For Better Hitting You First Have to Set the Table
The other day I was trying to explain a concept in hitting that is pretty important – the need to get your body and bat into the proper position before actually taking a swing.
I asked the girl if she played chess – an obvious analogy about getting all the pieces in place. No she didn’t, she told me.
I asked about checkers, which is not quite as complex but still requires some strategic planning. That was a negatory as well.
So finally, with Thanksgiving just a couple of weeks away as I write this, I came up with what I think is an explanation any young person can relate to.
Basically, it’s that before you can enjoy the great Thanksgiving feast you first have to set the table. I guess you don’t absolutely have to, but if you don’t you’re pretty much looking at a messy Viking dinner.
For the civilized world, though, you want to be sure the plates, silverware, napkins, condiments, etc. are all on the table before you bring out the food. That way when everyone sits down you’re ready to gobble up the gobbler (or whatever is being served).
The same goes for hitting. When the ball is pitched you don’t want to just start flailing the bat at it.
Instead, you need to start moving body parts into place – setting the table as it were.
For example, you’ll want to load in plenty of time to set a nice rhythm. If you’re using a stride you’ll want to stride; if you’re doing a no-stride you’ll want to start shifting the weight/center of gravity forward.
You’ll also want to start gathering visual information about where the pitch is going, how fast it’s going to get there, and if you’re more advanced what type of spin it has.
All of this happens before what would be considered a swing by the rules, which is when the bat starts moving toward the ball.
If you take the opportunity to put all of these pieces in place, you stand a pretty good chance of being able to feast on the pitch when it comes.
If you don’t, and you just start bringing the bat when the pitch is released, the odds are you’re going to look like a turkey.
The key is you have to know what moves to make before bringing the bat – that is, which movements are table setting and which are the actual swing.
Using a stride-based swing as an example, everything that happens before the front heel drops and the hips start to fire is table setting. You haven’t committed to anything yet.
Once the hips start moving forward in a hips-shoulders-bat sequence, you’re now into the swing. You can still pull off if you recognize that the pitch isn’t going to be a good one to hit, but you are definitely going after it with the intention of hitting it hard somewhere.
If you have a player or son/daughter who is having trouble understanding the difference between the preparation phase and the execution phase of the swing, try this analogy on him/her. (It applies to all forms of hitting.)
With a little practice his/her hitting line will start to look like a cornucopia of excellence.
Offseason Games: The Perfect Time to Try New Skills
Fall ball 2023 is now behind us for most teams, or will be after this weekend.
For many that will mean a welcome break from organized team activities (OTAs), at least until after the first of the year. For the rest, it will probably mean more of a maintenance schedule (e.g., once a week instead of three times) to give everyone (including coaches) a chance to unwind and refresh themselves for 2024.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the game schedule will come to a complete halt until the summer, or until high school ball kicks in for those who play in the spring. These days, the proliferation of domes and other large structures in the northern climes means teams still have an opportunity to get some games in once or twice a month. (Southern states just carry on as usual.)
So for those who will be playing throughout the cold, dark months of winter, I have a suggestion on how to get more benefit from these essentially meaningless games. Are you ready for it? Here it is:
Try something new.
Brilliant in its simplicity, isn’t it?
Wait, you don’t understand what I mean?
During the offseason many players work on new developing new skills. For example, a naturally left-handed hitter may learn how to slap in addition to swinging for power. Or a right-handed hitter may get turned around to the left side to take advantage of her speed.
A pitcher may learn a new pitch. An infielder may learn how to throw sidearm from a crouch on a bang-bang play.
A catcher may learn how to throw from her knees. A coach may attend a coaching clinic, such as the ones offered by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, and learn a new offensive strategy or defensive sets.
But then when they actually play in an offseason game, the slap, the new pitch, the new throwing motion, the new strategies, etc., get stuck in the back pocket in favor of what the player or coach is most comfortable with.
That’s a missed opportunity in my mind. What better time to experiment with something that could be very valuable next summer than when you’re basically just playing for fun or to break up the boredom of practice?
Back when I was coaching teams, that was actually fall ball. You’d basically scrape a few double headers or round robins together on a Sunday, or maybe if you were lucky you’d find a local tournament or two that would give you a chance to play beyond the summer.
Today, fall ball is basically equivalent in importance to the summer. If you’re of recruiting age it may even be more important due to all the college showcase events around the country.
No one wants to risk looking bad in that atmosphere. So even if they’re learning new things they’re reluctant to trot them out on a stage where they could embarrass themselves mightily.
Winter/offseason ball doesn’t have that same level of risk. It’s perhaps the last bastion of “who cares about the outcome?” left in our sport.
So again, what better time to put on the big girl (or big boy in the case of coaches) pants and try something you’ve been working on but haven’t executed in a game yet?
Sure, it could be disastrous. A slapper could end up striking out every at-bat, including in a situation that causes her team to lose.
