| "2009 Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp" |
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“Do You Like Apples? …
Well How Do You Like Them Apples?”
Matt Damon as Will Hunting in ‘Good Will Hunting’
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1) Recently, I attended a baseball pitching clinic where a couple of self-proclaimed experts (Ron Wolforth & Brent Strom) have spoken. I had no idea how bad it is out there. These guys have no idea what they are talking about and they know it, but they made hundreds of people spent thousands of dollars to listen to them. They should be ashamed. From Mr. Mike Marshall’s blog.
2) Self proclaimed pitching gurus Wolforth & Strom, obviously have no clue about the law of specificity. They are clearly either incompetent, dishonest or both. They have literally duped hundreds of coaches and parents with this nonsense about long toss, weighted balls, flat ground throwing and scapular loading. If weighted balls worked I’d be selling them myself. These two guys are a primary reason pitching is slow to evolve. Selected comments from Dick Mills website.
3) Why would I go to a Wolforth-Strom event? They are just going to tell me what I’m doing now is all wrong. Anonymous Minor League Pitching Coach as told to Phil Donley
4) If it has Pitching Central or Ron Wolforth on it, we aren’t going to even look at it. A Well Known Baseball Academy Franchise CEO at the 2008 ABCA in Philadelphia…when shown the new K-Zone protocol designed by Wolforth at the 2008 ABCA in Philadelphia 5) We aren’t ever going to invite Wolforth to speak at the Texas HS Coaches Baseball Convention. I’m old school. He thinks he has all the answers. THSBA Board member when asked by a member at the H.S. Coaches Assn. Convention in Waco on why Ron Wolforth has never been invited to speak in Texas.
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Dear Coach,
How do I like them apples?
Frankly, not well at all. I’m a man, just like you. I don’t like these comments any more than you probably like critical comments regarding your coaching/teaching or you as a person.
I’m a competitor. Of course I take great pride in my work. And when some one shows me up, spits in my face or offers disparaging remarks about my system, partners or staff, I’m sure I’m like most of you…I’m ready to fight back.
I’m sure you would also agree with me that criticism, both fair and unfair, are a fact of life for coaches and nasty, personal criticisms of you or me are not going away any time soon.
When you are a leader, when you forward your thoughts, beliefs, philosophies or a methodologies on paper or on the field for all the world to see…there will be those who will immediately swear you are 180° out of phase. And in fact you run the risk of being labeled misinformed, incompetent and even evil by a few people for doing nothing more than failing to agree with them 100%. Heaven forbid we disagree with a few of the gurus out there.
When we are criticized, our instinct is to strike back and to give the naysayer some of his own medicine. Of course that’s my first instinct as well. But in this case I’m going to take a slightly different course. I’m going to address some issues directly and reasonably without getting into mud slinging.
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Recently, I have had the pleasure to attend a baseball pitching clinic where a couple of self-proclaimed experts (Wolforth & Strom) have spoken. I had no idea how bad it is out there. These guys have no idea what they are talking about and they know it, but they made hundreds of people spent thousands of dollars to listen to them. They should be ashamed.
Contrary to Mr. Marshall’s comments, Brent & I actually passionately believe in our information. And we are not in any form or fashion ashamed of our teachings or philosophies. I would counter that we very much know what we are doing. The primary difference between Mr. Marshall & Brent Strom & I is that Mr. Marshall is absolutely certain that he and his methodology is 100% correct. Brent & I have no such delusions.
We realize and freely admit our understanding of the mystery we call ‘pitching’ is imperfect and our subsequent teaching methodology is and will remain to some degree flawed and requiring constant evolution, adjustment and modification. That’s why we bring in men like Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nyman and Mr. House…to challenge our present paradigms and belief systems. We are simply sharing with you the discoveries that we have encountered along our path. And we still maintain that the more we learn the more we realize we do not know.
Obviously Mr. Marshall…as Benjamin Franklin put it over 200 years ago… ‘…has little doubt of his own infallibility’. We, on the other hand, know that we will never get the process down perfectly. To Brent & I this will always remain a work in progress. And again we are not ashamed of our toil in this process...in fact we are quite proud of our work. We believe most of you out there busting your humps in the trenches day in and day out truly appreciate and respect us sharing our personal paths of discovery….our mistakes as well as our lessons learned.
