Connor Woods (‘26, NC) shows off the oppo app lacing two hits into RF. Quiet app w/ smooth hands and a feel to get barrel on plane. Compact swing and strong lower half w/ feel to lift at contact and carry off barrel. #17uCoastalUnderclassChampionship
From 82-84 with pain to 86-88 T90 pain-free 🔥
A remote athlete update from Performance Coach @Kirk_R9
After a tough sophomore season struggling with arm pain and sitting around 82-84, @derek_peterson0 had a big-time breakthrough, sitting 86-88 and grabbing his first 90 with no pain (yes, it was a ball).
Two main things we attacked to get to where we are now:
1. Pushy arm action
Derek was basically throwing the ball like a dart. So the main focus over the fall was learning how to pull the ball into release using drills like the Pivot Pick, Lasso, and Ten Toes, along with cues like “let your body throw the arm” and “let the arm lag behind the body.”
Derek figured it out pretty quickly, and we were heading in the right direction until “pulling the arm into release” turned into him yanking his head glove side and flying out with the arm. From there, we had to take a step back and clean up some range and tissue quality in the neck, bicep/tricep, pec, and shoulder, as well as re-learn how to pull into release while keeping his head on the target.
2. Loading the back hip
Derek was also dumping into the quad, which was causing him to extend out of his back hip and had some influence on the pushy arm action as well. It took a lot of trial and error, but the key drills that seemed to help him get a feel for this were the drop step, hop into, and hover drills.
Both of these components are still a work in progress, but I'm stoked to see all of his hard work finally start to pay off and to see him continue to improve moving forward!
-Ryan
With the #1 seed in the state
Playoffs, we will get a double bye. Crusader Park will be the host for all Grace playoffs games this postseason. See you Saturday! #theGboys