Latest / From the Coach's Mouth / Episode 33: Jay and Ken on Coaching Young Players v College, Plyo Balls, Multi-Sport Athletes, Trusting the Process

Transcript

Episode 33: Jay and Ken on Coaching Young Players v College, Plyo Balls, Multi-Sport Athletes, Trusting the Process · From the Coach's Mouth

• 0:00
  I've seen over the years a little bit of a of a reduction
• 0:03
  in some things with some of my kids.
• 0:05
  It it comes back in the winter time, but as parents and
• 0:09
  coaches, we have to be able to give some grace to these kids,
• 0:13
  especially during the fall season to understand that these
• 0:17
  kids are doing multiple things throughout the year.
• 0:21
  Whether you live northeast, West or South, the best fast pitch
• 0:27
  info comes from the coach's mouth.
• 0:42
  Welcome to the From the Coach's Mouth podcast with your host Jay
• 0:47
  Bolden and Ken Krause. Hello everyone.
• 1:05
  Yes, we are finally back after our little hiatus.
• 1:09
  This is the From the Coach's Mouth podcast with Jay and Ken.
• 1:13
  Obviously. I'm Ken.
• 1:15
  Say hi, Jay. How you doing, everybody?
• 1:18
  Welcome back. You had to take a little
• 1:20
  vacation. Little breather there.
• 1:21
  Let Ken get his his little hula hula hula on and his lays.
• 1:26
  So he's he's back. How was it, Ken?
• 1:29
  It was a lot of fun. We had a great time there, did a
• 1:32
  lot of things, did a lot of the tours.
• 1:35
  I will say for those who haven't been, Hawaii is beautiful, but
• 1:39
  it's very expensive. So it's not here.
• 1:43
  Yeah. Just, you know, trying to get
• 1:44
  something to eat or, you know, having a drink or something.
• 1:47
  Yeah. Especially when you're used to
• 1:49
  doing the all inclusive types of places, you know, here you're
• 1:53
  paying for everything. So every snack you get, every
• 1:57
  drink you get, you're thinking about, Oh my gosh, that costs a
• 2:00
  lot of money, you. Didn't have a chance to go see
• 2:04
  the University of Hawaii softball field or anything, did
• 2:06
  you? The wife let you do that or no?
• 2:08
  No, the softball was not on the agenda for this this trip.
• 2:13
  Come on, Ken, you got to learn how to sneak, sneak that in
• 2:15
  there. You know, just check those
• 2:17
  things out and, you know, go meet the coaches there and see a
• 2:21
  foul ball game. Yeah.
• 2:23
  No, that's good. For you.
• 2:25
  Yeah, no, that was not on the the island tour package either.
• 2:29
  So you know, we we did a lot of that, you know, going around the
• 2:32
  islands, you know, the different ones.
• 2:34
  We were on three different islands, Kauai, Oahu and Maui,
• 2:40
  so. Did you have to fly to those
• 2:41
  islands every time? Yep.
• 2:44
  Was that? Like the small, the small planes
• 2:46
  to those or where is it still like a decent sized jet?
• 2:49
  It was a decent sized jet. It was one of those five across
• 2:52
  where you have two seats on the left and three seats on the
• 2:55
  right. Fortunately, we were able to get
• 2:58
  the two seats on the left each time.
• 3:00
  You know, it takes about 45 minutes or so to go from island
• 3:03
  to island, but of course you have have to get there early.
• 3:07
  You have to, you know, sit around for a while and then if
• 3:09
  there's any delays or anything like that, we spent a fair
• 3:12
  amount of time at some airports. Awesome.
• 3:16
  Before we get into it, and one thing I was going to share with
• 3:19
  you was that's probably the only place, at least in the US, where
• 3:24
  when we landed on our our flight from the continental US in
• 3:29
  Hawaii, our first stop was Kauai.
• 3:33
  And we get out, you know, we get our baggage, walk out to the
• 3:36
  curb, and there's a rooster just kind of walking around like
• 3:40
  nobody's business. Nice.
• 3:43
  Yeah, apparently Roosters and chickens are all over the place
• 3:46
  on all the islands. They gave up trying to do
• 3:49
  anything about it a long time ago.
• 3:51
  Now they just coexist. It is what it is.
• 3:54
  It's their land too, right? So awesome.
• 3:57
  Yeah, So that took a little getting used to it, but it was
• 4:00
  fun. So I'm excited too.
• 4:03
  Was it, I was going to say for you that was, was that your
• 4:06
  first time there? Yes, that was my first.
• 4:09
  Time be exciting for you. Breathtaking in the views,
• 4:11
  right? I hear the views are just
• 4:12
  absolutely not beautiful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 4:16
  The, you know, just what you see, you know, one after the
• 4:19
  other. When we got back to O'Hare and
• 4:23
  we were coming home in the Uber, my my wife was commenting, She
• 4:27
  says yeah, I miss seeing the ocean and the beaches and the
• 4:31
  mountains and all the scenery and everything already.
• 4:35
  Yeah, well, good for you guys, you guys.
• 4:37
  Deserve it. Well, thanks.
• 4:38
  Hey, so it looks like your team with your daughter is off to a
• 4:42
  good start. Yeah, You know what, We didn't
• 4:45
  know what to expect, Ken. And and you know, we're like I
• 4:48
  said, we're classified as AC level team.
• 4:50
  We're coming right out of 10U Wreck Ball All Stars.
• 4:54
  It's a brand new team. It's got I think from that All
• 4:57
  Star team, I think we've got about four or five kids that
• 5:00
  were on that team. So we have, you know, 7-8 kids
• 5:04
  that are, are new. Yeah, it's been great.
• 5:06
  We, you know, we're putting working with him.
• 5:08
  We have a basically a three hour practice on Sunday and we kind
• 5:12
  of split that up into hours, give them breaks in between and
• 5:15
  stuff like that, chance for them to talk and, and what not.
• 5:17
  And then on Tuesday nights we do hitting.
• 5:19
  So they do an hour and a half of hitting every week.
• 5:22
  I bring in some different instructors to help them.
• 5:25
  It's not just my voice. I, I, I feel that, you know, as
• 5:28
  we know with motor preferences, everything is different.
• 5:30
  People move differently. So I don't want it to be one
• 5:33
  voice with one swing. I wanted to, to find the best
• 5:36
  swings for each kid. So that's kind of stuff too.
• 5:39
  And just the reps there alone are already helping some of
• 5:41
  these kids. It's it's, it was really great
• 5:44
  to see. Again, we're not playing a lot
• 5:46
  this fall. We're playing three tournaments.
• 5:48
  We have two left. And it's, it was really great to
• 5:51
  see their development or just over this past month already.
• 5:56
  I mean, we had kids, you know, the first time that we were in
• 5:58
  the cages that didn't even touch a ball when we were just doing
• 6:00
  front toss. Well.
• 6:01
  Yeah, we had some of those kids putting the ball in play,
• 6:04
  hitting them, you know, ground balls up the middle line drives,
• 6:06
  so on and so forth. And it was really good seeing
• 6:08
  them make plays it's and things like that.
• 6:10
  And it also was really cool that we played is we got a chance to
• 6:16
  see what we need to work on, right.
• 6:18
  So yeah, we, yeah, we've got a friendly or scrimmage game
• 6:21
  coming up this Wednesday. We're going to flip our order,
• 6:24
  you know, we're going to let people play in different
• 6:25
  positions and I think that's a great thing to do for those kids
• 6:28
  is they've got to learn confidence and development in
• 6:31
  other positions, not just the same batting order, you know,
• 6:34
  the same 5 kids at the top and everybody's at the bottom.
