Anyone can call themselves a pitching instructor.

[Jojo]

Where I live I think there are about 2 dozen pitching instructors in the general area at any given time.

I am one of them and the only one that teaches IR, and one of the few that teaches L&D.

In order for me to call myself a pitching instructor I spent a couple of years teaching myself to pitch, to spin and throw breaking pitches.
I spent countless hours watching college pitchers pitch, live and on TV.
Studied videos. and thankfully use this forum to get a chance to see more videos, discussions and advice.

I have been giving instruction for 9yrs. I don't advertise except for being in the registry, I get all my students from word of mouth.

Most of my students I get are from previous instructors and I can tell you I don't think I've ever heard the same instructors name twice, there are so many out there.

Last night I had another new one.
Her mother called me and explained her DD had been taking lessons for 3 months over the summer. She was disappointed that she had only learned a couple of drills in those 3 months and had never made it to "full pitch".
She said her control was still wild, she was struggling and didn't want to go back to him because he was "mean".

I was honest with her without seeing her, that I also don't allow a student to full pitch if they are still throwing drills wild. She understood but still wanted to bring her DD out.

So I saw her last night. First she did not know how to grip the ball, she just held it however she picked it up.
Then when I asked her to show me a drill, she stood in like the 3:00 drill(T drill)--Of course her arm was out long with hand on top of the ball. Then she lifted her leg like the K drill but her arms were at the T drill and she brought the leg down with her arm and STOPPED her entire arm at the bottom, drove her wrist upward and threw the ball over into the next lane.
I let her do this same thing 3 more times before I stopped her. The ball never making it anywhere near her catcher.

I asked her about the arm stopping at the bottom and she told me that was how he taught it. That when you pitch you STOP your arm at the bottom and use the wrist to drive the ball forward. NO FOLLOW THROUGH. Her DD was struggling with this, because her forearm kept wanting to go up added to the wrist drive and the ball was flying sky high!

We spent 1/2 the lesson just DISCUSSING proper pitching mechanics! I showed her pictures of college players and one of my other students that was warming up near us.
The rest of the lesson was spent working on her just tossing the ball.
She could not TOSS, those 3 months had ingrained into her and she kept stopping her arm at the bottom.

By the end of the lesson, she was able to toss the ball out of her hand fluidly with a little bit of internal rotation.

I know as an instructor it is not wise to totally change a pitcher right away, but I had no other choice in this situation.

Her mother was definitely very angry. She felt like she wasted 3 months with that other instructor and now had to start over from scratch.
And to add insult to injury--HE CHARGED TWICE WHAT I CHARGE!

Sorry so long, it's sort of a rant.

 

[InsidePitch]

I'd like to think a parent would see a good pitcher and inquire as to who taught her rather than just pick a name at random. The mom is partially to blame for not doing any homework.

 

[coachdan]

IMHO there is much more bad instruction out there than good....if you have a good one keep them

 

[Jojo]

I'd like to think a parent would see a good pitcher and inquire as to who taught her rather than just pick a name at random. The mom is partially to blame for not doing any homework.

This is how I get most of my students, a parent see's their child struggling then see's one of mine and asks about their instructor. So most of my students are reformed students, I don't get many I get to start as beginners right away.

 

[joemcq51]

I have grown up around the sport of FP softball. Started as bat boy when I was just 3. Worked up to scorekeeper by 10. Assistant coach by 13....Now I have my own DD who pitches. I have worked with hundreds of girls pitching. Never called myself a pitching instructor. I laugh now, when my DD works out and people watch her, then ask who her pitching coach is. Her response is always the same. My Dad. Then later I see the same parents working at the park with a "pitching coach". Funniest part is the "pitching coach" played on my teams all the way through HS. I was the one who taught her how to pitch. This forum has allowed me to take whatever knowledge I thought I had and improve it so much. The pitching techniques used 15 years ago, we are learning now, were incorrect. I think any good coach learns new ways of teaching and better technique through time and experience.

 

[Jojo]

I think any good coach learns new ways of teaching and better technique through time and experience.

I agree, I know I get better the longer I do it. The more students with more problems and issues, the more experience I get with helping them solve it.

But I have no idea where this one instructor got the notion that stopping your arm and only throwing with a wrist flip was anywhere near how you pitch a softball. I have never seen this before, maybe none of his pitchers ever make it to full pitch.

 

[chinamigarden]

As much as anything this is keeping me from sending my dd to a pitching coach. Who knows what you are going to get. Even on this board I have seen people post questions about pitching that are fundamental but then in other posts the same person will post a comment or question about a student of their's. Its discouraging to say the least.

 

[howellhandmade]

Did it look anything like the most recent video in the wrist snap thread?

 

[Jojo]

Did it look anything like the most recent video in the wrist snap thread?

Yes, very similar. I talked to her about leading with the elbow and arm whip, and she said no, he never told her to lead with the elbow and never mentioned arm whip.
Her arm was to stay straight the only thing moving was her wrist at release.

She was doing a step drill and adding her legs but was still not adding a follow through, she said he told her not to follow through.

Even if he was meaning to add a follow through later, I think 3 months is a long time before you add a follow through. By then even he asked her to she couldn't. She struggled to just toss the ball with me after stopping her arm for so long.

 

[quincy]

I might have mentioned this before but last fall 9yoa DD was asked by an 8yoa’s father to help get her get her started pitching. DD went through a few drills with her and explained what they were trying to accomplish. 8 months later I ran into the dad and he mentioned that he teaches pitch now.

Basically if you have money to invest or spend someone is willing to take it from you.