My DD spent 3 years (8U and 10U) pitching with a hello elbow style motion. I then worked to convert her to I/R with the help of the Hillhouse videos (a life saver), stickies on this forum, and by watching slow motion video on YouTube (Ueno, Osterman, Pauly, etc.). I'd say we got her 3/4 converted and she pitched that way for the 2 years of 12U. In the last 3 months we've been working on converting her the rest of the way, and to my untrained eye it seems like she's getting there (but I'm sure there is stuff I'm missing).
The problem we are hitting, is that her speed has dropped off since converting the last part of her motion. At the end of 12U she was pitching around 45mph, but since the conversion she's pitching about 40mph. She's 13, 5' 8", and is fairly strong (gymnast and other sports) so I'd think we should be able to get her up into the high 40's or low 50's based on other girls her age we've pitched with.
I have a few questions for the group, feel free to give feedback on 1 or all:
1. Based on the videos below, do you guys see anything in her motion that could be hurting her speed? Or do we just need to give her a few more months of getting used to the motion so that her timing is down, muscles are stronger, and she doesn't have to think as much when pitching?
2. Are there certain body types that don't do as well with I/R? I always think of her as having more strength than flexibility if that makes sense.
3. For pitchers who pitch at high speeds, what percentage is good form and what percentage is body type? Like do some people just have more fast twitch muscles (or whatever) and their speed can't be taught?
Just to be clear speed is not our main focus, we work on accuracy, spin, etc. too. The reason for the post is just that her speed has dropped off and is at the point where she'd be in the bottom 20% (I'd guess) of the girls pitching in her age group and I'd like to help her bring it back up.
Thanks in advance, love the forum and all of the info you guys provide!
Jim
The problem we are hitting, is that her speed has dropped off since converting the last part of her motion. At the end of 12U she was pitching around 45mph, but since the conversion she's pitching about 40mph. She's 13, 5' 8", and is fairly strong (gymnast and other sports) so I'd think we should be able to get her up into the high 40's or low 50's based on other girls her age we've pitched with.
I have a few questions for the group, feel free to give feedback on 1 or all:
1. Based on the videos below, do you guys see anything in her motion that could be hurting her speed? Or do we just need to give her a few more months of getting used to the motion so that her timing is down, muscles are stronger, and she doesn't have to think as much when pitching?
2. Are there certain body types that don't do as well with I/R? I always think of her as having more strength than flexibility if that makes sense.
3. For pitchers who pitch at high speeds, what percentage is good form and what percentage is body type? Like do some people just have more fast twitch muscles (or whatever) and their speed can't be taught?
Just to be clear speed is not our main focus, we work on accuracy, spin, etc. too. The reason for the post is just that her speed has dropped off and is at the point where she'd be in the bottom 20% (I'd guess) of the girls pitching in her age group and I'd like to help her bring it back up.
Thanks in advance, love the forum and all of the info you guys provide!
Jim