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Jul 21, 2015
167
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My 10yo daughter wants to start pitching this season. We've been practicing just playing catch underhand starting at around 15 feet and working our way out to about 85-90 feet. Her accuracy has improved immensely in just a couple weeks. I've also just recently had her start trying BM's "Lock it In". I guess my plan is to just have her work through the IR progressions (Lock it in, 9:00 drill, Magician, and Liberty) before we even begin working on drive and lower half.

Games don't start until late May, but we have a lot of work to do. So we could track progress, I clocked her on the Pocket Radar ball coach and she's throwing mostly in the 32-34mph range.

Any other thoughts on things we should be doing right now to get her on the right track besides the IR drills I mentioned?
 
Last edited:

JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
sounds like you have a good plan. The one thing the I/R drills don't mention a lot is brush though, you can see BM do it in the drills but it is not emphasized in the write ups much, so just be sure she has good posture and brushes well and with time and practice she will be a pitcher.
Don't give up, don't get frustrated, make it fun, have her throw hard and see where it takes you.

Three years ago I was you and my DD was your DD, just last week I got in contact with the German Junior National Women's team about DD playing with them later this summer (she is a dual citizen)...so she has a real possibility of going over to her German family for a couple of months and playing teams all over Europe while her Grandma sits in the stands and says "bespricht mine Grundater" or whatever the German equivalent of "that's my grand daughter" is.
 
Jun 18, 2010
2,624
38
If I had it to do all over again from 10U,

I would put my pocket radar in a drawer and forget about it for a few years. I became obsessed with a number, and DD would stress every time I'd get it out.

I would set up a net in the garage and work the A and B quadrant until we had really good arm whip and BI.

I would play a lot of underhand casual catch.

I would not take the shotgun approach and try and fix everything in one practice.

I would emphasize the fun aspects of practice and spending time together.

I would treat her to Dairy Queen after every practice.



e17pc3.jpg
 
Last edited:
Jan 8, 2013
334
18
South Carolina
If I had it to do all over again from 10U,

I would put my pocket radar in a drawer and forget about it for a few years. I became obsessed with a number, and DD would stress every time I'd get it out.

I would set up a net in the garage and work the A and B quadrant until we had really good arm whip and BI.

I would play a lot of underhand casual catch.

I would not take the shotgun approach and try and fix everything in one practice.

I would emphasize the fun aspects of practice and spending time together.

I would treat her to Dairy Queen after every practice.

VERY WELL STATED! I think most of us would do things a little different if we could go back. I couldn't agree more...put up the gun for now.
 
Jul 21, 2015
167
16
Good stuff so far. Thanks.

I get what you guys are saying about the pocket radar, but she loves seeing quantifiable improvement. It motivates her and actually makes her want to get out and practice more. The Zepp did the same thing with her swing.
 
Feb 17, 2014
551
28
One thing you are doing right is learning IR from the start. DD was a HE pitcher until about 6 months ago. I wish she had learned IR from the start. DD is almost there with IR. I'm really looking forward to having Rick Pauly and the rest of the coaches evaluate and help her in a few weeks at the Indiana clinic. If you are close, I recommend getting to the beginner's clinic if you can.
 
Jul 20, 2013
71
8
BM's drills are good the only thing I don't like about that route is that there is a lot of talk in threads that people ask for their own personal situations and it really clogs up the template info that drips out. Yes, the side talk has good bits and gems of course but there are times where you want the info straight and in a highly digestible format.

Therefore when it came to IR and arm whip (this time around...long story) I just purchased some videos ala carte on paulygirlfastpitch.com and they were available to download within 24 hours. Rick Pauly is respected here and the videos are cheap enough, detailed, and provide progressions etc. There are similarities to their teaching and of course differences but the goal is IR, release points are the same, etc. You can see samples on youtube if you search paulygirl or sarah pauly I believe.

No more reading through posts 17+ pages of agree, disagree, please explain anatomy and physics planes, my DD needs help with this, try that, etc. Don't get me wrong, you can get the basic starting info and then some for sure, but you need a lot of time to sift through it and organize it for yourself. I also like BM's stuff as well, I just wish it was in a "wiki" format separated from the discussion portion, and doing that would require some man hours lol.
 
Nov 12, 2013
417
18
maritimes
MountiesSB put together this page that cleans up the I/R in the Classroom thread very well:

BoardMember's I/R in the Classroom


is there a way to save that document that keeps the gif's?
 

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