As soon as a player is able to throw with a good arm circle, has decent posture, and throws at her fullest effort she's ready to learn the change up and movement pitches.
Even 10 year-olds can learn movement pitches. If I were to wait until a pitcher perfected her fastball to teach her a curveball, we might be waiting until she is a high school or even college!
Should you learn softball movement pitches from easiest to hardest? Most effective to least effective? Should every pitcher master a dropball before learning a riseball? Or should you start with whichever pitch comes most naturally?
At Practice Pro, we take a different approach:
We introduce all the movement pitches at the same time.
Ideally, by fifth grade, I want every Practice Pro pitcher to demonstrate the correct spin for each movement pitch from the snapping position. That's the foundation. Turning those spins into effective pitches is a much longer process.
Now, at the risk of contradicting myself, I'm going to explain which pitches I've found players typically catch on to the fastest, even though they are learning about them at the same time. Some are easier to execute than others. Every pitcher is different, of course, but after years of teaching, I've noticed that certain pitches tend to click sooner than others.
Read MoreI've grappled with the concept of S.M.A.R.T. goals, despite being a frequent teacher of it, as it often felt inadequate. The idea of a goal being both "reaching" and "attainable" seemed paradoxical. However, a few years ago, I stumbled upon a transformative solution. I began by crafting a S.M.A.R.T. goal-specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Then I added a second, much bigger, long-term goal.
Read MoreCan you hear criticism without allowing it to destroy you? Can you try something before deciding it won't work? Can you ask a question without worrying that the question will make you look foolish? Can you fail at something today without immediately retreating to what you could already do yesterday?
Read MoreIn our pitching school, we give away pins every session to a select few students. They say, “Commit to the Process.” To earn one, a pitcher must do any sort of pitching practice every single day between lessons to earn a star for her team. Then, over the span of a 10-week off-season, if she’s able to accumulate all 70 days of consistent work, she earns the pin. This is quite a feat, to say the least.
Read MoreI've been talking to a lot of high school softball coaches lately, asking them what they look for in players. Naturally, I expected answers about talent—velocity, great movement, accuracy, maybe a devastating change-up.
And yes, coaches like all of those things. It turns out coaches are, in fact, fans of good softball players. But one thing keeps coming up that is much less exciting: Show up early and know how to get yourself ready.
Your coach doesn't want to hunt you down and say, "Where are your bands?" She doesn't want to remind you that perhaps now, five minutes before you're supposed to pitch, would be an excellent time to begin throwing.
Read MoreI hear it all the time, “Is there some kind of trick that I can use during a game to prevent me from going into a downward spiral?” It’s frustrating (and even more confusing) to start off well and then lose this “groove” later in the game.
While at first it seems sometimes coaches over-analyze what could have happened…”she got tired”, “she lost it mentally”, “she stopped performing her mechanics properly,” and so on, at second thought, I believe this is an under-analysis or a faulty analysis without proper work on the back end to diagnose issues and adjust practice accordingly. In order to identify the issue take a cue from college teams. They are always recording a huge amount of stats throughout the games. For them, there is no “guessing” when it comes to the issues they face during game time. They try to make it as objective, and therefore easy, as possible to make decisions.
Read MoreI explain quickly, "Not exactly. I suggest you tell the coach that you know you can get the next girl out so give me another chance!" Although I understand Emma's logic, that players think they are helping the team by removing their poor-performing selves from the game, I explain several different concepts. You only fail when you give up. You always have to believe that the next pitch is going to be a great one. A good attitude regardless of the circumstance raises performance. And finally, it’s your coach's decision on who should be put in or taken out, not yours - even if she asks.
Read MoreWe just wrapped up our first summer camp of the year, and one of my favorite parts of coaching is that I learn something new every time. We've been running these two-day camps for five years, and while many of the activities stay the same, the athletes always teach me something different.
We end camp with an obstacle course competition where the winning team earns a prize—this year it was gummy worms and a cute yellow bag tag featuring one of my favorite Aristotle quotes: "You are what you repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit."
Every year seems to have a theme of mistakes we’ve made coaching. Once we fix it, the next year, another one pops up. One year we had to teach athletes how to cheer for one another a little better. Another year we learned that handing out Practice Pro gear at the very end helped everyone leave happier. This year, the theme was fairness.
Read MoreYou are always trying to "get" your daughter to practice. After all, she said she wanted to be a pitcher, you are spending tons of money on lessons, she is super athletic and is going to be great!! Yet...she won't practice! You even set up the basement to look like an exact replica of the Rosemont Dome! You nag her, you try to reason with her by explaining all of the benefits of practicing. You feel you have given her all the tools humanly possible, but alas, there she remains comfy on the couch, TV remote in one hand, cell phone in the other.
