What's Your "Wow" Factor?

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What's Your "Wow" Factor?

Tonight at 7 p.m. we’ll be releasing an interview I did with Wright State Head Coach Laura Matthews and DePauw University Head Coach, Erica Hanrahan (yes, we’re related) in a live Zoom meeting. How good does a player need to be if she wants to play in college? How fast? How accurate?

Maybe there’s even a bigger question - why would i want to play softball in college, anyway?

Both stressed the importance of having at least one thing you are exceptionally good at. Coach Erica calls it your “Wow!” factor. Coach Matthews said at the very least, have enough command to work both the inside and outside of the plate. You can’t get stuck on one side.

What’s your WOW factor? When you go to a camp or play in an exposure tournament, what will make you stand out from the crowd? Is it….

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Will Virtual Lessons Ever Rule the World?

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Will Virtual Lessons Ever Rule the World?

For parents and players trying to learn more about pitching, gathering all information from online sources can be overwhelming. As a result, it gets demotivating. Every coach says something different. The key is to ask, “What are my goals and what are my daughter’s goals?”, and “What methods of learning would fit our lifestyle best?”

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Why Inspiration Matters

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Why Inspiration Matters

In the softball world, obsession about finding the “edge” over the competition or trying to find the “motivation” to get out and practice, causes us to overlook the important role of inspiration.

How are motivation and inspiration different? I think inspiration has to do with feelings, excitement, and creativity. It has to do with a person allowing an outside force to act within him or herself.

Motivation, on the other hand, is about will. It’s about habits and is self-imposed through some sort of discipline.

I was inspired to play as a young girl by my uncle, who’s passion and joy around the sport became contagious. His daughter, my cousin, had the same drive . All the games I had to watch inspired me with her competitiveness. It seems cool to care.

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Pitching: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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Pitching: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

*As published in Fastpitch Magazine

I stood on the mound my sophomore year in college as the opposing team cheered in the dugout.  The hitter looked confident strutting up to the batter's box. She took extra time to knock the dirt off of her cleats before she put the bat up to her shoulder. Then she settled in and stared me in the eye. I stood up taller, followed my pre-pitch routine, and delivered my blazing fast curve ball right towards the - “BALL ONE!” Okay, no problem.  I beared down, focused on my catcher’s mitt and fired again.  “BALL TWO!” Although two balls in a row were not ideal, it is nothing that any good pitcher can not handle.  When the next two pitches buzzed in as “BALL THREE!” and “BALL FOUR!” the cheers from the opposing dugout resounded even louder. As the good Brian Cain says, “So what, next pitch,” that saying formulated then in my brain.

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5 Go-To Resources About Mechanics [Video]

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5 Go-To Resources About Mechanics [Video]

Here is a cheat sheet with videos for the pitching basics. There are five basic pitching fundamentals, A take away, or pre-motion, sets you up for the rest of your pitch. Both hands need to propel forward to the target. The arm circle is fast and loose, your back leg drives towards the target.

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A Real-Life Lesson About Training: My Story

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A Real-Life Lesson About Training: My Story

As a young athlete, I had an average work ethic. I went along with what my coaches said to do.  Although my parents took me to lessons with my uncle who was a pitching coach once per week, I only practiced maybe once per week, if at all, in an unfocused and purposeless way.  I felt bad for my catcher. Wasn’t I “putting her out” by asking her to catch for me?  Sometimes I felt sorry for myself because I had to throw to a wall and bend down to field it.  My dad was supportive but not pushy.  If I asked him to catch me, I’m sure he would have; but I never felt like practicing so I didn’t ask. Mom and Dad came to my games and were proud of my “efforts,” like most other parents.

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Ithaca College Hall of Fame

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Ithaca College Hall of Fame

In October, Kevin Connors, ESPN sportscaster and Ithaca College graduate, interviewed me and 7 other inductees into the 50th class of the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame. It was a very fun (and nerve-racking) experience, but I wanted to share what I talked about. The reason I’m sharing this is because I think it’s important for young athletes to see what’s possible in the sport of softball. After all, many 8-12 year olds don’t know there is a professional softball league, that college softball is televised, or that they might have enough talent to play beyond high school. I’ve also added the introduction video they showed the audience before my interview to give some background on what we had to do to achieve at a high level.

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What Yoga Can Teach Us about Pitching

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What Yoga Can Teach Us about Pitching

This summer we held class at a beautiful personal training and yoga studio called “Practice Chicago” in Lincoln Park. What a fitting name, right?! As you know, I love when pitchers practice, but I never looked at practice the way described in @practicechicago’s recent Instagram post:

“When an activity becomes a practice it shifts from something you are doing at a point in time to an ongoing process of becoming. The former lends itself to “good” or “bad” judgments, forgetfulness, and discontinuity. The latter lends itself to integration, continuous learning, and wholeness.”

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Why We Love Accountability Partners (And You Should, Too)!

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Why We Love Accountability Partners (And You Should, Too)!

Everyone needs consistent human support when attempting difficult physical activity. Before I got a personal trainer and started attending scheduled classes at the gym in 2014 I just wandered over to Lakeview YMCA 2 or 3 times a week and completed my old college lifting workout. That's right, I did my old college workout for ELEVEN years because I didn't know what I didn't know. Seemed like a totally awesome workout because it was totally awesome in college.
 

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Why Pitchers are Like Batman

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Being a pitcher is a year-round commitment. As you know the learning curve is steep!  If you want to contribute to your team and see playing time, your best bet is to practice multiple times a week, get professional instruction, and take planned breaks (not breaks where you don't quite "feel like it today"). 

Unlike a shortstop or a left fielder, you hold the ball every single play in the game. You have the power to strike everyone out or walk everyone. You have the power to affect the attitude of the rest or your team, whether you stay positive after an error or lose faith when a run scores. 

You hold the most power in your hands and with this "power comes great responsibility."  - to quote my favorite comic book hero, Batman.

Make the time to practice year-round and you might save the day, too!

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New Take-aways from College Coaches at the NFCA Convention

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New Take-aways from College Coaches at the NFCA Convention

One take-away I got from her presentation explained the importance of the grip. Did you ever notice that when you throw a curve ball it slides out of your hand and goes straight? I know, it happens all the time!  You need to slide your thumb up on the ball and put extra pressure on your fingertips and thumb equally. Voila!

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