• 6:37
  So, and that's just one of my things I want to, I want to make
• 6:39
  sure I develop all twelve of these kids, not just the top
• 6:42
  five, 6-7, you know what I mean? So off to a good start or three
• 6:46
  and one. And we were shocked to to to say
• 6:49
  the least about how well we did. And I don't think we'll be
• 6:52
  classified as AC level team very much longer, especially you
• 6:57
  triple SA, that kind of stuff that, you know, if you win some
• 6:59
  against some B level teams are going to bump you up.
• 7:01
  And I'm OK with that. Now I know kind of what we're
• 7:03
  what we're up against and, and what we're doing.
• 7:05
  And I think, you know, even the game that we lost was a
• 7:08
  competitive game. It was like a 7 to 4 game and we
• 7:10
  were in it the whole way. So yeah, it was great.
• 7:13
  So. Good.
• 7:14
  And I saw something about now you have to get a dog.
• 7:17
  What's your daughter do? So I've been telling my kid
• 7:20
  forever, I'm like, listen, you know, and just trying to get
• 7:25
  kids at that age to learn to swing hard, right?
• 7:28
  Like, I think, you know, that's the hardest thing They, they're,
• 7:32
  she makes great contact, but the contact that she makes is just
• 7:35
  enough to get the ball passed out the infielders, you know, so
• 7:38
  she'll, she'll kind of dink and dunk you, hit you, you know,
• 7:41
  base hit to base hit from time to time and on.
• 7:43
  And that's fine with me. Trust me.
• 7:44
  Like I'm, I'm totally fine with that.
• 7:45
  But I'm looking to get her to understand that she's got to
• 7:48
  swing the bat harder and she's got a great hitting coach too.
• 7:51
  And I'll talk about her in a second.
• 7:53
  And that's our thing is like, if we're going to hit the ball,
• 7:56
  let's let's hit it hard. And you know, and, and with age
• 7:59
  comes strength. And I think as we get into this
• 8:02
  podcast, it's one of the things I want to talk about is speed.
• 8:05
  One a couple things. And so watching her grow and get
• 8:08
  a little taller and a little stronger.
• 8:10
  Now she's hitting the ball. She had a she had a hit in the
• 8:13
  first game which was an absolute line drive to the fence and got
• 8:16
  a double on it. Nice.
• 8:17
  And the the dog is coming from, I told her if she ever gets a
• 8:20
  home run, meaning that the ball was hit to the outfielder close
• 8:24
  to the fence and she ended up scoring, whether it was over the
• 8:26
  fence or not, we would get a dog.
• 8:28
  And so she came up in one of the games and she hit a line drive
• 8:32
  missile over the center fielder's head and she took off
• 8:36
  on them bases, Ken and and you know, it was clean.
• 8:39
  It wasn't like there was a play play at the plate wasn't even
• 8:42
  close. It wasn't like somebody bobbled
• 8:43
  the ball or any of that. It was, it was a legit inside
• 8:46
  the park home run. And so, yeah, we're, we're
• 8:49
  getting a dog. I don't know if we're going to
• 8:50
  do a rescue or if we're going to buy one, but she, she's working
• 8:54
  hard. I'm I'm super proud of her.
• 8:56
  You know, she'll like today she's going to come with me to
• 8:58
  the Saint Xavier games and we're going to do some reps on the
• 9:00
  field. Like she wants to do that.
• 9:01
  I'm not forcing her at all. I just asked her, do you want to
• 9:04
  go? And, and she says, yeah.
• 9:06
  So we're, we're getting a puppy. And I think I have only one
• 9:09
  stipulation. And that's how I want to call
• 9:10
  it. Chet seems like a great, great,
• 9:13
  great dog named Chet. So yeah.
• 9:17
  That's great though. It's all about motivation,
• 9:19
  right? It is.
• 9:20
  It is, yeah, yeah. So, well, good.
• 9:23
  And like I said, we're we're it's excited.
• 9:26
  Our team hit the entire team hit the ball well all weekend.
• 9:29
  We put up, I want to say I don't know, almost close to 40 runs in
• 9:33
  four games. So, you know, they're hitting
• 9:36
  the ball. We're playing good defense right
• 9:37
  now and I'm sure that's going to go up and down.
• 9:39
  But it was exciting for them and for us to see kind of what we
• 9:43
  have so. That's that's good.
• 9:45
  I get. And so that kind of gets us into
• 9:47
  a maybe our first topic, you know, so you, you're obviously
• 9:51
  you're a college coach, you're used to dealing with athletes
• 9:55
  and that age, the 18 to 2122 range.
• 9:59
  And then now you're working with a group of 10 year olds.
• 10:02
  So what's different about coaching 10 year olds versus
• 10:07
  college players? You know, I'm, I imagine some of
• 10:10
  what you do is the same, some things are probably different,
• 10:13
  but what do you find that, you know, maybe works for college
• 10:18
  but doesn't necessarily work with a group of 10 year olds?
• 10:21
  Well, I think the idea that these 10 year olds know what to
• 10:27
  do, right, like a college kids know and most of them let's not,
• 10:31
  let's not be crazy too. And that's and that's OK, but
• 10:35
  the IQ on the college kid is through experience, right?
• 10:38
  They've done it. They were at 10 U at 1.12 U and
• 10:41
  so on and so forth. And they, they have all of those
• 10:43
  thousands of reps and situational experiences that
• 10:47
  allow them to already know kind of what to do with the ball.
• 10:50
  Whereas, you know, 10 and 11 year olds that I'm dealing with
• 10:54
  are they don't really have that experience.
• 10:56
  You know, you got to remember if you've ever been to A10U rec All
• 11:00
  Star game, as soon as the ball is hit to the outfield, they're
• 11:03
  screaming to throw the ball to the pitcher, right?
• 11:05
  And so breaking some of that because I don't see my college
• 11:09
  kids throwing the ball to the pitcher when they get the ball
• 11:11
  in the outfield, right. So we talked about we're
• 11:14
  throwing the ball to a person or a base.
• 11:16
  We're not throwing it to the pitcher.
• 11:18
  We're either we're either hitting our cut or we're
• 11:20
  throwing the ball to the base, but we are not throwing the ball
• 11:22
  to the pitcher more times than not.
• 11:24
  What I tell them, Ken, is that once that person has the ball,
• 11:28
  if there's not another play, we're actually going to run the
• 11:30
  ball into the pitcher, right? You know, at this age, you have
• 11:34
  kids that throw the ball around and that's how they, you know,
• 11:36
  honestly, the game that we lost, we threw the ball around too
• 11:38
  much. We tried to make plays when
• 11:40
  people were already safe at bases, so on and so forth.
• 11:43
  So it's it's trying to get them to understand that we have to
• 11:46
  minimize the errors. And I would tell you that that's
• 11:48
  and, and play defense, right? Like I would tell you, that's
• 11:50
  probably the secret to every game that we play, even at the
• 11:52
  college levels, the team that minimizes the errors, right, And
• 11:56
  gives up and gives up less free stuff is going to be the
• 11:58
  successful team more times than not, right.
• 12:01
  And so we talked about with them like they have to earn it.
• 12:04
  So that's one of the things that that I would tell you.
• 12:07
  Our warmups are very similar to what we do at Saint Xavier or
• 12:11
  what I what they did at Loyola when we were there.
• 12:13
  You know, I'm teaching them how we've got to use some arm bands.
• 12:16
  We're starting to get into arm bands and that stuff, arm care.
