practicing with 12in balls

[dgat7]

My dd that pitches will be 2rd year 10u starting in the fall which still use 11in ball. I am thinking when we do are pitching rep to include the of a 12in and/or move from 35 to 40 feet for her to use to the size and maybe build up strength. just look for opinions if it make a differences or not.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She can start using it at any time. It will not mess up her 10U pitching. Move her back to 36 feet and have her throw 15 or so and see how she does. Then, the next time she practices move her to 37 feet. And, so on.

You might want to have her warm up, overhand with the 12 inch ball exclusively now.

I had to move one of my girls back to 40, immediately, because she got called up to the majors in LL. I had her throw a 16 inch ball, for awhile and a 14 inch ball for a few and then, the 12 inch ball. I didn't realize that she never knew when I gave her the 12 inch ball. So, that went very well.

 

[coach james]

I work out my 10u girls with 12" balls quite a bit. I even have a 14" ball they use on occasion. It will help them build finger dexterity to work on spin.

 

[quincy]

DD was pitching in practice at 40’ with the 11” ball so the move to the 12” ball was easy. Moving back distance was easy, the 12” ball took a week to get use too.

We played against a dominate P in MS and crushed her. I think she is fine now but she was thrown into the longer distance and bigger ball. I am sure she figured it out we just hit her before she did.

 

[MK37]

I think it made a huge difference when we practiced with the 12" ball. DD was ready to pitch the next year with no problems. We used the 12" ball for everything from overhand catch to fielding.

 

[ArkFastpitch]

my DD pitched 10u and picked up with 12u this past spring. She transitioned to the big ball and the extra 5 feet fairly easy but struggled when she tried to go back to the 11" ball. She would have a tendency to throw high. We would have to throw in an extra day of pitching to try and get everything tightened up before she played back down.

 

[Rick Pauly]

I always worry about that transition double whammy.....go to the 12" ball and move to 40'. Some kids make the transition fine....usually because they have good mechanics and are relatively strong/mature for their age. Some kids really struggle with the transition.
If you see any hint of compromising once solid mechanics then be very careful to only progressively move them back to the full 40' (like suggested in the first part of Amy's post above).
If they gripped the 11" ball with three fingers but have to use 4 fingers for the 12" ball it could alter their speed and location so keep an eye on that....find the right time to reinforce the three finger grip...get her comfortable and capable with the three finger grip in practice.