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Self proclaimed pitching gurus Wolforth & Strom, obviously have no clue about the law of specificity. They are clearly either incompetent, dishonest or both. They have literally duped hundreds of coaches and parents with this nonsense about long toss, weighted balls, flat ground throwing and scapular loading. If weighted balls worked I’d be selling them myself. These two guys are primary reasons pitching is slow to evolve.
Brent Strom and I not only believe we understand the ‘principle’ of specificity (it’s NOT a law by the way), we attempt to align ourselves with it…even rely on it. In fact much of what Mr. Mills currently believes today about the delivery we actually believe as well.
Ironically enough, and although he would never admit it, we believe over the past 7 years Mr. Nyman of SETPRO has literally pushed, pulled, bullied and cajoled Mr. Mills far away from his pause at the top, long arm circle to high cocked position beliefs of a few years ago to his much more athletic delivery positions that he presently extols.
So if we are fairly closely aligned with Mr. Mills, why is he so vitriolic and disdainful in his descriptions of us and our methodologies? I believe a combination of three reasons would describe it fairly accurately and completely.
First, Mr. Mills and Brent & I have an honest disagreement in the interpretation of the principle of specificity. He interprets the principle very strictly, therefore excluding the possibility of any positive carry over from weighted balls or long toss. We simply disagree.
In 1992, I would have been 100% in agreement with Mr. Mills. Today, because I have literally witnessed the incredible multiple benefits (velocity AND durability) of weighted balls and long toss in my students over the past 5 years, I have a far different take. Mr. Mills would say I have been corrupted by Mr. Nyman and have lost my way. That could be, only time will tell for certain. I obviously don’t think so.
The real difference is we don’t disparage Mr. Mills or ANYONE else for not using weighted balls or not doing long toss.
And very much like Mr. Marshall and in fact ALL the other gurus, Mr. Mills also seems to have little doubt of his own infallibility. Due to the fact he has significantly changed his position over the past several years, I’d personally advise Mr. Mills to be far more careful with exuding such dogmatism for wasn’t he just as certain he was right 5 years ago? Come to find out….
Second, I’m also certain based on Mr. Mills’ comments regarding issues such as scapular loading, that he really doesn’t know our position very well, what we teach or what we believe. It appears quite clear he is also not curious about our specific position on any issue. He is just certain we are wrong. Primarily because we don’t agree 100% with him.
On the other hand, we ARE curious about Mr. Mills’ thoughts and both of us in fact own his newest material. We like much of it. We don’t view him as ‘wrong’ in any one position. We just view him more as a boorish bully and an ideologue who does happen to have many good points and a few good ideas, although I’ll admit it is sometimes painful sifting through his egocentric ramblings such as him playing catch with Carlton Fisk, long enough to get to the pearls. Usually I assign one of my staff to do that.
Third, Mr. Mills came along in the mid 90’s at just the right time on the internet with the right product. He is a very good marketer. I know his marketing coach and adviser Dan Kennedy very well. Dan is a good friend and investment partner with Jill and me. Mr. Kennedy is the best in the world at what he does and Mr. Mills is very wise for using him.
And as most of you know, marketing is about being provocative. In marketing it is crucial you pick your enemies well and really sell the difference between you and the other guy. Mr. Mills has picked Tom House (NPA), Paul Nyman (SETPRO) and Pitching Central as his enemies. He has almost certainly singled Nyman out of pure disdain and Tom & I from a market share standpoint.
What Mr. Mills and the other gurus seem to completely miss is that MOST of us own materials from EVERYONE. I’m certain most of you are like Brent & I. For our library’s we actually purchase books, DVDs and videos from almost everyone. And we are not going to be swayed into never reading Mr. House just because Mr. Mills thinks he’s an idiot for using the towel drill. And likewise, we won’t stop reading Mills just because someone at NPA thinks he is 180° out of phase.
