Original Neuro Skills Coach Biddulph helping ballplayers and more

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Unleashing the power of the brain.
As the original Neuro Skills Coach, Nathan Biddulph is helping athletes, executives, students and others achieve at a high level.
“The brain controls everything we do,” says Biddulph. “There isn’t any area of life that won’t benefit from increasing your attention skills, your processing speed, your pattern recognition, and your decision making abilities.”
An occupational therapist based in Denver, Biddulph began working in the neuro world about two decades ago and has come up with methods — some of them proprietary — to help clients get more from their brains.
“I provide drills based on principles of neuroplasticity,” says Biddulph. “Each drill is specific to a particular sport. For example, a hitter will be using a bat and a quarterback will be using a football to complete these drills.
“I teach the drills during our first session and then meet virtually with the client once per week to progress their drills. They practice the drills for 30 minutes each weekday (Monday through Friday).
“They can do most of these drills in their bedroom or in their hotel room when on the road.
“There’s a lot of discovery happening with their body awareness so they can more easily make the mechanical adjustments that their coaches want them to make.
“Another aspect is HOW they complete the drills (to increase processing speed, impulse control, etc.). There are also certain drills that enhance pattern recognition of both offensive and defensive strategies.”
What are baseball players who go through Biddulph’s training looking to get out of it?
“Clients are looking to improve performance and get an edge over their competition,” says Biddulph. “Increased body awareness equates to improved mechanics in throwing, swinging, running, and shooting. Increased processing speeds improve pitching velocity, bat speed, and overall speeds of various mechanics.
“Enhanced pattern recognition helps pick out the patterns and sequences of the opposition to better predict what’s coming and anticipate making better plays.”
Two pro ballplayers that work with Biddulph are Jameson Taillon and Nick Gonzales.
Right-handed pitcher Taillon is now with the Chicago Cubs after fours seasons with Pittsburgh Pirates and two with the New York Yankees.
“Jameson was able to increase his curveball spin rate and his fastball spin rate through this Neuro Training,” says Biddulph. “That led to a lower hard-hit percentage of hitters that faced him. “Jameson struggled with injuries the first season after Neuro (injuries not related to Neuro Training) in 2021, but he was fully healthy in July of that year, when he was named the American League Pitcher of the Month. He also had the lowest WHIP of his career this past season.”
Gonzales played summer collegiate ball in Huntingburg, Ind., with the Dubois County Bombers in 2018 and was named NCAA Division I Player of the Year at New Mexico State and selected in the first round of the 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft (seventh overall) by the Pirates. The organization’s Triple-A team is in Indianapolis.
“Nick was able to increase his bat speed (his exit velocity increased over 5 mph) through this Neuro Training, which allowed him to hit balls harder and farther,” says Biddulph. “This is why he was able to hit five home runs in one day, and his OPS went from 1.081 that fall before Neuro Training to 1.765 after this training.”
Biddulph was born in eastern Pennsylvania and grew up in New Hampshire and New Jersey playing baseball and basketball. All three locations were in small towns.
He graduated in Psychology from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He received his Masters in Occupational Therapy from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, a specialized school for physical and occupational therapy.
There is no certification to become a Neuro Skills Coach.
“I am the original,” says Biddulph.
Biddulph began putting together his program after hearing about Steph Curry using Neuro Training to become the first unanimous MVP in the NBA back in 2016.
“I looked into what he was doing (mostly electronic-based drills using lights that are damaging to the eyes),” says Biddulph. “I knew that wouldn’t go over well in MLB because of the need for eagle-eye vision.
“I developed an electronic-free program that won’t damage anyone’s vision. I had already been developing individualized and group Neuro Programs at world-renowned clinics.
“I created a program from scratch that I tested on high school players (it worked wonderfully), and then on college players. It started spreading like wildfire when college coaches gave me referrals to their former students who were then in the Minor Leagues.
“Before long the word got passed to the Major Leaguers, especially when these Minor Leaguers were making their MLB debuts after doing this training.”
Biddulph has been on numerous videos and podcasts, including The Shift With Elena Agar, The Coach Scott Fields Show, Area Scouts Pro Cast, Kenny The Sports Guy, Terminal Value Podcast, Mojo Radio Show, Manage. Me. and Arete Coach Podcast.
Kaarina Biddulph, Nathan’s wife, represented the business at the 2023 American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Nashville.

