Pitching Instruction

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jan 4, 2012
3,800
38
OH-IO
Wow... I hope they teach that in lesson 2 because that was greek to a 40 YO dad, nevermind a just turned 10 year old!!!! LoL

13th post!!! LOL I like that #....let me be the first to thank you. Unfortunately I do have alittle time this morning to elaborate, and invest in trying to see to it, once again, that my comments can remain archived. I must confess that I do now copy and pate them to my knowledge base, in the event of another troll, ghost, or a parrot...goat me into an avalanche of distain from the legit posters. They come out of nowhere, read my "crazy" attempts to help them..and then disappear, which is ok, but they delete their whole post and my input. I have addressed your issues in other post and should be have been able to just paste this in just a few min...but. I do advise you to heed to the monster, and read some of my other stuff, and take anything I say, as just a Crazy way of knowing that your internet is up and running. Honestly... You need to be able to draw some fire from the "heavy hitters" on here. My post will bring you to the top of the todays "New Post" again. The ones that really can help you, won't waste their time on me. Although I am happy with my thanks ratio. I have managed to not have one of my threads cut off, nor attempt to use dual IP's. I do hold "Crazy Dad" as my Certification to teach MY 10 yr.old DD. My first lesson on teaching DD @8 was to have her read a article published by JF. Then after she read it, I asked her, "what do you got that will make you the greatest pitcher in the world, and get the gold, like her?" Without hesitation , she said... "a Crazy Dad!" My DD does understand lots of other things that I have been teaching her all along. I drive Math teachers into early retirement. They didn't like having to teach me too. They get tired of me acting like I don't know nothing, and asking "application" questions. PE. Art, Science, & Social Studies teachers... love US !!!

Just a couple of suggestions about this board. Get your self a avatar, post something else in another thread, that shows that you do have expertise in, or connection to Fastpitch that can be helpful to us Dads with 10 yr. olds. I was very happy to see your capabilities in the posting of a video!!! This is key to getting help on her. But I find it hard to believe she has had only one "basics" lesson. I makes me want to change my whole plan and get a assistant PC. LOL !!

I'm glad to see you don't know greek. As far as I know they have never had a Fastpitch team in the Olympics, men or women, and were not @ the 2012 Championships last week. I do know that:

2012 World Championships

Watch one of these videos of a game, and note the emphasis placed on the 20 second clock...even though you can't see it, there is another in the outfield, where the UMP can see it. One answer to how Japan beat us can be found in their usage of that clock... I'm going to let you figure that one out on your own... this winter, when you'll have more time. But as the UMP is the point of focus in what I teach, and you demand the apps for teaching a 10 yr. old, I 'll restate my OP. You stick you finger in the UMPS eye, and then stick out your tongue out @ him @ the finish...Not just the toungue of your cleats, but the one in your mouth. ( later on this, but will post a pic, that will make 10U relevance, and another thing that she taught me.)

And a young fellow like yourself can understand that... Aa?

<.... I'm going to post this now, and finish in the edit....want you on the top by 9...Its my copy and paste break point. Not much more.... Getting in to two adays with DD, prepping for tryouts.

> Not only are we teaching DD's to pitch or catch, with expectation of a higher yielding scholarship and expecting 6 other's to watch & cheer as their shot diminishes because they have no experience in the skills. I know Hopefully, they can hit home runs, and get a half ride. I just say this to bring to your attention that there are other reason for teaching her to focus, and devote her spare time at hurling projectiles at others. Self Defense. The pitching motion is a very effective way of delivering a incapacitating punch to the solar plexus. If she quits pitching, and finds her self in a inner city state community college.....Not to demean that,but one of the professor's at our's was stabbed by a student last month.( I hope you can finish this for me.) Anyways, not just the motion, but the throwing something can be very effective. I believe, that underhand training came first from grenade throwing study's. Don't quote me...this video is for out fielders, but when you have ran them into a tunnel, some one must be very precise and focused and trained on making the perfect throw at less than 50' This is a reason that I still continue to teach her to throw the slingshot. The ("drill" I'll use this word until you get to know me better) is I knock her grounders @ SS, she does a top hand catch, then throws underhanded to 1st...no windmilling)



After the the events of last week at the movies, I am more conceived that if a pitcher ...anykind would have been there, and hit the ____ with a can of pop, things could have been different....The Batters can't bring their bats. This is why I went to a hockey puck to teach spin, use the old ones that get black stuff on your hands. ( I do wrap the end with electric tape)...fits nicely in any purse. I can recommend the watching of "Crocodile Dunde" with your DD.( Go Aussies) I guess it will be safe to watch it at home, since it won't be at the movies, until you can get worst case plans together. Hope you are still with me.

