My DD is 11U or has one more year of 12U next spring but she has been pitching for over 4 years. Over the course of this time I have noticed a direct correlation to the more often she throws the faster she gets. As an example, last year she pitched for two concurrent week long tournaments so for those 2 weeks she threw almost every day but on a restricted pitch count. At the end of the 2 weeks she had picked up about 4 mph. This year she is faster than last year but has not had a big jump in speed. She has pitched on a regular practice schedule of about twice a week but because of her new teams schedule the weekend tournament time has been less rigorous.
My question is as a longer term goal of building speed for high school years does it makes sense to increase pitching time now or does it not matter. In other words if she pitches more now and gets faster in the short term does 1) the speed sticks with her and she will get even faster as she practices in older years, or 2) it doesn't matter she can pick up the same amount of speed by pitching on a more rigorous schedule at an older age.
Obviously there is also a balance between getting better and protecting against an overuse injury.
My question is as a longer term goal of building speed for high school years does it makes sense to increase pitching time now or does it not matter. In other words if she pitches more now and gets faster in the short term does 1) the speed sticks with her and she will get even faster as she practices in older years, or 2) it doesn't matter she can pick up the same amount of speed by pitching on a more rigorous schedule at an older age.
Obviously there is also a balance between getting better and protecting against an overuse injury.