Strength Training

[Kevin]

I have an 11 year daughter who pitches and plays short. We will start fall ball in a few weeks and she has to move back to 40 foot starting in September. I would describe my daughter as 4'11" about 80lbs, she has an athletic build. Since she has to move back 5 more feet I am looking for ways to increase her strength to help with the increased distance. What type of exercises will help her and what drills would you suggest to help with this?

 

[sluggers]

Start her at 40 feet and have her throw a pitch. If she gets it to you without too much arc, then have her take one step back. Keep doing this one step at a time until she can't get it to you or she starts arcing the ball. Have her move in one step and pitch from there for perhaps 50 pitches. Then, have her move to 40 feet.

Some people also use a weighted ball. I'm not a big fan.

 

[FJRGerry]

My daughter (now 13 & just 5'1" 100 lbs) was about her size when she transitioned to 40 feet. She's not a power pitcher, more a movement pitcher to compensate for her size. I agree with Sluggers that pitching from a few feet beyond 40 with a regular ball will improve her power. Also work drills that emphasize increasing the speed of the arm circle and other drills that emphasize striding with power. For working on just increasing the arm circle speed you can have her, after warming up, stand 20 feet from you with feet planted and throw 10 balls, then after each ten take 2 or 3 big steps back and repeat. Reminder her to feel relaxed while performing the motion. For working on the stride have her balance on her pivot foot, lower her center of gravity as much as comfortable, then begin the forward lean until she feels almost like she's tipping over forwards: from this point stride out with power and pitch. You can set a point that she needs to stride past so she has a target to beat. I wouldn't worry about pitching strikes with this drill, just concentrate on striding with power.

I'm also in the process of incorporating some core and plyometric training, plus light weight lifting with 5 & 8 lb dumbells with high reps as well to improve her overall conditioning.