Looking for advice

[NorthMS]

Hello,

I’ve been reading this forum for the past few days. It’s been extremely helpful in seeing drills and such. It has also been overwhelming.

My oldest daughter (seems that is DD here) just finished her last season of coach pitch. I have coached her the last 3 yrs. She wants to learn how to pitch. I played baseball at a high level for many years. I know the fundamentals of baseball/softball in regards to hitting, fielding, and base running. I know nothing about fast pitching. We live in a rural area and I haven’t found a pitching coach yet. My daughter is hounding me to get started. I am a firm believer in starting with proper mechanics. I am worried that with my lack of knowledge, she will develop muscle memory with bad mechanics. For the past week, all I’ve allowed her to do it the stationary wrist snap drill, either with her arm on her leg or standing with her arm at her side. She does this all day long. She wants to get started on pitching now. I’m hesitant. Are there very basic drills that I could start her own without developing bad habits?

I watched several video’s and tried to do it some myself. I was amazed at just how different/hard it was to anything I’ve experienced.

I know one of the high school pitchers and she would probably be willing to help. Problem is, I don’t know if she has proper form. I concentrate on form/mechanics rather than results with teaching something new.

What videos and/or book do you recommend for very basic beginners? I am looking for a good coach. I live in North Mississippi. I have a few larger towns nearby that I’m looking into. In the meantime, I’m trying to keep her interest high and mistakes low.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Hi Mississippi, Try Building The House, Bill Hillhouse dvd isbn 0-9764196-0-2

Also, teach her the proper overhand throw, that will go a long ways in getting her to advance in softball. Make "playing catch" fun for her.

Yes, DD is darling daughter.

 

[NorthMS]

Thanks Amy. I will order it. I've been teaching her the overhand throw since she was 5. She just turned 9 now. She has good form and an above average arm throwing overhand. Please excuse my ignorance, but when I tried the underhand throw, I felt no resemblance to the overhead throw. What am I missing?

Thanks

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It's not the similarity to the pitch, it is building the complete player. It is almost impossible to pitch faster than you can throw over hand. So, I have to start a student by teaching her to "get her legs under her" and her shoulder up on her overhand throw.

This will also lead to a better hitter.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Good advice by Amy. I would also consider the following:

- I'm in the camp that for a new pitcher, proper mechanics and speed is more important than accuracy for now;
- make sure she has a proper 4 seam grip and can find it without looking at her hands;
- Draw a "T" everytime in front of the pitching plate (e.g. draw a line from the center of the pitching plate out about 5 or 6 feet to the catcher and than make another line 90% to form the T). This is the powerline.
- Wrist snaps are probably useless?;
- Develop a pre-pitching routine meaning drills like the "T drill or "K", flamingo, walk through, before going into the full pitching motion;
- Read on this site the "Internal Rotation" thread and anything written by Board Member about pitching.
- If you get a pitching coach, make sure she/he is not teaching pull down and finish high elbow.
- like you are doing, educate yourself and ask lots of questions.
- make sure you and she knows what "leaping" and "crow hopping" is.
- Buy a good, comfortable bucket and glove, you will be sitting on it catching your DD 3 times a week from now until .....

 

[Coach JV]

My dd's pitching coach is protective of proper mechanics especially
with the younger girls. There are certain releases on breaking pitches
that are used in 16+ that are not good for the younger girls as they are
growing and developing. PC is 'old school' teaching mechanics and speed.
His philosophy "once you have the speed, control will come". Thus far,
it has clicked with with my dd. We have another PC in town who develops
control first. Students from either coach are equal in 18-24 months.

P.S. buy some protective gear. 50 mph bone bruises are sore for weeks and last for months

 

[SoCalASABlue]

To quote from Cheri Kempf in The Softball Coaching Bible, certainly no slouch in the fastpitch softball world, "For elite pitchers, movement equals strikeouts, winning, and success." On the 12U team that I manage, I currently have four pitchers, with two pitchers that throw considerably harder than the other two (who have average speed for 12U level but excellent control). The problem is that my hard throwers are just that - hard throwers. They are not pitchers and cannot adjust to an umpire's floating strike zone when necessary. They were taught from the age of 7 that proper mechanics are "to throw as hard as you can on every pitch, you can learn control later." Since they are now 12 and 13 respectively, they have so many bad habits ingrained that neither of them can hit the corners on command. Guess which pitchers get the most pitching time?

