- Jun 5, 2013
- 10
- 0
Yep, simpler is probably better...which, being a scientific researcher by trade, can be hard as I always tend to lean towards analyzing down to the minutia...and then probably leaning more towards muddling my DD's mind with too much detail...
But then on the other hand, if it wasn't for this scientific background, I would have never found this site, read about IR, analyzed all the info, looked at all the video, etc...
Given the wide swath of video evidence showing that just about all the highest-level pitchers clearly pitch with IR (including live coverage of the most recent WCWS (which clearly couldn't be doctored in real-time by Boardmember...or could it have, conspiracy theorists??? ;-)), I dont need any more convincing that it's the way we want to go for my DD's future pitching...
But then on the other hand, if it wasn't for this scientific background, I would have never found this site, read about IR, analyzed all the info, looked at all the video, etc...
Given the wide swath of video evidence showing that just about all the highest-level pitchers clearly pitch with IR (including live coverage of the most recent WCWS (which clearly couldn't be doctored in real-time by Boardmember...or could it have, conspiracy theorists??? ;-)), I dont need any more convincing that it's the way we want to go for my DD's future pitching...
First of all, lets be clear: IR is not some kind of magical silver bullet.
It *does* make perfect anatomical sense, and if youve tried it youself, does feel quite natural outside of the muscle memory context of other taught methods. What I mean is, if youve never pitched a softball, and were introduced to pitching with this method, then it will feel natural. But in the case of your DD and mine ( just turned 10) they will probably adjust to this fine, but it will feel "weird" for a while. Im also holding off on personaly endorsing this til after i see how control is affected. Sure velocity is great, but I dont 100% suscribe to the "velocity first, control later" school, either.
A big reason is that a young pitcher might get very discouaged and even want to quit pitching alltogether if they walk in lots of runs. Hard to reason with a 9 year old, that this speed vs control approach is "best for the long run." Im not endorsing "bad mechanics" per se, but do believe that you have to steer your DD to a place where she can enjoy a reasonable amount of sucess.
Regarding your Q's, i would say that in the case of a young and relatively inexperienced pitcher, i wouldnt muddle the waters with such minute details such as when the thumb/fingers come off the ball, and in what order. I say get them using the proper *gross mechanics* well, first. There's already going to be a lot to think about learning IR. and I imagine that at least a few of these q's will be worked out by the DD during this transition on her own. Part of the philosophy of IR is that it's what the body *wants* to do because of anatomy. Least path of resistance and all that stuff...
I dont know if this is a mistake or not, but ive decided to concentrate on IR-centric drills for practice sessions and warm-ups, and then when shes pitching full motion just let her pitch and not comment on IR mechanics details, and instead concentrate on all of the other "universal" mechanics of L/D pitching. My hope is that eventually the muscle memory of IR drills will start to migrate into her full motion sessions. Well see...