Week End with the Gold and Silver Part Two

Dennis I am sorry your daughter did not enjoy her time with Jennie...She was asked to answer questions from the girls such as how many pitches you had at 12 years old, how fast could you throw at 14 years old etc.

I think a public form is healthy and you should come out of the closet if you have issues or concerns however while you are there would it not have made sense to ask us why so we had an opportunity to address the concerns as we would have asked Jennie directly.Customer feed back is important!

Some times when we talk to the players they are happy and it is the parents that are un happy much like when an umpire does not see it your way at times.

So exercise your rights and look closer at the events you attend and spend your money on what you think is important and you are correct you get what you pay for.

We have been doing this for several years now and keep trying to improve and learn from each one we do.

Will you be at the Jan. 11 clinic at East Central?

Thanks Howard

"$200 + is alot of money and yes you are paying for the olympians and not the instruction
Fact - you can go to the wright state clinic and get the same instruction and Howard will be there for only $75 so you tell me." Quote

Howard will not be at the WSU clinics however I support their clinics and how he teaches...we Coach Larabee and myself try to do clinics that are teaching clinics that the hitter can build from and get better and that lays a foundation which was why his staff attended our clinic and many of our kids attend his clinics...we think our information is very close to being exactly the same.

I did not want anyone to think I was going to be some place where I was not so I wanted to clarify it.

Please make sure to register as soon as possible and remember to tell your teammates and coaches about it!

It makes a good Christmas gift especially for the kid who has everything...well almost everything!

Look forward to meeting all of you.

I have many requests about what is the best bat and I sure wish I could test swing a bat. Howard gets bats sent to him to test. He normally brings bats with him so your dd can test them. The new TPS Triton just went on sale in Nov. Howard had it to test. So this is a good way to see some of the new bats on the Market and have dd test it.
Just another advantage of going to one of his clinics.

WE have the Mizuno Frenzy, Rip-It Force, Demarini Pitch Black, Louisville Slugger's two new bats that are end loaded and another that is handle loaded which is new for LS. Some of our kids who use the RT like the feeling and performance of the LS so far.

We have some of the bats loaned out now for some showcases our kids are going to over the weekend to get some feed back.

We always bring the bats to the clinics so the kids can try it out during practice.

We do not use Easton products due to personal choice and you would have to go to Spy Softball and make your political choice yourself.

We have been focusing on stepping into the concrete-filled bucket w/ a flexed front knee into dd's (as well as several other's) hitting sessions & the results have been nothing but tremendous. Lots of bugs are now safe from being squished!

To all the naysayers, if you think your dd can come to a single clinic and walk out of there having Crystl's swing, then you need a wake-up call. We initiated incorporating "the swing" approx. 3 years ago. Since Howard has forgot more about hitting than most of us will ever know, and he continually refines/improves his methods, we continue coming to the clinics to learn a few new things each time. This along with the dedicated hours spent at the tee up here in Central Ohio has paid off. It's a journey, paved with clinics, repetitive practice, and finally application.

See you all down there later this month, and we look forward to seeing you all in February '09 in Westerville when Howard & Crystl bring their show to Central Ohio. We are looking to incorporate a 4-hr coaches-only session into the February clinic, which should be fun for the true students of the game.

Kirk Lowery
Central Ohio Ice

PS. In this case, it's an honor to be called a lemming.

Please note we are canceling the pitching portion of the clinic due to circumstances beyond our control and those that have signed up will be notified and the money refunded as quickly as we can get it in the mail.

A few of the parents wanted to know who we could recommend and everyone that I know that goes to Bill Hillhouse or Doug Gillis seems to be very pleased with what and how they teach.

Still plenty of room for the hitting clinics and we will make an assessment on the day of the clinic and try to group some of you that have been to the clinics before with certain instructors and use more advanced drills such as moving in the box to bait the pitchers, the attack mode with two strikes, opposite field hitting, bat speed drills using weighted balls and the whiffer sticks and TheWhipHit.

Visit the site for more information about the WhipHit http://www.thewhiphit.com/

Contact mebonner@cinci.rr.com for registration.

Thank you.

One thing that I think is very important for people to understand about attending one of Howards hitting clinics is service after the sale. Your instruction and access to Howard does not stop after you walk out the door of that clinic.

Alot is covered over the course of a clinic day, and no one is expected to walk out remembering everything that was covered. Most instruction would stop after that clinic, but not with Howard. He has always made himself available through this forum, over the phone, e-mail, and possibly in person, to give away his knowledge of hitting. And this service has rubbed off on many of the people that he has work the clinics with him.

After the last clinic I exchanged my info with several of the girls that went through my station. I told them if they ever had any questions or problems to look me up and I would try and work them through the proper steps, or get them in contact with Howard and get them the answers that they needed. I know Dan (aka SBFamily), as well as others, make themselves available for questions and instruction.

The bottom line is you won't leave this clinic without access to someone that will continue to help in your daughters hitting progression. Service after the sale, along with a great swing!!!

See you at the clinic!!

Just curious how many of you are going to a college hitting camp/clinic and paying $35 to $50 for 3 hours. That during the hitting station a college girl is showing your daughter how to hit. True story. My daughter was watching a girl struggle at a station and she was pulling the ball. After she was done, by daughter took her to the side (14 years old) Told her what she was doing wrong and how to fix it. This was noticed and the college girl had her show her how she fixed it. Then going to the next station the parents that were watching had her show them what she did. When you go to one of these clinics you and your daughter are taught what is correct , showed how to fix it and the drill that will help fix the issue. As LK ( Shayne stated) Howard and many others that he has trained are willing to help spread the knowledge.
Example the whiphit, Whiffer Stick, Weighted PVC pipe, two handled bat, I could go on and on, but have you seen any of these hitting devices at your camps.

Amen brothers!!

OK sports fans here we go...To bring these people to town cost money and unless we get about 18 more people to register by this Wednesday we will not break even as to cost, renting the facility, bringing Crystl and Jenny Topping to town plus air fare and hotels and we will be forced to canceling the clinic.

We started bringing Crystl to town about 5 years ago with the message we do not swing down on the ball or level to the ball and you locally have seen what WSU has done with their stats and if you attended the Week End with the Gold and Silver Part 1 you heard him (Coach Larabee) say it himself!

This is also why we support the WSU clinics as Coach B and his staff support what we do and teach what we do. There are some local college coaches who are changing their methods now also and YOU know who you are! No matter what screen name you use as it is indeed a small world after all.

I have stood by what we teach and how we teach it as to laying a foundation for hitting and it starts with throwing and preventing female ACL injuries and we are now more than ever convinced we are correct and reserach is proving we are cutting edge as to technique.

You can go to your local college clinic and fill in the blank of what school it is and who the coach is or what a great player they were or you can come and talk to the best female hitter in the world in my opinion and ask her your self how to do it and we think we do it better than anyone.

I was at a local indoor facility over the weekend observing one of our girls from Columbus when a parent started asking me some questions about hitting and I was trying to relate why and how we teach what we teach and female ACL issues because the female does not flex their knee like a male. I worked with his daughter and a team mate for about an hour.

He told me her pitching coach from a land far ,far away talks about it however can not explain it and I took the time to explain it in detail! His daughter is having knee issues and it is not surprising and suddenly as if the light went off she and dad figured it out. There was another team on the field throwing warming up and I quickly pointed out what they were doing incorrectly and they saw it for them self and we had just talked about it!

You get what you pay for and in our opinion YOU get a foundation to build from in our clinics.

Unless we get more people by Wednesday we will pull the plug and cancel it and because we had to pay in advance for Crystl she may offer one on one lessons for two days however we will have to set that up.

The next clinic will be offerd in Columbus February 14 and 15 and the next will be at RiverShores in May at the Bustos Blast with the Ultimates.

I really want to stress we have been preaching this method since 2003/ 2004 and finally some of the colleges got it and locally we are still breaking the ice.

We hope to get enough people to attend and if not we will see you at the next clinic.

If you want to register call Mary Ellen Bonner at 513-659-6091 or email at mebonner@cinci.rr.com

Thanks Crystl and Howard and a bunch of other people!

Go to this clinic and you will not be dissapointed. Howard will teach you plenty! Get your team together and go as a group. This is not to be missed!

SBFAMILY said:

Just curious how many of you are going to a college hitting camp/clinic and paying $35 to $50 for 3 hours. That during the hitting station a college girl is showing your daughter how to hit. True story. My daughter was watching a girl struggle at a station and she was pulling the ball. After she was done, by daughter took her to the side (14 years old) Told her what she was doing wrong and how to fix it. This was noticed and the college girl had her show her how she fixed it. Then going to the next station the parents that were watching had her show them what she did. When you go to one of these clinics you and your daughter are taught what is correct , showed how to fix it and the drill that will help fix the issue. As LK ( Shayne stated) Howard and many others that he has trained are willing to help spread the knowledge.
Example the whiphit, Whiffer Stick, Weighted PVC pipe, two handled bat, I could go on and on, but have you seen any of these hitting devices at your camps.

Click to expand...

True post here....

When the DD (5 yr Howard girl) and I manned a station at the last clinic i was amazed how well she did demonstrating and stepping the girls we had in our group thru the drills. With Crystl & Howard periodically checking in on the station adding to the hands on instruction, all of the girls had a good understanding of what we were showing them.
If youre serious about your DD's softball career, there isnt a better clinic to attend for what you come away with....

Hitter said:

There are some local college coaches who are changing their methods now also and YOU know who you are! No matter what screen name you use as it is indeed a small world after all.

I was at a local indoor facility over the weekend observing one of our girls from Columbus when an Outcast parent started asking me some questions about hitting and I was trying to relate why and how we teach what we teach and female ACL issues because the female does not flex their knee like a male. I worked with his daughter and a team mate for about an hour.

He told me her pitching coach from Dayton talks about it however can not explain it and I took the time to explain it in detail! His daughter is having knee issues and it is not surprising and suddenly as if the light went off she and dad figured it out. There was another team on the field throwing warming up and I quickly pointed out what they were doing incorrectly and they saw it for themself and we had just talked about it!

Click to expand...

All the 16U pitchers take pitching lessons from Jodi Eickemeyer (I am assuming this is the coach you are mentioning) and the entire team takes or will be taking hitting lessons from her. In my years of dealing with Coach E, she has aways explained and answered anything and everything asked. She is a great coach and the main reason why my daughter made varsity as a freshman and earned all conference honors. I can't say enough about her and her ability to coach these young ladies...

Well spoken OUTCASTfastpitch, my dd also pitches for the Outcast and it defiantly wasn't her, she has great knees.

Never mentioned the age group did I?

Never mentioned the coach either....however maybe you could answer the question?

What are main differences in male verses female in the muscles that fire the knee to flex in males verses females and why the female knee works like a ball joint verses a hing until taught how to land properly?

Why aren't the coaches more focused on preventing or reducing female ACL issues? Makes no difference if it is a male or female coach.

Why is it most coaches do not understand why the female lands with a stiff knee when throwing and when hitting?

This was pointed out when I asked the father and daughter and the father brought up she was having pain in the knee when pitching and I asked has your pitching coach not knowing who she went to, ever told her how the knee works and why it should be flexed when you land? No.

No was her response so I explained it to her and showed her a test for it so she could feel the difference when landing properly verses improperly for throwing and hitting.

While another team was warming up throwing, I pointed out what the girls were doing incorrectly so the parent and her could see what I was talking about with the weight transfer not happening and ALL the girls landing on a stiff front leg putting all the stress on the shoulder and arm and elbow and knee.

I wanted to take the time to thank Howard for the time he spent with a couple of our players this weekend at the SDS indoor Tournament. Howard was nice enough to talk to our young ladies for almost an hour about hitting. I am always looking for any excuse to talk about SOFTBALL. After spending some time watching my daughter he mentioned that she had a common flaw in her mechanics when she was throwing overhand. I explained to Howard that I consider myself a student of the game, and that I am always listening and trying to learn as much as possible. Both of my Daughters have taken pitching lessons from Jodi for several years, and both love her. My goal as a father and a Coach is to learn as much as possible from the best people possible. I think that we are VERY fortunate to have quality people like Jodi and Howard that love the game and spend countless hours with anyone that is trying to learn and improve their skill level.

Casey thank you and I am sorry I mentioned your teams name and I edited it out however the message is the same, understand the lead knee being flexed and why to prevent ACL issues and your over hand throwing is a way to see it and demonstrate it and your hitting gets better and the other thing she does will improve also no matter who teaches it.

Google female ACL injuries and your eyes will be opened and you will ask why most coaches do not understand it better and do not focus on it as you saw during the warm ups.

Again nice meeting you and your daughter and her team mate.

OUTCASTfastpitch? So it was your team or it wasn't?

JIMHAMRICK said:

OUTCASTfastpitch? So it was your team or it wasn't?

Click to expand...

I'm not associated with Outcast Fastpitch, but I know Casey. Casey's DD is on the 14U team. Thus the confusion with the 16U Outcast folk.