I'll end this by saying..."the UMP" is the only one getting paid @ your games. He is the only one that can make your dad leave the park... I don't care how you go about it, your autographs, DVD's, Perfect attendence at all clinics and ASA world series,and WCWS games, the UMP is the focus, and final judge and jury to your efforts. The Variable.... its not just her and the catcher, Its her League ID# that is nationally registered, and his# meeting in a report, that will go on the record, that means anything @ this level. If you wanta be a pitcher, you better be down as one in every game, @ least 1 inning.


IMG_1129.jpg

This is todays lesson to me from DD. Her Mom took her to do some school shopping. This is what they come home to show me this morning... I was prompted to the linkage... Tongue, (ALL of them) to target, thats how I come up with ending by sticking your tongue ( the one in your mouth) at the UMP, to keep your head straight.

Also thought about this today too. The moderators are really earning their compensation...sorry :{((
 
Last edited:
Jan 25, 2011
2,278
38
She looked pretty good.I'am big Hillhouse follower and my dd goes to him once a week,so there a few things with the premotion that are different.But like Bill says that is a style perfence.I feel it comes down to what makes your dd happy and as long as she isn't being taught anything that could injure her then keep up the hard work."welcome to crazyville we have your bucket right here.";)
 
Apr 27, 2009
243
18
How about a top 5?

You never stop the follow through for any reason. Its like a swing, you don't stop at contact do you and say oh gosh I found the contact point? In golf especially they tell you the ball is in the way of the club and it must keep going.

It is a myth that you can feel the release point on a fastball (Faster than a blink), and even if you could (let's say Michele Smith can after thousands of pitches) doing any partial swings (for control especially) will not mimic the real release point that occurs with the legs driving and the full arm swing and follow through. And young kids learn to slow the arm down with this approach. I prefer you learn a peel drop to feel your fingers and balance but that is a later lesson.

In fact, there is a release zone as our friends from NY call it.

Separating the legs from the arms is good for short drills and is a construct to extend lessons. I am glad your daughter went ahead and pitched anyway. You put them right back together again.

Well that's four, sort of.

OK went back. Five sort of. Let the follow through extend to where it wants to go, not some predetermined point (I can understand using a reference so this again could be the kid trying to explain it). It naturally goes across the body if you are open when pitching. As some say, you don't really teach the follow through you teach for it to be there.

OK, last what is this pinky hitting the thigh. I don't like hitting your hip or thigh for any reason. The pinky is the least used finger in pitching. It is for balance on the ball and if your hands are small to help you hold it. That is it's only job.
 
Last edited:
Jul 17, 2012
1,086
38
Just a couple of suggestions about this board. Get your self a avatar, post something else in another thread, that shows that you do have expertise in, or connection to Fastpitch that can be helpful to us Dads with 10 yr. olds. I was very happy to see your capabilities in the posting of a video!!! This is key to getting help on her. But I find it hard to believe she has had only one "basics" lesson. I makes me want to change my whole plan and get a assistant PC. LOL !!

