10U Pitching HELP

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Jul 6, 2021
23
3
My DD in her second 10u season with this past spring brings her first season in travel. She started off the season really well. She was throwing 47 mph consistently and nailing her spots, even threw a couple no hitters. But things gradually started getting worse. Now she can barely hit 43 mph and is struggling to throw a strike. At first I chalked it up as just a slump. She hit a big growth spurt so maybe she was just struggling to regain control. But as the weeks go on, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am getting beyond frustrated to continue paying for lessons (she has an phenomenal and well educated pitching coach btw) when she is getting worse day by day. 12U is less than a month away and afraid she just won't make it as a pitcher. I honestly don't know what type of advice I am looking for. Her pitching coach says to be patient, but it's hard when she was such a dominant pitcher to now not being able to handle one inning.

Has anyone else gone through something similar with their DD? I'm all ears.
 
Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
Not there yet for my daughter, but I've read multiple threads where growth spurts throw pitching mechanics out of whack. Usually it's the changes that come later (i.e. where'd this hip come from, and how do I throw around it?), but having witnessed a wide range of 10U and 12U players (did she drive herself to the game? what do they feed them in that other county?), I wouldn't rule out the current growth spurt.

Easiest way is to compare video from a few months ago to now. Somethings happened mechanically that likely caused her to lose her whip. Has the PC made any changes to her motion recently, or has she been with the PC the whole time?
 
Apr 6, 2017
328
28
We never had those exact problems. If she loves pitching I’d stay the coarse.
Parents a lot of times have different ideas than Dd. I backed off my girl
so she wouldn’t burn out. She’ll turn 15 in September and still loves softball.
Good luck
 
May 21, 2018
567
93
My DD in her second 10u season with this past spring brings her first season in travel. She started off the season really well. She was throwing 47 mph consistently and nailing her spots, even threw a couple no hitters. But things gradually started getting worse. Now she can barely hit 43 mph and is struggling to throw a strike. At first I chalked it up as just a slump. She hit a big growth spurt so maybe she was just struggling to regain control. But as the weeks go on, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am getting beyond frustrated to continue paying for lessons (she has an phenomenal and well educated pitching coach btw) when she is getting worse day by day. 12U is less than a month away and afraid she just won't make it as a pitcher. I honestly don't know what type of advice I am looking for. Her pitching coach says to be patient, but it's hard when she was such a dominant pitcher to now not being able to handle one inning.

Has anyone else gone through something similar with their DD? I'm all ears.
Yes, had almost the identical thing happen at the same age. Oddly enough, what fixed the problem, was an injury caused her to have to almost start over. She could always throw good hard pitches warming up, it was when she went to full wind up that caused her problems.

After her injury, she really tamed down her wind up and drive out, this lead to an almost overnight increase in pitching speed and effectiveness. So basically, for about 3 weeks she focused on just stepping out and throwing "slow to fast" if that make sense. Before she was trying way to hard (rushing) at the beginning of the drive and wind up and none of this energy was getting transferred to the actual pitch.

Her first tournament back was one of those U-trip "all state" tournaments and as a first year 12u pitcher she struck out every batter she faced. I don't mention the to brag, :cool: but to illustrate that things can change rapidly at that age so don't get too discouraged.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
We never experienced that. We've just had slow, steady progression.

Does she have a pitching coach?
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
I’m curious to know what she is being taught? I can’t say I’ve ever seen that much of a drop in speed unless someone threw in a monkey wrench.
 

JOHNN

Just a dad of 3 girls
Aug 5, 2019
375
43
South Louisiana
While it could be caused by the growth spurt, it almost sounds like the yips.

I know this isn't what you want to resort to, but have you tried just having her do very basic pitching drills just to get the muscle memory back and without any worry of throwing for speed or accuracy?
 
Jun 26, 2019
256
43
A couple things, from a dad that is only as far or less along as you:

1. Look closely at video if you have it, that may tell you something. I think she probably picked up a bad habit that the coach is missing, ma

2. Look at her eyes. My dd, simalor age, has a bad habit of looking down as she is releasing, when she does that, some crazy $&@!? Happens. I have never had a coach look for this, they are looking for form, and trying to watch multiple things at once, it’s easy to miss one.

3. Dont be afraid to get a second opinion from a different coach. My dd has been shuffled between coaches due to availability, and life in general for both coaches and us, and each one has had things they watch closely and things they do not seem to look as closely for, and each explain things differently. I have seen the same thing click because it was explained differently, and I will not say “better” because a different girl may have understood the first coach better.
 

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