New to board and my 10U daughter is trying to learn how to pitch

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Feb 28, 2013
77
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First let me say I love reading this board. I was my high school baseball teams pitching coach the last to years, and my daughter (DD what does that stand for by the way), wanted me to coach her league team this year so, here I am. I know nothing about pitching a softball, but researching like crazy to learn. She has about 6 innings in the circle in games, and LOVES to pitch, but she is wild( due to mechanics, I know),but she throws average speed iI guess when she does it half way right. I have our schools radar gun and she hit 44 as an early aged 9U, turned 10 December 10th 2012. We started throwing about two weeks ago. I can't get it in her head that great mechanics will increase her accuracy #1, and 2 her velo. I recorded her for the 1st time Wed, and by the audio you will notice I nothing about fp pitching but know more than I did by hours of research on the web, so please keep negative comments about my commentary to a minimum lol. Here is the link to the video, we are in the yard, I gun about every pitch for feed back when she throws half way right she cruises around 37-39, hits 40 a lot and has topped out at 41 this year in 3 pens. Thanks in advance for feedback.
 
Feb 28, 2013
77
0
You are right, but I don't literally gun her every time we throw. I use it at the begging of the preseason and once a week, because it gives her motivation to go throw. I don't make her go out and pitch because in the past when giving private pitching lessons if their parents make them come when they dont want to they aren't going to be there mentally, thus they are wasting their own, parents, money, and my time thanks though I know the gun isnt good but she likes it, motivates her to go out and throw and I dont tell her every pitch, usually just strikes so it helps her to concentrate because if she throws strikes she wil get to know how fast it was.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
I had 5 new girls today and I can compare her to my last one. Due to the fact that the young ladies are throwing strikes, with some nice speed, they are getting by with some mechanical flaws. (I wish I could bottle her enthusiasm.)

If she were my student, we would stop the pre-motion. There is no practical reason to throw both hands over her head. My DD did that, too and ruined her shoulder. Now, my students are putting the hands together and pitching. We aren't even separating and going back, with the arms. Simply the motion and there are fewer things that go wrong.

Then, have her move up about 20 feet from you, turn sideways, lift the front foot off the ground and pitch, w/o putting the front foot down. This is the Stork Drill. It will keep her tall and keep her from throwing her weight forward. She should not be ending up, nose over toes. She needs balanced posture, straight up and down, to a little bit back.

Slow her down, between pitches. She has 20 seconds and there is a lot that she needs to be thinking about. Have her see the pitch in her mind, before she throws it. I feel like she has no idea where the ball is going to go, when she pitches it.

Get her hitting her spots and she will be unstoppable. My beginner girls today (9 and 10s) couldn't reach 35 mph. And get some catching equipment on, because she is going to nail you. Good luck.
 
Feb 28, 2013
77
0
Thnaks so much

I've been on the internet for the last 3 or 4 days watching videos and trying to learn as much as possible. I changed her from putting her hands up and seperating, I have her set up just as Hillhouse says, I wanted to video it and put both on her and see if there was any improvements in her mechancis, She improved greatly with her control and looks so much better. When she braces up on her landing leg good, she stays around 39-41, but she is not getting any extension with her stride leg, it's scary similiar to bracing up on the landing leg in softball and baseball. I give private lessons here in Arkansas in baseball, and was the pitching coach for our high school baseball team for two years but I have to say the fp softball is so much more fun to coach, and the more I learn about the pitching makes it that much better. She is pitching off flat ground. How big of a difference in control and speed does that effect? Not harping on speed, but she is a Dec 10th 10 year old, and she is already 5 ft tall, long and lanky arms and legs. Last year she 44 mph and the gun I use is a 700 or 800 professional gun. I then moved her back to 43 feet with the 12 inch ball and she hit 41 mph right down the middle. I think she can be phenomenal but it depends on her. She is wanting to go throw on her own now, I've never been one of the dads that MAKE her practice. We messed around with the change up yesterday, and if she can control her fast ball she would be pretty special. I'm going to record her again tomorrow and I'll post it and see if you see any difference.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
I don't understand your question about flat ground. We do pitch off of flat ground. If you can rip out some grass at home, fasten a softball pitching rubber down for her.

She should be striding out 5-6 lengths of her own foot. You can draw her a power line and then cross that with a line that she should stride out to.

Do you know how to have her do "walk throughs?" She would like those.
 

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