But the reality that most people purchase information from multiple sources apparently flies under the radar screen back at Guru Headquarters. The Guru’s seem to be under the obvious assumption that they are 1) the only game in town and/or 2) every one of their clients has drank their brand of Kool-aid and are faithful disciples of their particular dogma. Wrong assumption! People intuitively know that no one person has all the answers or a corner on the truth. Almost all of us are eclectic in our approach. We borrow from everyone. Brent & I not only think this is a good thing…we think it is absolutely an imperative; otherwise we create blind spots in our training.
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And the truth is Mr. Mills has been invited to speak at our event in the past and explain why he thinks his interpretations are far better than ours. So far he simply refuses. He obviously feels much more comfortable throwing out bombs from behind the safety of his computer. My plea to Mr. Mills: Come out and play with the rest of us. We will certainly treat you far better than you have treated us. We genuinely want to hear your viewpoint. We will treat you like we have treated all of our guest presenters…with respect and honor. Our invitation will remain open.
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Why would I go to a Wolforth-Strom event? They are just going to tell me what I’m doing now is all wrong.
3) These comments clearly come from someone who has NEVER been to one of our events. My simple response to these comments are these: In this world, there are ‘learners’ and there are ‘knowers’. If you think your current understanding is ‘good enough’ for what you want to accomplish today or this year…then by all means stay home.
For example, all I know about electricity is ‘flipping on the switch’. That’s good enough for what I want right now. Should someday that change…like the desire to build my own home for example…I may need to change or improve my knowledge about electricity. In fact, I may have to move from a ‘knower’ to a ‘learner’. Until then I will remain a ‘knower’ with regards to electricity and not a ‘learner’.
So what exactly was this professional coach almost certainly lamenting? Unfortunately I see it way too often. This coach was desperately wanting his current knowledge to be enough that he no longer had the need to be a learner. As my father would say… “Remain THE expert without staying current? That’d be a nice gig if you can find it. Good luck to you son. All I can tell you is that it doesn’t work that way in any sector I know of”.
If baseball pitching is your PROFESSION…then I believe that statement is a horrible and disempowering attitude. But like I said, I see it way too often. It’s a sad indictment of our current leaders in baseball. Why wouldn’t you want to be a ‘learner’ in your supposed field of expertise?
Bottom line: Brent & I are not like the gurus. We don’t discuss things in terms of RIGHT or WRONG. We don’t tell people they are wrong for doing a specific drill. We think that would be a totally wasted discussion. Instead we are constantly looking for ways to be more effective and more productive. We simply share what we have found to be slightly more effective and let YOU decide. We bring in others who disagree with us and let YOU decide.
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If it has Pitching Central or Ron Wolforth on it, we aren’t going to even look at it.
4) Not even look at the information if it has Strom/Wolforth or Pitching Central on it? That’s truly hard to believe. Looking costs you nothing but your time. Skepticism is the sign of a working mind. But this philosophy represents a witches’ brew of cynicism, arrogance and ego.
I believe the root to all of this incredulity is primarily FEAR. And fear is a base emotion. It retards you from growth. It’s perfectly ok and absolutely understandable to disagree with our thoughts. But in my opinion to not even take a look at the information because of where it comes from signals a real flaw in your own self image. Heck we even listen to Osama Bin Laden in effort to find out where his next move is. And I assure you nothing that Brent & I endorse or support is evil. Debate is healthy. Censorship is wrong. Fear is one of the most debilitating emotions in the history of man.
In my opinion the one thing that could turn around this failing baseball academy chain is an influx of new ideas, new blood and new passion. Unfortunately in corporate cultures such as this…often times the thing that is needed most is the last thing it gets.
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We aren’t ever going to invite Wolforth to speak at the Texas HS Coaches Baseball Convention. I’m old school. He thinks he has all the answers.
5) This is actually pretty funny. In truth, you could make a powerful case that Brent & I have actually gone retro. In fact you can’t get more ‘old school’ than Walter Johnson, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Dizzy Dean, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins. These are the very guys we use to prove our points and shape our methodology.
And as far as ‘knowing all the answers” is concerned, we honestly don’t even know all the questions yet, let alone all the answers.
Again, these comments almost certainly come from someone who ‘heard’ about what we teach or advocate and obviously didn’t like what they ‘heard’. If they would have spent any time at all visiting with Brent or I personally, this person would have realized that we are not a threat to him or any other High School in Texas. We offer suggestions… not laws, absolutes, commandments or dogma and we back our suggestions up with practical real world examples.
