Hello everyone and thank you for coming to episode #2 beyond the diamond hosted by Daniel Rubin. My girls call me Coach D, owner and founder of DDR3 Fast Pitch. Make sure you take a look at my website DDR3 fast pitch.com and my social media at DDR3 fast pitch. Instagram is my biggest platform. To continue seeing what I've been posting and sharing more knowledge with girls. But. This week's. Episode I wanted to kind of dive a little bit deeper into overcoming injuries and talk a little bit more about my journey of how I transitioned from a college player into my role as a coach, with everything that I've learned from my past and then just continuing to build my journey. So I talked about in episode one how I had to hang my cleats up my after my junior season in college due to an ongoing back injury. Now I was dealing with back problems since I was 14 years old. Now 14 was. My my original injury was with my shoulder, so I was out that whole fall season or right after high school season. So in Georgia we play high school ball in the fall. So my freshman season, I pitched a lot and I ended up getting like tendonitis in my arm and had some rotator cuff issues and I was leaving. And then my mom and I got in a car accident. And so that car accident kind of kick started like my neck and my back, like, having tightness and issues. Sir and. Since then, I was seeing a chiropractor multiple days a week. I took a couple weeks off just to let my body heal from the accident and that just kind of kick started where my back issues started from. So unfortunately it did start from a car accident, but the more I was using like my poor mechanics. The worse it was getting and I was being told at the time, like these exercises to do and all these exercises didn't really go hand in hand with. With what my body was looking like pitching and I didn't really connect the dots until I graduated from college and I started researching everything and I was like ohh, that's why I never healed properly is because I'm doing one thing in PT and rehab. Then I'm going back and doing a whole different thing with my pitching motion. And at the time I didn't understand the bio mechanics. Behind pitching, I was just doing what I was told, which is more of the linear Hello Elbow style and I was going against the body. And so when I hung my cleats at my junior season, I knew like I wanted to get into coaching and I was like, there's no. Way I'm teaching my girls. Or anybody. Some of the stuff that I learned because I felt like I was 90 years old. Like, how do I feel? Like I'm 90 when I'm 21, waking up in tears, going to bed in tears like it was just miserable my last few years playing physically, which really impacted me mentally and emotionally. And I will never forget like, the day. That was really the last game, so my last game we were playing in regionals and or excuse me, we were playing in our conference tournament. And North Georgia was hosting North Georgia University in Dahlonega, GA and. We lost that first game, so we're getting on the bus and we're leaving and I'm just. Like sitting there knowing that that was my last game. No, I didn't tell coach yet. I didn't have my exit meeting. None of that happened yet, but I was just sitting there like, distraught, and I was like, wow, that was my last game. Like, I just knew it. I just. I felt it in my core. I felt it in my heart and I was like, oh, my gosh. And I was trying not to mentally break down. The whole bus was very quiet. We started chatting more after like 30 minutes into the bus ride, but I think all of. Us were. Just sitting there and trying to comprehend how, like our season just ended and it didn't end the prettiest. And I know a lot of. Girls, we were planning here. They're transferring early. It was just like, mentally, for all of us. We were like, wow. Wow and. That's when I started R3 pitching. I just started this blog post and I was like, I'm not going to try to get followers. I'm not trying to get anything. I just need to like, write something down and put it out there and I can't remember exactly what my first post was, but it was just like a little. Blog post and this idea just hit me of like, you know what, like, I don't know what my journey. Holds, but I'm not ready to give. Up this game in general. And so I made a blog post and eventually like after I hung my cleats up like that summer I was back home in Canton, GA and. I was just. I was continuing to post on the blog and I was just sharing some stuff about my experience and sharing some tips and tricks and getting some lessons to like 2 girls in my hometown and I helped out coaching this little 10 year Georgia Prime team with Jeff Gray and I'll just enjoying what I was doing and I didn't know what the future held for me my senior year. Because I didn't know many people. In Middle Georgia as far. Was like lessons like I just wasn't thinking that way. Like I didn't really know what to think at the time or what I was going to do, but I knew I needed a job my senior year if I wasn't going to. Play and I never really had to get a job. Before then, because softball is always my job. And so. I was like, you know what? If I'm gonna have a job, I wanna do it. Something that I love and something that I'm having fun with. And so I started with the lessons, but I made this post, and it was about like, Hello Elbow. And it wasn't exactly like at the time, I didn't even know. Hello Elbow was a term. Like if you throw hello. Although it's not like you say I throw hello elbow like