92: Dave Coggin- Former Major League Baseball player, current owner of Performance Fitness for Athletes (CA)

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Summary:

In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I welcome Dave Coggin, former Major League Baseball player, author, and owner of PFA Fitness. Dave Coggin talks about the best practices to intensify pitching and create more command over the ball. Dave also shares own his personal journey from a professional athlete, to his inspiring evolution as a performance trainer and owner of PFA Fitness.

Show Notes:

• Guest: Dave Coggin, former Major League Baseball player, author, and owner of PFA Fitness

• How did Dave Coggin get involved in baseball from being a three-sport athlete

• What major league baseball teams did Dave play for

• Where did Dave Coggin’s involvement in injury-prevention and performance stem from

• Volunteering, even after playing professionally, opened up new opportunities for Dave

• Arm path and mechanics are popular areas that athletes come to PFA Fitness for

• Pitching habits need to be addressed before you can improve them

• Understand how the body has to act to move properly

• What are the most common problems Dave sees with arm path

• Which examples of major league pitchers does Dave Coggin use for examples

• Your arm is like a whip when you are pitching

• What are the physical assessments that PFA Fitness conducts on players

• How has PTA Fitness been intentional about building their culture

• What is Dave’s advice to make individualized plans for pitchers

• How do you develop velocity and command of the pitch

• If you control intensity, you can have more volume

• What would a typical week look like for players training with PFA Fitness

• Find ways to keep things competitive for your players

3 Key Points:

1.    Be humble and don’t burn any bridges because you may need to cross them in the future.

2.  Look for flaws in pitching habits, the best arm paths, and then make up drills to improve habits.

3.  When the elbow is right at armpit height, goes into the lay back,’ and stays in that level, that’s the sweet spot for almost effortless pitching power.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I never treated anyone differently that was either the president of a major league team, down to the club house of a Single A team.” - Dave Coggin (05:31)

• “I don’t rarely ever talk about my resume. I just try to make sure I do what I do, the best I can do.” - Dave Coggin (09:25)

• “The most important part that everybody kind of comes to me for is the arm path and mechanics side of things.” - Dave Coggin (11:07)

• “I always tell these kids, 95% of your throws are not on a mound. So, 95% of your habits, good or bad, are in that place that you call your warm-up or your throwing.” - Dave Coggin (12:00)

• “We want the efficiency to be enhanced by the athleticism.” - Dave Coggin (16:28)

• “Success leaves clues.” - Jonathan Gelnar (1:08:33)

Resources Mentioned:

• Ahead of the Curve Podcast
• @AOTC_podcast
• PFA
• Instagram: @pfastrong1
• Twitter: @PFABaseball
• Books: “Complete Athlete,” “Great Teams,"  “Competing Against Luck”

91: Dr. Fadde- Professor and Chief Science Officer for gameSense Sports

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Summary:

In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I welcome Dr. Peter Fadde, pitch recognition expert, Chief Officer and Co-Founder of gameSense, and Associate Professor of Learning Systems Design & Technology at Southern Illinois University. Dr. Peter Fadde breaks down the science of pitch recognition and the valuable methods of training hitters to achieve this skill. Coach Sherman also explains occlusion training, and ways that his pitch recognition product at gameSense is preparing players and coaches to implement it into their training regimens.

Show Notes:

• Guest: Dr. Peter Fadde, Chief Officer and Co-Founder of gameSense, and Associate Professor of Learning Systems Design & Technology at Southern Illinois University

• Dr. Fadde explains the benefits of occlusion training

• Dillan Lawson’s presentation at Slugfest used a soccer player kicking a goal with the lights turned off 2/3 of the way to teach occlusion training

• What is “pitch recognition” and how is it different from “plate discipline?”

• Dr. Fadde’s occlusion training offers the batter’s view point facing the pitcher with a maximum possible score of 250

• Video cued tee work is tee work that includes the timing off of the pitcher

• Hitting baseballs is not like hitting golf balls or baseballs off of a tee

• Vision training focuses on visual skills like dynamic tracking, acuity, peripheral vision, and focus

• Pitch recognition should help hitters get the feel of the pitcher’s wind-up

• If you aren’t looking at a pitcher, then it isn’t really pitch recognition

• Live drills for hitters to call out “yes” or “no” on a particular pitch type before the ball hits the catcher’s mitt strengthens pitch recognition

• The best form of pitch recognition is standing in the bullpen

• Mike Schmidt wrote a fantastic books on hitting

• Attention occlusion drills should keep the batter focusing on the pitcher, not the catcher

• gameSense certified their first hitting coach Coach Killian at Elite Velocity in St. Louis, Missouri

• Softball is getting a boast again from entering into the Olympics

3 Key Points:

1.    Pitch recognition is the perceptual skill of making an actionable meaning out of the pitch you see.

2.  Your eyes can’t track pitch speeds over 83 miles an hour all the way into the bat.

3.  Visualize the pitcher. Visualize the pitch. Visualize hitting that pitch.  

Tweetable Quotes:

• “If you can test it, you can train it.” - Dr. Peter Fadde (4:53)

• “Human beings, and other animals, can learn incredible things with repetition, immediate feedback, and progressive difficulty.” - Dr. Peter Fadde (5:04)

