on data points I’m receiving from several high schools in the suburban Chicago area.
There has always been a perception in the softball world that high school softball sucks is not as high a caliber as travel ball. This perception is generally born out by reality. Lately, though, it seems like the situation has deteriorated to the point where you’re more likely to see a good game at a local rec league than you are at anything below the varsity level. And even in then, in some cases.
I am hearing more and more about teams at sizeable schools that are only carrying 12 varsity players. Not because they’re being selective, but that’s all the players they can afford to have there if they want to field teams at the JV and freshman levels. Some schools, unable to field both a freshman and a JV team, are combining the two to make one big team. You have to figure in that case that you will have roughly 9-10 kids who play all the time, and an equal number who basically get to go to the games, shiver in the cold, and watch from a bench that homeless people wouldn’t sit on by choice.
While I suppose there has always been some element of this, it seems like the primary criteria for making a high school team these days is the ability to fog a mirror. That’s how desperate many schools are for players.
What’s the cause of this dearth of players? Hard to say. Certainly a part of it is competition from other sports, especially during the summer when girls should be building their interest in and love for the game. But now indoor sports such as volleyball and basketball are going year-round. Those who have a talent for those sports seem to feel they need to specialize earlier, so they drop out of softball when their tournaments conflict. Yes, there is indoor softball too, but it’s expensive and relatively pointless. It can also be tough to field a team during the winter months.
Inadequate coaching at all levels is likely another cause. In the rec leagues it’s hard to find parents who will coach a team, much less one that knows what he/she is doing. Practices are boring, skills don’t improve, games are slow, and ultimately the girls move on to other activities that are more fun. The good coaches who are there suffer for the sins of the others, as well as suffering one or more players who are just there for the social aspects.
Travel ball coaches, driven by their need to prove they are every bit as good a coach as Mike Candrea or Sue Enquist, schedule softball activities for every waking minute of the summer. Every weekend it’s another tournament, every day during the week it’s a practice or a practice game, until all the joy is taken out of it. Softball becomes more a job than a fun activity. Then there are the screamers who expect little 12 year old Suzy to execute against the ground ball the same way Lovie Jung does.
Finally, we have the high school coaching staff. Again, some are good and dedicated, but others are just teachers looking to supplement their paychecks. The biggest problem is the feudal system involved in high school sports. Coaches are accountable to the athletic director, but as long as they stay on his/her good side that’s about it. They’re free to place players at levels according to their whims, and play or not play them that way as well. While that’s true for any coach, the difference in high school is there is no recourse. If you don’t like what’s going on, your choices are to move or enter a private school. Neither is very practical for the majority. As kids feel they have been treated unfairly the word spreads, and soon you have a softball program headed for the death spiral.
What’s the answer? I think at all levels we have to remember that our job is not just to lead the players in our care but also to serve them. Coaches need to build relationships with their players as people rather than chess pieces to throw out onto the field. High schools need to build programs that treat the freshmen as well as they treat the varsity, rather than setting up a caste system; that includes hiring competent, experienced coaches for the lower levels. And when I say experienced I mean coaches with coaching experience, not just playing experience. There really is a difference, as anyone who has played for a former player/no coaching experience type can tell you.
High school softball is suffering and from what I’m seeing and hearing the situation is getting worse, not better. We need to find a way to get more girls involved at an earlier age, and then build an experience that doesn’t drive them off when they get there. If not, soon we’ll be seeing summer teams that practice all spring, because their girls would rather do that than suffer another season of frustration and bad feelings.
Why I love this (coaching) job
Last night I had one of those moments that makes it all worthwhile. A couple of weeks ago I had a new student start. Her dad brought her to me for a sample lesson after she’d been with another pitching coach for three years. He said in that time he hadn’t seen her progress.
I had her throw a few pitches and said I could see why. The mechanics she’d been taught were not really in line with what we know now. It looked like it was the theories of 10+ years ago — particularly how she was working so hard to “close the door.” Most of her pitches were in the dirt and inside off the plate, and so-called movement pitches all had a basic 12-6 spin. I told them what I would do if she came to me and explained why. The next day they set up some regular lessons.
But it wasn’t an automatic. At first, as I worked with her to stay open and drive straight in instead of closing the door I could see she was skeptical. That’s ok — what I said totally contradicted what she’d been told for three years, and while she may not have been particularly effective with it she was comfortable with it. But she dutifully complied. After the second lesson I pointed out to her that while she was working on doing what I said in order to comply (rather than totally buying in) her control troubles had gone away.
Still, she wasn’t quite convinced yet. Her dad e-mailed me asking if I could point to some clips she could watch so she could understand what I wanted better. That may have been the reason, or it could’ve been that they wanted to see if my statement that what I teach is what the top-level do was really true or whether I was just feeding them a line. I sent a link to some online clips and told them who to watch and what to look for.
