HE vs. IR apprehensive of switching 9yr. old

DD switched to IR 14 months ago and never looked back. First 2-3 months were rough( breaking HE habits) but long term this is the only way to go

The hand itself would have to be free of actual contact you are correct that it should be the inside of the forearm reference pic below. Absolutely switch now...the thing is regardless of what they are taught or how they word things almost every pitcher at the elite level pitches IR whether they admit it or not because it is the most effective and efficient way to pitch.

Let me just encourage you don't be apprehensive. We did it at 12 and it was somewhat tough but so worth it. We played a team in HS ball last night whose pitcher was probably 15 and still throwing HE and it was absolutely painful to watch her struggle compared with the other pitchers on the fields. Obviously some HE pitchers end up finding I/R on their own, but this girl obviously hadn't and it was really sad to see her frustration with out a regular release point, with mechanics that didn't support what she was trying to do with the ball, etc. What is cute and good for her level at 9 is not acceptable at 15 and it's much harder to change later.

cjrenick said:

My daughter is 9 and will hopefully start pitching in 10U this fall. She has done lessons the last 1.5 yrs. and has been taught hello elbow, did not know what it was called until doing research on IR. Due to scheduling issues we can't go to her instructor anymore. We recently started with a new instructor and he teaches IR. Needless to say the first lesson was very hard for my daughter. I am a little apprehensive of making the switch. Please correct me if I am wrong, but with IR it is more natural and puts less strain on shoulder of pitchers. This seems like a good enough reason to go on with the switch. The other thing I have found is that it sounds like it will allow for better speed as she gets older. What would be the pros or cons of switching?

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At 9YO why would you consider a delay in her learning to pitch correctly? Which is more important short-term success this Fall in 10U, or long-term success for the rest of her softball career? Switch your daughter now and do not look back!

I am seeing this exact same thing with a 14 year old girl on my daughters school ball team. seems to have 'maxed' out the HE. This kid is a top notch athlete and really good to all sport. She works hard as a pitcher and seems to have peeked at 53mph. Overall she has regressed from last year. I watch and shutter and think that i could have her throwing 60 right now with some proper IR. School ball coach teaches HE and her family is a school ball only family.

Side note: HS coach starts all practices with the wrist flips. My girls do the 'lock it' drill. I talked to him about switching to IR so he doesnt do anything with my girls. It works well for all of us. He is a great guy and i really like him. All he knows is HE and doesnt want to change or doesnt know how to change. he had 1 IR girl go through his program and she was quite wild. Thus that whole IR system causes wildness

Played up in first 10U tourney this weekend. She pitched 2 innings and had a much better outing. Ended up striking out 4-5 batters. She still has a lot of work to do, but this weekend definitely helped her confidence. Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement. I am certain we made the right choice to switch. I will try to get some videos so we can get some other critiques of what she needs to work on. It is funny because now our whole team looks like they want to pitch, lol. Almost every girl on the team was pitching to one another between games.

She's nine years old for heck's sake. I can guarantee you she hasn't mastered HE yet either. Pitching isn't easy nor is it for the faint of heart. If you're looking to teach her how to take the easy road then pitching is probably not in the cards. Just to become a decent mid-level HS pitcher in a competitive area is a couple of years at least of some very hard and dedicated work. Shaping arm mechanics and drive mechanics is literally years of telling and showing a girl she doesn't have it quite right yet. All the while remaining positive, encouraging them, getting them to love the game and the practice necessary to become a credible pitcher. High level HS pitching, much less travel ball or college pitching, isn't for everyone. Converting someone in HS to IR after years of HE is a monumental and damn near impossible task. IR arm mechanics is fairly easy actually; perfecting drive mechanics...that's a tough nut. In the beginning, first year or two, I probably spend more time on having them perfect drive mechanics than IR. Once the drive mechanics are decent then it's back to arm/wrist/finger mechanics. What I just described is a three year process of dedicated work. Pitching is work. Taking the mound is play.

Two weeks ago I took on another student, nine years old. Had her throwing with IR after one practice. A ten year old I'm working with is struggling to capture the IR whip. Had another girl show up, never been to a pitching coach, ninth grader, throws with IR. Everything else is a disaster. She's a two year project. I tell all of my pitchers and parents the same...this is hard work, showing up week after week, year after year. Most of the time, except at the elite level, dedication wins out over talent. At the elite level--it is dedication and talent. Talent alone will never a pitcher make.

Short story, my DD started learning IR at 8u. Never got to pitch till 10u - she was the starting pitcher. Moved up to 12u (she's still old enough for 10u at the time) she beat out 2 older, starting pitchers who use HE.

Now, she's playing with another team for the state tournament and looks much better than their starting pitcher. If I could've known more, dedicated more time, more energy, more love, to my DD's pitching...I'd go back and just give it more. I honestly feel bad for the HE pitchers I've seen along the way, most don't pitch anymore or aren't as quick as they used to be.

Cons - every coach will want to "correct" you and your DD. No matter how impressive or better your DD is than their current or upcoming pitchers...coaches will tell you it's lucky she got that far and so forth. In my experience this is a control issue, if the coach has a lack of knowledge on how to help/control the pitcher than it's a mistake, bad form, and so forth. Also, coaches more or less aren't able to contribute to the building of the player so they can't fully "trust" them is what I also learned. They all want and mean well, but you know how that can go. There's definitely a learning curve, you'll see a lot of low outside, grounders, hitting RH batters, etc.

Pros - you'll see the speed, natural drop, etc. all happen very naturally. When you learn the finer details about the bone structure in our arms and shoulder, it will be like a scientific light bulb. I also enjoy the ease of "grips" that IR seems to limit you to...I used to get so tired of the endless grip variations for change, drop, curve, etc. With IR it's very straight forward imo which makes it easier to teach as someone who never grew up playing softball. Everything else at least lower-half stays the same so all you're really working is upper half so at least other coaches can relate there and help/contribute.

Anybody have any advice on drills to help with release point? She is doing pretty well with the transition to IR , however she is having a lot of high balls. Normally most everything is across the plate, but they are high balls. Sometimes over the catchers head. She is starting to get frustrated with it.

I forgot to add that when she is doing lock it in, 9 o'clock, and 12 o'clock she is money. It is just when she goes into full pitch that the release is an issue.