Take a Look..........

[FrozenRope]

Were you able to hold your tongue? I cannot keep my mouth shut in these situations.

Didn't make a peep. Even as she was corrected for doing the "Lock It In" drill instead of the recommended Wrist snaps. And "Liberty" replaced the K-Drills as they were instructing.

I didn't want to be "That Guy" that has 18 months of knowledge correcting a woman that has been doing it for 20 years. That's a no win if you ask me.

 

[starsnuffer]

I strongly recommend avoiding any clinics, especially college and rec org clinics, regarding pitching, unless you have previously vetted the clinic. They can really confuse the player, and in many cases, kids develop a bit of a hero/mentor complex with college athletes and will listen to whatever it is they're teaching/selling no matter if it is good/bad/right/wrong.

The only clinics I recommend your player go do are clinics put on by the coaching staff of a school that SHE HAS A STRONG DESIRE TO ATTEND. The reason to attend these clinics is to develop a personal relationship and show that the student is coachable. In these situations, it is imperative that the student perform the tasks being asked of her to show that she is capable of learning, and this means that the student must already possess a very solid foundation and understanding of their own pitching so that they do not become "screwed up" by the things they are being tasked to perform.

Even a solid coach can unintentionally confuse a kid simply by using language the kid may misinterpret. I remember speaking to two kids after a Mike White camp and both of them had different ideas on what they were taught because one of them took something he said literally instead of doing what he was showing them.

-W

 

[Rocketech1]

Were you able to hold your tongue? I cannot keep my mouth shut in these situations.

It's futile to even try to convince them, they are set in their ways and no amount of argument can convince them otherwise. I few years ago, I mentioned to my DDs 1st PC the concept of "internal rotation" and showed her the difference between pulling the ball down the circle vs. pushing it down the circle that PC taught. She flatly said IR was dangerous to the shoulder. I eventually had to leave her because I wasn't going to continue to pay $40 for 30 mins a week of this nonsense.

 

[cuzmail]

I strongly recommend avoiding any clinics, especially college and rec org clinics, regarding pitching, unless you have previously vetted the clinic.

The only clinics I recommend your player go do are clinics put on by the coaching staff of a school that SHE HAS A STRONG DESIRE TO ATTEND.

Not sure if I should to thank you or what! DD is going to the A&M pitching and hitting camp this weekend. Pitching and hitting not vetted, but she attends the regular camps annually and loves it. However, this is a school that she really wants to go to. I may have to give her a talk about listening and having an open mind, but we may not pursue everything. You gotta hope that Rhys (A&M PC) kinda knows with Amanda and other pitchers who have made it thru the program.

We'll see.......

 

[coach james]

I think he's Coach James' "brotha from anotha motha"........

Just now caught this one! Damn, you caught me!
Lol

 

[WaSpeed02]

I didn't want to be "That Guy" that has 18 months of knowledge correcting a woman that has been doing it for 20 years. That's a no win if you ask me.

You got that right. We had a 1 day clinic with a Div II Head Coach (she graciously donated her time) who stopped my DD after one pitch to tell her she was doing it wrong. Of course, she proceeded to give all the standard bowling style instruction. I (mistakenly) stopped her at said, "she doesn't pitch that style". Now, THAT was a can of worms I never should have opened. From now on, I'm telling DD to smile and nod in advance. Sheesh.

 

[WillyT812]

Cuzmail...keep us posted on that clinic this weekend.

 

[CoachFP]

You got that right. We had a 1 day clinic with a Div II Head Coach (she graciously donated her time) who stopped my DD after one pitch to tell her she was doing it wrong. Of course, she proceeded to give all the standard bowling style instruction. I (mistakenly) stopped her at said, "she doesn't pitch that style". Now, THAT was a can of worms I never should have opened. From now on, I'm telling DD to smile and nod in advance. Sheesh.

I thought you did this coach a favor. If you don't tell her that she's wrong who will? What good was she anyway if she was teaching the wrong information. If your daughter was in a math class and the teacher was teaching Algebra incorrectly you would tell him or her.

 

[stickpile39]

I thought you did this coach a favor. If you don't tell her that she's wrong who will? What good was she anyway if she was teaching the wrong information. If your daughter was in a math class and the teacher was teaching Algebra incorrectly you would tell him or her.

Well it's technically not incorrect, just inferior, right?

I've encountered this same situation time after time. I so wish I knew then what I know now. I "did" take their advice with my older DD

 

[WaSpeed02]

I thought you did this coach a favor. If you don't tell her that she's wrong who will? What good was she anyway if she was teaching the wrong information. If your daughter was in a math class and the teacher was teaching Algebra incorrectly you would tell him or her.

I didn't really care to (or intend to) offer correction to that coach (as if a college coach should ever really take criticism from "a dad" that she doesn't know, anyway). My only concern was that she was offering a "correction" to something that didn't need to be corrected.

What irked me was when she said she was worried my DD was going to get injured, and her suggested correction to prevent injury was to finish with the elbow. When I tried to explain I/R to her she acted genuinely ignorant of it. That led to my big mistake. I took the time to write an email to her full of websites like PauleyGirl and House of Pitching, slo-mo video of several elite pitchers, medical studies on the fast pitch I/R delivery, etc. Just some information for her so she could see I'm not some crazy dad trying to destroy his DD's arm.

Needless to say, she later told one of our coaches that she knew all about that stuff (so why did she act clueless with me???) and thought my email was condescending or something. She doesn't ever want me to email her again (as if I planned to).

Talk about someone getting on the defensive. The whole situation is just stupid and I'm super frustrated that people get a title next to their name and that somehow raises them to a level above the rest of humanity where their 'expertise' is not to be questioned or challenged. I wouldn't have cared if she truly didn't know about what we call I/R mechanics. What I didn't care for was her acting like I was speaking a foreign language (she wanted to argue with me about "ball up" on the downswing) and then later saying she is an expert and knows everything I tried to share with her, as well as make me a bad guy who somehow broke the unpardonable rule of questioning an "expert".

Anyway, I don't view any style as "right or wrong" per se, but the analogy I used was HE is like training hitters to squish the bug. You may teach them to hit the ball, but it certainly isn't the best way to do it.