It was not that many years ago that all ages with the exception of 10u pitched at the 40' distance. No one at that time was complaining about their 11 year old was pitching from the same distance as a 21 or 22 year old college senior. The way some talk about this issue you would think that they are increasing the distance by some great amount, it's just three feet. Yes this small increase will weed out some just as the move 35' to 40' did. I think for the most part it's the parents driving this debate one way or the other. I would be willing to bet that the girls don't care, I know my DD doesn't. When you get down to it the bad pitchers at 40 will be bad at 43 and the same goes for the average and great pitcher.
Pitcher's parents / 43 ft
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- Jun 20, 2008
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I have 2 DD's that pitch one is second year 14U and the other second year 12U, I like it...
Everyone says girls mature faster than boys, by junior high the boys play on a full size field. The only thing I do not like about it is, next fall we will start school ball, so this summer we will pitch from 40, then play approx 10 games at 43. At the same time her travel team will be playing tournys on weekends, when everyone is availiable, pitching from 40. I think with this change the organizations need to take the average age of a first year junior high girl and make the change at that age group so we arn't switching back and forth.
So what is really happening? Are we slowly changing the whole game to 43'? Have the younger girls gotten stronger ( genetically ) so we must move them to 43'. Or is it some 'board' members who don't even play the game making decisions about our kids.
My thing is, either come out and say we are "slowly integrating 43' to all age levels" ( like the 40' in the old days ). Or stay out of our coolaid, let the parents decide if they need to develop their kids at the easier 40' then move up to 43'. And leave the 18u 43' as an OPTION for those who are ready.
This won't effect my DD one way or the other. We are already pitching 43'. I am more concerned for the younger pitchers who are just developing. I'm not sure my DD would be the pitcher she is, without those years at 40'. She was able to see, on a game by game basis, the results of the new breaking pitches. ( throwing 1 hitters / no hitters / shut outs ) And that is mentally as important as it is physically important.
Most of the younger kids that me and my DD work with look up to the older kids, and use their past records ( older kids ) as a gage to see how they compare ( younger kids ) when they move up to the next age division. I'm afraid when they don't have the pitching records to match, it will discourage them from pitching. Don't kids have enough pressure on them that we don't need to add another brick on the wall?
My thing is, either come out and say we are "slowly integrating 43' to all age levels" ( like the 40' in the old days ). Or stay out of our coolaid, let the parents decide if they need to develop their kids at the easier 40' then move up to 43'. And leave the 18u 43' as an OPTION for those who are ready.
This won't effect my DD one way or the other. We are already pitching 43'. I am more concerned for the younger pitchers who are just developing. I'm not sure my DD would be the pitcher she is, without those years at 40'. She was able to see, on a game by game basis, the results of the new breaking pitches. ( throwing 1 hitters / no hitters / shut outs ) And that is mentally as important as it is physically important.
Most of the younger kids that me and my DD work with look up to the older kids, and use their past records ( older kids ) as a gage to see how they compare ( younger kids ) when they move up to the next age division. I'm afraid when they don't have the pitching records to match, it will discourage them from pitching. Don't kids have enough pressure on them that we don't need to add another brick on the wall?
My 15 year old daughter was okay with the move, we practiced it before fall travel season and she was ready for it. But freshman pitching is all over the board. I know some out there are not ready to throw the longer distance. I feel it is either going to force the umps to increase the strikezone or we will see walkfests. Going older, Sophmore up, they should be able to handle it. Anyone younger, they should leave things as is. JMO.
If 16U pitchers are pitching from 43' - then so should high school (at least varsity). It doesn't really make sense to have 2 different pitching distances in those age brackets (16-18U). My daughter is a 14U pitcher who has no problem with 43', but some others do. So I agree that 14U should stay at 40' at least another year to give those pitchers in that age bracket and under time to begin working on drills to help with the transition. Or, keep it at 40' for 14U indefinitely to help younger pitchers develop. The 14U pitchers who can throw effectively from 43' will probably play on 16U teams or play up in higher age brackets as part of a 14U team, as my daughter does. As far as high school is concerned, freshmen pitchers are not as likely to get the number one spot unless exceptional or playing for a team lacking in pitching, so the transition to 43' as a 14U pitcher may not be as important. But since I am all about protecting the pitcher, I say move it back to 40' for all ages - even college!! But that's JMO... 
How do you split that at a HS level? Do you mean JV at 40' and Varsity at 43'? This is similar to what I was thinking, allowing only the more advanced freshman pitchers needing to make the adjustment. That seems like it would help the difference in age brackets with 14u at 40' and 16u at 43'.
IMO- Going to 43' at 14u is a bad idea. There seems to be a real physical difference between first and second year 14u. Add in the heavy work load some of the more advanced pitchers are given, could this cause more of an overuse issue? IDK. Maybe the 3 feet is not that big of deal, but size wise, 8th graders are not built the same as our freshman in our area.
DD likes the 43'. It's the back and forth she struggles with a little.
My last post really didn't get my point across, since the question really related to high school. What I meant was that while I understand the concerns of parents of freshmen pitchers, I don't think that it's fair to have sophomore through senior pitchers pitching from 40' because freshmen pitchers may not be ready. In that scenario, the more senior pitchers are the ones that have to adapt back to 43' after the high school season. If a freshmen can't pitch from 43', then she'll have another year to work on it for her sophomore season. I have no problem with keeping travel ball distance at 40' for 14U travel ball, so those not ready can have time to work on their form, get stronger, etc. If a high school freshman can pitch effectively from 43', then hopefully she'll make the varsity team and play. ... But I still say move it all to 40 feet.
- May 11, 2009
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I'm glad this got brought up. I have a little different situation. OK maybe not. My DD just turned 13 and is pitching on a U14 travel team this year. She is also pitching on her 7th grade school ball team. Well for ASA at U14 she will pitch from 40' but for her 7th grade school ball team she will be at 43'. So we are having her pitch at 43' all the time right now just to get used to it. I hope it is not a disaster come travel ball time at 40'. If it was all the same I would be a lot happier.
That is the tricky part to all this. I can kinda understand HS going to 43', I can kinda understand 16u at 43'. The gray area will be those caught in the middle of 14U at 40 and school ball at 43'. Some of the better pitchers will move straight to 16u so not to switch back and forth. But pitching 16u at 13-14 years old is much diff than 'playing' 16u. ( fielders ) Then you factor in a lot of tourneys combine 16/18u so that means a 4-5 year gap.
I don't like it, but the only way to make it work will be to move 14u to 43'. But that will mean true 12u's will only have 2 years at 40'. Meaning from 10u to 14u they move 8 feet back. Maybe they could split the 14u B at 40' and 14 A at 43'. But that will make it extremely difficult at the local level. Some tourneys wouldn't make because of the split division. So again, IDK.
In the past I have seen 12/14 combine, in those tourneys where there is not enough teams but all coaches agree to combine. If 14u goes 43', that option is out. And you can't combine 10/12 because of 35'. Also does that mean 14/16/18 will combine at 43'? That's way too much for some kids. Somebody will get hurt bad.
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