the internal rotation people. The internal rotation coaches and experts and pitching people. They know what that means. But if you don't know what internal rotation is, you've. Never heard of? Hello elbow and. What? Hello. But is just to kind of give a little. Summary is. When you are pushing the ball down the arm circle instead of pulling leading palm up, which is what I teach. So I teach internal rotation, but my whole life I was taught hello though and I made this post and Courtney Hutson. Reached out to me. And her Instagram handles at coach at a click. And she was my very first mentor in the coaching world. And her message to me was like, hey, Danielle, I see that you're very passionate about what you're doing. And I love watching your videos. I just wanted to share with you. A couple of resources this might make you think a little different. I'm not trying to overstep, but like, here are some resources. And I was so thankful that she did that because it opened my eyes to this whole new world. And I was like, just in shock. I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, what is this like, holy moly? Like, that's what Kelly Barnhill looks like. Like, that's what, like, Jenny Finch moves like, that's what these girls are. And I'm like, whoa. Like, it just kind of connected. And I was like, that's what these elite pictures are looking like. Exactly what you're teaching. But I've never heard of this before. Like, I've never, like, heard this terminology. And so I ended up taking two of her courses, which was her coaching courses over the bio mechanics. And then. And I want to say it was like transitioning into the rotational pitching and then like the bio mechanics behind pitching. So I'm certified within her two courses and that happened in the fall of 2019. And that's just when I redesigned everything of like what I was taught, like what I was taught. Like, I'm not teaching this to my girls. So I spent, like, the rest of the summer. Or excuse me, I did that course in the summer, so I spent the rest of the summer and some of the fall like practicing by myself, like renting out some lanes and cages in middle. Georgia and just practicing because I'm like, if I'm going to teach this like, I need to teach it right and I need to understand it, and I need to make sure that I can word this in multiple ways for my girls to understand because. Who am I to just teach someone something if I can't do it myself? And if I can't do it myself like 10 times in a row and explain it 10 different ways? So I spent hours. Just figuring out my body and figuring out how to move and following her content and it just it changed my whole life and it changed my whole. Coaching life and my philosophy and open my eyes into wow like I want to research more of this. Like I want to find more connections. Like I want to find more mentors like I need to connect with more people on this level like this is literally next level instruction and next level coaching. And I want to be able to get to that level. But I knew I had to research and do knowledge because my background is in two degrees in special education. Never once did I ever take like an exercise science class or a bio mechanics course, like I didn't do any of that in college. And so, like, I just spent days and hours and weeks and months researching. So Courtney Hudson was like my first mentor in the coaching world. But I do want to backpedal. When I was at Kennesaw State University, under the instruction of Doug Gillis, who was formerly the Virginia Tech pitching coach recently, and. He was teaching me these things. It just didn't connect at that moment the terminology was a little bit different. The way that he instructed it like he brought my IQ like I always thought going into college like I had a really good softball IQ, like my dad really helped make sure, like I knew, I know this game inside now and I know the rules I. Know this, I know that. Like I I just. I took pride in my IQ of the game when I was younger, like physically, I knew I wasn't the best player, but mentally I'm gonna outsmart anyone in this game and so that was like one of my strengths. And my IQ just skyrocketed under his instruction, mentally and emotionally. Physically, my body didn't connect, but I also didn't have the luxury of time. And as a freshman who is not in the top three of your rotation, and with him coming in to our staff in October, we didn't have a coach August and September. Coach Pete Demore and coach Doug Gillis came in my freshman year in October, so like we were limited on time, he had to really make sure that the three starters we had six girls in our team, the top three pitchers, were like, ready to go. So I didn't get the luxury of spending as much time with him like one-on-one in the fall, I got to. But come spring time. I just we lost time and that time just never allowed my body to kind of connect all the dots. And then when I transferred to Georgia College, I didn't have that same instruction. And so I was never able to get it down at the college level. But I also didn't spend the time that I needed to spend to truly grasp the concept. Mentally, physically and emotionally. Again, mentally, I knew what I had to do emotionally. I understood it. But physically, like the dots, just did not connect and I just needed a little bit more. Time with him. For all the pieces to come together and I ended up transferring and didn't have that time. And so once I did Courtney Hudson's course when I was done playing like I didn't