Wrist Flips for the Win
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When my DD was in 12u, think she was 11, we went to a USC Upstate January camp, it was brutally cold ! So cold that Rick Pauly had the after lunch pitching clinic in the gym. He had a team pitcher and catcher demoing the correct way to warm up and he told all the young girls to NEVER spend another minute of their lives doing wrist flips or finishing with a high elbow (HE) ! There was a dad/coach probably standing within 10 feet of me who whistled and got two girls attention and said "get up, let's go"! Rick never even turned around to acknowledge the guy, like it didn't even happen. A lot of people had that look like WTH just happened? I thought it was hilarious. She's 14 now.
^^^Here's a post I made from back in January. My DD has never done wrist flips and when she was 11 every other girl on her team did............I always wondered to myself if I was doing her a disservice by not making her do them. I just always thought it was a waste of time, after hearing Rick Pauly say that and my DD making eye contact with me and smiling I definitely felt better. Seems like a lifetime ago, DD is 14 playing 16U, there is a 16yo on her team who still does them.
^^^Here's a post I made from back in January. My DD has never done wrist flips and when she was 11 every other girl on her team did............I always wondered to myself if I was doing her a disservice by not making her do them. I just always thought it was a waste of time, after hearing Rick Pauly say that and my DD making eye contact with me and smiling I definitely felt better. Seems like a lifetime ago, DD is 14 playing 16U, there is a 16yo on her team who still does them.
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They will get laughed off the field in college. It is amazing how once they get to that level all of the nonsense quickly goes by the wayside. For my DD it is long toss, walk throughs, and then get down to business with a full motion. If she struggles with a pitch she may get close to the catcher, isolate her lower body and work on the release/spin for a few minutes.
Too many pitchers spend valuable warmup time doing pointless drills. I spent some time last weekend with a Big 10 coach who was a fixture in the mens game. Talking pitching, he knew of my DD and asked how much time I had her and my other students spend on drills? When I told him next to none it was obvious that he was pleasantly surprised.
I think the best response to the wrist flip question is from Bill Hillhouse when he demonstrates an overhead wrist flip while asking why they do not do that before throwing overhand.
Sadly, I have seen TB teams that do exactly that...... overhead wrist flips during warmups.
What i have learned from the best of the best instructors that keep us in line around here, is that a forced wrist flip will impead the natural energy of the whip. A looser wrist will flip faster. can someone now explain how the wrist articulates the different spins with this in mind?
- Apr 25, 2010
- 772
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The wrist doesn't articulate the different spins. The fingers do.
Quote Originally Posted by Rick Pauly
Timing is critical-----period.
Some pitchers have difficulty getting timing correct when using the full motion.
Backward chaining to a point where they can get the optimal timing is a good thing. Groove in the timing then move a little closer to the full motion----groove in the timing----etc. etc.
Throwing from the "K" position(called slingshot in the old days) is the single best method I know for developing good timing. When girls get good from this position they can hit 90% of their top mound speed. Subsequently, their mound speed increases because of better timing.
Timing is critical-----period.
Some pitchers have difficulty getting timing correct when using the full motion.
Backward chaining to a point where they can get the optimal timing is a good thing. Groove in the timing then move a little closer to the full motion----groove in the timing----etc. etc.
Throwing from the "K" position(called slingshot in the old days) is the single best method I know for developing good timing. When girls get good from this position they can hit 90% of their top mound speed. Subsequently, their mound speed increases because of better timing.
- Nov 3, 2012
- 480
- 16
My DD does not do wrist flips when warming Up. And I wouldn't be happy if she started.
But on the flip side (no pun intended), for almost every team she's been on, the coach's have always had each player on the team get on a knee and do little overhand wrist flips to warm up there throwing. When did this get started? Do coaches see another team doing it and think, that looks smart, lets loosen up the wrists. It drives me nuts, but I chalk it up as a waste of a few minutes of practice time.
But on the flip side (no pun intended), for almost every team she's been on, the coach's have always had each player on the team get on a knee and do little overhand wrist flips to warm up there throwing. When did this get started? Do coaches see another team doing it and think, that looks smart, lets loosen up the wrists. It drives me nuts, but I chalk it up as a waste of a few minutes of practice time.
- Jun 12, 2015
- 3,848
- 83
Our fall team did the overhand wrist flips and I've seen other teams do them. I can't imagine they're helpful in any way.
Given the amount of time spent on cell phones/social media I would expect that their wrists would be quite ready by the time they arrived at the fields.
Its just the grip period? no wrist or forearm is used to create spin?