Nathan Biddulph.

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Harber sees movement as key for baseball players

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Ryan Harber was a left-handed pitcher at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School, Butler University and in the Florida Marlins system. He was selected in the seventh round of the 1999 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft and played five minor league seasons.
He has taken his experiences as an athlete, student and 17 years as a Certified Athletic Trainer and Strength Coach at Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Sports Performance (he works out of the Carmel location) to help athletes in many sports, including baseball.
Harber shared his knowledge on “Assessing the Overhead Athlete” at the first PRP Baseball Bridge The Gap Clinic in Noblesville as a guest of Greg Vogt.
The pyramid for “ideal athlete” development as Harber presents it has movement at the base with performance in the middle and skill at the top.
“Every athlete should have a wide range of movement,” says Harber.

Movement involves the ability to squat, lunge, bend, extend along with single-leg stability, shoulder mobility, trunk stability and rotary stability.
“It’s everything Greg works on in his program,” says Harber. “It’s everything a strength coach works on.”
Performance includes speed, strength, power, agility, endurance, reactivity and quickness.
Skills are sport-specific, such as working on throwing mechanics or taking cuts off the tee.
“Where we get out-of-balance is when we focus too much on the skills and the performance and not enough on your fundamental movements,” says Harber.
“This movement becomes dysfunctional when you have poor range of motion, or a lack of stability.”
Harber says among his goals is to minimize injuries and maximize potential.
“You can’t make the team if you’re stuck in the training room,” says Harber. “You’re not going to help the team if you can’t stay healthy.
“Your durability is more important than your ability.”
Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from a difficult condition.
“Everything you do in life is managing risk,” says Harber. “You guys took a risk, getting out of the house, getting in your car and coming over here. You could have got into an accident.
“What did you do to minimize that risk? You put your seat belt on.”
Harber says the system as it currently stands does not work in players’ favor.
At 43, Harber came up before travel baseball became what it is today.
There was some American Legion and Connie Mack ball in the summer.
“You guys play 50, 60, 70 games a year right now just in travel ball,” says Harber. “On top of that comes your high school season. Then you may take three weeks off in August right around tryouts for the next travel ball season then you go play fall ball.
“It’s too much. Your bodies can’t handle that at this age.”
Harber says most pain — outside of direct blows or trauma — will seem
to appear suddenly.
“In fact, it’s been building up for years,” says Harber. “Your body is able to compensate and adapt.
“The day that your pain shows up is simply the day that your compensation ran out. Try to start thinking of pain as a request for change. It’s your body’s way of saying, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’”
Harber presented findings from the American Journal of Sports Medicine:
If a pitcher pitches while fatigued, there’s a 36 times increased risk of injury.
• Pitchers lose 6-18 percent of rotator cuff strength after one game.
“Recovery is important,” says Harber.
• Pitchers lose 3-4 percent of rotator cuff strength over the course of one season.
• Throwing more than 75 pitches in a game yielded a 2.5 times greater chance of shoulder pain.
What is the cumulative effect (according to the AJSM)?:
• Pitching for greater than eight months out of the year results in
five times as many injuries.
• Pitching greater than 100 innings in one year results in three times as many injuries.
• Pitching showcases and travel leagues significantly contributed to increased injuries.
• Throwing more than 600 pitches per season yielded a 3.5 times greater chance for elbow pain.
In addressing performance, Harber notes the following:
• The peak age for a baseball player is 27.
“It’s not 18 or 21,” says Harber. “It takes time to develop these players.”
• Typical MLB pitcher is 6-5, 250 pounds.
• Starters 200-plus innings per year.
• Starters throw 3,500 pitches.
• There make 30-35 starts.
• They throw 35 bullpens.
“Injuries are going to happen,” says Harber. “Every pitcher has been hurt, is hurt, will be hurt at some point in their career.
“To be able to withstand that, you have to train. You have to manage that fatigue. You have to recover. All that stuff’s important.”
Harber also talked about the importance the Central Nervous System plays in the whole equation.
“Central Nervous System is king,” says Harber. “It controls everything.
“Without proper motor control, your nervous system doesn’t feel safe.
If it detects a threat it will not give you freedom of movement. It will not let you put force through a joint.”
CNS grants strength and mobility.
“Potential strength is always there, but the brain won’t give it to you if it feels vulnerable,” says Harber. “The brain is always asking itself, ‘Is giving you more strength right now a good idea?’ If the
answer is no, you aren’t getting it no matter how much you want it.
“Your nervous system will only let you go as fast, hard and heavy as it knows you can slow.”
Harber says there is no such medical definition for a “dead arm.”
“It’s the nervous system,” says Harber. “Your brain detects an instability somewhere and it’s not going to let you put force through that.”
Addressing mobility (the ability to move or be moved freely and easily) and stability (the resistance to movement) can help diagnose many issues.
With poor scapular stability, the body locks down the thoracic spine and should range of movement.
When there’s poor core stability, the body locks down the SI joint to find stability/strength.
If there’s poor mid-foot stability, the body collapses the arch and up the joint to create a rigid structure to push off of.
“You were born with all the mobility in the world,” says Harber. “You earn stability and we mess it up along the way due to poor posture, past injuries and faulty movement patterns.
“I’ve got a 7-month old baby at home. He’s like Gumby. I can bend him, and he won’t break. He’s trying to figure it out developmentally.
“I can stand him up and he becomes a Starfish. He locks out his legs and
his shoulder blades. That’s his body trying to create artificial stability.”
During a five-year period of working with youth players while in Atlanta, Harber collected data and found a number of players with shoulder mobility asymmetries with at least a 6 inch difference
between the right and left.
The number of asymmetries went up as the players got to be 16, 17, 18.
“Why?,” says Harber. “More games. The more you throw, the more imbalances are going to happen.”
On top of that, older players are beginning to get into the weight room, lifting heavier loads and getting tighter.
“If they don’t have somebody addressing mobility and stability along the way, they are going to create more issues,” says Harber.
A joint by joint feet-to-fingertip assessment (going up the kinetic chain) includes:
• Foot stability.
• Ankle mobility.
• Knee stability.
• Hip mobility.
• Lumbar stability.
• Thoracic spine mobility.
• Scapular stability.
• Shoulder (gleno-humeral) mobility.
• Elbow stability.
• Wrist mobility.
“Mobile. Stable. Mobile. Stable,” says Harber. “They stack on top of
each other.
“When that pattern is broken, injuries happen.”