have to worry about my performance anymore. I just had to worry about my body. Like, that's when everything was able to like connect and. I'm like wow. So. I was able to transition in one month, 14 years of pitching in spirit experience in one month. It's tough to do. OK, like it's tough, but I took the mindset out of I. Need to throw strikes? And I need to be accurate and do I need to move my body if I move my body my velocity will increase if I move my velocity or excuse me if I move. My body then my accuracy is going to increase if I move my body properly then my body is going to feel better. So that was the mindset that I had. It would and I would just stay up close to my target and I would do mirror drills. I would do dry movements. Like every movement she. What I would do those in front of the mirror to see my body. I need to see my body, feel my body so I can believe in my body and that's what I preach to all my athletes that I work with is if you're not getting a concept like you understand it mentally, but physically, it's just not connecting, then you need to use all your senses. See your body, feel your body, to believe in your body. To make those adjustments. And so that's what I did. And then and that was back in 2019. And since then, I've had plenty of mentors that I've learned from and I've grown my IQ tremendously since that moment. You go back, if you were one of my followers on social media, you can see the complete transition from 2019-2020, 2021 videos. All the way up into. My 2023 content that I've been posting OK like I've just been growing and learning and elevating and educating myself to be the best version of a coach and an educator as possible so I can continue to empower my girls and teach them the new things. And I just believe that's a huge thing that coaches need to do. You can't stick in your old ways because times change technology. The way that this upcoming or this generation currently like understands things is different than how it was 1015 years ago, like how I process information's different than how my 12/13/14 year olds process information. And so I'm just constantly growing and elevating the game in that way. And and I. Elevate myself in that way personally. And one of the biggest mentors that I currently have at the moment, his name is Asaya Rivera, and you can find him on social media at the foot doctor, under score Isaiah ESIA. I hope all of you go and follow him, be a part of his courses if you can be a part of his program. He is the definition of the king. Movement coach for fastpitch. Softball, and he specializes in all athletes. But I mean, he does. He works with a lot of pitchers, and I know a handful of programs that he's worked with, like OU and UCLA and pitchers going into OU, and I know he has a handful. I mean, he he's worked with a handful of my girls. Go look at his content. It says next level, like next, next, next level and. I've been a part of. All this stuff I've learned his stuff and I've kind of transitioned it into like the language that works for me personally, because I don't have. The background that he has in biomechanics as far as the intensity level, like the way that he words how your body moves like I have to watch these videos a couple times just so I understand it. But then I have to like rephrase it in my brain because that's just like where Danielle's brain goes to. And so that's what I kind of do with my girls as far as pitching. Now again, he's a movement coach. He teaches all things movement with your body. Athletic performance where I have to tailor that information that I learned from him and also bring in the other aspects of pitching, spins, mental game, the IQ and the situational stuff. So like all my. Physical content as far as like the bio mechanics behind the human body is is what I learned through him and also what I've learned through Courtney Hudson. But it's really, I've just evolved it around the program that I've been doing with Asia and it's just next level. And I know if you watch some of his like his. Social media posts you'll see. I mean, some of the girls that he's had injuries like who had injuries? Doctor said it might be six to seven months until they're fully healed like he's gotten them back to go back to 100% in two to three months. So like he's the king. So I encourage all my girls to be able to jump on his schedule if possible, at least meet him once. To one of his clinics, do something. I just. I can't talk higher about him and I'm just in awe of what he's done and. How he does life in general, he's just an overall great human being, but. Tying back into just overcoming injuries in general, I'm so passionate about the human body. I did not reach my highest potential and I played and sometimes that's. It hits me and it's like a regret, a little bit like I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret that. I didn't know this stuff sooner, but like I can't change the past. I can't go back into the past and that's something I've struggled with the first couple years in the Dr. Three is like the what if, like? Or I wish like I wish I was one of those players, like a Monica Abbott who has a name like Monica Abbott. Or I wish I was well known, like Rachel Garcia or I wish I was as good as a pitcher as like cat Sander **** like I had thoughts like that and people won't respect me because I don't have a label like that. You didn't see me all over TV. You didn't. See me all over social media like as a player from Kennesaw State or from Georgia