Teaching Follow Through to Beginner Pitchers

[Lozza]

Need some help with teaching this. I went and helped a friend out with her Under 12 team and the pitchers. Of the four that pitched, not one of them followed through. In any way. I was trying to teach them to follow through (to the point that I was ignoring the arm circle and other issues with most of them because I wanted to get this one point right) but they struggled a lot with it.

Now one of the girls I was teaching has asked me if I'll help her out more as she wants to be a pitcher. She's one of the girls in my rep team and her mum is happy to have me come over and help her whenever she's up for it.

Help please!? I need to get this through to her, before I start working on the other issues with her. She's a smart kid and I now have her recognising when she's not doing it right (best thing I did for this kid was pull out my iPhone and film her doing five pitches. She was then able to see that she pitched five balls and had five different pitching motions) and she gets it occasionly but I'm not sure how to explain it properly. This is the first time I've really worked with beginning pitchers outside my own club and thankfully all my kids got the follow through straight away!

 

[ArmWhip]

Kids who push the ball rather than armwhip it will have a tendency toward an abbreviated follow through. I feel that this is because if they follow through they will throw a lot of high pitches, to compensate they intuitively stop the hand/arm at release. If you use IR and armwhip you will naturally follow through. Work on the IR motion.

 

[Jojo]

The follow through in beginners is difficult to teach. I do teach the IR release, but with beginners it takes them awhile to get it and I'll get those that yank back and sling up to the sky or sling across their body.
I try and teach then they are in their release drills to just keep it long loose, and low--the 3 "L's".
I also may tell them to follow the ball, if they are yankers.

 

[bobbyb]

Get a water noodle...stand beside them...hold the noodle where you want them to follow thru too. Make them hit the noodle with their upper arm.