Foster Fastpitch

09/10/2026

There's something I've noticed over the years that I wish more softball parents would pay attention to.

Watch where kids look after something goes wrong on the field.
A lot of times, the first place they look isn't at their coach. It isn't at their catcher. It isn't back at the field.

They look into the stands.

They're looking for Mom or Dad's reaction.

Is Mom smiling?
Is Dad shaking his head?
Was that a sigh?
Is a correction coming?
Are they going to get the look? 😬

And I've been thinking a lot about what that does to an athlete over time.

Because when our kids are playing with one eye on the field and one eye on us...they stop competing and start performing for our approval.

And as parents and coaches, I don't think we intentionally create that.
We WANT them to succeed.

We want the strikes.
We want the big outs.
We want the velocity.
We want them to perform when the game is on the line.

But when every pitch is measured and every mistake is met with a sigh, a correction, or the face of disappointment...

Their freedom to fail gets smaller and smaller.

And here's the problem:
No athlete develops without failure.

You cannot learn to pitch without missing.
You cannot learn to compete without losing.
You cannot learn to make adjustments without first doing something that NEEDS adjusting.

Failure isn't evidence that development isn't working.
Failure IS part of development.

One thing I tell my pitchers is:
Look to your coach for feedback—not the stands.

But parents, we have a responsibility on the other side of that too.

Stop being the reaction they're constantly scanning for.
We don't have to coach every pitch from the bleachers.
We don't have to yell the mechanical correction we think they need.
And our faces don't have to tell the whole story every time something goes wrong.

Sometimes our job is simply to be STEADY.

Instead of immediately telling her what she did wrong:
“What do YOU think you want to adjust?”

Instead of praising only the strikeout or the win:
“I saw you make that adjustment. That's huge.”

And sometimes?
The best thing you can say is absolutely nothing.

If emotions are high, let her process...Give space
You don't have to break down the game on the car ride home.

Not every mistake requires an immediate lesson.

I want our pitchers to throw with INTENT.
I want them to attack hitters.
I want them willing to try something and fail.
I want them to make an adjustment without being terrified that the next pitch might be worse.
I want them to learn how to fail and realize...I'm still okay.

Because a pitcher who knows she won't get crushed for making a mistake has the freedom to COMPETE.

A pitcher who's terrified of making one?
She starts playing safe...and safe doesn't grow.

So maybe the question for us isn't always:
“How did she play?”

Maybe sometimes we need to ask ourselves:
“Did I create an environment where she felt free enough to compete?”

Because failure isn't the enemy.
Failure is the classroom. 🤎

09/10/2026

A lot of pitchers try to create their drop-ball release by working harder through the shoulder or forcing the wrist.

But sometimes the adjustment needs to happen much farther down the chain—at the fingertips.

We want the pitcher to FEEL the pressure through the fingers and understand how the seams are flowing off the hand.

Then we allow the follow-through to happen naturally from that release instead of trying to manufacture the movement with the wrist or shoulder.

👉 Feel the pressure through the fingertips.
👉 Understand how the seams are leaving the hand.
👉 Let the follow-through match the release.

Sometimes better movement doesn’t require a complete mechanical overhaul.

It requires a better understanding of where the ball is actually leaving your hand.

Save this and try it during your next drop-ball session. 🥎

Comment TRAIN to get a free week in our app

09/09/2026

I love our community of coaches! Growing together and seeing our athletes reach their potential is always the goal! Proud of you!

We’ve been battling this back leg for quite some time.
One cue for her that fits with her motor preferences and boom. It instantly improved her rise ball as well 👏🏼
So grateful to be a part of Kerri Foster Nelson / Founder Foster Fastpitch and continue my education as a coach so I can better help my athletes.

09/09/2026

A pitching coach is NOT just a pitching coach.

If I were choosing someone to work with my own daughter, I would look a whole lot deeper than:

“How much do you charge for a lesson?”