College, like that was an insecurity that I had. And then I realized, like, one day it hit me and I had to let go of that insecurity because my superpower was understanding how I was like the underdog. And being the underdog like on all teams that I was on, again physically I did not have all the tools in my toolkit, but mentally and emotionally I did. And I also went through all these injuries of dealing with one injury after another after another and having to sit and regroup and do rehab like I've been through that process. And like I know. What it takes to get out of it, especially once I've been out of. It so like that is something that, like, again, insecurity that I've had for a while. But then I realized, like, it doesn't matter. Like I'm a 10 times better coach, instructor, and educator than I ever was a player. And that's what makes me unique. Like, that's what makes me be able to, like, connect with my girls. And I'm happy. I didn't have that. Big time journey. I really am. Like, do I envy the people who do like? Yes, of course. OK, of course. I love this game. I would have loved to go pitch in the Olympics. I would have loved to go play at the pro level, but I wasn't a pro level player. And so I turned it around of like, how can I be a pro level coach and a pro level educator and a pro level mental toughness motivator. Like that's areas of like what my strengths were. Now I'm really trying to tie that in into just what I'm doing in life with my girls and being able to connect with them. But when it comes to injuries, I mean, I was the queen of them. I had them from 14 to 21 years old ending my career. The biggest advice that I can give if you have an ongoing injury is you need to find somebody. Whether it's. Like a personal trainer or somebody in this industry that understands how to move your body properly and that's why I'm going to continue to emphasize, like checking out Asahi Rivera checking out people who are doing physical performance stuff like athletic performance training, but also understand the game of softball and understand the movements that you are working on. And tailor your rehab exercises towards that. Tailor your hitting warm up drills towards that. Tailor your pitching warm up drills towards that because that you want to protect your body and you want to invest in your body at a young age. I tell my girls that I never want them to. Ever. Feel the way that I felt. Of pain. Pure pain at 21 years old. Like I remember telling myself like I'm never going to be able to carry my kids like my back. I can barely lift up my book bag. Like, how am I going to be able to carry my kids one day? And so, like, that's what made me really hang my cleats up is like I wanna be a mom one day and I wanna be an active mom. And right now like, there's no way I could be. Active and I never want my girls to go through that or to feel that pain. And then it really brought me mentally and emotionally of like I hate the game and I know I knew deep down in my heart I didn't hate the game. But why did it feel that way? And it was just because I didn't understand why my body was breaking down all the time and it comes to me not having the knowledge behind the bio mechanics of the human body. So if you're a pitcher specifically, but if you're just an athlete, pitcher, parent, coach, whoever is listening to this right now. I'm encouraging you to really find the resources that can help your daughter help your girls. Understand their body because knowledge is power. The more knowledge you have, the more powerful you are. And that goes with life, not just in softball, OK? The smarter you are, the more you can do and. My program, my online membership for pictures. I mean I dive deep. I know it's a lot of information. It is a. Lot, but I'm empowering my girls to understand all aspects because if you understand it then you can replicate. That if you understand what you're supposed to do, then you can feel it, and it's the biggest accomplishment. Like when my girls, like, send me stuff or they'll, they'll get so excited. Like, I feel my body coach. Eddie. Look, I made this adjustment all on my own. I didn't need you to do it like it's training these girls to be independent on their own because I'm not able to be at all of your games. Mom and Dad might not be able to be at all your activities and your games. Your coaches aren't going to be able to do that and so empowering girls to be able to do it all on their own and teach them independent. I mean, that's like a big goal that I have within my program and within what I'm doing is I want to train these girls to be powerful, independent young women. And it starts by educating them. It's not just do this because I say so let's do this because you believe that's what's best for your body. Do this because it feels good on your. Body do this. Because you know that you're investing in your future. It might take a minute. I'm not saying all this stuff comes in the snap of your fingers. It's you have to be dedicated or excuse me. You have to be determined to be dedicated to be disciplined. To to dominate who I'm getting all. My DD's. Mixed up. You have to be determined to be disciplined to dominate. Excuse me, those are my 3D's, OK? And if you're not determined to make an adjustment or if you're not determined to increase your velocity, like, how are you gonna be disciplined? To do so. You can be determined all day long to increase your velocity or to fix your. Mechanics or to fix whatever you're doing, but if you're