Hello and help

[true99]

Hello i am new to softball coaching but not new to coaching. I'm a former baseball player who is now coaching my daughters 10u team. I have years of coaching football experience but this is my first year officially coaching softball (last year they asked me to 'help out').

I found this forum because i have no idea how to teach windmill pitching, and neither do my other coaches. I was a baseball pitcher so i know there are some skills that translate but i've been watching videos and seeking resources to fill the gaps in my knowledge.

My daughter is a lefty and i believe she has the talent to be a pretty good pitcher. Her main issue is pitch-to-pitch consistency. I've been trying to get her to work on her windup to develop the muscle memory because it seems that when she thinks too much she gets really wild.

We also have 2 other girls who are talented. I believe they are all struggling because they are not getting effective coaching.

I will be looking at these forums for relevant topics but if anyone has any helpful links to share it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

 

[CoachCeetar]

Welcome! where at?

There's lots of info here to peruse, I'm a year ahead of you in terms of learning pitching, and I've learned a ton. I'm basically the de facto pitching coach for our 10u (really 3rd/4th) team now.

The two things that seem most important getting started is getting that whip/release right at the hip, which seems to take a ton of reps for any reliability, and staying back/tall when they land/step. Third might be opening/closing of the hips. Almost every kid seems to struggle with the strength to get it 35", and you're really just building up strength/mechanics so that they do it right, and not faking it with big arcs and late releases that you have to fix later.

You can tell when teams have pitchers that have been coached and not, there are some real wonky deliveries out there from kids that are just trying to mimic what they've seen from other kids in games.

Get as many pitchers into at least an inning or two as you can. They learn so much just be seeing the live feedback of hitters, umps, catchers.. Applaud the pitches that go, roughly, straight and make it to the catcher. We usually use the guide that as long as some pitches are making it to the catcher, that's enough to throw you out for an inning.

Might be an 8-walk run limit inning, but you got a couple of pitches over? perfect. Next time will be better. You might lose. You'll probably lose. But next year you'll have multiple pitchers that can get the ball over, and it pays dividends.

 

[true99]

Welcome! where at?

I'm in NY about 1 hour north of NYC.

Thank you for the tips!

 

[GunnerShotgun]

We also have 2 other girls who are talented. I believe they are all struggling because they are not getting effective coaching.

You would be better off paying someone to teach your daughter. Use that knowledge to help the other pitchers.

You just need to get the foundation set (a year or two of weekly lessons) for your daughter and then you can take it from there.

 

[cnardone]

Start here


This video covers most of the “IR in the classroom” thread at the top of the pitching forum. There are other threads at the top of the pitching forum that are great.

Paula girl fastpitch has lessons to you to learn.

Pauly Girl Fastpitch – High Performance Pitching

 

[tomorrow]

Start here


This video covers most of the “IR in the classroom” thread at the top of the pitching forum. There are other threads at the top of the pitching forum that are great.

Paula girl fastpitch has lessons to you to learn.

Pauly Girl Fastpitch – High Performance Pitching

I totally agree with everything in this response. This is the path to start down and if you are able, I would suggest trying to learn to pitch yourself while teaching it. This will give you a better understanding of the depth of the task at hand.

 

[PJR202]

If you can do it, pony up the cash for professional lessons by someone who teaches internal rotation with whip. Lots of people instruct with internal rotation but they teach a straight arm release.

You could also start working on the rick pauly high performance pitching certification. I had watched probably 80 hours of my daughter's lessons, but things didn't really fall into place until rick's course. It'll run you $450 or so if I recall correctly. The price of a couple months of lessons. If you want to be able to help everyone there, take the certification.

 

[cnardone]

If you are going to do lessons, find out what the coach teaches. Watch how this pitcher is palm up going down the back before release. make sure they teach this. NOT, palm down.