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Feb 3, 2010
5,752
113
Pac NW
Adding to Bill's post, many kids might do great in practice, but struggle with the pressure of control in games. There's spectators, batters, an umpire, her team, the coaches and there's always Auntie Karen yelling out, "Slow it down and just play catch with Sara!" That, and they draw that big, white circle around her to help draw attention to her.

The first priority is mechanics. Posture, whip and brush. With consistent and solid form, control almost just happens. Build her confidence in trusting her form. In games, it really helps if the parents and coaches emphasize form first. Let them know it's their job to do the best they can, and coach's job to make the change if things don't come together. If things go well, it’s high fives and ice cream. If they don't, it's high fives and ice cream—along with a chat about goals and what she would like to work towards in future innings.
 
Last edited:
Jun 19, 2016
858
63
Adding to Bill's post, many kids might do great in practice, but struggle with the pressure of control in games. There's spectators, batters, an umpire, her team, the coaches and there's always Auntie Karen yelling out, "Slow it down and just play catch with Sara!" That, and they draw a big white circle around her to help draw attention to her.

The first priority is mechanics. Posture, whip and brush. With consistent and solid form, control almost just happens. Build her confidence in trusting her form. In games, it really helps if the parents and coaches emphasize form first. Let them know it's their job to do the best they can, and coach's job to make the change if things don't come together. If things go well! High fives and ice cream. If they don't it's high five and ice cream along with a chat about goals and what she would like to work towards in future innings.
Ice Cream is a powerful motivator at 10U...and 12U for that matter.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
I go against the grain on the velocity vs location debate. Once a girl has learned the basic mechanics I emphasize speed first with location a close second. However I don't want velocity to the point where a pitcher is wild. My reasoning on this is that the mechanics that a pitcher learns that foster control will often have to change when they try to throw faster. The usual thought is that you learn control then speed up the motion for more velocity. My thought is that you learn the mechanics for velocity and then learn to control it. A pitcher with good control will always get lots of innings at the lower levels but eventually you have to learn to throw hard.

I'm certainly not saying people should learn location before velocity -- simply that location is hugely important. I have experience with one pitcher and one pitcher only. And my DD is strong and tall and so velocity was fortunately always there. So perhaps by default we followed your method exactly. Learned mechanics, then got velocity down, then moved to location.

Or perhaps they all improved together. Hell, what do I know? I'm a bucket dad with a bad memory. This was like a year ago. :D
 
Jun 19, 2016
858
63
I think this height thing is overrated when it comes to speed. Amanda Scarborough and Rachel Garcia come to mind as pitchers that are sub 5'6". Amanda Scarborough even has a post on her Facebook where she talks about height and she said the topic never came up as she was developing. I can honestly say that I really don't see a huge correlation between height based on height alone. Most of the fastest pitchers I have seen are just kind of average in height or slightly above average for their age. Most of them are not overly skinny though.
 
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Jan 28, 2017
1,662
83
DD throws mid 50’s and pitches for a 14u class A team. Play the better tournaments in N. FL, and South AL and GA. She has great movement and when on paints the black. When she isn’t on the black she gets hit. Other pitchers on our team throw harder but not as accurate or as much moment. All pushing 60 but if getting over the heart hurts them. My DD in general has to be almost perfect and the other girls can miss but not by much. On a great day DD has so much movement that they miss hit everything.

A kid that lives in our town, just turned 13. She is 5.1 and 100 pounds, throwing 58. She can run like the wind. Hits bombs every weekend. Been to a few lessons but really just plays.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
I think this height thing is overrated when it comes to speed. Amanda Scarborough and Rachel Garcia come to mind as pitchers that are sub 5'6". Amanda Scarborough even has a post on her Facebook where she talks about height and she said the topic never came up as she was developing. I can honestly say that I really don't see a huge correlation between height based on height alone. Most of the fastest pitchers I have seen are just kind of average in height or slightly above average for their age. Most of them are not overly skinny though.

taller > longer arms > bigger circle > faster

taller > longer legs > longer stride > closer to plate at release

Now that's not always true for every girl, and some girls are just stronger than others regardless of height.
 
Feb 15, 2017
920
63
taller > longer arms > bigger circle > faster

taller > longer legs > longer stride > closer to plate at release

Now that's not always true for every girl, and some girls are just stronger than others regardless of height.
Kaci Clark Zerbe 5 feet 4 UCLA
Rachel Garcia 5 feet 5 UCLA

Both not very tall but hard throwers



Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Jan 6, 2018
221
43
Not all girls arms match their height...for instance my DD is 5’6”, but her wingspan is 5’9”...just one more thing to throw in the mix!.
 

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