A man in the 39th district has taken it upon himself to improve this generations young softball pitchers.
John Greenhill, an asisstant softball coach for Bracken County teaches private pitching lessons in his free time, and has taken on numeros students from several schoolsin the area. Greenhill’s students aren’t just varsity pitchers, he takes on anyone that wants to learn how to pitch, ranging from green middle school kids who’ve never pitched a game, to veteran high schoolers just wanting to improve upon their skills.
Greenhill has always been a fan of sports, but didn’t get into softball until his daughter began her time as a player eighteen years ago. Greenhill then quickly began to learn the ins and outs of the game in order to help his daughter play to the best of her ability.
“I’ve been at it a while, I originally started out with a dream of having something like ethis, being able to actually do something to help girls that didn’t have much of an opportunity. I’ve been at it for about twelve years now, but I never really got serious about it and had my own facility until about the last six years or so.” said Greenhill.
John started his coaching career with Mason County as an assistant softball coach. It was there that he learned the techniques and skills required to be the best pitcher you can be. After spending 15 years with the Royals, Greenhill moved on to Bracken County, where he’s spent the last three years as an assistant coach honing their pitchers, and increasing their already impressive skill on the mound.
Pitching is an integral part of the game of softball.
The pitchers mound is the centerpiece of every softball and baseball field. It’s where the action begins, where the decisions are made and where more often that not, games are decided.
While it is true that a team is only as good as its fielders, a good pitcher makes all the difference. The ability to make those split second decisions on the mound is crucial for any pitcher, and being able to put the ball exactly where you want it with consistancy is exactly what Greenhill is trying to help his kids accomplish.
“There’s a lot of different ways, currently there’s like three sometimes four different styles that I try to teach the kids depending on them. Usually you figure it out as you go along, it’s not necesarially one style that works for everybody, sometimes girls aren’t mechanically able to do the picture perfect pitching routine, and that’s okay. you just have to be able to adapt, and work in their natural movements into it, and find what works for them.” said Greenhill
While Greenhill’s focus is coaching softball and teaching the mechanics of pitching, his main goal is to improve his students “life after softball”. He believes that if someone is able to take the time to build a skill as complex as pitching, they will have the tools they need to be successful anywhere in life. The dedication, time, and effort rewuired to build skill on the pitching mount is equivalent to anything in life. Greenhill believes that if he can instill that thought process onto all of his students, there isn’t anything they won’t be able to do.
Coaching at Bracken County for the Lady Bears alongside his own private lessons leads to an odd challenge for Greenhill.
“It’s odd at times, and it’s really upsetting whenever they beat me.” joked Greenhill,”But that’s what I teach them. I teach you to beat my pitcher, and I teach my pitcher to beat you and vice versa. That’s my philosophy, I want them to be competitive and go out and do the best that they can.”
Greenhill has spent the past 18 years tightly engrained in the world of softball. His main goal for almost the past two decades has been to improve the lives of the kids he’s teaching. Whether or not they become fantastic pitchers on the mound, doesn’t matter. While yes he does want to improve their pitching ability, and will do everythin gin his power to make sure that happens, as long as the kids enjoy their time playing, and come out the other side more well rounded individuals, he is happy.
“The biggest enjoyment I get out of this is those phone calls in the middle of the night from parents, telling me how good their girl has done.”