A pitcher could try out her new riseball and watch as it sails into the upper reaches of the net, scoring not just the runner on third but the runner on second as well. A coach could try a suicide squeeze only to watch in agony as the bunt is missed and the runner is hung out to dry.
Again I say unto you, so the heck what?
Yes, it would be temporarily sad. But it would also break the seal on using those skills or strategies in a game situation.
It would become a learning experience as well, helping the player or coach do better with them the next time. Do it a few times over the course of the offseason and the player or coach just might have the experience – and confidence – to execute them effectively and subsequently become better than they were before.
Remember, if you do what you always did you get what you always got. You’re spending considerable time, and perhaps money, to learn new things. Those new things don’t do you any good if they never get out of your back pocket.
Take full advantage of games without real pressure or consequences to try out new things and get more comfortable with them. If you’re a coach, find out what your players are learning and make them give it a try.
Because that little pebble you toss now may have a significant, positive ripple effect for you next year.
Greatness Comes With A Cost
A whole bunch of years ago there was a series on cable called Camelot. It was yet another retelling of the King Arthur legend, although with a grittier feel to it.
Of course one of the key characters was Merlin, the King’s magician/adviser. Normally he is portrayed as someone who can wave his hands or wand or whatever and easily conjure up whatever is needed at the time.
But in Camelot it didn’t happen quite so simply. On the rare occasions when Merlin needed to summon up some magic, it took all his concentration and an extreme effort, which would often see him bleeding from his eye before he finished.
When asked about it, he would painfully reply, “Magic has a cost.”
The same is true for learning how to play fastpitch softball. (You knew there had to be a point to this story somewhere.)
If you want to be great at it, or even really, really good, you don’t simply walk out onto the field and start playing. There is a cost to achieving greatness – a price to be paid in exchange for the glory you seek.
Often that price is paid in time. You may stay need to stay after practice when everyone else is going home to get some extra reps in or solve a particular issue.
It likely will also involve working on your own, even when you don’t feel like it, to improve a skill that’s deficient or take one that’s good to the next level. (Often the second one is tougher to get going on than the first, because it’s easy to convince yourself you’re already good enough.)
The price may come in terms of missed opportunities for other things. While your friends are all going to a concert or an amusement park or a birthday party or some other fun event, you’re going to a college camp or a tournament or maybe even staying behind because your team has practice.
The price could be financial. If your family doesn’t have a lot of disposable income you may need to pass on that new phone or skip getting a new outfit so you can pay for team fees or a new bat or a college camp – anything that’s outside of the core fees.
Or it could mean you’re not able to get a job to make some “fun” money of your own because your practice and game schedule doesn’t allow it.
The price could be pain from a particularly tough speed and agility class or perhaps the result of an injury – especially if you’re attempting to play through it. Or it could be the feeling of being tired all the time.
College players experience that a lot. Between early morning lifting, classes, practice (team or on their own depending on the time of year), study tables, and making up for lost time in the classroom due to games they can pretty much be in a fog much of the year.
The cost can manifest itself in many ways. But there is always a cost if you have that burning desire to stand out on the field and do all you can to help your team win.
This isn’t just for players, by the way. There is also a cost is you want to be a better coach.
You will find yourself putting in far more time than just the couple of hours at the field a few days a week or even the 12-hour days of a tournament. There’s practice planning, coordinating schedules, managing budgets, talking to parents and players, and a whole host of other tasks to be performed while still trying to stay employed at your day job.
If you want to be great you also have to allow for continuing education. You’ll need to take online courses or attend in-person clinics such as those offered by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association as well as local events.
You’ll invest an inordinate amount of your own money on books and videos as well as training devices – even if it seems they will solve one problem for one player.
And, of course, at some point you will miss a family birthday, or a school reunion, or a work outing, or something else because, well, games. At which point the cost will also include the internal stress it puts on your personal relationships because “you’re always at some field somewhere” instead of where others think you should be.
So is achieving your goals on the field worth the cost? Only you can answer that.
The key, though, is to understand that there will be a cost if you want to aspire to greatness – or even “really, really goodness.”
Your willingness to pay it is where the true magic happens.
Magician photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com
Coaches: Remember What You Do Makes A Difference
Coaching fastpitch softball can be a grueling grind. The seemingly never ending games, practices, organizational meetings, fundraising concerns, educational seminars, late night calls from concerned parents. etc. can all take their toll after awhile.
That’s why coaching burnout is such an issue and threat to everyone who is crazy enough to grab a clipboard (or tablet) and step onto a fastpitch softball diamond.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work, not to mention the intensity of trying to help 12-15 players become the best versions of themselves as athletes and human beings. That’s a huge responsibility.
But underlying all of that is something else – something embodied in a great scene in the movie Star Trek Generations. (If you’re not familiar with it, this was the movie that handed off the film series from Star Trek the Original Series [TOS to you Trekkers out there] to Star Trek: The Next Generation [TNG]. I so rarely get to use the [square brackets] so what a treat for me.)
