- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
For our daughter's 9th birthday we enrolled her in Jennie's camp this past weekend. Thought I'd write up a kind of review for anyone who might be interested.
We went to the closest camp to our house, in Gastonia NC. Interestingly, the place where it was held had no ball fields. They used several passive areas for the camp. You'd think that would be a big deal but it really wasn't. There were no actual games, learning stations were set up for drills.
Some of the drills were pretty basic for my kid. Stopping gently rolled grounders, easy pop flies, etc. But there were also some that were more advanced. The skill level of the girls varied drastically and they were grouped by age group. But repetition is never bad in softball and I don't think she minded. She thought the hitting off the T drill was the worst (boring, she said). She loved the relay races and she always love pop flies, easy or otherwise.
Jennie herself was definitely the highlight of the camp. We got there at 7:15 the first day (because the website said registration at 7, camp at 8 but it was actually at 8 and 9). Jennie was already there, helping set up. My daughter was thoroughly star struck. Jennie stayed both days, start to finish. The campers got a lot of opportunities to interact with her in smallish groups. They got pictures with her, autographs, a Q&A session, all within their age groups so it wasn't 200 girls all competing to ask a question. The entire weekend she was smiling and seemed genuinely happy to be there. If I were her I'd have been exhausted and REALLY sick of squealing girls by halfway through day 1. Maybe she's a great actress and maybe she's just genuinely that much more awesome than I am
but she never looked tired, annoyed, or anything other than pleased to be there.
Some of the instruction hurt my brain. It's hard to have been learning things one way, believing it's right, and to hear from Olympians that it's wrong. Cristl Bustos taught the hitting stations, and teaches hitting differently from what my husband's been teaching our kid (he's a coach, baseball/softball junkie but certainly not an Olympic softball athlete). He's worked with our daughter on rotational hitting with a wide stance and no step. She taught a narrower stance with a step. We worked really hard to break her of the step and her hitting is very good. So I'm like, ahhhh, don't mess her up! Then I'm like, who am I to think I know better than Bustos?? Right? Anyway.
I thought Jennie and her dad had some very interesting things to say about pitching. I came home more confused/conflicted than anything else. Some of what he said made very good sense, but also contradicted some things my husband and her pitching coach have been teaching her. They definitely teach HE, even using that term repeatedly. My husband's ALL ABOUT IR so there was brain hurt number one. They said a short stride is safer and has more power than a longer stride. They said you can't throw a tradition screw or drop ball safely; they have some other method of doing it which my non-athletic brain did not grasp. I'm actually trying to find their videos second hand (not $80 new) so my husband can watch them and get an idea of the things he said this weekend. Regardless, Jennie personally complimented my daughter's pitching which about made her year. I should probably post this section on the pitching forum but I'd love to hear from anyone who's got experience with Jennie's dad's teachings and anything to either back them or discredit them. The girls got a lesson from Jennie and her dad in smallish groups so regardless of how you feel about their teaching, that was a pretty cool experience.
The lunches that were included for the girls were pretty blah, a hot dog and chips the first day, sandwich and chips the 2nd. They had a BBQ place set up there though, w/ lots of options. I'm sure that part varies by location.
Jennie demo'd her dad's windmill machine thing, which looks pretty cool to me. If she's still pitching in a few years we may invest in one, though I think I'll look into alternatives as well (regular exercises for pitchers' non-dominant side). She did a pitching demo which was pretty awesome. And they did a hitting demo though I chose to sit in the sun and read. But my daughter said it was very cool and I heard lots of cheering.
Overall it was an amazing weekend. Jennie is an all around class act, no doubt about it. First thing when we got in the car my daughter asked if she can go back next year.
We went to the closest camp to our house, in Gastonia NC. Interestingly, the place where it was held had no ball fields. They used several passive areas for the camp. You'd think that would be a big deal but it really wasn't. There were no actual games, learning stations were set up for drills.
Some of the drills were pretty basic for my kid. Stopping gently rolled grounders, easy pop flies, etc. But there were also some that were more advanced. The skill level of the girls varied drastically and they were grouped by age group. But repetition is never bad in softball and I don't think she minded. She thought the hitting off the T drill was the worst (boring, she said). She loved the relay races and she always love pop flies, easy or otherwise.
Jennie herself was definitely the highlight of the camp. We got there at 7:15 the first day (because the website said registration at 7, camp at 8 but it was actually at 8 and 9). Jennie was already there, helping set up. My daughter was thoroughly star struck. Jennie stayed both days, start to finish. The campers got a lot of opportunities to interact with her in smallish groups. They got pictures with her, autographs, a Q&A session, all within their age groups so it wasn't 200 girls all competing to ask a question. The entire weekend she was smiling and seemed genuinely happy to be there. If I were her I'd have been exhausted and REALLY sick of squealing girls by halfway through day 1. Maybe she's a great actress and maybe she's just genuinely that much more awesome than I am
but she never looked tired, annoyed, or anything other than pleased to be there.Some of the instruction hurt my brain. It's hard to have been learning things one way, believing it's right, and to hear from Olympians that it's wrong. Cristl Bustos taught the hitting stations, and teaches hitting differently from what my husband's been teaching our kid (he's a coach, baseball/softball junkie but certainly not an Olympic softball athlete). He's worked with our daughter on rotational hitting with a wide stance and no step. She taught a narrower stance with a step. We worked really hard to break her of the step and her hitting is very good. So I'm like, ahhhh, don't mess her up! Then I'm like, who am I to think I know better than Bustos?? Right? Anyway.
I thought Jennie and her dad had some very interesting things to say about pitching. I came home more confused/conflicted than anything else. Some of what he said made very good sense, but also contradicted some things my husband and her pitching coach have been teaching her. They definitely teach HE, even using that term repeatedly. My husband's ALL ABOUT IR so there was brain hurt number one. They said a short stride is safer and has more power than a longer stride. They said you can't throw a tradition screw or drop ball safely; they have some other method of doing it which my non-athletic brain did not grasp. I'm actually trying to find their videos second hand (not $80 new) so my husband can watch them and get an idea of the things he said this weekend. Regardless, Jennie personally complimented my daughter's pitching which about made her year. I should probably post this section on the pitching forum but I'd love to hear from anyone who's got experience with Jennie's dad's teachings and anything to either back them or discredit them. The girls got a lesson from Jennie and her dad in smallish groups so regardless of how you feel about their teaching, that was a pretty cool experience.
The lunches that were included for the girls were pretty blah, a hot dog and chips the first day, sandwich and chips the 2nd. They had a BBQ place set up there though, w/ lots of options. I'm sure that part varies by location.
Jennie demo'd her dad's windmill machine thing, which looks pretty cool to me. If she's still pitching in a few years we may invest in one, though I think I'll look into alternatives as well (regular exercises for pitchers' non-dominant side). She did a pitching demo which was pretty awesome. And they did a hitting demo though I chose to sit in the sun and read. But my daughter said it was very cool and I heard lots of cheering.
Overall it was an amazing weekend. Jennie is an all around class act, no doubt about it. First thing when we got in the car my daughter asked if she can go back next year.
