Thread: Just Starting

A tip Sluggers gave me a few years ago, and still one of the best.... A lot of underhand catch. We still start each practice session stretching, overhand catch, then underhand catch. We start close, throw a few, then take a step or two back... repeat.

Go to fastpitch tv or you tube. Look up Bill Hillhouse and sit down and listen, or you can go to his web-site and buy his new videos. www. houseofpitching.com. He will tell you the truth about pitching. Also make sure your dd really wants to do this. Pitching is a 100% commitment.

All of the above make good points. After just going through teaching my DD this past year it was baby steps. Work little by little so that she is comfortable throwing underhand. Stretch the step and the speed and don't worry about were the ball goes. The worst thing you want her to do is guide the ball. I learned that if she wasn't getting it right most times it was how I was explaining it to her, find a different way of getting the point across and be very patient! BTW, our league was teaching with static drills and they weren't working so we ended up using Bill Hillhouse's DVD's and they made all the difference. She loves the walk through warmup, but for her it's really a run through. It is amazing how fast they can progress in a year if they work hard at it.

Read and re-read everything on internal rotation and IR for the classroom. There are stickys at the top of the pitching forum. If you have her meet with a pitching instructor learn what Hello Elbow is and slam the door. Learn the different styles of pitching. Do your homework before you settle on an instructor if you go down that road. And as stated be very patient. Should be fun for BOTH of you. It takes quite a while sometimes to see true progress

Two words Pitcher2001: Bill Hillhouse! If I had known of Bill when my dd started I would have avoided alot of mistakes. Like everyone has said thus far. COMMITMENT

I agree with all...know for sure that she wants to do it and be really patient. When you get frustrated, stand up off the bucket and try to pitch the ball full speed yourself and see how that goes. It will probably open your eyes real quick to how hard it is to throw a strike when you are first learning.

Get her a pitching coach, let the PC teach her, and continue to be her parent.

You're a grown adult, you will pick things up quicker then your daughter does, even though your daughter is the one doing the work. You will quickly feel that you are an expert because you picked things up "so fast" compared to an 11 year old girl, and you will most likely believe that you can teach the 11 year old how to pitch.

Don't do this.

Get her a proper coach, and enjoy the experience of learning along with your daughter AT HER PACE. Be there for her when she needs you. As a pitcher, she'll have plenty of people telling her what to do, how to do it, and what she is doing wrong. She'll need you to be dad or mom, not Coach23214.

-W