Sure I'd want to know...
- How long have you been coaching?
-What kind of pitchers have you developed?
- Have you actually pitched yourself?

But then I'd ask what I think might be an even MORE important question: What have you done to become a better coach since you stopped playing?

Because being able to pitch and being able to TEACH pitching are two very different skills.

And I know that because I lived it.

I've been coaching pitchers for more than 20 years.

And I'll tell you something coaches probably don't say enough:
I've made mistakes.

Not because I didn't care.
Not because I wasn't working hard.

I simply didn't know then what I know now.

When I first started coaching, I taught girls to pitch the way I pitched.

It worked for me. I had been successful doing it. So naturally, I thought that was how you taught pitching.

Twenty-plus years and thousands of lessons later, I know better.
The athlete standing in front of me isn't me.
And she shouldn't have to move like me to be successful.

Yes, there are foundational principles of efficient pitching that I believe matter.

But every athlete brings a different BODY into those movements.

Different strengths.
Different mobility.
Different injury histories.
Different movement patterns.
Different motor preferences.
Different ways they feel and process a cue.

So my job isn't to pull the same three drills out for every pitcher and expect the same result.

My job is to figure out HER.

That's also why I've invested so heavily in continuing education over the years.

I've studied movement, biomechanics, motor preferences, mobility, pitch design and more.

I've invested in technology like Rapsodo and high-speed video.

And you know one of the most humbling things all of that education has taught me? My eyes can and WILL lie to me. 😂

Something can look one way at full speed, and then we slow the video down and realize something completely different is happening.

I can THINK a pitch is moving a certain way...Or I can measure it.

Spin.
Vertical and horizontal movement.
Ball flight.
Break point.
Release.
What the hand and fingers are actually doing as the ball comes off.

The more I've learned, the less interested I've become in guessing.

And THIS is something I really want parents to understand:

When you pay for a pitching lesson, you're not just paying for the hour your daughter is standing in front of that coach.

You're paying for everything that coach brings INTO that hour.

The education.
The certifications.
The technology.
The experience.
The mistakes.
The problem-solving.
The thousands and thousands of pitches they've watched.

And hopefully...The ability to recognize in 10 minutes what might otherwise take someone six months to figure out.

THAT is expertise.

Now, I want to be careful here because there are some AMAZING young coaches. There are former college pitchers becoming incredible instructors. Everybody starts somewhere, I know I certainly did.

Playing at a high level can be an incredible foundation. But playing experience alone doesn't automatically make someone a great teacher. Neither does having a daughter who was a successful pitcher. And neither does simply coaching for a long time.

Experience only becomes valuable if we're willing to keep learning from it.

So if your daughter has big goals...
If she wants to compete at a high level...
If college softball is something she's dreaming about someday...

Invest in great instruction EARLY.
And don't make price your first question.

Instead ask:
- Who are you learning from?
- What education have you invested in?
- How do you evaluate an individual athlete?
- How has your coaching changed in the last five years?

And maybe my favorite question...
What are you learning RIGHT NOW?

Because I want my daughter with the coach who doesn't think they've arrived.

I want the coach who's still asking questions.
Still studying.
Still willing to change their mind when better information becomes available.
Still investing in themselves.
Still excited to learn.

Because after 20+ years of doing this, here's what I know:

A great pitching coach isn't someone who can teach a girl how THEY threw a softball.

A great pitching coach can look at the athlete standing in front of them and figure out how to help HER become the best pitcher SHE can be.

There's a very big difference.
And your daughter deserves the second one. 🤎

09/08/2026

When a changeup keeps missing high, we tend to immediately look at the release.

Did she get her thumb turned over on time?

Did she create a hard enough snap at the end?

Those things are HUGE for creating a great changeup—but don’t forget about what the rest of the body is doing.

Look at her posture and stability at landing.

If she lands and her body is still trying to create a finished movement—falling back, continuing to move, or never finding stability—her arm has to keep traveling with her body.

