The last year has been a whirlwind as our company has grown so rapidly that we hardly have time to stop and think. On those rare occasions that allow time to reflect, we notice a pattern in the growth. The largest group consists of pitchers who are frustrated. They used to see improvement, but have stopped getting faster and better and can’t understand why. They come to us looking for answers. The second group comes from kids with nagging injuries who want to see if our approach may help them. We get excited about meeting both groups. Today, we will address those who have stopped improving.

Recently we unleashed a kid who was held back by form problems. The improvement in a single lesson was beautiful. After seeing the changes, her mother was stunned. She said that the three major changes we made were completely opposite of everything the kid had been taught from the beginning. That happens over and over, but once we explain the biomechanics of the female body, demonstrate how the body must work for power and efficiency, and unleash the kid, we see a new enthusiasm in the kid’s eyes. We have to spend a lot of time removing roadblocks that lead to inefficiency and injury before we can move forward.

Girls instinctively know that their bodies were not designed to go in the direction they are often taught. Yet, because they want to succeed, they are willing to do the things that confuse them until growth stops and frustration builds. A few months ago I watched a new student throw a few pitches and told her that she was putting so many obstacles in her own way that she would never be able to improve. But, I told her that, once we removed them, she would have incredible potential and that she would feel so good that she would probably want to hug me. We began the process, and the next hour was a blur. At the end she said she was pitching light and free for the first time in her life, and the results left no doubt that she was finally on course.

When I told her the lesson was finished she came running across the lane saying she wanted to give me that big hug and almost lifted me off the ground. I felt another presence and realized her father had come running and was hugging us and dancing around as well. Chalk that up as one strange occurrence. I took it as a great compliment.

Very simply, many of the drills and techniques that are often taught take kids in exactly the opposite direction of the elite pitchers you see in the College World Series or on the international scene. Those elite pitchers look light and free, whereas your daughter may look tight and stiff, or just doesn’t seem to generate the explosion off the mound you know is possible. That should give you a hint. Probably there is nothing wrong with the kid, but very likely there are obstacles; one of a hundred little things that inhibit her ability to operate at peak and cause both of you to be frustrated.

Or, could it be that she has just reached her full potential? I suppose it is possible, but we have yet to meet that kid. Some of our best students today are ones who came to us because they felt they had reached their maximum potential at some point in the past, but didn’t want to believe it.