walk up drill

I've always been told there are no stupid questions so here goes. What is the purpose or benefits of the walk up drill? My dd has seen girls doing it all year and she has stated doing it some"and doing it well". Just wondering if we need to keep it as part of her warm up routine,she is 10 years old if that makes a difference.

Drive & Momentum

IMO the drill focuses on generating forward momentum. JMO a pitcher should come back to this drill if she is having trouble throwing strikes.

I use the walk up drill for a few different reasons. One is for long toss and to work on leg drive.

This might not be the best way to use it but it also seems to be a good part of a warm up. After some jogging and general warm up she will do a little underhand toss or a few things like the 9:00 drill, then some show it and throw it, she will then start doing gentle walk throughs to get the blood pumping and loosen up. Gradually increasing effort as she goes. Other times in practice when she is completely warm she does it in long toss type of drills where she is putting 100% into it and working on drive and power.

gasfreak said:

I've always been told there are no stupid questions so here goes. What is the purpose or benefits of the walk up drill? My dd has seen girls doing it all year and she has stated doing it some"and doing it well". Just wondering if we need to keep it as part of her warm up routine,she is 10 years old if that makes a difference.

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Controlling momentum when pitching "all out". The extra drive forces a pitcher to stay controlled while pitching with their maximum force. If they don't then they are all over the place. By tuning the mechanics in this stressed state it makes regular pitching easier by comparison. Also when they go back to the more controlled full motion they have a feel for what "all out" feels like and know they have more in them. After pitching with the extra force I find DD is faster and in more control during the full motion for a while. It is not uncommon for us to go back to walkthroughs halfway through a workout to remind her body that she has more in it. Typically her walkthroughs are 3 MPH faster than her pitching. We use the walkthroughs also as a "speed goal" meaning that if she can get it in a walkthrough, she should be pretty close to being able to get there with her pitching so it is like a picture of speed to come. So far that has worked out.

Gasfreak...make sure your DD is doing the drill correctly. If she is a beginner, she should be keeping her push-off foot (right foot for a rightie) off the ground until the ball is returned to her.

As everyone has said, the primary reasons:

1) It teaches the pitcher to keep her weight back. If she is leaning forward at release, she will fall forward.
2) It teaches momentum transfer.

Gasfreak...make sure your DD is doing the drill correctly. If she is a beginner, she should be keeping her push-off foot (right foot for a rightie) off the ground until the ball is returned to her.

As everyone has said, the primary reasons:

1) It teaches the pitcher to keep her weight back. If she is leaning forward at release, she will fall forward. Almost every pitcher (newbie or not) tends to lean forward at release. This is a great drill to teach keeping the weight back.

2) It teaches momentum transfer.

I've always been told there are no stupid questions so here goes.

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True...there are no stupid questions, only stupid people who fail to ask stupid questions.

sluggers said:

True...there are no stupid questions, only stupid people who fail to ask stupid questions.

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Oh no slugger, I'm starting to feel that we are starting to agree to much. What is this world coming too.

I believe it is to maintain balance and not be falling forward after release. I could be wrong though.