Last night this girl came in for her lesson and she was spot-on with what I wanted her to do. Well, every now and then she went back to the old ways but I’d say 97% were the right mechanics. That effort was rewarded with excellent control and speed. We worked on her changeup, improving that, and got her going on a true screwball — one that spins in toward a hitter rather than 12-6 as she’d been throwing before. She was quite thrilled with the progress and now totally enthused with what we’re doing.
I have to say it made my night. This girl has some talent, and with a lot of work and some proper instruction she should do well. It’s fun when it all comes together.
Flattening out the bat
It’s an inescapable fact that the earlier in an athletic movement a mistake occurs, the greater the effect on everything else it will have.
That’s what is puzzling about the tendency for fastpitch softball hitters to flatten out their bats at the start of their swings. I see it a lot with girls. The second they begin their swings, their first move with their hands is to lower the bat head until it is parallel with the ground, or nearly so.
That’s a terrible mistake. You need to maintain a roughly 45 degree angle on the bat as you begin to rotate into the ball. Otherwise it’s a pretty random chance that you will be able to get the head of the bat to the ball. Instead, you’ll enter a condition called “bat drag” which is just as bad as it sounds. You’ll be pulling the knob forward, but the bat will not be getting into the hitting zone. If it’s a low pitch it’s unlikely the hitter will be able to get to it.
If a hitter is striking out a lot, or hitting wimpy little ground balls, start by looking to see if she’s flattening her bat before launch. Help her maintain the proper angle and you’ll see a lot more well-hit balls.
Some validation
Had a kind of fun experience over the weekend. My daughter attended a half-day pitching camp with Michele Smith and Cat Osterman at the local high school. During the camp, Michele explained the fundamentals of pitching, then she and Cat worked with the various pitchers to try to help them get to where they need to be.
Validation #1 was that what Michele said is what I teach. Not just mostly, but pretty much exactly. While I am confident in what I’m doing, especially with the results I’ve been able to help my students achieve, it’s still good to get that sort of reinforcement.
Validation #2 was what happened when Michele and Cat were walking around working with the girls. When they got to my daughter, neither of them wanted to change anything. Not one thing! Both said she looked very good and should keep doing what she was doing. In fact, the only change was a different grip on her curve ball, which got her pretty excited. She said it was breaking better than ever.
Of course, #2 is more a tribute to her than me. She did the work — I just pointed the way to it. But I was glad to see her get that kind of reinforcement from two pitchers who have achieved so much success.
By the way, Michele is an excellent instructor. Very friendly and approachable while being very knowledgeable. I’m not big on these one-day clinics, but if you’re looking for tweaks rather than learning from scratch, Michele’s is a good one.
It’s like being psychic
Earlier today I put up a post about coaching, and mentioned that being a good (or great) player doesn’t necessarily qualify you to be a coach. I was speaking in general terms at the time.
But tonight I heard what one of my students was told at a clinic that featured some NPF players, including one very big pitching superstar. You would think this woman would know what she was talking about since she’s had a lot of success.
When I asked her what this person said, the first thing my student mentioned was that the woman told her she should touch her hand to shoulder for her follow-through. Ugh! That is horrible advice that will likely lead to elbow trouble. You never want to force a follow-through. You want it to be loose and relaxed. Bill Hillhouse advocates finishing across the body. I’m not too picky as long as it’s loose and natural. Incidentally, this woman, who is still playing, has pretty much no follow-through herself. She definitely doesn’t touch her shoulder when she throws a pitch. But here she’s telling an impressionable young girl to do it.
She also told her to snap her wrist. Now that I know she does herself, but mostly because she has no follow-through. If she finished her pitches, as I’ve mentioned before, the wrist would snap on its own. Again, you’ll hear Bill Hillhouse saying the same thing, and he should know — he’s been there and done that for a long time.
The point is, don’t just take someone’s word for it. Even if they have a gold medal. Make sure whatever you’re told makes sense and you’ll have a longer, more successful career.
And your qualifications are…?
Imagine you are going into the hospital for a simple appendix operation when your doctor informs you that the person performing the surgery will be a youngster fresh out of medical school, with no actual experience but plenty of practice operating on cadavers. Oh, and there won’t be a more experienced doctor in the room, but they’ll be around if needed.
Or you’re being sued by someone for everything you have after a fender-bender accident and your law firm informs you that your case will be defended solely by a law student who’s never tried a real case before but did “really well” in college mock trials.
How would you feel? Would you be confident, or would you find a lack of experience to be worrisome?