This scene takes place shortly after TNG’s Captain Picard runs into TOS’ Captain Kirk in a place called The Nexus, which is sort of a Field of Dreams for sci fi. In it, Captain Picard has been trying to convince Captain Kirk to come back to our reality and help him stop the bad guy who is killing billions of people in his attempt to get back into The Nexus.
At first Captain Kirk turns him down because he is perfectly content in The Nexus. No surprise there because it’s where your life can be whatever you want it to be.
But then Captain Kirk has a realization. (It takes a minute to get to the payoff in this clip but it’s worth it, trust me.)
If you didn’t bother to watch the clip, or weren’t able to, Captain Kirk’s realization is that while he was in Star Fleet he could make a difference in the world. Since he left, though, nothing he does really matters that much.
That’s what coaching enables you to do – make a difference in the lives of your players. And by extension their families.
None of us knows what goes on behind the scenes in the lives of others. So it’s easy to assume that everything is all hunky-dory with them, and that the face you see is indicative of what’s happening “under the hood.”
That may not be the case, however. I can’ remember who originally said it, but I once saw a statement that admonished coaches to remember that their practice might be the best part of their players’ day.
Maybe the player is struggling in school, or had a fight with her parents. Maybe she’s being bullied, or has had a close friend abandon her.
Maybe there is some food or housing insecurity in her family, or a favorite pet is on the brink of crossing the rainbow bridge. (Don’t click the link if you are in public and susceptible to emotional demonstrations.)
There could be hundreds of different things happening in your players’ lives. But when they get to your practice or game they have opportunity to set all of that aside and do something that makes them feel good about themselves and their lives, providing you’re doing it correctly.
The guidance you provide in helping your players overcome various softball hurdles is very likely to carry forward into the rest of their lives.
As a result, you can help a shy kid learn to make friends. You can help a kid who is always down on herself or feeling she isn’t good enough develop self-confidence.
You can help a kid who always follows the crowd (for better or worse) step up and learn to become a leader instead. Or at least learn to make better decisions rather than succumbing to peer pressure.
You can help a kid who has always been coddled and over-protected by her parents learn to manage adversity. You can help a kid with behavioral issues learn to work in a team setting.
You can help a naturally lazy kid develop a work ethic. You can help a kid who over-thinks everything learn to let go of her conscious thoughts (and fears) and trust her gut.
You can help a kid who feels like a failure learn what it’s like (and what it takes) to succeed. You can help a kid who feels unloved and unwanted at home to feel like she’s part of a family of sorts.
You might even prevent a kid from doing harm to herself or others. All while you are helping those kids learn to catch, throw, pitch, and/or hit a softball.
In other words, you can make a difference.
And you never know the ripple effect of making that difference either. Perhaps that kid you helped in some way goes on to cure cancer, or improve the environment, or become an elected official who enacts policies that make everyone’s life better.
Or even becomes a coach herself someday and pays what you did for her forward. Or maybe just grows into a great human being who has a family and/or contributes to society in some small but meaningful way.
All because you were there as her softball coach, making a bigger difference than you could have possibly realized.
Yes, coaching fastpitch softball, like any sport, can be a grind after a while. You definitely need to pay attention to your physical and emotional wellbeing if you’re going to help others. Just like how on a jet they tell you to put on your oxygen mask before you try to help others.
But when things get tough, keep in mind how empty your life would be if you weren’t coaching. Because as Captain Kirk says, while you’re in that chair you can still make a difference.
Make that difference for someone today.
Fastpitch Softball Returning to 2028 Olympics
The fastpitch softball world got some great news this week, as our sport will once again be included in the Olympic Games for 2028. I’m sure it comes as no surprise since the games will be held in Los Angeles and the U.S. is essentially home territory for softball.
Still, nothing is ever a given, so I’m glad to see our sport (as people like to say) will be part of the world’s biggest sports showcase. Hopefully we’ll be able to avoid another worldwide pandemic just prior to the Olympics so there can actually be fans in the stands to see the competition and cheer their teams on.
Of course, with every wish comes a curse. In this case, if past patterns hold, it means beginning this year USA Softball will divert nearly all of its attention to putting a team together to compete at the 2028 games and providing all the logistical support that requires.
The result is the youth levels (with the possible exception of the most elite players) as well as the men’s game (yes, for those of you who don’t know there actually still is men’s fastpitch softball too) will receive scant if any attention for the next five years.
Hope I’m wrong. But I wouldn’t bet against it if I were you.
In any case, as we look forward to watching softball return to the Olympics in 2028, here are a few things I’d like to see.
A new crop of players
Let’s be honest: as exciting as it was to see softball in the 2020 Olympics, it also kind of resembled an Old Timer’s game. Many of the marquee players on the top teams had actually participated the last time softball was in the Olympics.