• 12:18
  Then we'll go in and do our everydays or our dailies, as we
• 12:21
  call them, right. Then we'll go into our throwing
• 12:23
  progression, which you know, and again, I stole that from at this
• 12:27
  age. I feel like this, right, like I
• 12:29
  think people that are coaching travel ball or just even high
• 12:33
  school, I I feel that we don't take enough time to actually
• 12:38
  work on the fundamentals of the game.
• 12:39
  So my point of that is like we do what we call a functional
• 12:42
  work warm up with my 11 year olds.
• 12:44
  We do it right. So what we do is we do our stand
• 12:47
  and we twist to feel the hip help the shoulder separate,
• 12:50
  right? We do that, then we back up and
• 12:52
  we work on our separation, Ken. So they're working on, you know,
• 12:55
  breaking their egg and getting the ball out of their mid fast
• 12:58
  in the proper position. And then we so we throw short
• 13:00
  from there. Then they back up with that
• 13:02
  transition, right. Then what we do is we move into
• 13:06
  a transition to a throw to the other person who then goes down
• 13:09
  and tags comes back up and transitions into theirs.
• 13:13
  So the point of our warm up is pretty simple.
• 13:16
  It's that it's not a just a warm up.
• 13:19
  It's a chance for you to get better at the skills that you're
• 13:21
  trying to do in the game, right? We'll actually do one too where
• 13:25
  I call it positive, negative. And it's basically like a cut
• 13:28
  off. So the person who catches the
• 13:30
  ball will now turn around and throw the ball behind them as if
• 13:32
  a line drive was hit over their head in the outfield.
• 13:36
  And then as they go positive to the ball, or you know, the other
• 13:41
  player from the other side comes to it as well.
• 13:43
  So they go positive, positive one way and then they go
• 13:46
  negative to the other. So it's learning that, oh, the
• 13:48
  balls over that player's head, I've got to go get that and then
• 13:52
  I have to be the cut. I've got to learn how to split
• 13:54
  the difference and know my players arm and so on and so
• 13:57
  forth. So every time we warm up, we try
• 14:00
  to get better, not just get warm.
• 14:02
  I think if you go and watch travel ball games, you see a lot
• 14:06
  of kids that just warm up. They just throw the ball.
• 14:09
  It's a lazy throw. They'll, they'll get their feet
• 14:11
  moving eventually. But I rarely see anybody
• 14:14
  practicing tags or cut offs when you have a chance to warm up.
• 14:18
  So for me, my philosophy is if we're going to throw a ball, I,
• 14:22
  I don't know in softball where there's just a throw and there's
• 14:26
  no action after the throw, right?
• 14:29
  And we, we talk about two is, you know, and this came up in
• 14:31
  the game and we've this was at practice and I had to talk to
• 14:34
  the kid. There was a play with two outs
• 14:37
  at first base, Ken, And it was a ground ball.
• 14:40
  And the player, the the shortstop or the third baseman
• 14:43
  threw the ball low and the first baseman went down to get it and
• 14:47
  came up. And now there was a runner at
• 14:49
  2nd at the time. OK, so that runner's taking off
• 14:52
  the third, the ball, the the the kid caught the ball.
• 14:55
  The umpire thought she didn't have it, called her safe.
• 14:58
  And guess what the runner from second did?
• 15:01
  She went home and what did our what did our first baseman do
• 15:05
  because he called her out with two outs.
• 15:06
  She's looking at the umpire going.
• 15:09
  I told her, I said we're looking for the 4th out.
• 15:11
  We're going to play until they tell you to stop.
• 15:14
  And that's the thing at this at this age, what I will tell you
• 15:17
  is at this age, at 11, you the hardest thing to teach them is
• 15:20
  it's not base to base and out to out anymore, right?
• 15:23
  Like they want to get they want to get a ground ball to to, you
• 15:26
  know, just over shortstop header or a little blooper and they
• 15:29
  want to stop and run through first base.
• 15:31
  I want you to turn and look for two get to that second.
• 15:34
  It's not base to base anymore. We've got to learn that this
• 15:38
  game. We want to take advantage of
• 15:39
  situations where we can. So that's one of the biggest
• 15:42
  things I would tell you. Whereas at the college level, I
• 15:44
  feel that those kids already know, like they're thinking too
• 15:48
  out-of-the-box and they're going to stretch that single into a
• 15:51
  double. Whereas at this age, it's very
• 15:54
  base to base. It's very lead or not lead out,
• 15:58
  but get the easy out instead of the lead out.
• 16:00
  And those are things I think, you know, our mindset and
• 16:04
  philosophy is I'm OK with losing games if our kids are doing
• 16:07
  stuff that we're doing in practice, right?
• 16:10
  Like if we're going for that lead runner at 2nd and it's a,
• 16:13
  you know, we got a force at 2nd and our kids going to throw the
• 16:16
  ball to two to get her out and maybe she beats the thrill, I'm
• 16:18
  fine with it because at least that kid had the knowledge to go
• 16:20
  for the lead out instead of just going to the easy play at 1.
• 16:23
  So those are some of the biggest things that that I see.
• 16:26
  And it's a lot more instructional.
• 16:28
  And you know, I'm a tough coach, Ken.
• 16:30
  I'm a Barker. I like to get loud, right?
• 16:32
  But it's not like I'm yelling at kids.
• 16:34
  It's I'm cheering them on, right?
• 16:36
  It's like you got this, let's go.
• 16:38
  It's not like you suck, you're terrible.
• 16:40
  Like it's a whole different thing.
• 16:41
  So like when they when they do a great play, I bring them off to
• 16:45
  the side and I say, hey, that's all right.
• 16:47
  You know, like we did this, this and this, but you know, we got
• 16:50
  to work on that next time or we got to do this.
• 16:52
  Or if they're if they make that play, like I'm the first guy
• 16:55
  high fiving them because they know it, that you see the energy
• 16:58
  building off of them. So where I think college kids
• 17:01
  are more and not that we don't give them that affirmation,
• 17:04
  right, but I think that it's they're a little bit more used
• 17:06
  to making that play. Where is at this age you live
• 17:09
  and die on every play. So I think those are the 2 the
• 17:12
  the main difference. Well, that's good.
• 17:14
  You know, it's interesting to hear that.
• 17:16
  And you know, one of the reasons that I asked that is, you know,
• 17:18
  if you go to a coaches clinic, like the NFCA clinics that are
• 17:22
  coming up or they have other ones that different people will
• 17:24
  put on, they bring in a Division One college coach.
• 17:28
  And then they tend to tell you about how to structure a
• 17:30
  practice and how to do things. And it's the way you would do it
• 17:34
  if you were AD 1 college team. And yet the needs of a group of
• 17:39
  11 year olds or 10 year olds or even 14 or 16 year olds are
• 17:43
  going to be different. And I think sometimes they
• 17:46
  forget that, you know, that that's the case.
• 17:49
  So it's just kind of interesting to see, you know, how you're
• 17:52
  approaching it, what the similarities are.
• 17:54
  Definitely agree with that on the dailies.
• 17:56
  I think that's one of the most valuable things that you can do
• 18:00
  because it just makes the the reception of the ball so
• 18:04
  automatic. But you know, you have to keep
• 18:06
  in mind your audience and what they're capable of understanding
• 18:09
  and what their frame of reference is.
• 18:12
  I also love the fact that you're teaching them to go for that
• 18:14
  lead runner right now, even if they can't quite make the play,
• 18:18
  'cause they're going to get bigger, they're going to get
• 18:20
  stronger and if they know to make that play, they're going to
• 18:24
  be that much better off down the road.
• 18:26
  Yeah. And that's the thing, Ken, you
• 18:27
  know, at this at this age group, these kids arms are not
• 18:30
  developed right. So if you get a ball that's hit
• 18:32
  over in outfielder, I mean they're cruising to home.
