pitchers practice plan.

[freddyj522]

what about the amount of time I have them drilling on pitching, should I consult with the pitching coaches about work load? thanks.

 

[cuzmail]

You can't imagine the damage some paid pitching coaches can do to a young pitcher.

There is no correlation between the amount of money paid for a lesson and it's quality.

I'm not sure paid or free has anything to do with it on this topic. Maybe we should call them private pitching coaches. Paid or free coaches can teach gold or crap equally.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I'm not sure paid or free has anything to do with it on this topic. Maybe we should call them private pitching coaches. Paid or free coaches can teach gold or crap equally.

I agree, and that was my point. The worst scenario is when you are paying for the crap.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Common drills - warm ups (will vary from coach to coach and dad and daughter) then, power Ks, walk throughs, and long toss underhand. She might have a drill to eliminate a forward lean (stork drill), getting off the plane of the arm circle, swimming the glove out to the side, but not too many.

The number of pitches to throw during practice varies by age. The little ones start out with 50ish.

 

[coach james]

^^^Amen^^^
I've spent a lot of money on crap.
Now that we're getting her on track, the HS head coach is an old school bowling style advocate and I'm dreading the inevitable arguments on the horizon about my dd's new i/r style of pitching. Im an AC, and I primarily focus on batting. So I'm imagining him saying something to me like "you focus on batting and I'll take care of pitching"

 

[nanotech14]

That's absurd. If you are the head coach you need to do whats best for your team. If you think they are getting poor/inadequate instruction than it's your job to teach them what you believe to be best practices while they are playing for you.

They always have the option of not playing or playing for a different team.

A smart coach prefers all players take private hitting and pitching lessons but in the end will instruct their team as best they see fit in order to be successful.

Your absurd, you dont know it could be you giving poor/inadequate head coaching. If a pitcher has a weekend and struggles are you going to change her. I recently took my dd to a one day college pitching clinic, the PC didn't like the way my dd pitches, she is all wrong in his eyes. We only went because it is a local college and dd is 14yo going to be 15 this year and lets get her in front of some college coaches. He want her to pull the ball thru, slam the hips and end in hello elbow. Wow!!! this from the college PC, then he ask me who is her PC, tell him that Bill Hillhouse is who she see all summer. Then he tells me that guys pitch that way and girls don't. I think when you talk about being successful, your talking about yourself, when it should be about the player being successful, not the coaches wins and loses. If you read the OP post, you will see that he says he doesnt know a lot about pitching, only what he has learned on the internet. He is not qualified with his own admission, so there for he should not mess with their pitching.

 

[bobbyb]

The OP is a good question...having been on the dad side and a year of HS coaches (well intended) doing ridiculous things, I invited their pitching coach to one of our practices....showed them what we do and what our philosophy was. I did the same thing with our first travel ball pitching coach when dd started squatting when doing k's...and I asked...what is that....she said thats how the TB pitching coach wanted her to do it.

As HS Coach that was not pitcher instructing savy.....I would probably have the girls that have instructors.... submit what routine their instructor would like them to have and what issue they are currently working on...or what the priority was.

Then I would look if the time factors worked with the routine and what was common......and I would even call the instructor to see what could be eliminated or should be priority. I'd ask them if the routine can be different from pre season vs in season. It would have to work into my time schedule. Some stuff would be the responsibility of the student to do outside of practice time.

When HS ball gets going around here...practice time takes a nose dive. In our area...once it starts most pitchers are practicing on their own time IF they are getting enough rest days off. Prior to the season beginning would be time to have a more individualized practice for different pitchers. JMO

 

[JAD]

That's absurd. If you are the head coach you need to do whats best for your team. If you think they are getting poor/inadequate instruction than it's your job to teach them what you believe to be best practices while they are playing for you.

GunnerShotgun - 1) What age group does your DD play?, 2) What level ball does she play?, 3) How many head coaches do you think are really qualified to give advice on pitching?

 

[GunnerShotgun]

GunnerShotgun - 1) What age group does your DD play?, 2) What level ball does she play?, 3) How many head coaches do you think are really qualified to give advice on pitching?

High School through 10U.

How many paid private pitching coaches do you think are really qualified to give advice on pitching?

I think we have established that this goes both ways. Just because you are a paid pitching coach doesn't mean you are teaching best practices. Conversely just because you are a head coach doesn't mean you are a pitching expert.

As nanotech14 argued what if the head coach is teaching step style, hello elbow, and slam the door?

Conversely what if the pitching coach is teaching hello elbow and slam the door and the head coach knows better?

This scenario really should be broken up into two groups. Travel ball and school ball.

As a TB coach I wouldn't take someone that has poor pitching mechanics so this is not an issue. As someone posted earlier if you don't like the instruction your coach is giving than the player is free to leave. I have never had this happen as a direct result of giving instruction.

As a school coach the pool of talent is limited so the requirements relax a little. If she has poor mechanics but can throw strikes and be successful than so be it (assuming she has a PC and doesn't want to change). If she struggles and has a bad habit (hello elbow, close the hips) than I will make changes regardless of the input from parents and pitching coaches. Typically at this point the parent sees the need for changes, this has never been an issue.

At the end of the day the head coach is responsible for their team. A good head coach knows when not to fix something that isn't broken.

However if it is broken...

 

[quincy]

DD pitched for her MS. HC asked her who her PC was when she said on one right now, he said OK you are not allowed to go to a PC until after the season is over.

One of your challenges needs to be keeping track of their pitching during the week. You can control what they are doing during your practice but you need to get a handle on what they are doing outside of practice.

DD’s MS was 6 weeks. If they have their own PC I would leave them alone. DD warmed up different then any pitcher on the Team, HC didn’t care and let the individual pitchers keep to their routines or schedule.

Edit to add: I do not have any personal experience but reading how much some pitchers pitch in tournaments school ball might be a nice break for them.