- Oct 22, 2009
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Yes, I use a Rev-Fire and every session the older girls have contests to reach the 80-90-100 club. Which is all 4 spins combined to equal 80-90-100.
I have 2 80's, 2 90's and one reaching 110.
How do I increase spin rate?
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Yes, I use a Rev-Fire and every session the older girls have contests to reach the 80-90-100 club. Which is all 4 spins combined to equal 80-90-100.
I have 2 80's, 2 90's and one reaching 110.
- Oct 22, 2009
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At 1/2 step for rise and drop, I'll place the bucket on the plate, trying to get them to throw a rainbow rise and drop.
For screwballs it goes on the right side, left for the curve--still working rainbows.
The buckets are really for visual, but they do get excited when the ball goes in.
My lessons are just 30 minutes so I'd say about 15 minutes are spins. Generally will choose one spin at lesson (after quickly going through them all). During this spin, I'll have them throw it, the Rev-it, then film it, discuss mechanics of it, do spin drills, throw it again, Rev-it again (which then most often produces better results after the mechanical and spin adjustments), then finish it off making it "pretty".
I have tons of spins drills to keep boredom at bay.
As to the making it "pretty", when throwing with the rev-fire, I tell them not to hold anything back on the spin, get the feel of aggressive spinning, get comfortable with it and lose the fear, so when they do this, the pitches can be pretty ugly, so we lose this fear of ugly pitches, eventually those ugly ones go away, but until then we we'll finish up with a few pretty ones where they are allowed to focus now on location.
You haven't had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine needle while it is running!
Jojo,
can you share more of your spin drills? Do you use spinners etc.? I told dd she should be spinning a ball every night for a bit just while watching tv. Does this help in your opinion, or is it better to just do more practice throwing 1/2 or full distance a couple more times per week? Also in using the Rev I notice as spin rates go up her speed goes down a little. Normal? Lastly, she gets her highest spin rates on her FB - this seemed strange to me. Any thoughts, ideas are appreciated.
- Oct 22, 2009
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I use a wide variety of drills depending on the spin.
I actually do not use spinners because they are expensive and too many have walked away during my classes, so I use a roll of duct tape. Every student is required to have a roll. And they make them into such pretty designs now.
I asked them to spin a taped ball 4 nights a week(in the house is fine watching TV). This keeps the hand strength and flexibility up.
I also use the double ball system, but I prefer wiffles zip-tied together, so since they are not heavy to develop strength they make up for it in being light to develop quick flex muscles and flexibility.
My students train to be able to throw the wiffles all the way back through the drill until they can throw true spin on Rise & Curve at full pitch at full speed.
For screwball it's a little more difficult but can see some angled tumbling spinning.
For drops I use the roll of tape, for both the peel and turn over.
I also use a foam ball to develop tight releases near the body.
Weight forward/back drills depending on the spin or student.
1/2 step pitching with focus on nothing but spinning, using buckets sometimes to get pitch to rainbow in.
poles, set up with rope to develop (visual) breaks.
Dog frisbee for curves, football for rises and screwballs and sometimes curves.
Practice the spins at 1/2 pitch a few days a week on top of the 4 nights a week at home. At home it doesn't need to take that long, no longer than 7-10 minutes, depending on how many pitches she has.
Rainy days are good to have sock balls to spin into a laundry basket.
Don't worry about the speed going down when she is just focusing on her spins. After she throws for spin, they have her throw the "pretty ones" without the rev. It's all about developing the spin so it eventually creeps into the faster pitch.
I don't rev the fastballs, but sounds like she's getting a lot of drop spin. Do her FB's break sharply down?
- Sep 10, 2013
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JJ - could you explain how a foam ball can help with the tight release?
Jojo thanks for the great ideas! I'm going to zip tie the wiffles tonight! To answer your question, no her FB's do not usually have a drop to them. The FB measure at around 18 max and her rise is around 15rps. Drop is usually around 16 -17. I know these are not great and we have a lot of work to do, which is why I'm glad we got the Rev. Hopefully incorporating some of your drills will help. I'll keep you posted!
IMO using foam will prevent the pitcher from squeezing too hard as well as an underweight ball will help in speeding up the circle instead of muscling it. Light, relaxed, loose arm with proper resistance along with strong snapping fingers will produce more spin.
- Oct 22, 2009
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- 0
- Oct 22, 2009
- 1,779
- 0
Yes, exactly.
Also another side benefit is removing the fear associated with nailing the catcher when over aggressively trying to spin a pitch. Especially with the DROP. I can instantly see how much more spin the girls get when you eliminate that fear of them just crushing their parents shins in an attempt to really spin the drop. Foam balls also show more break which really encourage the pitchers.
Not the parents so much who threaten to quit catching if their DD's real drop ever breaks that sharp.
