What Happened to Playing?

When did we stop letting players play? I’m thinking of pitchers right now, but it really can apply to hitters, catchers, any position out there! When I work one on one with pitchers, I ask a lot of questions and they always think I expect a specific response. Asking what were you thinking after throwing that pitch or did that feel comfortable somehow makes today’s generation of pitchers uncomfortable and feeling like I as a coach expect a specific answer.
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My philosophy as a pitching coach focuses around the thought that it is my job to support a pitcher in being “their own best pitching coach.” I often joke with pitchers that my goal is to make it so they don’t “need” me at all. When you really think about it, there’s not much a coach can do from a bucket in the middle of a game…but the kid in the circle? She can do it all.

Now, as I start to create relationships with new players and families, it’s a whole new world for many of them. People are often trained to always seek the answer from a coach, rather than explore, play, and find one themselves. Our new era of players have a private pitching, hitting, fielding, strength and conditioning, mental training, etc., coach that leaves little room for players and families to find solutions on their own through trial and error. I usually say my brand of private coaching offers “guided play” for athletes. There is a balance between aiding in mechanical development, drill work, and muscle memory and allowing athletes to feel differences, understand what they are most comfortable with, and teach themselves.

Especially during “crazy times like these” as everyone keeps saying, it’s a great time for you to get out and play! I wanted to share a few examples of what I mean by this.
1) Pitcher A came to me with a change up she wasn’t comfortable with that “probably is only slow enough 25% of the time.” I asked her why she threw it - “Because it’s the one my last pitching coach taught me” …so if you’re not comfortable with it and it doesn’t work why are you throwing it? We spent the lesson trying out different types of change ups, changing the finger pressure she put on the ball, and seeing what felt natural to her. Once we found “the one” she liked, I sent her home with the homework of deciding whether it was the one or not. It’s HER change up, not mine.

2) Pitcher B came to me basically using a different pre-motion every pitch. We videoed 15 pitches to see how many different variations she really did (turns out it was 4). We narrowed it down to 2 that she was most comfortable with, and then tracked how well she did using each pre-motion, including more video to determine if either changed her mechanics at all. Once we found the more productive one, I sent her home with the homework of deciding whether it was really the one or not. It’s HER pre-motion, not mine.

3) Pitcher C came to me as an 8 year old newbie who had never really pitched before. By her third lesson she was working through some full motion pitches. Not a lot, but enough to start to learn what it’s supposed to feel like…what happens when she moves her hips a certain way, what happens when she lets go of the ball too late, what happens when she lands too far to the right. Small things, but things you cannot learn from drill work. I sent her home with the homework of working on the drills we learned so she can work more and more on that full motion pitch. It’s HER pitching, not mine.

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I guess all of that is a long winded way of saying, what better time that for pitchers, and all players, to start playing at home again? Get out a net and spend an hour playing with different things - motions, grips, mentalities, self talk…what do you have to lose? Let your daughter get out and play! Learn to trust her instincts, her abilities, and help her remember why she fell in love with it in the first place.
It will change her perspective.
It will help her learn to be her own pitching coach.
It will help her grow. 
It will empower her.

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