As I'm sure you know Richard is a highly respected guy in the baseball world. His site webball.com is choke full of baseball info.

- Paul Reddick

Hi Richard,

Congratulations on a great interview with Pete Wilkinson, I just hope this
interview finds its way onto every coaches desk. There is so much one can
learn from just listening to you two speak and inter act.

I have forwarded it along with the interview with Pete Caliendo onto all my
coaching contacts over here because hopefully with interviews like these
coaches will see it is not all about winning and mechanics when we coach
young children, it's about being a role model of the highest order, a
mentor, a teacher and a coach all rolled into one package.

Once again congratulations and thank you for finding and taking the time to
do all the interviews you do.

- Ric Wickham

Pete replies...

Thank you, Richard, for all the opportunities you have given me to contribute -- and for this special opportunity to share my mind and heart with you and the people who have listened to the interview.  Thank you, most of all, though, for your respect and encouragement through these past many years -- and for the joy I get from your friendship.

I want you to know, too, how much your efforts mean to the part of the baseball community in North America who are trying to get things right in teaching, coaching and mentoring our young people.

Warmest personal AND professional regards,

- Pete Wilkinson
   Wilkinson Sports & Life Performance Academy

Coach Todd-

Just wanted to let you know that your WebBall website had a big influence in me learning to play the game the right way.  I referred to it quite a bit growing up and it provided exactly what was needed and then some. I still do use it.  I have several manilla folders on my shelf full of info printed from your website.  They were my reference folders and I still seek what they contain whenever needed.  They were my "advantages" that took me a long way towards becoming a good baseball player and I used them as such.
...
I know my Dad communicated with you several times about aspects of the game over the years and we both appreciated the time you took to respond to those questions.  The information provided on your website did play a huge part in what I have achieved such that I became a commodity that several Division 1 schools found appealing.  So appealing that several would offer me an education while playing baseball for their schools.  My goal from the beginning was to play Division 1 baseball and see what happened after that.  Nailed the first part with a baseball scholarship to St. Bonaventure University and I thank you and WebBall for playing a role in that accomplishment.  We will see where the journey takes me after that.

Thanks again and long live Web Ball.

Josh Martin
Catcher- St. Bonaventure University
Class of 2016

Richard, I was very pleased to have you over to our community. It has
started a number of conversation with the kids. Our pitchers had a nice
weekend and we chatted a lot about chase and freeze pitches and how catchers
can think about the timing of this with their pitcher. I'm a big fan of kids
getting info, so they can start to ask deeper questions instead of just
telling them everything to do. A few of them realized that [one of opur pitcher's] success is based primarily on the tunnel concept. I am glad you noticed the nice
environment. I do think it is pretty special and there are even two other
kids who were away that have wonderful work habits and dispositions. It does
excite me to see where we will be in 3-4 years if we can keep building the
community and supporting their instructional development.

As always, I look forward to spending some time digging into your thoughts
and ideas which I'm sure will lead to rich future conversations for us!!
All my best

George Kelly, Nanaimo Pirates Bantam AAA

The best information website that I have seen on the Internet and I have seen them all. Very, very nice job. You teach baseball the way it should be taught and the way it needs to be played. Probably like yourself, I see things that coaches teach and wonder to myself, "where in the world did they come up with that"?  It is unbelievable to me how many coaches in my sons league that do not realize how to round the bases and the correct foot to use when touching the base. The ready position is another amazement.  One coach was teaching the infielders to have their hands at their shoulders and not down below the knees. I certainly could not understand the logic in that. Anyway, keep up the good work and you are indeed the best that I have ever seen on the web.

Steve E. Peeler
Director, Sports Field Project Management
Sports Fields Inc.

I was struck by the [recent] article in SI.  I can't believe someone has FINALLY come around in the world of pitching. As a junior in high school I was a 6-4 lefty throwing low 90's with a Jered Weaver type delivery that was 'fixed' into a collegiate junior throwing mid 80's because these pitching coaches 'knew best'. I was never a control pitcher, but my control completely left me when they 'fixed' my mechanics, my velocity left when I went from long tossing 5 times a week in HS(1000 throws a week including changes and curves and sliders), to long tossing...well, 120 feet...maybe 30 throws every two weeks.

I hope you guys establish yourselves in the baseball world and change the mentality of HS and collegiate coaches and further. I fought hard to stay on my own regimen in college and it only fell on deaf ears. Hopefully what you are discovering will have an impact on the game and coaching tunnel vision.  Keep up the good work.

Tom

You're continuing to revolutionize your WebBall site and staying way ahead of the pack.  I hope the venture is as successful as it should be and as you want it to be. You've helped so many coaches. ... I have a great role model in you. I loved your approach to doing no harm and the addition of the Hippocratic Oath!  None too soon -- I'm still doing way too much throwing rehab for young pitchers. ... Take good care, and stay after it!  I have long admired the quality of the work you do for all of us practitioners of this wonderful craft.

