Drill Duration

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camibrian

Sponge of knowledge
Jun 2, 2016
22
0
Southern Arizona
Long time lurker, first time poster........

I have a pretty young DD (9) who has been working hard the last 6 weeks, however when I ask her to go run the basic IR drills (lock-it-in and 9 o'clock), she gets extremely bored and doesn't want to do them. She does really well (not perfect) on these drills when she is doing them, however I don't feel like she has truly unlocked the "WHIP". Sometimes I feel like attributing the whip issue with the size of her hands. From what I can see, it appears that her wrist is getting locked and that is not allowing her to fully whip the ball with the looseness that she requires.

Is there a way to make these drills fun for her? How many throws per session do you usually have your students/DDs perform before moving onto something a little more exciting for them?
 
Mar 8, 2017
78
8
I won't offer advice, rather, just our routine.

I'm in a similar situation as you, my DD is also 9 and has also started learning IR about the same time as when you started (right after spring ball ended, we took a short break and started IR in mid May).

We do 5 days per week in the back yard. Our bucket has 22 balls and we do 5 buckets each night (it doesn't start cooling off here in So Cal until around 7pm).

So that it's less monotonous, we split it up and do 1 bucket of pitching, and then a bucket of hitting (so 10 buckets total, it takes us about an hour). I've found that helps motivate her because she loves to hit, and we've also started implementing some drills from Justin Stone's routine so killing two birds with one stone - IR/BI pitching and proper hitting mechanics.

My DD has been one of the standout players in our 8u league since starting last fall, but initially, I didn't try to instill much technique, rather just let her have fun and see where it took her. I didn't want to push too much on her at first out of fear that it would take the fun away from the sport, and I think it was the right call, as now she enjoys working on new stuff if she thinks it's going to help her dominate.

In addition to hitting, I've also thrown in some stuff to keep it fresh. Every other day we do a bucket worth of change up, and occassionally do a bucket worth of riseball spin (not the pitch, but just getting familiar with spin action so she has a better understanding of what the fingers will need to do as she progresses down the road).

I'll add that everything we do is into a tarp. No location, only mechanics, otherwise I think the frustration would drive her crazy. She's actually picked it up quite well and can whip it in pretty good from 35 feet doing a walk in motion. Normally we focus on K position, but we've started incorporating sprinters position (that Rick Pauly uses), as well as Walk in's and parallel power line.

I have no fastpitch coaching background besides assisting on her team, but I do have an extensive athletic background so I have a basic understanding of training muscle memory. I've spent a lot of time here (and few other resources) trying to digest as much as I can, and have been studying some of the elite women's pitchers to gain a better understanding of their mechanical breakdown.

I'm throwing in my two cents, not as any advice, or recommendation, but also because I've been interested to know what others would do in my situation. The local PC that many of the league uses teaches HE, and I refuse to spend time and money on a style which I don't believe will be in her best interest long term, coupled with the fact that I have the time to spend with her, and consider myself capable of doing the job until we find the RIGHT coach for her.
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,350
113
I don't know what drills you're talking about but a huge portion of them are big waste of time. Many teach and reinforce mechanics that we don't want when pitching.

Not all but many parents forget this: Drills are boring. They want to pitch not do drills. I typically only use drills the way I would a Tylenol. I only take it when I'm in pain... and would only do drills to fix a problem.

Also, it's easy to forget that on average we get 1 minute per year of age for kids. So, have her focus on what shes doing for 10 min, then take a break. Like a game, nobody is pitching 60 solid minutes unless they're having the worst inning of their life!!! One of the major pieces of bad intel out there is that throwing 300 pitches will build stamina. If she's tired or bored after 150, then the other half will be a waste of time. They will get sloppy and lose focus. I speak this from experience. In my own career, I spent 10 straight years playing year round softball (maybe a month off in between) going to my team in the USA and my club in New Zealand. When I didn't go to NZ, I would try to pitch as much as I could, even with a "softie" ball in the YMCA gym. But nothing can prepare them for games except games. Keep your practices within your DD's attention span... not yours.

Bill
 

camibrian

Sponge of knowledge
Jun 2, 2016
22
0
Southern Arizona
I won't offer advice, rather, just our routine.

I'm in a similar situation as you, my DD is also 9 and has also started learning IR about the same time as when you started (right after spring ball ended, we took a short break and started IR in mid May).

We do 5 days per week in the back yard. Our bucket has 22 balls and we do 5 buckets each night (it doesn't start cooling off here in So Cal until around 7pm).

So that it's less monotonous, we split it up and do 1 bucket of pitching, and then a bucket of hitting (so 10 buckets total, it takes us about an hour). I've found that helps motivate her because she loves to hit, and we've also started implementing some drills from Justin Stone's routine so killing two birds with one stone - IR/BI pitching and proper hitting mechanics.

My DD has been one of the standout players in our 8u league since starting last fall, but initially, I didn't try to instill much technique, rather just let her have fun and see where it took her. I didn't want to push too much on her at first out of fear that it would take the fun away from the sport, and I think it was the right call, as now she enjoys working on new stuff if she thinks it's going to help her dominate.

In addition to hitting, I've also thrown in some stuff to keep it fresh. Every other day we do a bucket worth of change up, and occassionally do a bucket worth of riseball spin (not the pitch, but just getting familiar with spin action so she has a better understanding of what the fingers will need to do as she progresses down the road).