No disrespect to those long-time players. They were and are tremendous athletes, inspirations, and ambassadors for our sport. I salute them all.
But there are many exciting young players who now deserve an opportunity to wear their countries’ jerseys and fulfill their dreams of competing in the most visible softball games in the world. I look forward to getting to know them throughout the games.
Softball actually be part of the Olympics
While technically softball was part of the 2020 games, the reality is the gold medal had already been awarded by the time all the other participants marched in the parade and lit the torch. It was kind of a slap in the face to our sport, in my opinion.
It was like saying, “Ok you can play, but you have to be done before the REAL Olympics begin.”
This time around I hope to see the games integrated into the two or so weeks that the rest of the events occur. Doing so will maximize the audience by bringing in more casual viewers (most people who watched softball in 2020 were us, the die-hard fanatics) and provide a little more validation of our sport’s place on the world stage.
Announcers who actually understand the sport and its nuances
Much as we love to see fastpitch softball on TV in any capacity, a lack of quality in the announcers covering the game can definitely take away from the enjoyment of the broadcast. At least for those of us who live and breathe the sport.
I’m sure it doesn’t bother the casual observer when, say, a high pitch with bullet spin is called a “riseball” when in fact it is just a high fastball. Or that same bullet spin ends up on the outside corner and it’s called a curve even though it didn’t break even an inch off its normal path.
But those of us who love the sport really would like to see a more accurate appraisal of what is going on.
To that point, I personally would like to see a little more honest analysis of what’s happening on the field instead of the boosterism that normally occurs.
If a knowledgeable expert in the booth thinks a team’s strategy is bad, say so! If an error is made because a player lost focus or made a poor decision, call it out.
That’s what the most popular announcers in all sports do. John Madden never hesitated to call out a boneheaded play (or play call) when he was doing NFL games. Bob Uecker made a career out of telling the (mostly) unvarnished truth during games.
That doesn’t mean announcers need to be hyper critical. But they don’t have to have the Pollyannaish approach we typically hear either.
If announcers call ’em like the see ’em, and make sure to do their homework so they really know what they’re talking about, I think it will be a better, more credible experience for everyone.
The USA change its offensive philosophy
Obviously this one is specific to my favorite team, and the host team, but the offensive approach in the 2020 games was a disaster. Mostly because it seemed to be stuck in the ’80s or ’90s.
It appeared to me that the starting lineup in 2020 was selected for its defensive prowess, as if the people making the selections were expecting a lot of 1-0 or 2-1 games.
Those days are gone. Better equipment, better skills training, better strength and conditioning, rules changes, and more have made today’s game one where you need to put at least a half dozen runs on the board if you plan to win.
That means no more automatically trying to sac bunt a runner to second when the first batter gets on base. IIRC, the U.S.A. team wasted its best hitter by having her bat in the two position and then automatically bunt when the leadoff hitter got on base.
When she finally got a chance to swing the bat she was putting up extra base hits consistently. Imagine if she had done that with a runner on first and no outs!
Having bats in the lineup also gives you a chance to come back if you fall behind. Playing the short game when you’re down three runs in the fifth inning just punches your ticket out faster.
The selection committee needs to invite players who can flat-out hit, and choose a coaching staff that understands how to let them do what they do best instead of trying to fit them into an outdated model.
A little spectacle
Fastpitch softball is a very fan-friendly sport. Much more so than watching athletes run around a track or chuck heavy objects (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Let’s treat it that way. One of the things that keeps softball out of the Olympics is that some on the Olympic Committee feel it isn’t universal enough, i.e., viewers in non-softball countries won’t tune in to see it.
Give it a little extra pizzazz in the presentation, with some knowledgeable explanation of what’s happening and an eye toward showing non-softball countries how much fun it is to play, and maybe, just maybe, we won’t have to wait another eight or more years to see softball in the Olympics again.
Olympic rings image by Vusi vilanculos, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Practical Fastpitch Softball Tips Grab Bag!
Normally posts in Life in the Fastpitch Lane revolve around a central theme. Today, though, I thought we’d try something a little different.
There are plenty of topics that don’t rate a post by themselves but are still important to the overall experience. I know this because I see many of these topics asked over and over on different softball forums and Facebook groups.
So I figured why not gather them together in a sort of grab bag of ideas? Hopefully you’ll find one or more valuable, and that you’ll have a little fun along the way.
Ok, let’s get to it.
How to clean white uniforms
I have to tell you I loves me a white uniform. It’s a classic, elegant look that just screams “Champions.” When I was coaching teams I always preferred my players to wear the all-white uniform for bracket play.
But I also know why softball parents, especially moms, hate them: they’re hard to clean. Particularly the pants.
If you get dirt on gray, or black, or green, or pretty much any colored pants, really all you have to do is get rid of most of it. On white pants, though, it’s all or nothing, because any little bit of leftover dirt (or other substances) that are left just make them look bad.
