Normal week pitching schedule - 12U

I coach a 12U C-level travel team in Northern Virginia. I was looking for some advice from the pitching gurus and experienced coaches on what is an appropriate pitching practice routine for girls at this level. Most have been pitching since 10U (so 2-3 years) and about half have PCs. We have 2 practices a week and 30-45 minutes of each practice is just for pitchers and catchers. We are in tournaments every other weekend. How many times should they throw on their own during the rest of the week and are there certain routines for certain days (ex: rest on Monday after tournament, long throwing on Tuesday, etc.). I would appreciate any advice on a good routine so I can help these young girls grow, improve and stay interested in pitching.

Thanks,
VTF

A rule of thumb I try to follow is pitch, every other day, not daily. Of course if there are tournaments you need to make exceptions. Also, the quality of the practice is more important that quanity. I try to keep pitching practice to 30-40 minutes per session.

We're 10U and have a pitching lesson every other week, and practice pitching 3-4 times per week. Some weeks more, some less but that's about the average. We usually go about half an hour also.

Monday practice, Tuesday 2-3 innings, Wednesday practice, Thursday 2-3 innings, off Friday. Saturday 2-3 innings, sometimes pitching BP on Sunday's. Practice is typically 100-125 pitches. 2-3 innings is usually 20-40 pitches depending on what we are working on. We use our local league as practice for new pitches. 12U. The top pitchers in our area practice 4 days per week and pitch 3-5 games a weekend.

My DD is 12 we have a 1 hour lesson each week, add to it 1 hour of pitching on a different day. Now were in full swing so she will pitch 5-6 game a week.

Quality over quantity.

You can tell them how many hours to pitch or you can give them incentives to get better. Reward good performance and improvement, make suggestions on how to improve. Some players will put in the work and some just won't have the drive.

My DD (10u player) usually throws 3 times per week, never back to back days. Pitching lessons bi-weekly during tournament season, weekly during off-season. We can get fastball and changeup work done in a half hour. If there were more pitches to work on it would take longer.

They need to be throwing every day, 7 days a week if they truly want to get good. That does not mean pitching full out for 30-45 minutes but just like hitting they need to be doing something. At that age I would pitch full out 3 - 4 times a week with lighter throwing on the days between. Adjust accordingly for tournament weekends.

riseball said:

They need to be throwing every day, 7 days a week if they truly want to get good. That does not mean pitching full out for 30-45 minutes but just like hitting they need to be doing something. At that age I would pitch full out 3 - 4 times a week with lighter throwing on the days between. Adjust accordingly for tournament weekends.

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I'm on this train of thought myself, and we've done different things throughout her development. However, I will throw a great big "Depends" out there. And the "depends" is.....what time of year it is.

Mid season, we keep the pitching workouts pretty brief and only 2-3 nights a week as long as all is well and nothing is "Broken", just working on tuning up for the next game.
Off season, she throws almost daily, BUT most of the time is spent working on "something", whether it be a mechanical tweak, a spin, or a flaw. And she'll do mostly partial circle drills..... then at the end of the session, she'll throw 10-12 pitches focused on what we worked on in drill.
Preseason, she'll do a little less drill work and gradually build up the pitch counts to 120 or so per workout, but will only do it 3-4 times per week.

As I said, we've done different things in the past, and based on what I see, this seems to be helping her the most.

Depends on time of year...

I'm 12U too

Each of the pitchers all play other sports. Volleyball, basketball or swimming. During their other sports "seasons" pitching was reduced to 1 - 45 minute session and 1 - 20 minute session (usually light BP for the team). No need for over-use type injuries in the off-season.

Off-season expectations (when NOT playing other sport) is to throw at least 3-4 times a week - even if that just means 10-15 minutes of tarp work in their basement. I have organized pitcher's and catcher's practice for 1 hour each week that is separate from team practice.

Now that we are almost in-season, they are throwing 4-5 days a week. The longest they throw at any one practice session is 40-45 minutes. DD2 pitched 6 innings indoors last week in a game that took a total of 75 minutes. At most, she was actually throwing for 30 minutes in that game. No need for 2 hour marathon sessions...that's a recipe for injury and bad habits IMO.

CP