If proper mechanics are truly taught, speed and control come together. IMHO.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

To quote from Cheri Kempf in The Softball Coaching Bible, certainly no slouch in the fastpitch softball world, "For elite pitchers, movement equals strikeouts, winning, and success." On the 12U team that I manage, I currently have four pitchers, with two pitchers that throw considerably harder than the other two (who have average speed for 12U level but excellent control). The problem is that my hard throwers are just that - hard throwers. They are not pitchers and cannot adjust to an umpire's floating strike zone when necessary. They were taught from the age of 7 that proper mechanics are "to throw as hard as you can on every pitch, you can learn control later." Since they are now 12 and 13 respectively, they have so many bad habits ingrained that neither of them can hit the corners on command. Guess which pitchers get the most pitching time?

If proper mechanics are truly taught, speed and control come together. IMHO.

IMO - in the first year, if you are throwing with proper mechanics you will have plenty of speed. When my DD was 7YO and just learning to pitch, she was all over the place with control (balls thrown over the fence, etc) but after several months, she became more and more accurate and has increased her speed and hitting locations considerably. For the first 6months, I don't think her PC (to her credit) even mentioned strike or strike zone once.

In tournament play, I see the girls who have average speed but throw a lot of strikes get rocked time and time again.

NorthMS - if you are now in 10U and are pitching from 35 feet with an 11inch ball, if your DD doesn't have some speed, she may not be as effective? There is just too much time and distance between pticher and batter for the batter not to get a good read on the pitch.

My last general comment is, let's get rid of coach pitch after t-ball or 6U. It's really unnecessary, let's not dumb down the game (my own rec league included).

 

[SoftSocDad]

When first learning the basic pitching motion, many little girls will try to aim the ball. So, virtually all of the most experienced pitcher and coaches I've spoken to have said to have them throw the ball as hard as they can just to get them used to throwing underhand. Yes, all girls - even elite-level athletes - have a different aptitude for pitching, but for the average young player, the majority seem to have it correct here.

My last general comment is, let's get rid of coach pitch after t-ball or 6U. It's really unnecessary, let's not dumb down the game (my own rec league included).

I strongly disagree, and my first exposure to softball was a very strong rec league in SoCal. There simply aren't enough girls in most leagues to have 2 effective pitchers on every roster. It's ambitious and I'm always an advocate of encouraging kids to do more, but until we're consistently seeing 2+ pitchers available for every 8u team, coach pitch at 4 balls should remain a part of the game. Keep in mind that there are a lot of leagues that are still machine pitch for 8u. I don't think a game with 20 walks benefits anyone.

 

[SoftballMama]

SoCalSoftballdad:

I understand everything but the bolded. Can you clarify? Thanks!

Softballmama

Good advice by Amy. I would also consider the following:

- I'm in the camp that for a new pitcher, proper mechanics and speed is more important than accuracy for now;
- make sure she has a proper 4 seam grip and can find it without looking at her hands;
- Draw a "T" everytime in front of the pitching plate (e.g. draw a line from the center of the pitching plate out about 5 or 6 feet to the catcher and than make another line 90% to form the T). This is the powerline.
- Wrist snaps are probably useless?;
- Develop a pre-pitching routine meaning drills like the "T drill or "K", flamingo, walk through, before going into the full pitching motion;
- Read on this site the "Internal Rotation" thread and anything written by Board Member about pitching.
- If you get a pitching coach, make sure she/he is not teaching pull down and finish high elbow.
- like you are doing, educate yourself and ask lots of questions.
- make sure you and she knows what "leaping" and "crow hopping" is.
- Buy a good, comfortable bucket and glove, you will be sitting on it catching your DD 3 times a week from now until .....