• 18:34
  Nobody has that arm at this age to throw from the fence to a cut
• 18:38
  and then that cut to home, right?
• 18:40
  They just don't have the arm. So you're adding a third, you're
• 18:42
  adding a third cut there if you have to those kinds of things.
• 18:45
  I think that's we're teaching as they get older, it's just going
• 18:47
  to be a one cut and you're going to fire the ball somewhere.
• 18:50
  And I think that's the hardest part is, you know, they're
• 18:52
  trying. They just they don't have the
• 18:53
  arm strength and the, you know, the body to do that.
• 18:56
  So I think that's kind of, you know, some of the things that
• 18:59
  we're dealing with here too. But like I said, I think their
• 19:01
  IQ is getting better and it's fun.
• 19:04
  And you know, it's funny, you said something about the NFCA
• 19:06
  because every year they put out there, you know, what can make
• 19:08
  our clinics better? And I'm like, bring some high
• 19:10
  school coaches in honestly, right?
• 19:13
  Like, I think for me, like 1 of the things that made me a good
• 19:16
  coach is I was at a high school that didn't have a lot of
• 19:19
  facilities, right? I didn't have a lot of space.
• 19:21
  And we just had to deal with it, you know, and you know, I think
• 19:25
  if you can coach at that level and again, you know, at at high
• 19:28
  school, you're just it's who's coming to your high school, not
• 19:30
  if you're a public school, right?
• 19:32
  So like you got to whatever groceries you have, you got to
• 19:35
  cook the meal. And it's not like you have kids
• 19:37
  coming in that you can recruit to come in and play.
• 19:40
  So I think that. Helped me.
• 19:45
  That's a whole. Nother discussion, which is, you
• 19:47
  know what, like, listen, it is what it is there, right?
• 19:49
  I mean, you know, it's still, it's still, it still made me a
• 19:54
  better coach because I was able to learn how to use the, the
• 19:58
  resources that I had to do what, what we could do.
• 20:01
  So I always, you know, that was that was a big thing for me.
• 20:04
  But yeah, I always say the NFCA like bring somebody in who's
• 20:07
  going to relate to some of these coaches who don't have, you
• 20:10
  know, a budget of whatever it is at the Division One level that
• 20:13
  doesn't have a turf field and and this stuff.
• 20:15
  But I will say the lot of the high schools at least in this
• 20:17
  area are starting to move to turf fields and upgrade their
• 20:19
  facilities and things like that. So, yeah, I always, I always
• 20:23
  thought that that would be great for the NFCA to do that.
• 20:25
  They have been, they've they've brought in some NA is and some
• 20:28
  D3 coaches which have a little have budgets more more realistic
• 20:33
  towards a high school coach or you know, so I think that's
• 20:36
  they're doing a good job of it so.
• 20:38
  Yeah. And I even hear on the The Dirt
• 20:41
  podcast sometimes they bring in travel coaches.
• 20:44
  You only have two or three travel coaches and talking to
• 20:46
  them about issues that are there because it is different and
• 20:51
  everybody can learn from everyone.
• 20:52
  Yep. So another thing I wanted to
• 20:55
  talk to you about, Ken, and this is more about really just
• 20:57
  picking your brain. You and I both use plyo balls,
• 21:00
  right? I use them.
• 21:03
  I, and I'm getting ready to make a post on social media about
• 21:06
  these things. I, I trust me.
• 21:08
  I, I firmly believe in them. But I'm, I, I'm dealing with
• 21:13
  some things at the higher level where the kids are warming up
• 21:18
  using a plyo ball with a full circle and it's the heaviest
• 21:21
  weighted ball. Oh, yeah.
• 21:24
  And then what happens is, is, is I have a kid who then comes in
• 21:28
  and she's like every pitch I throw for the first inning is
• 21:31
  high. And I'm like, I wonder why,
• 21:35
  right. And and we, I think plyo balls
• 21:39
  are great, but they're good in certain areas for certain
• 21:43
  things. And I even at Saint Xavier, we
• 21:46
  do not use a plyo ball to warm up.
• 21:48
  OK? We just don't, we don't, we
• 21:50
  don't use weighted balls. We go do long toss, right?
• 21:53
  We do stuff like that. We don't use the weighted stuff.
• 21:56
  So I want to get your opinion, Ken, what do you think about
• 21:59
  pitchers before throwing fully? The heaviest weighted ball,
• 22:03
  whatever that is 3 LB ball. I think it is a three pound, 2
• 22:06
  LB ball, 3 LB. I think 3 lbs full circle
• 22:09
  before, before they're before they actually pitch.
• 22:12
  What do you, what do you think about that and what do you think
• 22:14
  about those pitches being high in in the first inning?
• 22:17
  Is that a Is there a correlation between that plyo ball going in
• 22:22
  a full circle and then that pitcher going on the mound?
• 22:26
  Yeah. I don't have any scientific
• 22:27
  evidence to back this up, but I think just observationally I
• 22:31
  would say there certainly is a correlation there.
• 22:34
  First of all, I would never have a kid throwing with any kind of
• 22:39
  velocity at all on a heavy ball like that.
• 22:42
  I usually tell them like the set that I have is 468101216 and 32
• 22:51
  ounce. I believe that's from our friend
• 22:54
  Brandon over at the Softball Sanctuary.
• 22:58
  But I, and so I, I usually tell people when they get them, just
• 23:03
  set those heavy balls aside. The only thing I ever use a
• 23:07
  heavy ball for is it's like a slow Rep.
• 23:10
  If I'm trying to get a kid to feel her arm segmenting on the
• 23:14
  backside of the circle so that, you know, the upper arm is
• 23:17
  leading and then the lower arm is trailing, trying to feel that
• 23:21
  separation in there to get whip. You know, I'll use that for that
• 23:26
  purpose because it makes it easier to feel what the two
• 23:29
  parts of the arm are doing. Other than that, I'm never going
• 23:33
  to recommend throwing a heavy ball like that is bad for the
• 23:36
  shoulder. I think it's it's bad for your
• 23:39
  timing. I think.
• 23:40
  Yeah, you're definitely going to see that.
• 23:42
  Same thing with long toss. If you go and you do long toss
• 23:45
  and you keep backing up, backing up, backing up and then you just
• 23:48
  bring the kid back to the pitching rubber, you're going to
• 23:51
  see her throwing high as well because you've just been telling
• 23:54
  her to throw the ball over the backstop, right.
• 23:56
  So I usually have them work their way back in again, you
• 23:59
  know, kind of coming in and by the time you're getting to the
• 24:01
  last few tosses, all right, now we're trying to throw the ball
• 24:05
  over the plate again. But you know, I'll I would
• 24:10
  prefer you just the way I've used them.
• 24:13
  The plyo balls are more in practice so that you can get the
• 24:18
  feeling of overloading and under loading just a little bit.
• 24:23
  You're working on, you know, some strength things, feeling
• 24:25
  what your arms doing, and then you're working on getting the
• 24:29
  arm to move faster, kind of like sprinters running downhill and
• 24:35
  always mixing that in with a regular weighted ball.
• 24:39
  Yeah, I, I just, again, it was baffling to me to hear that,
• 24:43
  that they have to do that before they throw it.
• 24:46
  Just, I don't know, Especially when I feel like you talked
• 24:49
  about forcing the ball. That weight on that arm is going
• 24:52
  to create you to do things, you know, to get the ball there that
• 24:56
  you're not going to do in the game.
• 24:58
  If you're doing it for getting loose, that's great.
