Stay walk or run away

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Jan 12, 2016
5
0
12 y/o DD recently told me that she doesn't enjoy pitching anymore due to being frustrated with not advancing. She was frustrated that she heard the same thing from PC for a year and just wasnt getting it. Sadly I understood but asked her to finish the season. No more PC.

A few weeks later she's performing and winning. DD asks for another PC. I took her to a new PC. The most popular and expencive one around. She barely has time for her.

First lesson: use the body more. Drive backside knee into front side. Throwing aggressively with the back side shoulder. Hand should be behind he ball at and leading up to release. Release and drive the hand and elbow up as if punching the catcher.

This is in contrast to the other style which was lean back and relax the shoulder and arm. Sounded a lot like HE to me. But she gained 5-10 mph in her first lesson. I have tried to teach the drills from IR classroom but catching the ball takes a lot of my focus.

My question is should I stay walk or run away from the new PC?
 

JJS

Jan 9, 2015
276
0
This feels like it is coming from nowhere...almost from Out In Left Field :)
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
Some of the things you describe, such as throwing the back shoulder into it, can create a temporary increase in speed by making the pitcher more aggressive in her motion. But they're also going to have a pretty quick ceiling too.

My guess is your DD may not have been as aggressive/violent in her movements as she should have been. Hence the lack of improvement. A big part of IR is the whip, which requires quick, sudden, powerful movements. If it's taking too long to execute them you won't get the quality whip and the speed won't be there. If the pitcher learns to be aggressive, however, especially in that last segment of the circle, she will have a much higher ceiling.

As to whether to walk away from the PC, part of it depends on whether you can find someone to replace her that can get the performance out of your DD while teaching the IR motion. And whether your daughter understands and wants to put in the work. IR is not a magic bullet. In fact, it can be more difficult to master than HE because it doesn't rely on artificial boosts but instead requires a level of precision in its execution. I think that's one of the things you have to consider.
 
Jan 12, 2016
5
0
First of all let me say that I completely believe in IR. This is not a HE supporting thread not do I intend to put IR on trial. My DD and I have watched softball and slowed down every pitchers release to show her the components of IR to support the drills we were trying to execute.

Thanks Ken for your response I think you're correct she wasn't being aggressive. I looked at her motion yesterday and I don't think she hadn't abandoned IR. Maybe adding an aggressive motion to the pitch will help her increase the whip. I will have to video in slow mo to be sure. Another guess is involving the back side more has increased the velocity. I don't know.

Doug, you're also correct. She likely wasn't doing the drills correctly but I'm not a PC and I don't know where one is that teaches this.

I have noticed that in YouTube videos many pitchers who clearly use IR describe the motion that they use as HE. It seems like they have used IR almost by accident.

Can a PC who sounds like she's teaching HE accidentally teach IR by talking about whip? I like the aggressiveness and increased velocity. She was way too slow for 12u.

Another pattern I have noticed is that when she does pitch with velocity the pitch tends to be high. Just a clue.
 
May 18, 2009
1,314
38
My DD throws slow at times because she wants every pitch to be perfect. She can increase her speed 5-10 mph at times just by giving it more effort. Tuesday night she looked slow first 3 batters. Fast the last 6 batters after I talked to her about it.
 
Apr 5, 2013
2,130
83
Back on the dirt...
My DD throws slow as well around 38-40 but she never picks up or drops off 5 mph unless it was a change up. I capture a lot of game speeds with the Pocket Radar and very seldom do I see 10 mph difference from the slowest to the fastest all weeknd in a tourny. Maybe it's just our area.

Good luck on your journey!
 

JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
the fate of any PC that can improve my kid's speed by 5-10 mph in a single lesson is simple and dark. They would be chained to my basement floor and forced to give lessons to my kid 24 hours a day.
 

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