Michael Richards
ISSA Certified Strength Coach
Owner Elite Athletic Performance LLC
18 years of experience training athletes
Public Speaker
Published Author:
Your Student Athlete; Should Do, Must Do, and Don’t
Real World Objective:
A) Do the best job I can pinpointing mechanical flaws in deliveries and swings, although I know I can’t do a great job with the current limited technology. That is looking to change very soon.
B) Collect USABLE video to use in our guys recruiting process.
C) Ability to do very low level, rudimentary pitch design work.
What did I need in order to accomplish goal A?
A good 2nd base and 1st base view of mechanics. It needs to be the same distance every single pitch. It could be catcher and 3rd base view. That is just what worked out best logistically in our gym.
So I built stands out of 2x4’s and 2x6’s that have a small shelf on them about 6’ off the ground. I am eventually going to attach something up there to help keep my collection of iPads and old iPhones I use to record video standing upright while doing so. For now, I stick a Plyo ball behind them. Use a 2x4 cut long enough to make the horizontal portion of the shelf and then another 2x4 the same length to attach vertically to it to form something for your camera to lean against. Attach it it about 6’ off the ground onto a vertical 2x4 or 2x6. Obviously you’ll have to attach boards to the base of that vertical board so it can stand freely.
Our mound isn’t always in the same spot so I needed a way to ensure the stand is always at the same distance from the mound. So I attached a string to the stand 6’ long and marked the mound so wherever we set it up, the string can be pulled so we are filming from a consistent distance and angle. You’ll want to label the mark “mechanics” because you’ll need a second mark on each side of the mound for when you need an offset view in order to see the ball flight. You’ll need to do that on the left and right side for good views of both Left and R Hand Pitchers. This will be used to accomplish Goal B.
I repeated the process for our 1st base view but I made the string ten foot long so the camera view can get the entire mound in frame.
For the overhead view I built a similar stand 9’ tall with a 2x4 that extends out over the mound. I literally just set my iPhone on the 2x4 that extends over the mound. Side note, I can already tell it needs to be higher, but any taller and I can’t reach it with my ladder. When I figure out a way to do that, I will update. It’s pretty labor intensive because you’ll need to stop and start the camera between pitches to make editing easier.
I also marked the mound for length so the 1st base view can see how long the pitchers stride length is.
Goal C is accomplished by attaching a second string about 3 feet so you can pull it to the “LHP” or “RHP” offset marks in order to get a slow motion look at ball release. You’ll need a DK ball to do this. It gives you the direction in which a pitch is spinning. You can take that information and use it with the video obtained of ball release to tinker with “feel” of certain pitches coming off the fingers. You can use the Slow Motion function in your iPhone or we also use the Coaches Eye app. I go back and forth on which one unlike more.
You’ll need a storage place for all these videos. We are currently using Google Drive bit if I find a better option I will update. I haven’t tried Vimeo or Dropbox yet. They might be better.
let me know what you think. If you see a better way I’m all ears. Just trying to get this right. No ego involved.
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Your Student Athlete; Must Do, Should Do, and Don’t
The “Owner’s Manual” for parents to maximize their kid’s time, help them perform better, and avoid injury