Developing young pitchers

[halskinner]

Someone at home, has to be able to catch for the girl and learn along with her. It is impossible to teach someone, if they aren't going to practice.

Amy, prgress will be much slower, but you can still teach the student.

 

[Jojo]

Amy, prgress will be much slower, but you can still teach the student.

And sometimes the ones that don't practice improve faster than the ones that go home and just start chunking the ball all over place without any regard to what they just learned in class.

 

[Mr T]

Hal your long post on this thread has to be up there with the best I've run into on the site.

 

[tomzpc]

Do your research on pitching instructors....about 95% of pitching instructors (at least in NC) will teach the push down/pull up mechanics and the Hello elbow finish. Before I would take my 7,8, or 9 yr old to one of these PC and spend $$ I would read this board starting with the Internal Rotation thread. If you can get a good understanding of the IR mechanics you have the tools to get a young beginner pitcher started. When they can do the basis show it and throw it drill correctly and consistantly they are ready for the next phase.

I'm not saying that you don't need a pitching coach just do your research before spending the cash. Much easier to teach correct mechanics from the start.

I agree with this 100%.

 

[Westwind]

Stiksdad-

I saw a an interesting team approach to pitching on a first year 10u team this fall. At the first practice the coach who has a reputation for building great teams and for thinking out of the box explains to parents and kids that the practices consist primarily of stations and announces that the team at that time has no set pitchers. Everyone will do the pitching stations at every practice. The team has a pitching bench coach who is alot of fun and has a knack for working with the girls. They work hard and love it. They did the basic arm whip drills at first and progressed quickly to pitching. BTW, the first tournament EVERYONE who wanted to pitch got to pitch. Yes, it wasn't all pretty. Yes, the team got beat up a little but, fair is fair, you practice it, you get a chance to try it out in a game. After the game, the pitching coach very kindly told the team that while everybody got a chance to go out and throw, that wouldn't happen the next tournament. Guess what- this process dredged up a couple girls who had no prior interest in pitching and had taken no prior lessons and now this team has 5 girls on a 10 girl roster who are still pitching after starting out with a couple in August.

 

[quincy]

Just a bucket Dad here but I just got Bill Hillhouse's DVD called "Building the House." It's a great video which explains in lay-man's terms how the basic mechanics and fundamentals of the pitching motion should be. He also gives you drills to work on. Even if you don't subscribe to his theories or follow through, it's still a great video for beginning instruction. If after watching that, you feel it's still above your head, then suggest a pitching coach.

While I agree nothing beats a good PC it is sometimes difficult to invest in. If pitcher really wants to pitch strongly recommend that they see a PC, if possible be in a position to recommend one if they do not have one already.

You might also be able to setup a team lesson/ workout at a facility near you. Something like $100 for an hour and have the players that show-up put in $20.

All else fails you need to be the Team PC. The DVD is a good place to start and , I understand the what was mentioned above about this, but finding older pitchers to help is also a good idea. There are limitations doing it this way but it is better than telling the Player that they are on their own to figure it out.

 

[Westwind]

I'll add that one of the requirements to pitch on the team I mentioned above it that you go to lessons with a pitching coach. The bench pitching coach is very good but wants someone in addition to him working with the girls so yes- having a pc is apparently very important.

 

[BB875]

Amy, prgress will be much slower, but you can still teach the student.

I have 3 DD's that play TB now & all 3 wanted to pitch at some time in their career. The older 2 dropped off the notion by now & I am good with that. However, DD#3 loves to pitch(she's an '02). Her TB coach is a great guy and gives her plenty of innings, but I know if we don't practice at home her "earned" spot as a pitcher will diminish.

More importantly, I try to keep our pitching time together FUN. I have learned from my older DDs that if you can't have fun doing anything, don't do it. It's not worth it. I get such a kick out of seeing her determination.

 

[halskinner]

I can't control when or if they practice so I just teach them where they are at. Otherwise it would be constant nagging and the family is the customer. 9u's can get better even without other practice.

I agree. That young they have to be handled with kid gloves and be taught good work ethics. When I had a very young student with lousy work ethics I would explain it like it was math at school. "If you never did your homework when you go home after shool, would you be very good at math?" They would usually say no. "Pitching is no different. This is school for pitching and you have to do your homework or you will not be as good at it as you can be. I am working hard trying to make you a really good pitcher. You have to work hard at it too".

In a few cases, with a little bit older student that was lazy, I would tell them that if they could not find time to practice, at some point I would stop letting their parents waste their money and I would stop seeing them as a student and open up the time slot for someone who would. Only had to do that twice that I can recall.

That was one of the big reasons I tried to make sure the very young students had alot of fun and enjoyed the lessons. They didnt want to miss out on any of the silly, goofy stuff I would come up with to teach them.

There was ALWAYS a method to my madness. At times it could be quite a show.

I loved pitching and I loved working with the kids. When the students know they are learning something, they are having fun doing it and they know the OLD INSTRUCTOR is having just as much fun teaching them, it a COMPLETELY different atmosphere in the classroom.

 

[Eugene Stryke]

I have question about teaching the first pitch. I understand a pitching coach is optimal, and I will go there soon so this is mainly for my own knowledge. I am just starting her pitching and am working on a basic fastball. Cat Ostermann teaches the screw as a fastball on the USA video with the wrist doing the turn-the-doorknob twisting action on release. I have gleaned from the many posts I have combed through that the basic fastball is similar to the peel drop. 4 seam grip and no (at least sideways) twisting of the wrist on release. This seems like the place to start?