Parents of older pitchers, what do you know now that you wish you knew when it first started.

For my daughter it was something that she developed with hours of practicing form and she had the catching net with strike zone to help set the area.

So much of it is muscle memory from repetition.

One thing I can say that might be the opposite of others is I saw a ton of girls throw hard but not throw strikes early on and the ones that slowed down to throw strikes then implemented it into their normal style then learned how to throw hard for strikes. I think those that focused on throwing hard found it extremely difficult to do so and develop control. That is why I emphasized control at an early age because if you throw hard but do not throw strikes it is useless. I see a lot of girls even at 16u throw hard but fall behind consistently and then slow down to throw strikes and get hit hard.

Great thread guys! My DD is a 2010 pitcher (finishing 1st year of 10U) and I’ve found many of these posts helpful. We recently switched to IR (shout out to Powerhouse Mechanics!) and I’ve seen improvement in velocity and accuracy, but my DD still doesn’t quite get the WHIP. Is the 9 o’clock drill (awesome video instruction) the best way to emphasize the burst at the end of the arm circle?

Speed vs control always need to be balanced and there is no 'cookie cutter' approach for this. A pitcher with a 'measured' delivery who collapses a little on landing and/or steers or pushes the ball into release for the sake of control will eventually have to relearn part or all of her motion. One of my more talented girls has a decent change, an offspeed curve and a little rise ball that is on the slow side but floats a lot. She is a real competitor and throws faster in games than in practice. The problem that she has is that with her 'faster' game mechanics she loses the grip a little on all three of those pitches and can't control them. We work on this in our sessions but it's tough to tell her to throw me your 'hard change up' or 'fast off speed' curve. We have 'game speed' segments but for her it's not the same. The further up the ladder you go the more explosive, almost violent, the pitching motion becomes.

I just joined this community looking for posts like this (and for a million other topics/questions/etc) and felt the urge to post in this topic.

My DD is an '08 (April) and has only been pitching two years. 1 year of 10u and 1 year of 12u. Her growth from start to now has been incredible. We've been very fortunate to have found a pitching coach who is great and, from my limited experience, is instructing the position the right away. His reputation proceeds him and I've yet to hear anyone say a bad thing about him. Not only does he focus on proper mechanics but really works on the mental side as well.

Okay, getting to my point..... while my DD is not "older" I definitely have advise for anyone who has a pitcher the same age or is starting out now.

My main pieces of advise (because I wish someone had told me at the start):

- Be Patient. Throwing underhand is hard (at first). Its uncomfortable and she might as well be throwing left handed for how awkward it feels at first. Nothing about pitching a softball feels normal at first.

- Help her feel free to make mistakes and learn from them. Both in practice and in game. The sooner she understands even Elite pitchers make mistakes the better of she will be. I've come to find that pitchers feel the need to be perfect every single pitch. And, while that needs to be a goal, its impossible and younger pitchers don't understand the balance.

- Continually set goals and make it fun for her while she works to achieve them. Educate yourself on the position best that you can. The more you learn and know the better you can help her at home. I actually took up pitching and have learned the position myself to better help my DD. And will hopefully join a Men's league this Spring.

- The more you can do to make her feel comfortable working and throwing her hardest in game the better. Yes, sometimes slowing down to work on a specific piece of mechanics is important. But, the more she feels okay to throw full speed the better. When on the rubber she will feel pressure. She will feel like EVERYONE is watching her. Because they are. I found that helping her focus on her job one pitch at a time aided in tuning that out. The coaching staff also helped with making her feel comfortable to just "throw".

- Remember.....there are no scouts in the stands at 10u or 12u. Or....at least around these parts. The most important part is that she's having fun. If that's happening then (hopefully) she wants to continue doing it and work to get better.

HunterMO said:

I actually took up pitching and have learned the position myself to better help my DD. And will hopefully join a Men's league this Spring.

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I don't know you, or where you are, but this is the single greatest thing I think I've ever read on this forum. Congratulations.

Hillhouse said:

I don't know you, or where you are, but this is the single greatest thing I think I've ever read on this forum. Congratulations.

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Ha - thank you. I appreciate the comment. We both have used your website and videos A LOT. Especuallyas she began taking pitching serious. And still go back to them to help work out kinks or as a refresher. The pitching coach we see (and other parents who use him) turned us on to your resources. And he preaches a very similar message.

It’s really allowed us to share in the love/hate that is pitching and bond. The most fun is making competitions for each other.

If the person talking in your ear cant explain what there saying dont listen to it. If you ask a question and it gets ignored walk away.