Challenging All Vipers & Coaches: Don’t Kill Your Game

I received the below from a softball mailing list I am on (one of the hundreds I receive would think).

Anyway…this one caught my attention and I NEED to pass it on to our players.

Any coach or player who has ever been to a clinic or practice I run, I obsess over throwing mechanics.  Obsess!  My coaching and insistence on paying attention to it is usually met with sighs, eye rolls or if I could read think clouds, they would say “whatever coach”.

Lead with the shoulder!  Make the L!  Snap the wrists.  Pre-set your footwork.  Click your heels.  Follow your throw.  And more and more depending on the drill, situation or throw angle.

I cannot overstate this enough to our coaches and players…if you are not working on throwing mechanics all the time in your winter sessions, you are wasting your time.  Do them and do them right.  You have facility and dome time this year to work on them.  Do not throw for throwing sake…do it right.  Angle your body, set your footwork and lead with your shoulder.  Snap your wrist and follow through.   Use your legs.

A prospective family I met with recently told me that the reason the teams I have coached are so competitive is because they all play good defense.  I never think of myself as a defensive coach but when I got that comment, I guess maybe I am.  Defense is what separates average to good, good to very good and very good to great.

I’ll close with one other thing I tell my players all the time: Don’t question the veteran!

Here is the email I received….Bob Germano

 

“Pitching is the name of the game.”  “If you’re hitting, you’re playing.”  “Defense wins championships.”

However, nothing will even kill your game as much as bad throws.  Bad throws are directly responsible for a large percentage of the runs given to another team. At all levels of the game. 

Spend time refining your throwing mechanics and perfecting all of your throws.

Good throwing mechanics will minimize your chance of developing arm or shoulder pain and will allow you to throw with more power with less effort.

Perfecting your throws is crucial because in a 1-0 game, you can’t afford to throw the ball away.

You can NEVER refine and perfect your throwing mechanics enough – under all conditions.

Don’t Kill Your Game!