Read MoreOur latest guest speaker at the Practice Pro Recruiting Cohort was Coach Brandon Elliott, one of the most accomplished coaches in NCAA Division III softball history. During our conversation, Coach Brandon shared a lesson he credits to Marquette men's basketball coach Shaka Smart. It perfectly described something I've seen over and over again in pitching instruction. It's also one of the key questions he asks every player—and one of the qualities he looks for when recruiting.
Are you interested...or are you committed?
Commitment means continuing to do something long after the excitement that made you start has faded. He explained that many athletes confuse being interested in softball with being committed to softball.
The Interested Athlete
An interested athlete:
Loves playing when it's fun.
Enjoys success.
Is excited when things are going well.
Works hard when it's convenient.
Loses enthusiasm when practices become difficult.
Wants the rewards without always embracing the work.
Right now is an exciting time in the softball world. Maybe you're trying out for a travel team, deciding which organization is the best fit, attending a college exposure camp, or playing in tournaments where college coaches are watching. No matter what stage you're in, there's one question every athlete might be asking:
What makes me stand out?
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with two outstanding college coaches—my cousin, Coach Erica Hanrahan and Coach Laura Matthews—to talk about what it really takes to play softball at the college level. Looking back on that conversation today, the advice they shared is even more relevant.
Read MoreOver the past 8 years of coaching 100+ players per week on softball pitching, I noticed the following trends in phrases that parents and coaches, including me, say that confuse fastpitch players. These phrases are "broken" because they confuse girls on pitching mechanics. Here are some ideas of what to say instead.
Read MoreThink back to your last golf round. What type of player are you? Are you praying that you'll hit your next shot in the air, or are you calculating the difference between your 5- and 6-iron? Are you just trying to keep up with the rest of your group, or are you visualizing the angle of your draw?
These questions show a clear difference in competency level. One person is competing, while the other is focused on basic skill development without even knowing which skills need to be developed. She just knows she has to get the ball over there, with no idea how.
Read MoreMost players have started their season already. Games will be testing your and your team’s abilities. They are an accumulation of all the work you’ve put in all winter. While the offseason was a time when you’ve learned new things, like improving your pitch repertoire or making big changes to your fundamentals, the in-season is all about performance.
Even though you’ll be learning a lot during the season, if you want to play and if you want to win, you’ll have to give the coach a reason to let you pitch. Giving chances in order to let the pitcher learn or see if she can handle pressure might be few and far between.
Read MoreIn Pitching School, we spend a lot of time helping pitchers simplify their mechanics. The simpler the motion, the easier it is to repeat. The easier it is to repeat, the more strikes they throw and the more spots they hit.
But once a pitcher is able throw strikes, coaches and parents start asking a new question:
"How do I teach pitch-calling strategy?"
It's a great question, and honestly, it's one I have spent a lot of time thinking about.
Read MoreI heard that when you go into a job interview, you should tell the boss that your biggest flaw is perfectionism because it isn't really a flaw. As a pitcher and instructor, I know for a fact that it can be a flaw, and I believe sports can help people overcome it.
I think the pitching position tends to attract perfectionistic people. While I doubt any pitcher can be a complete perfectionist—otherwise she'd probably quit after a week because of all the walks, errors, and hit batters—I do think this is a topic that deserves attention. Please remember that I possess these qualities myself, so I'm writing out of an affinity for my fellow pitchers.
Read MoreDo you hate to lose more than you love to win?
As we are smack dab in the middle of the NCAA collegiate season here in 2021, I’m sure many of you have had occasion to watch some of the outstanding matchups in D1 softball on ESPN or maybe even the Big 10 Network.
Preliminarily, before I dive into the main topic at hand, I want to point out the fact that there are numerous games on television multiple times a week broadcasting softball on ESPN and individual conference networks. This in and of itself is an astronomical win for our sport.
Read MoreA few years ago, my cousin Erica was interviewed on a an NFCA podcast called The Dirt about pitching, and I wrote this blog to highlight some of her best insights. At the time, she was coaching at DePauw University—today, she’s brought that same high-level knowledge to Practice Pro, where she leads our Elite Pitching Classes.
Read MoreA quality pitching staff is a key component of building a successful team. Some coaches make the mistake of ranking their pitchers individually—#1 pitcher, #2 pitcher, #3 pitcher. This can lead pitchers to think of themselves as “second best” or “third best,” without identifying their specific (and important) role on the team. Assigning a role to each pitcher helps them feel valued and excited to contribute. While ranking can sometimes be motivating, without clear explanations of why a player is in a certain position and how she can improve, it can lead to resentment and jealousy among teammates—and their parents. Defining roles provides that clarity.
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