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Feb 20, 2012
263
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If I had it to do all over again from 10U,

I would put my pocket radar in a drawer and forget about it for a few years. I became obsessed with a number, and DD would stress every time I'd get it out.

I would set up a net in the garage and work the A and B quadrant until we had really good arm whip and BI.

I would play a lot of underhand casual catch.

I would not take the shotgun approach and try and fix everything in one practice.

I would emphasize the fun aspects of practice and spending time together.

I would treat her to Dairy Queen after every practice.



e17pc3.jpg

when in your "K" the back foot should be behind the front foot for spacing and the arm should be flexed enough to be able to lead with elbow to create whip action
 
Feb 20, 2012
263
18
One thing you are doing right is learning IR from the start. DD was a HE pitcher until about 6 months ago. I wish she had learned IR from the start. DD is almost there with IR. I'm really looking forward to having Rick Pauly and the rest of the coaches evaluate and help her in a few weeks at the Indiana clinic. If you are close, I recommend getting to the beginner's clinic if you can.

I teach in Indianapolis area, The only way you can actually see how well the arm alignment with the hip is video from behind.
 
Jul 21, 2015
167
16
sounds like you have a good plan. The one thing the I/R drills don't mention a lot is brush though, you can see BM do it in the drills but it is not emphasized in the write ups much, so just be sure she has good posture and brushes well and with time and practice she will be a pitcher.
Don't give up, don't get frustrated, make it fun, have her throw hard and see where it takes you.

Three years ago I was you and my DD was your DD, just last week I got in contact with the German Junior National Women's team about DD playing with them later this summer (she is a dual citizen)...so she has a real possibility of going over to her German family for a couple of months and playing teams all over Europe while her Grandma sits in the stands and says "bespricht mine Grundater" or whatever the German equivalent of "that's my grand daughter" is.

Just revisiting this thread. A couple months later, and she's really struggling with consistency. She really wants to "drive" like all the older girls but her posture goes downhill fast when she does. When she tries to explode off the mound, she tends to release the ball when leaned slightly forward and to the right. I bought her one of those perfect circle leg bands so she could see how her posture affects her brush. I also had her start doing the walk-in drill like Osterman does where she actually lifts the back leg and balances on the front until after the catcher has the ball. This helped with her posture and accuracy immediately because she can't hold her balance if she's leaning at all on release. She also has periods where her whip is late and the ball ends up with bullet rotation instead of inward/forward spin.

Does anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions for ways to improve her consistency?
 
Last edited:
Dec 16, 2010
172
18
... she's really struggling with consistency. She really wants to "drive" like all the older girls but her posture goes downhill fast when she does. When she tries to explode off the mound...

My youngest dd was in a similar place at age 10. She had been taught you can't drive too hard. She had good speed, but REALLY wild.

During a Denny Tincher lesson, he observed that dd couldn't control her body posture with her explosive drive. The approach he recommended was similar to the javasource two-step https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufRaP2LkbGs without the max effort on the drive. More of a step.

Her control dramatically improved immediately. By immediately, I mean the next pitch. She went from #7 in our pitching rotation to #1 in about 2 weeks.

Denny said as dd gets more confident, her step would become more aggressive without coaching. This proved true.

Based on my sample size of one, if this would help your dd, you would know immediately.

Good luck.
 

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