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Inflationary Pressures
by Dave
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Lessons, particularly for pitching, are getting rather expensive these days. But that's not what I mean by inflationary pressures. What I mean by inflation right now is pitching coaches and schools are under pressure to inflate things. They need students to succeed so they inflate their own credentials, their success stories, and the reason why they teach certain things certain ways.
A friend of mine just put his kid into pitching lessons. He told me his daughter's instructor was an All-American at someplace (he didn't know where off hand) and that she had helped this or that college during the years they were a team to be feared. I checked out this All-American and learned she had attended a nothing college someplace in the South, had done nothing remarkable in her pitching career there, and had merely been hired on as a pitching consultant at a couple colleges but hadn't lasted more than a year or two at any one place. It's kind of troubling to experience that until you realize just about every pitching coach and school out there does the same thing.
Today's "lesson" is not so much about being afraid to take your kid to a coach. It is more about not being overwhelmed by the claims of a pitching coach or school. You're an intelligent person who is unafraid to ask questions and perfectly capable of verifying the truth for yourself. Maybe you don't know everything in the world about windmill pitching - otherwise maybe you would coach your daughter. But there is no reason on Earth for you to be in awe of some instructor simply because she says she was an "All-American" or a school simply because they lay claim to every high school and college pitcher you know of. It is perhaps enough to be skeptical right out of the box.
The key to finding a good pitching coach with whom you and your daughter will have a long and beneficial relationship is communication. Communicate with the coach; communicate other people who bring their kids there; communicate with the parents on your team as well as the parents on opponents teams. Be humble and listen to everything. Ask questions. Check out as many claims thrown about as you can. Don't believe a single thing unless you can independently verify it.
The internet is also a good source of independent verificationof a coaches credentials. If someone says they played for such and such college team, check out that school's web site. If they were that good, chances are pretty good you'll find some record they continue to hold. Also, perform a general web search via one of the search engines. There are all sorts of old news stories still out there which may list the person's name and accomplishments. A single story might tell you that so and so just lost the first game of her college career after three and a half years as the school's ace. Or maybe it will tell you of how she overcame several injuries her past three seasons to pitch her senior year but only played three games before she was hurt yet again. there's nothing wrong with that per se but it is useful knowledge if she is telling your kid something unorthodox like "you don't need to warm up or stretch before pitching."
When I was in college many, many moons ago, I had no interest in the softball team. I knew a girl who said she pitched and did her best to convince me she was really good. She was, in fact, rather good on a very poor team. I can't say that I really knew for a fact that she was even a pitcher before I looked. I hadn't thought about her for a long time but decided to see if I could find anything, anywhere about her. Almost two decades later I was able to find numerous pages discussing her talents. I actually didn't remember her full name but as soon as I sought, I found and immediately remembered it. I found school records, news reports of a later game which remembered one game she had pitched, etc., etc.
If you are dealing with a bragadocious coach, extract enough information to be able to track her down on the web. You get this information in casual conversation. "I went to such and such college, where'd you go. Did you guys have a good team? Did you pitch your whole career or was there another position you liked? You grow up around here? Where'd you go to high school? When did you start pitching? Who taught you? How old were you when you started throwing a rise ball? Who taught you? How long did you practice it before using it in a game? Oh, high school, did you get a lot of people out on that? Did you use that in college? Were college hitters better at dealing with the rise than high school?" Ask open ended questions so she feels free to tell you exactly where she pitched and exactly how good or not she was. If she's bragging without cause, she's likely to give you just enough information to prove she is stretching the truth.
Regarding skills taught or perhaps motions you're not sure about, as I said a moment ago, maybe you don't know all that much about windmill pitching. Maybe you can't judge for yourself whether something your current coach is telling your kid to do is correct or not. Ask the coach "why this, why not that." Talk to everyone you can about the particular element of pitching. Read some books. Check some games on ESPN if you can. Do whatever it takes to understand the reasoning behind the particular skill element. If you don't understand it, can't find anyone who agrees with it, and cannot in any way judge it's correctness, maybe it isn't correct. Be aware that there are differing philosophies about just about everything. There are different teaching methods, etc. And you cannot always verify things.
Michele Smith while broadcasting on national TV tells pitchers to leave their hips open at a 45 degree angle. I;ve yet to find anyone who agrees with that but I'm sure A) it worked for her and B) there are coaches out there teaching it who are very successful but who I haven't heard speak. But I am at least ready to be suspicious of any coach who expresses this approach. If I come across such a coach, I'll ask her or him the key question "Why?" in order to judge for myself.
Finally, one thing you should be aware of is the claims of the big pitching schools. I can tell you that sometimes these schools kind of ... sort of ... expand things ever so slightly. I'm thinking of one school in particular but, no, I won't name it. The school draws in just about anyone interested in pitching within a fairly broad area. If a particular girl who is known as a stud pitcher EVER attended this school, its web site will say it has coached her five times a week since she could walk and continues to sort things out for her while she is an All-American in a Division One school. The girl might have entered the school for a clinic when she was 7, stayed for a day, not liked it, and not gone for any coaching again until she was 11 when she went someplace else. But this school's web site will list articles about her on its front page, congratulate her for being named college player of the year, tell you a long story about how the owner is a personal friend of her father's and generally lay claim for at least a little piece of her success.
In softball as in all other pursuits, let the buyer beware. If you;ve never even seen a fastpitch game, you are still intelligent enough to learn whether you are being snowed or not. Take your time, be humble and inquisitive. Never be afraid to ask ordinary questions and to be skeptical. It is your money and your daughter we are talking about after all.
Permanent Link: Inflationary Pressures
 
Hollowell Suffers Broken Cheekbone On Liner
by Dave
Monday, March 20, 2006
Player of the year candidate, number five draftee in the National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft, and current University of Arizona pitcher Alicia Hollowell suffered a broken cheekbone resulting from a sixth inning shot off the bat of Texas left fielder MicKayla Padilla in a game at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. Hollowell was knocked to the ground but was able to walk off the field under her own power. Word from the team says they will be able to determine if she can pitch later this week after she sees a doctor.
I imagine Hollowell will be fitted with the kind of see-through plastic face mask which is often seen on the basketball court. According to NBA.com, these are now a standard safeguard. This makes me wonder why we don't use these things to begin with. I suppose they are inconvenient, perhaps expensive. Softball pitchers would probably get hot and sweaty inside these things. It isn't as if basketball is a particularly intense, sweaty game, after all.
But seriously folks, if you have any idea how or where to get this type of mask, please share it with us and we'll share it with the world.
Update:
E-mail received from Tim:
Your article, "Hollowell Suffers Broken Cheekbone On Liner" talks about a plastic face mask. What you need is the "Game Face" by http://www.gameface.com Both of my daughters wear one. I won't let them pitch without it.
Thanks Tim. I was aware of the game face and I'm glad you make your daughters wear one. While the game face accomplishes the goal, I think manufacturers can do better. I think it would be possible to develop a face mask like the one used in basketball which is clear for peripheral vision, extremely rigid and "breaths" perhaps via perforations in the plastic. With all the technology which is available to us today via advanced cad-cam systems and other computer driven plastic manufacturing, it is not only easy but extremely cheap to produce better equipment than what is available today.
Permanent Link: Hollowell Suffers Broken Cheekbone On Liner
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