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.
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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!!!
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Both of my DDs have many high points and, of course, low points. So, I will share with you my best softball moment. It was my 54th birthday and it just so happened to be that my oldest DD was pitching for the school sophomore team adjacent to the field where my youngest DD was pitching for the...
This is one of my biggest pet peeves in softball!!! I see these big strong men coaches hitting hard ground balls at girls who will not see a ground ball that fast unless they play DI softball!!!
These fast ground balls can take bad bounces, hurt the girls, and make them very shy about...
Last summer my DD, who is now a junior, made the decision that she wants to be a chiropractor and that playing softball in college is "optional". We are looking at DIII for her now and she will only play for the softball team if she "owns her own life". Smart decision! But I was looking...