And where can that send the pitch?

⬆️ HIGH.

Sometimes we’re trying to fix the hand when the problem is actually happening farther down the chain.

Before you completely change her release, look at the whole picture:

Where is she at landing?
Is she stable?
Is she in a neutral posture?
Or is her body still trying to finish the movement?

The hand matters.

The snap matters.

The timing of the thumb matters.

But the changeup is still a FULL-BODY movement.

Comment TRAIN to grab a free week in our app and start training with us

09/08/2026

Does anyone else feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day during softball season?

School. Homework. Team practice. Pitching lessons. Games. Tournaments. Dinner somewhere in between.

And before you know it, your daughter is doing homework at 10:30 at night while you're wondering if a drive-thru dinner counts as meal prep. 😂

If this is your house right now, you're definitely not alone.

But here's something I want parents to remember:
The goal isn't to cram MORE into the schedule. The goal is to help our athletes learn how to manage what's already there without burning themselves out.

One of the best things you can do is sit down together at the beginning of the week and look at EVERYTHING.

Practices.
Games.
Lessons.
Tests.
Homework.
REST.

And while you're looking at that week, make sure softball hasn't taken over every bit of her free space.

Protect ONE thing she loves that has nothing to do with softball.

Maybe it's grabbing a treat on the way home from school.

Maybe she loves to draw, paint or create.

Maybe it's baking, reading, doing her nails, youth group, fishing with dad, or just sitting on the couch watching her favorite show.

It doesn't need to be another thing you have to schedule.

It just needs to be something you don't let the busy schedule take away.

Because our girls have more buckets than just their softball bucket — and those need filling too. ❤️

09/07/2026

Working through an athlete’s Motor Preference isn’t always 100% black and white.

It starts with testing and watching how the body naturally wants to move.

From there, we’re constantly cueing, adjusting, and looking for what allows THIS athlete to produce the most power, stability, and biomechanical efficiency.

Then comes the conversation.

What are you feeling?
Where are you creating pressure?
Do you feel more powerful here?
Do you feel more stable?

We combine what we’re seeing in her movement with what the athlete is actually feeling.

And then we can use tools like Rapsodo to help validate it.

Did velocity increase?
Did the spin improve?
Did we create better movement?
Are we actually getting the result we wanted?

Motor Preference isn’t about putting an athlete into a box.

It’s about testing how she moves, observing her movement, listening to what she feels, making adjustments, and measuring the result.

Test it. Watch it. Feel it. Measure it. Adapt. 🥎

That’s how we continue learning the athlete in front of us—and how we become better coaches.

09/05/2026

Just a few small adjustments helped her adapt and really grab ahold of her drop ball quickly.

That’s what we’re looking for as coaches—not always a complete overhaul, but finding the right correction that the athlete can understand, feel, and apply.

When they can make an adjustment quickly, they feel progress.

And when they feel progress, confidence starts to grow.

But my favorite part?

That smile when she FEELS the correction work. 🥹👏🏼

Those moments never get old.

Small adjustment. Quick adaptation. Immediate feedback. And one very happy pitcher. 🥎

09/05/2026

Loved helping these girls understand the first component to the foundational system we teach in the Foster Fastpitch Onlin Academy!
Arm whip to release or internal rotation as many call it- the cornerstone of your pitch and what everything else is based off of!
Train with me and hundreds of others in the Foster Fastpitch Online Acadmey! Link in bio!

09/05/2026

Just a few small adjustments helped her adapt and really grab ahold of her drop ball quickly.

That’s what we’re looking for as coaches—not always a complete overhaul, but finding the right correction that the athlete can understand, feel, and apply.

When they can make an adjustment quickly, they feel progress.

And when they feel progress, confidence starts to grow.

But my favorite part?

That smile when she FEELS the correction work. 🥹👏🏼

Those moments never get old.

Small adjustment. Quick adaptation. Immediate feedback. And one very happy pitcher. 🥎