I'm glad to see you don't know greek. As far as I know they have never had a Fastpitch team in the Olympics, men or women, and were not @ the 2012 Championships last week. I do know that:
2012 World Championships
And a young fellow like yourself can understand that... right? .... I'm going to post this now, and finish in the edit....want you on the top by 9...Its my copy and paste break point.
First off, I am not, nor do I EVER claim to be an expert. I'll make more ecommendations on this board about the less technical points that come up until I get my Crazy Dad certification. My wife has already nominated me several times over her short 2 year softball career (Former coach pitch hall of famer!!) I think I mentioned that I tested her in the front yard by myself for about , well close to 2 months now. I bought the Hillhouse DVD, borrowed a couple books from a friend whose daughter is advanced beyond the basics, and well, spent countless hours browsing through posts on this forum. I didn't committ to laying out the small fortune it's going to cost to send her to a pitching coach until I was convinced she really wants to do it and is willing to spend the time working and practicing. She did, so I bought in to the lessons. Keep in mind, that video is the best one out of 10. The others were not quite as balanced and smooth. I really took the video so I can have a video of the official start point of the lessons so I can measure her progress. I decided to post it to see how far along she is. When I tell you she's going to wear out the carpet in her bedroom doing that move in front of her mirror by the end of the month, I kid you not. I can't believe her arm is not KILLING her from throwing from 3:00 and 12:00 in the basement against the carpet I hung. It's to the point where I have to tell her to STOP and give her arm a rest. This has been going on for 3 days now since the lesson. After the lesson the coach told me that she did really well in listening and understanding what she was telling her.

I'll work on the Avatar!!
 
Jul 17, 2012
1,086
38
> Not only are we teaching DD's to pitch or catch, with expectation of a higher yielding scholarship and expecting 6 other's to watch & cheer as their shot diminishes because they have no experience in the skills. I now Hopefully, they can hit home runs, and get a half ride. I just say this to bring to your attention that there are other reason for teaching her to focus, and devote her spare time at hurling projectiles at others. Self Defense. The pitching motion is a very effective way of delivering a incapacitating punch to the solar plexus. If she quits pitching, and finds her self in a inner city state community college......( I hope you can finish this for me.) Anyways, not just the motion, but the throwing something can be very effective. I believe, that underhand training came first from grenade throwing study's. Don't quote me...this video is for out fielders, but when you have ran them into a tunnel, some one must be very precise and focused and trained on making the perfect throw at less than 50'

I'll have this self defense conversation with her tonight. Although, my only fear there is that she may decide that she no longer wants to go to her Karate class. "Dad, I don't need Karate anymore. I can just fire a can of soda at someone if they come after me!" And I am relying on her continued interest in Karate. This was secretly a way to get her to improve her strength, flexibility, concentration and balance. She doesn't know that, she thinks it's to practice self defense, (that was an auxillary benefit) but hey... it's a lot easier than getting her to do situps and push ups on a medicine ball!
 
Jul 17, 2012
1,086
38
You never stop the follow through for any reason. Its like a swing, you don't stop at contact do you and say oh gosh I found the contact point? In golf especially they tell you the ball is in the way of the club and it must keep going.

It is a myth that you can feel the release point on a fastball (Faster than a blink), and even if you could (let's say Michele Smith can after thousands of pitches) doing any partial swings (for control especially) will not mimic the real release point that occurs with the legs driving and the full arm swing and follow through. And young kids learn to slow the arm down with this approach. I prefer you learn a peel drop to feel your fingers and balance but that is a later lesson.

In fact, there is a release zone as our friends from NY call it.

Separating the legs from the arms is good for short drills and is a construct to extend lessons. I am glad your daughter went ahead and pitched anyway. You put them right back together again.

Well that's four, sort of.

OK went back. Five sort of. Let the follow through extend to where it wants to go, not some predetermined point (I can understand using a reference so this again could be the kid trying to explain it). It naturally goes across the body if you are open when pitching. As some say, you don't really teach the follow through you teach for it to be there.

OK, last what is this pinky hitting the thigh. I don't like hitting your hip or thigh for any reason. The pinky is the least used finger in pitching. It is for balance on the ball and if your hands are small to help you hold it. That is it's only job.

Just a clarification. She only recommended stoping after release when she was doing the softer 3:00 throws. I think she may have done that because the first 10-15 she was releasing way to late and throwing the ball high left. I think she wanted her to try to stop at her hip so she wouldn't release it late. Just what it sounded like to me. I don't think I was perfectly clear on that.

I assume you call out the release "zone" as opposed to a release point?

She wasn't instructed to actually hit her thigh with her pinky, but rather to use the proximity of her pinky to her thigh as her trigger to release.

