How long to warm up before a game???

[Boomers2012]

It seems like my DD always takes the better part of the 1st inning to get into a rythm when she is pitching. It seems she is not warmed up, loose or maybe its just an 11 year old girl that is a little nervous. My question is, how long do pitchers usually warm up before a game? We go through the same warm up routine every time and she seems to be loose. I know each kid is different and each kid has their own way to warm up but I am just curious to know how other young pitchers warming up.......

 

[Bill S]

A 20 to 30 minute warm up works for my daughter.

 

[alabama_lowlife]

Since my DD has returned to pitching after shoulder surgery her warm up takes a good 30+ minutes. After lots of stretching, she goes into overhand throwing for a while. Then starts throwing underhanded. She always throws underhanded with a full circle, just slowly progressing to throwing harder and from farther away. She doesn't like doing L or T drills anymore, I think Bill Hillhouse advocates not performing these drills in his video.

 

[Hit by the Pitch]

If 11 YO DD is the starting P she warms up with the Team. Has a catch, stretches, etc.

Then she will do about 10 ½ motions, 10 ¾ motions, a few walk thrus and about 10 full pitches then she is ready to go. 5 to 10 minutes at the most of pitching before the game.

Like you mentioned each player is a little different.

 

[00fpdaddy]

Pre game, dd warms up with her team for the first 30 min, last 30 she begins her warm up, the last 5 min we go over the mental side, get in "my home plate mode" when she takes the circle. A good clue for my kid if I see a bead sweat on her forehead. Gets tough to tell when it 95 though.

 

[Hit by the Pitch]

1st inning can be hard because you are facing the best batters and have not figured out what the strike zone is yet. DD would rather be the visiting team pitcher so she can get an idea what the strike zone is before she needs to pitch. Any time we get out of the 1st inning with out allowing a run I am really happy.

 

[00fpdaddy]

HbP very good points there^^^^^. Also first inning of everygame, players, fans, parents are really into it. The chants are loud coming in one after another trying to get you dd off her game.

 

[Dave619]

Boomers, my DD sounds a lot like your DD in that she seems to take an inning to get going even after warming up for 20+ minutes prior to the game. I think some of it is nerves and some is she is still working on consistent mechanics. I'd like to think the more she gets experience the more the nerves will go away and the mechanics will get better. Sluggers has a thread on the warm-up and I like what he has to say that it is more of a mental warm-up, 5-10 minutes to see what pitches are working, etc. and then ready to go. If the mechanics are sound then what he is saying sounds right to me. My DD struggled with coming in to pitch in the middle of the game, getting 5 warm-up pitches, and then facing a batter. As her mechanics get better that issue is taking care of itself. For the nerves with my DD it is all about the first inning. Its amazing how three up and down can calm a pitcher down to start the game!

 

[starsnuffer]

Every pitcher is different, but they key is to make sure a good sweat is worked up and the muscles are loose and tired. 30 minutes is a good number to throw out there, but some pitchers take more or less. Make sure the pitcher warms up each of their pitches individually, and then throws a mixture of pitches to make sure their transitions pitch to pitch are dead on. That first change-up has to work, not the second one.

-W

 

[Hit by the Pitch]

Last year DD was thrown into the relief role, like you said 5 warm-up pitches then go get them. It is not fair to the player. I do not think any of our pitchers have been taken out in the middle of an inning this year, they have always started a new inning.

Send them out to deep LF with a couple balls and a mitt, I put a mitt in the Team bag, and I will warm them up. Since they are 11 they should know what they are doing so I am just a backstop, they can warm-up anyway they want without any advice from me.