Backspin Blogger

Driving on I-25 towards Denver in the early summer of 2004, I was on top of the world! I was to test my new found "Facts of Hitting" teaching program on one of the best American Legion Teams in the country and do some fly fishing! Heaven!!! With the 107 degree Arizona heat in my rear view mirror, so was my inferior, theory-based coaching style!  But I was nervous as a fish out of water! How was it going to work? How would the kids and coaches receive the information that was so foreign to me, a baseball lifer, just a few months earlier? Am I walking into a perpetual mine field called baseball tradition? Would they like me as a coach? Would they respect me? But most important of all... would it truly make each one of them better?!? And would there be an explosive hatch while I was their so my fish stories wouldn't be fish stories. The whole trip, I had fished thoroughly through my mind for answers to try and be prepared for any and all questions. Arriving ea...

Most hitters and coaches think that working on hitting is taking batting practice... they are correct but only partially. Understanding, addressing and working on all the  ingredients  of being a good hitter is the only way to maximize any hitters potential. Each fast pitch softball hitter is an individual and each has their strengths and weaknesses but going through this checklist may help identify both and get them on their way to marked improvement.        The swing  ·           The actual physical swing mechanics  ·         Creating a “sound or mechanically correct” swing gives the hitter the best chance for contact and force(power)      The phase we all work on the most 2.        The mental approach ·           Ignored by a lot of fastpitch softball hitting instructors(because of the lack of concrete ideas and it ha...

The Fast-Pitch Softball Study …why we teach, what we teach    As I was introducing myself to the Fast Pitch Softball world in 2005, I observed as much as I could. Living in Arizona , I was lucky to have some of the best programs in the country. High level recreational teams, high school teams, University of Arizona and Arizona State University -- all just minutes from my home. I was intrigued by several observations I made. Then, I just started asking questions, and more questions (examples below)and more questions to anybody who would listen I then started asking the “experts” some questions. The ”Experts” I am referring to were the coaches and private instructors who I had been told were the leaders in the sport. I was trying to get a picture painted as to how this sport paralleled the other diamond sport in as many aspects as possible. ·          What are the similarities? ·      ...

  How YOU can be an effective instructor I have been a coach with the freedom of not having to teach (God bless all you teachers & teacher/coaches). This has allowed me to put in more time than most in studying the art and science of hitting and learning. I think it is just a formula that has allowed me to create a living teaching hitting. No life + obsession with hitting + no real job + living in Arizona + a lot of luck = The Krush Hitting Company. All this is just prefacing what I believe are the most important things I have learned about being an effective coach. Now this has changed a whole lot in my 30 year coaching career. The most important characteristic of being a quality coach is being a good communicator . Whether you are right or wrong, if you communicate well, you will be effective. The second characteristic is to be very knowledgeable (big surprise) in your field . What I really mean by this is to know a lot about a lot in the field. Acknowledging what ot...

Driving on I-25 towards Denver in the early summer of 2004, I was on top of the world! I was to test my new found "Facts of Hitting" teaching program on one of the best American Legion Teams in the country and do some fly fishing! Heaven!!! With the 107 degree Arizona heat in my rear view mirror, so was my inferior, theory-based coaching style!  But I was nervous as a fish out of water! How was it going to work? How would the kids and coaches receive the information that was so foreign to me, a baseball lifer, just a few months earlier? Am I walking into a perpetual mine field called baseball tradition? Would they like me as a coach? Would they respect me? But most important of all... would it truly make each one of them better?!? And would there be an explosive hatch while I was their so my fish stories wouldn't be fish stories. The whole trip, I had fished thoroughly through my mind for answers to try and be prepared for any and all questions. Arr...

"What is a good athletic position?" I ask that to every kid and coach in every clinic I put on? The most common answer is ridiculous!!! But wait... we don't know what we don't know... so how can the hitters or coaches answer the question correctly if they don't know the REAL answer? Rhetorical question? Maybe, maybe not. Let's address the problem baseball and softball, along with other "industries" have and don't deal with it well enough. We TEACH WHAT WE KNOW without sometimes stepping back and analyzing it and CONFIRMING what we teach is good stuff? Sometimes when I say this in a coaches clinic, I get the look a dog gives you when it gets curious about something... a turn and lean of the head implying, "What are you talking about?" OK, answer this as an example of possibly teaching something without thinking it MAY be not really a good technique to teach... 1. Hitters should squish the bug... I SAID IT FOR YEARS!!!! Dead wr...