Building a pitcher

[Ken B]

I wish there was a simple, step-by-step set of drills that anyone could use to build a pitcher. I work with 20-25 girls a week and find that no two kids are exactly alike. Every girl has different strengths, varying degrees of body awareness, experience, previous ideas or instruction..., and the list goes on...

Today I had a brand new kiddo who'd never pitched before. She had great posture and whip with brush, so we went straight to the 2-step and circle rules. She rocked it like a kid who's been pitching for years. She is 8 years old. These sessions are rare... I have others who have deeply ingrained and inefficient mechanics that take weeks to rebuild. Their goal is to earn a couple steps farther back with more body effort.

Posture and whip are the foundation. Brush is usually a byproduct, but if needed, it can be taught--carefully... Start at whatever distance it takes to get successful reps. After demonstrating some consistency, try a step or two further back and add more effort and motion. If something breaks down, change something:

-Try closing the eyes
-Stand in front of a mirror
-Take the ball away and do reps without
-Move back forward a step or decrease motion or effort
-Throw into a net
-Always double check with a slow motion camera
-Remind the girl that the person on the bucket is a fetcher, not a catcher and have several balls on hand.

Try to avoid more than a few bad reps in a row before trying something from the above ideas.

I wish there was an easier way, but I haven't found it yet...

 

[Ken B]

So are there any YouTube videos that I can watch to see some I/r progressions?

There are some good ones in here:
https://www.discussfastpitch.com/th...-drill-demonstrations.26065/page-8#post449172

These are particularly good:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxecAGYoi5Hav_GIfV47yA javasource's YouTube Channel
https://balswickfastpitch.com/videos/ Balswick's Videos
https://paulygirlfastpitch.com/ Pauly Certification

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[jtirvine]

There are some good ones in here:
https://www.discussfastpitch.com/th...-drill-demonstrations.26065/page-8#post449172

These are particularly good:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxecAGYoi5Hav_GIfV47yA javasource's YouTube Channel
https://balswickfastpitch.com/videos/ Balswick's Videos
https://paulygirlfastpitch.com/ Pauly Certification

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this is great. As many ppl on here have said, I try to learn it first and then try to coach it. I will check this out.
Some of the other threads on here have dead links so it’s tough to see what they actually mean.
Thanks again.

 

[Hillhouse]

Maybe a simpler route.... familiarize yourself with Hello Elbow terminology and teachings. Then, don't do those things. The rest of the pitching stuff (mechanically) will come a lot more naturally than you think.

So many lessons I do with new kids are about UNLEARNING the H/E behaviors and muscle memory they forced into themselves in their first several workouts together. Remove that stuff, and a good majority comes naturally. OR, if you have a kid who's never been poisoned with H/E stuff then you're work will be much easier. But remember, just as H/E is forced movements and unnatural, so can "IR" be if things are forced incorrectly. Example: many students I see for first lessons who have parents that read about this new revolutionary "IR" method (sarcasm) make mistakes of turning the hand over before the release. Essentially rolling the hand overtop of the ball in an attempt to force the "IR" hand rotation. Obviously that's not what's supposed to happen at the release but it goes to show that mistakes, incorrect movements can be learned while striving for "IR". So wanting to learn "IR" is not immunity from creating faulty movements. Now, mistakes with "IR" are easier to correct than anything H/E has to offer!!!!

Bill

 

[Towny9]

@Hillhouse what you just described with turning the hand over too soon is what some of our teams pitchers do from time to time. We were well intentioned teaching I/R from the start, but emphasized the hand finish more than we should have. Do you have any tips for correcting and early hand turn over or a forced turn over?

 

[badmonkey]

My school is a Title 1, inner city school in Phoenix.

The coach at a high school here was having the same problem. The districts on either side had a wealth of FP talent with girls that played TB. His district, not so much. The entire district had only two players with TB experience. His answer was to start his own club, focusing on recruiting and developing girls from within his district. Now he has a 14U, 12U, and 8U team in the pipeline. I know the 12U team has made tremendous strides, and I'm assuming the others have as well. They push fundraisers to keep expenses down so as to make it financially viable for as many girls as possible. That combined with use of the facilities at no charge, means that the girls average dues were less than $200 for 8 tournaments. Of course, they still have to buy equipment, but they have equipment listings on their FB page for when girls outgrow bats and stuff like that.

Of course, this will take a few years before he start's seeing results. But there is an old saying that goes something like, "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today."

 

[Hillhouse]

@Hillhouse what you just described with turning the hand over too soon is what some of our teams pitchers do from time to time. We were well intentioned teaching I/R from the start, but emphasized the hand finish more than we should have. Do you have any tips for correcting and early hand turn over or a forced turn over?

Sure. Whip the elbow harder. Exaggerate the follow through so the hand goes to the opposite shoulder. The more the elbow whips, the more the wrist and fingers will all snap or whip along with the elbow. Elbow, wrist, fingers all snap in sequence, just like throwing a ball overhand.

Bill

 

[wheresmycar]

Thinking long term... Encourage your the elementary and middle school aged kids in your district to get signed up in rec league softball. If cost is an issue, many leagues will offer scholarships for low income families.

Many parents may not even consider the sport of softball for their kids. When my kids were young, softball never even entered my mind, when considering sports for my DDs. If not for a family friend who was coaching a 6u rec team, and encouraged us to sign up, we might have missed out on the entire softball experience.

 

[BT3100]

My experience has been that pitching is really just dirty hard work. Its little things done consistently day after day and building on the foundation.
I would look for a kid who has a killer work ethic over a kid with more talent but less desire to work. Some of the most successful pitchers in our area are kids who are tossed aside at 10-11-12 but were determined to pitch and never quit.
The hard part is being able to identify that kid early and then you have to trust that the parents are willing to sacrifice time, money and all that goes into this sport.
That's why there are so few excellent pitchers.