We are teachers and practical applicators and not ideologues, gurus, swamis or sages. We are just like that High School Coach. We are simply trying to help our guys get better and sharing our experiences along the way. Each coach is absolutely free to accept 100%-50%-10%-1% or none of what we advocate. In fact, I would venture to say not one coach has ever bought in 100% or 0% to what we present.
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Now that you know BOTH sides to the story, Brent, Jill & I would like to invite you to a very special Pitching Coaches Event DECEMBER 4-6th 2009.
Our 10th Annual “Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp” held at
The Texas Baseball Ranch.
This Year’s Theme:
“PRACTICAL APPLICATION…
Taking theory and putting it to work”
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| Eric Cressey- will discuss his world class cutting edge strength, mobility and conditioning modalities for pitchers specifically and baseball players generally. He will speak for 2 hours. In his second hour, Coach Wolforth will be on stage with Eric and asking these specific questions…If Eric was hired as the assistant Coach at XHS or Y University…and was placed in charge of strength, mobility and conditioning of their baseball players…what is the step by step process he would use to implement his vision and his plan. What exactly would he implement first...and why...what would he do next...and why...and so on. This session may possibly be worth the entire clinic fee. Eric is one of if not THE best in the world at what he does and Coach Wolforth is going to have him help you design your own personal program. Eric will also have a 55 minute bonus hands on session on Saturday to show you exactly what he does.
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| Phillip Donley PT, ATC, MS- Hall of Fame Athletic Trainer Phil Donley has measured over 1500 professional and elite pitchers in his storied career. He has been a staple of the UPCBC for 4 years. He has been used by the Philadelphia Phillies for the past 14 years to help their Athletic Training staff, Strength staff and pitching coaches understand the contributors to injury and keys to health and durability. The results speak for themselves as the Phillies have lead MLB in the health and durability of their pitchers organization wide. Phil will speak for 2 hours. In his second hour, Coach Wolforth will be on stage with him and asking these specific questions…If Phil was hired as your Athletic trainer...and was placed in charge of keeping your guys healthy…what is the step by step process he would use to implement his vision and his plan. What exactly would he implement first...and why...what would he do next...and why...and so on. This session also may possibly be worth the entire clinic fee. Phil Donley is one of if not THE best in the world at what he does and Coach Wolforth is going to have him help you keep your pitchers healthy. Phil will have a 55 minute bonus hands on session on Saturday as well to show coaches how to check for asymmetries, imbalances and other red flags.
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Wes Johnson- Assistant Coach Central Arkansas University. Former HS coach of 2-A Arkansas State Champion…Coach Johnson will discuss the specific steps he has used in implementing the Athletic Pitcher/ Combat Pitcher programs into his incredibly successful High School program. If you are a High School Coach and want to know exactly how to implement “The Athletic Pitcher Program™” into your HS program...Coach Johnson is YOUR man. He did it so well in fact...and got many people in Arkansas’ attention...now he is coaching at Central Arkansas University.
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| Neiman Nix. Neiman at the ABI in Clearwater Florida has used Mike Marshall’s concepts for several years and has developed a way to blend Marshall’s methods into the traditional delivery. Neiman will definitely challenge the way many view the pitching delivery and regardless of whether or not you fully accept his paradigms and training methods, your perspective of reducing arm injuries the dynamics involved in throwing a baseball will expand in both depth and width. Coach Wolforth openly states that he looks forward to Neiman’s presentation possibly more than any other’s in the entire program.
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| Brent Strom (He’s A LITTLE older now- this is when he still had hair) former MLB pitching Coach for the Astros and Royals…will discuss the keys to developing a quality breaking ball as well as improving command without sacrificing individual tempo, rhythm, athleticism, health/ durability of the elbow or shoulder… and ultimately without constraining or inhibiting the velocity on your fastball. His 2 sessions will be the RED meat for all you ‘mechanics’ guys and ‘results’ guys. Brent is old school...no non sense...and pure common sense. He will share with you clips of HOF’ers Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, Dizzy Dean, Fergie Jenkins and Bob Feller to dispel many of the current teaches used out there. He has seen it all and heard it all. Brent is remarkable in his due diligence and has studied the works of Mills, Marshall, House and Nyman in depth and detail. He can tell you the benefits of each of the guru’s concepts and how he has blended their works and concepts into his own unique personal belief system. Something he strongly encourages all of us to do.
