About Headfirst
Since 1996, Headfirst has been the #1 baseball and sports instruction company in Washington, D.C. Nationally, Headfirst is best known for its popular National Honor Roll Showcase in Florida, run each of the last 6 years in Jupiter, FL. Last winter, Headfirst organized and conducted the country's first annual Sidearm & Submarine Pitching Camp with featured guest, Todd Frohwirth.
This year, Headfirst has teamed up with world-renowned pitching guru, Bill Thurston and catching guru, Boyd Coffie to offer the most comprehensive digital video-based pitching and catching clinics in the country. These clinics are designed for coaches (all levels), high school catchers and high school pitchers (ages 14-18) of all styles and abilities: Overhand, sidearm, submarine, LHP or RHP.
Coach Bill Thurston is one of the leading pitching minds in the game of baseball today, currently serving as a consultant for A.S.M.I. (American Sports Medicine Institute; nationally known as the premier pitching mechanic analysis research clinic) and is going into his 39th season as head coach of Amherst College. He is 12th on the all-time Division III college baseball wins list. Coach Thurston has worked with thousands of pitchers on the high school, college, and professional level and has been involved with international baseball including representing Team U.S.A. in 1986 as the team's pitching coach. He has been named New England Coach of the Year four times and has been elected to the ABCA Hall of Fame.
Coach Boyd Coffie holds the record for the most wins in Rollins College history (coached for 19 years) and has recently served as the Field Coordinator for the Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Indians Minor League Organizations. Coffie was an All-American baseball player and an All-Conference basketball player at Rollins College. His jersey was retired before he went on to hold the coaching career wins record in basketball and baseball. He also played 5 years in the New York Yankees organization and has since been elected to 4 Hall of Fames: Rollins, Sunshine State Conference, Orlando Sports, and McMinn County (TN) High School. He has coached Major Leaguers: Sandy Alomar, Einar Diaz, Victor.
Pitching Clinic Goals
- "Evaluate each pitcher's mechanics and make adjustments which will help prevent unnecessary stress on the throwing mechanism.
- Identify various faults and teach techniques and drills to help each pitcher make the proper adjustments.
- Improve each pitcher's control and command of all pitches by teaching the proper mechanical techniques.
- Attempt to identify various faults and adjustments that will help to increase both velocity and control.
- Teach and review each pitch: four-seam and two-seam fastball, breaking balls. change-up. Also, teach and review the stragegies of how and when to use each pitch effectively.
- Instruct each pitcher on how to mentally and visually program himself to compete in game and pressure situations; learn how to think, focus, and control the mental aspects of the game.
- Teach the proper mechanics from the set position and strategies on how to control base-runners. Also teach various pick-off moves to each base.
- Introduce a basic arm-strengthening and throwing program to help develop arm strength, flexibility and arm stamina.
Digital Video Analysis
Since the fall of 1990, Bill Thurston has worked with American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI), directed by Dr. James Andrews as their pitching and throwing consultant. Through the use of high speed video and computer analysis, Coach Thurston has done extensive research involving pitching mechanics and causes of pitching arm injuries. He has attempted to develop a program to help prevent pitching arm injuries in young pitchers. From this experience, during the past 14 summers, Coach Thurston has performed video analysis on over 1,200 high school, college and professional pitchers.
Throughout the years, he has learned that the pitchers between 14 and 18 years old are the ideal ages to analyze and adjust improper pitching mechanics. At these ages, most pitchers are mature enough to understand and learn new techniques, yet young enough that they have not yet ingrained improper mechanics and techniques over a long period of time. The video analysis element of this pitching camp is tailored for pitchers who truly desire to excel at their position and who are receptive to learning. Dozens of players who have experienced Coach Thurston's pitching analysis are currently playing professional baseball, and hundreds are pitching at the college level. If you believe you have the mental aptitude and physical potential to become a top-flight pitcher in high school, our state-of the-art digital JC Video analysis may take you to the next level.
Each Attending Pitcher and Coach Will Receive
- Personal CD-Rom of each pitcher's mechanics with voice-over, so each CD will have instruction and discussion on the CD to be taken home for each pitcher to keep and review.
- Written hand-outs and materials on proper pitching mechanics and drills to help improve and maintain proper pitching mechanics.
- Detailed photographed materials of current and past professional power pitchers identifying proper pitching mechanics.
Arm Maintenance & Injury Prevention
Throughout the clinic, we will stress the importance of arm maintenance and arm injury prevention--two of the least understood and under-taught aspects of pitching.
Arm Maintenance:
Each attending pitcher and coach will be introduced to an advanced arm maintenance program that high level college and professional teams use for their pitchers. "Jobe" shoulder exercises, shoulder stabilization routines, lifting programs and conditioning programs will also be introduced and addressed in an open forum during the clinic.
Injury Prevention:
It is very important that players and coaches are able to recognize changes and flaws in a pitcher's normal motion to prevent injury. Besides a loss in some velocity and control, a pitcher will often change his mechanics to compensate for the loss of arm strength or to protect his arm from further pain.
Throughout the clinic we will help identify and attempt to correct mechanical flaws or tendencies that may later turn into an arm injury. We will also review the proper methods to help prevent arm injuries such as: conditioning of the body, proper stretching and warm-up programs, year-round throwing programs, weight & resistance programs, etc.
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