Thread: Pitching Drills Help

Originally Posted by bigdaddy

Coach,

I hope you take this in the spirit it is intended!

1) She's 14 and TINY
2) She has shoulder pain when she pitches
3) She doesn't practice

Given those facts...you do not have a pitcher.

It's not too late to change focus to another position. JMHO

Keith

Keith,
Understood. The problem with changing her to another position is that she is a very good pitcher - great velocity and accuracy. The town rec league does not allow her to pitch since it is not fair to the other players that no one can hit off of her.

I am looking for a way to help her to ease the stress off her shoulder. I believe one of the reasons for her shoulder pain is because now playing HS ball she pitches every day either in a game or at practice.

Coach CJ

Where exactly is the pain? Deltoids? Triceps? In the shoulder joint? or at the collarbone?
Does rest help? What is her warm up routine and how long does it take? Is she throwing any weighted balls? Does rest help? Does it hurt when she throws overhand?

Can you post a video of her pitching on Youtube?

I hope that some of us can help.

Originally Posted by Amy in AZ.

Where exactly is the pain? Deltoids? Triceps? In the shoulder joint? or at the collarbone?
Does rest help? What is her warm up routine and how long does it take? Is she throwing any weighted balls? Does rest help? Does it hurt when she throws overhand?

Can you post a video of her pitching on Youtube?

I hope that some of us can help.

The pain is in her anterior Deltoid. And it does hurt when she throws overhand.
Rest does help - usually 3-4 days she is fine.
She does not use any weighted balls nor does our varsity team.

That is a great idea. I'll see if I can get her video taped and I'll let you all know. I do have some still photos of her, I'll see if I can get them posted and provide some links. It is not as good as video but you can see her stride and landing positioning.

Thanks for the help.

Coach CJ

Okay - I have provided some links of still shots of her pitching.

You will see two pitching rubbers on the field. We use the first one at 43 feet. This is the first year at the new pitching distance which was changed from 40' to 43' in Mass.

Pic1
Pic2
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Pic7

I'll work on getting a video of her pitching as well.

Coach CJ

Originally Posted by ang4yanks

Coach:

If she is experiencing pain, something is wrong with her mechanics. My daughter has pitched for four years, practices out in the yard 3x-4x week, plays travel ball (usually 5 game guarantee, but team usually wins some and plays 6 or 7) and usually pitches 3 out of 6 or 7 games in addition to some relief innings, and she has never complained of arm or shoulder pain. She may be working too hard on speed and throwing with all arm instead of pushing off with her legs. If she doesn't practice, she may not really want it. Pitching is a huge investment in time and money...if it is not driven by passion, she may wind up injured. Robin (my athlete) asks my husband to come out and catch for her. He never demands or pushes her. We had to deliberately reverse that. Now every week she submits a schedule to him on which days she wants to practice and what pitches or drills she needs to work on. She self-evaluates her performance from the weekend (she had to be taught self-evaluation, too). The sooner you give her more responsibility for her sport, the better athlete she will become. I have watched parents struggle with their child's position, but we can't go out there and do it for them. The key is passion and the coaching (whose job it is to help an athlete tap into that passion and bring them to their fullest potential). It also helped to learn my daughter's learning style and what coaching style best suits her. She is a visual and kinesthetic learner. She learns best when standing behind her instructor and going through the motions while watching her. Bill Cowher (former coach of Pittsburgh Steelers) once said, "You coach the athlete, then the sport. Some athletes need to face adversity and some need words of encouragement."

It may not be the position she is playing, but she may discover her passion in another sport. 14 is a great time, through school opportunities, to discover other sports. My daughter also loves volleyball, as long as it doesn't interfere with her softball :-)

Ang

Ang,
I am the coach not the pitcher's parent so I am looking for some help as I have not had a pitcher experience this type of chronic pain before. Her doctor had an MRI taken and they say her shoulder is fine (but she has stopped growing). Since March she has been practicing every day but before that it was only 1 hour a week with the pitching coach. She does have a passion for softball and loves to pitch but has to be shut down for a few days of rest after pitching in a game.

Coach CJ

Coach:

My husband has been coaching for years...there are the coaches, the athlete, and then there is the sport parent (that is a different thread . Ernie's videos have really helped my daughter in addition to UNCG's assistant coach as her instructor. Have you evaluated the instructor...we learned quickly that just because someone has identified themselves as an instructor, doesn't mean they are qualified. As a parent or coach, I would be very concerned about pain in fear I would be jeopardizing her future.

Ang

Coach CJ,

All of these were good answers- but it could also (the arm pain) just be that she's tiny and dosen't use that arm muscle much. she SHOULD be practicing- and untill she builds up that muscle- she shouldn't be pitching! I say this because- she could tear something- or just aggitate it to where she won't be able to pitch because of inflamation.

CJ. The ball must be entering the downswing at the exact instant of landing foot touchdown. The ball should be at around the 1:00 positon behind her.

If that timing is off, it is very unsafe for the shoulder complex and she will feel pain/discomfort in the shoulder socket, infront of the shoulder socket or just below the armpit or a combination of any of those.

Give her a pair of rolled up socks and have her practice her stride and someone else watch and make sure the ball is in the 1:00 position when the landing foot touches down. Once she can do it every time, give her the softball (weight) back and do it with that.

The pain she is experiencing will go away in a few hours, a day or two but seldom longer than that.

The ball must be into the downswing at landing foot touchdown.

Have her start her stride at the exact same moment she starts bringing the ball forward from the hip. Keep that stride quick and speed up the arm to maintain the correct timing at 1:00.

Make sure she is on a forward lean (entire body) when she pushes off and on a slight backwards lean (again, entire body) when she releases the ball.

Do that and extend her stride length to 5 inches short of her heigth and watch the speed increase.

Hal

Coach,

My daughter threw 284 pitches total on varsity after three straight games. She only complained that her legs were tired. Legs should be more tired than the arm. There a couple things I would recommend before throwing in the towel. Obviously she LIKES to pitch, right? I would bring her in the back yard, let her throw about 30 pitches under video. Focussing on arm angle. This would be an angle that leaves from the same place it came from. If the angle is good....Google plyometrics to get the lower half stronger.

Bob



Bob

Hello everyone...

Interesting article in today's NY Times on sport injuries in girls.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/ma...tml?ref=health

Ang