I guess my style is all wrong

[ArmWhip]

We have bad HS coaches here. I feel guilty taking money for lessons, I want to tell the parents to have their kids take up LAX because our softball teams are going to be finishing at bottom of league until the school makes some changes. We are 2-10 right now and have scored 9 runs in our 10 losses.

 

[Ken Krause]

My DD ran into this problem with her HS coaches. The HS Assistant Pitching Advisor is tall and uses the open stlye, long lever technique. The coach did not like that my DD is 5'3" tall and uses a style based off of Taryn Mowatt which uses quick body drive/high arm speed/closing the hips at the release point to drive the ball. The coach would sit on the bench and close her arms and remove herself from the game when my DD got a chance to get on the field. I believe that the coach didn't understand my DD's technique or the concept of Internal Rotation. My DD sat as the coaches "Girls" she coached took the field no matter how they pitched.

My DD is a Junior and did not go out for HS ball this year. She is on an 18U-A tournament team and pitched 11 innings in a round robin format this weekend. She gave up 2 hits, no walks, and 14 strike outs over the 11 innings. The spin that she can develop by "Closing at Release" is much higher than the traditional open style pitchers that I see.

In my view and from what I see in high level D1 play today, if the pitcher is tall and physically strong, the open stance seems to work well. When the pitcher is smaller and quicker, the closing method seems to work better. Do what works best for you.

I would hardly call this closing at release. There is a video of her throwing the circle change on YouTube that shows even less closure. She drives quickly yes, but she stays open. At least as I define open.

 

[NVfishing]

My youngest is just starting out. I've been working on IR with her. Every coach around here does not teach IR. I can already see it's going to be a battle with how I teach and what everyone else says.

 

[Jojo]

My youngest is just starting out. I've been working on IR with her. Every coach around here does not teach IR. I can already see it's going to be a battle with how I teach and what everyone else says.

You are correct--I am also the only one that teaches it around me as well, although I can see some of the better pitchers actually using it, but quickly pulling their hand over their shoulder and pointing the elbow to the catcher, because of what they are being told to do by their PC's.

Even though my pitchers look a little different--there are a lot of step-style PC's here as well---My pitchers do stand out on the mound. I get all my new pitchers from word of mouth, after someone see's them in a game.

So hopefully yours will stand out with her performance and her "difference" will be overlooked.

 

[Jojo]

I would hardly call this closing at release. There is a video of her throwing the circle change on YouTube that shows even less closure. She drives quickly yes, but she stays open. At least as I define open.

That looks like about 45 degrees to me, similar to Ueno.

 

[starsnuffer]

Open or close that pitch and others like it are why we now have the pitching lane marked. That was all the rage in 2007ish.

-W

 

[NVfishing]

Question on the pitching lane marks? Is it the width of the rubber or is it a little bit wider? I've seen it once but we weren't pitching on that field.

 

[starsnuffer]

Question on the pitching lane marks? Is it the width of the rubber or is it a little bit wider? I've seen it once but we weren't pitching on that field.

The official pitching lane is the length of the rubber (24 inches I believe). I "think" the marks go outside that 24 inches so stepping on the mark would be illegal, rather then stepping over the mark. Should be easy to check youtube video of NCAA games over the last few years.

-W

 

[Ken Krause]

Open or close that pitch and others like it are why we now have the pitching lane marked. That was all the rage in 2007ish.

-W

Yes, that was pretty far outside the lane. For all the good it did her on that particular pitch!

 

[wild man]

WildMan- isn't this the same coach who went to the states and is "re-building" and chasing off the seniors?
If this is the same guy, I thought he was an idiot then and I think he's proving it again.

Yes it is the same one has been the same for 9 years. I mosty stay because I love the kids and I would like to be there when he leaves.
I think JV coaches can do a lot for a program if they are allowed to. Plus all my Volenteer time counts as years of experiance so If the head JV pos comes up I might have a shot at it.