• 25:01
  But I don't ever want a full distance pitch and I don't ever
• 25:05
  want honestly a full circle with the weighted, the heavy weighted
• 25:08
  ball. I always try to if we're going
• 25:10
  to do it like you're talking about feeling that segmentation
• 25:13
  of the arm and making sure that we're feeling that, you know,
• 25:17
  that that weights coming down through the hand instead of a
• 25:19
  full circle, like even injury wise that that concerns me with
• 25:23
  the shoulder. So I just want to get your
• 25:25
  thoughts on that too. Another thing I want to talk
• 25:28
  about a little bit today is we're going to talk a little bit
• 25:31
  about about multi sport athletes, right?
• 25:35
  So for me and Ken, this is just me talking with my observations
• 25:40
  over the years that you and I both have been doing this when I
• 25:44
  have kids that are involved in multi sports right now, right?
• 25:47
  And I, and I want people to understand this.
• 25:49
  I'm a huge proponent, right, of kids playing multi sports.
• 25:55
  I, I, I think it's great for them.
• 25:56
  I want my daughter to learn a different sport.
• 25:58
  I think it's it that those are great things.
• 26:01
  However, when you are a pitcher in the fall, it's not, it's not
• 26:06
  always sunshine and roses because volleyball takes up a
• 26:09
  big, big time, big amount of your time.
• 26:13
  And, and we know Ken, as a pitcher, you've got to put time
• 26:16
  in just about just about every other day through the week.
• 26:19
  And there's not enough time in the day with volleyball and
• 26:22
  school work and travel practices and then tournaments on the
• 26:25
  game. And so my point is, I've seen
• 26:28
  over the years a little bit of a of a reduction in some things
• 26:32
  with some of my kids. It comes back in the winter
• 26:35
  time. But as parents and coaches, we
• 26:38
  have to be able to give some grace to these kids, especially
• 26:42
  during the fall season, to understand that these kids are
• 26:45
  doing multiple things throughout the year.
• 26:49
  I've seen some of my kids that have done really well this fall
• 26:52
  and I've seen others that have met.
• 26:53
  Man, she's just struggling. I'm like, well, what's, what
• 26:56
  does the, the, the week look like for her?
• 26:58
  Is she getting in there? Is she getting out there to
• 27:00
  throw 2 * a week? Right?
• 27:02
  And it's like, well, no, we don't have the time.
• 27:04
  I'm like, well, then let's give her some grace and understand
• 27:07
  that this is where we're at in the fall.
• 27:10
  And this will pick up from, you know, when we get past
• 27:13
  volleyball, you know, and it basketball for some reason,
• 27:16
  seems to be a little different. I don't know if that's because
• 27:20
  they're doing different activities.
• 27:21
  I don't know. But the fall always seems to be
• 27:24
  a little bit a little bit rough. It could be because of the, you
• 27:28
  know, they're not playing as many games.
• 27:29
  I don't know. What's your thoughts on this?
• 27:30
  And do you have any, any feedback that you've seen over
• 27:33
  the years in the fall with some of your kids that are involved
• 27:36
  in multi sports? Yeah, well, you definitely see
• 27:39
  that. First of all, you know, if
• 27:41
  they're playing volleyball and they're doing a lot of jumping
• 27:43
  and things like that, it's they're going to be tired when
• 27:47
  they come in for a lesson or they go into a practice, a
• 27:50
  travel ball or they go into their games, They're they're
• 27:53
  tired. Their legs are tired.
• 27:55
  Sometimes the whole body is tired.
• 27:57
  They're mentally fatigued a little bit.
• 27:59
  You know, if you're talking about, well, I guess it really
• 28:02
  doesn't matter because, you know, club volleyball is just as
• 28:04
  intense. But, you know, if you're talking
• 28:07
  about high school volleyball, they're playing that, they're in
• 28:10
  season, they have games, they have practices, they're doing
• 28:14
  all those things. It's everyday, you know, six
• 28:16
  days a week. Sometimes they have tournaments
• 28:18
  on the weekend. So it's difficult for them to
• 28:20
  put that time in. And I don't care what skill
• 28:24
  you're talking about, whether it's pitching or hitting or
• 28:27
  overhand throwing or just fielding or anything else, If
• 28:32
  you don't have time to work on it during the week, you know, or
• 28:36
  much time at least. Yeah, those skills are going to
• 28:39
  deteriorate a little bit, you know, until you get a chance to
• 28:42
  get back and find whatever groove it is you need in order
• 28:45
  to be able to do it. I suppose if you're a, you know,
• 28:49
  one of those 1% athletes, you can maybe just walk in and do it
• 28:53
  because it's all natural to you anyway.
• 28:56
  But for the other 99% of us that need to put in the work, it's
• 29:01
  going to be a little bit difficult if you don't have the
• 29:03
  time to do that sort of thing. Yeah, it just, it's, I just
• 29:08
  noticed it more and more over the last few years.
• 29:10
  It's just that we'll have some outings that aren't great, you
• 29:14
  know, they'll be a higher walk percentage.
• 29:16
  And I'm just like, what is the relationship of this?
• 29:19
  You know, and and it's it's our, you know, you're talking about a
• 29:21
  kid that, you know, they're coming after volleyball games,
• 29:25
  you know, to a lesson that's at, you know, 8 or 9 O clock at
• 29:28
  night. I mean, I'm exhausted at that
• 29:29
  time. It's, you know, already an hour
• 29:31
  or two past my bedtime, but you, you know, I, I think like it's,
• 29:36
  we have to put things into perspective.
• 29:37
  We have to let these kids get some grace.
• 29:39
  And I'm talking both parents and coaches, you know, they want
• 29:43
  these kids to be perfect all the time and it just doesn't exist.
• 29:47
  You know, on the other hand, I have kids that, you know, that
• 29:50
  are doing better in the fall, although they're more focused on
• 29:54
  softball than they are on there. So I just kind of put that
• 29:57
  together this week and, and, you know, just trying to give my
• 30:01
  kids a little more grace to, to allow them to, to do their
• 30:04
  thing. Because again, I really feel
• 30:05
  like you get so many good things out of, out of other sports that
• 30:10
  actually help you, that actually help you be a better, better
• 30:13
  athlete. So I, I encourage it.
• 30:15
  And I think it's, you know, something really good.
• 30:17
  So kids keep on doing that. Parents, give your kids some
• 30:19
  grace. Coaches give your kids some
• 30:21
  grace. So I think that's that's huge.
• 30:24
  Yeah. Well, and of course, you have
• 30:25
  the other part of that too, where coaches will say, yes, I
• 30:29
  love the multi sport athlete, but I'm going to have three
• 30:31
  practices this week and if you're not at practice, I'm not
• 30:34
  going to be very happy with you. So you know, here, here's this
• 30:37
  kid trying to balance all of that stuff and and hey, you know
• 30:41
  what, they still have to do school work too.
• 30:44
  They have homework that they have to do.
• 30:47
  If they get, you know, their high school age, maybe they're
• 30:49
  taking driver's Ed. They have some other activities
• 30:52
  going on, things that they have to take care of.
• 30:54
  Maybe some of them have a job that they're trying to make some
• 30:58
  money, so they're a little more prepared for school.
• 31:02
  You know, there's a lot of things that go on with it.
• 31:03
  And I think that it's important to remember that all of those
• 31:07
  things are happening and that, you know, learning to manage
• 31:11
  your time is important. There's no question about it.
• 31:13
  But there's only so much time to give.
• 31:15
  The pie only divides into so many pieces.
• 31:18
  So I think that, yeah, if they're a little bit off in the
• 31:21
  fall, you know that that may be an issue.