Ordinary laundry detergents don’t really work. But there is something that does.
Fels-Naptha is your best friend. It may not be available at your local grocery store but you can find it all over in hardware stores and home centers such as Ace and Home Depot. Pick up a supply and you’ll make your life a whole lot easier.
Get your daughter a good metal bat
Yes, it’s true that your best bang for the buck (literally as well as figuratively) comes from a composite bat. An Easton Ghost or equivalent can turn even your 98 pound weakling of a daughter into a potential power hitter (if she can just get the bat on the ball).
The problem with those bats is they’re only good down to about 60 degrees. After that, the manufacturers will tell you not to use them because they are likely to break much more easily.
So what do you do if you live in an area (or are traveling to an area) where spring and fall gametime temperatures are likely to be closer to 40 than 80 degrees?
You can roll the dice and take your chances, but don’t complain if a manufacturer refuses to honor the warranty. A better alternative is to invest in a quality metal bat.
They’re still around. Bats such as the Anderson Rockettech will give you plenty of pop in cold weather without the risk of seeing it crack in half the first time your daughter makes solid contact on a 50 degree day. And if she really likes it, those bats perform just fine in warmer weather too.
At one time, back in the early 2000s, Rockettechs were THE bats to own – before composite bat technology became what it is today.
As a bonus, metal bats tend to hold up better when hitting pitching machine balls as well. I wouldn’t necessarily use one at a commercial cage, where the balls are more focused on lasting longer instead of the effect on bats. But for the rest, you can save yourself a lot of time and trouble by having a good metal bat in the ol’ bag.
Pack extra hair ties – and sunglasses
Yes, your daughter should be responsible and think ahead to ensure she has them in her bag. No, she won’t always do it. Or maybe she did, but it broke.
No matter, these are little things that can make a big difference during a game.
Take a hair tie for example. If your daughter needs one and doesn’t have one, it’s likely to be a huge distraction to her.
Her hair will blow with every breeze, and if there is any truth to Murphy’s Law it will blow in her eyes right as she’s trying to catch a fly ball or field a ground ball with runners in scoring position. My kingdom for a hair tie!
For the sunglasses, perhaps it was cloudy before the game so your daughter didn’t think she’d need her sunglasses and didn’t pack them. But then the sun broke through and suddenly she’s squinting directly into it.
Having an extra pair of sunglasses in your softball “go bag” will be a lifesaver. And may save you a few hours in the ER if she loses a ball in the sun.
BONUS TIP: Keep some duct tape handy too. As any good Southerner will tell you, duct tape can fix anything.
Keep a charged power block with you
This is especially true for parents with multiple daughters playing at different fields.
You’re going to want to check on your other kids’ games via GameChanger or a similar app. It’s only natural.
What you may not realize is these apps keep running in the background by design, so while you may have closed them they’re still sucking up battery power. If you have a long day at a tournament you may find yourself running out of power before the day is done.
Grabbing a high-quality power block will give you enough spare juice to keep going no matter how long the day goes on. Even enough to power your phone’s GPS to get you to the out-of-the-way restaurant the other parents chose for a team bonding meal at the end of the day.
Spend a little more to get a comfy chair
The same parents who will spend several hundred dollars to buy their daughter a bat, then several hundred more on another one in case the first one breaks, are often the ones who decide to save money by purchasing a cheap chair for themselves. Don’t do it.
A good quality chair that provides adequate space and good support, plus a strong cupholder or two, is worth every penny.
You’re probably going to spend more time at a field than at home on softball weekends. Be sure you have comfy chair to do it in.
For skills training, hire a coach
I’m not just saying that because I am one. It really does make a difference.
Not necessarily on the basis of knowledge either. You may have a lot of personal expertise and be fully capable of training your daughter yourself
But the parent/daughter dynamic is a tricky one. I have seen it in action often.
For example, you might tell your daughter to do things the same way that I tell her. When she hears you say it, though, she hears her father or mother criticizing her and shuts down.
When I tell her, she’s all about whatever I said – because I’m her coach, not her parent. And if she isn’t interested in it, you can just walk away from the lessons. Not so if she’s going home with you.
I have trained and continue to train the daughters of people who work with other people’s kid on hitting, pitching, catching, etc. They find it a relief to just sit on the bucket instead of having every session turn into a battle of wills.
Besides, there’s always the practice sessions between lessons where they can interject. But they can say “remember what Coach Ken said” to soften the blow.
The bag is full
Hopefully I covered some topics that you’re interested in or always wondered about. If you have other experience-based knowledge to share, or want to suggest a future topic to cover in another grab bag article, leave it below in the comments.
Grab bag photo by Angela Roma on Pexels.
Proper Form? The Shadow Knows!
You’ve no doubt heard that different people learn best in different ways. The four basic learning styles are visual (watching the skill performed), audible (listening to instruction about the skill), kinesthetic (learning by doing), and reading/writing (using written words to understand).