Now think about what often passes for coaching in fastpitch. A recent college graduate who played college softball is hired and handed the reins of a team. Or a former college pitcher with no teaching experience is installed as the pitching coach, I guess under the assumption that if she did it she can teach it.
Well, gang, I’ve played musical instruments for more than 40 years, but I wouldn’t say it qualifies me to be the band director at the local school. Performing a skill and teaching it are two separate things. Many college pitchers are able to pitch, but they don’t necessarily know how they do it. And knowing the how and why is essential for teaching. Otherwise you may just be repeating the bad advice you received and very likely overcame in order to be succesful.
The same goes with hitting. Mike Epstein’s whole system is based on the idea of “Do we teach what we really see?” He contends that the answer is often no. Instead, we repeat what we’ve heard. Whether you agree with Epstein’s system is not important. But what is important is whether what a coach tells you to do is based on knowledge and experience, or simply something he/she has heard along the way.
Think of it this way. Suppose you’re a high school player who has taken hitting lessons for a few years from a qualified coach. You’ve had good success and improved each year. Now the new high school coach, fresh out of school from her playing days, comes in and tells you you’re doing it all wrong and should change to do it her way. What if you asked her this simple question: what are your qualifications for teaching hitting? What would she be able to say? That she played at Wherever College (a D3 school, by the way) for four years and hit .313 lifetime? Ok, that qualifies her to play high school softball. But does it really qualify her to teach hitting to others?
If I was hiring her to be my daughter’s private instructor I’d want to know how long she’d been coaching, what certifications she had or classes she’d taken that focused on hitting theory or how to teach, etc. If all she’d done was play fastpitch softball, with no coaching experience, I’d have to pass.
It is vitally important to the sport that we encourage players who have finished their careers to go into coaching. But it’s just as important, for their sake as well as the team’s, not to just assume that the ability to play equals the ability to coach. Instead, we need to mentor these young ladies, have them work with more experienced coaches, and let them grow into the position just as you would in any other business position. Otherwise we’re setting them and their players up for failure. And they won’t even realize it until they (or their players) quit in frustration.
Another cue for the backhand change
One of the keys to keeping the backhand change low and hump-free is maintaining a slight bend in the elbow as the hand comes through. In this position the ball comes through before the rest of the arm.
Ok, that sounds good in theory. But it can be tough to get the feel of how to get the arm properly bent. Here’s a new cue I’ve found that helps pitchers get in the right position. Have the pitcher bring her thumb across the spot where the hip bone and the thigh bone meet. In practice she can actually touch her hip area at that point. The arm will bend and she’ll be able to keep a flat release.
Pulling the head out
This is a companion piece to my previous post. The longer you hang around this game, the more you’ll learn all the “helpful” cliches. One of these is “keep your head in” or the negative version “you’re pulling your head out.” Generally speaking it’s true, but the statement ignores the root cause.
The head pulls out because the body stands straight up and the front shoulder pulls out. But no one ever tells hitters to keep their front shoulders in. If they keep their weight in and let the front shoulder get knocked out by the back shoulder on the swing, the head will stay in where it belongs. And the hitter will be able to see the ball just fine, because the eyes will be closer to the ball, instead of moving away from it.
Keeping the weight in
Had a chance to work with a couple of girls today on their hitting. It was two sisters, one of whom will be playing for me for the first time this summer. She played on my daughter’s HS team last season so I’ve been wanting to work with her anyway. Today serendipity prevailed — she was coming in as I was walking out of Grand Slam after teaching some pitching clinics. I watched her bat a round in the cage, then called her over.
I saw her doing what I see a lot of hitters do — swinging from the heels. She started from a good stance. But after that it was all hands. Her feet were locked in place as though Guido and the boys had cast them in concrete before throwing her in the river. This, in turn, caused a host of other problems. Her first move was also a problem — she’d drop her hands straight down, putting her in a weak position.
Being a natural busybody and serial coach, I called her over and asked if she’d like some help. She said yes, and so we went off to the side to get to work. I had her work on starting her hips rotating before moving her hands, and leading the hips before the upper body. We worked on keeping the hands tied to the back shoulder at the start of the swing, and keeping the bat on an angle instead of dropping it down parallel to the ground. Finally, we worked on trying to keep her weight/balance in toward the plate instead of winding up falling away from it.
It was just one impromptu “lesson” but it seemed to help. She started making more contact, and hitting through the ball better. Of course, now the key will be if she keeps it going. I hope she does, because it will help our offense in the summer as well as helping her individually.
Incidentally, her sister was doing many of the same things so I worked with her while I was there as well. Her sister seemed to get it as well. She’s playing travel ball for the first time this summer too, with our 14U team, so hopefully she’ll stick with it as well.
It’s amazing what you can do with a half hour and a willing student.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 