• 31:25
  And by the way, it isn't just volleyball anymore.
• 31:26
  Big sport, at least up this way, is flag football now.
• 31:29
  Yeah, I love it. That looks pretty awesome, I'm
• 31:31
  not going to lie. Yeah, yeah, that's a it looks
• 31:34
  really cool. I'm so happy for for them and
• 31:36
  and having the girls sport that just those just kids are just
• 31:39
  being athletes. I I absolutely love that.
• 31:41
  I think it's such a great sport. So yeah, that's big time up here
• 31:45
  out here too, so. Yeah.
• 31:47
  And I think the other nice thing about flag football is that
• 31:49
  there aren't, you know, club flag football teams yet there,
• 31:52
  you know, isn't all of this stuff where the, you know, the
• 31:56
  people with money have an advantage with it?
• 31:58
  You know, the everybody's just kind of learning as they go
• 32:00
  along. So a kid who maybe, you know,
• 32:03
  doesn't have those advantages and is a little bit behind in
• 32:07
  other sports has an opportunity to stand out because, you know,
• 32:10
  there really isn't anything going on outside of that season.
• 32:15
  I agree. Another thing I, I, I wanted to
• 32:18
  just touch base on, I think this week a little bit since this is
• 32:20
  our first time back in a while, is, you know, it's hard to, to
• 32:28
  get parents and even kids sometimes to, to trust the
• 32:32
  process of what's going on. You know, I, I think people are
• 32:37
  so, yeah, you know, at least in this time frame of where we're
• 32:41
  at, you know, with social media, people are looking for results
• 32:44
  like right now, you know, and it's, and I, and I try to, to
• 32:49
  tell my, my parents and the clients that I work with, like,
• 32:52
  listen, you know, trust the process.
• 32:53
  Let's see where this thing keeps going.
• 32:56
  And, you know, it's, it's cool because I'm seeing some of these
• 33:00
  kids that I've had since they were basically 10 go on to
• 33:03
  commit now and do their thing. And, you know, I, I, it's just
• 33:07
  important that, that people understand that it's a process
• 33:11
  and where your kid is at, at 12, you, you know, that's great if
• 33:16
  she's great, but that doesn't mean she's going to be good when
• 33:18
  she's 18. You know, you have to trust the
• 33:20
  process. And I, and I talk about this all
• 33:22
  the time too, Ken is, is, I think it's super important for
• 33:25
  people to realize that who you are entrusting your kid with in
• 33:30
  their development is absolutely crucial.
• 33:33
  It is crucial, right? And, and I think that that's one
• 33:36
  of the things that, you know, over the last couple of years,
• 33:39
  I've noticed is like, you see the, the trend with some of
• 33:42
  these people as to what's going on.
• 33:44
  And, you know, are they more interested in just getting, you
• 33:47
  know, you to click their social media post or are they really
• 33:50
  more interested in actually getting kids to the next level?
• 33:53
  And I, and I think, you know, getting people to trust the
• 33:56
  processes is one of the hardest things to do because, you know,
• 34:00
  in this day and age is like, if they don't like it, boom,
• 34:02
  they're out the door. And you know, this person's here
• 34:04
  or there. So what, what are your thoughts
• 34:05
  about that, Ken? You know, maybe you can share a
• 34:08
  story with us of a kid who trusted the process that that
• 34:11
  you, you know, you with your development through, if you
• 34:13
  don't mind sharing something like that.
• 34:15
  Yeah. Well, it's funny that you
• 34:17
  mention that because, you know, when I was thinking about what
• 34:19
  are we going to talk about this week, I was thinking about the
• 34:22
  exact same topic, Jay. And I think it's so important
• 34:25
  for people to realize, you know, 'cause I look through my notes
• 34:30
  and I look through, you know, I have it all organized.
• 34:32
  And, and, you know, sometimes when I move a kid from active to
• 34:36
  inactive, you know, they either, you know, they, they moved on,
• 34:40
  they did something or other. And then I'm looking through the
• 34:42
  enactors and I see how many people came for 1-2 or three
• 34:46
  lessons and seemed like the kid was making some progress, but
• 34:50
  then I never saw her again. And I now I think that there's
• 34:54
  an unrealistic expectation sometimes that, you know,
• 34:58
  they're going to come in. Like a pitcher's going to come
• 35:00
  in and then within two or three lesson she's going to gain 5
• 35:03
  miles an hour. And you know, that's not the
• 35:07
  case. You know, we're good, but that's
• 35:09
  with two O's. So, you know, you have to
• 35:14
  realize that and, and every kid is going to work differently.
• 35:17
  There's some that come in and I can, you know, get a gain out of
• 35:21
  them in a, in a couple of lessons.
• 35:23
  There are others that it takes a while for that to happen for
• 35:26
  things to click in. And, you know, that's always
• 35:29
  the, the difficult thing is understanding that it is a
• 35:34
  process. Everything is going to happen in
• 35:37
  its own good time. So I want to share a story of a
• 35:40
  girl, Her name's Carson, and she was stuck for a long time about,
• 35:46
  I think the highest I'd had her at was maybe 52, OK.
• 35:51
  And she was stuck for a long time.
• 35:52
  And, you know, in the meantime, we worked on other pitches.
• 35:55
  She was able to do well, you know, spinning the ball.
• 35:58
  She wasn't getting much, much speed.
• 36:02
  But, you know, we kind of work through her mechanics and we
• 36:04
  look for different things, you know, to try to improve it.
• 36:07
  Used her motor preferences to help her with her launch and all
• 36:11
  of that. And then recently, all of a
• 36:13
  sudden she gained 3 miles an hour, one mile an hour one
• 36:17
  lesson and then 2 miles an hour the next lesson.
• 36:20
  So that, you know, within a week, all of a sudden she jumped
• 36:23
  up to 55. And you know, it was just after
• 36:28
  all that long time was a really good feeling to see that happen.
• 36:32
  So you have that, you know, that objective measure.
• 36:35
  And then in her games recently as she's been going on, she's
• 36:38
  been just killing it. You know, she doesn't strike out
• 36:41
  a ton of people. She gets her fair share of
• 36:43
  strikeouts, but people just can't hit her hard.
• 36:47
  She, you know, all that time she spent relying on moving the
• 36:50
  ball, now that the speeds come up a little bit more, it's just
• 36:52
  been an enhancement in the last few games as she's pitched,
• 36:56
  she's just done extraordinarily well.
• 36:59
  But that was, you know, being patient and trusting the process
• 37:02
  in allowing it to happen. How about you?
• 37:04
  Do you have any stories like that?
• 37:06
  Yeah, can I, you know, it's I just had a kid that this week
• 37:10
  committed to play at the Oakland University.
• 37:14
  So she's got a a Division One commitment to go up there.
• 37:18
  And I've had not only did I have her since she was basically 11
• 37:23
  and she's they've bought, they bought in from from day one.
• 37:27
  Her older sister was a pitcher. She hit with me as well too, and
• 37:31
  could have went and played college softball.
• 37:32
  She just chose a different career path.
• 37:35
  She didn't want to go to college.
• 37:36
  She's out in the working force right away.
• 37:38
  So she she knew that's what she wanted to do.
• 37:40
  But she however, she could have played if she really wanted to.
• 37:43
  Well, the younger sister, I had them, I had them both so and the
• 37:47
  younger sister is the one who just committed.
• 37:49
  She's going to Oakland University, like I said, and
• 37:52
  she's both pitched and hit with me and they've bought in.
• 37:55
  They were at, I don't know if you remember, can the Nashville
• 37:59
  Polyclinic during the COVID time down there where I don't know if
• 38:02
  you were down there for that one.
