Weighted Balls

[Lozza]

You need to look at short term vs long term.

Having an increase in velocity is great for her now, however if it's causing her to overextend (which is hard to see when they're pitching) you could cause serious shoulder damage.

I'm a firm believer in not having pre-pubscent girls doing the harder drills that the teenagers and adults do. Like I said at 10 they're nowhere near their adults bodies. They generally don't have hips and other body parts that will change how they pitch as they get older. If you're teaching them the proper motion, the grips and the change-up, until they hit puberty I think a waste of time to teach them any more. And that includes long tosses. That includes weighted balls. Because not only are they changing distances and ball sizes, they're then going to have to learn pitching all over again with their new bodies. If they have the mechanichs down pat they'll adapt a lot better.

Speed at 10 is irrelevant.

Knee drill and K drill are not full motion throws, at least not the way she does them.

I am glad to hear that

 

[ifubuildit]

Weighted balls - NEVER EVER

These are a disaster for a pitcher. I dont care what age we are discussing. In the younger pitchers your putting their growth plates at risk by using a weighted ball. In the older girls your going to put strain on the shoulder complex.

Without going into a anatomy class your risking damage to the rotator cuff. That should be enough to convince anyone not to use weighted balls. Long toss, band work, and for older girls weight training using proper technique in lifting. (Which many HS coaches dont have a clue about) These will help your daughter get faster. Oh and one more thing dont forget genetics. They do count.

 

[coachdan]

I'm against weighted balls at any age.

Lozza, I would like to here more about why you are against long toss, do you throw long over hand at younger ages. Would like to here others thoughts on this also because I'm all for long toss over hand and under hand to build arm strength.

 

[Lozza]

Lozza, I would like to here more about why you are against long toss, do you throw long over hand at younger ages. Would like to here others thoughts on this also because I'm all for long toss over hand and under hand to build arm strength.

Because at younger ages it's not needed. None of my outfielders are taught long throws, they're all taught to go to the cut-off. The furtherst they'll do long toss with a ball is from the distance between third and first. I'm not risking young bones just to be able to brag that my team can throw or pitch this far. They'll thank me for it when they're older.