Ryan Harber, who pitched at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School, Butler University and in the Florida Marlins organization, has been a Certified Athletic Trainer and Strength Coach with Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Sports Performance for 17 years.

 

Goal-setting, evaluation important to Bergman, Triton Central Tigers

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Justin Bergman wants to keep the lines of communication open with his Triton Central High School baseball team. He wants his Tigers to set and achieve goals.

To do this, he has set up some systems for his program based in Fairland, Ind.

“We really talk about three types of goals — Process, Performance and Outcome,” says Bergman, who is heading into his fifth season as Triton Central head coach in 2019.

Process goals revolve are controllable concepts such as working hard, attitude, hustle, mechanics and knowing your role.

Performance goals, which can be adjusted from week-to-week, include getting 60 to 65 percent first-pitch strokes, an on-base percentage of .400 or better, scoring eight runs a game, fielding at a .975 clip or better, having 75 percent Quality At-Bats and winning the “freebie war.”

Outcome goals are winning game at a time and ratchet up to being state-ranked, top four in the Indiana Crossroads Conference, winning the conference, sectional, regional, semistate and state titles.

Bergman also puts a lot of stock in evaluation.

“We want them to know their strengths and weaknesses,” says Bergman. “It’s something we as a coaching staff focus on.”

When he was head coach at Ohio Northern University (2006-11), Bergman hired Jeff Mercer (now head coach at Indiana University) as an assistant coach. The two worked out a system for evaluating players.

Justin Parker, now pitching coach at IU, was also on Bergman’s ONU staff.

At Triton Central, Bergman and his assistants meet with each athlete prior to the season to discuss where they rate and help them set goals.

Hitters, infielders, outfielders and catchers are all rated on a 1-to-5 scale in five categories. Pitchers are rated in six areas.

