- May 10, 2022
- 2
- 3
I’ll answer in 2 ways, long term and short term.
Long term, it’s about developing pitching earlier. This means moving on from coach pitch earlier and encouraging girls to pitch earlier. Walks are no fun, but also an absolutely necessary phase of development pitcher development. Also, young girls don’t swing the bat and umpires call 12U strike zones in 8U. Start in 6u on identifying athletes and introducing girls to pitching. It’s a numbers game. The best way is to make it fun and gamify it, not doing drills and isolating mechanics. Young kids just need to throw windmill style and be encouraged to throw it hard. I like putting a 12” ball on a tee and just have young girls try to knock it off.
Short term in 10U. I’d focus on parent commitment and implementing pitcher clinics. Collaborate with local pitching coaches to hold low-cost camps and get the girls and mom/dad to understand pitching requires regimented practice. There’s a direct correlation b/w quality reps done frequently and the growth that happens in 2-3 months. Giving the girls and parents a structured approach to practice will go a long way, it has to become a routine. Then it’s up to the parents to “encourage” and be there to catch when the player asks. My observation is a lot of girls really want to pitch, those girls will get better, but the ones who get consistently really good are the ones with the parents supporting the effort 100%.
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Long term, it’s about developing pitching earlier. This means moving on from coach pitch earlier and encouraging girls to pitch earlier. Walks are no fun, but also an absolutely necessary phase of development pitcher development. Also, young girls don’t swing the bat and umpires call 12U strike zones in 8U. Start in 6u on identifying athletes and introducing girls to pitching. It’s a numbers game. The best way is to make it fun and gamify it, not doing drills and isolating mechanics. Young kids just need to throw windmill style and be encouraged to throw it hard. I like putting a 12” ball on a tee and just have young girls try to knock it off.
Short term in 10U. I’d focus on parent commitment and implementing pitcher clinics. Collaborate with local pitching coaches to hold low-cost camps and get the girls and mom/dad to understand pitching requires regimented practice. There’s a direct correlation b/w quality reps done frequently and the growth that happens in 2-3 months. Giving the girls and parents a structured approach to practice will go a long way, it has to become a routine. Then it’s up to the parents to “encourage” and be there to catch when the player asks. My observation is a lot of girls really want to pitch, those girls will get better, but the ones who get consistently really good are the ones with the parents supporting the effort 100%.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk