Windmill Pitching

How to Practice Pitching Safely During Injury Recovery

By Phil | February 8, 2013 |

One of the most difficult things about being injured for an athlete is the time spent inactive during recovery. While you definitely shouldn’t push yourself, there are some simple windmill pitching drills that are likely safe for you to do while you’re recovering. They’re not intense or complicated, but they can be enough to keep you sharp.Today’s video will take you through an easy routine. ALWAYS ask your doctor before proceeding to work out.

Medicine Ball Exercises for Hitting and Pitching Power

By Joe Bonyai | February 6, 2013 |

Poor exercise technique can contribute to poor hitting and pitching habits. In these videos, I explain how to correctly perform medicine ball exercises to improve hitting and pitching power while also reinforcing proper hitting and pitching mechanics.

Coaching Objectives: Team Goal Setting

By Carly | February 4, 2013

As I mentioned in my first post of this coaching series, your primary objective as a coach at all times should be to facilitate the physical AND emotional growth of the athletes under your watch. Aside from your general demeanor, the most concrete way to handle this is by setting goals. A sports team, especially one comprised of teen girls, is a delicate ecosystem, and like many other aspects of coaching, goal setting can easily become counterproductive if not done sensitively. Today we’re going to discuss how to set solid, productive team goals.

Building Speed and Power: Don’t Sweat the Results

By Phil | February 1, 2013 |

There can be many obstacles standing between a pitcher and her maximum speed potential. One of the biggest, I feel, is too strong a focus being placed on throwing strikes from too young an age. In today’s video, I’m going to share some drills that ONLY emphasize power.

The Best Exercises to Reduce Softball Shoulder Injuries

By Joe Bonyai | January 30, 2013

Put down the tubing and light dumbbells. In these two videos, I explain why old school exercises like pull ups and rows are the best upper body exercises to reduce softball shoulder injuries.

Dealing with Concussions: A Guide for Coaches and Parents

By Carly | January 28, 2013

This wasn’t exactly my original plan for article #2 in my coaching series, but with Colin Kaepernick leading the 49ers to the Superbowl in Alex Smith’s place, I’m reminded that we all need to talk about concussions—in fact, I don’t think we can really talk about concussion safety enough.

For any of you who don’t follow football, Alex Smith began this season as the 49ers starting quarterback, and was doing pretty darn well before suffering a concussion mid-season. He wasn’t out of commission for long, but Colin Kaepernick did so well in his place that Smith lost his job, for no reason other than that he got hurt. I could rant on and on about concussions in professional football and how having to worry about losing your job if you have one is not a good situation…but we’ll keep this about coaching and parenting young athletes.

The Softball Core Training Commandments

By Joe Bonyai | January 24, 2013

In these videos, I define my core training philosophy and show you how to identify and execute proper softball core training exercises.

Coaching Objectives: What Kind of Environment Are You Fostering?

By Carly | January 22, 2013

I’m going to take a little break from the technical pitching info and spend a few weeks talking about what is probably the most important aspect of fastpitch softball: coaching. I know a lot of our readers are probably coaches, and parents who are not necessarily trained coaches but are volunteering their time to give their children the opportunity to play softball. Hopefully the information I provide in this series of articles will help you spruce up your coaching skills and move you toward achieving the common goal we all have: positively affecting the lives of young athletes and creating a playing environment that helps them grow not just as players, but as people also.

How the Hips Compare in Pitching and Hitting

By Phil | January 18, 2013 |

One of our students recently asked us a great question: why is it that in pitching we emphasize the hips moving in a linear fashion and the hand getting through first, but in hitting the hips rotate through and the hands lag behind? Watch today’s video for an explanation.

Does Lifting Weights Make Girls Bulky?

By Joe Bonyai | January 16, 2013

One of the main concerns young females have about starting a lifting program is that they will get “bulky”. To be clear, lifting weights does not make you bulky. However, I know it’s going to take a lot more than me saying it to convince hundreds of female readers that it’s true. Maybe a message from Miss America 2013 will help?