not disciplined and putting that work. Cut multiple days a week, set time. Focus. Laser focused. You're not going to go dominate. And so the more that you pour in, the more you're going to get out of it. And parents sometimes just want, like, the snap of your finger. What's the magic drill that's. Gonna help like I can give you. I can provide you a premium video evaluation of drills. My membership is completely full of information. That you can take a. Look at, but if you're. Not being disciplined and doing the work and putting that time in, you're not going to be able to dominate. To your highest potential, and so and that goes with workouts that goes with your rehab. OK, like if you're doing proper rehab, but you're only doing it one or two days a week when your instructor, your doctor, tells you to do it four or five days. I mean, you're setting yourself up not to get to the level that. You want to be at. And so it's my job to empower my girls as much as possible. Parents, it's your job to empower your girls, but at the end of the day, you girls have to have goals and dreams and mindsets of. To be determined to be disciplined, to dominate, and if we don't have that, then you're not going to see those. Results and no. One can force you to do that. You're the. Only one who can really control your effort and your attitude. That's the two things that you can control is your effort and your attitude. And if you're willing to make that change be OK with taking one step back to take five steps forward. I tell that to every single girl I work with, you might take one step back. Your velocity might fall off just a hair because I'm retraining your brain how to move your body properly because you deserve to understand. How to move your body if you don't want to know that, then I'm not the right instructor for you. This program is not. For you, if you're not willing to open your mind and open your eyes and just seeing a whole new way of moving, but I'm investing in your future so you don't have to be 21 years old in pain so your career doesn't have to end at 18 so you don't get that knee injury. When you're a sophomore, because before the puberty process, your body can go through a lot. But when you hit puberty and we start building muscle and you're getting stronger day in, day out, and then your mechanics go against how your body is supposed to move. That's when we get tightness, that's when we get fatigue. That's when you start pulling muscles. That's when you start straining muscles. That's when you start breaking things like that's when you start tearing things. OK. I don't want y'all to ever get to that point. No coach ever wants you to get to that point. But it starts by investing in coaches. Who? Understand how your body is supposed to move so we can efficiently make those adjustments together, but you have to be in the mindset to do so, and I'm so passionate about that because it really took a toll on my mental game, but me just not understanding. I was a very, very, very coachable athlete. I know I was, and I'm not trying to brag about myself, but I take pride in how coachable I was my entire career. But it gets me sometimes and I was so.
I was so.
Coachable to the point I would just do it because Coach told me and not do it because I understood the why and so I'm empowering you to understand the why. Protect your bodies, protect your bodies. Ask questions if you're not seeing the results that you're getting, then maybe it's time to find a new resource. OK. Now, if you're in my online membership, there's plenty of resources inside the membership that I can help guide you in, whether it's in my community, you upload videos and pictures. That I can kind of give advice for and tips and there's video evaluations, ioffer for members and outside of members just members get a massive discount. I can read, I can connect you with, reach out to me and I'll see if I know some instructors that are very similar to myself in your area and that goes not just for pitching, but for hitting and all of that. Like, just people who are passionate about the bio mechanics and how the body is moving instead of just putting the ball on the tee. And telling you to swing for an hour. OK, like we need to understand the why. We need to make those adjustments. To prevent ourselves from injuries because I'm again, I'm so passionate about this because I never want anyone to go through that emotional pain and that mental pain of hating the game. Because you just don't understand what your body is doing and no one really helped guide you along the way. So thank you so much for coming to episode #2. Checking this out again, make sure if you have any podcast topic suggestions, go to the homepage of dear 3fastpitch.com. There's a form that you can fill. Out I would love. To give your girls your team a shout out, I would love to answer questions. Anything that you have on their topic. Idea is shoot it in the form. I'd love to take a look at it and feature. You on the next couple of podcasts? But in the future I will be talking with one of my former teammates who has gone through more injuries than myself. She is not a pitcher she is currently working for DR3 behind the scenes. I'm excited to introduce her to y'all talk more about her experience and her journey as a utility player. Dealing with injuries at the college level and when she was younger, so y'all be ready to come back to episode #3 we're going to really dive deep and get a little bit more personal on both of our journeys.
