halskinner
Banned
- May 7, 2008
- 2,652
- 0
OK, I am going to let folks in on a strange little secret I discovered several years ago.
I always recommended bowling as a good sport to bring on arm strength in a pitcher. However, I would givre very specific rules on HOW to bowl to NOT screw up a curveball in progress that they were working on.
Here is the little secret; If a pitcher is bowling at the same time she is pitching (games or practice) AND, she bowls with any type of hook or curve to the bowling ball spin, SHE WILL LOSE HER CURVEBALL GUARANTEED until around 3 weeks after stopping her bowling.
This happened to a few of my students that took me up on my advice before I knew this would happen. Once I discovered what the culprit was, I confirmed it with a few other students that I found out had started bowling and not told me about it. Same thing happened to them also.
Then I met with a few other instructors in my academy and told them about it. They started questioning a few of their students who had also lost their curveball. Sure enough, they were also bowling one night a week and had a curve to the bowling ball like Hogans Goat!
Then I contacted a few other instructors in my area and told them what we had stumbled onto. They got back to me a few weeks later and sure enough, them too.
So, while they were bowling in the off season, we all decided to NOT work on the curveball until after their bowling leagues were done,
Nobody could explain exactly why this happened, something with the muscle memory got really screwed up and nobody came up with a fix.
So, it was just generally accepted that during bowling league time of the year dont be surprised if your student cant throw a curve if her life depends on it. Work on something else during that time.
Had some really frustrating sessions before we all figured this out, not just me either.
Just for your info.
Hal
I always recommended bowling as a good sport to bring on arm strength in a pitcher. However, I would givre very specific rules on HOW to bowl to NOT screw up a curveball in progress that they were working on.
Here is the little secret; If a pitcher is bowling at the same time she is pitching (games or practice) AND, she bowls with any type of hook or curve to the bowling ball spin, SHE WILL LOSE HER CURVEBALL GUARANTEED until around 3 weeks after stopping her bowling.
This happened to a few of my students that took me up on my advice before I knew this would happen. Once I discovered what the culprit was, I confirmed it with a few other students that I found out had started bowling and not told me about it. Same thing happened to them also.
Then I met with a few other instructors in my academy and told them about it. They started questioning a few of their students who had also lost their curveball. Sure enough, they were also bowling one night a week and had a curve to the bowling ball like Hogans Goat!
Then I contacted a few other instructors in my area and told them what we had stumbled onto. They got back to me a few weeks later and sure enough, them too.
So, while they were bowling in the off season, we all decided to NOT work on the curveball until after their bowling leagues were done,
Nobody could explain exactly why this happened, something with the muscle memory got really screwed up and nobody came up with a fix.
So, it was just generally accepted that during bowling league time of the year dont be surprised if your student cant throw a curve if her life depends on it. Work on something else during that time.
Had some really frustrating sessions before we all figured this out, not just me either.
Just for your info.
Hal