Fastpitch softball instruction typically uses audible (coach explains) or visual (coach demonstrates, or at least tries to) learning, then expects that to translate into kinesthetic as the player tries to emulate the instruction. The idea is to get the “feel” of the movements so they can be carried forward later.
While this is important, some players have difficulty moving from visual/audio to kinesthetic learning. They are trying, but they can’t quite get the feel of it and thus go right back to old habits.
A great example is a pitcher trying to learn to keep an elbow bend down the back side of the circle to allow her arm to whip at the end. She may be trying to bend it, but as she goes into the back side her elbow straightens out and the arm becomes stiff, which means no whip.
One solution is to video the player so she can see what she is doing. Sometimes it helps, but often she has trouble translating what she sees into what she does.
A better approach is to use a mirror so she can see what she’s doing AS she tries to feel it. The combination of the two is very powerful, and often helps shortcut the learning curve.
But what if you are outside and don’t have access to a mirror? Not to worry – there is another solution: her shadow!
If you place the pitcher with her back to the sun, her body will cast a shadow. She can then watch that shadow as she moves to see if she is maintaining elbow bend or coming out of it over the top.
This quick, crude video demonstrates how that works:
Note how rather than reaching back with the hand I pulled the upper arm or elbow down, maintaining bend that leads into release. By watching the shadow while moving her arm, your pitcher can begin to feel where her arm needs to be as she practices.
She can continue to observe as she builds up speed, first without a ball and then throwing a ball into a net or screen. Over time she will feel it more and more until she no longer needs the visual cue – at which point you can really turn her loose.
This is just one example of how you can use a player’s shadow to enhance learning. For example, if she tends to drop her hands or flatten out her back too early while hitting, her shadow will show it, enabling her to make that adjustment.
If she is pulling her hand straight back while throwing instead of retracting her elbow with her scap and then letting her hand rotate behind her, that will be easy to spot in a shadow too.
Next time you’re outdoors on a sunny day and a player struggles to get the feel of a skill, give this idea a try. It’s quick, easy, and free – and the shadow always knows!
Fear of the Ball? They’re Not Wrong!
Every coach knows that being afraid of the ball, whether said ball is being hit, pitched, or thrown at a player, is one of the greatest performance-killers. It’s kind of like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: players need to feel safe before they put all their energy into whatever activity it is they’re trying to do.
Those who have coached the littles know exactly what I’m talking about. You can see it when they step sideways to catch a thrown or fly ball, or automatically back out of the batter’s box when they’re hitting, or do the “matador” as they try to field a ground ball.
This isn’t just a problem with the littles, however. Many older players also harbor some level of fear of the ball; they’re just better at hiding it.
The typical coach reaction when these things happen is to yell at the player to “stay in there” or “stay in front of it.” But given a choice between being yelled at and actually feeling physical pain, it’s pretty obvious what their subconscious is going to opt for.
I think the thing coaches with players who are afraid of the ball have to acknowledge is that in many or even most cases those kids aren’t wrong. If the ball hits them instead of their bat or glove, it’s going to hurt. That’s just science.
So if you want to get your daughter or your players past moving away from the ball preemptively it’s going to take more than telling them “don’t do that.” Here are some tidbits that may help you with that task.
The Fear Is Often Worse Than the Reality
A lot of the kids who are afraid of the ball haven’t necessarily experienced the pain before. Their brains are simply making assumptions based on other past experiences.
Take a hitter who backs out of the box when the ball is pitched. She’s never been hit by a pitch before. But…
She has been hit by other flying objects before. Maybe a sibling threw a toy at her with sufficient force that it caused bruising or bleeding.
She also knows from picking it up that the ball is hard. So even though she has never actually been hit with a ball while hitting she is afraid of similar pain.
Once she has been hit by the ball, however, she’ll then have a frame of reference for it and it won’t seem so bad after that.
Does that mean you should throw balls with the intention of hitting your players? Of course not. But you can toss them lightly into their arms to help them start overcoming their fear.
You can also give them some incentives. When I pitch to girls who like to automatically step back I tell them if they do it again I will start throwing behind them, and may even toss one back there (lightly) to give them more reason to stay in.
If you’re going to do that, however, be careful. I have hit one or two unintentionally because I didn’t get it far enough behind them. It worked to solve the problem, but it’s not exactly the way to build the player-coach relationship.
Take the Reason for Fear Out
Most of the time a fear of the ball is driven by a lack of confidence that the player can avoid being hit. She feels like she doesn’t have the skills to catch the ball, for example, so she sidesteps to avoid any mishaps that may result from that lack of skill.
The solution here is to give them something less threatening to work with. For example, have players who are afraid play catch with foam balls like a Jugs Lite Flite ball.