• “When we say, ‘somebody has a great instinct for it,’ well, that’s where we now say, ‘ok, let’s try to figure out exactly what that is.’” - Dr. Peter Fadde (6:32)

• “Some guys like to have success at every level and build it up. And some guys just like to identify the wall they want to go through and then start smacking it.” - Dr. Peter Fadde (14:41)

• “The best way to practice recognizing pitches is to look at pitches.” - Dr. Peter Fadde (30:56)

• “A softball hitter really focusing on and getting good at pitch recognition could be looking at at a 20 or 25% improvement.” - Dr. Peter Fadde (51:20)

Resources Mentioned:

• Ahead of the Curve Podcast

• @AOTC_podcast

• peterfadde.com

• gameSense Sports

• Twitter: @DrFadde

• Email: fadde@siu.edu

90: Reed Peters- Head Baseball Coach, San Joaquin Delta College (CA)

89: Chan Brown- Head Baseball Coach, Parkview HS (GA)

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Summary:

In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I welcome Chan Brown, a coach with 24 years of experience, currently working in Lilburn, Georgia as the Parkview High School head baseball Coach, physical education teacher, and the 15u Team USA coach. During our discussion, Chan Brown walks us through his typical summer and fall training practice procedures, and how things change once the team is formed. Coach Brown graciously gives plenty of useful advice to not just help shape fantastic players, but to make great people out of the young guys he trains.

Show Notes:

• Guest: Chan Brown, Parkview High School Head Baseball Coach, Physical Education Teacher, 15u Team USA Coach

• What made Chan Brown’s championship-winning team so special

  • Eight seniors went on to college

  • They had the pressure of being number two in the nation and number 1 in the state

  • They lost about five games by mid-season and came together after that

  • The team had a meeting that included motivational quotes, let kids speak their minds, and got the team unified on the same page

  • Some of the seniors moved on from the team with two rings

• What did Coach Brown’s team cover in training during the summer and fall of 2018

  • He has every baseball player also in the Advanced Fitness class that he teaches

  • Summer ball is played by the players before the fall

  • June summer ball is every Tuesday and Wednesday in June, with two hours on the field and one hour in the gym

  • July summer ball is optional and from August to September is an hour and a half of weight lifting each session

  • September training has pool workouts and push outs for three days a  week.

  • October-January is two days a week of speed and agility training.

  • The monday after Thanksgiving is throwing training and they start the bullpen the day after Christmas

  • Tryouts begin in January

• Coach Brown is only the second coach in the 44 years of the Parkview High School team

• Success of their baseball team is an expectation in the local community

• Kids can train as young as 6-years old at Parkview with the same standards

• Be a good person on and off the field

• The team motto is going to be “Love. Loyalty. Leadership”

• Parkview baseball does a player packet with a player contract, the county drug and alcohol policy, and even how to talk to the media

• All three teams have a chance to practice together to keep the competitive edge strong

• Game simulations and scrimmages are played in a competitive environment

• Tryouts for junior varsity and varsity baseball teams are Monday-Thursday

• Between the three teams there are 56 players and JV and varsity there are six coaches.

• Fundraising ranges from everything from golf to selling Christmas trees

• Coach Brown handles the hitting portion of their coaching bible and a coaching duty sheet

• The first three weeks of team practice are intense, with five hours Monday through Friday

• Batting practice includes game simulation

• The pitching coach keeps extensive pitching stats to have data feedback for players and coaches

• Chan Brown shows stats three times a year

• The ‘Huddle’ video program allows Coach Brown to share video and track how long players have watched the videos

• Positive relationships with the players are important to Coach Brown

• If you do what you are suppose to do, the wins will come

• Know what your particular program is all about

• Reading the bible, visiting Division 1 programs, and being involved with USA Baseball have been helpful resources for Coach Brown

• 21-Outs is a baseball drill that Coach Brown’s players enjoy

• Don’t always try to be the guy talking. Find older coaches you respect and learn from them

3 Key Points:

1.     Coach Brown’s team has a total of seven state championships with four since 2011, and three national championships since 2012.

2.  In this order: be a great person, be a great student, be a great teammate, and that leads to being a great player.

3.   Don’t let the scoreboard run you and believe what your heart says.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “We went on to win state, and win our third national championship since 2012.” - Chan Brown (2:51)

• “In my opinion, if you are not in the weightroom, you aren’t getting any better.” - Chan Brown (7:04)

• “If we don’t go to the Final Four or the state championship, honestly, it’s a letdown for our community.” - Chan Brown (11:56)

• “The culture thing for us starts at age 6.” - Chan Brown (12:54)

• “Do the right thing all the time.” - Chan Brown (16:56)

• “Our first three weeks, I’m going to be as honest as honest can be, we are a marathon program. We practice from 2:30-7:30pm Monday-Friday.” - Chan Brown (36:18)

Resources Mentioned:

• Ahead of the Curve Podcast

• @AOTC_podcast

• Linkedin: Chan Brown  

• Twitter: @ChanBrown25

• Twitter: @PVBaseballGa

• Email: ChanBrown25@gmail.com

• Phone: (404) 245-4040

• Parkview Panther Baseball