I'll add that everything we do is into a tarp. No location, only mechanics, otherwise I think the frustration would drive her crazy. She's actually picked it up quite well and can whip it in pretty good from 35 feet doing a walk in motion. Normally we focus on K position, but we've started incorporating sprinters position (that Rick Pauly uses), as well as Walk in's and parallel power line.

I have no fastpitch coaching background besides assisting on her team, but I do have an extensive athletic background so I have a basic understanding of training muscle memory. I've spent a lot of time here (and few other resources) trying to digest as much as I can, and have been studying some of the elite women's pitchers to gain a better understanding of their mechanical breakdown.

I'm throwing in my two cents, not as any advice, or recommendation, but also because I've been interested to know what others would do in my situation. The local PC that many of the league uses teaches HE, and I refuse to spend time and money on a style which I don't believe will be in her best interest long term, coupled with the fact that I have the time to spend with her, and consider myself capable of doing the job until we find the RIGHT coach for her.

Thank you for responding with your routine. We are in Southern Arizona, so I definitely know about the heat this time of year. I set up the net under a covered patio to give us a little shade while we throw into the net. I wish that I had the setup to allow for hitting also, but those aspects of her game are only available on the weekend when we get up early to head to the ball field to get some reps in.
 

camibrian

Sponge of knowledge
Jun 2, 2016
22
0
Southern Arizona
I don't know what drills you're talking about but a huge portion of them are big waste of time. Many teach and reinforce mechanics that we don't want when pitching.

Not all but many parents forget this: Drills are boring. They want to pitch not do drills. I typically only use drills the way I would a Tylenol. I only take it when I'm in pain... and would only do drills to fix a problem.

Also, it's easy to forget that on average we get 1 minute per year of age for kids. So, have her focus on what shes doing for 10 min, then take a break. Like a game, nobody is pitching 60 solid minutes unless they're having the worst inning of their life!!! One of the major pieces of bad intel out there is that throwing 300 pitches will build stamina. If she's tired or bored after 150, then the other half will be a waste of time. They will get sloppy and lose focus. I speak this from experience. In my own career, I spent 10 straight years playing year round softball (maybe a month off in between) going to my team in the USA and my club in New Zealand. When I didn't go to NZ, I would try to pitch as much as I could, even with a "softie" ball in the YMCA gym. But nothing can prepare them for games except games. Keep your practices within your DD's attention span... not yours.

Bill

Thank you for taking the time to write a reply and I hope you are feeling better.

The drills we run are just to ingrain the concept of palm-up'ish at 9'oclock and pulling the inside of the elbow/forearm into the side to ensure that those mechanics exist within DDs pitching motion. I have been attempting to get her to do 15-20 of these with the proper body alignment and weight transfer as a warm up routine prior to switching into push and drag throws into the net.

My original post was just to get a feel for how others treat the drills (for lack of a better term) in Board Member's "I/R in the Classroom" thread. How many balls they have their students/DDs throwing these and whether or not they only do those until perfected. That "was" the path I was taking, however DD was getting really frustrated and bored only doing these every session therefore we started to incorporate actual pitching motions after the drills were completed.

I agree that quality is greater than quantity.

Again....thanks for responding
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
What happens when your DD does a glove snap? More than likely you will see some pretty good IR. Also when she does the drills is it to a catcher or into a tarp? Try using a tarp from about 5 feet. Have her make the tarp pop as loud as possible. She is more likely to whip harder since she will not be concerned about where the ball is headed. Go back and forth between the glove snap and the tarp. You may want to do this a couple of times a day for 10 minutes over 3-5 days before progressing. This is really a Do Not Pass Go! Do Not Collect $200! part of learning to pitch. Remember at this point she is learning to throw underhand, not how to pitch. Until we learn how to throw underhand we cannot learn how to pitch. If you take the time to get this right on the front end you will save a ton of time and frustration on the back end.
 
Last edited:

camibrian

Sponge of knowledge
Jun 2, 2016
22
0
Southern Arizona
What happens when your DD does a glove snap? More than likely you will see some pretty good IR. Also when she does the drills is it to a catcher or into a tarp? Try using a tarp from about 5 feet. Have her make the tarp pop as loud as possible. She is more likely to whip harder since she will not be concerned about where the ball is headed. Go back and forth between the glove snap and the tarp. You may want to do this a couple of times a day for 10 minutes over 3-5 days before progressing. This is really a Do Not Pass Go! Do Not Collect $200! part of learning to pitch. Remember at this point she is learning to throw underhand, not how to pitch. Until we learn how to throw underhand we cannot learn how to pitch. If you take the time to get this right on the front end you will save a ton of time and frustration on the back end.

We have attempted to glove snap with no success. DD still isn't confident with her catching skills, so she spends more time thinking about taking the glove to the ball than whipping the ball into the glove. Currently we are pitching into a net, but I believe I may put up a tarp in front of the net tonight and see if she can make it pop.

Most of our work has been into a net, but we have occasionally played underhand toss or full motion pitching just to see where we are. We are really still just beginning and I definitely have the mentality that learning to throw first is very important. Still the question keeps creeping into my mind.....how perfect does the underhand throw have to be before you start focusing on the bigger picture? Does DD have to have full whip or is proper arm position (palm-up at 9) more important?

Our journey is just beginning and I appreciate the input and knowledge of those that are farther along.

P.S....sure wish DD and I could have made it to Tucson to see your DD pitch.
 

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