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  1. R

    Show bunt then swing

    In 10U, 12U, and 14U I have disparaged the use of the fake bunt and swing for safety reasons. Of course, there is a point where this technique is fair game. I think that it is a around 16U "A" for travel teams and JV for high school teams.
  2. R

    Do you share secrets of your success?

    I think that this is very, very important. My DDs, who both pitch, practice substantially less than most other pitchers at their level. But when they do do their work it is very focused and efficient. As an example, my youngest DD has been the pitching Ace of all of her teams since 10U...
  3. R

    Drop Ball Age

    Per Hillhouse et al, I am a proponent of the Peel Drop which is considered, by that school of thought, to be a fastball. Basically, if thrown with good 12-6 rotation a "fast ball" will drop. So, this can be taught at an early age.
  4. R

    Advice for stressed out new travel ball parent....

    As a travel ball coach, I have noticed that the children seem to always reflect the attitude of the parents. If the parent's freakout their DDs will freakout. So, don't freakout! On a more personal note, as my DDs have progressed thru the different travel ball levels I have learned to have a...
  5. R

    Pitcher Parents - If you could do it all over again...?

    I believe that this is a great thread inspired by a very good question. It became apparent to me that I don't have a great number of regrets at least partially because of the great advice and, let's face it, emotional support that I received on this forum. From this forum I received great...
  6. R

    Pitcher Parents - If you could do it all over again...?

    I have two DDs that pitch, 15 & 17. My oldest DD back in 4th grade decided that she wanted to pitch. The mistake that I made was not getting her effective coaching early on. She had to struggle with undoing some bad pitching habits. My younger DD had an easier ride because I had more things...
  7. R

    MN Coach Allister article

    My DDs have had Piper coach them at pitching clinics. She is a great coach and interacts very well with the girls. Her knowledge of pitching is amazing!!!
  8. R

    Fastpitch Face Masks Revisited

    One of the ideal goals of a face mask is to deflect the ball so that the player does not have to absorb the entire impact. As for titanium, it takes less force to move it than other metals and, thereby, the head will be subjected to more force.
  9. R

    Using a slow pitch bat for fastpitch tournaments?

    I played a lot of high level slow pitch softball and the weight of bat that I usually went with was 34/28. When metal bats first came out I was swinging a 34/35 for a while because, prior to the advancements in technology, I needed that big of a bat to get a reasonably large sweet spot. Then...
  10. R

    Please wear your facemask

    My DD when she was 11 took a ball off her face without a face mask. Trust me, you do not want that experience. Please have your DDs wear face masks.
  11. R

    Using a slow pitch bat for fastpitch tournaments?

    Unless your DD is a monster, there's no way she's going to be able to use a 26oz bat for fastpitch. The ball just comes in too fast!
  12. R

    Infielder's Throwing Sidearm

    I played a lot of shortstop for fairly high levels of softball--albeit slow pitch. I don't think that I would have been able to play at that level if I did not have the ability to throw sidearm. Sidearm comes in handy when throwing on the run, turning double plays, and handling slow rolling...
  13. R

    8u coach to win or have fun

    This is also what I've found. I recall a discussion, after a loss, that I had with a rec ball coach who wanted to get all hard core to get victories. "Surprisingly", this involved his DD doing pretty much all the pitching. I told him that this is a rec league, we're supposed to emphasize...
  14. R

    Model Pitchers: mixing speeds

    I have seen very few well hit balls on a good change up. No doubt, I've seen at least one hit 250 feet but, on the whole, most hitters do not sit on a change up and are more used to sitting on the heat. The other thing that I wanted to mention about changing speeds is that not all pitches need...
  15. R

    Runners on 1st and 3rd

    At 10U and 12U I would coach the catcher to fake a throw to second base and then try to pick the runner off of third. Sometimes it worked. At minimum the run didn't score on that play. Once the other team got used to that strategy and the runner on third clung to the bag, we would take a...
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