• 38:03
  I wasn't down there for that, but.
• 38:05
  But they've, they drove down there to go to that clinic.
• 38:08
  They, they've been to other ones up here and, and I've had this
• 38:11
  kid since again, since she's 11 years old and here she is 17
• 38:15
  years old now, junior in, in high school, committed to go
• 38:19
  play, you know, at Oakland University, you know, getting,
• 38:23
  getting a scholarship and that, that that's it for me.
• 38:26
  Those people never swayed. They, they never swayed one way
• 38:30
  or the other. I got a little excited there.
• 38:32
  You see the hands going. Yeah, the hands got going and
• 38:34
  you knocked in your mic, that was.
• 38:36
  Knocked on the mic, Hopefully everybody hear that.
• 38:38
  But they never swayed one way or the other, right?
• 38:41
  They, they trusted the, the process that I had and they
• 38:46
  trusted the development that we focused on.
• 38:48
  And I'm just, I'm proud of her. There's others I could talk
• 38:51
  about too, you know, but I, I think that's the, that's the
• 38:54
  case. Either be all in or just be all
• 38:57
  in somewhere else, right? Like, I say that to people all
• 39:00
  the time, Like when I, when I'll do a first lesson and you know,
• 39:02
  they're coming from a different instructor, I'll say to them all
• 39:04
  the time, like, listen, this isn't a me decision.
• 39:07
  This is a you decision, right? If you're going to be involved
• 39:10
  and you're going to come to, you know, weekly lessons or you're
• 39:13
  going to be consistent with your lessons and we're going to see
• 39:16
  solid development over the years.
• 39:18
  If this is where you're coming to me for a lesson here and
• 39:20
  you're going to this guy for a lesson there and you're going to
• 39:22
  that Lady over there for a lesson there, well, that's when
• 39:25
  the water gets really cloudy because three people are telling
• 39:28
  you 3 different things and so on and so forth.
• 39:30
  And I'm not saying that you shouldn't see other people.
• 39:33
  I, I'm totally fine with that, right?
• 39:36
  But however, you have to understand, even in the messages
• 39:39
  that we're giving to them, there's going to be some
• 39:41
  differences. Like, for instance, Ken, you and
• 39:43
  I have had kids that have gone to both of us before, right?
• 39:46
  Our terminology might be a little different, but we're on
• 39:49
  the same page. And at least you and I will
• 39:51
  converse about kids, right? Like where other people, they'll
• 39:54
  just, you know, we're going to go see so and so over here and
• 39:56
  we're not going to tell him. And it's like, bro, like I
• 39:59
  don't, it doesn't offend me. Do what you think is best for
• 40:02
  your kid. However, just understand that
• 40:05
  there's going to be some, some cloudy water between those two
• 40:08
  and that's OK. And I, I just say it like pick a
• 40:11
  lane and, and if that means you're not coming to me and
• 40:13
  you're going to go in a different route, that's OK.
• 40:14
  I'm OK with that. Like I don't take it personal,
• 40:17
  right? I personally, I like, I think
• 40:19
  just be all in somewhere. You, you can't from this guy and
• 40:23
  that guy and this guy. And that's different than
• 40:25
  collaborating. Like if you bring somebody in to
• 40:26
  help you. Like if I brought you into.
• 40:28
  With my kids for a lesson that's different.
• 40:30
  Like, you know, and I think we, you know, that's the point of
• 40:33
  all this is like if you're going to buy in, buy in, right and
• 40:37
  then put the seat belt on because it's going to be a bumpy
• 40:39
  ride for everybody anyway, right?
• 40:40
  It's not it's not smooth sailing all the way again.
• 40:44
  I always go back to it to what, to what Darren said.
• 40:48
  You know, it's not it's not the easy ones that keep you up at
• 40:51
  night. It's the ones that don't get it.
• 40:52
  You know, it's like, how can you make them get it more?
• 40:54
  And, and I think, you know, that's, that's it.
• 40:57
  You got to find the right fit for your kid.
• 40:59
  And then when you find that just all in, just all in with it, let
• 41:03
  it, let it, let it unravel the way it's supposed to, right?
• 41:08
  Like, is that Division One great?
• 41:09
  If it's a Division 2, great, right?
• 41:11
  It doesn't it? Those levels don't matter.
• 41:13
  What matters is that your kid continues to develop.
• 41:15
  So, you know, that's a story for one of mine that I've had
• 41:17
  several now that I've had since 10:00.
• 41:19
  And it's like, man, we've spent eight years, eight years getting
• 41:23
  here. It's, and I say this all the
• 41:25
  time, can as a teacher, I love my job.
• 41:29
  But when you're at some kids signing day, right, letter of
• 41:33
  intent signing day and you're there and you're like, man, this
• 41:36
  kid has come to me for eight years, right?
• 41:39
  Eight years. And this is, this is her dream.
• 41:43
  Like that is the most rewarding. And it's also what drives me
• 41:47
  right, Like just helping people get to where where they can get
• 41:51
  to, because I always say this like some people never see the
• 41:54
  value in some kids. And for me, I think every kid
• 41:56
  has value, right? Like it's just who's going to
• 41:58
  push him to get to that value. So those are those are super
• 42:01
  important things for me. It's it's really cool.
• 42:03
  And then the second humbling part of that is like in the
• 42:07
  summer, all these college kids still come back, you know, like
• 42:11
  I'm talking with before Kelly Green left to go back to DePaul.
• 42:14
  And she's like, you know, this is my, this is my first, last
• 42:18
  with you. I'm like, what, what are you
• 42:19
  talking about? She's like, this is my first,
• 42:22
  last, last fall lesson with you. And I'm like, Oh my God, like,
• 42:25
  don't you know that kids 2021 years old, senior in college
• 42:29
  coming back for less and still, and, and you know, I'm like,
• 42:32
  man, that's super sad. I've had you since you were, you
• 42:34
  know, basically 14 years old, you know, and it's, that's my
• 42:38
  point is like, it's, it's, it's humbling, but it's also really
• 42:41
  cool. And it the, the coolest part is
• 42:43
  to see what they do after softball, at least for me, It's
• 42:45
  so cool to see them. I've got former players that are
• 42:48
  lawyers and doctors and you know, and I got other kids that
• 42:51
  are that do our teachers and stuff.
• 42:52
  It's it's really cool to see that those kinds of things.
• 42:55
  So that that's it for me is like just seeing them develop over
• 42:59
  the years. And I just posted a picture
• 43:01
  recently of when she committed her picture when she was 10 U
• 43:05
  and then her picture when she committed.
• 43:06
  It's so cool to see the just the development over the years.
• 43:09
  Pretty cool to see. So.
• 43:11
  Yeah. Well, and it's, it's fun to look
• 43:13
  back on some of that stuff too. And you remember this kid, you
• 43:16
  know, like everybody looks at her now and you know, she's just
• 43:20
  out there banging that ball and, you know, she's throwing well.
• 43:24
  She's doing really well. And they all see her as this
• 43:26
  great softball player. And you remember her as this
• 43:29
  little kid who, you know, maybe, you know, I had a little speech
• 43:33
  impediment or was really shy or she was just tiny.
• 43:37
  You know, I've got a, a girl that I work with that when I
• 43:41
  first started giving her hitting lessons, I had to bring in the
• 43:43
  jug Shorty because I couldn't put a regular sized tee down far
• 43:47
  enough that it wasn't at her chin, you know, And now she's
• 43:51
  doing very, very well for herself, you know, playing ball.
• 43:55
  And people see who she is now, but I remember who she was.
• 44:02
  Yeah, and I remember, I remember the hurdles.
