Strikes vs speed 10U

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halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
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At 10u, success is spelled by strikes and strike outs. If they strikle the batter out they were successful, if not they werenot successful winning that little battle in the war.

A pitcher becomes great by defeating great hitters. That applies to every age, even adults. If they face only mediocre batters, the pitchers will not progress as quickly as they could.

My team started practicing a few months befor the other teams. Come first tourney, we were ready for battle and the others were not.

When it comes to booties gettin kicked at tournaments, ''It is much better to give than to receive'.


Now that I have said that, I have always believed in accuray AND speed being taught at the same time. Going out and pitching hard and hoping accuracy will follow soon after,,, that does NOT make for a pitcher with confidence.
 
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JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
Concentrate on mechanics at 10U. Build a solid foundation and speed and accuracy will follow. I have seen too many pitchers who learn to throw strikes or throw hard with flawed mechanics and they are washed up by 14U.
 
Dec 3, 2012
636
16
West Coast
JAD, I have seen others also post that many of the best pitchers at 10U and 12U go away by 14U. It makes sence what your saying that if they do don't have control and speed by 14U they are not going to cut it at that level of play. I would think that if they have both speed and accuracy at 10U then they should be able to be competitive for awhile.
 
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Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
Don't focus on wins. Don't let it creep into your head. Do this for the girls and rejoice when one of them "gets it."

Unfortunately, most of the 10 rec coaches are parents who do not understand this concept. They are learning at the same speed as their daughters and most of the time know only a fraction more about the game than their daughters. The can't see 6 years or further down the road. They rarely look beyond the next game.
 
Jan 14, 2013
13
1
My daughter is nine and our pitching coach was a D-1 all-american. She has our daughter focusing on mechanics and form. Speed will come with time, once you master the mechanics you will produce more speed just based on great mechaincs. My daughter is now throwing in the 40-45 mph range and it is all due to great mechanics in my opinion.
 
Jan 10, 2013
68
0
Maryland
My DD was one of those girls at 10u (she didn't start playing SB until she was 8, played BB for 3 years prior) that threw hard but wild. She pitched maybe 5 games in her 2 years in 10u because the coaches didn't want a fast "wild" pitcher on the mound. 4 of those 5 games came at the end of the 2nd 10u season when the coach noticed improvement.

My DD had indoor workouts with her rec org, and at those I started working on her on mechanics and control. When the made the jump from 35ft to 40 ft for 12u, DD was one of the only girls in the league that could throw that far and had much more control from that distance. By the 2nd year of 12u she was the dominate pitcher on not 1 but 2 rec leagues. (played on 2 diff rec teams) and was pitching for a 14u C team in the fall as well.

Its all about repetition and mechanics. Do not make them slow down. I can tell you the one time a coach asked DD to slow down, she nailed 4 batters in a row and was subsequently pulled.

DD is now 13 and is in her second year of 14u TB and is her teams #1 pitcher. She almost gave up on pitching because of the never allowed to pitch because of being "wild" at 10u.

My recomendation: Pull the pitchers aside at practice if you can. We make it a point to pull each pitcher aside with a catcher to get a pitching workout in. I know you are 10u so this may not be as simple as it is at 14u, but it would help greatly. If you don't have the ability to pull them aside during practice than either have pitchers and catcher show up 30 minutes before practice or stay 30 minutes after practice to get reps in.
 

halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
0
I have seen a tall 10u pitcher that threw ridiculously fast. Game started and she hit the first 5 batters in the ankles, one was a more serious injury than the others.

The plate ump called her coach over and said "This young pitcher is dangerous, you must take her out of the circle" The coach said the umpire cannot do that.The umpire then said "I am ordering to replace as she is hurting players" The cooach again refused. The ump then threw him out of the and the park for unsportsmanlike conduct. That ump got a standing ovation from one side of the bleachers.

Throw hard and accuracy will come??? Great speed without good accuracy can send kids home with bruises and other injuries.
 
Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
I think most here are essentially on the same page.

-Form is the foundation.
-Speed is a result of good form.
-Control comes from practicing good form.

I don't believe anyone advocates telling kids to throw hard and the rest will follow. Of course we have to slow things down from time to time to isolate or emphasize something, but when the full motion is in place, we can't ask our kids to slow it down or the sequence and form will break down as well. The speed will be determined by the mechanics. The bottom line is that we can teach one form that will get us slow strikes. Or we can focus on the mechanics, which just so happens to give us speed, then practice to get control. Am I on track?
 
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halskinner

Banned
May 7, 2008
2,681
0
"I think most here are essentially on the same page.

-Form is the foundation.
-Speed is a result of good form.
-Control comes from practicing good form. "


If only there were not a thousand different opinions of what 'Good form' is :)
 

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