- Pete, Wilkinson Sports and Life Performance

Thanks for the tip. This week at practice during my pitcher's side sessions, I did not talk about location at all. I stressed having good mechanics, then let the strikes take care of themselves. Although we lost our next game, it was 5-4 not 14-4. We had 2 more games this weekend and won both of them, the first one 4-1 in which I had 2 pitchers give up a total of one hit, and that was to one of the top teams in the league. Thanks again. Love your site, not like, love.

- A.J.Franzen

Tyler my son has come a long way since we last spoke. He is a senior in high school, has played all four years in JV and Varsity ball. Starts at second and 2nd in the line up. We are currently hunting (and late in doing so) colleges (D II, D III or NAIA) for him to play at for the next several years.

Although we have had a lot of resources to draw from when it came to baseball skill building, technique and mostly mechanics. I feel Webball has provided the most informative and diverse sources of information that I could find. Just like baseball camps and recruiting websites, there are so many that are just making money and not doing anything or very little for the player. I certainly don't have that opinion of Webball. I was not a formal sport player in school or college, but I am relatively educated with respect to the aspects such as ball command vs. speed in pitching, proper mechanics vs. brute strength in hitting and solid fundamentals in defense. Your programs offer what I believe to be the proper manner in which to train, coach and play the sport of baseball, not showmanship.

In addition, the selection of training and playing products is very good as well as the quality of the individual products. Thanks for all your work. I always refer others to your site. I hope they find it as beneficial as well.

- Patrick Hoag

Today for whatever reason has become a day of reflection for me on the journey that my son and I have been on in his quest of becoming a pitcher. This has been a 7 year journey. Before I was fortunate enough to discover your web site, we kept it simple using a common sense approach. (Father and son). Then came the pitching clinics and some private lessons from maybe just a little under qualified pitching instructors, creating some set backs.

Out of frustration with the results that Sawyer and I were having from mixed advice I discovered your site and purchased the Ron Wolforth Back shaping DVD. If someone were to ask me what the one thing that help my son become the pitcher he is today it would be purchasing that DVD and his desirer to pitch. Ron really explained the importance of balance at release and I can tell you no matter what anyone tries to teach you about pitching, none of it matters if you cannot be balanced at your release point. This was the catalyst that has brought my son and I to where we are today. (Still on the journey and having a great time)!

This leads to my concerns for a father helping a son achieve his goals. In my opinion the desire alone to become a good pitcher can be a very lonely road to travel. For parents it can be just as agonizing. I believe that coaches can be part of this dilemma also. Where years past, information on pitching was scares, now we have more information than we could research in a year’s time. I feel that because of the results and the success that my son has had over the past three years we have made good choices to present.

Because of Sawyer’s devotion and work I am very cautious about any changes along the way that may be suggested to him by other coaches. I do have an open mind, but am cautious. This is why I think that it is so important that parents and coaches understand the importance of getting sound mechanics at an early age. Too many parents and coaches concentrate on velocity. I consider Sawyer’s velocity to be above average for his age but we began with balance and control, the velocity will come. Sure I love it when he blows a fastball by a hitter and I here it pop the mitt. I won’t deny that. It’s even sweeter though when he can back a righty off the plate with a cutter and then come back with a change fading down and out, watching him paint the plate. Better yet watching a hitter almost trip and fall down trying to hit a straight change.

All of this has been made possible because of a guy that loved the game of baseball so much he developed a site, webball.com. Your site offers a lot of great information that has helped parents like me all over the world. You have always taken the time to promptly answer any questions that I have had over the last couple of years and given me well thought out advice.  To many times we go through life not thanking the people that have helped us along the way.  You my friend are one of the people I want to thank.

- Mark Howard  (and Sawyer)

Just wanted to let you know, Ryan my son went 2 for 4 with a HR over the center field fence and 2 rbi's last night in their 4th district game which they won 11 to 4. On to the finals. Thanks for your help!!

- Darren Forry

I coached baseball at the high school and junior college level for almost 20 years and for a time (until his death) I was a "bird dog" for the greatest scout in the history of the game, Tony Luccadello of the Phillies. Tony taught me so much about how to evaluate and grade players. I also used to be a guest instructor with the Doyle Brothers in Florida.
 
I now have a step son who just turned 14 years old and is 6', 140 lbs. He throws in the mid to upper 60's, which I think is about average for his age. He is a left handed hitter, who is a strict pull hitter. He hit only one home run this season, but the leader on the team hit only three. He has good power with a number of doubles. He seldom strikes out and is an excellent contact hitter.

I read with interest your comments on confidence building and I discovered this year that if I made a concerted effort to talk about what he did well after each game it was easier to use those comments into talking about what he has to work on. In the past, I used to immediately go through all the things he did not do well in a game and then talk about what he did well. I have reversed that process, putting much more emphasis on his positives. I think it has made a big difference in helping him build confidence. You can't build confidence by tearing down.

Again, I just wanted to contact you and tell you how much I enjoy and use your information. It has helped me a great deal and has helped my son become a better player.

- Jon Gambee