When she first pitched DD (turned 13 a few weeks ago; playing for the top TB team in this area) used a backswing - but over time switched to no-backswing and has had good success. Our season doesn't start for about six weeks but we have been going reasonably hard (three times per week) in the "offseason."
She is a very strong pitcher but the start of her pitch has been pretty herky-jerky. Yesterday we were able to throw outside for the first time this year just on the street; just for fun she says "Hey Dad - backswing; check it out!" and throws a great fastball strike with perfect 12/6 spin. So we kept fooling around with it and the pitching was very solid.
So I'm hesitant to change from what was "working" but I did note her mechanics seemed much smoother (no "herky-jerky" with the backswing. Hard to describe; but a more relaxed pitch with better tempo. Given no loss in speed (and potentially a small gain, if anything - actually; it has crossed my mind that the backswing might come with a speed increase), should we keep working with the backswing? The kid seems pretty happy with it and I was actually thrilled with what I saw yesterday.
She is a very strong pitcher but the start of her pitch has been pretty herky-jerky. Yesterday we were able to throw outside for the first time this year just on the street; just for fun she says "Hey Dad - backswing; check it out!" and throws a great fastball strike with perfect 12/6 spin. So we kept fooling around with it and the pitching was very solid.
So I'm hesitant to change from what was "working" but I did note her mechanics seemed much smoother (no "herky-jerky" with the backswing. Hard to describe; but a more relaxed pitch with better tempo. Given no loss in speed (and potentially a small gain, if anything - actually; it has crossed my mind that the backswing might come with a speed increase), should we keep working with the backswing? The kid seems pretty happy with it and I was actually thrilled with what I saw yesterday.