Pitching help

[quincy]

I recently started giving lessons to several 8-10 year olds. I am trying to get the basic IR arm action established and it has been difficult. I would start your daughter with the 'lock it in' drill but do it without a ball. In fact any time you add something to her mechanics do it dry (no ball) first. For some reason putting a ball in their hand changes their focus. At 8 years old she may not be able to consistently reproduce the IR arm action, the youngsters that I am teaching want to revert back to the bowling/pushing action that comes naturally. Since you will have to monitor her arm action I suggest that you have her throw into a fence or a net so that you can see how she is doing it. If you catch for her you won't be able to see her arm. I have a bucket of balls, I hand them to the pitcher one at a time and have her throw them. It takes a year to develop proper mechanics and consistency, at the younger ages even longer so be prepared.

One of the reasons I had them throw into a tarp or fence was to get thier head out of throwing strikes every pitch. Also give them some room to figure things out on thier own. You do not need to make a comment after each pitch.