• 44:05
  It's the hurdles, right? I remember like, man, are we
• 44:08
  going to get through this here or what's going on?
• 44:11
  You know, I mean, at one point she had, you know, she was
• 44:14
  working with a a different hitting coach and it just, it
• 44:17
  was a complete different thing. And I'll tell you what,
• 44:20
  completely out of her profile. Like, that'll make sense for you
• 44:23
  and I. And so, you know, the dad
• 44:25
  messaged me back. He's like, listen, we we got to
• 44:27
  get back in. This was not a good decision.
• 44:30
  You know, right now she's not even making contact with things.
• 44:32
  And I'm like, OK, yeah, let's get back to it.
• 44:34
  And again, I think having that information of understanding,
• 44:37
  you know, motor preferences with, with kids too.
• 44:39
  You look back on some of these kids, you're like, some you got
• 44:41
  lucky. Some you're like, whoa, boy, I
• 44:42
  needed to redo that one, you know, and, and, and I, and I
• 44:46
  think that's, that's it. So I think that's huge.
• 44:49
  You know, I remember the, the bumps in the road more than than
• 44:52
  anything because you're that's those are the days.
• 44:54
  I'm like, man, what, what can I do to help this kid continue to
• 44:57
  grow? So it's been it's, it's been
• 45:00
  awesome and, and both of you and I have had a lot of kids that
• 45:03
  have, have, have got over those hurdles and just, it's, it's the
• 45:07
  coolest thing. It's it really is the coolest
• 45:08
  thing. So but yeah, I'm excited and,
• 45:11
  and I, I think I'll have some more 2020 sevens going here real
• 45:14
  quickly or soon. And I'm excited for them.
• 45:17
  They again, more kids that just keep putting in work.
• 45:19
  It's it's a really good thing, so.
• 45:21
  Yeah, well, that, that is the key, that they have to keep
• 45:23
  putting in the work and they can't just show up and see us
• 45:26
  once a week and then, you know, come back the next week and
• 45:30
  expect to be any better at it. And I think, you know, again, I,
• 45:34
  I think one of the important things too, is you, you have to
• 45:37
  see progress as you go along. You know, if, if you've got a
• 45:41
  kid who, you know, you've been working with her for a while,
• 45:45
  you've been trying to break her of a particular habit and she's
• 45:49
  just not breaking it. She may be putting in the time,
• 45:52
  but is she putting in the right kind of work?
• 45:54
  Is she working on fixing the mechanic?
• 45:58
  Is she working on getting the movements the way they need to
• 46:01
  be? Or is she just going back to the
• 46:04
  pitch and rubber and throwing pitches and trying to, you know,
• 46:08
  just get the ball over the plate doing whatever she feels like
• 46:12
  doing? Yeah, yeah, I, I think that's
• 46:16
  the lonely work. I I call that the lonely work,
• 46:18
  right? Like nobody's there but you and
• 46:20
  it's lonely, but you still got to do it.
• 46:22
  So yeah, I think that's, that's really, really good.
• 46:25
  So yeah, it's, you know, like I said, development comes in.
• 46:31
  It's weird too, Ken, because it, it doesn't like some people
• 46:34
  think like you were talking about earlier, like some kids
• 46:37
  like, oh, that 5 miles an hour and 2 lessons, it's not going to
• 46:39
  happen, right. But, and it might just be one
• 46:42
  mile an hour. And that's what I say to people
• 46:44
  like if we work a year, you know, to get one mile an hour
• 46:47
  more, it's still, it's still progress And, and I think, you
• 46:50
  know, we got to put those things in into perspective with it.
• 46:52
  So that's good stuff. Yeah.
• 46:56
  And I think that, you know, that that's a natural progression to
• 46:59
  everybody wants the hockey stick where, you know, you just keep
• 47:02
  gaining speed all the time and it doesn't really work that way,
• 47:07
  at least not my experience. You know you could have a
• 47:09
  plateau for a long time. Very long time.
• 47:13
  Especially when they get to that kind of, and I think you
• 47:15
  mentioned this before that 12/13/14, even 15 year old point
• 47:22
  where their bodies are kind of changing and they're adjusting.
• 47:26
  Growth rates are getting out of whack.
• 47:28
  Yeah, you know, and all these things are happening and it's
• 47:31
  throwing off their understanding of, of what their body can do.
• 47:36
  Yep, couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more.
• 47:39
  So good stuff. Anything else you wanted to talk
• 47:41
  to talk about today, Ken? Nothing I can think of offhand.
• 47:44
  It's just great to be back and chatting with you again.
• 47:48
  As lovely as Hawaii was, you know, by the end we were sort of
• 47:51
  like, yeah, I'm kind of ready to get home.
• 47:54
  I always some of the best advice I give to my students before
• 47:57
  they go off to colleges. A couple things.
• 47:59
  One, there's no better bed than your bed at home and there's no
• 48:03
  better toilet than your toilet at home.
• 48:07
  You know it. I mean, it is, it is what it is.
• 48:09
  So yeah, trust me, we, my family gets the same way.
• 48:12
  We've as they're younger, we realized we were a 2 day family
• 48:17
  vacation. Now that they're getting a
• 48:19
  little older, we've made it to three.
• 48:21
  So usually by the third day, everybody's tired.
• 48:25
  You know, you don't eat well. Yeah, cranky.
• 48:28
  They don't sleep good. So, yeah, I think it's, there's
• 48:31
  no better feeling than being in your own home, you know, in your
• 48:34
  own bed. So we're happy that you had safe
• 48:36
  travels and you got back here for that.
• 48:39
  I'm glad you and your wife had a chance to get out there and get
• 48:42
  some vacation time, though. You deserve that for sure.
• 48:43
  I'm going to get my wife out there for sure eventually one
• 48:46
  day. She's been out there with my
• 48:48
  mother-in-law, but we definitely have a Hawaii vacation,
• 48:51
  hopefully soon for maybe our anniversary or something.
• 48:53
  So yeah, good. Stuff, yeah, that'd be great.
• 48:56
  I think think you'll enjoy it. I think anybody would enjoy that
• 48:59
  When you're there, if you do go, take advantage of all the
• 49:02
  different things that you can go to and do.
• 49:06
  You know, that's not the kind of place where you just want to sit
• 49:08
  in the hotel and go to the pool. Yeah, for sure.
• 49:13
  Awesome, Ken. Well, that's just everybody keep
• 49:17
  listening. We've got some really good
• 49:18
  guests coming up here in the next few weeks.
• 49:20
  We're excited for continuing this podcast and we are
• 49:24
  committed to to getting some good guests.
• 49:26
  We're excited. I know I think next week, next
• 49:28
  weekend, we have somebody that's really good.
• 49:30
  So yeah, yeah, we're we're excited.
• 49:32
  Keep listening again, like Ken says all the time, keep sharing
• 49:35
  it out there, send it to people, whatever you can do.
• 49:38
  We appreciate you guys. It's it's already been humbling
• 49:41
  enough for us that you people are even listening to us.
• 49:43
  So we appreciate you all. Yeah, we definitely do.
• 49:48
  So I guess for Jay and I, that's that's it for this week.
• 49:52
  Thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing,
• 49:54
  Please remember to give us a like leave a comment and share
• 49:57
  this podcast on your social media channels.
• 50:00
  Make sure you never miss an episode by following us on your
• 50:03
  favorite podcast platform. If you're so inclined, you can
• 50:06
  also leave us a great review on Apple podcast to help more
• 50:09
  people find us. So on behalf of the From the
• 50:12
  Coach's Mouth podcast, have a great rest of your week and
• 50:15
  weekend.