JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
We had the pleasure of getting to spend an hour with Rich on Friday while we visited family in the Bay Area. When I get back home I will try to see if any of the video is post worthy, I doubt it since it was pretty loud but I will look. What struck me about the difference between seeing him and the other PCs we have had lessons from was the fact that he had an enormous focus on spin QUALITY. He had her warmup and after seeing that she could pitch with decent control and her speed was age appropriate, he did not say one word about speed or control, he went straight to spin. He literally had her throw 2 drops, a couple of changeups and a couple of riseballs, the drops had a good axis, the CU looked decent, he gave her one bit of advice on the CU and then focused exactly where the help was needed on the Riseball.
This is in stark contrast to other sessions we have had with PCs where a good portion is always spent trying to give instruction on how to tweak DD to match what a PC thinks the motion should look like and then little or no spin instruction.
So we basically got a full lesson on the Riseball with a little curve instruction thrown in which really is exactly what I was hoping he would focus on. Even with the RB, he did not waste any time with non essential instruction, he talked to her to see if she understood her body position as it pertained to the drop and rise, asked her if she brushed her hip when she threw and then just focused on teaching her that there are three ways a riseball can come off the hand, that only one of them is correct and how to identify and fix the other two. Everything he said made perfect sense and he explained it in a way that a 12 year old girl could understand. He gave her some great drills to work on and as fast as we got there time expired. Towards the end he started to focus on her drive but we ran out of time so we will pick that back up on the next trip.
The difference I saw in a lesson with someone of his caliber was that he really had very little ego, by that I mean that aside from getting open, having good balance and have a little brush, there was no agenda to get a kid to conform to a look in her pitching. He was far more concerned with getting the right SPIN.
I can't wait to make another trip up north and get some info on the drive, hopefully next time I can corner BM as well.
To those of you in areas where you do not have access to someone of his caliber or the means to afford the lessons, I can tell you that by following what is generally taught on this site by the experts here (he even comes by once in a while) you are still following the same general teaching roadmap. FYI he had nothing but great things to say about BM, Rick Pauly and JS. Great guy, looking forward to another visit.
This is in stark contrast to other sessions we have had with PCs where a good portion is always spent trying to give instruction on how to tweak DD to match what a PC thinks the motion should look like and then little or no spin instruction.
So we basically got a full lesson on the Riseball with a little curve instruction thrown in which really is exactly what I was hoping he would focus on. Even with the RB, he did not waste any time with non essential instruction, he talked to her to see if she understood her body position as it pertained to the drop and rise, asked her if she brushed her hip when she threw and then just focused on teaching her that there are three ways a riseball can come off the hand, that only one of them is correct and how to identify and fix the other two. Everything he said made perfect sense and he explained it in a way that a 12 year old girl could understand. He gave her some great drills to work on and as fast as we got there time expired. Towards the end he started to focus on her drive but we ran out of time so we will pick that back up on the next trip.
The difference I saw in a lesson with someone of his caliber was that he really had very little ego, by that I mean that aside from getting open, having good balance and have a little brush, there was no agenda to get a kid to conform to a look in her pitching. He was far more concerned with getting the right SPIN.
I can't wait to make another trip up north and get some info on the drive, hopefully next time I can corner BM as well.
To those of you in areas where you do not have access to someone of his caliber or the means to afford the lessons, I can tell you that by following what is generally taught on this site by the experts here (he even comes by once in a while) you are still following the same general teaching roadmap. FYI he had nothing but great things to say about BM, Rick Pauly and JS. Great guy, looking forward to another visit.
Mind sharing the whole story here... not just the teaser? 
