Dilemma: Keep original pitching coach; look for new one?

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Oct 18, 2009
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Have you discussed what happens when your DD gets older with the pitching coach? Our pitching coach has told us what the plan is for next year, and the next 6 years. She has an excellent approach and she keeps tabs on all the kids, even the ones that leave and go somewhere else.

It's a tough call though. Especially if things are going well now and she won't discuss the future with you.

Thanks. I haven't really discussed anything more than plans for the upcoming year as to what pitches she will be learning and the order of how she will learn them. I guess I can bring it up and see what she says.
 
Oct 18, 2009
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I predict that 90% of coaches teach exactly what your DD has been taught. They teach it at UofAZ., here, so it trickles down.

If your instructor is flexible, she should work with you on what you want.

I have students that are being told that they have to use the power L, by their travel ball coach. He makes them pitch an hour, per practice like that.

Thanks Amy. Yes. I think I will try to see if she can work with it. Maybe I can make her a believer. I guess I have to find a way to see if she can work with it without offending her.

Around here most of the coaches in our area all teach that similar style. I think it would be tough to find one that specifically taught the IR method.
 
Oct 22, 2009
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She hasn't had much time off. Weekly lessons have been pretty regular for the past 2 years. While she has success she still needs to improve. She has a good changeup and fb. But her movement/spin pitches need to develop.

I also thought most girls continued regular instruction (unless dad or mom could be a pc) at least through HS.

I think high school is a good time to decide if you want to stop seeing an instructor. If you really understand the mechanics and how to spin and how to correct your problems then maybe you could stop seeing one.

I personally feel getting a lesson every now and then is a good idea.

I have a senior this year that I have had since she was 12. I only have a few months left with her till she goes on to college, I'm going to miss her:(
 
Oct 23, 2009
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Los Angeles
fastpitch - you are the one paying the money, so you should be able to voice your concerns to your PC. However, I don't believe you have to agree 100% with everything that is being taught either. I have the IR discussion with DDs PC and she didn't know (and still doesn't know) what I was talking about. But I realized that my DD is throwing with IR and PC is not trying to correct it. We agreed that as long as she finishes the pitch with her pitching arm and hand somewhere out in front of her body, we are fine with it. I truly believe that any pticher throwing with above average speed is naturally throwing with some internal rotation. I also believe that a good PC is helping your DD is all other areas of her pitching mechanics: stride, balance, good arm circle, new pitching grips, game strategy, moral support, a sounding board for all of your questions, etc. I won't be so quick to give that up before long consideration.

A quick comment: several posters mentioned that "closing the hips" are a bad thing. I am not totally convinced of this. Go look at FFS's thread on Model Pitchers and show me one pitcher that is not closing their hips (at least a little bit) prior to release. Try throwing a ball or hitting a softball with and without closing the hips and tell me which technique generates more power?
 
Jul 26, 2010
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Find a pitching coach who is still a student of the game, who still strives to learn about the skill, and still pays attention to what is being done in the sport.

Steer clear of PC's that teach as the were taught and teach how they pitched and who are not active students of the game.

A good teacher never ceases to be a good student.

-W
 
Oct 22, 2009
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Find a pitching coach who is still a student of the game, who still strives to learn about the skill, and still pays attention to what is being done in the sport.

Steer clear of PC's that teach as the were taught and teach how they pitched and who are not active students of the game.


A good teacher never ceases to be a good student.

-W


This is what I explain to my parents.
We have colleges and college kids here all the time offering clinics for pitchers, especially right now during the spring season.
They ask me if it is a good idea to go to them.
I explain that some of these girls are going to teach what they were taught. They may not pitch that way anymore and are not even aware of it. Especially the IR.

So I said if you really must, pay close attention to how they pitch (if they demonstrate) and what they are instructing your daughter.
I also ask them after a clinic what was discussed. I am curious to hear what they say about my students.
 
Feb 6, 2009
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A quick comment: several posters mentioned that "closing the hips" are a bad thing. I am not totally convinced of this. Go look at FFS's thread on Model Pitchers and show me one pitcher that is not closing their hips (at least a little bit) prior to release. Try throwing a ball or hitting a softball with and without closing the hips and tell me which technique generates more power?

I think most here would agree the hips should close some during the process. Yet there are coaches that teach a walk off style in which the student never opens at all. If you don't open, you can't actually close and use your hips. Other coaches teach a "slam the door shut" method. This can lead to walking through the pitch or putting the hips too far closed at release. Hitting and throwing over hand are good analogies. In both cases the hips are partially closed at contact and release (and then finish where they finish naturally). If we hit with our hips completely closed, we call that bunting.
 
Aug 21, 2008
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Fastpitch, I wasn't going to jump in on this but.... may I ask where you are from? Feel free to just say North Texas or something if you don't wanna be specific.

Personally, I think you answered your own question here. Would you keep sending your DD to a math teacher who was teaching 5+4= 8? Of course not. So if you KNOW something to not be "right" then it's probably a waste to keep going. And you are NEVER going to convince that PC of yours, most are pretty set in their ways and are unbending in their thinking even when presented with something irrefutable. And your PC probably TRULY believes what is being taught but, believing something does not make it so. Of the pitching coaches with actual pitching experience, many have never stopped to think of what they actually do (or did) when they pitch. And if this PC was a top caliber pitcher, I'm willing to bet he/she wasn't doing many of the things they are teaching. Sue Enquist does this presentation about hitting and tells people to throw away her videos from 20 years ago.... they are wrong. The advent of Right View Pro and other tools have shown her that what she thought people were doing wasn't actually what they are doing and they now have a better understanding of how the body works. Pitching is the same. Many of the old school people teaching things which contradict the best in the world's mechanics are doing so without understanding this. I don't believe anyone is maliciously teaching something they KNOW to be wrong and just taking the money! But maybe I'm naive.

The other part of what you wrote that scared me was your being "afraid" of "cheating" on this coach. Personally, I welcome my students to go listen to other people. If they find a way of pitching which they truly to believe is better and the way the best pitchers in the world actually pitch... then I'd love to hear about it and do it myself this upcoming season. But having tried all there is to try in pitching from the time I was 10 years old, I'm pretty confident that I have a good handle on mechanics. One of 2 things is going to happen if you go to other clinics/coaches: #1. you're going to figure out that your coach is right and you're on the right track if what is said makes sense. Or #2. You're going to discover a better way to do this which will make your DD's pitching grow my leaps and bounds. Either way, you both win.

Bill
 
Oct 18, 2009
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Hey Bill - thanks so much for the response. We are in the NY/NJ area. I guess a main problem is that most of the PC's around here seem to teach basically the same or similar style. As much as I'd like to get her instruction that I am %100 behind... I don't really know who we'd go to... and I don't have the knowledge to be or really want to try and be my DD's pitching coach. If you know someone in the NY/NJ area... please let me know! Thanks again for the response!
 

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