The light weight and softer texture will make the entire process less threatening to them. And unless they’re hit right on the nose by a hard-thrown ball at close distance – something you should control in practice – being hit by the ball won’t produce any pain.
When they realize that they will be less inclined to bail out right away, enabling them to build proper skills so they are more confident when a real ball is introduced again.
SIDE BENEFIT: The lighter weight will also encourage them to adopt better throwing mechanics because you don’t need as much strength to throw them.
Be Smart With Practice Reps
One of the temptations coaches have when hitting ground balls is to hit them as hard as they can so the girls “are ready” for hard-hit balls in games.
The problem is, an adult coach (male or female) can hit a ground ball a lot harder than a 99% of 10 year olds will at that age. So rather than teaching their players to get in front of the ball and move into it, they’re teaching their players to sit back and try to avoid getting nailed with the ball.
This approach not only instills fear, it also teaches them to wait on the ball rather than charging it if it’s not hit hard. I don’t know how it is where you live, but the majority of ground balls in a 10U game in my area require being charged.
A better approach in my opinion is to start easy and let them build the confidence in their glove skills – especially if you’re playing on a dirt field that hasn’t been laser-leveled and groomed. Then gradually build the speed until it’s realistic for what they’re going to face.
You might even want to start by rolling balls to them rather than hitting them so they can put their entire focus on learning how to field and make the throw properly. THEN get into hitting them.
This isn’t just for the littles by the way. College and even national team-level teams do this all the time to refine their skills.
Obviously they’re not dealing with fear of the ball at that level (at least hopefully not). But this approach works for both.
Acknowledge the Fear
As an adult it’s really easy to think players should just ignore their fear of the ball. You have 2X, 3X, maybe even 4X as much experience dealing with the issue.
But try to think of it from your players’ experience. As mentioned above, maybe they’re never been hit and so have built the outcome up in their minds more than the reality will be.
Maybe they have been hit and it’s the worst pain they’ve experienced so far in their young lives. You know may know that getting by the ball is nothing compared to a kidney stone or an automobile accident injury, but they don’t. It’s all a matter of scale.
Whatever the reason, it’s not a monster under the bed you can tell them to ignore. It’s very real.
Be understanding and help them work through it little by little. If they feel safe with you they’ll overcome the fear quickly – and could turn out to be your best players in the long run.
Pros and Cons of New Pitching Rule on Leaping
By now you’ve no doubt heard about a very significant change to the fastpitch softball pitching rules in the NCAA, NFHS, and various travel ball level organizations. The rule involves leaping, i.e., having both feet in the air during the stride-out portion of the pitch.
Up until this rule change leaping was illegal, which meant if a pitcher was called for it the batter would automatically be credited with a ball, even if the pitch came in fat and happy down the middle. That collective sigh of relief you heard a few weeks ago came from pitchers, their parents, their grandparents and other relatives, their team coaches, their pitching coaches, and other interested parties when it was announced that leaping will now be allowed.
Of course, no change occurs in the fastpitch softball world without some level of angst being generated, and this rule change is no exception. Some are in favor, some are against, but whatever their point of view most are passionate about whatever they think.
That’s why I thought it might be a good idea to go through the pros and cons of leaping while pitching in a more dispassionate way to help everyone understand this change a little more.
But First – Leaping v Crow Hopping
Before we get into the pros and cons I think it’s important to distinguish between leaping, which is now legal, and crow hopping, which remains illegal, because many use the terms interchangeably. Especially coaches who are complaining about an opposing pitcher.
Leaping is what happens when a pitcher strides off the pitching rubber, her back foot loses connection with the ground, and both feet are in the air at the same time until the front foot lands. Often this is the result of a late push or drive off the pitching rubber by the drive leg.
Most people consider there to be no particular advantage to leaping, and in fact it might actually reduce a pitcher’s speed a little. Leaping is now allowed since the rule change.
Crow hopping starts out the same way as a leap, with both feet off the ground. The difference, though, is that the drive leg lands first AND THEN there is a second push-off. This gives the pitcher an advantage because she is essentially starting her pitch from a much closer distance – generally six to eight feet.
This shorter closing distance gives the batter less time to react, essentially making the pitcher appear to be faster than she actually is. Crow hopping is still not allowed by the rules.
Pros of the Leaping Rule Change
The biggest pro of the change to allow leaping IMHO is it theoretically eliminates opposing coaches trying to get a successful pitcher pulled out of a game, or get into a pitcher’s head to the point where she is no longer effective, by complaining that she is leaping (or crow hopping as most say). Because what can be better than a grown man or woman playing head games with a 12 year old?
Think of all the time and animosity that will be saved by not arguing about whether a pitcher is legal or illegal because her back foot came an inch or two off the ground. In today’s world of timed games that alone will be a plus.
Another pro is it gives pitchers the opportunity to learn their craft without having to worry about whether their back foot is coming off the ground. Pitching is hard enough; removing a meaningless obstacle to learning it enables budding pitchers to focus on the mechanics that will help them develop and grow.