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| Flint Wallace- Flint is quickly growing the reputation as one of the best collegiate pitching coaches in the entire United States. This former TCU and Oakland A’s organization product and current PC at Weatherford College in Texas will share the systematic processes he uses to develop athleticism, precision/command and the health and durability of his pitchers. Find out exactly what Flint does and why his starters had more complete games than anyone in his conference. His success formula is almost certainly worth the price of admission by itself if you are a college or JC pitching coach. If you are a college Coach, you don’t want to miss the presentation of one of the best and brightest coaches in the USA today.
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| Aaron Weintraub has been coaching for 16 years, 13 of which he spent as a college baseball coach. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Emory University and a Master of Education from the University of Virginia, where he studied Motor Leaning and Sport Psychology. He is a disciple of author and consultant Harvey Dorfman, who wrote The Mental Game of Baseball and other books. He also imitates many other great coaches including Ken Ravizza, Tony Robbins, and John Wooden. Weintraub's own book, Coaches Guide to Winning the Mental Game, was published in the summer of 2009 by Coaches Choice. His clients, mostly in baseball and softball, include Baylor University, the University of Houston, Dallas Baptist University, and the University of Texas at Arlington, as well as many high school and summer teams. From 2002-2006, Weintraub served as pitching coach at Cedar Valley Junior College in Dallas.
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| Ron Wolforth- Coach Wolforth will discuss the art of getting drills to transfer from practice, from the cage and/or from the bull pen to the mound or the field at game time. He calls the method of transfer, ‘Blending’. The amazing thing about his BLENDING lectures is that they are philosophy neutral. Whether you are a Mills, Marshall, House or Nyman guy…Coach Wolforth gives his personal insight on how a few simple changes can make YOUR personal approach FAR more productive. Coach also shares with you all the latest improvements and enhancements they have made at the Ranch with their training protocols since the previous year...and this year possibly more than any previous year has seen significant change.
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Look What Past Attendees Have Said About
This One-Of-A-Kind Event!
“I really enjoyed being with a group of professionals who share a common passion.” – Jim Simmons, Statesboro High, GA
“I have used the DVD’s and they are great, definitely worth the money, but the weekend is so much better. You could take at least a few things from every presentation and at some point apply them to your program. Unlike the ABCA convention, it is very interactive. A lot of learning is in the Q&A and conversations with other coaches.” – P.J. Mitchell, Depauw University
“The most beneficial thing about the boot camp was being around a bunch of knowledgeable pitching guys who are not hesitant to extend their information freely to everyone. I have been thoroughly impressed and am very excited about the contacts and information I have gained the past few weeks.” – Brent Porche, LSU-Shreveport
“This event is well worth the time and expense. The ideas and information gained are a bargain” – Don Spore, Wartburg College, IA
“If you are a pitching Coach and you are serious about improving your athletes, you must employ this training philosophy. You are short changing their education (and yours) without it.” - Evan O’Meara, Pasadena City College, CA
“This clinic is about 150+ like-minded coaches who are committed to searching for truth and invariably want to help their players get better.” – Tim Campos, Gallup High School/Naitaanii Baseball Academy, NM
“Regardless of your beliefs on pitching this weekend is worth it. The information gained and presented from this clinic will allow anyone to improve as a coach. Coaches who truly want to improve cannot afford to miss this weekend.” – Randy Sandifer, Live Oak High School, Denham Springs, LA
“I’ve spent many years at national conventions, state clinics, etc. This was by far the most informative and valuable experience I’ve had as a coach” –Josh Sorge, Strongsville H.S, OH
“The information I received in this camp was incredible. Finally I have information that I can apply and make a difference!” - Jerry Jacobsen, World Baseball Outreach, OK
“I can’t wait to get back and start implementing this information. We started our baseball program 3 years ago and I wish I could have put this in from the start.” – Jerry Howell, Woodsboro H.S.
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