Confused - Need Opinions/Help

[BoardMember]

These are examples of warm ups I'd consider "Loose and Full of Juice"...........

Over-rotation at it's "finest"............

Or just relaxed demo's............

I wouldn't put much focus on how much arm rotation occurs after the ball is released once spin is achieved........

Just be careful not to allow a PC to coach the athlete out of your DD..........

 

[drc9805]

Her release and follow through looks pretty good to me but I'm not a coach. Make sure she doesn't IR too early and rolls over the ball before release. I'm pretty sure that's what BM is saying above.

 

[FrozenRope]

I'm not certain from your description what she WAS doing, but this looks pretty good. If she was rotating more, more IR isn't necessarily itself a bad thing, but young pitchers often exaggerate the movement—turning the whole arm from the shoulder instead of just the forearm, letting the elbow fly out, etc.—which can make the IR release erratic at first. Just make sure the instructor is teaching your daughter to CONTROL the IR, not MOVE AWAY from IR altogether in an effort to eliminate over-rotation.

Here's another tip: at this stage in your daughter's development, stop worrying about spins, the exact position of her hand at various clock points, and other minutia. Don't get me wrong; these things are very important, they're just not the most important things yet. She should work on getting comfortable whipping the ball ("playing catch") underhand with as much velocity as she can muster.

My dad, who taught me nearly everything I know about teaching pitching, has a favorite story he tells his beginners' parents who are frustrated with lack of accuracy from the get go: when Andre Agassi was a little kid learning tennis for the first time, his instructor encouraged him to hit the ball wildly as hard as he could, even if it meant over the fences. LATER he helped him bring the ball into the court. Agassi is one of the best tennis players ever. Work on power from day 1, and NEVER sacrifice power and comfort for accuracy at this stage. If the pitching coach is good, accuracy is easy to teach a little way down the road.

Thanks Carly, These little points are just coming into focus now that she's moved up to the main coach. Her first instructor didn't get this detailed. She was more into the overall body positions and improving th circle and whip. I am of the same philosophy to teach them to throw with as much velocity as they can, and then learn to control it. Thankfully, her PC feels the same way.

 

[FrozenRope]

Thanks for the tip Perfect Circle/Amy... The push off foot turning is something she keeps reverting back to every time it's not the main point of attention, especially when we're in the basement on the smooth concrete. I have been meaning to improve the surface where she pitches, just have not gotten to it yet.

 

[FrozenRope]

Just be careful not to allow a PC to coach the athlete out of your DD..........

This is basically the reason I presented the initial question. I don't want her to undo what we've worked on, which is to get her to throw with rotation. She's got times where she's right on with the timing of her release, and there's other times when she throws the ball into the ground to the right, or way left and sky high and can't find the middle. That little tweak where she had her stop the rotation from having her palm turn down after release helped on the accuracy. But the bottom line is, if it's not right, I don't want her to change something for the sake of right now if it's going to be detrimental in the long run.

 

[BoardMember]

Rope.........You have just gotten to the ENTIRE bottom line crux of why I introduced I/R here in the first place........

The bottom line is........At 10 years old.......The last thing you want to worry about is "accuracy" (in so many words). Because that line of thinking is EXACTLY WHY the "hello elbow" delivery was invented. So that a 10 year old kid could "throw more strikes".........Just like your DD is now accomplishing............

And whether you realize it or not........The VERY BEST female pitchers in the world were "wild as hell" at 10 years old........Because NO ONE told them they were "over-rotating" at that age, and by the time they put in the 1000's of hours of practice it takes to master the craft, they had BOTH skills........

Give me a Ferrari and I'll learn how to drive it.........And I'll win EVERY race........Give me a VW and I'll crash it 1000 times trying to keep up with the Ferrari.........

 

[FrozenRope]

Rotation looks pretty good! If the ball rotation is good, should be fine. Got a side view?

Here's the side view from tonight. After watching her tonight, I think the lack of a better pitching surface is causing issues with her footwork. I ran to Lowe's and picked up some stuff to fix it. Wife is gunna love this when she sees it.

[video=youtube_share;_H7iJEJa95A]http://youtu.be/_H7iJEJa95A[/video]

 

[FrozenRope]

Rope.........You have just gotten to the ENTIRE bottom line crux of why I introduced I/R here in the first place........

The bottom line is........At 10 years old.......The last thing you want to worry about is "accuracy" (in so many words). Because that line of thinking is EXACTLY WHY the "hello elbow" delivery was invented. So that a 10 year old kid could "throw more strikes".........Just like your DD is now accomplishing............

And whether you realize it or not........The VERY BEST female pitchers in the world were "wild as hell" at 10 years old........Because NO ONE told them they were "over-rotating" at that age, and by the time they put in the 1000's of hours of practice it takes to master the craft, they had BOTH skills........

Give me a Ferrari and I'll learn how to drive it.........And I'll win EVERY race........Give me a VW and I'll crash it 1000 times trying to keep up with the Ferrari.........

I agree with you 100%. I coached DD's rec league team this year, and we had 2 pitchers that quite often struggled with the strikezone. DD had not yet started pitching, so she was not one of them. It's amazing how many times you hear "Slow it down...Just throw strikes...Let her hit it" from the bleachers. At one point, I told the two of them ..."That is code for throw faster"

 

[Ken B]

Whip looks good. Her timing looks pretty good.

Cut a piece of carpet, thin plywood, or whatever works to 6x24", then go the the local home improvement store and buy some non-residue duct tape. Tape your pitching rubber to your floor and use it every time you pitch. The tape is spendy, but worth it.

Her current stride is about 4.5 lengths of her shoe. Try this and ask her what she thinks/feels: Have her step toe/heel 6.5 shoe lengths from the front of your rubber. Take a 6 inch piece of the non-residue tape and lay it on that spot at about a 45 degree angle. Try a few dry pitches (no ball) and see what happens. Add a ball and try a few more. Ask her how it feels. Do this without a target. Preferably into a net, tarp, blanket, old mattress, carpet, etc...

Let me know how it goes.

 

[Ken B]

I agree with you 100%. I coached DD's rec league team this year, and we had 2 pitchers that quite often struggled with the strikezone. DD had not yet started pitching, so she was not one of them. It's amazing how many times you hear "Slow it down...Just throw strikes...Let her hit it" from the bleachers. At one point, I told the two of them ..."That is code for throw faster"

I've told folks to not be "that parent" or "that coach." Sure, we'd love perfect pitches, but the longterm benefit of throwing hard with good form is much more valuable.