Trying out couple of pitching coaches...

My DD and I struggled trying to find a good pitching coach back in the mid 1990s. Back then, all pitching coaches were male, and about 90% never pitched. About 75% never played fastpitch.

Fast forward to 2010, and now we also have a crop of female shysters. These are women who played a little freshman ball for Cow Dung College, but don't understand pitching. They don't understand even the basics of throwing the ball.

There is one woman offering lessons who says that she was a pitcher and went to Big 10 U--which is all true. She pitched in HS, and she did graduate from Big 10 U. She never played one inning of college ball.

People will lie to make a buck off of Crazy Daddies and Mommies. Parents, being what they are, can get sucked into a situation where the PC is feeding them nonsense while at the same time telling them how great their DD is.

As to male-female--I don't think it matters. The emphasis should be on finding someone who can has good communication skills about technical, athletic motion. Just because someone may not be a great talker doesn't make them a bad coach.

Then, there is Ernie Parker, who never pitched and is considered the best pitching coach ever. I am not certain that he even played baseball.

It is easy to Google someone's name. Heck, do a background check, if you want. Just look for a reasonable coach, that seems a fit for your DD. If she can tell you why she teaches what she does, I would give her a shot.

But, you wouldn't believe the number of parents that drop their kid off with me, never listen to a thing that I say and never catch a ball that their daughter throws.

We feel absolutely blessed to have found the coach we have. He is a fastpitch pitcher himself, is a trusted authority on an international level, relates soooo well to the girls, puts his foot down when necessary, keeps them wanting to learn and come back, is all about their long-term career and injury prevention, teaches each student what is appropriate for THEM, and is a he!! of a nice guy! We trust him 100% with our daughter and her pitching development.

Just wanna say "Thanks, Bill, for being the fantastic coach you are!!!"

sluggers said:

Fast forward to 2010, and now we also have a crop of female shysters. These are women who played a little freshman ball for Cow Dung College, but don't understand pitching. They don't understand even the basics of throwing the ball.

There is one woman offering lessons who says that she was a pitcher and went to Big 10 U--which is all true. She pitched in HS, and she did graduate from Big 10 U. She never played one inning of college ball.

People will lie to make a buck off of Crazy Daddies and Mommies. Parents, being what they are, can get sucked into a situation where the PC is feeding them nonsense while at the same time telling them how great their DD is.

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I'm just now going through what you're talking about.

Even though the instruction my daughter received was solid, there's no way in hell that the price tag was justifiable, but because some people were willing to pay it, it became the prevailing rate. I opted to remove my daughter from the school for other reasons, but when it was time to consider a possible return, the cost made up my mind for me.

She wants to start with her new instructor (who did play college ball) right away, but I'm encouraging her to stick with 'Daddy's plan' of taking time off until after Christmas. But because the fall season just ended, the fire is still burning, so I'll probably soften a bit and let her go pitch a couple times with the new coach.

Going with a PC that was a college (or otherwise) pitcher is a mixed bag, I find.

They can be the greatest pitcher in the world, but if they do not comprehend that what works for them does not work for everyone, and if they cannot explain not only how but why a pitcher uses particular mechanics to a young girl, then they are not worth a hill of beans as an instructor.

I've seen PC's teach "quirks" and motions that were taught to the instructor when they were pitching to correct little things they were doing, like leaning a particular way, or stepping over the power line in a particular way on certain pitches, ect, without ever realize that these were band-aids given to them (the instructor) to use, and now the instructors are teaching them as cannon and normal mechanics.

You also have the simple fact that different girls learn different ways. Some kids can take vocal instructions and go with it. Other kids need to see the motion, still other kids need to have their arms and legs moved around to "feel" in order to learn. You need to understand how your daughter learns best and find an instructor that can work to their strengths.

-W

starsnuffer said:

I've seen PC's teach "quirks" and motions that were taught to the instructor when they were pitching to correct little things they were doing, like leaning a particular way, or stepping over the power line in a particular way on certain pitches, ect, without ever realize that these were band-aids given to them (the instructor) to use, and now the instructors are teaching them as cannon and normal mechanics.-W

Click to expand...

Good point. That is why I think it is critical that the parent educate themselves on what is and what isn't correct mechanics. They need to ask their PC lots of questions and try to understand what works for thier DD, especially since they are the ones that will be spending the most pitching time with them during 3X a week practice sessions.

starsnuffer said:

You also have the simple fact that different girls learn different ways. Some kids can take vocal instructions and go with it. Other kids need to see the motion, still other kids need to have their arms and legs moved around to "feel" in order to learn. You need to understand how your daughter learns best and find an instructor that can work to their strengths.
-W

Click to expand...

This is absolutely correct. There is a whole lot more to this...if you give it some thought. If your pc isn't "making a connection" with your dd...the pc might be mismatching how your dd learns or what her main learning representational system is (ie visual, auditory or kinesthetic).

thank for all your commits helpfull as usual..
i know these two guys r pretty creditable the one guy is Jerry Johnson from beckley Wv. he has several vids and has done some stuff with ernie Parker my oldest went to him for a while and we like him.. he teaches a snap closed style. the other one is Denny Tincher which is the father of VT Pitcher Angelia Tincher. he teaches a open style of pitching like you west coast pitchers do.. i have never seen or had any dealing with this style so i dont know.. that is why we r going to give both a try and see which one works best for us. from what i understand this style helps young pitchers be able to develope other pitchers later easyer.. didnt know there was that much differance between east coast and west coast pitching.. we will see

There is only one way to pitch--the right way. It isn't "east coast" vs. "west coast"...it is "the correct way to pitch" versus "the incorrect way to pitch".

Ask yourself: Does snapping the hips closed make any sense? How does snapping the hips closed after the ball is released make the ball go faster?

Shouldn't a young pitcher emulate Jenny Finch, Cat Osterman, Monica Abbott, and Angeline Tincher?

As has been said, the core decisions are (or should be) does the coach know what is required to pitch well, and can he/she convey it to others?

Here's an example. Last night I was working with a high school senior who is new to me. She was with her old pitching coach for about six years. The old pitching coach was female and I believe had pitched in college. I can claim neither credential. The old coach stopped because she had a baby, as I recall, so her high school coach recommended me since I also teach his daughter and he's been pretty happy with her progress.

In any case, part way through the lesson I said "let's work on the drop ball." She made the face you normally see when a kid is told "we're having broccoli for dinner tonight." She has struggled with it since she started pitching. It's supposed to be a rollover drop, but it acted more like a back-of-the-hand changeup. I had worked on the rollover with her once before and had some progress, but last night it was right back to where she'd started. So I said, "Here, let's try this" and taught her a peel drop. She took to it immediately, and within 10 minutes was throwing a credible peel drop with good, sudden downward movement.

The girl and her dad were very excited by this. They were delighted that in a few minutes she was able to throw a pitch she'd struggled with for six year. But it was natural for her core mechanics. My contribution was recognizing it and knowing how to explain it simply. She did the rest.

As Sluggers has pointed out, this stuff ain't rocket science. But it helps if you pay attention, and aren't stuck on one way of doing things. A good pitching coach will understand the core mechanics, and will then coach them to the player.

A good way to check out teaching styles is to ask to observe a lesson with another student. Don't judge solely by the student's results, though, especially if the student is young or new. Look at the interaction between player and coach. That will tell you a lot about what you can expect in that regard. And listen to what he/she is teaching and compare that with the top pitchers -- and the information you get here, of course!