On the seperation of the Legs and the throw, I think that's a VERY brief instruct as it came from a question DD asked "What should I practice this week?". DD was incredibly clumsy when she was doing it there. What the instructor showed her differs a little bit from what we had worked on in the front yard. She had her leaping up and out. I was only having her do a very controlled hard stride, not so much an up and out burst. Like I said, DD has been practicing it in her room in front of a mirror for 3 days now, so that may be why she looks like she can put it together. At the time of the lesson, she was clumsy and off balance.
 
Apr 27, 2009
243
18
Just a clarification. She only recommended stoping after release when she was doing the softer 3:00 throws. I think she may have done that because the first 10-15 she was releasing way to late and throwing the ball high left. I think she wanted her to try to stop at her hip so she wouldn't release it late. Just what it sounded like to me. I don't think I was perfectly clear on that.

I assume you call out the release "zone" as opposed to a release point?

She wasn't instructed to actually hit her thigh with her pinky, but rather to use the proximity of her pinky to her thigh as her trigger to release.

On the seperation of the Legs and the throw, I think that's a VERY brief instruct as it came from a question DD asked "What should I practice this week?". DD was incredibly clumsy when she was doing it there. What the instructor showed her differs a little bit from what we had worked on in the front yard. She had her leaping up and out. I was only having her do a very controlled hard stride, not so much an up and out burst. Like I said, DD has been practicing it in her room in front of a mirror for 3 days now, so that may be why she looks like she can put it together. At the time of the lesson, she was clumsy and off balance.

The softer 3:00 throws are a waste of time. Try it yourself and you will throw them high, too. Very hard to control (and I am always unclear where 3:00 is, to me that is behind me in the circle, so yes waste of time). Of course drills without throwing are fine, but you stated you were not allowed to put legs with the arm....not me. I also hate mirrors for this. A golf swing maybe, but not pitching.

If you continue with this train of thought it brings years of misery. I know from being a pitcher. Do not try and release perfectly at the hip. It is a timing thing not a positional thing, so you need to do the pitching in the fullest form possible.

If you MUST not include legs, then do three circles and let go. That helps the kid harness the momentum. However, you do NOT give 2 S---- where the ball goes when doing this drills when first learning them.
 
Last edited:
Jan 4, 2012
3,800
38
OH-IO
You got it!!!! I do the same thing. One of our natural resources is we live 18 min. from "the Don Madden."

Home

The Karate coach for Team USA from (not sure of dates, its all on his site, along with his DD's accomplishments) We live 3 min to one of his #1 Students classes, one of the only fighting instructors in international competition. She can take lessons for $1, as the facility which is donated by a local Dr. And live across the street from that instructors 9 year fighting partner and best friend. I got lotz of video of my DD fighting. Domo-Arigato-Gozamus= Thank You very much(head bowed), Japanese is much harder than greek lol :{)



See Becky go right for the big guy's knee at the end. Thats the stride foot, doing a over 4,500 yr. old move. This is where a lot of Prison guards get there certification....

Not a bad place to do some pitching practice, on a the long, cold winter's night :{))
 
Last edited:
Jul 17, 2012
1,086
38
The softer 3:00 throws are a waste of time. Try it yourself and you will throw them high, too. Very hard to control (and I am always unclear where 3:00 is, to me that is behind me in the circle, so yes waste of time). Of course drills without throwing are fine, but you stated you were not allowed to put legs with the arm....not me. I also hate mirrors for this. A golf swing maybe, but not pitching.

If you continue with this train of thought it brings years of misery. I know from being a pitcher. Do not try and release perfectly at the hip. It is a timing thing not a positional thing, so you need to do the pitching in the fullest form possible.

If you MUST not include legs, then do three circles and let go. That helps the kid harness the momentum. However, you do NOT give 2 S---- where the ball goes when doing this drills when first learning them.
Can you explain the timing aspect or point me to a post that might discuss timing for a beginner? When to release it seems far more difficult to teach a beginer than where. Does that make sense? I'm just thinking from my own perspective.



As for the mirror thing, that's not my recommendation, nor that of the instructor. That's her liking the way she looks!! Vanity if you would...lol
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
42,873
Messages
680,078
Members
21,562
Latest member
Preschuck
Top