Finally, it saves the umpires (especially the ones working solo) from having to watch for and call pitchers for leaping. With that off their plates they can focus on things that are far more important to the outcome of the game – such as calling balls and strikes or runners leaving early on a steal or a fly ball.
Again, in my opinion and the opinions of many other pitching coaches there is no real advantage gained by a leap, so it’s essentially no harm, no foul.
Cons of the Leaping Rule Change
The biggest con to the rule change is that leaping is kind of a gateway to crow hopping. If you stop calling leaping, umpires may eventually quit calling crow hopping, which will then give pitchers an unfair advantage.
We’ve seen this in the men’s game. Many of the top men’s pitchers crow hop and don’t get called for it because umpires seem to have given up worrying about it.
Will that happen in women’s fastpitch as well? Time will tell.
Another con to leaping is that mechanics are not as efficient, which means pitchers may actually be giving up a little speed, accuracy, or movement. Many will not be able to transfer as much energy into the ball because their posture or timing (or both) is off, and they may not be able to get their arms and/or hands into the optimal position for delivery.
If no one is worried about proper leg drive because pitchers won’t be called for leaping it could lead to pitchers not achieving their full potential. Pitching coaches will quit looking for it and pitchers will never make the effort to correct it.
I fully believe that a pitcher who can keep herself stacked properly over the back side will pitch better than if she strides in a way that pulls her back foot off the ground prematurely. That’s just biomechanics and physics.
Finally, there is the health and safety issue. Pitchers who leap, especially if they go after with with enthusiasm because it’s no longer illegal, will put themselves at greater risk of ankle, knee, hip, and back injuries, particularly in the lower lumbar region.
The weight-forward, body-forward posture most leapers have will cause more strain as they collide with the ground. Over time, those repetitive out-of-balance landings can lead to injuries that could put a pitcher out of action for a month, several months, a year, or even longer.
And then she’ll have to relearn proper technique anyway to avoid future injuries. Why not just start from a safer technique and go from there?
Choose Wisely
The bottom line for me is that the rule change is a good thing from a practical, in-game point of view, but it shouldn’t be considered carte blanche to use poor technique.
I will still strive to teach my students how to drive more efficiently, with their drive foot on the ground. But if they do come up a little, I’m glad to know it’s not going to cost them the game anymore.
Don’t Just Put In the Time – Put In the Effort
One of the most common questions coaches get at the end of a lesson or practice session is, “How long and how often should my daughter practice?”
While it’s a legitimate concern – parents want to their daughters get the full benefit and they get a better return on their investment – I tend to think they’re asking the wrong question. Here’s the reason: practicing is not actual time-based; it’s quality-based.
Take two players who are at the same skill level and have been assigned the same drill(s) as “homework:”
- One diligently does the homework, being mindful of her movements and attempting to execute the skill the way she has been taught. She does this for 20 minutes three times before she has her next lesson.
- The other goes out to practice for a half hour three days a week between lessons. But she doesn’t like doing drills because it’s “boring,” so she instead just decides to pitch from full distance or take full swings or field ground balls hit by a partner etc. the whole time.
Which one do you think will show improvement in the aspect that needs the most help as well as in the overall skill?
Player two put in more time – an extra half hour to be exact. If time were the only factor that counted she should do better at the next lesson.
But I will tell you from experience, and bet you dollars to donuts, that player two will be the one who is most likely ready to advance further at the next lesson. She may not have put in as much time, but she put in more effort to solve her biggest issues – the one that is most limiting her.
So if she’s a pitcher who was straightening out her arm on the back side of the circle, she is now far more likely to have a nice elbow bend or “hook” as her arm gets ready to throw the ball. If she is a hitter who was dropping her hands straight to her waist before swinging, she’s far more likely to be keeping them up and turning the bat over to get the ball.
That’s because she mindfully worked at changing what she was doing. She is serious about improving so she put in the effort to make those changes.
Player two, on the other hand, actually put herself further away from her goals by practicing as she did, because all she did was reinforce the poor mechanics she should be trying to move away from.
Yes, she put in the time and could mark it down on a practice sheet, but she didn’t put in the effort. Without the effort to improve, the time is pretty much meaningless.
She would have ended up in exactly the same place at best if she hadn’t practiced at all. And she may have ended up further behind because now those extra reps with the wrong techniques will make it that much more difficult to get her to the right path.
If your daughter is going to spend her valuable time on practicing her softball skills, or anything else for that matter, make sure it’s on something that will help her advance her abilities forward.
Have her make the effort to concentrate specifically on the areas that need improvement rather than spending all her time making full pitches, full swings, etc. and you’ll see faster progress that leads to greater softball success.
P.S. For any parents of my students who may think I’m talking about their daughter, don’t worry. I’m not. It’s a big club. But do keep it in mind as you work with your daughter anyway!
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 