TC coaches look at hitters in terms of average, power, mechanics, approach and knowledge, infielders for hands, range, mechanics, arm strength and knowledge, outfielders for route, mechanics, speed, arm strength and knowledge and catchers for receiving, blocking, knowledge, athletic ability and arm strength. Pitchers are rate for mechanics, arm strength, mound presence, location, off-speed pitch and movement.

Bergman’s 2019 assistants are Travis Hensler, Scott Brown, Scott Lattimer and David Chapman. Hensler is in the paid position and handles hitting, operations and the junior varsity team. Brown is in charge of infielders, Latimer outfielders and Triton Cental graduate Chapman pitchers. Bergman works with catchers and helps with the other areas.

Numbers in the program have fluctuated between 15 and 24. This year, the Tigers have 12 seniors.

Triton Central (enrollment of about 475) plays each conference foe (Beech Grove, Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter, Indianapolis Lutheran, Indianapolis Scecina Memorial, Monrovia, Park Tudor and Speedway) once each, typically on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Working with athletic director Bryan Graham and athletic secretary Barb Guhl, Bergman has built a non-conference schedule featuring Arsenal Tech, Decatur Central, Greenfield-Central, Greenwood, Heritage Christian, Rushville, Shelbyville, South Decatur and Traders Point.

“We really try to play some bigger schools,” says Bergman.

The Tigers are in an IHSAA Class 2A sectional pairing with Eastern Hancock, Heritage Christian, Indianapolis Howe, Indianapolis Scecina Memorial, Irvington Prep Academy and Knightstown. Triton Central has won three sectionals – the last in 2012. Triton Central won a 2A state championship in 2003.

Home games are contested on-campus.

“We’ve done a ton with the facility, painting, cleaning up and edging it,” says Bergman. “We take pride in the presentation of our field.”

Development is aided with the addition of a portable batting tunnel and access to a fieldhouse.

Feeding the high school program is a new Triton Central Middle School team (19 players participated in 2018) as well as Triton Central Tigers 10U and 12U travel teams. The Future Tigers Athletics is active. There is a T-ball league for ages 3-5 (48 kids played in 2018) and coach pitch for ages 6-8 (68 took part in 2018). A 9-10 division is being added for 2019.

There was an FTA Night at an Indianapolis Indians game and the camp last March drew 118.

“The growth and development has taken some time,” says Bergman. “It’s definitely going in the right direction.”

Bergman is a 1997 Rushville Consolidated High School graduate. With the Lions, he played baseball for head coach Jim Bush

“He was always positive,” says Bergman of Bush. “You never heard anything negative from Coach Bush.”

Bergman played football and baseball at Franklin (Ind.) College. He arrived at the school the same years as Lance Marshall, who was his receivers coach in the fall and head baseball coach in the spring. The Grizzlies struggled on the diamond the first spring. By 2001, Franklin was nationally-ranked.

“He showed a toughness and determination in building a program,” says Bergman of Marshall. “It’s the hard work he’s put in on the recruiting path.”

In 2005, Bergman was a full-time coach for Marshall.

“He let you do your thing as an assistant,” says Bergman, who sent Jordan Crouse from Triton Central to Franklin to study and play baseball.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in secondary education from Franklin in 2001, Bergman pursued his masters in business leadership at Manchester College (now Manchester University) and coached the 2002 to 2004 seasons on a Spartans staff headed by Rick Espeset.

“I was very fortunate,” says Bergman. “Espy gave me a ton of responsibility with recruiting, hitting and outfield play.

“Espy is a great leader. He gives suggestions, but he lets his assistants make

make it their own.”

Manchester had talented players during Bergman’s time there and the Spartans qualified for two regionals and the 2004 NCAA Division III World Series.

In the summer of 2002, Bergman was tapped to coach the Fort Wayne-based Indiana Dox collegiate team. Owned by future Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Famer Colin Lister, the Dox went 44-10 and earned a berth in the National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series.

Besides coaching, Bergman works as an Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance agent in Shelbyville. Jeremy and wife Amber have two children — son Ty (8) and daughter Avery (4).

The Triton Central Tigers call Fairland in Shelby County, Ind., home.

Justin Bergman has been the head baseball coach at Triton Central High School in Fairland, Ind., since the 2015 season.